As you get to know Kyle Schuett it is obvious everything in his life seems to fit nicely together. He hails from Philo, Ill., a tiny burg about 10 miles south of Urbana-Champaign.
Wabash railroad officials once referred to the area as The Summit Station due to its relatively high elevation. However, in modern times, perhaps due to the work of radio personality Steve Khachaturian (known as Stevie Jay) the town became known as The Center of the Universe, a slogan that is proudly displayed on the community’s water tower.
Schuett graduated from St. Thomas Moore High school in Champaign in 2013 and by that time he had been racing for nearly a decade. There had been success in quarter midgets and micros, and he loved racing. Yet, when he considered his long-term goals, he leaned more heavily on logic than emotion. The task at hand was how to focus on a viable career while still carving out the space necessary to race at a high level. It’s not easy — but it appears Schuett is making it happen.
His father, Jim Schuett, faced a similar dilemma in his life. While he had raced a bit himself, Jim found his niche in sport as a crew member in the tough pavement late model scene in Wisconsin. He worked for former ARTGO Rookie of the Year Steve Burgess, and also spent time with future NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki in his formative years. Then he received an offer to serve as a front-tire changer for a young driver named Dale Earnhardt. With plans to move to Illinois and start an insurance business he declined the invitation. No one knew then what Earnhardt would become but it remains a decision Jim never regretted.
However, racing was still in Jim’s blood, so when his 12-year-old son Derek expressed an interest in quarter midgets, he was a willing participant. Kyle, who was four years younger than his brother, wasn’t as keen on racing initially.
At the time traditional stick-and-ball sports captured his fancy. Then within a year Kyle switched course. He began in the region five series comprising tracks at Taylorville, Greenville, Lincoln, Bunker Hill, and across the border at Terre Haute. There were also indoor meets at the coliseum at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
With plenty of titles under his belt Schuett advanced to micros and never missed a beat. He was the restrictor rookie of the year in 2009 at Coles County Speedway and picked up the championship the following season.
He was soon heading to Eastern Illinois University to continue his education, but he could devote much of the summer to racing. He spent two full years racing micros with POWRi, and then in late 2014 he purchased a midget from longtime owner Ebby Bergfield.
When it was clear that Schuett was not out of his depth a new BOSS chassis was secured for the 2015 season.
His first full year behind the wheel of a midget could not have been more promising. He finished fourth in POWRi series points and was named the club and National Midget Rookie of the Year. His breakout season culminated in December at the Indy Invitational at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.
With Ebby Bergfield serving as crew chief, Schuett emerged as the winner at the end of an exceedingly long and frustrating day for many. “I think I was the only one who walked out of that place happy,” he says with a laugh, “but it was my first midget win, and $10,000 came with it. That wasn’t too bad.”
Despite his success he never fooled himself. The path he chose was made the minute he stepped into a college classroom. He could still race. That was never in doubt. Yet, he knew this would never be what he did for a profession.
“I kind of knew that to race for a living you needed a ton of sponsorship money or be a Kyle Larson and win a hundred races a year,” he said. “I didn’t win a bunch of races and didn’t have a ton of money. So, I thought this was the best situation. Get a degree, get a good job, and go racing.”
That is exactly what he has done. On the educational front he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2017 and one year later he added a master’s in business administration to his résumé. He enjoyed success at the race track as well. A highlight came in 2017 when he scored a big POWRi win at Missouri’s I-55 Speedway. Ever ambitious, as he closed in on an MBA, he also began pondering a move to sprint cars.
Now committed to the idea of moving forward in his racing life, by the end of the 2018 season he purchased a complete sprint car operation from Todd Datweiler of T & E Race Trailers. He made his first start at Iowa’s 34 Raceway and then competed at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway the following night where he made the show.
That was enough to whet his appetite. Jim and Kyle put in the work in the offseason and in 2019 raced extensively with the Midwest Open Wheel Ass’n. It was a great start. Kyle finished third in the standings and walked away with rookie-of-the-year honors.
There was reason for excitement heading into his second full year in 410 sprint car racing. Then came COVID. Regrouping, Schuett’s 2020 season was a bit unconventional for a relative novice.
