Cody Keaton

Cody Keaton (born November 9, 1985, died November 18, 2012 in Fort Worth, TX) was an American open-wheel driver who competed in Formula Overdrive for Quantum KeaTech, a team owned by his father, well-known engineer Jeff Keaton. He had garnered a reputation for being notoriously (and comically) slow.

Keaton also ran the Australian races for Scuderia Tutino in the TM Master Cup Series, but performed no better. Keaton brought Quantum sponsorship money to the team for the two races, leading some to speculate that that was how he got the ride in the first place.

He, unfortunately, along with Tiffany Matthews, Tyson Lautenschlager, Gordon Sting and Peter Kreamer, were killed in crashes in the 2012 Hanmore World Championships at Texas Motor Speedway.

Pre-Formula Overdrive
Keaton competed in the Western Open-Wheel Challenge series, and finished 16th in the final standings. He was also the reserve driver for Quantum KeaTech.

2012
The 2012 season saw Keaton's big break, as he was promoted from reserve driver to the full-time ride for Quantum KeaTech. At the season opener at Sears Point, Keaton was horribly slow, logging a practice time five seconds off the pace of the fastest cars. He qualified dead last, again, five seconds behind the pole time. Keaton finished the race two laps down to winner Meghan Gallagher, but was in the way for most of the race and got into a couple incidents, earning himself a trip to Race Control – the first of what would be many visits.

Milwaukee would not be much kinder to Keaton: though he qualified a second off the pace of the polesitter this time, he was still the slowest car on the track, and by Lap 10 he was running well behind the rest of the field. Keaton would be involved in an incident with Sulinder Pushanda on Lap 95, but though he arguably was the victim in the wreck, he still earned his second visit to Race Control in as many weeks for, again, being horribly slow. Pushanda disagreed with the officials' ruling after the race, saying, "These damn executives from Hanmore don't know a damn thing about racing. Cody (Keaton) was all over the track. Who do they they are? Come on, this is a joke, he clearly came down on me. He had plenty of room up there. I hope the officials actually get some common sense, he should be getting penalized."

He didn't, and Keaton soldiered on to the Green Valley 540 for the Missouri Grand Prix. Again starting last on the grid, Keaton would only make it 31 laps before losing the motor on his car. In attempting to get to the pit lane, he crossed directly into the path of Alessandro Rossini and touched wheels with the No. 15. Keaton careened into the pit wall, and crossed back into the path of Chaud Roddick, who hit Keaton's car square on the right-hand side. Keaton and Roddick would retire from the race.

Neither Roddick nor Rossini were impressed with Keaton after the race. "I really fail to understand why he forced the issue like that," Roddick said. "He ran Rossini into the pits, and himself in the wall, and took me out as well. He obviously needs to go back to driving school and learn that cars are solid objects." Rossini added, "That's not what you do. If you blow an engine, you do not dive straight into the pits, especially when there is a car in the way. If you really had to stop the car, it would have been better if you had pulled it off to the side. It was a racing incident though, sometimes you just make idiotic decisions."

Again, Keaton escaped without penalty.

Round 4 at Memphis was more of the same for Keaton, as he again started shotgun on the field. Keaton fell behind early, and quickly found himself a lap down to the field. He would be involved in a hard wreck in Lap 24, as he attempted to make a pit stop but slid out on the access road, crossing back into the racing line, and taking out Patrick McNeil. McNeil would get his revenge by flipping the No. 9 over into a roll. Keaton would somehow remain in the race, finishing four laps down. Thanks to a large crash on Lap 63 that took out a number of cars, Keaton would avoid finishing dead last for the first time.

Any thoughts of improving on his finish quickly dissipated at Cleveland, where Keaton was his usual slow self. After the first caution, Keaton attempted to make up ground on the field with an ambitious move after the start-finish line – but ended up washing into Tanya Carter in Turn 1, taking her brother, Ross, with them. All three cars continued on. Keaton would finish 26th.

After the incident, Ross Carter had choice words for Keaton, saying, "I swear to god, I'm going to punch that son of a bitch in the face after the race. Unbelievable. That's not the first time we've had trouble with him. He's done." It was reported that in the pit lane after the race that Carter did find Keaton and they exchanged words, with some reports saying Carter made good on his promise.

Keaton would avoid another last-place finish at Darlington, but that was because the race was called after eight laps. He finished 23rd.

