Springfield, Ill., has an impressive racing heritage, and as is true in many similarly situated communities racing bloodlines run deep.
Exhibit A is the Kunz family. To attempt to follow the connections in this family tree can stress the ability of an expert genealogist. However, what such a study would provide is a tale of dedication to auto racing and a consistent record of success.
This story goes back 100 years when Abner “Rube” Weyant purchased his first race car. Two of Rube’s boys went on to race with Chuck Weyant, making it all the way to the Indianapolis 500. Then, there was daughter Lillian. On July 1, 1948, she married World War II veteran Russell “Gene” Kunz, and the marriage produced four children, Russell (Rusty), Charles (Chuck), Karen and Keith.
Gene Kunz worked at a local Pillsbury plant and was mechanically inclined. Later Lillian served as a scorer for the popular MARA midget series.
As the oldest child, Rusty Kunz was the first to dedicate at least a part of his life to the sport. He fielded a midget for his cousin Duke DeRosa and in 1972 the pair captured the National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing championship. He later formed a relationship with owner Howard Lehmann and captured the 1979 and ’80 MARA titles.
A first of many signature wins came in the 1979 Hut Hundred at the Terre Haute Action Track. To crack the field, you had to be among the fastest 33 qualifiers. On this day there were 60 cars on the grounds.
The team had just switched from a Volkswagen engine to the latest hot ticket, the Chevy II. It was not going especially well. Johnny Parsons was set to race for Illinois car owner Math Schneider, but a blown engine seemed to end his day. It was here that DeRosa stepped up for the benefit of the team.
“Duke told me that Parsons was changing his clothes and maybe I should talk to him,” Rusty Kunz remembered. “I went to talk to Johnny, and he told me he would come down and take a look at the car.”
Satisfied with what he found he decided to accept the ride. Without the benefit of any practice, Parsons qualified 22nd.
At the end of 100 laps, Parsons was in victory lane.
“Howard Lehmann and I were partners and Howard Linne sold us the car,” Rusty Kunz recalled. “He was really forthright in terms of sharing information, so a big shoutout to those guys. In those days, I was just a step above a mud scraper.”
Even though Keith Kunz was 12 years younger than Rusty, the brothers were remarkably close. This relationship was forged in the garage and at the race track.
“By the time he was 13 or 14 my dad bought a midget just for him to work on,” Rusty Kunz said. “Not to drive, but to work on. Our brother Chuck drove it. So, when we went to the race track, we would pit next to each other and then we would work on the cars in our garage.”
Soon Keith began tagging along as Rusty visited legendary mechanics such as Howard Linne and Bob Higman. By the mid-1980s, Keith Kunz was giving midget racing a try but a hard crash at Beaver Dam Raceway ended his driving career.
Keith had already been using other drivers in his car and looking back, the next logical step for the Kunz brothers seemed obvious.
“It was probably late 1989,” Keith Kunz recalled. “Rusty had a car and I was racing with Donnie Lehmann. Rusty came to me and said, ‘Why don’t we put our stuff together and get a really good car?’ Around 1990 we bought a new Challenger and Rich Vogler started racing for us.”
An important chapter in midget racing history was about to unfold.
One crucial step in the progression of Rusty and Keith’s careers came when they began to rub shoulders with California car owner Larry Howard. For a time, no one had a more successful midget than Howard, who teamed with Gary Stanton to build a car that carried Ron Shuman to a Turkey Night Grand Prix victory. Then, he trusted engineer Larry Slutter who convinced him a Cosworth engine could be developed for midget racing.
By the early 1990s, Howard had won the Chili Bowl with Sammy Swindell and also had success with a young gun from the West Coast named Page Jones.
Just how the relationship began remains unclear. Keith Kunz feels that Hoosier Tire’s Neil Cowman may have been the broker. Both brothers remember Howard arriving in Illinois with P.J. and Page Jones, and with a scruffy teenager named Jason Leffler also along for the ride. Howard worked out of the Kunz garage and it was here that some valuable lessons were offered.
“We really learned a lot from him,” Keith Kunz remembered. “He was the one who really taught Rusty and I how to race. It stepped up our game big time.”
Adding to the story, Rusty said, “He sat down with us and gave us the talk. He explained if you guys are going to do this, and you want to be successful you have to be committed. It isn’t about the finances, it isn’t about how much money you have, you have to be committed. You have to be able to go out and talk, get the right driver, the right car and have a good relationship with engine builders. He was just telling us all the right things you needed to do. He explained what racing was all about, and how you went about it. It was like a father-and-son talk.”
The brothers developed a nice program and it afforded them the chance to hire top drivers. Rusty Kunz remembers one moment from 1993 fondly.
“We were in the garage one day and we wanted to go to Hales Corner because they had a big race that paid like $7,000 to win,” he said. “They were going to run a Silver Crown race at Milwaukee on the Mile that weekend, so we talked to Jimmy Sills, Ron Shuman and Lealand McSpadden and they either had a ride or weren’t coming.
“We were still going to go. Sometimes we would just take a car and find a driver. Then, the phone rang, and it was Tony Stewart,” Rusty Kunz recalled. “He was looking for a ride. We had seen him win at Terre Haute, so I hollered over to Keith and said the Stewart kid wants to race for us. Keith said, ‘Hire him.’ That’s exactly how that happened and he won the race. He thought it paid $1,000 to win. They paid us in fives, 10s and 20s, so we had a grocery bag full of cash and at 1 o’clock in the morning we are in our trailer counting money.”
Later that same summer Rusty and Keith Kunz won the Belleville (Kan.) Midget Nationals with Page Jones, and that winter they provided a car for Andy Hillenburg to become the first Oklahoma native to win the Chili Bowl Nationals.
At that time, they were using Stealth chassis and perhaps that triggered California owner Gary Zarounian to reach out to Keith Kunz.
“Gary called me and asked if I would come out and help them for a weekend and at that time, I worked a regular job and racing was more of a hobby,” he recalled. “When I got out there, I talked them into hiring me. We came to an agreement and I came back and told my wife and mom we were moving out there.”
It was a big moment for Rusty as well.
“He came back and said they wanted him to go out there,” Rusty Kunz explained. “I said, ‘Well, you’ve got to go.’ Then, he said not just for the weekend, but for good. I said, ‘Oh, that’s different.’ He came home and got his stuff, his wife and little kids and away he went. I remember thinking I hope this works out because he had given up a good job. The rest is history.”
From here the choices each man made was a function of their station in life. Keith was much younger and, in his words, “I was living in a mobile home with a wife and two kids. I didn’t have anything.”
Rusty, on the other hand, had a house and a great job. For years he served as an engineer with the city of Springfield. In short, Keith was free to pursue his racing dreams while Rusty did his best to juggle the demands of racing and a 40-hour a week job.
Rusty continued to field a car just as he had always done. The two men arrived at the 1994 Belleville Midget Nationals on different teams. Keith, wrenching for the Zarounians, came loaded with Steve Knepper and Tommie Estes Jr. Meanwhile, Rusty (with Keith still listed as a co-owner) had cars for Kevin Doty and Richard Griffin. Doty, who was enjoying a tremendous year, topped the finale, with Knepper and Estes right behind.
The one-two-three finish was a triumph for the family. In the end Rusty was technically the victor, but in typical fashion said, “I felt it was Keith’s team, too.”
Meanwhile, Keith Kunz enjoyed success with the Zarounians, but at the end of the year he relented to a full-court press applied by car owner John Lawson and joined his squad. He was prepared for a record-setting 1995 season with Lawson, Murray “Muzz” Gordon and driver Billy Boat. They established a USAC record for consecutive victories and ended the year by winning the Turkey Night Grand Prix.
Rusty Kunz was also still swinging and during the 1995 Chili Bowl John Lawson introduced him to prospective car owner Steve Beneto. He told Kunz that he wanted “to do one of these midgets and do the whole USAC schedule. He gave me his number and said I want you to order a Gaerte motor, and a couple of Stealths. I came home and called Keith and said, ‘Who is this guy?’ Keith said, ‘He’s serious, and he wants you to do it.’ We went out and got Brian Gerster and did the whole deal, which included dirt and pavement.”
In 1996, Rusty Kunz began the year with a bang. He entered a car in the Chili Bowl along with owner Jay McKinnie, which led to Sammy Swindell winning a third Golden Driller.
Keith Kunz had another big year with Boat, but he also lent a hand to Steve Beneto, who took on the USAC Western States midget series. It was a good year as Californian Jay Drake won the title.
However, by the end of the year more changes were ahead. Keith Kunz relocated to Columbus, Ind., to work for owner Pete Willoughby.
There was a promise of first-rate equipment and a star-studded cast of drivers. Jason Leffler was in the fold, but a prospect who was tabbed for the companion car was injured and Kunz called Drake.
The team also needed more mechanical help and once again Keith knew a guy — his brother.
The team had plenty of success and in 1997 Leffler was the USAC National champion and was the best man at the Belleville High Banks. Swindell started the 1998 campaign by putting Willoughby’s car in victory lane at the Chili Bowl.
Leffler departed at the end of the 1997 season to race for Steve Lewis, and the team was led by Drake, who in 2000 enjoyed one the best seasons in USAC history.
But suddenly Willoughby and Keith Kunz were at a crossroads. When Willoughby suffered a setback in his business, it seemed like one of the best teams in the industry was on the verge of closing. However, they regrouped, and Keith Kunz Motorsports was born.
