One of Aidan Keel’s bigger dreams is to drive in and win an international championship series. It’s a goal he tried to reach in 2014, but couldn’t.
One year later, the 13-year-old is close enough to making the cut to Portugal that he can practically taste the bacalhau.
The Plant City native is getting ready to compete in the brand-new MAXSpeed/Rotax U.S. Open series this summer, vying for one of two available spots in November’s 2015 Rotax World Finals in Algarve, Portugal. Winning this series would guarantee his spot, but any loss means that he’ll have to win the Rotax Grand Nationals this August to make it to Portugal.
“It’s pretty big,” Keel says. “That’s why it’s hard for everyone to get it. There’s five or six drivers in the U.S. in my category that are good, and are going for it. It just depends on how it all shakes out to see who’s going to get it.”
A win in the Florida Winter Tour could have gotten Keel his spot already, but he ended up crashing his kart. Now, Keel says, he’s got to go race as well as he ever has.
THE FIELD
The other two Juniors drivers that Keel will compete against are Nicholas Brueckner and Anthony Gangi. There won’t be much for him to learn about these two, as well as the two drivers who have already punched their tickets, because he already knows them well.
“We’re usually the five in the front, so I know them all,” Keel says.
According to Keel, both Brueckner and Gangi race different, but effective, styles that will keep him on his toes at all times.
Brueckner, a Texan, is the kind of driver who will do whatever it takes to get a win. If that includes getting a little physical out on the track, so be it.
“He’s a little crazy,” Keel says. “I crashed with him in my last race, the Florida Winter Tour. Part of it was my fault, and part of it was his. I guess it was just because we were trying to get that ticket, so we’re willing to do anything to get it.”
Gangi, a New Yorker, is the opposite. Keel says that he tends to avoid contact, preferring to drive as cleanly as possible, and that style has probably helped him perform as well as he has.
“He won two rounds in the Florida Winter Tour,” Keel says. “He was third in the championship. He was close to getting that ticket. He’s pretty clean — he doesn’t really crash with people a lot. He’s pretty fast, so if he gets out in front he leads most of, if not all of, the race.”
THE STAKES
The first of two U.S. Open races will be held in Dallas, Texas, May 14. After Dallas, Keel will travel to Grand Junction, Colorado at the end of June to try and seal the deal.
The U.S. Open, created in 2015, is considered a big enough national competition by Rotax that a winner can end up earning a spot in the World Finals. If Keel wins, then he won’t be competing in any more series of this scale.
However, if Keel loses, he’ll have one more shot to earn that ticket in the form of the U.S. Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals, which will be held in Kershaw, South Carolina from Aug. 6 to 9.
“It’s crazy, because there are only two chances left that you have to get out of these three races,” he says. “If you don’t, you’re not in. I was going for it last year, but I didn’t get it.”
His first race will be at the Dallas Karting Complex, on a track surrounded by dust. It’s nothing he hasn’t encountered before, but always an inconvenience.
“Tire wear is definitely a key thing,” Keel says. “On dustier tracks, new tires don’t help as much as a clean track with grass would. Also, if you go off the track on grass, you can keep going. With dust, you go off and the dust gets all over the track. You can’t see, and you get stuck.”
Compared to last year, he says, he’s older, wiser and more prepared for what’s ahead. But, he still does understand the scale of the challenge.
“This year, I’m a little bit higher up,” he says. “A little bit older. It’s supposed to be a little bit easier, but it seems like it gets harder every year.
“Usually, my strategy is to win. But, this time, it’s not crashing. It’s two races, so keeping your points is a big thing. I’m obviously going to be pushing it, because it’s only two races. It’s not five, like the Florida Winter Tour — you can’t afford to crash, or even get second place. It doesn’t help.”