Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 1

11 FALL 2019 T hird-generation Texas franchised dealer Ben Keating is from one of the great car dealer families in our state. Ben’s grandfather Joe Keating and great-uncle Paul Keating started two generations ago with Ford in Crosby and Chevrolet in Winnie, Texas. Cousin John Keating was a successful Chevy dealer in Nederland, and Ben’s Uncle Calvin was a longtime Golden Triangle Ford dealer. Ben’s father, Tom Keating, owned the Ford dealership in Tomball, where Ben started out as the lot boy when he was in elementary school. Today Ben Keating has made those many family members who pioneered the car business in Southeast Texas extremely proud by taking the Keating name to 19 dealerships in nine Texas cities. One of the most successful dealers in the state of Texas, Ben and his wife Kathleen have a fourth generation of Keatings on track to continue this remarkable family legacy. Ben’s son Carter Keating, who is about to begin his senior year at his parents’ alma mater, Texas A&M University, has already joined the Texas Dealer Academy, the young dealer division of TADA. His daughter Kate, also a Texas A&M undergrad, may eventually join the ranks of Texas women dealers, which is growing by leaps and bounds throughout the state. Keating Auto Group attorney Chris Wall, and their Port Lavaca Auto Group controller Corey Boucher, are founding members of the Texas Dealer Academy, now in its ninth year. Keating ExecutiveDonWhitaker is amember of the TADA leadership team with a seat on the Board of Directors, following in the footsteps of John Keating, a longtime leader for TADA’s Executive Committee. For three generations, the Keating family has made a dierence in Texas, TADA and the industry. Ben Keating has been busy building one of the most impressive dealer organizations in the country, but he also maintains a full schedule as one of the most highly regarded sports-car road racers in the world. In 2006, Kathleen surprised Ben with a $250 gift certi‚cate for a day at the track at Texas World Speedway in College Station. Ben drove a Dodge Viper from his showroom to the Speedway to join other uninitiated race car drivers and local amateur thrill seekers in their quest to drive fast and learn how the pros navigate a banked oval. †e dierence between Ben Keating and the other novice drivers that day was that while they went home, Ben went racing. By the next year, Keating was racing in competition in renowned racing hotbeds such as Daytona, Watkins Glen and Sebring. Ben won f ive national championships racing a Viper. He joined the Nascar Rolex Grand Am Sports Car Series in 2011 and the American Le Mans Series in 2013. By 2015 he was driving at Le Mans and by 2017 had his own racing team there. Tomy Hamon, a former TADA Chairman of the Board and close friend of Ben Keating, was especially proud that Ben drove Tomy’s favorite race car, the Ford GT, in this year’s 24  BEN KEATING — CONTINUED ON PAGE 12