My name is Stuart Kelly, I am 21 years old, and am studying at Indianapolis University Purdue University (IUPUI). I have been driving since I was 3 years old. My Grandfather gave me an motorized truck and I've never stopped driving. Around 7 or 8 I had a 3hp go-cart which I drove around my backyard pretending to be a race car driver. I began drifting my go-cart around the dirt track in my yard. From there I had a Murray minibike which I thought was a dirt bike and proceeded to jump dirt mounds and chip piles. My parents decided to get me a real dirtbike which was a TTR Yamaha 125cc. Having access to both the dirtbike and a Yerf Dog 150cc, by 12 years old my interest in driving and motorsports increased. In 2005 when I turned 13, my parents sent me to a youth gocart program called Nexgeneracers. They asked me if I wanted to learn how to actually "race" gocarts against other people. The program is a driving school that teaches teenagers how to race, along with crucial driving skills needed when they get their driving liscneses. We learned about driving lines, and the physics of racing, understeer oversteer etc. After alot of classroom time and track practice, we had qualifying. My time was fastest and to this day is unbeaten for that track setup. I started on the pole and finished the race first, graduating with a first place trophy. I was also awarded with a best in class trophy and medal.
Nexgeneracers asked me to come back and race in their advanced class which consisted of more racing and less class time. In this class I ended up with third place based on a points system. In the first race my tire was flat 30 seconds in while trying to make a pass I probably shouldn't have. Second race the placing was inverted and because I DNF'ed I started on the pole. I finished first with about a 5 second lead. Within the next year I was asked to come and race under sponsorship in a midwest gocart circuit. My parents were afraid that it would interfere with my school, and told them maybe next year. The next year came and I was asked to come and work for Nexgernacers driving school. Which is my current employer of five years, about to be six. In addition within those five years, Nexgeneracers decided to add a stock car racing team that would compete locally at what was Orielly Raceway Park. I was asked to be apart of this team and I accepted without question. Today my ties with Nexgeneracers has strengthended my love for racing. While working for Nexgeneracers I was able to talk with a lot of college kids about racing, and drifting came up. I started tuning my ear for the word, and heard more about the growing sport. I started researching it online, found Drift Indy, and the Midwest Drift Union. I realized this was something I had been doing all my life in my backyard.It was what I loved. In 2010 I went to a few events Midwest Drift Union hosted and fell in love with the sport. I picked out an Rx7 as the chassis that I wanted to be different then the Nissan crowd, and still have a good amount of experienced drifters with my same chassis to learn from. At the beginning of this 2011, I was able to hang out with some of these dudes, and realized this was the sport I wanted to be a part of. Today I still work for Nexgeneracers helping to continue their growth, but step aside every month to race on my own.
My name is Stuart Kelly, and this is my story.