“We traveled as much as we could with the World of Outlaws,” he added with a laugh, “and got our butts kicked. We just tried to learn as much as we could. When you go and race with a different series and try to get up to their speed it just makes you better when you run anywhere else. You know what you sign up for when you show up for one of their races, but it definitely makes you better.”
With a desire to elevate his game in 2021 he raced extensively with the Interstate Racing Ass’n and found a comfortable home. A 10th-place finish in the standings resulted in another rookie-of-the-year award and based on his experience from this point forward he decided to build his annual schedule around the IRA.
His team is typical of so many at this level in the sport. During the week Kyle and his father do the heavy lifting in the shop, and his mother Kathy, a retired teacher, pitches in as well. Then there are friends in Illinois and Wisconsin who lend a hand at the track. Within the industry, he noted, “I rely heavily on Dan Musselman at Maxim, and Doug at Berryman Shocks helps me out a ton. Basically, with those two I can have a game plan in place in terms of what the racecar needs throughout the night. They help me when the track is changing because when it is me, mom, and dad you get out of the car to make changes and hop back in. It isn’t like there is somebody in the pits making all the calls. Just having that game plan means we are not going to overthink it.”
It isn’t always an easy tow from Philo to the dates that comprise the IRA schedule, but he begins each year with a goal of making at least 80-percent of the series races.
“When you commit to at least that much of the schedule that gets us the contingencies and tow money and things like that and they run such a good show,” he said. “At the end of the year, they always give away complete Maxim kits and other products at the banquet.” When you are a mom-and-pop operation these extra touches are vital.
Schuett begins the year with around forty races etched on his schedule and with rainouts hopes to compete 30 to 35 times over the course of the season. This year in addition to the IRA he plans to compete with MOWA and the new Maverick Winged Sprint Car Series. Would he love to race more? Yes and no.
After all, he has a career. Upon graduation he became among the rare few to complete all four parts of his Certified Public Accountant exam in a single try. Today he is a manager at RSM US in their Champaign office. He has every intention of becoming a full partner someday, and as his work ethic suggests this is well within his reach. Luckily, his firm offers him the flexibility needed to travel.
Because of the nature of his work, he knows his window of opportunity to get the bulk of his preparation done comes in the months immediately following the end of the year. When tax season ramps up, he is constantly treading water. Given the progress to date he feels good about his chances in 2024.
“Right now, my goal is wherever I show up I want to be in the game,” he said. “We want to be competitive and run up front when the night is right.”
He feels he had reached that level in 2022 and then he and his peers were thrown a curveball. The tire rule changed.
“We were finally starting to get going with the H tires, we won an IRA show, and were consistently in the top 10and then they switched the tires, and we were on the struggle bus last year,” he explained. “We tried to keep the same set up we used with the H tires, and you really can’t do that. Once we got to August and September, we got going better but then we only had eight races left.”
Still, the improved performance to close the campaign was reason for optimism heading into the offseason.
The dilemma Schuett faces is simple. Accountants tend to be rational and pragmatic, while racers can, at times, be the exact opposite.
“As an accountant you cannot lie to yourself,” he said. “There are days when I look at what we spend and I think holy crap, this is borderline insane. But I don’t want to look back when I’m 60 or 65 years old and regret not doing this. We want to do everything possible to have what we need. I don’t want to look back and say we cut corners.” Then with a slight pause he adds, “Maybe sometimes I am too logical minded when I might need to turn the brain off and just go for it.”
Right now, he is ready to head to southern Indiana to dyno his engines and chassis before he signs in for his first race of the year in April. It is proof-positive that he takes this part of his life very seriously. Yet, in his heart he realizes that 40 years down the road his racing income will not provide for his retirement.
When thinking about Kyle Schuett’s team Interstate Racing Ass’n leader Steve Sinclair says, “It is a nice, clean, family operation.”
That speaks to pride. “When we come to the race track we might not run as well as we would like,” Kyle says, “but our stuff is kept up and is World of Outlaws caliber. I think everything in our operation, our maintenance, our overall look is top notch.”
When he pauses to take stock he says, “I have been racing for 20 years. It has been a huge part of my life.” His name is not going to come up in a conversation when considering the top sprint car racers in America today. However, Kyle Schuett has won at every level he has raced, and on top of that has carved out a promising career in an entirely different life sphere. It turns out that sometimes you really might be able to have it all.