“That night, Noah and I decided to make our Shootout car look like it did when Bryan won with it as a tribute,” Scott Key explained. “Our cars had always been black with a No. 14 on them, so we had to get quite a bit of new stuff to make this happen. We had to get a whole new body to make the car white and then got it re-wrapped with the tribute graphics. Several people stepped up to help, which made this very special and emotional.”
With determination and Clauson’s memory fresh in his mind, Noah Key entered the 32nd annual Tulsa Shootout with both a mission and a goal — drive like B.C. would and try to park the No. 7bc in victory lane.
While he came slightly short of the goal, finishing 10th in the eighth B Main, the mission was visible by all as Key’s clean driving and poise under pressure impressed both onlookers and the driver himself.
“It was really awesome to drive the car,” said Noah Key. “I was trying to be careful with it because I didn’t want to tear it up … that was the last thing I wanted. But it was really an honor. I was a little nervous before I went out on the track each time because I knew a lot of people were watching me, but once I got on the track the butterflies went away and I drove the hardest I could trying to make it to the A main.
“It was easily my best Shootout to date,” Key added. “I’m really proud of the way we performed and I don’t think I’d change a thing I did.”
As the Shootout closed and the Keys began preparations for the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, where they were fielding a midget for Chris Cochran, Noah Key realized he wanted the car to remain a tribute to Clauson and that the car itself had a bigger mission.
“When coming back home from the Shootout, I told my dad I didn’t want to race the 7bc all year and he didn’t really want to change the lettering on the car,” Noah Key explained.
Hence a decision was made by the Keys to bring the No. 7bc back to the Expo Center one more time, giving it back to the family that helped push their racing journey to the next level.
Noah Key gave a speech on Friday night in presenting the car back to Tim Clauson and the Clauson-Marshall Racing team, citing a comment Tim Clauson had made to them at the Chili Bowl three years prior.
“A few years ago in this building, a father told me to cherish the moments racing with my dad … the drives home from the track, the stories and the laughs, the long hours in the race shop together … in the end all of that is more valuable than what happens on the track.
“I’ve always remembered that. I can’t thank Tim enough for all the contributions he and his family have always given and continue to give to open-wheel racing.”
The hug that followed held tears … of thanks, of healing and of respect for a driver that tied two families together in a way that only racing can.
“Seeing Tim so happy about (receiving the car), I felt really good afterward,” Noah Key concluded.
