SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Kaleb Johnson announced his plans to go 410 sprint car racing on a regular basis this year at Midwestern fixtures Huset’s Speedway and Jackson Motorplex.
“I’m happy to share that we plan on competing in a 410 sprint car this year on a regular basis,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. This is something I’ve long anticipated.”
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The 24-year-old began his career in a go-kart and has since prepared for the sprint car ranks.
“I’ve always hoped to race a 410 sprint car regularly since I was a kid,” he said. “We were put in a good position to do this and I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity. It’s pretty cool that we can do it 10 miles from home.”
Johnson feels that he is prepared as much as possible for the next major step in his racing career and there’s no better time to do it than this year.
“During our 360 racing, we’ve always tried to race against the best competition possible and to go to different tracks, preparing us for this moment,” he said. “We know the level of competition at Huset’s will be high and we’re looking forward to it. As a racer, you always want to win. But I think a reasonable goal for us in our first year will be top-10 finishes.”
Johnson will continue to compete in the 360 division at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, with the hope of improving on his sixth-place finish in the championship standings last year.
“We stepped up our qualifying at Knoxville last year and that helped us a lot,” he said. “The main thing we need to do now to move up in points is finish every race. We had four DNFs there last year.”
Johnson has an ambitious but tentative schedule planned for the racing season.
“I penciled out the schedule I’d like to run next season and came up with 52 races,” he said. “That’s a lot of races for a team like ours and it will depend on how our season goes regarding if we can make them all.
“We plan to open the season at Knoxville. We might also bring the 410 along the first couple of weeks there just to get some laps in with it. In addition to the races at Huset’s, Jackson and Knoxville, we plan to race some World of Outlaws shows in the area as well as some Midwest Power Series races with the 360.
“We’ll have three complete cars and four engines and are stocking up on extra parts, so we feel reasonably prepared.”