Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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So I was thinking about races and racing trips from days gone by and I was wondering what is everyone's favorite/most memorable races or racing trips for sprint cars? Personally, I have three that really stick out to me and they are my first trip to the Knoxville Nationals, the night I accidently sat with Tatnell/Richert family during the Jerry Richert Memorial, and my spur of the moment trip to PA to tape sprint cars.  

ok I'm going to breakdown why these are my favorite moments.

3. First Trip to PA: being from Minnesota I have the IRA, NOSA, and the UMSS for sprint cars to choose from and I always hear about how great PA is for racing.  Well the week before I returned to teaching and about an hour after teacher orientation had ended my boss called me and asked if I wanted to go tape sprint cars. So naturally I'm like heck yeah let's go! Well I had about a half hour to grab my work clothes and hop in the car and head to minneapollis to catch our flight the next morning at 5 but we make it down and all I have is my Donny Schatz hoody, work clothes, gear, and laptop.  We make it to Philadelphia and are crusing to the Clinton Co. Speedway for IMCA 305 sprints and late models (both classes I love)  What a cool little track that is! Racing was good, people were great and everytghing was just a win win.  Head back to the hotel by about 1 and the we're up traveling to Port Royal the next morning.   After a nice ride we got to this monster of a race track! Let me start off by saying that this is the only place that I know of that had a bathroom attendant lol.  Ok, with that being said, what a gorgeous track and facilities, it has great grandstands, beautiful pits, and all in all it was amazing.  The classes racing were limited lates, open lates, 305 sprints, and 410 sprints.  This was just a weekly show but man it was awesome to only see the classes that I like.  Again, great people, great racing, and overall a great time!  THe next morning I was on an airplane back to Minneapollis and then had about a five hour drive home. I got home just in time to start school the next day. It goes down as my third most memorable trip.

2.  Second, is the night that I accidently sat with the Tatnell and Richert family for the Jerry Richert Memorial at Cedar Lake.  This was about the time that i really started getting into sprint cars and this would be my first time travelling to a race all by myself.  So after getting a green chilli burriot and some cheese curds from the concession stand, I went to try and find an open seat on the backstretch grandstands.  I was pretty new to following sprint cars and had no clue to who was good or not and had only seen them like once or twice prior to that in Superior Wisconsin.  Anways, I found my seat and started reading the Midwest Racing Connection newspaper when a group of people came and sat around me.  Again me being oblivious to who they were I asked them who they were going to cheer for... yeah I was that clueless.  They instantly said Brooke and Jerry Jr. so I was like ok, I'm cheering for those guys too! Well, they left for a bit and I went back to looking through the pits and the next thing I know they were out on the track being honored and honoring the late Jerry Richert! The guy behind me laughed and said, "You really are new aren't you?" They came back and we all had a good laugh about me being absolutely clueless about the situation.  Anyways, they were awesome people to watch the race with.  That night brooke flipped in front of us in the 410, won the 360 with Jerry taking 2nd I believe, and brooke then finished very well in the 410 feature after having to go through the consi with his 360.  Overall, that was a really cool night that I will never forget and I still cheer for Brooke because of that night.  

