Moto Moms: Renee Keylon

By Andy Bowyer

The Keylon family have been attending Loretta Lynn's for 11 years, but their racing story began a long time before that. Kenny Keylon was a hard-charging privateer on the professional tour in the early 1980s and is well known for winning the 1982 St. Petersburg national. It was in that honor that both of the Keylon boys raced with #41 at this year's AMA/Air Nautiques Amateur National Championships as it was the number of their father. Renee and Kenny met at the Atlanta Supercross 25 years ago and they will be going back to their original meeting place this winter to watch their eldest son, Kyle, race in his first professional supercross. At this year's Loretta Lynn's event Renee watched Kyle race to a third place overall finish in the Motocross A-Pro Sport class. The fruits of his effort landed him with a ride to the four remaining outdoor nationals as a member of Butler Brother's Racing team. Kyle immediately impressed by posting top ten practice speeds and overall finishes. Mrs. Keylon has been able to enjoy the ultimate perspective of watching Kyle (18) climb all the way through the ranks of Loretta Lynn's and she still has Kory (13) who is currently in the middle of the climb up the long ladder. We gave Renee a call on the phone to talk about some of her Loretta Lynn's experiences and how many more years we can expect to see the Keylons down at The Ranch.

MX Sports: When did the Keylon family make their first trip to Loretta Lynn's?

Renee Keylon: Our first year was in 1996 and Kyle raced in the PW stock class. He had actually been riding hare scrambles with Kenny a little by then but that was the first year we tried and he actually made it in and got a top ten at the end of the week.

What has been your best experience at Loretta Lynn's?

This past year was pretty special seeing Kyle finally reach a goal he has been working so hard for. The Butler Brothers asked him to pit out of their semi truck and after he finished third they asked him to go to the nationals with them so that was just really good to see him achieve that.

Renee and Kyle on the way to the starting line again!

What is your favorite thing to do during the week?

We always like to get there a day or two early and just enjoy the ranch. I like to go wade around down at the creek and Kenny and I take the Harley for rides around the area. That is like our only vacation we get throughout the year so it's nice to get those couple of days to just relax and enjoy.

What kind of role do you play in the training the boys do for the event?

We have a track at the end of our road on some land that Randy Yoho owns, and as soon as the regionals are over with I take the boys down there and time every single one of their laps. They always work really hard because they know how tough it is to do well at the big race.

Do you have any superstitious rituals you perform?

[Laughs] I am a little superstitious! If one of the boys wins a moto or something I will make sure I carry the exact same things with me. Like, in my pockets, or whatever I am carrying, it goes up with me the next time! This year at Loretta's I had Kenny's #41 jersey that he wore when he won at St. Petersburg and I took it with me to watch all of the boy's motos.

This is all Kenny rides at Loretta's now a days!

Do the boys have a curfew that you enforce?

I've never had to worry about Kyle much. He is always in bed by 9:30 no matter what is going on. Now Kory on the other hand, if we didn't say so he would be out all night long! I always try to make sure both of them are back at the motorhome and in bed by 9:30 p.m. at the latest.

What made you more nervous; watching Kyle's first holeshot at Loretta's or the one at Millville?

You know, it's funny, I wasn't that nervous at Millville. I probably should have been, I guess, but I was actually pretty confident at that point. I knew he would do well' I just wanted to see him get around the first turn safe. I was really nervous the first time he started at Loretta Lynn's, though. Now Kenny, on the other hand, he wore out a path pacing back and forth at Millville and Steel City! He was more nervous than I have ever seen him. He is just so, so proud.

Well, you've watched one of your sons climb all the way from the PW class to the A modified class, right to the top ten at an outdoor national. Now, you have Kory on his way up. Is he going to stay after it?

Oh yes, well, he jumped on one of Kyle's 250Fs the other day at the track and now he won't even look at his CRF150, so it looks like we're headed back to try for the Schoolboy classes in 2008!

It's all in the family!

Once Kory has graduated, how long do you think the Keylon family will be attending Loretta Lynn's?

I don't know; we'll probably always go. It's just so fun and it's the only time of the year that you get to see everybody from all over the country. It's been a big part of our lives every year and we'll probably always go. You know, Kyle's first trip there was when he was 10 days old way back when Kenny was racing the +25 class.