How Did NASCAR Hall of Famer Carl Edwards Get Into Racing?

Carl Edwards retired from the NASCAR Cup Series in 2016 with 28 wins and the honor of being a fan favorite. The iconic driver’s career spanned 13 glorious years, across which he won the Southern 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. In a recent interview, he opened up on how he got bit by the racing bug as a child.

Carl Edwards Sr., his father, had been a mechanic who worked in dirt racing. Watching him build cars and take them to races on the weekend had inspired Edwards greatly. To satisfy his interest, Edwards Sr. even built him a go-kart when he was only four years old. By the time he was 14 years old, Edwards understood that all he wanted to do in life was race cars.

He said, “My dad and I started racing together in these little four-cylinder cars. Looking back, I realize how fortunate I am that I had a passion. It’s all I wanted to do, and so from about 16…  I was possessed. I wanted to drive race cars more than anything in the world. I was very fortunate to have that passion.”

It is not a surprise when teenagers use fake IDs to purchase alcohol. But, Edwards and his father made him a fake ID to enter a race in Godfrey, Illinois. He was just 15 years old at the time, and drivers had to be 18 to drive. He wound up winning his third race on the track. The things men do to satisfy their love for danger.

Edwards Sr. once spoke to the Columbia Daily Tribune about those days. He said, “We’d just throw a blanket over him and put him in the back of the truck. You’d get to the racetrack at 5 o’clock or 6 o’clock at night when it’s still light out. He’d just have to stay in the truck until it got dark, and then he could get out.”

“He had to stay out of sight. I’d sign in as the driver, but he’d get in the doggone race car and race it.” It was through risky stunts like these that the duo got their chance to race in NASCAR. Interestingly, Edwards also had one other career option: To become a Navy pilot. He even got his pilot license at the time.

But the addiction to winning races had grown on him by then, and he wasn’t willing to let go. As they say, the rest is history. He got inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2025.