Lux brings experience to Kenyon Midgets

By Ken de la Bastide

Matt Lux takes the #62 Gaines Motorsports entry three wide at Montpelier. (Aaron Skillman photo)

Matt Lux decided to use money saved to attend college to purchase his first race car. “I was enrolled to go to college and got a call to go to work for Public Service Indiana as a lineman,” he explained. “The money I saved for college went to buy a race car.”

Lux, 44, started racing at the age of 18 beginning in a three-quarter midget and then raced a Midget in the pavement racing with USAC. “I ran limited races but competed against Kasey Kahne, Dave Darland and Tony Stewart,” he said.

Because of scheduling conflicts and the expense, Lux started racing Baby Grands competing at Road Atlanta, West Virginia and Florida. Lux won the national championship in 1999.

He made his first Kenyon Midget start at Montpelier Speedway earlier this month. “A good friend of mine, Ed Gaines, called and said he owned two cars and asked me to run one of them at Montpelier,” he said. “I’ll race anything with an engine and four wheels,” Lux laughed. He finished third at Montpelier and was providing tips on racing on a dirt surface to teammate Clayton Gaines.

“It was a different car and engine,” Lux said of the Kenyon Midget. “I’m hoping to run the Don and Mel Kenyon 75-lap classic at Anderson Speedway.”

Lux is competing full-time in a quarter midget with the Tony Stewart owned All Star Circuit which competes mainly as a regional series. Lux finished second in the 2021-point standings with the All Star Circuit.

“I haven’t raced pavement for several years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to racing at Anderson Speedway.

Lux currently works for Duke Energy and said there was no history in his family when he started racing 26 years ago.