By Adam Fenwick, NASCARHomeTracks.com (Daytona Beach, FL) -- Mitch Keeter isn’t the type of person who likes to draw a lot attention to himself.
He’ll be the first to admit he’s not a “suit and tie kind of guy” and he also isn’t the biggest fan of standing up in front of a crowd and giving a speech.
PHOTO CREDIT: Dayton Sutterby
Instead, the 29-year-old native of Webb City, Missouri, prefers to let his results on the race track do all the talking for him. This year, his results spoke volumes.
Keeter won not one, not two and not even three NASCAR championships. In fact he won four NASCAR championships and was also named the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I Josten's Rookie of the Year.
“My year started on March 10 and I’ve been hitting it hard ever since,” Keeter said. “I’ve raced I believe 54 times. I ended up with 18 wins.”
Of those 18 wins, 15 of them came in NASCAR-sanctioned competition at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas and Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma. He claimed Division I track championships in the modified divisions at Humboldt and Salina, scoring 29 top-five and 33 top-10 finishes in 36 starts between the two tracks.
At Humboldt Keeter was dominant, winning 12 times and collecting 19 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes in 20 starts. He easily claimed the track championship by 264 points over Cody Schniepp.
While his performance at Salina wasn’t quite as impressive, it was still more than enough to claim a track championship. He scored three victories, 10 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 16 starts to capture the track championship by 106 points over veteran Al Purkey.
Those numbers also added up to two NASCAR state championships in Kansas and Oklahoma, giving Keeter four NASCAR championships in his first season competing in Division I of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. In Kansas he won the state championship by 136 points over Tad Davis. In Oklahoma it was much tighter, with Keeter edging Purkey by just 16 points for the state title.
U.S. state and province champions are determined by the best 18 finishes at tracks within the respective state or province.
READ MORE: http://hometracks.nascar.com/nwaas/story/quiet-keeter-lets-results-speak-loudly_12042017