DON EGAN’ S AMERICAN DREAM TAKES SHAPE
Almost four years out of racing hasn’t stopped the 20-year-old irishman. By Stefan Mackley
Three-and-a-half years is a long time in racing, even more so if during that period you are sidelined, not competing or forging a career up the motorsport ladder. For Ireland’s Keith Donegan, it seemed like the chance of a career in motorsport had passed him by.
In 2013 things were positive for the then 16-year-old. He had just finished second in the Ginetta Junior Championship and taken two wins from the last four races.
Momentum was with him, but then came a bombshell. His parents were keen for him to go to college and his racing career was put on hold...for almost four years.
Fast forward to the present day and Donegan is preparing to take part in this weekend’s opening round of the USF2000 Championship at St Petersburg in America. The 20-yearold will compete with Armsup Motorsports having won the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout in December last year, beating 17 other drivers to the $200,000 [£145,000] scholarship.
It’s a long way from where he was even just 12 months ago.
“It was coming good [in 2013] but I had to stop and I was a bit disheartened, but I never lost the buzz and the passion,” says Donegan. “I said to my parents ‘if I have a good grade [studying business at Trinity College in Dublin] could I buy a Formula Ford car?’
“If someone told me 12 months ago where I would be now I would probably have laughed at them and told them you’re crazy. This time last year it was still another month until I sat in the car.”
Donegan decided to follow in the footsteps of his dad and two uncles who had raced in Formula Fords and bought himself a Van Diemen JL13K.
Often driving the truck carrying the vehicle to the circuits himself, Donegan would also work on the car with his dad, Brendan, and friend Pat Duffy.
“All week we were preparing the car, changing the engines and just going out there to win every race,” says Donegan.
“I’m very old school with how I do things, I think a lot of drivers now wouldn’t know a spanner from a hammer.
“If you don’t know your car inside out you can’t understand how to set up the car.
“We had such long hours, eight in the morning until 2200hrs or 2300hrs and whenever you’re working that hard it makes you a bit more hungry. You want it more than anyone else.”
Results were sporadic during the season, with three podiums and a final position of 11th in the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s National series standings, having missed three meetings.
It would be the Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival in October, though, where Donegan would make his mark. Having reached the final, from his starting position of sixth, the Irishman was the only driver making progress towards the front of the field in the latter stages. Hours spent in the workshop tinkering with his car had allowed him to put a set up on the Van Diemen which meant it would come to him later in the race.
He finished within a whisker of victory, just 0.107s behind winner Joey Foster and with the fastest lap of the race.
With Foster ineligible for the MRTI ticket – only available to drivers under the age of 25 years old – the coveted prize was passed to Donegan and his life was about to change forever.
“I basically went into the [Shootout] weekend with the approach that I was going to win, I knew that I could win but I had to prove I deserved it more than the other 17 drivers,” remembers Donegan.
“I focused on doing the little things right. You have to be quick, to stand out with your technique on the track, you can’t really go off.
“They said something to us before we started which I thought was quite funny. The odds are against you, you have a one in 17 chance of winning which is just over five per cent.
“That eliminated half the drivers because they were thinking ‘what are the chances of me winning?”
Only five drivers made it through to the final assessment at the Bob Bondurant Racing School, which consisted of a qualifying session followed by a short race. From there the winner would be picked by a panel of judges, including former Indycar and Champ Car driver Scott Goodyear, as well as Oliver Askew – winner of the 2016 MRTI Shootout and 2017 USF2000 champ.
“When I asked the judges what won it for me they said basically in qualifying everyone came in after a few laps to save the tyres for the race,” says Donegan.
“My car was understeering so I stayed out and the rear started coming to me and I set the fastest lap of the weekend.”
Donegan has now put himself on one of the most coveted ladders in world motorsport, where there is a defined path all the way to the very top of American open-wheel racing; Indycar.
Last year’s USF2000 champion and fellow MRTI winner Askew will graduate to the Pro Mazda Championship this season, the next step on the career ladder and proving that success will be rewarded.
But what pressure is there now on Donegan to succeed?
“There are only certain things you can do and things that are out of your control,” adds Donegan. “You need to focus on what you’re doing and do the best you can.
“If it doesn’t work out you can say I tried everything I could, that’s the approach we went into the MRTI Shootout – give it everything and focus on the fine details.
“I didn’t think I could make a career out of racing after I stopped but I’m glad I came back when I did.” ■