Ben Keating Steps Back From Full-Season Sports Car Racing

Ben Keating is stepping back from full-season sports car racing competition, a move that comes as the FIA World Endurance Championship season-ending 6 Hours of Monza approaches, where Richard Lietz will make his 100th WEC start and Mike Conway will race before retiring from top-flight motorsport.

Keating's racing journey began two decades ago, when his wife Kathleen gave him a $250 track day experience at the now-defunct Texas World Speedway as a Christmas gift. Knowing nothing about the sport at the time, he arrived in shorts and tennis shoes and borrowed a Dodge Viper from one of his car dealership showrooms. He went on to compete in the Viper Racing League, winning his class in 2008, before entering his first professional race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2011.

Keating later raced in Grand-Am, the American Le Mans Series, Pirelli World Challenge and Porsche GT3 Challenge, and in 2014 became the launch customer of the Riley-built SRT Viper GT3-R in the first season of the unified IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.