Keith Ingram’s Competitive Edge

By Robert Graham

Keith Ingram (BSE 90) suffered a heart attack on Aug. 29, 2004 in Palo Duro Canyon, near Canyon, Texas, during a bicycle race; friends took him to Northwest Heart Hospital. “It wasn’t like the movies – I had no chest pain or shortness of breath, but my left arm did go numb,” Keith explained. Less than two weeks after successful triplebypass surgery, Keith returned to Palo Duro Canyon to complete the bicycle race. The cardio surgeon encouraged Keith to ‘keep it up’, stating that many heart procedure patients’ physical activity sharply declines after heart procedures. “My lifetime of exercise saved my life,” Keith says.

Keith’s exercise routine began in the 1960s with flat track motorcycle racing. He transitioned to automobile racing in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, racing Corvettes and Porsches. Keith competed in the New York Marathon in 1983. He added bicycle racing to the fitness plan in the early ‘90s.

After years of racing, Keith brought his competitive edge to ENMU as a nontraditional student in the education department. He began each semester with one plan—to win. Each semester he did just that, until reaching the finish line, earning his degree and teaching licensure in 1990.

Top of page: Keith goes through the Monticello Box on a BMW GSA on a mapping trek through New Mexico.

Photo by Roger Pattison

He taught at Clovis’ Marshall Middle School, as well as Clovis High School Freshman Academy and Clovis High School. Keith covered the educational spectrum, teaching the arts and sciences.

“I had been wanting to teach for some time. When the opportunity arose, I took it,” Keith says.

Keith at Hallett Motor Speedway, near Tulsa, OK, earlier this year. He put 200 miles on the BMW GTL that day.

Photo Courtesy of Hallett Motor Staff

An opportunity arose when Keith sold the family business, Ingram Oils, to Phillips 66 in 1990. “We sold to Phillips 66 after a year of 57 percent growth in our revenues,” says Keith. Keith’s father opened Ingram Oils in 1958 and a Chrysler dealership that same year. Keith remembers his father delivering a 1957 white Chrysler Imperial to music producer Norman Petty at his studios. “That same evening,”recalls Keith, “I got to stick around and watch Buddy Holly record “Peggy Sue” in the studio.”

Although the Honda Gold Wing was not designed for adventure riding, Keith took it through Utah’s Moki Dugway anyway in 2012.

Photo Courtesy of Hallett Motor Staff

Keith rides the BMW GSA now, and the BMW Rider’s Convention asked him to speak at their annual gathering in Harrison, Arkansas this October. Nothing can slow down Keith Ingram.