THE STREET/RACE INTERVIEW
JUSTIN KEITH
AS THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT MAKES A STREET CAR
“STREET” CONTINUE TO EXPAND, ONE OF KANSAS CITY’S
BEST-KNOWN RACERS IS TRYING TO TOE THE LINE
By Wes Buck
Photographs by Kevin Cox
his afternoon Justin Keith has a lot on his mind. mother) purchased his first LS-powered daily
There is the matter of the upcoming Street Car driver have been interesting, to say the least.
Takeover event at Charlotte’s fabled zMAX During that time, he piled up the aforementioned
Dragway and the series’ five remaining events ’99 Camaro Z28, picked up a 2002 model year
strewn across America from Central Nebraska to version and outfitted it with all the parts off the
South Texas. There is the upcoming King of the wrecked car, sold it, bought and built a wild 2010
Corn Ethanol Nationals he’s co-promoting with Camaro, and then a C7 Corvette that he turned
longtime friend and partner Chase Lautenbach. into a 1,000-horsepower, single-digit street car.
And there’s something else, too: his beloved torch- Hilariously, Keith then bought back the ’02 to
red Corvette is scheduled to go under the knife street cruise and race while he pushes the ‘Vette
in the coming weeks as the recipient of a brand- to a performance level typically reserved for purnew, race-prepped ERL Performance-built 427ci pose-built race cars. “Yeah, it’s been a bit of a
LT-engine and ProCharger F1A-94 supercharger, whirlwind, I admit,” he says. “That’s what it’s all
thus bringing its “street car” status into question. about, though, right?”
At 29 years old, Keith’s life revolves entirely around Pushing the envelope is what it’s all about, but
fast street cars and race tracks. It was not always Keith admits the street car scene in 2016 has oblitthis way. For a long time, it was all about the street erated virtually every perceived limitation of a
side of things, late-night parking lot meet ups street-drivable, race-performing car. On the heels
and abandoned stretches of pavement on the of having turned his ‘02 Camaro into a dedicated
outskirts of his native Kansas City. These days, street-race car—in the process earning himself
however, time away from the race track is few the nickname “Stang Killer” and adopting the
and far between. “There was a time when I raced “stangkilr” username on a slew of automotive
every weekend, almost every night—but never message forums—Keith realizes he had actually
at a race track,” he admits, referring to a sort of gone off the deep end with his build. “You’re
heyday for street racing in the Midwest during always doing everything you can to make the car
the mid-2000s.
faster,” he says, “and you reach a point where
every step forward in terms of performance is a
Back then, he and his fourth-generation Camaro step backwards in terms of drivability.”
could find a race without trying. Parking lots just
five miles from the now-defunct Kansas City In- It’s not an indictment these days to have pushed
ternational Raceway would be packed with hun- a car to “race car” status, but it’s a step that Keith,
dreds of race-ready street cars and drivers looking who eats, sleeps and breathes street, isn’t sure
for action on Front Street, Topping Avenue or out he’s ready for. Considering all but one of the 15
in Fairfax District.
Street Car Takeover events were held at drag strips
in 2016—a significant departure from parking lot
The nearly 14 years since Keith got his driver’s meet ups and dyno days at performance shops
license and (with the help of his late great-grand- around the Midwest—it’s not surprising that the
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