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CHIAPPELLI: Kahne Loyal To Drivers
This is a story of support, courage, devotion and promises kept.
Some of Kasey Kahne's biggest fans can be found amongst those who work for the NASCAR star. (Justin Leedy/SPEED)
At first glance, the drivers who comprise the Kasey Kahne Racing family on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car circuit could be mistaken for a dysfunctional group.
The cast includes a second-generation veteran chasing an elusive championship in the shadow of his Hall of Fame father, a journeyman driver who has spent much of his career looking over his shoulder, a red-haired man-child destined for NASCAR, and a promising kid still enduring a painful rehabilitation from a potentially crippling accident.
None of these competitors is related, but Kasey Kahne the boss treats them like his flesh and blood.
This is a story of support, courage, devotion and promises kept.
The promise goes back to February, when a then-20-year old Cody Darrah sustained a severely broken left leg in an automobile accident while travelling to Daytona International Speedway to watch Kahne and other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars make their qualifying runs for the Daytona 500. The crash occurred on the weekend Darrah was to begin his first full season as a World of Outlaws driver for KKR at Volusia Speedway Park just north of Daytona after a successful tour of duty in his native central Pennsylvania.
Kahne stood by his devastated driver, providing transportation, medical referrals and sharing his Charlotte-area home as a place of refuge for the young man to begin the long road to recovery, estimated to be at least nine months.
“When I got hurt, not only did he keep a race team behind me, he got me the right doctors and got everything lined up,” reflected Darrah. “If it wasn’t for him, I might not be able to walk right. I’ve got to thank him more than anyone just to be standing here today.”
Darrah’s already gentle tone became particularly soft.
“Really, he’s everything,” he said of Kahne before talking about his recuperation.
“It was pretty stressful,” Darrah continued as he talked about spending three full weeks in a hospital. “And then coming out and not being able to get out of bed for more than an hour at a time was tough. It [his leg] is still not quite right, but it’s good enough to race. It has been painful, especially in [this] cold weather.”
That leads us to Kahne’s devotion. He tabbed Californian Paul McMahan to take over the ride vacated because of Darrah’s misfortune.
Knowing he was only keeping the seat warm until Darrah’s anticipated return, McMahan seized the opportunity, finishing 2010 sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings on the strength of 30 top-five finishes, including a victory at Eldora Speedway.
McMahan, the super-sub, says he and Darrah developed a solid relationship.
“Me and Cody are best friends,” McMahan declared. “He knew I wasn’t there to steal his job. I was there to do a job, and whenever he got healthy he was going to be back in the racecar.”
Darrah admitted it was strange watching someone else behind the wheel of his no. 91 Great Clips sprinter, but accepted it as a learning experience.
“Paul’s a really nice guy on and off the race track,” he stated. “To be honest, it has been intimidating to watch him because he’s done such a great job.”
Imagine the potential awkwardness at The Dirt Track at Charlotte several weeks ago when Darrah returned to the track ready to compete in the DIRT World Finals.
Kahne diffused the situation by announcing an alliance with rival team owner Dennis Roth to provide a full-time ride for McMahan in 2011 as a teammate to Darrah and KKR’s other full-time Outlaw, Joey Saldana.
“All of my hard work paid off,” said a relieved McMahan. “For the first time in awhile, it’s November and I already have a ride for the next year.”
The courage is courtesy of Saldana, the team leader, who has 72 wins in his World of Outlaws career (seventh all-time) and has been a consistent challenger for the series title in recent years.
Saldana raced well and led the championship standings for most of 2010 despite being burdened with extreme mental baggage that included a pregnant wife, a father fighting anal cancer, and a lame-duck primary sponsor. In addition, Saldana endured physical anguish from a broken hand sustained in a crash at Volunteer Speedway in the spring and a concussion from an accident at Eldora Speedway in the fall that caused him to miss a race, essentially ending his championship hopes.
“It could always be worse,” reflected Saldana, who fell to fourth in the final standings. “I feel like my dad is beating cancer. He’s going to be a cancer survivor. My wife having a son--that’s a miracle from God. We never even thought we could have another child, so that’s pretty amazing.”
Despite his injuries, Saldana led the Outlaws in races won and laps led for the second consecutive year in 2010.