1.  Coming home as my favorite memory was my first time to the Knoxville Nationals.  I had wanted to go for a long time and this was the first time I had been in Iowa during the Nationals. I was working for the ppv company working on Iowa Speedway weeks for modifieds and the big storms that had rolled through took out that nights race and I realized that I was just close enough to make it in time to catch the last chance qualifier night (friday).  So after getting the ok to go, I went and made the long drive to the famed Knoxville Raceway!  Again being from Minnesota and doing well over the  speed limit through the cornfields and not knowing where I was going, the journey was an interesting one.  Trying to follow a gps system that kept losing service every 5 miles and not knowing where I was, I miracuously made it with time to spare.  Now, from the newbie perspective, I was just in awe of how many people were there.  Driving through downtown Knoxville was INSANE! People everywhere, sprint cars all over the place in random business parking lots, heck I got passed by a sprint car as I was trying to find a parking spot. Not to mention the American flags all up and down the main drag.  So yeah.... that was awesome.  After finding parking at a small church on the main drag I began the walk to the track and instantly went and bought my ticket.  After some drama at the atm I finally had my golden ticket to go into the track!  I instantly walked to the entrance and stared out at the track in awe. I had done it! I finally had made it to Knoxville and the realization was finally sinking in that I was there. After going back out to the vendors and getting a steak sandwich the engines fired up and I bolted back to my seat of which I only used the edge to watch the entire night.  Simply said, it was magical.  It was the realization that after moving further away from racing, I had finally came to the home of the biggest sprint car race on Earth.  It was fulfilling and it was awesome!   The races finished about ten minutes before it started raining.  The drive back to North Iowa was a good one and I couldn't help but think, "Man, that was awesome...I"m going again!" 

Well, there you have it.  My 3 favorite sprint car races/racing trips.  It might've been a little long but I wanted to share with you what I consider my highlights of following this crazy sport.  
 

1) Seeing my first WoO show at Hartford SD in 80 or 81. 2) First tip to Knoxville 1984.  3) First time we got to go racing by our selves. Madison, SD We were all in our teens, 17 year old driver. His Dad told us we could go, even brought the car home in one piece. We were from Worthington, MN

1. Wolfie winning the Gold Cup at Chico

2. Knoxville first time ...rained then fog but man track was fast an Schatz won

3. Tri State WoO race or Cottage Grove WoO race Schatz first WoO win

2017. Part of Powri speedweek, Usac sprints at Knoxville, and Indiana midget week. 10 races in 11 days. All new tracks for me, hot as heck but no rain outs, about 3,500 miles of driving. And I thought I was to old for road trips.

Funny, I have been to a lot of tracks and seen a lot of races.  But, when I think of my favorite races and trips, I always circle back to the Nationals.  

3.  Any of my other 16 trips to the Knoxville Nationals other than the 2 below.  (rainouts not included)

2. The 2010 Nationals.  Just the buzz all week, and then the buzz all day Saturday because everyone knew Sammy was gonna give Schatz a run.  And he did.  And then, something happened that less than .1% of the sprint car world could have predicted.  

1.  The 2016 Nationals.  The racing the whole week was overall "okay" all the way through the B-main on Saturday night.  Then, 25 laps saved the entire week.  

like the rest of the posters i have been to hundreds of races but my favorite are

1. the first trip to the knoxville nationals with my youngest son and we camped in a tent for the week

    seeing sprint cars being pushed down the street after the race was amazing

2. my first trip to the indiana sprint week with my brothers. my first time seeing usac wingless sprints.. wow is all i can say

    racing was amazing . seeing four cars sliding thru the corners lap after lap was great. ktj winning on the last lap

August 21, 2009   River Cities Speedway - Grand Forks,ND  My favorite night at the races

1/3rd mile high banked track, had rained a lot during the week, a WoO race scheduled, certainly didn't want to cancel it, big money maker for the track.  Worked and worked on it for two days. Moisture down into dirt a foot or more.  Track was tacky tacky tacky.  Track record broken 9 times, 12 cars under 10 seconds. Jason Meyers record still stands, 9.29 seconds at average of 116.57 mph.  Video of 3 or 4 of the car's time trials including Meyers run at link below.

http://www.rivercitiesspeedway.com/news/test

PS   April Speedsport, formerly Chris Economaki's National Speedsport News magazine, two page article about River Cities Speedway by Bill Wright.  2nd Paragraph:  "even the mosquitoes seemingly the size of hummingbirds cannot put a damper on another standing room only crowd".   

