Kevin (left) and Rob (right) Knapp pose with their race cars in front of Little Brothers Service Centre in Niagara Falls. Below: The Niagara College logo is displayed on Kevin Knapp’s K2 race car.
For brothers Kevin and Rob Knapp, Niagara College is more than another sponsor’s shiny logo adorning their race cars – it’s their alma mater.
The Knapp brothers, who are both known for their living life in the fast lane as long-time racers at Merrittville Speedway, also share the fact that they are both graduates of Niagara College’s Automotive Service Technician Apprenticeship program.
Their lives revolve around cars. When they aren’t racing, repairing or fine-tuning their own race cars– Kevin’s pro stock car or Rob’s sportsman – they are hard at work fixing up others. Both are employed as auto service technicians at Little Brothers Service Centre in Niagara Falls.
Their pretty cars and racing victories have captured the attention of many cheering fans in Niagara. Passersby are often seen pulling over at the shop to get a photo of their shiny colourful cars, proudly displayed facing Lundy’s Lane.
“Everybody knows us, and the kids get excited and want their photos taken with the cars,” says Kevin, 32, who races his car, 4K, in the Hoosier Stock Division.
Racing has been a part of their lives for so long, that they hardly have known a time without it. Weekends at Merrittville were as much a part of their childhood as loading their mini bikes into the van to enjoy a day of dirt-biking at the St. David’s sand pit.
“There was always a race car or a dirt bike, or something around,” recalls Kevin, who now lives in Port Robinson. “Our parents would just pull out their hair watching all the crazy things we did, and bring us back and forth to the track.”
With four brothers in the family, they were first exposed to racing through their oldest brother Dave. All of them have raced during their lives, although Rob and Kevin are the remaining racers. Their brother Tim is their crew chief. They all get together and work on the cars each Wednesday night at Little Brothers.
“I’ve been racing every Saturday since 1989, except for one season,” says Rob, 39, who races his 2K in the Ricks Delivery Sportsman division.
Both brothers take great pride in the fact that they do their own repairs and piece together their own parts, spending considerably less money than their competitors and are still able to race presentable, beautiful rebuilt cars that are able to leave others in the dust. Every night they race involves at least another two days of work to repair their cars.
“Everything we have is about five years older than everybody else’s and we beat them with their new, top-of-the-line most money spent cars,” says Rob. “It’s just fun.”
“Our cars are pretty and everyone seems to think we have an endless supply of money but it’s all been rebuilt, sprayed and cleaned by us … we go out there in our broken in half, bent, rebuilt cars and beat them,” says Kevin. “We’ll destroy our cars to dead on Saturday, and we come back here to fix that car, and do whatever it takes to get the next race.”
Why do they do it?
“It’s all about the thrill. I’ve tried all different things, from dirt-biking, to jet skiing, to four-wheeling, but you can’t beat what we do. It’s incredible. It’s crazy. It’s a rush,” says Kevin.
During racing season, which begins in the spring, Rob and Kevin race every Saturday as well as some Fridays, Sundays and long-weekend Mondays, until the season concludes in September. Once the season ends at home, they typically travel to the U.S. to race until October.
Kevin, who has been racing for about 10 years, has an estimated 25 wins to his name, including the Hoosier Stocks Champ title for the past two years. Rob, who has more wins, has lost count.
Niagara College recently sponsored both Rob and Kevin Knapp, and fans can see the college logo emblazoned on their cars on race day at Merrittville Speedway.
Come out and cheer them on at Niagara College Night Monday, August 3 and (the final race of the season) Sunday, September 13.
