Ok, so the top line of the What You Didn’t Know section of the site had been me talking about how excited I am for 2007 to start. Well, it’s here so I figured I’d write some more of these fun little useless facts about me. I was made aware on April 19th, 2007 that there’s an error in the information provided in this section. About ¾ of the way through, I talk about how I was horrid at basketball in my younger years. I received an email from my 8th grade basketball coach, Mr. Trueit that I was “an important member of our 8-2 season.” He said that I also had “excellent strength and a great worth ethic.” That came from football. So see, I only made the hoops team cause of football. Mr. Trueit’s email was probably one of the coolest I’ve ever received. I often wonder if any of my old teachers know what I’m up to these days, and it means a lot that one does. Wonder if my high school counselor, who couldn’t understand why I was going to be a race car driver when I graduated and not go to college, knows that it paid off. To all you young kids out there – don’t skip college to drive. You can do both. Look at Ryan Newman. When Mandi and I went home to race the opener at Evergreen Speedway, I received some pictures of the first late model that I drove. That was a pretty cool gift. There’s pictures of old “Angie” in the Old School section of the site. It’s the red 34 Lumina. How’d I start running the number 34? Well, if you notice the Quarter Midget picture in the same section it’s #28. I chose that number because of Davey Allison. I wanted 17 because that was my dad’s number, but it was taken. I ran 28 until we got into the bigger cars, and it too was spoken for. So I chose 34 which was my 8th grade basketball number at the time. We ran that until I moved up to the NASCAR Northwest Series. 34 was taken, so we went with 33. Running the white/black/red/gold Texaco/Havoline scheme at Nashville was a really neat deal. My crew chief Brad Parrott had Bobby Allison come out with us because of the throw back scheme. I got to meet Davey’s widow Liz and that was really special. Very, very kind people. Because of my cool job, I meet cool people. I’ve got a great connection with the Seattle Seahawks now, and when they come to whoop up on Carolina on December 16th, we’ve got field passes. Being a huge Seattle Seahawks fan and living in Charlotte is tough. Everyone out here is goofy over the Panthers (I’m really not) and they never show the ‘Hawks on TV out here. I really don’t have a favorite college football team. I was never a fan of U of Washington or Washington State for some reason. I guess I pull for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, cause Mandi’s got family out there and they are great people. If they pull for Nebraska , I suppose I can too. My friends and team mates like my wife more then they like me. As a matter of fact, I think my parents do too. What up with that? Ever seen the show Rescue Me on FX? It’s for older audiences, but Mandi and I love that show. Getting signed by Ganassi is a dream come true for me. The whole process of talking with Lorin Ranier took over a year, but he kept his word and told me that when a spot opened up in the Driver Development program he'd call me, and he did. How many people keep their word like that? The first thing I did when I started Kevin Hamlin Racing, Inc. was order a ton of golf balls with my logo on them. How's that for money well spent!? For the official record, I'm not related to Denny or the RCR crew chief Kevin Hamlin. It's odd, because "Hamlin" isn't exactly a common name, and now there's three of us running around the garage area. I've learned a few terms in the south that are different than we used on the west coast: South: Shoe strings West: Shoe laces South: Interstate West: Freeway South: Reecie Cup West: Reece's (as it says on the package) South: Cookout West: Bar-b-que Also, everything is done by exit number in North Carolina. In Washington, it was by street name. I once put a golf cart through the front door/window of a machine shop. It was late, we were getting ready for a race the next day and I took the golf cart out for a spin. It ended badly. I was only 17 and thought I was going to jail. I played football, basketball, ran track and wrestled in middle and high school. In 8th grade I was team MVP of the football team. I only made the other teams cause of my football "status." I wasn't any good at them. Between 8th and 9th grade, I spent my summer in the race shop and everyone else hit the gym. I never played Varsity football again. While on my 8th grade basketball team, I only scored 6 points the whole year - and they were all in the last game. See above (I was only good at football.) My wife was my high school sweetheart. My father and Davey Allison were my heros as a child. When Davey died, I cried for almost a day straight. I still have his autograph hanging in our bedroom that I got from him when I was 11 years old. I like video games. Some people say it's nerdy - heck, my wife does. But it really helps with hand/eye cordination and reaction time. Plus, it keeps me out of trouble and out of the golf pro shops buying stuff. I LOVE golf. My grandpa took me to the driving range when I was about 8 years old the first time. he bought me this little set of clubs and showed me the basics. I played a couple years then didn't grab a club again until I was 22. Thanks to Robert Osaki for giving me those old clubs and getting me started again. Thanks to my dad for getting me a set of Tommy Armours for my 23rd birthday. I won my first late model race when I was 17 years old. It was the first race of the year. I didn't win my heat, so I wasn't the points leader at the end of the night. I won the next week, too. I didn't win again until mid season. I had some attitude problems that year, and my dad made me sit out for two weeks. That straightened me out in a hurry. 3 of my closest buddies in high school worked on my late model. One of them works on an ARCA team now and is a pretty smart chassis guy. Another is a middle school wrestling coach. The other is my NASCAR Northwest Series car owner's son and is a small business entrepreneur. Longacre Racing Products make the best quality set up equipment in the industry. I learned a lot about race cars working at Northwest Racing Enterprises when I was in high school. Melinda and Chris did everything they could to help us, and let us slide on our bill for WAY too long. Brendan Gaughan is more fun than he appears to be on TV. He's got the biggest heart in a human being than you can ever imagine. Star Wars is the best set of movies ever.