BOEHM: New Car, New Class

Between my dad drag racing or it always being on TV, racing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

In high school, after I learned one could make a living in the motorsport world as an engineer, a path appeared before me. I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college and while I was going to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I used design classes to design parts and start upgrading the car I had at the time.

I turned my street car into a race car, and by my senior year of college, I raced it for the first time.

After earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, I accepted a job at Honda R&D. I packed up my car and left for Ohio.

I joined the Team Honda Research (THR) racing team in 2010 and from there, I eventually earned four SCCA National Championships, including two in the world’s first K20C1-swapped 10th-generation Civic Coupe.

It was a car I built from the ground up, on nights and weekends.

My wife still jokes about how neither she nor the dog was able to go into the living room for a month (the wiring of the car was carefully laid out on the couch) and how I took every single plastic bag in the house. My dream was to go pro, a dream that took some time, but it happened.

After racing at the amateur level for more than a decade, I made my debut as a pro driver in the TC America series in 2020, driving a 2019 HPD Turn-key Honda Civic Si in the TCA class.

My second event in St. Petersburg, Florida began—and ended—abruptly on March 13th, 2020, as the country began to shut down due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

I spent the next few weeks competing in eSports / virtual racing for CrowdStrike, AWS, and DXDT–and wondering if my first season as a professional driver would also be my last. 

Three months later, while most of the country was still shut down, the series was able to safely resume operations.

At the end of the season, I won the driver and team championship, as well as the rookie of the year award. It was incredible and I was fortunate that hard work combined with luck to end my freshman year in the series so well.

For 2021, I have moved up to the TC class and am driving the CrowdStrike/AWS/DXDT 2018 HPD Turn-key Honda Civic Type R.

I am still learning the car, but after three events I have scored three podiums and two wins, thanks to both the experience I gained last season and in a large part by the support offered by DXDT Racing. 

As the “new guy” on the team, who, as an amateur racer, was used to doing it all, (driving and unloading the trailer, working on the car, and driving the car), either by myself or with my wife and/or my dad to help, I am stunned by the amount of talent and resources I benefit from or are in proximity to as a part of the DXDT Racing team. 

DXDT offers incredible support and employs some of the most experienced and talented drivers and staff in the business.

Although I manage the engineering of my own race car, many members of the DXDT team have been extremely generous with me and willing to share observations, advice, or tips and tricks. I have a lot to figure out and am grateful DXDT is accelerating my learning curve. 

I am very hands-on with my own race car, wearing multiple hats as the engineer, chief mechanic, and driver. However, the racing events are extremely busy and I can’t do it all by myself.

Through DXDT Racing, as well as CrowdStrike Racing and AWS, we work with Operation Motorsport, a non-profit with a mission to re-integrate military veterans into post-military life by partnering them with a motorsports team.

At each event, they “embed” their volunteers into a team. For the past two seasons, we have worked with one to two beneficiaries at each event, integrating them into our team for the weekend.

I can’t think of a more perfect fit–military veterans are cool under pressure and able to learn and execute on task quickly and efficiently. They are critical to our success and I’m happy DXDT has enabled us to support the organization. 

Our last event at VIR started off well, as we had fans and friends in the paddock for the first time since 2020 and a great, major fundraising event with Operation Motorsport and the USO.

However, the race itself was a little troublesome–the heat, a broken damper, and both races ending under red flags due to accidents between other competitors. It didn’t give us the results we wanted but we learned a lot.

Also, fortunately, there is a long break before Road America in August so I will be prepared and ready to fight for podiums when we return to action. 

During this transition between now and Road America I will participate in SRO’s new eSports sim racing program along with CrowdStrike Racing teammates Sam and Scott Michaels to fight for a virtual–but very real–championship.

Opportunities to gain skills and learn more about motorsports can be found in many places, and eSports sim racing is one of those places. 

For my real-world racing, one of my goals this season is lofty–another championship–but I wouldn’t aim for anything less. Regardless of the final result, I am grateful to my sponsors, like DXDT Racing, CrowdStrike Racing, and AWS, for believing in me and allowing me to prove myself. 

The year is halfway over and we’re just getting started. Follow along on the adventure–find all of the links on the homepage of KevinBoehm.com. You can also follow CrowdStrike Racing and DXDT Racing on their websites as well as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.