Michigan boy doesn't have a driver's license but hits racetrack at 80 mph

[King_of_lion]

With his first corporate sponsorship secured, Keegan is focused on NASCAR. This year, he moves into a full-size race car — the kind professionals use. “When I’m racing, I feel hot and tight in there, tight in the seat,” he said. “In the car, I don’t feel like I’m going that fast. When I go 90, it feels like you’re going 60. Sometimes when you’re going too fast, there’s not enough grip and you’re sliding." Father and son Passion for cars runs in the family. Keegan's father is a design mechanic at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. He knows what it means to have seats and roll cages built to fit his son's body. "My father was an employee at Chrysler and had an opportunity to get me into the factory. After I finished my degree, I moved over to Auburn Hills, working in a research lab," said Roman Sobilo, 45. "What I see in Keegan is passion, like how I feel about car restoration. But for him, everything has to align itself. I tell my son you have to be the perfect package. Winning races every weekend is not the (only) key. You have to have the right name, you have to look the correct way, speak the correct way, act the correct way. Then the rest of it is really luck, like the stock market. If you don't put yourself out there, you'll never hit it big." 30 feet While Keegan's classmates at Immanuel Lutheran School in Macomb County play basketball and volleyball, Keegan is at the Birch Run track — practicing, qualifying and racing until 10 p.m. or 2 a.m. While many children spend time playing video games, Keegan runs race simulation training with his joystick after school.

Phillips says the boy is tireless, staying up past 2 a.m. at Springport speedway in Calhoun County on the west side of the state. “They made us race last,” Phillips said. “But he was ready to go.” For four years, Keegan has raced mini cars from May through October. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing. These cars have quick steering and they're fast,” said competitor Mike Todd, 69, of Galesburg, Michigan. “I think I was into it a year before Keegan. It was like, really, I’m going to be racing against a kid who doesn’t have a driver’s license? Come on, now. I had to put myself in check. It was like having a grandson. I showed him respect and he showed me respect. The kid is cool. And he takes it very serious.” Todd, a retired high school custodian, said he would never underestimate Keegan. “I’d like to see him make it big. He’s got the willpower,” said Todd, a Marine who served in Vietnam and loves competing in the Great Lakes Super (GLS) Mini Cup Series that Keegan won. “He spun me out a couple times. He was a sportsman all the way. We were both going into the corner, he tried to put his nose underneath,” Todd recalled. “And the front end of his car would wash out, hit the end of my car and spin me. It was nothing intentional. You’re going to get this car to go as fast as possible. Everything is momentum. There are centrifical clutches so you have to build your speed up. We go into the corners full bore.”