Few friendships in racing start at a very young age, but Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires drivers Oliver Askew met Kyle Kirkwood can claim just that.
The most recent two champions in the first rung of the three-step development ladder, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda, Askew (2017 champ, at right in photo above) and Kirkwood (2018) met at a mutual friend’s birthday party in Jupiter, Florida. Kirkwood, then 5, walked in with his driver’s suit on, having just come in from the karting track. Askew’s parents spoke with Kirkwood’s parents about the racing suit and the next decision was how to pursue karting for young Oliver.
“Our parents got to talking,” Askew said. "They exchanged information, we got some more insight on what go-karting was and how competitive it was. So eventually, I bought my own.”
Kirkwood, now 19, and Askew, 21, ran Comer 80 karts when they started. Kirkwood had a bit of an advantage on Askew with “the best Comer engine you could ever think of” behind him.
“(Kirkwood) always beat me in Comer until we moved up to mini max and then it was more even,” said Askew.
The duo didn’t race together for long since karting levels are divided into age groups. They did team again as Team USA Scholarship winners in 2016, which provided the opportunity to travel to England and compete in the famous Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone.
That trip overseas added another interesting dynamic in their friendship. Kirkwood figured out the London Underground system and became the duo’s navigator.
“He just followed me everywhere,” Kirkwood said. “I knew the whole (subway system) like the back of my hand.”
“So all I did was just follow him,” Askew added. “I didn’t have to know it, he knew what he was doing.”
While in England, both drivers continued one of their popular competitions trying to set a fast lap on iRacing simulators.
“We did that probably every day,” said Kirkwood. “Like all day, every day, because we had nothing else to do in the two weeks that we had off time, so we sat there and ran time trials. We actually got really fast. We were really good at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, but we kind of challenged each other.”
The two friends are teammates this year with Cape Motorsports, but in different levels of the Mazda Road to Indy. After winning the USF2000 title last year with Cape, Askew advanced to the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires, where he sits third in the standings with two races remaining. Kirkwood has already locked up this year’s USF2000 crown with 10 wins, including the last nine straight races, heading to this weekend’s season finale for all three MRTI levels at Portland International Raceway.
With the championship, Kirkwood has earned the $325,000 scholarship to advance to Pro Mazda in 2019. The possibility exists that the two could race against each other in Pro Mazda next year if Askew returns, but said they would not let that get in the way of their friendship.
“Given that we have (raced each other before), I don’t think we’d be any different,” said Kirkwood. “We’re teammates, the goal is to go out there and win races because, honestly, winning a bunch of races will get your name up there quicker than winning a championship will, even with the scholarship at stake.”
“I don’t think it would change anything,” added Askew. “We get (mad) at each other all the time. In the end, we’ll still go surfing, that’s the way I see it.”