The affable 51-year-old from Victoria, Texas, is regarded as one of the top privateer drivers in sports car racing and has the stats to prove it. His accolades include victories and championships in both prototype and GT cars at some of the most renowned tracks and famous races around the world.

He's competed for a wide variety of famed global marques, but 2023 represents his first season with the factory Corvette team. It's a perfect fit for Keating, who counts two Chevrolet dealerships (Port Lavaca Chevrolet GMC and Aggieland Chevrolet) among his expansive Lonestar State-based Keating Auto Group.

"It's a huge appeal to me to be able to represent a brand that I sell," Keating says. "I already have so many more people contacting me, saying, ‘Hey, I want to buy from you.'"

This year Keating is part of a trio of drivers campaigning the mid-engine No. 33 Corvette C8.R in the GTE Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. When WEC discontinued the GTE Pro class after the 2022 campaign, Corvette Racing moved its entry to the GTE Am category for the team's 25th anniversary season. 

The class rules stipulate that each team can feature one Gold- or Platinum-rated (professional-level) driver as determined by the FIA, and must include a Bronze driver and a second Bronze or Silver competitor.

The No. 33 team thus features Platinum professional driver Nicky Catsburg from the Netherlands, Silver-rated Argentinian Nico Varrone and United States-born Keating as its Bronze participant. The team opened the seven-race season in March with a dominant class win in the 1000 Miles of Sebring at Florida's Sebring International Raceway. It was WEC's only event this year on North American soil.

"It's very special to me that I'm representing the United States in the World Endurance Championship," Keating says. "I'm one of the few American drivers and there's something very special about racing for an American team in an American car as an American. So, when we win in some foreign country, we're going to get to hear the American national anthem and stand under the American flag, which is different from what I have been doing for the last however many years."

Keating's ability to hustle both vehicles around some of the world's toughest circuits is an example of his immense prowess behind the wheel.

He's also proven to be adept at selling cars, providing a unique perspective afforded to few other dealers or members of Team Chevy.

"It's a great brand, and it's really fun to be representing Chevrolet not only as a dealer, but also as a driver," Keating says. "They're very different but it's all the same company. It definitely gives me an edge whether it's my relationship with the factory, or it's my relationship with the customers. The customers want to talk to somebody who knows what they're talking about, right?"