The domain/site age is a damping factor that is adjusted in the google algorithm. Think of it as knob that gets turned up or down. Another factor that makes an older site rank is authority on the keyword.
Thanks guys. I did a little more digging, for a little something to dig my nose into deeper, and found a good old SEOMOZ article that hits up a good portion of the 200 http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors . It is a pretty good read. I bookmarked it.
domain age place a big roll in getting you rank in search engines and if you add more effective strategies 100% you'll become successful on rankings.