A Legacy of Excellence: Kellymoss Through the Years
Founded in 1988 by Florida based brothers David & Jeff Stone, the very first race the team competed in was the IMSA Firestone Firehawk race at Road Atlanta in 1989.
They won.
It all started with Rich Moskalik and his wife, Kathy Kellogg, owners of a boutique car dealership called Euro Imports. When David Stone, GM at Euro Imports, saw a few racing Porsches come into their shop to have poorly completed work from other shops fixed, he noticed a hole in the market and started a conversation with Rich.
Rich, also a Porsche enthusiast, acknowledged this hole in the market and he knew David’s knowledge in racing could be the perfect opportunity to transition from GM at Euro Imports into helping co-found a Porsche Racing Program. Kelly-Moss Motorsports was born that year in 1988.
The very first race KMM competed in was the IMSA Firestone Firehawk race at Road Atlanta in 1989. They won! It was enough encouragement to lead the KMM group into the future and establish themselves as a successful, often dominant force, in any series of racing they chose to participate in. Over 30 years later, the same can still be said.
With the 1989 win at Road Atlanta as fuel for encouragement to forge ahead, David Rich and the all-volunteer team moved into their future of road racing. It was a more than full-time affair. During this time, David’s younger brother Jeff came on board as a fly-in crew member. Jeff and David were at each others side through thick and thin, ups and downs for as long as they worked together.
Some of the early drivers that led to the successes of the KMM team, aside from Rich himself, were Bob Strange, Jeff Purner, Paul Tosi, Bobby Akin, Nick Ham, James Weaver, Price Cobb, Maro Baldi and numerous others. KMM won the 1990 Firehawk Championship with Rich and Jeff Purner driving. It was an outstanding first year full-time in road racing.
In 1991, KMM finished a disappointing 2nd in the Championship, missing first place by just a few points to the Charlie Cook-led team of drivers, Mark Sandridge and Joe Varde, who had moved from their stalwart Chevy Camaros of previous years to, what else, a Porsche 944 S2. After KMM won in 1990 with their home-brewed Porsche 944 S2’s, the Porsche factory built just 7 special S2’s that became known as the “Super 7” based on the details of the KMM built S2….but that also
is another story.
Having come so close to a repeat championship in 91’, David and Rich knew some changes had to be made internally. The entire KMM effort was based and operated from Madison from that point on.
It was a complete shake-up and for the better. 1992 was a stellar season, winning 8 of 10 races that year and finishing second in the other two. KMM would have won nine of those races except for a mistake by David that he never forgot. He let an infraction by the other team at a Sebring race go, due to a friendship involved with that team. Friends are friends, but on the track, it’s a different story.
Lesson learned.
By the time 1993 was rolling around, Porsche AG and PMNA had taken notice of the KMM group. In the previous couple of seasons, Porsche had given some sporadic help by way of parts and technology to KMM, however this year would be another step up. Porsche wanted KMM to be a sort of back-up to the older, more established Brumos Racing team of Jacksonville, Florida, who would be running Hans Stuck and Hurley Haywood in a pair of 911 Turbo’s. With such a great year in 1992 for KMM and driver Nick Ham, Porsche supplied two 911 Turbo’s to KMM. What could go wrong? Well, that too is another story. It was the worst year in KMM history. We crashed 8 out of 10 races that year and crashed on the way to two in testing. We can only smile about it today, but it was nothing to smile about at the time.
What a great year. Fortunately, Porsche did not hold the 1993 SuperCar season against us, and, to this day, 1994 was the last fully-supported Porsche Factory deal benefiting a race team. Porsche supplied two 911 Turbo’s and all the special parts you could ask for, not to mention an undisclosed, but substantial, amount of cash. It was not going to be an easy year. All the factories had special teams there - Corvette, Nissan, BMW, etc. At the same time, Brumos was going to be running two Porsches in the IMSA Series. The concept was for our cars and the Brumos cars to match in every way possible for interchangeability in time of crisis.
It was game on and the Stone Brothers went to work. They built the new chassis’ in house at KMM. Then, one cold morning in January of 1994, Jeff and David loaded up and headed for sunny Santa Ana, California, home of Porsche Motorsports……it felt like we were going to the fatherland. The idea was for the two Brumos cars, which were already there, and the two KMM cars to match up in every detail. We spent about 3-4 weeks there, experienced the massive LA earthquake of ’94 and made a lot of great memories while doing so. After countless long days and miles on the road, our first race of the season was to be the Miami Grand Prix; what a great venue that was!
As always seems to be the case in racing, time was short and the team had zero track time on the cars. Fortunately, Alwin Springer, then head of PMNA, had long-time connections with the INDY car crowd, who always held their winter testing in Sebring, so they let us join them. 1994 started out with a crash; and an amazing new driver line-up. The first driver of choice was Le Mans Winner, and big-car, big-power prototype driver, Price Cobb! Price was big time and some years later Price and his wife Charissa Cobb joined KMM (Charissa is still with us today).
While Price was “our” pick of drivers, since Porsche was our benefactor, they made the choice of driver for the second car. Enter Mauro Baldi, F1 driver, Le Mans winner, etc. Sounded good to us. Sebring first lap: old hairpin turn, crash into the tires. Brand new car in route to first race, FUBAR. We had what was known as the (top-secret) “Goodyear Box” in the car. Today, it would be more commonly known as a Racing ABS brake ECU.
Unfortunately for all involved, Mauro had never driven anything with ABS brakes, so when he got into the brakes at the hairpin and the brakes did what ABS brakes do, he was startled, and by the time he got it figured out, it was too late, and he connected with the tire wall. Fortunately, the team had a second car and spent the rest of the day and night rebuilding the car until leaving for Miami around 3:00 am, with just enough time to make the line-up for parking.
The team won the Miami Grand Prix in a torrential downpour. The team also won the 1994 World Challenge Championship and Price Cobb was the first American driver, and KMM the first American team, to win the coveted Porsche Cup.
1995 led to big changes for KMM. The Porsche factory was gearing up for the new Porsche AG-operated GT1 Program, so that meant no more factory funding or support for independent teams. KMM took pride in being chosen by Porsche to handle the logistics for the Factory Porsche AG teams GT1 racing in 1997 for Sebring and Laguna Seca. This was also time to take the business up a notch. Fortunately, several years of success, coverage by the automotive press,, and the advent of Porsche Club racing led to the new concept of “Arrive and Drive” racing.
Kelly-Moss pioneered the concept for amateur racers with the resources to own Porsche cars for the track, but not the time, expertise or inclination to maintain or modify them. Now, they could sign up for a full service, red carpet driving experience, and also experience all the famous tracks around the US. They could bring their families, do side trips to wine country in California, shop and enjoy nights of fun in Vegas, enjoy the sun and beaches in Florida, and have private track days with famous race car drivers as their personal coaches. From food catering to every other detail, Kelly-Moss provided the works.
Now in an 80,000 square foot facility in Madison complete with in-house engine shop, carbon fiber area, interior & graphics department, along with our large custom project and racing divisions. Home to over 100 working Porsche projects, with 135 team members and 37 National championships under the belt, the company is under the ownership of husband and wife team Andy Kilcoyne (engineer & designer) and Victoria Thomas (vision, culture & finance).
We invite you to return again and make the journey with us as we continue to make history. Your loyalty as fans and clients is greatly appreciated. If you ever have any questions about our offerings, please don't hesitate to contact us.
