Todd Kelly has forged an iron-clad reputation among fans - both Holden and otherwise - as a racer's racer, with a take-no-prisoners reputation on the track and a Mr Nice Guy persona off it.
An Australian karting champion by the age of 12, Kelly moved to open wheelers in 1996 and finished third behind Garth Tander and Marcos Ambrose in the 1997 Australian Formula Ford title. Identified by the Holden Racing Team as a future star while contesting the Australian Grand Prix Formula Ford support races in 1996, Kelly joined the Holden Young Lions program in 1997.
Gaining experience during a part-time V8 campaign in 1999/2000 Kelly produced enough to earn his first full-time drive with the Kmart Racing Team in 2001, alongside Greg Murphy. Podium finishes at Bathurst and in the Queensland 500 and his first round win at Sandown followed that year, as did a sixth place championship finish.
In 2005 he brought home the silverware from the category's inaugural trip to Shanghai in China, winning at Darwin's Hidden Valley for the second consecutive year and teaming with Mark Skaife on his 26th birthday to win his first Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama.
A strong championship contender throughout the 2005 season, he finished a career-best 4th to be the leading Holden driver. His 2006 year had early mechanical dramas and bad luck left him languishing in season standings.
2007 was a different story with a round victory in the season-opening Clipsal 500 and second placing. In 2008, Todd moved across to Jack Daniels racing, a move that would see him aid in the design and development of his V8 Supercar.
With the birth of Kelly Racing in 2009, Todd Kelly embarked on a new phase of his racing career. Now the master of his own destiny, Todd set about further developing the Jack Daniel's Racing cars and achieved the teams 2nd podium in their very first year at Phillip Island. It was a tough start to the 2010 season and for Todd it proved a character building year.
After a few poor results early on, Todd's focus then shifted to developing the car at each circuit for the remainder of the season. By the end of 2010 the engineering direction and car speed started to come together. Todd is now looking forward to getting back to some good form in 2011.