Kevin Dwyer

Kevin Benjamin Dwyer (born September 18, 1984 in St. Cloud, Minnesota) is an American racing driver who currently drives in the TM Lights for Joseph Howard Racing. He races in the TM Master Cup Series in 2012 with Team Saar USA. His father, Benny Dwyer, was a six-time TM Master Cup Driver's Champion. Both Kevin and his father carried the number 72, and like his father, Kevin Dwyer has spent most of his career in royal-blue cars.

2010
Dwyer competed in the TM Lights series throughout 2010 driving for Joseph Howard's team. He remained fairly steady, won a race and competed for the championship. Howard was impressed with Dwyer's focus on finishing races, saying it was a good habit for a rookie driver.

Dwyer made his TM Master Cup debut driving for Finntech in the 2010 Karjala Grand Prix. Despite a lot of attention, Dwyer was collected in the first lap mayhem and was knocked out before he had a chance to demonstrate his talents. He attempted the 2010 Round of Decatur but failed to qualify. Dwyer made no excuses for his DNQ despite massive media coverage, only saying that he wasn't fast enough to qualify, and that it didn't matter who's fault it was.

"It doesn't matter who's fault it was that we don't get to start... fact is, we're not starting because we didn't finish high enough. That's how it goes."

- Dwyer after failing to qualify for the 2010 Round of Decatur

2011
Dwyer returned to the TM Lights series, running the North division, again with Howard's team. The team ran second-hand Tremwell Knights, and they were often times off the pace. Dwyer managed a few good runs, but seldom was able to capitalize on them due to being knocked out due to accidents or mechanical failures, with the exception of Decatur, where he lost a photo finish.

Similarly, Dwyer returned to Finntech to run the Karjala Grand Prix. The media attention on him skyrocketed when he put his #72 car on the outside of the front row and led the first part of the race. However, a series of bad pit-stops dropped Dwyer out of the points.

2012
Late in 2011, Dwyer was announced to be replacing Tony Durbin at Team Saar USA. In an interesting twist of fate, Dwyer's famous father, Benny, was often involved in feuds with some of the team's drivers during his career. Dwyer will be paired with Blake Camphausen, both of whom will contest for Rookie of the Year. In preseason testing, Dwyer and Camphausen were fairly well-matched, but Dwyer had the easy upper-hand over Camphausen in Las Vegas until a series of run-ins with Packer Carroll dropped him off the pace and eventually out of the race.

Despite winning the pole in Brands Hatch, Dwyer did little in the race, and he was disgusted over the performance over the Saar Eagle in the race. "We sucked, end of story... doesn't matter how much you win the pole by if you can't get it together in the race." Dwyer had said. He managed to qualify for the Karjala Grand Prix, but crashed three laps into the race. Despite criticism that he was in the series for his name only, he regularly embarrassed Camphausen, indicating that Dwyer's poor results were not entirely his fault.

His fortunes changed during the week of the 2012 Round of Indianapolis, where Dwyer had former champion Tony Durbin on hand to assist with the setup of the Saar Eagles. Using what Durbin had taught him as well as new developments from Saar, Dwyer excelled in the race only to be sidelined with another engine failure. A noticeably frustrated Dwyer refused to be interviewed for some time, but it was clear that he was capable of running at the front.

While his critics said that the Indianapolis performance wasn't entirely his doing, Dwyer was quick to prove them wrong by running strongly at Calder Park. The next race at the Fraser Coast Motorpark saw Dwyer clash with Packer Carroll in qualifying and set one of the fastest laps of the race, however, a combination of a puncture and terrible pit strategy left Dwyer further down than he should have been.

A determined Dwyer vowed to improve in Brazil, especially since he would have a fan-designed paintscheme that would run on his car. Dwyer calmly ran in the top ten for most of the Round of Brazil, before using the second caution as an opportunity to blast through the field and run at the front of the pack. After Scott Bates suffered a rear suspension failure, several cars opted to gamble on fuel, hoping they could make the rest of the race without stopping. Dwyer gambled, paced himself, and beat out Ethan Everett in a masterful come from behind drive.

"I didn't show my hand until the second caution really. We had a good car but I just saved my stuff and laid low until it was time to drop the hammer and go to the front." Dwyer said in his post-race interview. Dwyer was also pleased that he was able to take his maiden win in a fan-designed paintscheme. The 72 car resembled an old Pepsi can design, and Dwyer made his appreciation for the fans effort clear in his post-race interview. "It's so cool that fans can design these cars and that three of them swept the podium... I mean... how awesome is that? I give a lot of credit to not just the fans but also the sponsors that participated... it's just awesome! This design will live with me forever."

Rivalries
"Yeah, now I know why Brian Sendack doesn't like the guy, Packer ran me straight into the damn wall. Good thing he owns his own ARLA team because if he keeps driving the way he does that'll be the only team that will let him drive."

- Post race comment from the 2012 Round of Las Vegas

Early in the 2012 Round of Las Vegas, Dwyer had been checked into the wall by the Volpi of Packer Carroll. Not appreciating this, Dwyer proceeded to spin both cars into the inside wall. Despite cries of rough driving from the Volpi team, Dwyer was surprisingly not penalized.

This controversy was fueled by accident, as the Channel 44 cameras missed the initial contact, although Dan Mullen was quick to catch it from the booth. Dwyer made his views clear after the race, reminding Carroll that he was willing to take him out again if the need arose. Carroll seemed to get the message, as the two did not make contact until qualifying for the 2012 Round of Queensland.

During qualifying for the Round of Queensland, Packer Carroll chopped Dwyer in qualifying, damaging the nose of the Saar Eagle and sending Carroll off the course. Despite the best efforts of Dwyer's crew, the car was not sufficiently repaired during the race, and it showed. A dismal race for Dwyer was offset with setting the third fastest lap of the race, with a car that was damaged even before the race started. Despite this, Dwyer was not pleased, saying that Carroll deserved a penalty. When Carroll was not given a penalty, Dwyer remained a man of few words, saying only; "Well, if that's the way he wants to play, that's fine".

Trivia

 * Dwyer was one of six drivers who were seen in the 2012 TM Master Cup series promo. He and Leonid Roderick use the same base model.
 * He is named after comedian Bil Dwyer, who acted as a commentator for Battlebots, and Kevin Harvick, whom his personality resembles.
 * The excess amount of love directed at him by commentators is a twist on "Danicamania" and the amount of love NASCAR commentators gave Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the early 2000s.