Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

From the Saturday 4/23/22 ASCoC event at Port Royal.

I about cracked up when I 'heard' Blake talking to co-announcer Earl in the feature event. I immediately had to stop and replay it a few times:

https://youtu.be/YzUJgCs1UYY

At the 1:00 mark, pretty hysterical if you are an old-timer sprint car fan when announcer Blake comments to co-announcer Earl that he is commenting to 'Earl' as dialogue and then instead of saying Logan Wagner, he simply says 'Wagner', so it comes out as 'Earl...Wagner'

And if you've been around sprint car racing for a long time, you'll know that Earl Wagner was one of Knoxville's most successful drivers with over 40 feature wins there - and was best known to me for always riding the rail. I still can see him riding the rail at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds on the big 5/8 mile during the annual Cheater's Day event.

Blake didn't misspeak or anything when he said Earl, as he was talking to his co-announcer, or when he continued by saying Wagner - but when you put the two words together it has a totally different meaning as the driver was literally riding the rail when he said it - which IMO - makes it one of the coolest comments ever by an announcer... as to me Blake was inferring the driver was racing just like Earl Wagner used to do.

I'm just quite sure he didn't know it. LOL. Good stuff indeed...great racing! Port continues to impress.

Here's the exact section of the video where this conversation takes place:  https://youtu.be/YzUJgCs1UYY?t=58

Love it!  I remember the "Pleasantville Plumber" in his "barnstorming days" very well.  A real character and a heck of a racer back in the day.

Why anyone would complain about that race baffles me.

Looked like Macri was driving a 410 in an 360 race till Wagner got into the same TV screen.

How many leaf changes?

How many tunes were those cars 12 inches apart.

Strawser you should GO. Take some mustard for your crow foot.

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Razor Steve has to prove to me at least 3 or 4 in a row from this time forward, the track will be like it was the last two Saturday's.....until then...nope not interested.  

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

To get this thread on the right track (albeit briefly, I'm sure), thanks for sharing that about Earl Wagner!  I am too young (sadly) to have seen Earl Wagner run a dirt track with the throttle buried, right rear decimating the cushion... but got to see him at Knoxville as a track official (in the 80s/90s) with the lineup board on the front stretch.  Prior to radio communications with the drivers, if a line-up change was needed under yellow, Earl would write the car numbers on a board so the drivers could fall into the correct order.  At times, he was quite animated... which was memorable to a kid (this kid anyways).  If the track was wet/greasy in hotlaps he would write on the board 'EZ Slick' so they knew to take it easy until the wet stuff got whipped off.  Again, nothing crazy... just random memories of Knoxville in the 80s/90s.  

Thanks for posting.... Great race!!!!

Glad you guys had some fun with this post. I know Earl was normally in a #98 car - but I swear I remember him at Cheater's Day in a #5 car...this would have been in the 70's. 

Now if one of you had some factual information on that tidbit, it would really blow my mind.

I was able to scrape up this PR from my buddy Tom Savage (Funny side story. On occasion, Tom's voice would go away by feature race time at Jackson and he'd pass the mic to me to call the feature event. Pretty intense on-the-job training considering I was like 13- at the time.)

=====

Comeback at Cheaters Day still shines

Tom Savage

The W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds played host to the annual Cheaters Day sprint car race every September from 1964-1993. Though the track no longer exists, the fairgrounds once were home to some of the greatest sprint car racing in the country.

On Sept. 22, 1974, it was the venue for a spectacular drive by Pleasantville, Iowa, native Earl Wagner, who’d previously won the event in 1964 and 1973.

Cheaters Day, which featured racing with no rules in regard to equipment, brought some of the top sprint car drivers nationwide to Sioux Falls. Wagner never won the famed Knoxville Nationals, but he clearly was no slouch when it came to piloting high-powered sprint cars.

He began his racing career in a stock car and won his first of 43 features at Knoxville Raceway in south-central Iowa in 1958, claiming the track championship that same year. He defended his stock car title in 1959 but then made the switch to the popular super-modified cars, which eventually became the modern-day sprint car.

First post but long time follower on this forum. I thought I would add to what has been posted on Earl Wagner. I am from Earl's hometown of Pleasantville and started going to the races at Knoxville  in the late 50's. He drove for Slim Gutkneckt in the pink #77 powered by a nailhead Buick and also Dean Sylvesters #12. Sometime in the mid 60's I think he didn't run sprint cars much and drove IMCA stock cars. In the later 60's he drove the #98, owner was maybe Moyer? The #5 he drove at the end of his career was owned by Hank Smith and had his best Nationals finish of 2nd behind winner Jan Opperman in 1971. He won the Western world nationals at Manzanita in ~1973.. I think the last year he raced was 1974. When he retired Hank's son Randy started driving the #5.

And now that you confirmed my childhood memory is still intact, I did some research - and sure enough, here's that car, as posted on www.midwestracingarchives.com/2020/10/1973-wagner-wins-cheaters-day.html

Thanks for everyone's contribution to this post - brings back a lot of great memories of simpler times gone by.

TEASER: And for you JOEL TAYLOR friends and fans out there, something huge is about to be unveiled this season!

When Hank Smith and Earl teamed up they were quite the competitive team, although Earl was no slouch in the previous cars he drove either.

Hank had been a driver himself until he lost an arm in a racing accident.  If my memory is correct, I think he lost it due to a board fence surrounding the track, but that's been a long time ago and I could be wrong.

dmantx is right on with everything in his post.

A nice thread, an interesting thread among REAL race fans, nice discussion, no bashing, yet this loser dee bag has to make his daily comment. The things I've said about you weren't even close to how rotten of a person you are. I can't believe what a loser you are and how poorly you think about yourself and what a miserable life you lead. Yes, I'm going against everything I've ever preached about simply ignoring you, but you are so far worse than anyone can imagine, you single handily are a menace to society. Again, please don't ever ever go to Port Royal just STFU. 

Again to everyone on this forum, if either ying or yang ever posts, just stop the thread. I am starting right now. Just please let him end EVERY thread, just start a new one. Can you imagine how he'll feel when he has ZERO chance to talk or argue with anyone. Again, I plead to everyone to never ever press REPLY once he or he posts. 
 

TIA