Kevin Swindell’s view of the world will be a little bit different during the 2007 racing season. See, the 18-year-old Team Mopar and Kasey Kahne Racing driver cut most of his formative laps with an aerodynamic wing overhead, but this year Swindell’s racing will be of the “topless” variety. That’s short-track parlance for the non-winged style of competition he will see as a driver for the Mopar-powered Sprint and Midget cars fielded by Kasey Kahne Racing on the United States Auto Club (USAC) circuit.
Kevin was racing go-karts at the age of five, even before he could ride a bicycle. Perhaps that was destiny: he is the son of Sammy Swindell, three-time World of Outlaws (WoO) series champion and a living legend in dirt-track Sprint Car racing. The younger Swindell began making his own mark on the American motorsports landscape. First came success on the karting scene, and then Quarter Midgets; Kevin was winning big by age 10. His next move was into winged Mini-Sprints, which served as “prep school” for the real thing: full-sized race cars.
In 2005, Kevin’s coming-of-age season, he scored five feature wins and nine total top-five finishes, and he set numerous track qualifying records, in just 10 starts, with the United Sprint Car Club (USCC). In 2006, Swindell, then 17, placed himself in the record books as the youngest driver to capture a World of Outlaws victory, this occurring at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Swindell branched into stock car racing in ‘06, making his first exploratory steps with the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) series. Swindell is also a development driver for Evernham Motorsports, the Dodge-sponsored NASCAR powerhouse.
Swindell, along with young KKR teammates Brady Bacon and Bryan Clauson, will kick off the 2007 USAC National Sprint Car Series season on March 31 at Ohio’s historic Eldora Speedway.
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