Kelley began his racing career in central Florida, racing Sportsman and Four Cylinder cars at tracks including New Smyrna Speedway.[1][2] He moved to ARCA competition in 1985, posting his best career finish in the series, 14th, at Atlanta International Raceway in that year.[3] Kelly raced in the series' biggest event, run as part of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, in 1986, 1987 and 1989;[4] in 1988 he constructed a new race shop in DeLand, Florida for his D.K. Racing team.[5] Kelley competed primarily in the ARCA series' superspeedway races, at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway;[6] he failed to qualify for the ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway in 1993 and 1994,[7] before making his final ARCA Racing Series start in 1995 at the track, finishing 26th.[6] He would attempt to qualify for the 1996 ARCA event at Daytona,[8] failing to make the race;[9] it was his final attempted start in major-league stock car racing.[10]