Steve Killen has spent his life in the driver seat – drag racing motorcycles, racing late models and go-karts and behind the wheel of a big rig, hauling everything from produce to now the Motor Racing Network’s (MRN) broadcasting trailer for NASCAR.
“I’ve seen Niagara Falls; I’ve been up and down California. I’ve been to every state except Hawaii and Alaska,” Killen, 53, said. “I’ve had a lot of memories.”
Trucking, travel and racing were part of his early life, as he grew up in a variety of places including Pennsylvania, Florida and Indiana.
“My dad was a retired truck driver. He bought a truck when I was 21, I drove for him,” Killen said. His father soon sold the truck and he began driving over the road from the east to west coasts, hauling produce. “My wife was with me, she was a driver. She got tired of being at home so I sent her to truck driving school back in the 1980s.”
The two drove team for years until they had children, Steven, now 23, and Valerie, 22. They are both studying to be respiratory therapists at the University of Southern Indiana, Killen said.
When his children were young, they got the itch for racing.
“My boy was 5 when he started racing go-karts. My girl raced, my boy raced, I raced,” Killen said. “That was great, I loved that. It was a family deal.”
They raced on dirt and paved tracks and won championships … many, many championships.
“I’ve got a house full of trophies,” easily hundreds, Killen said.
And like with any motorsport, wrecks have happened.
“I got my go-kart over 100 mph, it spun around a half-inch off the ground,” Killen said.
For 12 years, Killen worked as a building mechanic at St. Vincent Hospital in Indiana, fixing medical equipment. He later worked another seven years for a manufacturer, delivering hospital beds.
But it was his part-time gig that eventually landed him at NASCAR’s doorstep.
For about 12 years on and off, Killen worked as a mechanic for Gary Crooks with Crooks Racing out of Mooresville, N.C.
Killen made the 10-hour drive every other weekend from his home in Indiana to North Carolina.
“I used to leave on a Thursday right after work two o’clock, work Friday and Saturday … and go back to work on Monday,” Killen said. “It was something I loved to do.”
That led to Killen driving a hauler for NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski’s super late model driver development team for about six months when a driver was needed.
While Killen said he doesn’t have a favorite driver per say, he has high praise for Keselowski.
“You shouldn’t have a favorite when you work in this business. There’s no room for fans. I like Brad Keselowski because I know him personally,” Killen said. “Everybody says he’s a little cocky, but Brad’s a real nice guy, good head on his shoulders … he helps drivers pursue their career.”
Last year, Killen’s life was put on hold when his wife of almost 32 years, Darlene, was diagnosed with cancer on St. Patrick’s Day. He went home to take care of her.
“It was sudden, she didn’t know she was sick. I thought she had a stroke because she had stroke-like symptoms, but it was cancer on her brain stem cells,” he said.
Cancer had spread to her lungs, brain, liver and lymph nodes, Killen said.
“Actually she took it pretty good. Said she was going to beat it,” Killen said. “She went through radiation, lost all of her hair … She was a trooper, always smiling happy.”
She died 40 days later on April 27 at 52 years old.
Two months later, Killen hauled for Germain Racing with NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Casey Mears team for the rest of the 2014 season.
He moved to Salisbury, N.C., this racing season to drive the MRN hauler where famed radio broadcasters like Eli Gold, Winston Kelley and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Rusty Wallace announce races.
“It’s totally different because I don’t deal with the cars anymore,” he said, adding he still stocks the truck and maintains it. “They’re all in the trailer every day; I get along with every one of them. I tease them, they tease me. All the drivers come in our trailer to get interviewed … they do their job and do it well.”
Instead of leaving at the race end, he is out on the road sometimes for a month at a time, driving a 2012 Freightliner Coronado.
“They’re a bigger truck. The Coronado’s, they fit in with NASCAR … they have nice chrome steps, tanks” and are “shiny, flashy,” he said.
When he does park his truck and has a week or so at home, he’ll hunt – “as long as I get a shoot, I’m happy” – fish for anything, sightsee and golf.
“I’ve been to a few of Jack Nicklaus courses. They’re a little rich for my blood, but I spent the money. I pay to play, they don’t pay me to play, there’s a big difference,” Killen laughed.
But his heart remains in racing, at least for 10 more years until his retirement, he said.
For his fellow truckers, his NASCAR gig is still a job – same as everyone else, Killen said.
“We drive a truck, and drive to the racetracks, where they drive to a business and leave stuff,” Killen said. “It’s no different than any other job except I’m going to racetracks, they’re going to warehouses.”
Q&A with Steve Killen:
What was the last photo you took on your phone? Jeff Gordon’s car and I sent it to a lady in Indiana that’s a dire fan … oh wait, I lied. It was a photo of that golf course across from where I’m staying. I sent sent it to my boy.
What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done? We went swimming, this has been years ago, at Dale Hall Lake in Tennessee and Kentucky. I jumped off a 100 foot cliff into the water and it hurt like hell, bruised the whole back of my leg. I wouldn’t do that again.