Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Friday, October 05, 2007
Oktoberfest races: Ross Kenseth follows in his father's race tracks
 Nextel Cup driver Matt Kenseth, left, and his son Ross look over Ross' car at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Ross is racing in the Oktoberfest races. Erik Daily Erik Daily |
WEST SALEM, Wis. — Ross Kenseth realizes that once he’s on the race track, he’s the farthest thing from “just another driver.”
He’s “Matt’s kid.”
And everybody, I mean everybody, wants to beat “Matt’s kid.” It doesn’t matter if you grab a checkered flag or not. If you beat the son of a Nextel Cup driver, it somehow means something more. A notch in your racing belt. A bit of notoriety for yourself, perhaps?
Whether it’s fair or not doesn’t matter. When you have a famous father — as in 2003 Nextel Cup champion Matt Kenseth — and a famous last name, some things in life are already decided for you.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t live with your famous father, but instead reside in Illinois with your mother and stepfather. Once Ross decided to leave his relatively quiet life as an average kid and enter the racing world, attention soon followed.
Not to paparazzi levels, but Ross
couldn’t be invisible even if he wanted to be.
“There is always going to be that type of thing out there. Who doesn’t want to beat Matt’s kid?” Lisa said of the challenges her son faces. “It’s always out there and we have to accept that. Matt, he lives a different life and Ross has seen parts of that. When Ross is with his dad, Matt knows what direction he should help him go.”
By most accounts, Ross seems to be a typical 14-year-old kid. He’s wearing a race suit all right, but a full set of braces is a dead give-away that this kid is probably as wrapped up with the challenges of adolescence as he is becoming a top-flight stock car driver.
“I try to help him out and give him advice about his driving,” said Matt, who was at the Fairgrounds Speedway both Wednesday and Thursday. “I’m trying to be as helpful as I can when I can.”
Ross spent Thursday afternoon hot-lapping, then qualifying his Late Model car for the final Big 8 Series race of the season. And if you had any doubt the kid can drive, the fact that he turned in the fastest qualifying lap among 51 drivers should give you a clue. The Big 8 Series race is just one of many over the next four days at the 38th annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend.
A freshman at St. Bede Academy in Peru, Ill., Ross had to make sure one thing was done before he could make the trek to West Salem: His homework.
“I did most of it ahead of time, and did some on the way up here,” Ross said.
Ross realizes school is important, and that belief is reinforced by his father and his mother, Lisa Bandaly, with whom he lives in Spring Valley, Ill.
“As long as he gets good grades, he can race. That’s the deal he made with his dad and me,” Lisa said. “Matt has been down this racing road, so right now it’s up to Matt which road he (Ross) takes.
Lisa knows full well that Ross loves racing, and has ever since he started racing go-karts at age 5. He progressed from go-karts to Legends cars to stock cars this summer. He has competed in about eight to 10 races at Wisconsin Dells and Columbus Speedway.
“I definitely wanted to do this. Nobody forced me to do it,” Ross said. “It’s so much fun, you don’t want to stop. After my first couple of races, it was so much fun I wanted to continue to race as much as I could.”
And who better to learn from than one of the best drivers ever to come out of Wisconsin than his father, Matt? Matt cut his racing teeth at short-tracks around the state, including the Fairgrounds Speedway (where he became the youngest winner of the Oktoberfest ARTGO race when he won it in 1993 at age 21), Madison International Speedway and Wisconsin International Speedway in Kaukauna.
“My dad and I enjoyed racing and got to spend some time together at different tracks,” Matt said of he and his father, Roy. “I don’t get to spend much time with him (Ross) because he races on Saturday nights, which is the same time we are racing somewhere across the country.”
Ross said he is able to go to about six or so Nextel Cup races a year, and loves being around the action in the pit area. He knows a number of the Nextel Cup drivers, and many of the crew members. He sees Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and other Cup drivers a bit differently than you and I, however.
“I see them as professional athletes, but I more so I see them as people just like you and I,” Ross said. “It’s fun to be around them. It’s fun to be at the races.”
It may be even more than to race, although Ross didn’t say that — yet. Talking about his car and the chance to race it at the Fairgrounds Speedway — which, at five-eighths of a mile long, is the biggest track he has raced at — Ross couldn’t help but smile.
“It is a lot faster and more fun here,” Ross said. “I’m not worried about winning. I just want to make the show and see what happens.”
What happens with Ross’ career will be closely monitored by Matt, who lives in North Carolina with his wife, Katie, and by Lisa and her husband, Don Bandaly. And, it’s a good bet racing fans will follow the young Kenseth, too, just like they did when Matt tore up the Wisconsin tracks.
“When he’s in Matt’s world, Matt keeps him grounded,” Lisa said. “When he’s at home, we keep him in line.”
So far, that doesn’t sound like too tough a job. But as he continues racing — and likely winning a race or two — the challenges will mount.
“We followed Matt around when he was a 16-year-old tearing up the tracks,” said Ken Beach, who is Ross’ grandfather. “Now it’s Ross’ turn around here. I’m already looking forward to next year.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.