A writer trying to make the area/the state seem like he was in a South America rainforest or whatever.  Totally untrue statements like that do no good for what little tourism there is in the Upper Midwest.  Hummingbirds?  We've made the trip to that track hundreds and hundreds of times on Friday nights over the past 15 years.  There are no mosquitoes--period!!  Certainly when it gets dark and the track lights come on, what mosquitoes there are in the area will congregate up there but I've never been bitten or bothered by a mosquitoe while there.  AND mosquitoes in ND and SD are the same tiny size as in other states.  Minnesota with there 10,000 lakes and billions of trees, might have a mosquito problem but I don't know . We have no trees and almost no lakes and no water slough holes on the fertile land as they've all been drained because the land is too valuable to have water sitting on acres of $5000+ an acre land, possibly the most fertile land is in the U.S. in the Red River Valley.  The writer possibly wasn't even there.  I live 90 miles from Grand Forks and like most cities in the U.S., they probably spray the city for mosquitoe with an airplane once each summer.  They do in Fargo, Bismarck and Minot as I've lived in all three cities.  Bill Wright, you have BO

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

1. 4/15/2017 - All Star race at Attica raceway park. It was just a regular show, racing was good what little I saw, Spencer Bayston won, Cole Duncan 2nd, and I think Byron Reed 3rd. This was the first race I took my son to who was 2. I watched him watching the race most of the night as he pointed at the cars and waved his little checkered flag the whole time. Took him the pits where I learned how hard it was to catch a 2yr old as he was trying to jump into every single car as all of the teams were giggling watching him climb over the tires. I knew I had a race buddy for the rest of my life.

2. 2017 Knoxville Nationals. Was my first trip to Knoxville and had a blast. Gravel scored a perfect 500 on the second night, and we enjoyed everything about the town and hope to be back every year after.

3. 2009 Brad Doty Classic Limaland - First ever sprint car race I went to in person. Steve Kinser won and the racing the whole night was awesome. Went back a few nights later for the Kings Royal and have been hooked ever since.

I live near the Tatnells and Richerts and know both and Jerry Sr. used to drive a supermodified that my uncle and cousin worked on so the Memorial is a personal favorite.  At 32 miles it's not really a trip per se but I have camped.out for quite a few.  The only one I missed was last year when we were flying home from two weeks in Norway.

My two Knoxville Nationals were in '98 & '99 or '99 and '00, not sure of the years but my son and I had a blast.  I met a few people including Kendra on one of those trips and she ended up working for the track so that was a memorable experience.  

I'm counting the two Nationals as one of my three trips as I also got to attend the Eldora Million in 2003.  What can I say, no wings, over 100 cars (138 stands out but not sure of the exact number) and we rented a motorhome and experienced the campground.  

I can't complain as there are a lot of racing memories and I took thousands of photos.  Honorable mention was a WDRL Late Model trip to Lakeside with one of Justin Fegers crew and another friend.  I think that was the year after Justin won their championship so he was a good racer.  Oh yeah, we went to the big track for NASCAR during the day and saw Mark Martin win on Sunday.  That trip would be my honorable mention.  There were many others closer to home and a lot of redeye runs to Jackson and Knoxville.

Stan Meissner

1) In the spring of '81, a buddy and I drove up from college to Hartford S.D. to see NSCA (non-wing) sprints at the old Hartford half-miler. It was a Sunday afternoon race under soggy skies that were spitting a little bit of rain. As we sat in the grass down low near the #1 corner there was a big crash. Bobby Geldner's front axle came over the fence and landed in the grass about 20' from us. We moved back a bit. Shane Carson won the race.

2) Went to the Jackson Nationals in the middle of the summer and nearly froze to death! My girlfriend-now my wife- made friends with some guys that were passing a bottle of whiskey around. The whiskey helped with the cold and they shared their blankets with us. I think that was the only time I saw Bobby Allen race and he won.

