Carson Hocevar is basically Thanos but instead of collecting Infinity Stones, the second-year NASCAR Cup Series drivers is collecting Chevrolets.<\/p>\n
To wit, he is the driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet NextGen but has also generated headlines earlier in the summer for acquiring a 1997 Silverado pickup dressed up an in era appropriate Dale Earnhardt vinyl. This week, he acquired a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass dressed up as a 1980 Buddy Baker \u2018Gray Ghost.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Why has this become his hobby?<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I’ve always wanted cars or like street legal race cars as a kid,\u201d Hocevar said during a press conference on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway. \u201cAt Kalamazoo Speedway, near where I\u2019m from, the owner had one of the Intimidator SSs and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo every time I look on Facebook marketplace, it seems like there are more and more coming up. Either that, or it\u2019s my algorithms knowing it or people making these listings knowing I\u2019ll probably buy them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Hocevar said he was \u2018literally\u2019 in the media center hallway just before his media session \u2018looking at another one\u2019 because he enjoys the intersection of car culture and NASCAR. The latest interest? A Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Car of Tomorrow from the 2012 season but it\u2019s not for sale \u2026 yet.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old says he\u2019s been surprised at the attention his very flashy, not obscure, street legal race car has garnered. For example, he blew a tire on the road in the \u2018Dale Truck\u2019 and says he got 100 honks on the side of the road and several text messages.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, the first time I drove the Dale truck, I had about six people walk over to me and we talked and I was stuck at the gas station for an hour,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cWe just talked NASCAR. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve most enjoyed about it.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhen I stopped and got fuel, started rolling down the road, a bunch of people rolled down their windows and shouted \u2018hell yeah,\u2019 and honked at me. I didn\u2019t know there were that many people on the highway that knew me and had my number because I got like eight texts and calls from people who said they saw me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it’s nice to know that if you have an issue, I guess the Dale truck’s pretty obvious that if I have a problem, someone\u2019s got the hook up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hocevar learned another lesson in obscurity over the weekend at Darlington because he drove the truck to his hotel from his Charlotte area home.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI had a few fans that were camped out in the parking lot of the hotel because they knew I was staying there and just waited until I came out because they want some things signed and they wanted pictures, which, which I thought was cool,\u201d Hocevar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I thought I was like \u2018damn,\u2019 because that was the first time that\u2019s ever happened. I thought maybe that was kind of weird but you also open yourself up to it when you make it very obvious and park out front and make it clear \u2018yeah, I\u2019m staying at this hotel\u2019 but it\u2019s been a lot of fun for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called it a \u2018conversation starter\u2019 and hopes he\u2019s made new fans from a crowd that told him \u2018I haven\u2019t watched since Dale died\u2019 and sees his literal vehicle as a figurative vehicle to grow the sport.<\/p>\n
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He hasn\u2019t taken the Cutlass out yet but views in the same way.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the availability of the Kahne COT, Hocevar is still very much in the market too. He has an Infinity Gauntlet of cars to collect now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the Oldsmobile, and I\u2019m just trying to collect them all, the Monte Carlo, the Lumina and hopefully the COT but I need to build a shop first,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what is most fun is any car I get, I\u2019m going to drive it and it\u2019s not going to collect dust for the duster to come in on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to drive them.\u201d<\/p>\n