Oh Brother!

Stock car racing is a family sport at all levels. Every Friday and Saturday night you can go to a local dirt or asphalt oval track and see fathers, sons and especially brothers, working and racing together.

The NASCAR Winston Cup Series has the Labontes, the Burtons, the Bodines and the Wallaces. Not to be outdone, the ARCA RE/MAX Series has the Kimmels and the Belmonts.

However, this set of racing brothers is different from any in the upper echelons of the sport. You see, with the Kimmels and the Belmonts, one brother is the driver, while the other is the crew chief.

Kevin Belmont acts as crew chief for older brother Andy, who drives the No. 1 America Online/York/Ameriquest Ford. Bill Kimmel is the crew chief for younger brother Frank, driver of the No. 46 Advance Auto Parts/Pork White Meat Chevy.

The Belmonts

“Kevin became the crew chief by default,” Andy Belmont says with a slight chuckle. “When I was racing Modifieds way back when, he would come home from school and help out. He was the only full-time guy we had.”

It was back then at the dirt tracks around their hometown of Feasterville, Pennsylvania, that Andy and Kevin started the racing relationship they continue today. However, there was a period of time that they did not race together.

“He had gotten a couple of rides. I went to college. I kind of got away from being with him at the racetrack because I had other deals happening,” says Kevin. “It had been four or five years that we were trying to get back together racing.”

About three years ago, after the marriage, children and career portions of their lives were somewhat settled, the two brothers got back together when Andy Belmont Motorsports was having personnel trouble. Kevin, who has also driven race cars, wasn’t racing at the time, so he decided to bring the crew he had already assembled to help out Andy’s program.

“When he came back into the fold, it was like he was never away,” Andy says. “We started running good again.”

The year Kevin slipped into the crew chief chair, Andy was running 13th in the ARCA points standings. In the last 12 races of the year, Andy and Kevin racked up 11 Top-10 finishes and cruised from 13th to sixth in overall driver points. For much of the 2001 season, they kept a steady hold on third in the points standings, two behind Frank and Bill Kimmel’s stellar season.

The Kimmels

Bill and Frank Kimmel helped out their racing father while growing up in southern Indiana. When the time came, both brothers took their seat behind the wheel of a race car.

“I actually started racing before he did, although he is little bit older than I am,” Frank says.

The brothers worked their way up the ranks in Street Stocks and Late Models around southern Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. The family couldn’t afford two race cars, so the brothers compromised.

“He raced. I raced. In the meantime, we helped each other. When one of us wasn’t racing, we were helping the other one,” Frank says.

Like his sibling, older brother Bill had some great success in his racing career. He won four straight championships in the Late Model division at Louisville Speedway during the mid ’90s. He then decided he should step away from racing as a driver.

“I really wanted to be the best Late Model team over there,” Bill says. “And I think when I quit, that was where I was at.”

It just so happens that at the same time, Frank’s crew chief left the team. Bill stepped in and took over, joking that the move “ended his racing career.” “I think it was something both of us really wanted to do. When this opened up, it was a natural fit really,” Bill says.

Brotherly Love

It is not uncommon to see the Burton brothers of Winston Cup give each other a little nudge when one believes the other has stepped out of line. How do these brothers deal with sibling tension?

“We holler and scream at each other,” Andy Belmont says. “We are still brothers. We still fight with one another. We still have our arguments and spats.”

Though Andy will be the first to say they are still joined at the hip. “Even when we raced against each other, we are brothers first, competitors second,” Frank Kimmel says.

The brothers’ dad played a big role in that.

“Our dad comes from the old-time racer school,” Frank says. “His deal was when we were growing up, if Bill and I fought, the winner had to take him on. We knew we couldn’t handle him. We understood that we had to get it worked out before dad found out because he is a fairly rough character.”

The surprising thing about these racing brothers is that neither set wants to keep it professional on the track. Both the Kimmel and Belmont brothers feel it is the aspect of knowing each other so well that is a factor for their success this year.

“To be candid with you, I am a very short-fused, boisterous person,” Andy says. “Kevin is the only person in the world who, when he tells me to do something in the race car, I do it. That is because I have so much respect for him.”

Bill Kimmel says he will not put pressure on his brother to go faster.

“I will not do that,” Bill says. “I am not sure anyone should do that. Being a driver myself, if you are doing what you should be doing, you are going to go as fast as you can possibly go. My personality has actually made Frank race harder. Frank is a little more conservative. I am a little more aggressive with it. That makes a good mix right now.”

Eye To Eye

These driver/crew chief duos know each other so well. Ray Evernham probably knew Jeff Gordon’s personality down to a “T”. But, did he know what Jeff’s personality was growing up? Did he know what Jeff’s favorite cereal was when he was six? That is where these family/racing relationships thrive on the track. “Because we grew up together, racing together, went to all the tracks together ... he knows exactly what I am talking about,” Andy says. “With the terminology I might use, somebody else might not understand. I can say to him, ‘Do you remember how black Bridgeport got when we were there for the midweek show in ’86?’ He will say, ‘Yeah.’ Then I’ll say, ‘Remember what we did to the car?’ He’ll say, ‘Yeah.’ It is just so simple.”

With Kevin being a driver himself, he has a better idea of what Andy is talking about with the car.

“I have worked with two sprint car teams and two Modified teams in a crew chief type situation. I particularly like this one best. There is just something different between us. I can’t really put my finger on it. Right now we just have a really good chemistry going,” Kevin says.

“I think being brothers is one of the big benefits,” Bill says. “But, working together on racing ever since we have been kids, our thoughts are almost exactly the same. It is a deal where there is no dissention. He doesn’t second-guess anything I try to do in the pits; I don’t ever second-guess anything he does on the racetrack.”

Frank agrees.

“As you get into the higher levels of racing, some of the back stabbing that you hear going on, you know that is not going to happen here,” Frank says. “It is pretty comforting that he knows if he does something wrong, mom will kill him when he gets home, so there is a bit more pressure in the deal.”

“In this sport, it is easy to lose sight of the importance of family,” Andy says. “Your family is always the ones that stand behind you, but they get shortchanged. Kevin coming back and being crew chief has given me a second chance.”

Andy advises others coming up in the sport in the same situation as him and Kevin not to loose sight of that.

“If you have to leave your family to get the brass ring, it isn’t worth it,” he says.

“Whether you are brothers or just friends, you need to keep things in perspective,” Frank says. “You have to remember you have a family. You have to remember you have kids. You have a home to take care of. Pay attention to the details and make sure to keep your priorities straight.”