Becoming a rookie on the national stage for the first time in 2025, Kameron Key is taking on every new challenge to help him gain valuable lessons throughout the year.
The Warrensburg, MO driver joined Trifecta Motorsports for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota season finale at Jacksonville Speedway, earning an impressive fifth-place finish in his second career Series start.
His performance behind the wheel of the Stanton-powered Spike Chassis earned Key a full-time opportunity behind the wheel of the No. 9U for the 2025 season.
“I think it’s been a pretty seamless transition,” Key said. “They have a really good package for me to jump into. I kind’ve adapted myself, like I didn’t have to go in and complain or change anything. I was pretty much good from the get-go, and I think that’s a testament to the cars they’ve built, and “Janky” Bobby (Milliser) as our crew chief. They have a good setup over there, so it’s really just made my job pretty easy.”
Alongside his Midget schedule, Key joined Beaver Racing to participate in several World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series events at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, 81 Speedway, and Knoxville Raceway’s Premier Chevy Dealers Clash.
Studying from 1/2-mile tracks like Volusia and Knoxville, to the small bullrings that Midgets compete upon, Key has been able to translate his experiences that help him throughout a race day.
“The half-miles are a new experience for me,” Key said. “I have a lot of time in a Sprint Car, but with my own stuff, so I always had kind of a lower-budget engine that couldn’t run at a big track. So this year, running at Volusia and Knoxville has been a whole new ballgame for me. I feel like I’m really trying to learn that, and the Midget still feels at home.
“I’m glad that I’m getting to learn on the half-miles in the Sprint Car. My results haven’t been the greatest, but I know I’m really excited to get it onto some smaller tracks, and we’ll be better there. The Midget is really good at keeping you quick, then the Sprint Car is trying to keep the thing straight and not scrub any speed or momentum, which was something I felt at Farmer City.”
In the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets season opener at Farmer City Raceway, Key finished sixth after struggling in Smith Titanium Qualifying to start the program. The following evening, he took home a second-place finish after competing for the win against Karter Sarff, Zach Daum, Cannon McIntosh, and Jacob Denney.
“It was my first time (at Farmer City),” Key said. “The weekend went great, other than the Qualifying. The Features, we raced really well, and the car was really good. One thing that will help me is keeping my nose clean. A lot of times, like the first night, I would not have run sixth if a couple of cars didn’t crash themselves out.
“Knock on wood, I feel like I’m really good about not tearing up equipment and just keeping my nose clean, but I’m not gonna be the guy that’s typically overaggressive and crashing. I think I have the speed that we’ll find ourselves at the front quite a bit.”
Key carries a mix of freshness and previous experience heading into the next Xtreme Outlaw Midget races at Creek County Speedway, Humboldt Speedway, and 81 Speedway.
While he’s only visited Humboldt as a race fan, Key’s time at Creek County saw him finish sixth in March for the 2025 Turnpike Challenge, then took the No.12X Sprint Car to the World of Outlaws event at 81 Speedway in April for his first trip to the Wichita, KS track.
“We ran Creek County early in the year, ran sixth, and we were ok,” Key said. I think it’ll be better around this time. It was an awesome Feature racetrack, though, you could move around and slide a bit. I had a blast, so I’m looking forward to that for sure. Humboldt, I’ve never gotten to race there. I’ve been there a few times to watch fender cars, but I have not gone to race there, so that one’s pretty close to home, it’s only like two hours from me.
“Wichita (81 Speedway), I was there for the first time with the Outlaws last month, and we got winded out. I mean, it’s a great racetrack for the Sprint Cars. I don’t know how the Midget race will be. I watched the video from last year, and it looked like it was pretty good. It’s definitely gonna be the biggest and fastest I’ve been in a Midget, so it’ll probably be a little bit of a learning curve. But like I said, I’m sure that the race cars will be on point.”
Key keeps his Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota rookie campaign rolling into the Oklahoma-Kansas swing of Creek County Speedway (May 8), Humboldt Speedway (May 9), and 81 Speedway (May 10).
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
