By After an inauspicious start to his career at Brown County Speedway, Caden Kirnan got back in his car, buckled up his helmet and, as he put it, “just raced.”
Kirnan, 16 and from Aberdeen, raced for the first time on Friday, May 2, the track’s season opener. He made it through the first lap of the third heat in the Midwest Mods division, then things got dicey and he didn’t finish the race.
But, he said, “We just went back to the pits, regrouped and got ready for the feature.”
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That went better than expected. He ran all 20 laps and finished 17th out of 25 cars. On Friday, May 9, he finished 18th in the feature.
Not bad given that Kirnan admitted he didn’t know what to expect his first time out.
“I was pretty much thinking stay calm, find your spot and try not to wreck anybody. Don’t spin out and try to keep my speed while staying out of people’s way,” Kirnan said of his first night on the track. “I just tried to run the low side for as long as I could and finish the race, and I was able to.”
Aberdeen’s Caden Kirnan gets loose and spins out in the first turn during the Midwest Mods feature Friday, May 2 at the Brown County Speedway. Kirnan caused a yellow flag, but still finished 17th . Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Started going to races when he was 7
He got an early introduction to Aberdeen’s dirt track when he was 7 and watched the races from the grandstand.
Caden Kirnan, right, and his dad John listen during the pre-race meeting in the pits Friday, May 2 at Brown County Speedway. It was Caden Kirnan’s first night of racing. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
“I’ve been going to the races for a while, I think my first time out here was in 2014,” Kirnan said. “A few years later, I started pitting for Chad Becker who runs in Late Models, and over the past couple of years I just really got into (racing) and figured it was time to give it a shot. I started asking my dad about it, and he said let’s give it a shot and we got into it.”
He said they found the right car and made the investment.
Caden’s dad John was in the pits for the first night of racing and was impressed his son finished the feature.
“I just wanted him to be smart out there. Just pick a line out there, stay on it and if other cars pass you they pass you. I knew lap traffic was going to happen, but he proved to me and a lot of people out here he can drive in lap traffic. That made me happy,” John Kirnan said.
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Caden Kirnan said the feeling of seeing the checkered flag in the feature was better than he imagined it would be.
“I saw the flames light up meaning (the feature race) was over, and I was like, ‘Oh, man I did it,'” he said. “Then all the cars started slowing down, but I remembered that I had to go around the track one more time to finish the race, so I was weaving through them a little bit. I mean I don’t usually show my emotions, but I was smiling.”
But he wasn’t smiling when he spun out in turn one early in the feature and wound up facing the wrong decision.
“Yeah, I just got a little too loose coming into the turn on the low part of the track, but I was able to recover and just got back at it,” he said.
Kirnan is the first member of his family to get behind the wheel of a race car, though his grandfather worked on the pit crew for Kenny Erickson decades ago.
“He wanted to give it a shot, and we talked about it and decided if he was going to focus and take it seriously, we’d go ahead and get him going,” John Kirnan said.
Aberdeen’s Caden Kirnan leaves the staging area and heads out on the track for his first-ever heat race Friday, May 2 at the Brown County Speedway. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo
‘Looked like he was speeding’
An Aberdeen police officer and the school resource officer at Aberdeen Central High School, he left his badge at home as his son zipped around the oval track.
“Well it definitely looked like he was speeding. Luckily, I suppose, there’s no radar gun out here, but he was going pretty quick. I believe we’re in the county, so I would not have any jurisdiction on that anyway,” John Kirnan joked.
Caden Kirnan is aware that most of the racers he will compete against are substantially older and have much more experience. He knows he’s learning as he goes and isn’t worried about other drivers just yet.
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“I try not to think about any other racers right now. I’m just focused on running my race. That’s really all I’m thinking about,” he said.
While starting racing at 16 certainly gives him the opportunity for a long career, Caden Kirnan said for now he’s taking it one Friday night at a time.
“That’s the plan, but we’ll see how the first year goes. I’m just taking things day by day,” he said. “I’m not out here to win necessarily. I’m just trying to find my way, run my race and finish every race I start.”
Racing begins at 7 p.m. Friday, May 16 at Brown County Speedway.
Friday, May 9 results
- Street Stock feature winner: Jodie Michaelsohn, Aberdeen.
- Late Model feature winner: Chad Becker, Aberdeen.
- Midwest Mods feature winner: Lucas Rodin, Marion N.D.
- Modifieds feature winner: Mike Stearns, Aberdeen.
- Super Stock feature winner: Austin Arbogast, Huron