American sprintcar driver Tim Kaeding races with young son in mind

Tannyn, 2, is his dad’s biggest fan.

Kaeding, 40, has made a flying two-week visit to Australia for the South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

It was a crash at Premier Speedway 12 months ago which highlighted his new mindset.

The 2014 Classic winner had a heat crash with Bendigo teenager Rusty Hickman on night one but returned to produce an eye-catching display, coming from the rear of the C-Main to earn a transfer to the B-Main which he won.

“If I had a crash 10 or 15 years ago, I’d jump right out, get in another car and go and have fun but with my little boy being born two years ago, it changed my perspective on racing,” Kaeding said.

“It made me realise I am not a spring chicken anymore and can’t jeopardise my life. I have taken a step back from sprintcar racing the last few years.

“I went from 80 to 100 races a year to probably 45-60 races a year. Time with my little boy is more important.

“I’ve done a lot of racing, I’ve travelled for 15 years and you want to have a real life and have stability in your life.

“I get away (to Australia for a quick trip) but if I’d have done this year 15 years ago and had a child you didn’t have the technology where you could facetime and see him.”

Kaeding said family was an important part of his life.

“I’ve got a step-daughter (Fiona) from a previous relationship. She’s my daughter, I raised her for 10 years,” he said.

“Me and her mum didn’t work out but I still get to have contact with her and hang out with her, which has been awesome. She likes racing but she doesn’t get to go all the time with us. My son gets to go all the time and he just loves this stuff.

“He’s all ‘go dad’ and it’s awesome. He’s so much like me and it’s like ‘oh no, I am in so much trouble when he is 18 years old’.”

Kaeding, who is on the comeback from a broken ankle, is racing for car owner Wayne Cole.

“It is a great team. Wayne does a lot of this out of his own pocket so it’s a family-orientated team so we have fun and take what we can get from it, learn and hopefully come back and do it again next year,” he said.

“If you get a good qualifying time that bases your whole weekend. We were decent last year and had bad luck and crashed a car.

“These guys worked their tails off to put it back together and we went out there and did something a lot of people haven’t done in a while and started at the back of the C-Main and transferred and went to the back of the B-Main and transferred.

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.