Many of NASCAR’s future stars are driving at local track circuits, while building their careers and looking for coveted sponsorship to advance. Jay Havens is a 3rd generation racer, working hard to break into NASCAR’s top series’ while at the same time, building a meaningful foundation.
Jay Havens (right) with his Dad, Mike (left) and Popa, Richard (center)
Jay Havens comes from a long line of racing inspiration, beginning with his grandfather Richard, who has been involved in racing since the 1960s. His involvement in racing has been with everything from limited late models to Busch – now Nationwide – series cars.
Following his father, Richard’s footsteps, Mike Havens has also been involved in racing with his son Jay following his grandfather and fathers’ footsteps since he was five-years-old. Together, Richard and Mike have about 150 wins, with neither of them actually driving cars. With the support of his family, Jay Havens began his racing career at 15 years of age and since then, Jay has accumulated 36 top-fives, 41 top-tens and 9 pole starts.
Jay Havens with his mom, Beth. She inspired Jay’s foundation “Wrecking the Cause”
In 2009 when his mother, Beth, was diagnosed with colon cancer, Jay started his foundation – Wrecking The Cause. “She wanted nothing more than to spread God’s love,” said Jay. “So I told mom we would start a foundation. She chose the name because she wanted to “wreck cancer” by beating it.”
Unfortunately, Jay’s mom passed away in April 2012, but her inspiration continues through his foundation – Wrecking the Cause – by raising a lot of money for different cancer centers in America. In addition to raising funds for his foundation, Jay adds that, “a lot people have come to know the Lord through mom’s story.”
In 2013, Jay plans to win some races, contend for a championship and progress his career to NASCAR’s top series. Fans can see Jay Havens racing in the late model series at either Caraway Speedway or Orange County Speedway – both in North Carolina. But if Jay achieves all of his 2013 goals, fans will be also be watching him on the NASCAR circuit as well.
Jay Havens will be our special guest on Fan4Racing’s Fan2Fan NASCAR Talk radio show on The Sports Chronicles Radio Network/TSCRN found on Blog Talk Radio. We start our 2013 season with Jay Havens on Monday, January 7th at 9pm ET. If you have a question for Jay, please submit your questions by commenting below or via email to Fan4Racing. We’ll ask your question to Jay on Monday night, so mark your calendar and listen in to hear his answer.
Fans can follow Jay Havens and his racing career, on twitter and facebook.