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Meet Mike-the-kid and his kid brother, Doug
When they were little boys (“... they were pre-schoolers when we started taking them,” recalls their mother Janet) it was because their parents loved going to races, It didn’t take long for the boys, themselves, to get hooked.
Mike says that he knew he wanted to be a driver when he was five years old. That opportunity came in 1998m when he was fifteen. A new class for 4 cylinder cars had just opened up at Riverglade Speedway. Mike’s dad, Robbie, convinced Riverglade’s Pat Rogers to let his oldest son (who wasn’t legally old enough to possess a driver’s license) compete. Mike participated in a couple of practices, where he handled his car exceptionally well. He remembers being “really excited” and a “little nervous” when the big day finally came. He passed five cars in his first race and finished second. And there’s been no looking back.
Mike now races in the Sportsmen Division of the Snap On Challenge circuit -- against some of the best car drivers in Atlantic Canada.
In the Sportsmen Division one of the goals is to race clean - to finish the race as quickly as possible with minimal physical contact with the other cars. Those who have watched him say Mike has an instinctive ability behind the wheel.
Racing is really all about decisions - about knowing when to make the move - and knowing just what constitutes the right move. Mike, it seems, “just knows”.
Of course, a driver is just one component of a racing team. Mike’s uncle attends as many races as he can in a season. “He’s my calming influence,” says Mike. His pit crew is also comprised of Robbie and Doug Stevens, and many others.
The Steven’s present car is an 8 cylinder CSC chassis with a ‘99 Monte Carlo body. The car has several local sponsors. Sponsorship is critically important to the success of the team. Mike’s mechanic dad, Robbie, and his younger brother Doug spend hours each weekday in the garage behind the family’s home, working on the car, ensuring it’s safety, and ensuring its performance in the next race will be top notch.
In racing, every facet of the car’s mechanical condition can figure into how it will perform. The car’s tires, and how each one is inflated will have an impact on how the car takes the turn. And since each track may be slightly different, you have to factor those things in as well. It’s here that Doug’s talents play a major role. “Doug’s the thinker in the family, the mathematician,” says Janet. “He understands how everything fits together.”
Doug has been hanging out with his dad in the family garage for years now. No one is really sure just how much “nature” and how much “nurture” has played a role in his mechanical ability, but the ability is a certainty: his parents figure he will become a mechanical engineer.
Janet Stevens adds that her two sons don’t always see eye to eye. But there is also a flow of mutual respect between the pair: it comes from the knowledge that each has a particular talent, and those talents compliment each other rather well.
Referenced: That Riverview Magazone 2000
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