By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
The Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic presented by Toyota Racing Development at Millbridge Speedway Wednesday, Oct. 31, is one that fans and competitors will not forget.
Over 60 competitors arrived in Salisbury, North Carolina, to compete. The winner of the feature would obtain a ride in the 2019 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl with Keith Kunz Motorsports if they are 16 years of age by mid-January. If the competitor was going to be underaged, other arrangements would have been made to compete with Keith Kunz and his team.
For Kunz and the staff at Millbridge, the six months of preparation paid off as was it lived up to their expectations.
“As we got closer, it really got exciting. These last few weeks you could feel that it was just building and building with momentum,” Kunz stated.
“Everybody was excited this was coming up. The last two nights have been crazy with the excitement. The thing lived up to what we expected. The racing was great. Every race was unbelievable.”
Since the idea was floated around by Kunz, Toyota Racing Development was on board with the idea of giving back to the outlaw kart community with a Chili Bowl ride. Kunz believes that without the TRD support, the event could not have been made possible.
“It’s huge. As soon as I mentioned it to them, they were on board with it. They have been great through this whole thing. Without them, we couldn’t have done it,” he stated.
Jesse Colwell, a native of Red Bluff, C.A., was able to score the victory at Millbridge. Over the next three months, Colwell will go to the KKM shop and get fitted for the ride.
With the KKM schedule still ongoing, the next three months will consist of finishing out their current season alongside vigorous preparation for the Chili Bowl.
With the success of the inaugural event, Kunz announced over the public address system that he hopes the event becomes an annual tradition.
“Oh yeah! I am sure we will talk about it. We will see how everything works out and see what next year brings. This will be neat if we could make it an annual event.”