About Us
At DKM, our roots run deep in dirt racing’s past. DKM was founded by Dave Constantino, Eric Mack, and Kyle Hoffman. Eric and Dave started working on race cars in their early teens for their neighbor, “The Cyclone” Maynard Forrette, driver of the Queen’s Machine 78M.
While working alongside Maynard, Dave and Eric learned all aspects of racing. Before they were old enough to drive, they mastered everything from assembling, scaling, to testing engines on Maynard’s engine dyno. They became students of a true legend in dirt racing.
Since Dave and Eric were so young while helping Maynard compete against the top names in the industry, the name “Damn Kids Motorsports” was born. Maynard contributed to the early foundation of the DKM company we know today. While Maynard is no longer with us, we know he would be proud of DKM and his influence on everything we do.
The focus on engineering at DKM started while Dave and Kyle both were attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute working on their Undergraduate Degrees in Mechanical Engineering. The two quickly became friends through their mutual interest in dirt racing. One of the things that Kyle, Dave, and Eric realized was that the cars that were being made at the time performed inconsistently from frame to frame. The three believed that they could design a more consistent race car.
Dave continued on to get his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College. He and Kyle both gained valuable experience working for engineering companies for the past 15 years. Kyle, Eric, and Dave were each actively driving race cars at this time and thinking about the future.
We believe that we have a better understanding of what our customers are looking for because each Kyle, Eric, and Dave have all taken their turn behind the wheel as drivers. As a driver, Dave has many sportsman wins along with track championships and recently added a win in the modified ranks at Fonda Speedway. Eric has collected wins at Albany Saratoga Speedway. After driving Eric went on to crew chief for Stewart Friesen where the two had huge success as a team. Kyle Hoffman has wins in both a Big Block Modified at Lebanon Valley Speedway as well as nearly twenty Sportsman wins there.
DKM was an early pioneer in using CNC technology to produce racecar bodies on a large scale. DKM produced bodies behind the scenes for years as a supplier for many of the top car manufacturers and competitors. After having success producing bodies, DKM decided it was time to begin developing a better race car from the ground up. Kyle and Dave stepped away from their engineering jobs at GE. They took a huge risk to go ‘all in’ with DKM and commit to making their dream a reality. They acquired the necessary tools and software with the aim of designing a high-quality, better-performing car in-house.
Today, the DKM Cyclone Chassis is one of the most talked about cars on the dirt circuit and is viewed as a threat to companies that have been building cars traditionally.
DKM is driven to disrupt the dirt racing industry with superior products. We have a long past in dirt racing. Our advantage is our cutting-edge approach to designing cars that are better than have ever been available on the market before. We are here to serve you and help you on your quest for greatness on the track.