Clint Bowyer, a new father, details delivery-room excitement

Lorra Bowyer’s hospital room became something of a Victory Lane in the early-morning hours on Wednesday with her husband, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer, celebrating wildly.

The Bowyers welcomed their first child — a son, Cash Aaron — into the world in Charlotte, N.C., and Clint was a wee bit excited in the delivery room.

“I was probably not the norm as far as a spectator in an event like that,” Bowyer said. “In the room there, I was high-fiving people and I was kind of pushing the doctor out of the way at one point, because I was trying to get a better view of him coming into the world.

“Of course, the nurses are trying to hold me back and they’re like, ‘You can’t get that close.’ I’m like, ‘Get the hell out of my way, here he comes.’ It was a lot of fun. We were all laughing — an amazing experience.”

It’s also a life-changing experience for Bowyer, an Emporia, Kan., native who now resides in Charlotte.

“All your friends and family, peers and everybody is trying to warn you and tell you that it’s going to change your life,” said Bowyer, who is in town for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. “You’re like, ‘There’s no way.’ Then, all of the sudden, that little gremlin comes out of there and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is real.’”

Bowyer joked that he wanted to name his newborn son Cletus Bocephus, but was overruled by Lorra. The Bowyers settled on Cash, but Clint said it wasn’t an homage to music icon Johnny Cash.

“Probably for all the cash that he’s going to cost me over the years when he gets to racing cars or something,” Bowyer said, adding that he’ll push his son toward a singing career or golf career instead of racing.

“I’m going to try to put a guitar in his hand, because I always laugh at Blake (Shelton). I’m like, ‘Just because you breathe a little bit better than I do and you can hold a guitar, you get paid to go all across the country and you don’t really do much. You just breathe a little bit better,’” Bowyer said. “Then, these golfers, I don’t even think they carry their clubs. They just walk around and swing a club every now and then and make a hell of a good living. I’m thinking we’re going to try one of them two first and, if that doesn’t work, then he’ll probably be over here battling all my peers.”

Speaking of Bowyer’s peers, other NASCAR drivers offered congratulations before the Friday afternoon Sprint Cup practice.

“I am happy for Clint and Lorra,” Columbia native Carl Edwards said. “They are great people and I am glad everything went well, and I think he will be a great dad.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed, “He’s going to be a lot of fun, especially when the kid gets older and he can start to do more things and they can do things together. I think they will have a lot of fun together.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Clint Bowyer, a new father, details delivery-room excitement."