Rosevear designs, builds own car; to debut this weekend

Kent Rosevear has tasted success; a lot of it.

In recent years at Cocopah Speedway he's won two driving championships, the special IMCA Modified Desert Classic and more than his share of feature events.

Yet, in his estimation, the cars that carried him to those titles and wins didn't quite perform to his expectations.

So, Rosevear decided to do the next best thing – design and build his own race car, to his exact specifications.

And this weekend he finds out if his dream car is going to get him where he wants to go, or if it will turn out to be a nightmare.

“Every car I've had, I believe I've been pretty fast in,” said Rosevear this week as he put the finishing touches on his new car. “But I just think I could do a better job for some reason. And we're going to find out. This thing might not be what I think it will be, and it might be … whew!”

The true test will be how the car holds up against pretty much the best the country has to offer when the 2013 Cocopah Speedway IMCA Modified Winter Nationals presented by Sun Graphics unfolds Thursday night and winds up with a $3,000-to-win event Saturday night. The racing on Thursday and Friday begins at 7 p.m., with the Saturday program starting at 4 p.m.

Rosevear started working on his new car two months ago and said he's surprised at how fast it's come together. He also was quick to point out that he's had the help of Mitch Scott, of IM Fab, helping with the design and fabrication and doing all of the tig welding on the chassis.

“I'd have an idea, and Mitch would say, ‘I know what you're trying to do,' and we'd talk about it and work it out,” said Rosevear.

“So I tacked everything together and turned it over to Mitch, and he did a beautiful job. He's an artist.”

Scott also has a heavy off-road racing background, and it's no coincidence that a lot of that technology has carried over into the design of Rosevear's car.

“I've never seen a car triangulated like this, only an off-road car,” said Rosevear. “Maybe there is a reason for that, I don't know. We're going to find out. But I think it's going to work.

“All my other cars weren't like this, they all flexed a ton. But this one won't flex. Will it work? We'll know this weekend.”

Rosevear said what motivated him to build a car of his own design comes from driving a variety of other cars, and always wanting to change this or that on those cars, to make the car to his liking.

“And it was to the point of cutting apart a really nice car or starting from scratch, and I decided to start from scratch,” he said.

“So, I've implemented everything that I thought is the way it should be, starting with the material I wanted to use.

“I designed the front end on my computer program. It's better than any car I've had.”

And unique, of course.

“You can't buy one like this. If there is a car out there like this one, I don't know about it,” he said.

He also spared no expense when it came to buying the parts and accessories, settling for nothing but the best.

“I mean, every upgrade you can get I've put on it, so I don't have any excuses,” continued Rosevear.

Safety was also addressed, said Rosevear. He said he and Scott talked at length about safety, about building a safe car.

“He didn't want me to get hurt. He knows how fast these things can go and how hard they can hit the wall,” said Rosevear. “I think it's plenty safe. I think it's safer than any car I've been in. If you look at the door bars and stuff, this car is built very well.”

On the downside for local racing fans, Rosevear also said he's not setting out to win another track championship in his new creation. If the car works like he anticipates it will work, he said he'd like to hit the road, “and go to a few places and see how I stack up. Like there's a $10,000-to-win in March in New Mexico. I might want to go to that. I don't know. We'll see how we run here first.”

There is also the possibility that if the car works like he hopes it will, Rosevear will get requests to build the same car for other drivers.

And he's not against that.

“I'm sure if does really well, I'm sure someone will want one,” he said. “And I'll do it. I know what it takes now, I know what it costs.”