“It’s just a testament to my team and everything going on with Budweiser [leaving] and Kasey [changing NASCAR Sprint Cup teams], Saldana said. “Winning races is what you want to do, but ultimately for your sponsors and everybody else on the team, you want to win that championship and that’s just something I haven’t figured out yet as a driver.”
The final piece of the KKR driver puzzle is Brad Sweet, who runs a partial winged-sprint schedule for the team when not competing in a USAC sprint or midget.
Sweet, a diminutive driver with boyish looks, will capitalize on Kahne’s support when the two join a stable of drivers at Turner Motorsports to share several rides in the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series in 2011.
Kahne is also generous to people who are actually related to him.
His brother Kale works as a team mechanic. Cousin Willie is Saldana’s crew chief, while another cousin, Kole, runs Factory Kahne Shocks.
Kasey’s father, Kelly, is also a frequent at-track visitor who appreciates his son’s sprint car operation.
“He works real hard at it,” beams a proud Kelly Kahne, a former sprint car team owner himself. “It reminds him of where we came from—racing sprint cars back home in Washington,” he added.
Kelly Kahne said his son is working hard to bring Red Bull sponsorship to KKR. The Austrian energy drink giant is already prominent in motor sports with Formula One, World Rally and various motorcycle series in addition to owning a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup teams, including the no. 83 which Kahne will drive through 2011 before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.
It would surprise no one to see someone with Kasey Kahne’s management skills succeed in that venture.
“He puts all the right people in the right spots,” McMahan stated. “He’s a hands-on owner and is at the shop everyday with us. When it’s time to chew somebody’s butt out, he does. But when it’s time to pat somebody on the back, he does that also. He really enjoys the sport and keeps giving back to it.”
Jim Chiappelli is SPEED’s News Director and Coordinating Producer of The SPEED Report and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Jim has worked in broadcast journalism since 1986, producing or overseeing the production of thousands of newscasts and sportscasts in a career that began at network affiliates in Johnstown and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before shifting to the NBC station in Pittsburgh, where he spent 11 years, leaving as Executive Producer in 2001, when he joined SPEED. A Duquesne University graduate, Jim briefly competed in the limited late model division in Western Pennsylvania for his family, which has been involved in racing for nearly 35 years and continues to campaign a 410 sprint car team.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
The cast includes a second-generation veteran chasing an elusive championship in the shadow of his Hall of Fame father, a journeyman driver who has spent much of his career looking over his shoulder, a red-haired man-child destined for NASCAR, and a promising kid still enduring a painful rehabilitation from a potentially crippling accident.
None of these competitors is related, but Kasey Kahne the boss treats them like his flesh and blood.
This is a story of support, courage, devotion and promises kept.
The promise goes back to February, when a then-20-year old Cody Darrah sustained a severely broken left leg in an automobile accident while travelling to Daytona International Speedway to watch Kahne and other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars make their qualifying runs for the Daytona 500. The crash occurred on the weekend Darrah was to begin his first full season as a World of Outlaws driver for KKR at Volusia Speedway Park just north of Daytona after a successful tour of duty in his native central Pennsylvania.
Kahne stood by his devastated driver, providing transportation, medical referrals and sharing his Charlotte-area home as a place of refuge for the young man to begin the long road to recovery, estimated to be at least nine months.
“When I got hurt, not only did he keep a race team behind me, he got me the right doctors and got everything lined up,” reflected Darrah. “If it wasn’t for him, I might not be able to walk right. I’ve got to thank him more than anyone just to be standing here today.”
Darrah’s already gentle tone became particularly soft.
“Really, he’s everything,” he said of Kahne before talking about his recuperation.
“It was pretty stressful,” Darrah continued as he talked about spending three full weeks in a hospital. “And then coming out and not being able to get out of bed for more than an hour at a time was tough. It [his leg] is still not quite right, but it’s good enough to race. It has been painful, especially in [this] cold weather.”
That leads us to Kahne’s devotion. He tabbed Californian Paul McMahan to take over the ride vacated because of Darrah’s misfortune.
Knowing he was only keeping the seat warm until Darrah’s anticipated return, McMahan seized the opportunity, finishing 2010 sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings on the strength of 30 top-five finishes, including a victory at Eldora Speedway.
