Tony Kester started his racing career in 1972, and in the 53 years since has tested or raced over 200 different models of racing cars, including sedans, open wheel formula cars, GT cars and 200 mile an hour prototypes. He is known for his ability to analyze a race car’s handling and communicate with engineers. He won the SCCA Formula Ford National Championship in 1990 with the second largest margin of victory on record. In 1991, he won the Olds Pro Series Championship, winning a record six of nine races, including a record five in a row, with eight lap records on the season. He competed in the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona eight times, finishing second in 2002 in a Porsche GT car. In 2002, he also competed driving a Porsche, in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, running 4th until sidelined by a broken axle. That year he was honored as one of the Top Porsche Drivers in the World at the Porsche Cup Banquet held in Weissach, Germany.
Kester was a pioneer in the use of onboard data acquisition, starting in 1988 with a simple single channel speed recorder, at the same time becoming the first full time driver coach in auto racing. In addition to coaching race car drivers, he has provided data analysis and engineering services to individuals and race teams in numerous racing series. Data acquisition is now standard equipment on most race cars, and there are thousands of driver coaches active worldwide.
He helped found and develop the Mid Ohio Driving School, serving as a senior instructor there for 12 years, and served as the Chief Instructor and Director of Driving Programs at the Autobahn Country Club for 12 years, responsible for development of all the programs in use at that facility.Tony currently coaches in the Ferrari Challenge North America and the IMSA VP Racing Challenge Series, and is a member of the prestigious Road Racing Drivers Club.