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Racing for the Cure

By Beacon Staff

With a guttural roar, the 1937 Chevy Sedan replica rouses awake in the hot summer shade. It’s the No. 77 Legend model, a scaled-down fiberglass classic. Its driver, 16-year-old Devin Clayton, looks on with sunglasses, a big cross hanging around his neck. His pit crew inspects the old FV200 gas engine. All around the pits at Montana Raceway Park other crews are doing the same. One by one the cars begin hitting the track and cruise the high banks for one last practice.

It’s race day.

Tony Clayton remembers worrying about his grandson last year. A young friend of Devin’s, 6-year-old Katelyn Roker, passed away from cancer in October. The next month doctors diagnosed Devin’s grandmother, Linda, whom he lives with part time and who helped raise him, with breast cancer.

“There were two big blows that came at one time,” Tony says. “It was like a one-two punch.”

How would the young boy react?

The proud grandfather will never forget.

“One morning he said he had a dream,” Tony recalls. “(Devin) said, ‘This is exactly what I’m going to do — I’m going to race for the cure. I’m going to take all my winnings and fundraising and donate to the breast cancer fund in Kalispell and to the Katelyn Roker foundation.’”

This summer Devin is driving with new motivation. He’s redecorated his 1937 sedan with reminders written everywhere — “In loving memory KK,” and “Racing for the Cure.” He’s raising funds on and off the track to donate at the end of the summer.

“I’m racing in memory of (Katelyn) and for my grandma and I’m trying to do as much as I can,” he says.

The decals strewn across the inside and outside of his racecar “just let me know that I’m racing for them and that I’m going to do my best.”

Devin, who will be a senior at Glacier High School next fall, currently ranks fourth out of 15 in the Legends Thunder division, three points shy of third. He’s been competing since he was 11. The last three summers he’s raced Legends and he’s built up a newfound confidence.

“These cars, you really want to be smooth and be patient with the pack and go with the race,” he says. “You try to stay out of trouble.”

Two years ago his car lit on fire during competition and ended his biggest race of the season. But as he’s shown, and as those around him have seen, Devin has a way to push through adversity. Keep perspective. Find positive in negative.

“I’ve grown a lot,” Devin says. “Over the years I’ve found it’s just racing. You don’t have to get mad over the littlest things.”

Roker has proven to be a lasting inspiration for many, Devin included. His mother, Jennifer, was friends with Roker’s mother. That’s how he first met the young girl. They immediately bonded. At a very young age Roker developed a high-risk form of cancer called neuroblastoma. Tumors developed throughout her nerve tissue and she required intense medical treatment including surgeries and chemotherapy. Roker’s lively spirit during this calamitous storm became transcendent.

Kalispell’s Emily von Jentzen was the first person ever to swim the length of Lake Chelan in northern Washington in September. She did it for Roker. Special Spaces, a nonprofit organization that rebuilds bedrooms for children with life-threatening illnesses, has grown into a well-established project serving the valley. It began with Roker. There are others, too, who Roker affected. Like Devin.

“She meant a lot to me,” he says.

You can see it in his racing. His pit chief can.

“Every weekend he’s improving and improving,” says Zach Havens, adding, “He’s loving and caring. He’s just Devin. It’s hard to explain. It’s one of those things, he does what he has to do to make everybody happy.”

Before last weekend’s event at Raceway Park, Devin is feeling the heat. He’s racing for more than just success.

“I feel like there’s more pressure because I really want to do good and raise a lot of money,” he says. “I’m really trying to do my best.”

Friends and family are all around him, on race day and every other day, supporting him and believing in him. For this, he considers himself lucky.

Devin’s grandmother successfully underwent treatment and is now cancer-free. She’s at every one of Devin’s races with her husband, Tony. Their prayers were answered, Tony says. Now Devin is trying to help others find the same respite.

“He’s just an amazing young man,” Tony says. “He’s really involved and adamant about this. He’s told me, ‘As long as I can race, I’ll be racing for the cure.’”