As it turns out, Carson Hocevar has always been a bit of a rule breaker.
The driver of the #77 car for Spire Motorsports – whose racing style often draws comparisons to the late, great Dale Earnhardt – secured his first career NASCAR Cup Series win this past weekend in the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Speedway. It’s been a long time coming for Hocevar, and by that, I mean he’s been waiting for this moment ever since he was a kid.
Carson Hocevar has been driving ever since he was 7-years-old. From the get-go, the race car driver was surrounded by hype. Mainly because he just kept winning, and when he was just 13-years-old, he actually got in a little bit of trouble with NASCAR, who stepped in and stopped him from racing.
An old story from 2016 recently surfaced telling the story of how, when Hocevar was only 13, he won a Super Late Model race at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan. That was both a blessing and a curse. For one, it’s believed that he’s the youngest person to ever win at that race track. On the flip side, his win made headlines, which got the attention of NASCAR, who then moved in to stop Hocevar from racing there.
Track president Mike Bursley told Autoweek at the time that the racetrack was sanctioned by NASCAR, and thus had to abide by the association’s rules for drivers under the age of 14. Bursley believed they were operating under the right rules, but swiftly found out that wasn’t the case:
“Even before we became NASCAR-sanctioned here, we had that discussion with NASCAR Home Tracks because we had three drivers who were all under the age of 14, and they said it wasn’t a problem as long as we carried a separate insurance policy on the kids.
But what sparked it was Carson’s win a couple of weeks ago. It kind of went national, and it went up the ladder and raised red flags to those guys, and they pulled the plug on them this week. We tried really, really hard to work with them.”
Yeah… it sounds like Mike Bursley did all he could to fight for Hocevar.
Unfortunately, NASCAR decided to label the whole situation that played out in 2016 as a “miscommunication,” and released this official statement on the matter:
“There was an unfortunate miscommunication in conversations between NASCAR and Berlin Raceway that recently came to light and has now been corrected. NASCAR regrets the misunderstanding, but also recognizes that this is an important matter for all involved. NASCAR is taking additional steps to insure that there is no ambiguity regarding age limits with any NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks moving forward.”
Bursley went on to say that he didn’t feel there was miscommunication. Instead, he believed that NASCAR was aware of everything, and only changed their mind after Hocevar won. Regardless of how the track president felt about the situation, a 13-year-old Carson Hocevar was suspended from driving for the rest of the season, and until he was 14-years-old.
Before turning 14, he provided this statement to Autoweek, which turned out to be rather prophetic:
“My biggest goal is to be in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but I still have to climb my way there.”
I’d say teenage Carson Hocevar would be pretty proud of adult Carson Hocevar and all of the things he’s already been able to accomplish in his young, racing career. And judging by the driver of the #77 car’s post-win celebration at Talladega, he’s still that 13-year-old kid at heart:
