TULSA, Okla. — When one walks into the expansive pit area for the Chili Bowl Nationals there is never a mystery where Keith Kunz Motorsports will be staged.
The armada of KKM cars are right up front. It is a position that has been earned through loyal participation and their record. This is the most successful team in the long history of the United States Auto Club and unquestionably the most heralded midget squad in the land. KKM drivers and crew members are expected to succeed. That’s the bottom line.
It is a high-pressure world and by definition it isn’t an environment where all can thrive. Then for so many aspiring talents who enter this world there is one more key ingredient.
“They are kids,” said Pete Willoughby, the longtime team manager for the Toyota-supported operation, “and sometimes we forget it.”
Thankfully, it is a reality Willoughby rarely ignores. Willoughby and Keith Kunz have been sidekicks for years. While Kunz has a high profile, Willoughby is often in the shadows. That doesn’t make his contribution any less important. When you talk to KKM drivers past and present you learn one thing quickly. Willoughby is often the one they lean on.
Willoughby knows the role he plays. When asked if his youthful drivers and crew members turn to him he admits, “Most of them do. That’s because I’m the easy one.” Then he adds, “I think if you are as tough as Keith is, it is important to have someone to balance it out a little bit. He might beat them down, then they come to me to get lifted up a little bit.”
To do this effectively means Willoughby has to take time with each of them.
“They all are very different personalities,” he said. “You treat all of them separately. You try to spend an hour talking to them and get to know them. It is important to find out what their interests are and what makes them tick internally.”
The advice and guidance he offers goes way beyond racing. What has set Willoughby apart is the time he spends helping his young charges learn about life in general. He understands why this is important.
“Most of them are away from home for the first time and they are learning things that schools don’t teach them today,” Willoughby said. “I have had drivers who didn’t know how to fill out a check or a mailing envelope. They don’t even know where to put the stamp. It’s not their fault. It’ not that they aren’t smart it is just that people did that for them. Their life wasn’t like a normal kid. It is not unusual for many of them and that includes our crew guys, to have no credit score. So we go to the bank and look how to set things up, at least those that want to take advantage of that.”
In the end they are here to do a job and ultimately see if their racing dreams can come true. Willoughby admits there have been times when it was clear that a driver lacked the mental or physical tools to make racing a career. In other cases, it was obvious instantly that a special talent was at hand. However, rarely is it black or white.
“What is hard are those who take two or three years to develop their skills and sometimes you don’t know if they are going to make it,” Willoughby said. “Not to pick on him but I didn’t know with Tanner Thorson, and then all of a sudden it just clicked and away he went. The second or third year is important. If they are going to make it that should be coming out by then. That is also true with our crew. We don’t just develop drivers, we also develop crew guys.”
Growing personally and professionally is hard, and often the feedback needed to spur the process along is not easy to digest. When asked if he has ever felt the need to suggest to his partner (Kunz) to lighten up Willoughby quickly says, “No. First it wouldn’t do any good. Second, more often than not Keith is right. When he comes down on them, as cold as it may seem at times, he is telling them the truth. He’s teaching them another part of life. Either you break that habit or you’re not going to make it.”
Willoughby says he gets great satisfaction watching a young driver put it all together.
“There is nothing more fun for me than to deal with a Kyle (Larson), a Christopher (Bell) or Buddy (Kofoid). I love working with these kids that have talent,” Willoughby said. “I get more out of that than I do the actual racing anymore.”