Providence grad Colin Kaminsky pursuing two lives – as hockey goalie and race-car driver

NEW LENOX – Young athletes keep their foot on the pedal because they feel like they’re moving 150 mph to keep up with school, sports and having a somewhat normal life.

Colin Kaminsky is a little different. He literally moves that quickly.

The recent Providence graduate from Homer Glen balances school with two fast-paced sports – hockey and race-car driving – and has found success in both. This fall, Kaminsky will continue his hockey career at Trine University in Angola, Indiana, and will race in his offseason.

Not many athletes combine race cars with being a hockey goalie. From the second he started racing, however, Kaminsky saw the benefits of competing in both.

“They directly correlate,” he said. “Not that many people get to experience driving a race car or even driving it on the limit of what a car can do. Since the first time I ever sat in a race car and drove it around a track my sophomore year, the way I played in my hockey game that night was on a different level.

“The intensity and focus that you have to have in a race car I think directly correlates to playing hockey and specifically playing goalie. It’s all about reaction time. It’s about concentrating on the puck, just like you have to concentrate for a breaking point or a turning point on a racetrack.”

With both sports, athletes need to have quick reaction time. Race car drivers are moving at 150 mph and have to react to other drivers and with each corner. At the net, Kaminsky has to react to shots, rebounds and deflections.

There is also another similarity between the two positions Kaminsky plays.

In hockey, the game can be played at the opposite end of the rink. It takes one shot, so the goalies have to stay mentally engaged the entire time. It’s the same way on the track. Kaminsky said he needs to stay focused on every lap, and every corner. If he zones out, he can make an error that cascades to multiple errors.

Some athletes might need years to develop that type of self-control and focus. Kaminsky did not have a typical start in either sport, however.

When he was 3, his dad took him ice skating and he hated it. Instead, he played baseball and football. Playing those sports made him become competitive at an early age and when he was 11, he developed an interest in hockey.

Similarly, most race car drivers start in go-karts. Kaminsky didn’t. His father, who started racing when he was 25, took him to the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet. Right away, he was hooked.

“Driving fast was such a thrill at a young age when I didn’t even have my street license yet,” Kaminsky said. “The speed of driving a car is what drove me to racing. Having a talent that not many people have, the ability to control a car on the limit that normally people can’t, was important.”

Kaminsky has been successful in both sports despite the late starts.

From his freshman until junior year, Kaminsky played on Providence’s junior varsity team and helped lead the Celtics to three state and three Chicago Catholic League titles. In his senior year, when he was a varsity goalie, the Celtics won the Kennedy Cup – the Chicago Catholic League championship – and took second in the state.

On the track for the past three years, Kaminsky, who drives the No. 27 car for Kaminsky Racing Inc., has competed in the Spec Ford Racer, which is a class in the Sports Car Club of America. The past two years, he has qualified for the national championship.

He also is driving for John Cummiskey Racing in the USF2000 series under the Mazda Road to Indy. On June 24 at Road America, he finished eighth and ninth against drivers from all over the world.

The adrenaline rush he gets from racing at tracks such as Wisconsin’s Road America keeps him coming back, but some races still stand out as more memorable.

“Last year, we were at a track in Michigan and I finished second,” Kaminsky said. “I was contesting for the win the entire race. In the previous racing, we came in fifth or sixth and were not really battling for the win because we just started out.

“That race in particular was the one that stood out to me because it was the first time that I was able to compete for the win against guys who have been doing this for years. I was two years in and able to do that.”

Time will tell what is in Kaminsky’s future. He plans to play the next four years of hockey and keep racing after each season ends. Depending on how skilled he becomes in racing and how he moves up in the rankings, he will decide later if he wants to continue racing professionally.

Right now, he’ll have fun continuing to be the player his team counts on.

“The two positions I play are unique,” Kaminsky said. “I drive a race car, and yes, it’s a team effort to put the car on the track and do well, but it still comes down to me. I’m the last one in line who dictates what happens. It’s funny how similar it is to playing goalie. Even though it’s a team effort, I’m the last guy in line that has to perform for the team to do well.”