The green flag drops

A look at the history of FAST LANE

“I truly love what I do and take pride in how we run our schools. 

I’m still having way too much fun …  

The checkered flag hasn’t dropped on this old time racer yet!”  

 -Danny McKeever, President and CEO

In 1953, Daniel McKeever III attended his very first sports car race at the Palm Springs Airport.  It was then and there that his love affair with motorsports began.  It was an immediate and powerful connection and at the tender age of 13 all he wanted to do was buy a sports car.  At 19, he had earned enough money to buy a 1954 Austin Healey 100-4 and it didn’t take him long to learn how to work on the cars he loved so much.  His racing career began with hill climbs and autocrosses and quickly moved to road racing at age 23 when he participated in his very first race at Pomona Fair Grounds in Pomona, CA.

A Natural Born Teacher…

Danny started teaching for the California Sports Car Club region of SCCA racing school over forty years ago.  Before he was thirty years old, Danny, along with three other instructors, started the first SCCA Solo 1 driving school at Riverside Raceway (a now defunct racetrack in Riverside, CA) and became Chief Instructor, developing the basic time trial rules that are still in effect today.  In 1974, he became Chief Instructor for the California Sports Car Club racing school, a position he held for twelve years. The curriculum, tests, surveys, etc. that were developed during his tenure are still in use today.  From 1986 until 1991, Danny was Chief Instructor for the Willow Springs International Raceway Racing School, which at that time was owned by track owner, Bill Huth.  

Instructor to the Stars…

It was also 1986, over twenty years ago, that Danny proudly took over as Chief Instructor for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Race, training every participant for this coveted annual event.  He is always the first to credit his “people”, or his instructors, with helping him maintain this ongoing relationship and his number one instructor for this event is none other than his son, Dan McKeever IV.  Danny is also called upon by Hollywood’s elite for stunt training, training in their own personal high performance vehicles or a play day at the race track.

FAST LANE doors open…

In 1994, Danny partnered up and started Fast Lane Racing School, the official racing school of Toyota Motorsports, starting as Chief Instructor and becoming sole owner.  He continues to run one of the most successful racing schools in the country.  In 2003, he opened the doors of Defensive Driving Academy as an extension to the FAST LANE family.  Although FAST LANE has an extremely talented staff of instructors, Danny typically teaches all high performance schools to this day.

From Passion to Profession…   

Prior to 1986, all of the teaching he ever did was on a volunteer basis as the clubs were for amateur drivers and staffed solely by volunteers. In 1986, he decided to see if he could make teaching a profession and turned his passion into a business. In any given weekend or at any given event, Danny never misses the opportunity to express that fact, and he means it.  Teaching racing has always been the love of his life and to this day, he still works for some of the car clubs he volunteered for nearly 40 years ago. 

Family Affair…

His love for motorsports, racing and teaching was an enormous part of his life and it definitely left its mark on his children as well.  A successful race car driver and established instructor himself, his son, Dan, currently manages driving schools at Miller Motorsports Park.  Although competitors, they’ll hire each other from time to time for special events.  His daughter, Allison Altzman, works with Danny at FAST LANE, and has been very involved in the expansion of the school. She is also a current member of the Champ Car Pace Car Team and the American Le Mans Vitesse Team.