By Dewain Hulett

Kevin Swindell may start this 2005 season generally referred to as "the son of Sammy Swindell," but if things continue on the path he has set forth early on he will simply be Kevin by the end of the year.

While Kevin is obviously proud to be Sammy's son, he wants to make a name for himself, and that's an important goal for this season.

"Just trying to make a name for myself, and also trying to get outside of Sprint Car racing a little bit," Kevin said.  "Just being known as myself, and not being known as 'there's Sammy's kid' is something I'm really going to have to work for."

Of course having a father who is considered one of the best in the business doesn't necessarily make life easy for a new racer, but Kevin takes it in stride.

"There's alot a lot of pressure," Kevin said.  "I put more pressure on myself than anybody else does, just to perform."

"I can't stand not running good.  I can't stand not being fast," he added.  "If it's me that's doing something wrong, it's even worse."

If anything, in fact, Kevin considers having his father helping and running with him a bonus.

"It's a big help just being able to go out and get in behind him and if something isn't right with me I can see where he's going," Kevin said.  "Especially working with the car, he does everything with it."

"Just having him to bounce questions off of ...and having a good setup under the car to begin with helps a lot," he added.

Kevin has turned some heads during the young 2005 season, as he received a podium finish in Australia, as well as making a 22nd to fifth run and 15th to 6th run.  The night he finished third, Kevin raced from 16th and passed two cars coming off turn four to take the podium spot.  That success makes his prospects for stepping out of his father's shadow very possible.

"I think by far I can do that," Kevin said.

On the podium with Kevin in Australia were Donnie Schatz and Sammy, a great moment for the father/son duo.

"Just being up there, and to know he is one of the best and I ran basically almost as good as he did," Kevin said.  "To know I got through so many of those guys that have been doing this for years and years."

The podium finish was also nice for Amy Swindell, who got to see her husband and son on the podium at the same time, for the first time.

"I told them I thought I was going to faint," Amy said. "It was wonderful aftery they got up there and I had my camera and stood back and was filiming, it struck me what I was seeing."

Sammy, who is known for his quiet demeanor around the Sprint Car world is obviously a proud father and happy to now be racing side-by-side with his son.

"It's nice and he has been doing a pretty good job," Sammy said.  "When we've been off, he's been off because we've been doing about the same thing."

"What helps me seems to help him, too," Sammy added.  "It's been good having a couple cars that way."

"I just hope he can get some good runs this year and maybe win a few."

Fans will be hapy to know that Sammy will be spending more time in a Sprint Car this season, as he has taken the ride in Guy Forbrook's machine and will travel with Kevin this racing season.

It's a change for Sammy, and a chance to get back in the Sprint Car business more regularly after slowing down for several years to help Kevin get his racing career started.  Kevin found great success in the Min-Sprint ranks during the past few years.

"Yeah, it has been the good part," Sammy said.  "The bad part has been running around so much and not being able to pay as much attention to my stuff."

"It's been good," he added.  "I'm glad that I did it and glad that I could do it."

Kevin's step up to the big car has gone relatively smoothly.

"It hasn't been a horrible change, "Kevin said.  "It's a lot of throttle control and you don't have to be as far ahead of the  car as you do in a mini-sprint where you don't have th throttle response and steering."

As 15-year-old Kevin may not consider the step from Mini-Sprint to 410 Sprint a huge step, but Sammy said things are moving a bit faster than he had planned.

"Well probably a little faster than I thought really, as far as where we are at this point," Sammy said.  "Bug, most of the stuff we've been able to do he's been able to take right off with it and go.

"We're hoping to do some more things and dfferent things," he added.  "Hopefully we can make that happen."

According to Kevin, Sprint Cars were a logical step from the Mini-Sprints.

"I pretty much figured that's where I would be," Kevin said.  "This isn't where I want to stay, but for right now it's what I can do and it's what we're goin to do."

Like many of the other young Sprint Car drivers across the country right now Kevin hopes success at each level will propel him to another, but he doesn't have any concrete plans on what should come next.

"Really, it's whatever comes along," Kevin said.  "If it's something to do with stock cars or Indy car, but the ultimate goal to get to is a Formula One car."

"I'm going to try all I can to get there," he added.

Part of the reason Sammy has put so much time and effort into Kevin's career is the fact that he wants every door open for his son.

"Whatever he wants to do, I hope he can do it," Sammy said.  "There are a lot of things I wanted to do and didn't get to."

"But racing just takes so much being in the right place at the right time with the right people and now it's mostly about money," he added.  "You have to get with the right teams and right people with the right finances."

Thought Kevin is sure he wants to move on from the ranks of Sprint Cars someday, that doesn't mean he doesn't want to master the sport, at least to some degree, while he's here.

"With everything I've done the best part about it has been getting to the point where I could make the calls on what to do with the car," Kevin said.  "I was able to win races going off my own decisions.

"Everything I do, I want to be the best, but if something comes up this will probably go to a secondary things," he added.

His goals for racing don't only lay outside the Sprint Car ranks either Kevin wouldl ike to make a mark while he's racing Sprints.

"To be known as one to look out for or one of the better ones will be a real achievement for me," Kevin said.  "We got to that point in a Mini-Sprint and decided it was time to go to something else."

Sprint Car racing is a far cry from what it was when Sammy was 15 year-old, which has a lot to do with the fact Kevin has been able to make the move at such a young age, according to Sammy.

"Well, it would have been a lot tougher if the cars were the same as they were when I started," Sammy said.  "It was definitely a lot harder to drive and they're quite a bit easier than it has ever been."

"It's that way in most all the series," he added.  "You can see guys coming and going fast right away."

"It used to be a lot more the driver, now it's a lot more the car."

While Sammy was older when he got his start in Sprint Car racing, he said he also had one other thing going for him when he started - he had spent a lot more time in his father's racing shop.

"(Kevin) probably hasn't had as much time as I did in the shop," Sammy said.  "I was in the shop all the time and doing things."

"(Kevin) has been mostly on the road and trying to do his school stuff and keep everything going there so it has been a lot different than it was with me," he added.

MOM'S VIEW FROM THE STANDS

Being a mom or wife in the stands watching a Sprint Car race is sometimes tough - just imagine being both.  That's what Amy Swindell deals with.  Amy is Sammy's wife and Kevin's mom.

"It's different, completely,"Amy said.  "It's odd; because they haven't ran that close together a lot."

"It's like a tennis match, going back and forth looking for them on the track trying to watch them both at the same tims," she added.  "That makes it hard because I want to watch them both."

"But just watching Kevin has been amazing."

Amy admitted that sometimes she catches herself watching Kevin more than Sammy.

"Sammy can handle it, and I know that," Amy said.  "I think that makes me think I need to watch Kevin more, just because he's new at it."

"I really thought I would be real nervous watching Kevin when he first started, but I was amazingly calm," she added.  "That was weird to me because I have always been nervous watching Sammy.  I've been to where I couldn't watch."

"With Kevin I feel like I need to watch every second."

That may have been a surprise to Amy, but her mother had warned her that would be the case.

"Mom had explained that to me," Amy said.  "She said it's a completely different feeling with your son than with your husband, and I never understood that until he started racing in the same class."

Still having Sammy as a husband and watching him race for many years had to help prepare her for Kevin's first few trips around the track in a Sprint Car.

"It must have, because I know with (Sammy) Kevin has such a good teacher," Amy said.  "And the stuff that we're giving him is good stuff, so that part doesn't scare me."

"I figure he's OK," she added.  "He's just got to learn to drive them, and it seems like he's doing that OK."