I always enjoy talking to Kevin Conway. From that first time speaking with an excited hopeful years ago to last week’s chat with this confident 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Raybestos “Rookie of the Year” contender, Kevin is always gracious with his time, grateful and just plain “real”. I like this young racer and just to set the record straight I like him as a person, as well.
I am always amazed when I talk to Kevin. Each time, usually, represents another step forward in his racing career. There have been a few times as with all young racers however, when he has taken a step or two backwards, but somehow he always takes something useful from those tough times and rallies it into a positive. He is not only determined and unique, but also an example to other racing hopefuls of the benefits of tenacity and hard work. He has, literally, created most of his own opportunities.
“I’ve spent my entire life in pursuit of this and I haven’t had some of the same opportunities along the way as some of the other guys have had due to funding things or whatever,” he stated. “I would love to have gone out and run a full year of ARCA, then a year of trucks and then a year of Nationwide and then be in the position I am in now, but, I’ve never had that. I’ve had to take the limited opportunities that I have had and try to make the most of them. There’s always that glimmer of hope at running well even if it isn’t the best of equipment, but, you have to make the best of it. Quite frankly, I’ve had some that were just flat out awful that I thought were going to be great, so, along the way it has been a major battle to create those opportunities and do whatever it takes to stay in the racecar.”
“You’ve known me for a long time, Marty, and have seen the struggles. A lot of
people have said, ‘Oh, you’re the guy who has a sponsor and has bought his way in.’ That is not the case.”
We have all seen young talented drivers come and go in this sport. Some have taken under funded and inadequate rides that had no potential of winning or even running well, yet, the drivers grasped at any hope presented to them.. Kevin has experienced a few of those instances, so when asked about his disappoints along the way and how he has held on to see himself reach this goal where others failed, he offered this.. “A lot of times there are those ‘death rides’, so to speak, out there. I don’t really call them failures. They are just opportunities we have had to make the most of somehow. The biggest thing, I think, is what the football coach Jimmy Johnson, not the driver, says. He says, ‘I either want to be the best or I want to be the worst trying to be the best.’ So, you can’t always explain why you went out there and ran 25th even though you drove your tail off and gave it all you had. Or you can’t always say we put this car together in 2 weeks, or this team has no funding. That story gets old. You can’t keep telling that story. Then there are times when I have flat out screwed up. Those all are the times when deep down you know the whole story and just have to keep pushing on and stay focused.”
“The biggest thing is to not let your confidence get shaken. At the end of the day you have to realize you can do this.If I didn’t believe in myself 110% I definitely wouldn’t have put everything on the line to get to this point. It has cost me a lot personally. There have been times when I could hardly keep my lights on just to pursue this. At the end of the day it comes down to how badly you want this. I could have concentrated on the marketing aspect of this sport. I’ve had some tremendous opportunities to work with some great companies and could have made a great living, but, that is not what drives me to get out of bed every morning. It’s the pursuit of this dream. It’s been a heck of a journey, but, man I am so excited for this opportunity with Extenze. This is just a dream come true and a little overwhelming. We’re getting ready to compete for the Raybestos Rookie Of The Year in the Sprint Cup Series! Holy Cow!”
What does he think about his rookie status? It has long been said that the rookie stripe is a target on the track. Are there concerns? “You know there are certain guys that are going to race the heck out of you,” he continued. “They’re going to yank you chain a little bit. The biggest thing is I don’t want to do anything stupid. The last thing I want to do is go out and wreck one of those guys that are going to be in contention for a championship.”
“I know just how difficult of a task that we have ahead of us. I know that I am up for it and I know with Extenze, Ford Racing and Front Row we are completely up for the challenge. We have been trying to set very realistic goals for ourselves and manage our expectations. Our first and foremost goal is to compete for the rookie title while, at the same time, staying in top 35 in points. At the end of the day if we accomplish that we will have had a successful year. For me personally, I have a little higher goals than that, but, at the same time we want to be realistic. The first half of the season is going to be a struggle, but, in the second half I will have more seat time and be returning to some of the tracks, so, that will be time for us to step up our performance a little bit.’
“The entire Front Row Motorsports team has grown tremendously last year. Bob Jenkins started it about 5 years ago. They were kind of a fledgling Cup deal. Their goal was to just try to make the race and more times than not they were unsuccessful. In 2009 Bob really stepped up to the plate and worked out a points deal with Earnhardt and Ganassi to where they were locked in to the 1st 5 races with John Andretti in the car. They operated throughout the year, pretty much, on a shoestring budget out of Bob’s pocket. John Andretti did a great job making sure they finished races and stayed in the top 35 all year long without any engineering or factory support beating out some teams with very significant budgets. It was a banner year for Front Row and it was through that that Ford Racing approached Bob and I was able to meet Bob. We are kind of like an old school, independent team and we now have full factory backing from Ford Motor Company and Ford Racing with access to full engineering resources, wind tunnels and shaker rigs, so, this is very exciting. We are surrounded with great people and that is what really makes or breaks your team. I feel by the end of the year we should be a consistent top 25 team”
Peter Sospenzo will be Conway’s Crew Chief. Additionally drivers Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland will be joining FRM in 2010 .
In speaking with Conway this time, I heard and sensed something so different than in all the other interviews of the past. There is, of course, the excitement, the confidence, and some nervousness, but there was something more. He sounded so settled and matured with this team, so grounded already. I was hearing something entirely alien to our many interviews of the past. What was I noticing?
“I’ve never had the chance to run a full season in of the 3 major series. So, to have an opportunity to run my 1st full time campaign in the Sprint Cup Series is just really cool. I think, for me, it’s the culmination of so many things, knowing I have great teammates in David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil. These are guys that have been where I am now, guys I can lean on setup wise. Then with Ford’s support and having such a great sponsor like Extenze it is all a dream come true. It’s like pinch me.”
“We’ve been able to work with Extenze and the Alteril brands to take them in to more of a main stream light. It’s been awesome to see the growth of the brands and getting them away from the typical stereotypes associated with the brand. We now have an Extenze store in Concord Mills Mall. It is fantastic. And we have the track side merchandising program where all of our merchandise is available for purchase at every track. We have a brand new website www.extenzeracing.com that’s launching in conjunction with the 500. It’s a really cool website where we will have everything from real time updates, videos and blog updates on the site. All the merchandise can be purchased there as well as free samples. All kinds of neat stuff. And we are getting ready to shoot a whole new series of commercials in 5 production days. There are going to be a couple of really big names that will be in the commercials with me that I think are going to really shock everybody. I just feel like everything is coming full circle.”
“I feel extremely lucky because I know there are thousands of other racecar drivers that are just as talented that may never have the opportunities that I had, however you get them, whether it’s hard work, persistence of just pounding the pavement. None the less this opportunity is in front of me to take advantage of and I’m just very, very grateful to have a sponsor like Extenze that has taken a huge leap of faith in me last year. They believe in me 110% and I believe in them 110%. This has been an awesome partnership and it means the world to me to have that kind of support. That has been the missing ingredient in my career all along, to have someone who really believes in me and is loyal. Loyalty is non existent in the corporate world today and I am 100% committed to them, as well. Their loyalty means everything.”
In closing Kevin wants to tell everyone. “Don’t stop believing in your own dreams or someone else’s.” That belief and the belief of his family, friends and fans have certainly kept him working day and night to realize this dream. He has made it and we at CF wish him nothing but great luck, Kevin.
FYI:
As always we will be watching and cheering. You can follow Kevin on Facebook at Extenzeracing. Get great info and timely updates!
