Kevin Monroe

Kevin Monroe (born January 17, 1979 in Hometown, Illinois) is an American race car driver and team owner who competes in the FARC Lowe Dollar Series. He is currently the co-owner of the legendary M&J Racing, along with its' founders and former champions; his father, Alan Monroe, and uncle, Chuck Johannes. Monroe competed full-time as a driver in FARC from 2001 through 2017, winning the 2011 ARLA Elite Series championship.

Early Career
From the start of his career, Monroe was being groomed for an ARLA ride by M&J Racing, owned by his father and his uncle Chuck Johaanes at the time. Monroe began racing stock cars in the late model class at the Rockford Speedway in 1996, and won the track championship the following year. He established himself as one of the more consistent drivers in the field, a trait of his that continues to show to this day.

ARLA
In 2001, Monroe was placed in the #63 Saar vacated by his retiring father. He won in his debut at Daytona, which set off the streak of first-time winners in the season opener that was broken in 2012 by Joseph Howard. Despite what many people have anticipated based on his flashy debut, Monroe has not pursued victories in most races, admitting in a 2006 interview, "I won't try to win the race unless I know 100 percent that I can". Instead, Monroe has been keeping himself in contention for championships by scoring many more top-10 results than most of his peers.

Monroe and Christian Johaanes took ownership of M&J Racing at the beginning of 2008, which was the year Johaanes took his second championship. They established a Thunder Trucks team in 2009, along with a corresponding driver development program. The Truck team was very successful, with Monroe's protege Taylor Brillon winning the season opener, and Johaanes's (then) protege Benji Flynn taking the championship. In 2010, the M&J stable ballooned to 5 cars after the team had only fielded two entries for most of its existence.

Off-Track
Monroe is said to be very laid-back (if not somewhat apathetic) at the track, preferring to leave his team owner role at the office. However, he has been known to show a low tolerance for poor driving and bad attitudes from his fellow competitiors.

Monroe developed a close friendship with protege Taylor Brillon, who spent the first seven years of her FARC career with M&J before moving on to Motor Assault Racing in 2016. He also formed a business relationship with former M&J co-owner and teammate Brenda Riggs, who helped to pick up the slack in the M&J offices with Chris Johannes busy competing in the TM Master Cup Series.