Bowyer to medical personnel: ‘Get the hell out of my way’
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When Clint Bowyer‘s phone rings these days, he’s on alert. That’s why it’s now more frequently found with the volume up than on vibrate — just in case there’s a call coming in from what he calls "headquarters."
Bowyer checked his phone Friday during his news conference at Kansas Speedway, dismissing the incoming call when it turned out not to be from his wife, Lorra, halfway across the country with the couple’s 2-day-old son, Cash Aaron Bowyer. Friends and family had warned Bowyer that his life was about to undergo a dramatic change with the Wednesday birth of his first child — and with more than just his phone settings — but the 35-year-old driver wasn’t so sure.
"You’re like, ‘There’s no way,’ then all of the sudden that little gremlin comes out of there and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is real,’ " Bowyer said before making reference to his frenetic bedside manner during the process. "I was probably not the norm as far as a spectator in an event like that. In the room there I was high-fiving people and I was kind of pushing the doctor out of the way at one point because I was trying to get a better view of him coming into the world. Of course, the nurses are trying to hold me back and they’re like, ‘You can’t get that close.’ I’m like, ‘Get the hell out of my way, here he comes.’ It was a lot of fun. We were all laughing."
With one life-altering experience under his belt this week, Bowyer sets his course toward a what could be a career-defining victory at his home track in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). A Bowyer win would almost certainly align the planets toward turning the center of the sports universe to Kansas City, where the fountains are flowing bright blue in honor of their Royals’ return to the baseball playoffs and where Chiefs fans continue to bask in the home team’s Monday Night Football thrashing of the New England Patriots.
Bowyer had turned the TV off Tuesday night before the Royals’ victory advanced them to the American League Divisional Series against the Angels. Then came the mid-morning commotion of the impending childbirth.
"I’m like, ‘Honey, you ain’t going to believe this, but the Royals won,’ " recalled Bowyer, demonstrating an uncanny sense of domestic timing. "Now we’re arguing about the Royals winning and they’re carting her out the door and I’m like, this is crazy."
The choice of Baby Bowyer’s name offers a nod to American music legends Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, whose middle name was Aaron. Though Bowyer wouldn’t confirm whether any musical influence was involved in the decision, he did say that some alternates didn’t make the final cut.
"Well, she wouldn’t go for Cle-Bo — Cletus Bocephus," Bowyer said. "That’s the one that me and my friends came up with one night at the campfire, and she was definitely down on that. So we went with Cash."
While his life at home has changed forever, so have his old stomping grounds. Bowyer — who claims Emporia, Kansas, some 100 miles from Kansas Speedway, as his hometown — was still three years away from competing in NASCAR’s national series when the 1.5-mile track began hosting the Sprint Cup tour in 2001. Since those beginnings, the area around the speedway has built up into a thriving community.
"This place was the bad part of town," Bowyer said. "To see what has become of this area and to watch the first race here, I remember being down in the infield on top of a motor home, I don’t remember who it was, but I was down watching the very first race here. Watched the shopping center being built, watching the baseball diamonds and now the soccer fields, the casino — all of this area has really become one of the best places to be in Kansas City and it all hubs around this race track. That’s the impact this speedway did for this community."
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