By RANDY GONZALES
Special to Hays Post
It might have been surprising if Kahne Johnson had not chosen sprint car racing as his career path.
Kahne, a 2024 graduate of Quinter Junior-Senior High, is on track to make his dreams come true.
From a racing family devoted to dirt tracks on warm summer evenings, Kahne moved to Missouri this past Thursday. He began his full-time job as crew chief for Ayrton Gennetten Racing, which runs a sprint car in the World of Outlaws circuit.
“My dream always was to get a sprint car, but I fell in love with working on them,” Kahne said.
Kahne, 18, is part of a third generation of racing. He raced go-karts, as did his older brother, 20-year-old Kyler, who graduated to driving sprint cars on weekends.
His younger sister, Kendyl, 15, also used to race go-karts. His father, CJ Johnson, retired in 2015 after a long career racing sprint cars. His paternal grandfather, Jon Johnson, raced sprint cars, as did Dennis Park, stepfather of Kahne’s mom, Kayla.
The family loved the track so much that a little thing like the birth of a child wouldn’t wave the red flag. All three Johnson siblings were born in the middle of the week, and days after their birth, they were at the track that weekend. CJ won a race the weekend after each child’s birth, and after Kyler was born, CJ won 11 straight races. Other drivers jokingly pleaded with CJ that he not have any more kids.
“We’ve never been the kind of family that stays home or goes to the lake on weekends,” Johnson said. “All we’ve ever known was racing.”
Kahne moves from one family to another. Ayrton Gennetten said the racing community is close-knit.
“Racing is basically a second family to anyone involved in the sport,” Gennetten said. “You grow fond of the people you’re around.”
From the it’s-a-small-world department, Gennetten’s grandfather raced against Kahne’s grandfather, and their dads also raced against each other a few times. Gennetten also has raced against Kahne’s older brother a few times. Now, Kahne is Gennetten's crew chief.
“It’s kind of cool we get to work together,” Gennetten said.
Kahne’s grandfather raced against his mom’s stepfather, and both dads raced each other. And, Kahne’s mom met his dad at the track. Years later, decades later, they’re still at the track.
“She kind of knew what she was getting into,” Kahne said.
Kahne had no idea what was going to happen after a chance meeting with Gennetten at a race weekend a couple of years ago. They were parked together and started talking racing. Talking turned into texts, but a summer job did not work out.
However, another racer, Brian Brown, offered a summer job a year later, and Kahne worked with him last season. Kahne credited his crew chief, Chad Morgan, for showing him the ropes in the pit.
“He explained things really well,” Kahne said. “He’s definitely a mentor because he knew what he was doing.”
Over the winter, Gennetten offered Kahne a full-time position as crew chief with his racing team. So Kahne packed up and moved to Warrensburg, Mo., with the shop in nearby Knob Noster. He was helping get the car ready to race this weekend and from now until November, with race weekends scheduled in nine states.
“I’m probably one of the younger (crew chiefs) who gets this much say, what we’re doing on the car,” Kahne said. “Eighteen is kind of pretty early. I’m very blessed to have this opportunity.”
Gennetten, 24, said while it was rare to have a crew chief that young, he was confident Kahne could do the job.
“I think we will make a good combination,” Gennetten said. “I trust that he will do it right because he wants to have a career in this. Hopefully, we can build a good program and grow together.”
Typically, the season goes from March to the end of October, but graduation delayed Kahne’s involvement this year. Gennetten races on two different circuits.
“He’s not really committed to one or the other,” Kahne said. “He picks and chooses which one he wants to go to on that particular weekend.”
Kahne once wanted to be a sprint car driver like his brother, but working on cars was a better fit than driving them—literally. At 6 feet 3 inches, Johnson found the sprint car cockpit too confining.
“It’s not a real comfortable car if you’re tall,” Kahne said.
Johnson feels comfortable tinkering with cars, getting them to perform their best every weekend.
“The main goal is to work full-time World of Outlaws,” Kahne said. “That is the best of the best, coast-to-coast. Just be successful, win a bunch of races as a crew chief.”
The roar of the track, with cars racing for the checkered flag, is part of the allure.
“It’s exciting for me to just hear the sprint cars go on the track. They’re plenty loud,” Kahne said.
Now, at a young age, Kahne is making noise as a crew chief for a racing team. He remembers his reaction when he received the job offer.
“I was pretty happy for it all to come together,” Johnson said. “I’d much rather do this than anything else, for sure.”