After Kevin Harvick announced Thursday that the 2023 season would be his final NASCAR campaign, the city of Bakersfield responded by showing its love and sharing its memories of his racing career.
At his media availability Tuesday morning, Harvick took the opportunity to reciprocate.
Without the support of Bakersfield, he said, "I don't even get started."
“I feel like really all of my racing influence, for the most part, happened in Bakersfield, growing up around the Mears gang, growing up as a kid wanting to race in the Indy 500 and be just like Rick Mears," Harvick said.
Besides taking inspiration from the local legend Mears, who won that seminal Indianapolis 500 four times, Harvick recalled racing karts with Rick's son Clint and eventually racing the car belonging to Rick's nephew Roger Mears Jr.
"To tell you how much times have changed, I actually drove his Budweiser car when I was 17," Harvick said. "Try to do that in today’s day and age."
He made sure to note, though, that the time and attention he got in Kern County went beyond one family, expanding throughout a motorsports-obsessed local community "that would make sure that I got to the racetrack."
“You could take racing in Bakersfield and put it right in Mooresville, North Carolina (a NASCAR hub known as 'Race City USA'), and it would fit right in," Harvick said.
So what, Harvick was asked, did he plan to do to bolster Bakersfield going forward? (Besides, of course, eating at Mexican restaurant El Sombrero, which he gave a protracted shoutout. Last week, racing community fixture Allen Montes told The Californian he sends Harvick pictures of his food whenever he eats there.)
He said he plans to put his stamp on an event here in town.
“I have a great relationship with Larry Collins and Brian Olsen there in town with the racetrack (Kern County Raceway Park) and the SRL (Southwest) Tour," Harvick said, "so there’s obviously gotta be some sort of race to have as we go forward, so we’ll be looking to try to figure that out as to what the right timing of that is.”
For now, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season begins not far from Bakersfield, with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum in Los Angeles on Feb. 5.
Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.