The staggering run of success of KKM is remarkable and will be a discussion point for as long as anyone is interested in the history of auto racing. Keith Kunz grew up idolizing the greatest mechanics and constructors of their time and now he had taken his place among those legends. At the Chili Bowl today his armada of cars occupies the most coveted piece of real estate and is a place where fans stop to stare.
It is understandable. He has won the race with Stewart, Drake, Rico Abreu and Christopher Bell.
In contrast, Rusty has remained far more in the background. Sometimes he collaborated with his brother, sometimes he was alone. He has also served as a hired gun. He’s had plenty of success too. Rusty was the crew chief when Bryan Clauson won the 2014 Chili Bowl. At the Chili Bowl, he is still sought after by top owners and in 2024 he worked with Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Those on the inside know how genuinely great a mechanical mind he is, but to some he has been the other Kunz. That alone could be a source of frustration and provoke a case of wounded pride.
It doesn’t.
“Oh, no,” Rusty Kunz said. “Keith deserves it. I’m a realist. I have done it full time, but I don’t do it full time. He does it full time. That’s his livelihood. I have never had to depend on a check coming from racing.
“If I didn’t want to go racing, I didn’t have to,” Rusty continued. “Some of my owners might kill me so in that sense I had to go. But everything, all the accolades he gets, he deserves. I’m good with that.”
Keith Kunz has never felt that Rusty looked upon his success with an ounce of jealousy or animosity.
“I don’t think it has ever bothered him,” Keith Kunz said. “He has always been happy for my success and is a great brother. I don’t think some people know what he has done. He has helped a lot of people in racing. He has won a lot of races with different people.
“In the 1990s, he was with people like Tony Stewart and Kevin Doty, and before that with Johnny Parsons, Larry Rice and Steve Cannon. He is every bit as good as I am. My advantage was I was able to do it for a living where he had a job and did it more as a hobby. Although he still raced a lot. He raced and still got home and went to work. I was able to work on someone else’s dime. Now, for the last 20 years or so, people have hired him.”
Which brings up an interesting point. There are times when the brothers have, at least on paper, been rivals. This is where the kinship bond is unshakable. It was born on the highway, in the garage and in the field, hunting side by side.
“We are really close,” Keith Kunz said. “We talk about set up and share information all the time.”
Rusty could not agree more.
“First of all, he is your brother,” Rusty said. “So how do you get mad at your brother? When we were rivals at some races it was a pleasure to beat him. You always knew he was the guy to beat. It was his team, and he was the guy.”
Rusty Kunz is a racing lifer. Today, he shepherds the career of his grandson Brayton Lynch, who after a few years away is set to compete with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series.
“He has worked hard to gather a few sponsors up, so we put a deal together and I guess I am a part of it,” Rusty Kunz said.
It’s still fun for Kunz, but the fact is it is a bit different for him now. Age certainly changes one’s perspective, but while he wasn’t working with Clauson at the time of his death, the loss cut deep.
“Right after Bryan passed things changed,” he said. “Superman is not supposed to die. After that family became more important, friends became more important, and I became closer with my cousins who are my age. My wife and I have several couples we started going out to dinner with and I started going fishing and gardening. Racing gradually faded away. It is always fun, but if you get away from it for a while, you learn there are other things in life besides racing.”
When pressed to pick a favorite driver that he worked with, Rusty Kunz lands on Vogler.
“He was so much fun to work with and he was so smart, and he communicated well,” Kunz said. “A lot of people got the wrong opinion because they thought he was standoffish. The problem was he was so intense and so focused on winning. That was his job. He ran sixth one night and he apologized to us because he felt he didn’t give it everything he had and said the next time we will be better.”
Rusty Kunz made a lot of drivers better, and still does. He is humble and comfortable in his own skin. True to form, when he reviews his life and career in racing, he offers only one regret. Pausing for a moment he says, “My dad died in 1992. I wish he could have seen how successful Keith became.”
That statement alone underscores the essence of this man.
THIS ARTICLE IS REPOSTED FROM THE June 12 EDITION OF SPEED SPORT INSIDER
SPEED SPORT Insider is the ad-free premium extension of SPEEDSPORT.com. Insider is dedicated to the best and brightest in motorsports journalism – created by the best writers, photographers and reporters in the business. From veteran Hall of Fame writers like Bones Bourcier, Dave Argabright, Pat Sullivan, Keith Waltz, Ralph Sheheen and Editor in Chief Mike Kerchner, to behind the scenes SPEED SPORT reporters such as David Hoffman, Nathan Solomon and more.
By subscribing to Insider, you not only get exclusive access to this premium content, but you support the journalists that are vital to telling the stories that matter most. Subscriptions are just $5/mo or $44.95 for an entire year. View plans and details.
SPECIAL OFFER! Subscribe now with this link and save $5.00!
