- Kevin Kalkhoven helped bring open-wheel racing through a tumultuous era highlighted by the split between CART and the Indy Racing League.
- Gerald Forsythe and Kalkhoven purchased automotive engineering powerhouse Cosworth in 2004.
- His KV Racing Technologies IndyCar team with co-owner Jimmy Vasser fielded Tony Kanaan's winning entry in the 2013 Indianapolis 500.
Former Cosworth and Champ Car racing series co-owner and KV Racing Technologies IndyCar team owner Kevin Kalkhoven had a down-to-Earth way of building a business, or building a race series, for that matter.
“You don’t paper-over cracks,” Kalkhoven told Autoweek in 2006. “You develop a proper foundation. You develop the training series, you develop the kids out of the training series, and over a period of time you develop a strong field that the fans know. That’s how you build a long-term foundation and a relationship with the fans.
“But the important thing here is to do it all professionally, and not to take shortcuts. Shortcuts don’t work.”
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Kalkhoven, who helped bring open-wheel racing through a tumultuous era highlighted by the split between Championship Auto Racing Teams and the Indy Racing League and who later helped orchestrate Tony Kanaan's 2013 triumph at the Indianapolis 500, died Tuesday following a short illness. He was 77.
Kalkhoven, a native of Adelaide, Australia, built his fortune as a venture capitalist and co-founder of KPLJ Ventures. He took on a role in the Indy split with the IRL in 2003 when he, along with CART owners Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi, purchased CART’s assets to form the Champ Car World Series. Those assets included the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Forsythe and Kalkhoven also purchased automotive engineering powerhouse Cosworth in 2004.
In 2008, Kalkhoven helped negotiate an agreement that merged the IRL and Champ Car to form today's NTT IndyCar Series.
“The entire Grand Prix Association of Long Beach family is saddened to hear of the passing of our co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven,” said Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. “He has provided strong support and visionary leadership over the past 16 years and his contributions to our company as well as to the racing community will be sorely missed. Our condolences go out to his wife Kimm and all of the Kalkhoven family in these difficult times. RIP, Kevin.”
Kalkhoven’s Indy car team boasted slightly different ownership combinations from 2003 through 2017. His KV Racing Technologies IndyCar team with co-owner Jimmy Vasser fielded Tony Kanaan’s winning entry in the 2013 Indianapolis 500. Others to win Indy car races for Kalkhoven-owned Indy car teams included Cristiano da Matta (2005), Will Power (2008), and Sebastien Bourdais (four wins from 2014-16).
“Kevin Kalkhoven lived life to the absolute fullest,” Vasser said in a press statement Tuesday. “He showed how life was to be lived. He was a great partner and dear friend. I will always miss his mischievous smile and uproarious laughter. Rest In Peace Dear Friend.”
The team raced as KVSH Racing with James Sullivan as part of the ownership group during the team’s final three years of operation.
“Deeply saddened at the loss of Kevin Kalkhoven,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown on social media. “An Indy 500 winner, owner of Champ Car, Cosworth and the Long Beach Grand Prix, Kevin was a major force in motorsport but also a great colleague and friend, whose business success was mirrored by his generosity to great causes.”
