Today, Kasey Kahne was introduced as the new Auto Club Speedway Kid’s Club president.
Lefty’s Kids Club is a children’s group dedicated to various activities across Auto Club Speedway to help them experience everything a race day weekend has to offer. This year, Kasey Kahne was introduced as the new president of the kid’s club.
“It’s good to be here in California and get to race at this race track. It’s always a track that I’ve really enjoyed over the years,” Kahne mentioned during his press conference earlier today. “The first practice [today] didn’t go very well for us, but we have a lot of time to hopefully get better as the weekend goes here.”
When asked about the new position with the kid’s club, Kahne was looking forward to the opportunities and shared some of the work he’s already done with the children.
“I’ve seen Lefty before, but I met him a little bit two weeks ago when I was out here and we did a deal close to the track with some kids and actually got to learn how to play the guitar. It was a great band and they’re coming as well. To be part of this, see the kids here and the 135,000 people it touches this year is really neat and unbelievable. It’s great to see that and to see kids being into racing and also into education in general.”
During the press conference, some of the kids were invited to ask Kahne some questions. One child asked where his passion for auto racing originated.
“Mine started at a young age. I was little the first time I went to a dirt track, which was the kind of racing I started in. My dad worked on dirt cars and we had a local dirt track a couple of miles from our house, so I would see him working on them and I would go to the race track and sit in the grandstands with my mom and watch. My passion started growing at that point in time. I think the competition and just seeing everybody racing for first and things like that really got me intrigued.
“Then I also had some friends at the race track, so it started building when I was four or five years old and I started racing when I was 14. I talked my parents into it, and I started when I was 14 and have raced ever since. It started by watching and trying to learn, and also by watching TV. I used to watch NASCAR and IndyCar and Sprint Cars on TV back then also.”
Some of the media also took time to ask Kahne about his new relationship with Levine Family Racing, after being released from Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season.
“We’re definitely learning as a team. We all have to keep learning if we want to get better and hopefully soon we’ll start making those strides. But at this point, we still have a good ways to go before it’s anywhere near where any of us want it to be.”
This weekend, Kahne will be hosting a Driver’s Story Time on Sunday, March 18 at 9:15 a.m. at the Lefty’s Fun Zone for all fans with race tickets. To purchase tickets and race weekend packages, visit the Auto Club Speedway website to view more information.
