where are they NOW KELLY BOEN

Words by Lee Ackerman • Photos by KC Rooney

ONE OF THE MOST intense drivers to ever get behind the wheel of a race car, Colorado’s Kelly Boen was always on full throttle.

Starting at the Colorado National Speedway when it was dirt and later at the Rocky Mountain National Speedway and Fort Morgan Speedway, Boen quickly became a winner. Campaigning an IMCA Modified in the 1990s, he posted close to 80 wins, tied for IMCA National points (twice) and won three track championships at Rocky Mountain Speedway. In 1996, at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa, he not only won the Harris Race of Champions, but the Super Nationals finale.

Boen then switched to a late model with the Western Dirt Racing Association (WDRA) where he won the series title four years in a row (20022005). He also started racing with the National Championship Racing Association (NCRA) and won a series high 59 feature events and five series championships.

DENVER, COLORADO

If there is one track that fit Boen to a T, it was the Belleville High Banks in Belleville, Kansas where Boen scored a record 14 late model wins, including a World of Outlaws Late Model feature.

Dirt Empire: You had a very distinguished career. What was your proudest moment?

Kelly Boen: I have had so many great moments racing many different cars and so many different tracks all over the United States. From last lap passes for a race win to four-wide with the left side tires in the infield. It would be nearly impossible to pick one moment after 30 plus years of racing life. Hanging out with the fans and fellow racers after the show is over are moments that I will be most grateful for. When you can spend 50 or 100 laps at battle with your competition then cook dinner and eat together an hour later that is something to be proud of.

DE: Who was your toughest competition?

KB: I tried to compete against myself most times. Doing things that I expected of myself as well as avoiding things that I should avoid. As far as other racers – each track seemed to have a guy or a few that were tough to beat. The trick was to figure out which guys at which track.

DE: Any regrets about your career? Any races you didn’t win that you wished you would have?

KB: I was never very good at Eldora. I wished that I could have raced or tested there more to at least be competitive. There is one race I should have won but didn’t. I finished second to Billy Moyer at Knoxville one year and I had a faster car. I was to kind to him that day.

DE: Of all the tracks you won on, you are most remembered for being the King of the High Banks at Belleville, Kansas. What was your secret at Belleville?

KB: I don’t think that is a secret but the biggest challenge is to bring a car that will hold up without breaking something for four hot laps, ten heat race laps and 30 or 40 feature laps. I have broken cars in all three segments of any given night. Once you break you are done for months or until the following season because they race there so infrequently. Everything from switches to fittings, engines and rear ends better be ready for abuse. That place is hard on everything including the driver and crew. But what a fun and amazing place to race. My wife watched me once from the back straight-away in the infield. She normally watches from the grandstands. When I pulled off the scale after the race, she was the first person I saw. I stopped to look at her and noticed that she was crying and could not catch her breath. All that just from watching! What a place to race, I loved it!

DE: So, what has Kelly Boen been up to since retiring from racing, I know you still have Roadrunner Fabrication?

KB: I still work at my fab shop in Denver and play around with old cars. I boat, fish and travel a bit and try not to think too much about racing.

DE: Do you still follow racing?

KB: I follow racing on TV and not just dirt racing - any racing that is on. I am hooked on watching “Street Outlaws.”

DE: What do you think is the biggest difference between racing today and racing when you were in your prime?

KB: I am unsure when it was or if I even had a prime. But racing today seems very different. Our team built many of the parts we used on our cars and we assembled all of our cars. Now it seems like all the cars are pretty much ready when they leave the builder. Also, it looks as if we are losing more and more tracks in the region between California and the Mississippi River. The car counts are down as well. The way the cars run on bumps rather than springs now is probably the biggest difference though.

DE: Any advice you would like to pass on to young drivers?

KB: As far as advice for young drivers, I would say be a driver and not an owner, if at all possible. Only go racing with the best equipment and the most thorough preparation. Unless your team is 100% ready every race, don’t go. Do not enter any race that you do not believe that you can win. Do not let any other driver concern you. Be your best not someone else’s best. TEST-TEST-TEST! Have thick skin – don’t be a cry baby about anything. Most importantly - have fun!