Kevin Harvick: Never Slowing Down

Kevin Harvick got a go-kart for his Kindergarten graduation, and he never looked back. This toy would prove to be the first of many cars that Kevin would drive. His career as a race car driver had begun with this cart. The kindergarten go-cart was the first car of many drivers. During the ten years that he competed on the go-kart circuit, Harvick earned seven National Championships and two Grand National Championships.

Harvick left the go-kart circuit to join the Featherlite Southwest Series, a NASCAR regional touring division, in 1992. Harvick raced part time for two years while finishing high school before going full time in 1995. That year, he won Rookie of the Year for the Featherlite Southwest Series. Harvick attended Bakersfield Junior College in California with the intention of obtaining a degree in architecture, but his heart was in racing. He left college and went on to the NASCAR Winston West Series. In 1998, Harvick captured the Winston West Series Championship title and was awarded the 1998 Motorsports Press Association Closed-Wheel Driver of the Year.

Harvick later became the first driver in NASCAR history to race full-time for both the Busch Series and the Winston Cup Series. He participated in seventy races in one season. He was the first driver to ever be named Winston Cup Rookie of the Year for the same season in which he won the Busch Series Championship. Harvick is currently one of only thirteen drivers who has won a race in each of the National Series-Craftsman Truck, Busch Series and Nextel Cup-and is one of only two drivers who have won at least two races in each series.

In 2001, Harvick and his wife began Kevin Harvick, Inc. (KHI), a race team then consisting of a truck built in a friend's garage for entry into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. KHI has now grown into a full-fledged racing organization representing two successful Busch Series cars and "an impressive Truck Series ride." Drivers operating for KHI are Ron Hornaday, Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.

In 2007, Harvick got the NASCAR season started off right by winning both season-opening events in Daytona. He went on to win the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Harvick lives up to his nickname of "Happy" in cyberspace. His Web site is not only user-friendly but kid-friendly. He refers to the kids as "Young Guns" and has a special page just for them. Harvick also maintains a blog, message boards, a chat page and a MySpace page.