Nevin George  June 2003 Interview

By Robin Wayne Ervin

Nevin George, one of the youngest drivers on the Featherlite tour, turned many heads when he won his first Featherlite Modified race in commanding fashion at Nazareth in 2002. Winning is nothing new to this 21 year old who has been winning at the local tracks in Penn since he was young.

The Kunkletown Penn. native started racing quarter midgets weekly at Lehigh valley at age 7 and was a dominant presence there for many years. George states “I’ve always been around racing, always had a thing for motors and my father wasn’t involved in racing himself other than watching races and being a fan.” “He took me to 1/4 midget track to watch the races.” “We found a quarter midget, purchased it, things just fell in place and that led to where we are today.”

It started as a something the family could do together. Father and son would work on the cars together and on the weekends the family would go to the racetrack and have fun.  The older George got, the more involved his family became with the sport as they moved up to bigger cars and racing at bigger venues. 

When George became proficient at being successful and winning at one level, they moved up to the next level “'its the way I’ve always been,” stated George “ the way I’ve always drove.” “Luckily, we’ve been successful in every series we've been in so far and I hope it continues that way.”

He was just 14 years old when he moved up to D/A modifieds at Mahoning Valley Penn but racing against guys much older than him never fazed him. George states “ It was never a big thing to me.” “I guess I haven't really looked at it that way.”  “ I think, it doesn't matter what your age is because the way I look at it, if you can be competitive when your ten years old, good for you”. “My age was never really an issue with me because as long as I could get around, be competitive with these guys I was happy”

He captured his first modified title in his rookie year at Mahoning and repeated as its champion in his sophomore year, all the while maintaining straight A’s in school. “I never really liked school all that much, “ said George “but I grew up in a family that was very supportive my racing as well as interested in me getting an education at school.” “To me, bringing them back good grades was my way of keeping them happy and also a way to thank them for helping me race.”

It wasn’t hard for him to transfer his racing knowledge he had from the previous level to the next level. “In a way it’s easy, the general knowledge you need in racing in order to have an idea on what a car is going to do on the track and how to be competitive is similar no matter what you drive but, every division you move to requires something a little bit different and you have to drive it a little bit different.” George continues “ I’d say 50% of knowledge could be transferred from one car to the next or from one series to the next.” “The other 50% you have to pick up on and that’s new every time.”

During the 1999 season the George racing team raced on the local circuit while preparing to make the move into the Featherlite tour series. George and his father went at it slow and deliberately. Over a the course of year they made steady progress, a heat race here, a some practice laps there until George felt comfortable behind the wheel.  The following year they decided to run a full season.   They ran the first two seasons in FLM under George Racing banner but following two years of ups and downs decided to join forces with Ralph Solhem. “It’s hard to be competitive when you’re just coming into it on your own and try to compete with these teams, it’s almost like (pause) you can’t do it.” “That’s really what changed our minds about the way we were doing things.”

 They teamed up with Solhem for 2002 season, which resulted in George winning his first FLM race at his home track of Nazareth. Penn, winning three poles, finishing eighth in points and being named most improved driver.

“Yeah that just shows what were about. We struggled a little bit when we owned our own cars because dad wasn’t really involved in the sport before I was.” “ It’s all about the knowledge and Ralph had been doing this for years.”

(Ralph Solhem is the owner of the #0 car and the whole operation).  Ralph is just an incredibly smart man.  It blows me away, its amazing the knowledge that comes out of him.  He loves to build and maintain racecars, It all he every did, all he ever loved to do, Like, there are things that I would try to figure out for a week and it would come to him automatically.

When asked if his father still play a part – “absolutely, he’s my main sponsor, my main support.” “He always has a wrench in his hand and helps maintain the cars.” “It gives him a break, kind of get away from his business and enjoys being at the race track.”

When not here George works with his father in the family’s paving and excavating business and he also has my recently started his own side business of installing decorative walkways, patios and retaining walls. “I’m going to see how it goes, so it’s (the business) doing okay.”

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“I think we should be better in the points than we are right now. But it’s too early in the season to be worried about that. We had a winning car at the first two tracks but winning just wasn’t on our side. We led a few laps at each track, we’ve had a descent car but things didn’t go our way, hopefully we can turn this thing around and get back on track.

When asked his plans for the future George states “To be competitive and to be a front runner in any form of racing, in whatever series I compete, I think that’s my main goal.”