Keech set the land speed record on April 22, 1928, reaching 207.55 miles per hour (334.02 km/h) on the Daytona Beach Road Course. The machine he drove was the White Triplex, known as Spirit of Elkdom — a massive 81-litre triple-engined car powered by three internal combustion engines arranged within a single chassis. The attempt was not without personal cost: during trial runs Keech suffered burns twice, first when a radiator hose burst and again when exhaust flames from the front engine reached him.
His record stood until March 11, 1929, when Henry Segrave reclaimed it. Following Segrave's run, Triplex owner J. M. White invited Keech to attempt a new record in the same car. Keech declined — a decision that proved wise. White instead hired Lee Bible for the attempt; Bible rolled the car and died on his second run.
Keech established himself as a top-level oval competitor. In 1928 he won the inaugural race at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway and finished second in the season points in the AAA National Championship. That combination of oval pace and land speed record success put him among the most prominent American drivers of the era entering 1929.
Keech qualified sixth for the 1929 Indianapolis 500. The race initially appeared to belong to Louis Meyer, who led until losing oil pressure on lap 157. When Meyer pitted to add oil, his engine refused to restart cleanly, and Keech passed to take the lead. He led the remainder of the race and won, claiming the most prestigious event in American motor racing.
Sixteen days after Indianapolis, on June 15, 1929, Keech entered the Altoona 200-Mile Race at the Tipton, Pennsylvania circuit. A chain-reaction accident began when Rob Robinson's car ran over a hole in the track surface, launching it into the wooden guardrail and knocking sections of the railing onto the track. Cliff Woodbury swerved to avoid Robinson and was struck by Keech, who had also attempted to avoid the debris. Keech hit the guardrail and his car flipped and rolled down the track, bursting into flames. He was thrown clear of the car but it rolled over him, causing injuries from which he died instantly. He was buried at the Hephzibah cemetery in Modena, Pennsylvania, Chester County.
Keech was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. His 1929 Indianapolis victory and the land speed record attempt with the White Triplex remain the twin pillars of his legacy — a driver whose brief peak included two of the most demanding forms of speed competition that existed in that era.
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