She wanted to race cars, like her dad. He told her she could be a race car driver, once she got her college degree.
DeLana Linville Harvick got it, graduating from UNCG in English in 1996.
And she was soon behind the wheel, trading paint with guys who’d been racing since they could barely reach their go-cart peddles. “I kind of missed out on about 20 years of experience.”
But she loved the world of NASCAR. She’d been at the tracks since she was three weeks old. She’d arranged her college classes to allow for all the long race weekends. And she realized her UNCG degree in English along with her years of experience at the tracks with her dad, longtime driver John Paul Linville, gave her a great opportunity.
She started her career working public relations and marketing for Jeff Gordon, then for Randy LaJoie. She was being exposed to a high level of NASCAR she’d never known.
Meanwhile, she met a young driver from California, Kevin Harvick. He raced a Nationwide car for Richard Childress Racing, whose star driver at the highest Cup level was Dale Earnhardt Sr. Kevin and DeLana set a wedding date. It would be two weeks after the first race of the season, the 2001 Daytona 500.
At the Daytona 500, Earnhardt lost control of the race car at nearly 180 mph and was killed. A sport mourned.
Childress chose Kevin Harvick to take the car, changing its number to 29.
2001. A remarkable, tragic, joyous, almost-indescribable year. DeLana reflected on that time, a decade ago.
“2001 knocked us all back a little bit. There was so much going on. Dale died. And Kevin getting in that car. Our wedding. He won the Nationwide championship that year. He was rookie of the year in the Cup series. He won two Cup races. There was a whirlwind of activity that year. That’s when we decided … we’d start KHI.”
KHI is Kevin Harvick Inc. Based in Kernersville, it fields Nationwide cars and Camping World trucks, two of the top three series in NASCAR. Meanwhile, Kevin races in the top series, the Sprint Cup, for Richard Childress Racing (RCR).
Harvick spent much of last year’s season atop the NASCAR Cup leaderboard, ultimately finishing third.
Our deal was, if I graduated from college, he would get me a race car.
As DeLana tweeted to the team’s fans, that level of success helps in attracting demand for sponsorships for the KHI vehicles.
A co-owner, DeLana oversees the marketing/promotional work, focusing on sponsorships. Sponsorship dollars keep the racing operation moving forward.
“We’re competitive on the race track, and I feel like we’re competitive off the race track, with our marketing and public relations group. For me, that’s the best of both worlds.”
Over the past year, they have created the Kevin Harvick Foundation, helping young people. This year’s focus will include “Chase Your Dreams” scholarships and a “Christmas for Kids” program.
“We felt like if there’s a way that we can enrich a child’s life … to give them an opportunity to feel like they can do anything, pursue their dreams, that is what we wanted to do.”
KHI will race three trucks full-time and two cars full-time this year. It’s a long way from the one truck they started with in 2001.
“I’ll be honest, being a manager and dealing with people [as a manager] on a day-to-day basis was foreign to both Kevin and me,” DeLana said. But the Kernersville-based racing operation has grown. Two championship banners hang from the rafters, as well as dozens of race victory banners. They now have about 100 employees.
“We’re doing something right.”
Read about how DeLana reacted last summer when driver Joey Logano took aim at both Harvicks by saying “His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do.” About why she was nearly born at a racetrack. About women in NASCAR. And what she envisions for KHI in the decades ahead.
By Mike Harris, University Relations
Photograph courtesy CIA Stock Photography, Inc.