McMahan, the super-sub, says he and Darrah developed a solid relationship.
“Me and Cody are best friends,” McMahan declared. “He knew I wasn’t there to steal his job. I was there to do a job, and whenever he got healthy he was going to be back in the racecar.”
Darrah admitted it was strange watching someone else behind the wheel of his no. 91 Great Clips sprinter, but accepted it as a learning experience.
“Paul’s a really nice guy on and off the race track,” he stated. “To be honest, it has been intimidating to watch him because he’s done such a great job.”
Imagine the potential awkwardness at The Dirt Track at Charlotte several weeks ago when Darrah returned to the track ready to compete in the DIRT World Finals.
Kahne diffused the situation by announcing an alliance with rival team owner Dennis Roth to provide a full-time ride for McMahan in 2011 as a teammate to Darrah and KKR’s other full-time Outlaw, Joey Saldana.
“All of my hard work paid off,” said a relieved McMahan. “For the first time in awhile, it’s November and I already have a ride for the next year.”
The courage is courtesy of Saldana, the team leader, who has 72 wins in his World of Outlaws career (seventh all-time) and has been a consistent challenger for the series title in recent years.
Saldana raced well and led the championship standings for most of 2010 despite being burdened with extreme mental baggage that included a pregnant wife, a father fighting anal cancer, and a lame-duck primary sponsor. In addition, Saldana endured physical anguish from a broken hand sustained in a crash at Volunteer Speedway in the spring and a concussion from an accident at Eldora Speedway in the fall that caused him to miss a race, essentially ending his championship hopes.
“It could always be worse,” reflected Saldana, who fell to fourth in the final standings. “I feel like my dad is beating cancer. He’s going to be a cancer survivor. My wife having a son--that’s a miracle from God. We never even thought we could have another child, so that’s pretty amazing.”
Despite his injuries, Saldana led the Outlaws in races won and laps led for the second consecutive year in 2010.
“It’s just a testament to my team and everything going on with Budweiser [leaving] and Kasey [changing NASCAR Sprint Cup teams], Saldana said. “Winning races is what you want to do, but ultimately for your sponsors and everybody else on the team, you want to win that championship and that’s just something I haven’t figured out yet as a driver.”
The final piece of the KKR driver puzzle is Brad Sweet, who runs a partial winged-sprint schedule for the team when not competing in a USAC sprint or midget.
Sweet, a diminutive driver with boyish looks, will capitalize on Kahne’s support when the two join a stable of drivers at Turner Motorsports to share several rides in the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series in 2011.
Kahne is also generous to people who are actually related to him.
His brother Kale works as a team mechanic. Cousin Willie is Saldana’s crew chief, while another cousin, Kole, runs Factory Kahne Shocks.
Kasey’s father, Kelly, is also a frequent at-track visitor who appreciates his son’s sprint car operation.
“He works real hard at it,” beams a proud Kelly Kahne, a former sprint car team owner himself. “It reminds him of where we came from—racing sprint cars back home in Washington,” he added.
Kelly Kahne said his son is working hard to bring Red Bull sponsorship to KKR. The Austrian energy drink giant is already prominent in motor sports with Formula One, World Rally and various motorcycle series in addition to owning a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup teams, including the no. 83 which Kahne will drive through 2011 before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.
It would surprise no one to see someone with Kasey Kahne’s management skills succeed in that venture.
“He puts all the right people in the right spots,” McMahan stated. “He’s a hands-on owner and is at the shop everyday with us. When it’s time to chew somebody’s butt out, he does. But when it’s time to pat somebody on the back, he does that also. He really enjoys the sport and keeps giving back to it.”
Jim Chiappelli is SPEED’s News Director and Coordinating Producer of The SPEED Report and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Jim has worked in broadcast journalism since 1986, producing or overseeing the production of thousands of newscasts and sportscasts in a career that began at network affiliates in Johnstown and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before shifting to the NBC station in Pittsburgh, where he spent 11 years, leaving as Executive Producer in 2001, when he joined SPEED. A Duquesne University graduate, Jim briefly competed in the limited late model division in Western Pennsylvania for his family, which has been involved in racing for nearly 35 years and continues to campaign a 410 sprint car team.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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