Warren resident Lenny Sousa recently celebrated his 65th birthday in style, overcoming a crash a week earlier to win the Pure Stock division during action at at Seekonk Speedway.

The Almy Avenue resident loves to race and has been at it six years. Primarily sponsored by Richie’s Insulation in Westport, Mr. Sousa drives a Monte Carlo and won on his birthday in a car he’d owned just a few days. The week before his win, he crashed his own trusty #31 Monte Carlo and had to find another. True to the familial nature of the racing circuit, the replacement he purchased just days before the win was a familiar old foe.

“I competed against this car in my division,” he said. “This car sat for a year. I purchased it, put oil in it, got it running, put my seat in it and put decals on the car. That was it.”

Helping him get ready for his win was his pit crew, made up of family and friends. There’s his girlfriend Celeste Mello, who he met at the track, crew chief Brad Sousa, Jim Powers and Cameron Tavares, 12, the “wax guy.” Paul Tavares, Cameron’s grandfather, is the guru behind Mr. Sousa’s body work.

“When I wreck it, he fixes it,” he said.

Racing nights are competitive, intense and can be a grind, with practice and trials starting in the mid-afternoon. But it’s a great family event, he said, and he lives for the adrenaline.

“It’s the thrill,” he said. “That’s what makes you go back. Plus I’m 65 and (in racing) I can be competitive with people half my age.”

Mr. Sousa got into racing after the passing of his wife, and said that while he always wanted to race he finally decided to do it while he was able — “I wanted to enjoy myself and didn’t want to look back and regret not doing it.”

And if it’s true that racing gets into one’s blood, Mr. Sousa is a good example. In the off months when the track is closed, he gets his fix by racing radio-controlled cars.

“I love it,” he said.