Mosport once again saw Keaton horribly slow, but due to attrition he would again avoid a finish in the basement. He would do the same at Atlanta, thanks in large part to the car of Ethan Gilreath being slower still. After the race, though, Keaton was the target of several pointed comments from Team Visit Ohio principal Matt Kovach, who called Keaton a "clueless moron" and that Keaton "shouldn't be able to drive a motorized shopping cart, let alone an open wheel car." Keaton responded, saying, "Everyone's bitching and wanting lapped cars to hold their lines. I do that, and they still bitch. What the hell do you want from me?"

Formula Overdrive's first visit to Road America was the low spot of Keaton's season, but because Road America is over four miles in length, no one was in sight to get caught up in his errors. Keaton spun three times, before eventually throwing his car comically off the course in the Carousel, embedding himself in the tires. He refused medical attention and transportation to the medical center. Four hours after the race had concluded, Keaton still hadn't shown up to his pitbox, garage, or personal bus. Per the series' rule book, any driver who refuses medical attention incurs a three-point penalty, meaning Keaton left Elkhart Lake with a points tally of minus-three.

Keaton would resurface at the TTE Carbondale 200, and it appeared the time away did little good. Still horribly slow, Keaton managed to avoid the three incidents that occurred during the race and came home 22nd – easily his best finish of the season at the time.

The Watkins Glen race was a disaster for Keaton, as he again qualified last - a full nine seconds off the pole pace. Keaton was run off the track by Kenny Morales on Lap 2, crippling his already-slow car and ending a miserable day. The only bright spot is that Keaton did not finish last – Rossini did, as he retired earlier on the same lap.

Keaton would score his best finish of the season at Las Vegas Autoring. Keaton would finish 15th in spite of making contact with Peter Kreamer in the early going and being his usual slow self.

Mayville was more of the same, as Keaton was, in the running theme of the season, again horribly off the pace. Keaton would again end his day early – the second time in three races – when he and Allyson Wetherbee got together on Lap 18, taking both cars out of the running.

Death
At the 2012 Hanmore World Championships in Texas, his race pace the entire weekend was as slow as ever the entire 2012 season was. There was a serious incident in front of him and since he failed to use any application of the brakes, he T-boned into the side of Tiffany Matthews' car with Alessandro Rossini, Tyson Lautenschlager and Garry Carter also involved. Rossini was checked out with a fractured vertabrate but expected to be okay for 2013, but Carter had back problems which lead to a devastating paralysis. Unfortunately, Matthews would succumb to her injuries she sustained; as did Lautenschlager, who was pronounced dead on arrival at a Fort Worth hospital.

There are a lot of drivers stating after the news broke that Keaton should be banned from motorsports for good after several incidents he has caused throughout the 2012 racing season. But a few hours later it was announced that Keaton passed away of his injuries he sustained from Texas. Peter Kreamer and Gordon Sting also passed away from injuries sustained in a crash later on in the race, making these the first deaths in Formula Overdrive competition.

Stock cars
Keaton was originally tapped to take over Kurt Walker's ride in the ARLA Elite Series, as Keaton's father is the head engineer of the team. But, in a harbinger of things to come, Keaton demolished three cars in a test session at the Dallas Speedpark. Each incident came as a result of his spinning out in Turn 2 and making contact with the outside retaining wall.

Said team owner Walker, who was supposed to split the No. 98 with Keaton as part of his semi-retirement, "After today's test session, we decided that Cody needs more time to develop his abilities as a stock car driver, and we look forward to watching him bloom."

Keaton instead decided to return to Formula Overdrive.

TM Master Cup
Keaton, despite his reputation for being slow, made a pair of TM Master Cup Series starts, where he ran the Australian races for Scuderia Tutino. He qualified poorly for both events, earning the nickname "Turn 5" at Calder Park Thunderdome after dropping several laps down early in the race and holding up the faster drivers.

Master Cup officials threatened to yank his Master License if he didn't improve at Queensland, but Keaton was as slow as ever, qualifying dead last on the grid and running off-course several times. He also made contact with Treven Terrell, his teammate, which didn't sit well with the Tutino team owner, and Michael Sykes. Neither incident was considered a racing incident since Keaton was several laps behind both Terrell and Sykes. Those resulted in two Active Time Penalties.

Keaton was not apologetic after the race, going so far as to blame the Tutinos for some of his woes. "I've never had such a shitty car in my whole life," Keaton barked. "Nobody knows how to set up a car right at this team, and it made me look like a damn fool out there."

The officials didn't buy it, and promptly slapped Keaton with a 60-point penalty for his actions and, as threatened, revoked his Master License.