Clint Bowyer No. 15 RK Motors Toyota Indianapolis Preview

Before heading to the famed yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his No. 15 RK Motors Toyota, where Clint Bowyer has two top-five and two top-10 finishes in eight starts, the Emporia, Kan., native made a stop in his hometown.

On Saturday, Bowyer hosted the seventh annual “Clint Bowyer ‘s Support Emporia 2014 Charity Event.” The event, which included a golf tournament and auction, raised a little more than $350,000 for the fourth consecutive year.

Proceeds from the event go toward the “79 Fund,” a fund established by Bowyer for the Emporia Community Foundation. Proceeds from previous events have helped fund the construction of the Bowyer Community Building and various other youth-related initiatives throughout the community, including a scholarship at the Flint Hills Technical College

Talk about your work in your hometown:

“It is always such a great event. Everyone at the Emporia Community Foundation and the 79 Fund do such a great job. They do all the hard work. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do in our community. This is my hometown and it’s nice to see that we are able to make a difference for people here. Plus, I love coming home. It’s like a vacation for me.”

What does it mean to race at Indianapolis?

“The history is what you go there for. That place is just so rich and deep in history that you’re ecstatic every time you roll into the place. It’s like, ‘Holy cow, this is Indy.’ A lot of big names and a lot of exposure has always been on the place. It doesn’t matter what you race or how you came up, you’re very fond and very aware of Indianapolis and what that track means to auto racing. It really is cool to be able to race on that race track, but aside from that it’s so hard to get around.”

Which takes longer to prepare for, Daytona or Indianapolis?

I would say Daytona, but it’s not really comparing apples to apples because it’s a restrictor plate track and there are so many things that equate to speed at Daytona and cornering is not one of them. Here, yes, those straghtaways are long, but you gotta be able to get off of them corners. You gotta get off of (turns) two and four and set yourself up for that long straightaway because that’s where all your momentum starts is right there through the center of those two very important corners of this track, whereas Daytona you go down there and you’re working on shaping that bullet as slick as possible and making it fast.

MWR PR