Frank Kelleher’s rise through the NASCAR ranks — which continued Tuesday when he was named the ninth president of Daytona International Speedway — started 19 years ago this week.
And, like most college kids still trying to figure it all out, it started with a long drive to a job interview that was anything but a guarantee.
“I drove from Scranton, Pennsylvania, with my dad and uncle to Daytona 19 years ago yesterday,” Kelleher told The News-Journal on Tuesday.
“I was interviewing for an internship with what was ISC (International Speedway Corporation) and I ended up spending the summer of 2002 here as an intern in the corporate sales and marketing department.”
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Kelleher, now 40 with a wife and two children, was a junior at the time at Marywood University in his hometown of Scranton.
He spent that summer working for ISC in Daytona, returned to Scranton for his senior year, and then moved back to the area the next spring after graduation.
“I graduated college on a Sunday in May of 2003, got in my car on a Tuesday and was a marketing coordinator on Thursday,” Kelleher said with a laugh. “It’s been 18 years now that I’ve been with the company.”
A new set of responsibilities
While marketing will certainly remain part of the job description going forward, Kelleher’s responsibilities changed earlier this week when he was named the newest Speedway president, replacing Chip Wile.
Wile, who took the reigns from Joie Chitwood back in 2016, was promoted to a position overseeing all NASCAR-owned tracks, while Kelleher immediately steps in as the next face of Daytona International Speedway.
“The Daytona brand means a lot to me,” said Kelleher, who grew up racing karts and is a two-time national champion with the World Karting Association.
“I did have aspirations to compete (further), but when I was 21 I realized it probably wasn’t going to happen at the professional level. So I just put my head down at the internship.”
Kelleher officially joined the corporate racing world in 2003 and did a little bit of everything, from managing business accounts, to running media departments —including the Motor Racing Network (MRN) — to running all corporate sales.
Part of a motorsports family
Since the NASCAR-ISC merger two years ago, Kelleher has been responsible for all commercial revenue as NASCAR’s Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer.
A white-collar career, he says, with a blue-collar background.
“My dad and his brothers own a garage, so I grew up in a motorsports family,” Kelleher said. “I changed tires, towed cars, plowed snow. When I moved here, I didn’t know anyone or have any family. I think it was that blue-collar work ethic of just jumping right into any and every project they’d let me work on.”
Kelleher continued his rise over the next decade while also still running the occasional race. Nine years ago, he started 11th and finished second in a Grand National event on Daytona’s Road Course.
“Then I got married, had kids, and put the helmet on the shelf,” Kelleher said of his wife, Lauren, and two children — Frankie and Tess.
As for what’s in store for the Speedway in the future, the former ISC intern isn’t ready to dive into details just yet, but does promise to keep the focus on the fans.
And yes, by this point you’re probably wondering about “The Office” — the iconic comedy that was set in Kelleher’s hometown.
It’s a question he’s used to, he says with a laugh, but don’t be upset when you hear his answer.
“You have to ask it,” Kelleher added. “It’s sort of a layup question. But no. Scranton is real. Dunder Mifflin is not.”