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Tim Kaeding Receives ‘Wild Card’ Award
KNOXVILLE, IA (December 30) – Tim Kaeding has always been considered one of the most electrifying drivers in sprint car racing, so it was no surprise when the National Sprint Car Poll’s voting panel rewarded him with its ‘Wild Card’ Award for exciting performances in 2007.
“That’s awesome,” Tim said. “It’s really a privilege to receive an award like that. I can’t take all the credit though. Tom (Rolfe) gave me the opportunity to do this and the crew (Duke and Scott McMillen) gave me a great car to drive. They’re the ones who fixed it every time I crashed it or had a bad night. They’re letting me do what I do – make the car go around the racetrack – so they probably deserve the award more than I do.”
Tom Rolfe, who hired Kaeding to return as his driver in June, was equally pleased.
“How exciting; that's what our team is all about,” said Rolfe, a California-based car owner who hired Tim early in his career. “I'm elated about it; it proves there are a lot of eyes on us out there. Tim’s our entertainment center; he reflects our team's personality. That's what we're about, not all about winning but putting on an exciting show for the fans.”
Running the alphabet at the 54th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions was especially gratifying for Kaeding and Rolfe. Tim “ran the alphabet,” winning the “C” Feature and charging from the rear of the “B” Feature to earn the final transfer spot for the main event with a final-lap, fourth-corner pass of fellow Californian Randy Hannagan.
“The Gold Cup was probably our most exciting race of the year,” Tim said. “Silver Dollar (Speedway) is Tom’s home racetrack and it’s been my home away from home for about 10 years. We’ve built a good fan base there and, coming from as far back as we did made it really exciting. I dug a hole for us Friday, but we came back and did what we were supposed to do Saturday, which is transfer. I went from the ‘C’ to the ‘B’ and to the ‘A’ on the last lap to make it, so it was probably the best night of racing we had all year.”
A similar run through the “B” Feature put “TK” in the main event at the world’s most prestigious sprint car race – the Knoxville Nationals.
“We came from the back of the ‘B’ to get to the ‘A’ at the (Knoxville) Nationals, too,” Tim said. “There are always a lot of good cars there, so it was great for a team of our caliber that doesn’t have as much experience on the big tracks as others to transfer to the ‘A.’ We haven’t had a lot of good luck on Saturday at the Nationals, but to make the show with the caliber of cars there was exciting to us. We proved that a team that doesn’t normally race with the (World of) Outlaws can go out and make the show at the Nationals. It was a good kick for us because it pointed us in the right direction for the rest of the year. After the Nationals, we said, ‘we were off just a little bit and now it’s time for us to capitalize on this.’ We made up a lot of ground and did what we were supposed to do the rest of the year, which is race, have a lot of fun and put on a good show for the fans.”
Rolfe, who often says ‘my drivers have always been like sons to me,’ couldn’t have been more proud of Tim at the Nationals.
“He gives us everything he has; a whole lot of energy,” Tom said. “We stumbled a little with our engines on opening night, but he still ran eighth in ‘A’ main. Then he came out of the ‘B’ to transfer to the feature on the final night. I honestly believe we would have finished in the top 10 had we not been caught up in that crash on the first lap.”
Tom Rolfe Racing went directly from the Knoxville Nationals to the American Sprint Car Series’ Third Annual O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Midwest Swing in August, and Tim responded with a co-championship performance.
“The ASCS Topless deal was definitely entertaining,” Tim said. “To not be a non-winged guy and to go out and run as well as we did that week was great. That got us believing in ourselves and we proved to those guys the rest of the year that we can run the non-winged cars. I think we’ll come back strong in the non-winged cars next year.”
Kaeding was driving for “King of the Outlaws” Steve Kinser when won the World of Outlaws “A” Feature at Thunderbowl Raceway on February 24th. He dedicated the emotional, $10,000 victory to his late grandmother.
“Winning at Thunderbowl at the beginning of the year was definitely exciting, too,” Tim said. “I lost my grandma a week before the race, so it was really rough on us to actually be racing that weekend. It was difficult, but I did what I told Steve I was going to do, and that was to go out and win the race. I think we were good enough to win both nights, but I messed up on the first night.”
The driver of Tom Rolfe Racing’s #10 Maxim also won six Golden State Challenge King of California main events, as well as the Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway.
Excelling in World of Outlaws, Golden State Challenge King of California Series, United States Auto Club and ASCS competition, “TK” proved he’s electrifying in both winged and non-winged sprint cars.
Kaeding’s father, Brent, who received the Wild Card Award in 1991, finished 20th in the voting by the National Sprint Car Poll’s panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers – just three points ahead of Tim.
“My old man had a great year,” Tim said. “He won the Calistoga track championship, the Golden State deal and a 360 series at Watsonville. He won a lot of races, but we kept him from beating my record for wins in a season with the Golden State Series. It was kind of nice keeping him out of the podium seat there. He has every other Golden State record, but I’m going to keep that one.
“Beating my dad in a race for the first time was a while ago, but it still ranks as one of the most exciting races of my career. Racing against your father, grandfather or sibling gives you an extra excitement. If you can go out and beat them, it proves you’re doing something right. I’ve learned from the best. My dad taught my brother (Bud) and me to be racecar drivers when we were younger and now it’s paying off. We’re getting our names out there and doing what he wanted us to do: race cars for a living and have fun doing it.
“Being so close to him in the voting is special. He doesn’t travel much. I wish he traveled more so he could prove to himself that he can still race with these guys, but business comes before pleasure and he has to take care of that first.”
Sprint car racing fans can expect plenty more exciting performances from “TK” and Tom Rolfe Racing in 2008. Racing as true outlaws, they plan to run more than 100 winged and non-winged races with different series all over the United States.
Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the
West series schedule!
Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting
racecars on dirt!
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