On Friday, February 14 of 2020, Kent Sheldon Peckham of Statesville went to be with the Lord. Kent was born in Breesport, NY, on May 22, 1962 to his loving parents Lauren and Joyce. He grew up in a household where tinkering and building things wasn’t just a hobby, but a living. From a young age, he became infatuated with race cars and ended up pursuing a career as a mechanical engineer with the Eastman Kodak Company after graduating from SUNY Alfred State College in 1982. While an engineer at Kodak, he started to pursue his passion – racing. He met his loving wife Christine during this time and they happily married on December 7, 1985. Kent was a factory driver for Coyote Racing Products during his karting days until moving up to racing dirt modifieds in New York in his spare time. On October 4, 1996, Kent and Christine had a son, and later that following year, he took a job in NASCAR and moved his family to Mooresville. Over the years he worked with such racing legends as Jimmy Means, Bill Elliott, Richard Petty, Ray Evernham, and others until retiring from NASCAR in 2015 to focus on his classic car work. He worked with longtime friend Uwe Wittkamp and helped to build many motorcycles and classic cars over the years until the cancer overtook him.
Cavin-Cook Funeral Home & Crematory, Mooresville, is serving the Peckham family. Condolences may be made to the family at www.cavin-cook.com.