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Itasca teen sets sights on becoming top-tier NASCAR driver

The spelling of NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen's name was corrected.

When Camden Murphy was enrolled in the Technology Center of DuPage during his last two years of high school, he learned all he could about repairing cars in the automotive technology program.

But the Itasca resident's real passion is not so much fixing cars as it is racing them.

And now the 18-year-old Lake Park High School graduate appears well on his way to doing just that — racing cars — at the highest level.

With nine years of racing and winning championships in Mini Cup, stock car, Legends and truck series races around the country, Murphy made his NASCAR debut last October in the Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 in Martinsville, Virginia.

He finished the race cleanly — 21st out of 36 — and received a call from NASCAR about a week later telling him he had been approved for one-mile tracks.

Murphy knows he still has a long way to go to reach his goal of becoming a top-tier NASCAR driver, but he thrives on the challenge.

“I probably would (have a better chance) to become a professional football player if I started now than becoming a professional race car driver,” he says. “It takes a lot of commitment and determination.”

Dominic Pacenti, Murphy's former automotive teacher at the Technology Center in Addison, thinks the determined and likable young man has what it takes. Many students come to the automotive technology program dreaming of being race car drivers, but Murphy had something special, he says.

“I used to call it the Camden Murphy experience,” Pacenti says. “He is probably the most positive young individual I've come across in my career.”

Pacenti said many students who aspire to be race car drivers have a chip on their shoulder, but Murphy was humble, respectful, professional and always willing to help others.

“The values he had instilled in him early on made him a really good person,” Pacenti says. “We have become friends. He has impacted my life.”

Marketing his brand

Murphy's positive attitude and good-natured charisma serves him well in his need to constantly market himself to find partners to fund his racing career. Don't call them sponsors, he says.

“I'm partnering with the company to help them. It's all about them, helping them grow their brand and helping them grow the company to new heights,” he says. “I'm a brand ambassador for that company. I am selling myself. I am the brand.”

In a field dominated by drivers from the South, Murphy says he is setting himself up to be the next driver from Chicago, just as Elmhurst native and NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen was decades ago.

Murphy has several Chicago-area businesses as partners, but much of his financial support has come from his mother, Beverly. She's only been to two of his races, including one in which he crashed into a wall, but works long hours in her gas station/convenience store to help support his nascent career. His dad, Bob, owns a construction business and is his racing partner.

When not racing, fixing other people's cars, teaching high-speed driving, or doing volunteer work, Murphy can often he found helping his parents with their businesses.

Bob Murphy, who had hopes of racing himself when he was younger, says he could not be more proud of his son.

“He does so many things,” Bob Murphy says. “He likes tinkering with things. He doesn't like to be idle.”

Racing on the edge

Murphy started racing at age 9. He was soon winning championships and was sought-after for interviews. That convinced him to to pursue a career in racing.

“Maybe I have something that works,” he thought. “Maybe I have something that will stand out.”

A win last year in the Midwest Truck Series at the Milwaukee Mile, the oldest racetrack in the country, brought him national attention. SS Greenlight Racing gave him the opportunity to drive their Chevy Silverado in the Camping World Truck Series.

Knowing that most drivers don't finish their first NASCAR race, Murphy decided to play it smart. He'd aim at finishing, he decided.

It still wasn't easy. His primary engine blew up the day before the race and had to be replaced, limiting his practice time.

“We finished and that was the big thing, and NASCAR was happy,” he says.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana had reason to be happy, too. Since he did not have a major marketing partner, Murphy donated the space on top of his hood to the agency.

He first volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago on Christmas Day 2012 and he has gone there since with his race simulator to visit with kids and families.

“I love charity work,” he says. “I just kind of fell in love with it.”

Murphy says he reaches speeds of 170 mph with his own car/truck that he races locally. He has driven 195 mph on a track. He's aware of the risk, but he says NASCAR is very safety conscious — from the suits and helmets the drivers wear to how the chassis are constructed.

In the race in which he hit the wall, he came out with only a bruised knee.

“You can't think about it (the risk) because if you do, you won't be the best because you'll be scared and you won't push it to the limit,” he says.

The adrenaline rush that comes with pushing the limits is the thrill of racing, says Murphy, who also teaches high-speed driving for Daytona International Speedway, Autobahn Country Club and Road America.

“It's something you have to experience,” Murphy says. “Pushing the vehicle to the edge and finding what it's truly capable of and making it do things you don't even think is possible.

“It's mentally draining,” he acknowledges. “You have to be as sharp as you can possibly be.”

Murphy said his main goal now is finding marketing partners for the coming year. He knows he still has many laps to cover to be a top-tiered NASCAR driver, but it's a race he's in for the long haul.

“No matter where my career takes me, I want to be in racing somewhere, somehow,” he says.

For more on Camden Murphy, see his Facebook page at facebook.com/camdenmurphyracing.

Camden Murphy drives a race car in the body of a truck. Courtesy of Camden Murphy
  Camden Murphy, center, of Itasca, a 2014 alum of the automotive technology program at the Technology Center of DuPage, shares a laugh with his former automotive technology instructors Dominic M. Pacenti, left, and Shawn W. Bidlingmeyer. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
  Camden Murphy of Itasca learned a lot about fixing vehicles while a student at the Technology Center of DuPage. But these days the 2014 Lake Park High School grad is more interested in racing cars than repairing them. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Camden Murphy, 18, of Itasca made his NASCAR debut in October in the Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 in Martinsville, Virginia. He used the hood of his truck to show his support for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana. Courtesy of Camden Murphy
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