At Only 13, Carson Hocevar Dominates the Field With a Big Win at Berlin Raceway

Carson Hocevar of Portage, Mich. outraced his competition and earned his first feature win at a Super Late Model car event at Berlin Raceway. Hocevar started sixth in the 25 car field, took the lead at lap 17, and led the field the rest of the race. A caution fell on lap 44 out of 60 but he kept his composure. Hocevar’s competitors thought that this was their chance to get in front of him – they were wrong. Seemingly with ease, Hocevar drove away on the restart.  He beat VanHaitsma, a 35 year old racing veteran by nearly .8 seconds.

Hocevar began racing Quarter Midgets when he was just six years old. He was a natural who worked hard and quickly racked up eleven United States Auto Club (USAC) Championships. Hocevar’s father Scott never had much interest is racing until Carson started asking about it. From there Scott bought a quarter midget and Hocevar’s driving career quickly exploded. With 55 Quarter Midget national races won, he has earned the most wins in USAC history.

Both for the sake of harder competition and literally (he is now 6’1”) Hocevar outgrew Midget racing and has set his sights on Stock Cars. One of Hocevar’s greatest assets is Michigan Native Johnny Benson Jr. who is working as his driving coach and chief mechanic. Benson wasn’t sure that he wanted to deal with travelling and coaching, but after talking with Hocevar’s father, putting a car together, and watching him drive, he decided he wanted to jump in and work with him.

After his big win, there was some unfortunate news for Hocevar. At 13, he was too young to compete in NASCAR sanctioned events like the Super Late Model race he has just won at Berlin Raceway. Because of this, his 2016 season was cut short and he missed out on some titles like Rookie of the Year he would have likely rearned, but he hasn’t let it get him down and is ready and excited to compete freely in 2017.