Big things await young Kevin Swindell.  CHRIS JORDAN spoke to him about sprint cars, his father and dreams of cracking Formula One.

Seeing a future star at the peak of his powers, in full flight, is always a moment to behold.

It’s the kind of moment that in years to come will be a nostalgic reflection of a bygone race experience.  The sort of thing grandparents love to annoy their grandchildren with.

At Parramatta City Raceway, 13 to 16 January 2005, the assembled crowd saw 15-year-old Kevin Swindell take to the racetrack in his debut event on the most grueling racing series in the world, the 97-night World of Outlaws Sprint car Championship.  I made sure I stowed the memory safely within my mind.

Kevin, son of three-time World of Outlaws champion and Speedway legend Sammy Swindell, is a man, sorry, boy going places.  He has obviously been blessed with a gift and he is starting to be talked about with glowing terms in US racing circles.

While here in Australia, he showed why.

I stand talking to Kevin about life, the Parramatta City Raceway track, the weather, just general things, before the night’s racing begins.  Our conversation is interrupted by the pit public announcement system, bellowing in the background.

“Could all persons under the age of 16 please leave the pit area, as we are approaching race time and juveniles under 16 are not permitted in the pit area under New South Wales law.”

I look at Kevin with a smile and he looks back at me, also smiling, with a quizzical look on his young, usually ultra-focused face.

But we say nothing.

You see, the dynamic Kevin is only 15.  He is coy about admitting it and is well used to racing under a false D.O.B.  Kevin will be 16 on February 21.

He would only admit his age after the event had passed, wanting to be sure his amazing results would remain intact.

But once on the racetrack, no quarter is given to his youth by his rivals, nor does he expect any.

Before he came to PCR for the second running of the Outlaws Down Under, Kevin had raced a sprint car only eight times.  He had only raced a 410 cubic inch-powered car twice, and never at a World of Outlaws event.  His experience was mainly in karting, bitumen and dirt, which he began racing at age four, and Minisprints (like our Formula 500s).

So you could understand if he was daunted by the Outlaws task.  But such is this boy’s skill and determination that he took to embarrassing some of the biggest names in world sprint car racing over his two-week stay in Australia.

After starting the event 15^th, Kevin finished sixth in his first-ever Outlaws feature A-Main.  His car was less than perfect, after quick overnight repairs were needed when he nosed it hard into the front straight wall as a result of clipping another car.

But arguably a better testament to his talent was his qualifying performance on night two, when with a favorable but by no means perfect qualifying draw, Kevin qualified second out of the 66 cars that took to the track.

On his first lap, he tried the mid-track line through turns three and four, searching for turn-in grip and traction.  With none to be found, he soared around the top of the cushion on his second lap with his right foot firmly planted.  P2 – 0.005s behind full-time Outlaw Jason Meyers, who had qualified earlier and so, when the track was faster.

To grow up in the shadow of a great racing father is often a frustrating topic to bring up with a young son-of-a-gun.  But in the ‘States, it is a much more common thing for families to churn out generation-after-generation of drivers.

Kevin, though, has found an unusual affliction attached to his surname; everyone expects him to be a World of Outlaws champion.

“People automatically believe that I’m like a clone or something and that’s how I’m going to be.  A lot of people go for that.”

“That’s why I really wanted to get onto the pavement and the road course stuff and really the only reason we are running a sprint car is just…to race, to get laps, to get experience.”

“It’s been a lot harder for me, because I think that I’ve been put over as a speedway, oval and dirt driver so I’m trying to put it out there that that’s not where I want to be and that I want to be in an Indy Car on a road course.”

“Formula One is the ultimate.  That’s the goal but it’s tough.”

Kevin looks pensive, maybe just a trademark passed down from his father, who is famous for his stoic poses.  I remind him that Mark Webber was 24, nine years older than he is now, when he put pen on his first F1 race contract.  It brings the youthful smile back.

“I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not even old enough to get into anything right now.  I want to see a contract for something already, but I just will hopefully get something come along in the next few years.”

Indeed, Kevin admits that he has had to knock back offers to drive in certain series, such as the non-wing USAC Silver Crown sprint car series that will field Erin Crocker and Kraig Kinser this year, for he is not allowed to run on ovals of a one-mile length or more until he is 18.

So he sticks to sprint cars for now, keeping one eye firmly on road course opportunities in the meantime.

Amazingly, when that opportunity comes, it could see not one but both the Swindells leave the Outlaws circus.

“Dad’s been a huge help.  He’s said that if I got something that was enough, he would give up and just go along to help.”

“This is his living and it’s how he makes his money.  But he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get me up through everything.”

The task of junior open wheel formula does not daunt Kevin.  Everything new that he had jumped into so far he has adapted to immediately.  He is ready for the challenges that await.

“When I first drove a kart on a road course, I went out and drove the thing within two, three hundredths of a second of what the team had ever run there and that was in about 15 laps and I’d never run a road course in my life.”

“From all the things my dad’s run, and he’s run NASCARs and Indy Cars, he said these are the hardest things to drive.  So I guess if I can run good in one of these, I can drive anything.”

The general consensus at Parramatta for the Outlaws was that Kevin had outstripped even the wildest speculations of his talent.

Parallels are hard to find, but Jeff Gordon’s early speedway career was similarly impressive, before he left to become on of the powers of NASCAR.

This time around, America has a talent that is clear in his goal of Formula One.  While he sensibly realizes that NASCAR and its seven figure salaries will always be an option, it is F1 that he thirsts for.

Time is on his side and the talent is obviously in his pedigree.  F1 needs an American star, so could Kevin be their great hope?

So a big year awaits young Kevin.  Approximately 80 nights of racing, 50 of those on the World of Outlaws schedule, and life now as a full-time racing driver.  Mother Amy will take care of the education, home-schooling Kevin on the road.

Oh, and he’ll be able to get his driver’s license soon.

Used with permission from Australasian Motorsport News Issue #301, Jan 26 2005

http://www.mnews.com.au