Volkswagen Jetta TDI cup

When Liam Kenney was five years old, his dad took him to the Long Beach Grand Prix partly in an effort to see the Champ Car star Paul Tracy, who young Liam had begun to idolize as his favorite driver.

His dad was able to flag Tracy down and asked if he would speak to Liam. Tracy -- one of the biggest names in racing at the time -- agreed, and spent several minutes with the wide-eyed youngster. From that day forward, Liam, now a competitor in Volkswagen's inaugural Jetta TDI Cup, became a race car driver.

"He was so good, so kind, he got down on his knees and talked with him," says Paul Kenney of his son's initial encounter with Tracy. "He's been hooked ever since. We tried to get him to play soccer, do other things, but this is his passion, his dream, and we are blessed in that respect."

I caught up with Kenney, now 16, and his father at the third round of the TDI Cup at Portland International Raceway where I got a chance check out what the series and the diesel Jetta race car (we'll have more on the car soon) are all about.

An eight-race series where 30 drivers duke it out in identically-prepped Jettas based largely on the 2009 Volkwagen Jetta TDI you'll see soon in VW showrooms, the TDI Cup was created in large part to help young drivers like Kenney achieve bigger and better things in motorsport, as well as to build awareness for VW's next-generation clean diesel efforts.

Chosen after an extensive vetting process from an initial pool of some 900 candidates (only drivers age 16 to 26 are eligible), Kenny and his 29 fellow competitors in the Jetta TDI Cup are essentially a part of one big factory race team. For an initial buy in of $35,000, each driver gets his own Jetta Cup car for the season, world class instruction and support from Volkswagen factory drivers and technicians, along with other skills coaching such as the art of wooing sponsors, media relations, and fitness training.

"They give us all the basic pieces, but it's up to us to make something of it," says Kenney, an energetic, articulate teen with bright-blue eyes, blonde-streaked hair, and a race driver's prototype build.

The SCCA Pro Racing sanctioned series is modeled after Volkswagen's successful Polo Cup in Europe. Only tire pressures allowed to be adjusted and cars are swapped randomly among drivers as the season wears on. Winners receive $1000 for each race and points are awarded, with the champion scoring a cool $100,000 along with the possibility of getting an extra $150,000 if they are signed to a racing team. All drivers will likely get an SCCA pro license after the season concludes. Smack up your car bad enough though, and you will pay for damages on a sliding scale.

Volkswagen hopes to expand the program to 10 races next season and is already taking applications. At Portland, at least, the overall effort looked to be well run and organized, especially for a series in its first year. In a further effort to promote a green theme (what company isn't nowadays), hospitality services and other elements of VW's race weekend presence are designed with the goal of reducing the company's carbon footprint to say, a Size 6. The season is being chronicled by Speed and a will eventually air on the network.

The TDI Cup drivers come from all over the country, including a couple from Canada and one from Mexico. Their backgrounds are varied. Some have extensive karting experience, others little more than two-wheeled motocross. Some have connections and come from moneyed backgrounds, others scrimped to come up with the cash to get into the Cup.

Kenney and his family, who now live in Virginia, have been hard at it for years and have sacrificed much - no boat, fancy car, lots of travel and long hours - to follow the dream. The TDI Cup is yet another step up the motorsports ladder for Kenney, who has already taken several. His first big-time racing experience was in the Snap-on Stars of Karting. Liam and his father got to know accomplished IRL driver Bryan Herta, one of the founders of the series along with the late Hollis Brown, another big influence.

It was Brown who helped young Liam get into his first 50cc kart. Brown was also instrumental in helping to set up a memorable track day with none other than Tracy in Las Vegas, where the Kenneys were living at the time and were often found at the Las Vegas Karting Center (now XPlex Las Vegas).

"Tracy came down to Vegas with his brand-new kart and raced with Liam," the elder Kenny recalls. "He told Liam to hold the line no matter what. Well, he held the line and put a donut in the side of Tracy's kart. I was scared to death I was going to have to pay him for the damage, but he just got out laughing. He said 'I told him to hold the line and he did.'"

Despite all the help and encouragement from Tracy and others, Kenney's step up to the Stars of Karting wasn't exactly smooth sailing. "We started out terribly and weren't prepared to run at the highest levels," Paul Kenney says.

But with more experience, and the help of Speed Secrets -- an organization that helps in part to improve a driver's mental approach to racing -- Kenney has dramatically improved as he's moved up. Last year, he drove a 2.0L Formula Renault car to multiple wins, one of which was at Portland, which he calls his "favorite track" after scoring his first victory in the Renault car there.

Moving from a 1000-lb, open-wheel car to a front-drive, diesel-powered 2844-lb sedan has obviously been an adjustment, but he says it hasn't been as difficult as he expected. "It's all come naturally, really," he says. Already a big fan of diesel-powered machines such as Audi's now legendary R10 LMP1 car (his goal is to not only race in, but win at Le Mans by age 21) he likes what the TDI Cup car has to offer. "It pulls like a beast all through the powerband," Kenney says, and he also likes the car's DSG transmission, which he says "is always there for you."

At the 1.977-mile Portland circuit, Kenney (who crashed at the first race at Virginia International Raceway and finished 10th at the second race at Mosport in Canada) qualified fourth and battled at the front during the entire 30-minute main event. It was an exciting race that found Kenney on two wheels at one point during a fierce battle that got especially hairy in the chicane after the track's front straight. Kenney led several laps and eventually finished on the podium in second.

The day after the race, Ryan Arciero, one of the Volkswagen Factory Drivers assigned to the TDI Cup, assessed the performance of the drivers so far: "Virginia was a disaster, and the guys were just trying to hang on at Mosport (it rained and the cars were on slicks), but it was much better here." Clearly, the guys are starting to get it.

Speaking of getting it, shortly after the race, a press release announcing Kenney's podium finish popped into my BlackBerry's e-mail box. He and his family know by now that success on the track is only one part of the equation.