R.I.P. Kevin Kalkhoven

[bjohnsonsmith]

R.I.P. Kevin Kalkhoven

https://racer.com/2022/01/04/kevin-kalkhoven-1944-2022/

[FIRE]

R.I.P.

[rwintle]

I've mentioned this in a couple of places, but here seems appropriate too.

I have I think only one photo of Kevin Kalkhoven from my years at the Honda Indy Toronto - in pit lane, race #1 on Sunday morning in 2014. That was the doubleheader weekend where the Saturday race was rained out, and they ran both on Sunday. Sebastien Bourdais won the first race, driving for KV Racing Technology, the team co-owned by Kalkhoven.

I'd spent the race on the "island", the strip of grass between the old pit lane and the front straight - the only place to photograph pit lane action with crowds in the grandstands in the background, and the only location on that track configuration where you could get cars heading down the straight with the Princes' Gate and CN Tower in the background. Fun spot. For whatever reason, that year the winner's car returned to pit lane rather than going directly to winner's circle, so Bourdais and the media scrum ended up in front of me. Our team had other people photographing him, so I was looking around for other photo opportunities, when KK sat down in a golf cart in front of me - for a break from the action I guess, waiting to drive over to the podium. So I took a quick picture of him. He noticed me there, and said something that I couldn't hear, so he waved me over. He told me that there was a standing joke in the team that he never smiled in pictures - but that on this occasion, he was making an exception.

Just a nice little exchange in all the surrounding hubbub. You can see Bourdais (red cap) in the media scrum in the background.


Kevin Kalkhoven smiling! (almost) by Richard Wintle, on Flickr