By Matt Woo,
Special to Germantown Appeal

The first thing Kevin Swindell learned to race wasn't some measly bicycle.

At age 5 he traded in bike pedals and handle bars for engines and steering wheels and was already tearing around the indoor race tracks in his souped-up go-cart.

Now 15, Swindell is traveling around the country and still racing circles around his competition.

Germantown's Swindell has been racing go-carts and sprint cars competitively for the last 10 years. And for as long as he could remember, racing has always been a part of his life, often touring with his father, Sammy Swindell, who is a three-time National Sprint Car champion.

"I've always had a passion to race since I was little, and I always wanted to race and be in a car," he said.

By age 5, Swindell began winning novice go-cart races and quickly moved up to other divisions of cart racing. Soon after, Swindell won the World Kart Association Divisional races, and at 12 years old he was competing in dirt and pavement racing. One year later he moved to the WKA national division and won two national championships, a grand national title and recorded seven national race wins.

With his success in the World Kart Association Divisional races, Swindell recently joined the World of Outlaws series with his father. At only 15, Swindell is the youngest member on the series, and he and Sammy form one of only two father-son teams.

Though he is the youngest competitor on the series, Swindell doesn't let his age slow him.

"It doesn't bother me (that I'm the youngest)," he said. "It's more fun knowing that when I beat or outrun them, it makes them think twice."

This is Swindell's first season on the World of Outlaws series and he has already enjoyed instant success, with two fifth-place finishes, a third and a sixth in nine races.

Swindell owns four racing cars and all are kept in the family-owned Swindell Motorsports garage.

Overall, Swindell has won 63 minisprints, carts, quarter midgets and road race carts in his young career.

Copyright, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. Used with permission.

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