[Tabitha Draughon]

CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association Racer Spotlight:

This week we are headed to Huntersville, NC; home of Kevin Wideman. He is 42 years young, originally from Festus, MO, & has been racing for 15 years. His race car is a 2013 Chevrolet COPO Camaro, powered by a 396 CI LS3 built by himself & his business, Wideman Motorsports. His list of sponsors include: Turn Key Automotive, COPO Build Center, ED Rinke Chevrolet, Diamond Pistons, & CFE. Kevin would like to give "Special Thanks" to Victor Cagnazzi, Steve Johns, & Nick Ferri for giving him a chance to hang out & eventually work with them full time at Cagnazzi Racing & to Turnkey Automotive trusting him to build and tune around 15 engines for him & be able to race one of his race cars. Kevin says that his most memorable race win came from his 1st Footbrake win at Farmington Dragway where he took out a long list of the Farm hitters. Some of his accomplishments are the 2007 WKA Go Kart Championship, 5K win at Coastal Plains Raceway Park Dragway for the Loose Rocker Series, being part of the 2007 & 2008 NHRA Pro Stock Championship team with Jeg Coughlin, & the NHRA Speed/ET records by Erica Enders Racing & Rodger Brogdon in Gainesville Raceway. Kevin recalls his most epic fail was probably last year driving Jamie Miller's (Southards) Duster at zMAX DRAGWAY at the Fall National event. Before Q2, they put new Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels tires on the car & about 1/2 track, the car wanted to turn left into the wall. He initially thought there was a problem in the front end (there was but wasn't this issue) so they fixed some stuff up front. Car is still pulling left so him & his crew reset the ride heights & toe...still pulling left. Long story short, cord in brand new tires broke & 1 tire was 2" taller than the other. They put 2 more brand new Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels on which are same height & rest the ride height yet again & the car goes straight as an arrow! Talk about pulling your teeth out, beating your head against the wall (almost literally), & your butt cheeks tightening up!!!! As far as funny stories, Kevin has lots of those but you'll have to get him to fill you in there as I'm only going to post about one of them. In 2011, he was racing the Gamblers race at the yearly bracket finals event. He had "sucked" all day (and night also) resulting in a loss so he started drinking. He kept hearing them announce about a mulligan race so he went to the tower to ask about details of that race. Tickets are $20 each, they draw 4 tickets, those 4 drivers race off & the winner gets put back in the race in the round of 16 cars. Kevin bought one �� at $20, was one of the 4 winners drawn, won the run off, & was put back in the race at 14 cars. Needless to say, his $20 purchase paid off, & he ended up winning the Gamblers Race. Luckily they didn't give a breathalyzer to the winner ��! Kevin competes in CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association, NHRA Southeast Division 2, NHRA national events close to home, as well as some NMCA races.

Kevin has tons of experience in all aspects of drag racing. He has worked at Roush & Yates in the honing department, Cagnazzi Racing in the engine shop, & Gray Motorsports doing engine maintenance & tuning on Dave Connolly & Larry Morgan's car. He then moved to Michigan to work on the COPO program at the GM Powertrain Performance & Racing Center developing new engine combinations. After he left there, him & his wife Jamie eventually moved back to Huntersville where he opened up his current business Wideman Motorsports & is a successful engine builder. Kevin is the type of person that you wants to be friends with at the track. Not only does his knowledge come in help, his stories are endless! We look to have Kevin racing with us more in CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association in 2023.

CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association still has a little over a month before our season finale at Coastal Plains Raceway Park Dragway but there is plenty of racing left & we hope that of racers find their way to the Winner's Circle. Several of our CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association racers are competing at the NHRA North Central Division 3 this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, IL. Next weekend is the NHRA Southeast Division 2 finale at Orlando Speed World Dragway. Then you have the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove Raceway & the Stock/SS Combo race at GALOT Motorsports Park. See y'all at the track soon!