Early Life
Kevin Harvick was born in 1975 in Bakersfield, California to parents Mike and JoNell Harvick. He has two siblings, sister Amber and brother Clayton. Harvick began kart racing at a early age, after his parents bought him a go-kart as a kindergarten graduation gift in 1980. Over the next decade Harvick achieved considerable success on the go-cart racing circuit, earning seven (7) national championships and two (2) Grand National championships. In 1992, he started racing late models part-time in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series and he competed there while still in high school. While in 5th grade Harvick gave a glimpse of his future career plans when he completed a class project poster listing his goals as competing in NASCAR and racing at the Indy 500. Harvick's father, a firefighter and fixture around the Bakesfeld racing scene, built him his first car to compete in the lower NASCAR Series by using the money he earned to run his own garage, Harvick Motorsports. When Harvick could not race, such as in the winter, he competed on his high school wrestling team at Bakersfield's North High School winning a sectional title in his weight class his senior year. Growing up Harvick also participated in baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. Originally intending to attend college and major in architecture, Harvick took classes at Bakersfield Junior College. However he found his heart was in racing and dropped out to continue his racing career full-time.
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