 | | Harvick, on his worst hotel experience: "The woman that was running the desk didn't have the keys to the room so she went in through the window and unlocked the door." Credit: Autostock |
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
June 14, 2005
03:28 PM EDT (19:28 GMT)
Even if he does nothing to provoke it, Kevin Harvick can't seem to escape being noticed. Whether it's in his role as driver for Richard Childress Racing's Nextel Cup and Busch Series operations or as an owner/driver of his own Craftsman Truck Series team, Harvick makes a lot of headlines. After the season-opening Daytona 500, Harvick sat down to answer 10 questions not specifically directed at his racing career. 1. What's your dream vehicle that you don't already own? Kevin Harvick: The dream vehicle that I don't already own is probably not the politically correct GM answer -- but it's probably a Porsche Carrera GT. Q: How much opportunity have you had to drive one of those and what is the most impressive aspect? Kevin Harvick: I really haven't had the opportunity to drive one, but I've seen it in Car & Driver and other magazines, and on TV and I saw one at the dealership. But I knew I really didn't need to drive it because my wife would have an absolute fit for buying a $450,000 car. 2. If time on the road weren't an issue, what would be your ideal pet? Kevin Harvick: I think we actually have our ideal pets. We have four dogs and two cats so we probably have all the pets that we'd want even if we weren't on the road.  |  | Kevin Harvick | |
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Q: DJ has got the same situation, with dogs and cats -- and he manages to figure out which one is in the house and out of the house at the right time. How do they all get along? Kevin Harvick: Well, we have a Teacup Chihuahua and a hundred-and-fifteen pound German Shepherd -- and the Chihuahua thinks it's the same size as the German Shepherd. We usually keep the Chihuahua in the motorhome. It stays on the road and the big dog usually stays at home. Q: Sounds like race drivers -- attitude is everything, right? Kevin Harvick: Exactly. 3. What's your pet peeve driving on the road? Kevin Harvick: My pet peeve is just the fact that some people just really don't understand how important things are and how unsafe that they actually drive. I'm kind of the really conservative driver on the road that drives just five miles an hour over the speed limit and doesn't tailgate. So that's probably my worst pet peeve, is somebody that rides right on your tail. 4. Racing means travel, so what is your worst hotel experience? Kevin Harvick: The worst experience I ever had was actually when I was racing go-karts. We couldn't find a hotel in the town because we waited 'til the last minute to decide to go race. |  | | Harvick at Bristol, 2005. Credit: Autostock |
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We wound up somewhere out 30 or 40 miles away from the racetrack and it was the only room that we could find. The woman that was running the desk didn't have the keys to the room so she went in through the window and unlocked the door. We went in the room and turned on the shower and cockroaches ran up the drain, out of the bathtub and -- I think we slept in our clothes that night. So that was the worst hotel experience by far. 5. I hate the way these questions come together, but what's your favorite food? Kevin Harvick: I enjoy Mexican food. Q: On the road, where's your favorite place to get Mexican? Kevin Harvick: Really, there's no comparison to West Coast Mexican food. We'll actually fly to Bakersfield to see my sister and mom and go to the little Mexican restaurant that I always ate at when I was home. 6. If you had to choose, would it be being honest or being nice? Kevin Harvick: Honest. I think sometimes honesty is not the nicest thing in the world, but it's always the thing that you don't have to worry about or to have to go back and cover your tracks. 7. What's your fondest childhood memory? Kevin Harvick: I think I was pretty lucky growing up to do a lot of different things, but it probably was just the time I got to spend on the road racing go-karts. |  | | "After Stewart won at Watkins Glen last year, I was going to go get him a box of Depends and put them in his car. But I never did that because I felt like that would probably be (too bad)." Credit: Autostock |
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Winning my first Grand National championship in Medford, Ore., was neat. We were kind of the underdog and didn't have a lot of money when we were growing up. So that was probably the coolest thing that happened to me, when I was young. 8. What would be your dream date: Where and with whom? Kevin Harvick: I'd say my dream date would probably be with my wife, DeLana. We spend a lot of time together and do a lot of different things and have been to a lot of different places together. I really don't know where we would go that we haven't been. We've been all over the country and been to the nicest places you could go, so we've been pretty fortunate on that end of it. 9. Racing and pranks kind of go hand in hand, and you've raced a lot of different series, so what's the worst prank that you either perpetrated or had played on you? Kevin Harvick: I think the worst prank probably never got to happen just because I started to feel bad as I started to do it. After Stewart won at Watkins Glen last year, I was going to go get him a box of Depends and put them in his car. But I never did that because I felt like that would probably be (too bad). I didn't want everybody else to see, so I didn't do it. 10. What would you consider your "Welcome to NASCAR moment?" |  | | Credit: Autostock |
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Kevin Harvick: That was probably the win at Atlanta, in 2001. Just the way it changed everything that was going on in the sport, it changed the way our race team was headed and it changed a lot of attitudes of everything that was going on. I think that was a point in my career that really opened my eyes because all of a sudden the world really changed in a hurry, so that had to be the biggest one. Q: Was that kind of an instant gratification -- or an instant awareness when you crossed the finish line -- of what that win meant to people? Kevin Harvick: I don't think it was instant because I don't think any of us expected anything like that to happen so fast. I think with everything that went on after that -- there were probably many moments that really kind of made us aware of how big everything was. I don't think any of us realized how much it meant at that particular time. | 