3) Mid 70's at my hometown Black Hills Speedway (S.D) a superstock driver know to be a loudmouth didn't like getting black flagged. He parked underneath the flagstand, got on top of his car and started yelling at the flagman. He said something like "why don't you come come down here and fight like a man?" With that, the flagman dove off the flagstand, knocking the driver off the car and was beating the daylights out of him until everybody from the pits ran out and started full scale brawl.



 

1) In the spring of '81, a buddy and I drove up from college to Hartford S.D. to see NSCA (non-wing) sprints at the old Hartford half-miler. It was a Sunday afternoon race under soggy skies that were spitting a little bit of rain. As we sat in the grass down low near the #1 corner there was a big crash. Bobby Geldner's front axle came over the fence and landed in the grass about 20' from us. We moved back a bit. Shane Carson won the race.

2) Went to the Jackson Nationals in the middle of the summer and nearly froze to death! My girlfriend-now my wife- made friends with some guys that were passing a bottle of whiskey around. The whiskey helped with the cold and they shared their blankets with us. I think that was the only time I saw Bobby Allen race and he won.

3) Mid 70's at my hometown Black Hills Speedway (S.D) a superstock driver know to be a loudmouth didn't like getting black flagged. He parked underneath the flagstand, got on top of his car and started yelling at the flagman. He said something like "why don't you come come down here and fight like a man?" With that, the flagman dove off the flagstand, knocking the driver off the car and was beating the daylights out of him until everybody from the pits ran out and started full scale brawl.



 

I'm gonna go with specific races:

1) My first big time sprint car race, Sammy winning WG National Open, 2010. I actually flew in from Denver...

2) Schatz winning Knoxville Nats from B Main & what, 21st in the feature?  I fergit the year...

3) Not a big time race, but just a ton'o fun: Indiana Midget Week, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, Kyle Larson beating Chris Bell in a duel  at Montpelier, Indiana bullring. Sitting in the top row of the ricketty lil wooden bleachers, still getting pelted every few seconds with baseball sized dirt clods. Guy sitting next to me was using his seat cushion as a shield, blocking not only clods but my view. So I stood up & realized that the clods were all hitting me below the knees... no problem... beautiful summer night with the full moon rising... couldn't stop howling with laughter at the perfect absurdity of it all...

No specific order but #3 if I had to choose.

1. The Mopar Million (also my 1st time to Eldora)

2. My 1st trip to the Kings Royal (the year after the Million). Remember sitting low in the Grandstands when the 1st flight of Hot Laps fired off. I remember Steve Kinser was in that 1st flight and the speeds at first was almost intimidating sitting down that low in the stands.

3. Any Knoxville Nationals but 2003 was a very fun year because of a group of guys from Ansonia Ohio camping next to us and 2 guys (Brothers / one had only 1 leg) from Nebraska camping on the other side of me, They were all 1st timers. Had an absolute blast the whole week. Only bad part of the week was it was the year we lost Keith Hutton at Osky. :-(

The easy answer would be any race that I attended with my dad. However, for the sake of this list, the following 3 are at the top.

1. Our 1999 trip to Terre Haute, Eagle, Knoxville and Lakeside for the SCRA tour. Those were some good races and the my first time seeing all of those tracks. The racing was good and I got to enjoy races with my mom and dad. They drove back from California and went to some other races on the tour then picked me up in Indy and we went to ones listed. The race at Terre Haute between Frankie Kerr, Mike English and Jac Haudenschild was one of the best and most exciting races I've ever seen.

2. Our many trips to Phoenix for the Copper World Classic at PIR and the opening of the CRA season at Manzanita. Manzy was one of my favorite tracks and the Copper World was a cool event, even if the Supers were often a disaster and the Stocks were boring as hell to this young open wheel fan.

3. My trip to the Tulare Thunderbowl sometime in the late 90's or early 2000s to see the SCRA race. Tulare has always been a favorite of mine and this time my dad paid for me to get a ride in Jimmy Sills' two-seater sprint car. That was one of the thrills of my life and something that I will never forget as long as I live.