From karts to stock cars, McDowell comes full circle in Las Vegas

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Las Vegas is not a place widely known to be connected to Michael McDowell. The 40-year-old is an Arizona native and, in a story familiar to many in the racing world, his career features go-karting early in life. From there, the well-known parts of his resume include stints in open wheel, sports cars, and eventually a transition to stock cars. McDowell even competed overseas at one time.

However, there was also a less well-known period from McDowell's life when he lived in Las Vegas.

"My brother and I — while I was racing go-karts — went and worked for a couple of different go-kart teams, and he really did the business, marketing, and sales side, and I was the mechanic and grunt worker," McDowell told RACER. "So, we went from Leading Edge Motorsports, Greg Bell in Lodi, California, and running for him for a few years and I don't know what causes you to make switches but we switched it up and moved out there to Vegas to work for MTC (Motorcycle Tire Center) and they had a shop. We helped run that race team, and part of that was me getting to race as well."

McDowell figures he was about 15 years old at the time. His brother, Billy, is three years older than he is.

The two lived in an apartment just outside the city, and they worked out of a building downtown on the Las Vegas Strip. But looking back now at a time when two teenagers were living alone in Las Vegas, McDowell says with a laugh that it wasn't a big deal.

"You couldn't do anything; you couldn't go anywhere," he said. "We were working, so it wasn't, like, fun. It wasn't like we did anything fun."

The work was fun, though. McDowell doesn't say it to brag, but he was good at working on go-karts, which he had started doing at 8 years old.

"And we always did it as a family," McDowell said. "My dad was a great mechanic. My brother was a great mechanic. I always worked on my own stuff, and I guess I've always been that way and engineering-minded, too. I wanted to understand how things worked. I would spend time at the engine builders' shop and my grandfather was an automotive machinist, and he sold automotive machinery. So, I always knew a lot about how things were made and not just how they worked. I've always been intrigued by those aspects and have been involved in that process.

"Then when we got to an age where you sort of find your sweet spot, my brother's sweet spot was being a great salesman. He was an entrepreneur from the time he was little. He knew how to put deals together and how to get things done, and that wasn't my sweet spot. My sweet spot was that I would build it. So, we were a good team."

McDowell didn't stay in Las Vegas long — he thinks it was less than a year — and isn't necessarily nostalgic about the area. But he can now point out specific locations to his children about where he worked or lived.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, however, is not a part of McDowell's story. While living in Las Vegas, McDowell doesn't remember the track where he will race on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. Unlike the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle, or Riley Herbst and Noah Gragson, Las Vegas natives, McDowell doesn't have that type of connection to the area. It was more of a stop along the way to the next thing in his racing career.

"This spot here," McDowell said, "was my last hurrah in go-karts before I transitioned into big cars."

Saturday, in a big stock car for the Cup Series race at Las Vegas, McDowell won the pole. It was his first at the track and the first ever for Spire Motorsports. Just another page to add to his personal history in the city.