From the time that Calvin Bennett of Marblehead first got behind the wheel of a race car at the age of 10, success has followed him everywhere. In 2025, he took home the Little T Quarter Midget Club track championships in the Light 160 and Light World Formula classes as well as the Boston K1 Speed Teen Cup, the latter of which will see him head to a national championship event in California this May.
Bennett, age 13, first began attending the Boston K1 Speed indoor karting center to keep his driving skills sharp when the racing season came to a halt during the winter. Now, a year on from finishing fifth in the K1 speed junior national championship, the Tower School student will take on competitors from 30 states in May’s K1 Speed United States Teen E-Karting Championship in Winchester, California.
“K1 was, from the start, mainly just something to do during the offseason,” said Calvin. “There was never really pressure to really succeed in it. Going into the teen league, we were talking in the car as we went there, our goal that season was to not be last.”
Calvin, his parents, Andy and Rachel, and his competitors would quickly realize that the then 12-year-old driver had more than enough pace to keep up with the competition, grabbing pole position for his first race in the teen league in January 2025.
“All of the other teens were like: ‘Wait, who is this kid? He was on the junior side last year? What’s happening?’” said Andy. “We expected, when he moved up to the teen league, he wouldn’t be immediately successful. We thought there was going to be more of a learning curve.”
With the biggest race of his karting career just one month away, Calvin is still trying to process the series of events that brought him to this moment.
“It’s kind of strange how this little offseason hobby has turned into this national race,” said Bennett. “It’s kind of crazy, honestly.”
However, while Calvin may get the glory behind the wheel, motorsports are a team endeavour. His mother, Rachel, acts as the crew chief, race strategist and lead mechanic for Team Bennett’s quarter midget program, translating feedback from her driver into setup changes to give the team the best chance of a win.
“When Calvin said he wanted to start getting more serious in these other leagues, it was actually my wife that did the research and found the oval tracks down in Connecticut for junior racing” said Andy. “(Calvin) was very excited and in my head, I thought: ‘Oh, this is something we’ll think about.’ And my wife said: ‘No. Let’s go buy a car.’”
Looking into the future, Bennett hopes to take his talents all the way to the pinnacle of both North American and international motorsports. He will take his first steps in full sized cars later this year, taking part in SCCA spec Miata races as well as running a full sized midget car as a stepping stone to higher level series.
“Driving in IMSA could be a really good fit, but IndyCar and NASCAR, I would be very happy to be doing either of those,” said Bennett. “I mean, GT cars would be really good because they’re raced pretty much everywhere, but being able to have the chance to get an overall win in IMSA and be in the GTP class would be really cool.”
