46 Facts About Ben Keating

Benjamin Edward Keating was born on August 18,1971 and is an American racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas.

Ben Keating is the only American driver to have won multiple World Championships.

Ben Keating began racing in 2007 after receiving a weekend track driving course as a Christmas present from his wife.

Ben Keating has been surrounded by the car industry his entire life.

In 2024, Ben Keating was nominated for Time Magazine Dealer of the Year Award.

Ben Keating has been actively involved in various philanthropic initiatives, particularly within his local community in Victoria, Texas.

Ben Keating played a pivotal role in introducing and expanding Young Life, a faith-based mentorship program for teenagers, to the Victoria area.

Ben Keating established a $4 million endowment to support a technical sales minor and a technical sales lab within the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution.

Ben Keating is the owner of Keating Auto Group, a dealership network selling vehicles.

Ben Keating is associated with Apex Protect GPS, a company that provides vehicle GPS tracking systems.

Ben Keating began racing in 2007 after receiving a weekend track driving course as a Christmas present from his wife.

Ben Keating received a DNF in his first race, an event at Sebring International Raceway.

In 2007 Ben Keating participated in the full VRL series and in 2008, his second full year in the league, Ben Keating won the VRL National Championship.

In 2009, Ben Keating participated in the NARRA US GT Championship, a 13-round series at 7 venues across the Continental United States.

In 2010 Ben Keating began racing in a new Dodge SRT-sponsored event, the 5-city, 10-race Dodge Viper Cup.

Ben Keating finished the series with 501 points, 106 points behind first place.

Ben Keating made his Rolex Sports Car Series debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2011, racing in the Viper Exchange.

Ben Keating drove the No 66 Porsche in all three races.

Ben Keating pulled double-duty during the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona, taking a shift in The Racer's Group's No 68 Porsche GT3 Cup.

Ben Keating would participate in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona again in 2013, driving the No 66 car along with co-drivers Farnbacher, Kuno Wittmer, and Jorg Bergmeister.

In 2013, Ben Keating made the jump into the American Le Mans Series, competing in the series' final season.

Ben Keating would continue to race with Faulkner for most of the series.

In front of his friends and family from around Texas, Ben Keating drove the first 70 minutes of the race, then handed off to Faulkner, who completed the victory with a winning margin of 12.94 seconds.

Ben Keating finished seventh in the GTD season and had a victory at Virginia International Raceway.

Also 2019, Ben Keating became the first person to enter a Ford GT in Le Mans privately.

Ben Keating won his second consecutive IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD title.

Ben Keating finished third in the GTD championship by winning a victory at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and two third-place runs at Laguna Seca and Sebring.

Ben Keating competed in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in a Mercedes AMG.

Ben Keating will be joined in the No 33 by Dominik Farnbacher, who helped drive the No 93 to Daytona victory in 2015, and Le Mans co-drivers Marc Miller and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

Ben Keating was joined in the No 93 car by Trans-Am Series TA2 Champion Gar Robinson.

Ben Keating followed up on 2015's winning success with his most successful IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season yet in 2016.

Ben Keating scored his first win of the year in Detroit.

The 2016 season saw Ben Keating compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second-straight year.

Ben Keating started off the 2015 season pulling double-duty at the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona, taking turns in both the No 93 and No 33 Vipers.

Ben Keating would drive in both cars again in the subsequent race, the 2015 12 Hours of Sebring, guiding the No 93 car to a Top Five finish.

Ben Keating was hit with a penalty early, but strong driving from him and Jeroen allowed them to overcome that setback and take the victory.

Ben Keating joined with Dutch siblings Jeroen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen in the No 33 Dodge Viper GT3-R for Riley Motorsports.

Ben Keating was honored by being selected by WEC as the Gentleman Driver of the Year.

Ben Keating was driving with the TF Motorsports team in an Aston Martin.

Ben Keating competed in the World Endurance Championship in a Corvette C8.

Ben Keating had beat this team in Le Mans but was disqualified due to an issue with the car's fuel cell.

Ben Keating's team looks to repeat their win last year at the Indy 8hr in the Pro-Am class.

Bleekemolen continued the strong start with his opening shift in the car, leading for most of the third hour, and Ben Keating continued to maintain a top-four position during the second shift.

Ben Keating continued to race at Le Mans in 2016,2017,2019, and 2020.

Fisker and Ben Keating met in 2015 and quickly developed a partnership, combining Fisker's legendary designs with Ben Keating's extensive expertise with performance vehicles, particularly his intimate knowledge of the Dodge Viper.

In particular, Ben Keating helped design the active suspension used in the Force 1 V10 using his decade of experience racing Vipers to tune the suspension for both on-the-road and on-the-track needs.