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

What was the most memorable meeting you have had during the Nationals? I have Two. Sitting next to Carmen Manzardo at some restaurant north of the track, and listening to him argue with the waitress over the menu.

Also hanging out with NY Jet Joe Klecko back in the Late 80's when he was with Copenhagen.

On the way home from the nationals a few years ago, we were coming up on a camper pulling a small trailer with tenn. plates, my dad goes, "maybe thats a Sammy Swindell fan", as we get closer on the camper itself was a tenn. plate and a Sammy Swindell plate next to it, then my dad goes, "Heck, maybe it's Sammy himself", sure enough as we pull along the camper, the driver is none other than Sammy Swindell, I put my dad's Sammy hat in the back window and we exchange waves and smiles for a while, I was fairly young at the time, but I believe his brother Jeff was with him. And also I new it wasn't a Sammy look alike because you could see he still had some stuff on his hand, as this was the year he had the run in with the push truck. Goin through a construction zone he actually took out a few orange cones when he didn't make a decision quick enough on which lane to be in.

Many through the years. Met Doug Wolfgang, his wife, and daughter through a friend who knew him in Sioux Falls and visited with them one year, Had the free Kele lunch one year and sat and visited with Jeff Swindell and his family, Johnny Herrera and his family at Mr. C's, shared a table with Brad Doty at the old Pizza Ranch across from the track (It's now the big church where Schatz parks his t-shirt trailer) That's the thrill of the Nationals. You meet or see drivers, etc., during the week. Dana Kinser riding her bike down the street, have a beer with Jac at Dingus's, many special moments.

My wife told me if I went to one more Sprint Car race 
she would leave me.................I'm sure gonna miss 
that ol' gal. 

Jan Opperman in the mid 70s, right next to the old ticket office. He stood and talked to maybe a dozen of us for quite a while.