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

I post this as the guys got me thinking as to what races were my favorites . So many  to mention , but I'll list a few .
  1. Lou Blaney , winning Grove National 2. watching Kenny Weld race at Lincoln ,3.watching Mitch Smith race no matter where he raced 4.a race at Selinsgrove watching Kevin Gobrecht drive the Zemco car and all most lap the field 5.watching Bobby Hersh drive anywhere and the night I think he hit the bridge. 6.watching the modifieds at Langhorne and the local drivers race in those ROC races 7. the labor day races at Port Royal and then driving over to Selinsgrove that same night to see there races , it was neat when they did that 8.the sound of Ray Tilley's Ford motor built by Bud Grimm , never heard that sound again at Selinsgrove 9.watching Bobby Abel race at Lincoln with one wheel off the ground going around the inside 10.watching driver Bud Folkenroth race supercharged car  at Lincoln . These are just a few and there  are many more exciting times I spent at the races or around race cars , at garages , teams, drivers, Len Thompson, Bud Grimm , Mickey Banas and his wife Karen and Kenny Weld . Oh , so much I love about racing , sorry to ramble its my passion.

If I had to narrow it down, I have so many like all of you.....(and yeh, I'm a forever Wolfgang fan).....Knoxville Nationals '88, '89, '90. In 1988 and 1990 Wolfie ran the alphabet...from the C Feature in '88 and the D feature in '90, to finsh 5th in the A Main both years. If any of you were also there, you know what an achievment and show of driving that he put on those nights. In 1989 of course, he won the Nationals going away in the 8D. Another was when Doug pulled his IMCA sprinter to the Jackson Nationals while still recovering from the burns. Some of my buddies had other favorites in that race and they were really giving me a bad time that Doug was going to get his ass handed to him. He barely made the A Main from his heat while the other "favorites" breezed through. Doug started about 16th, and proceeded to drive to the front picking off drivers left and right and using the entire track. Two of the "favorites" actually crashed trying to re-catch Doug after he passed them. Needless to say he won the Feature and I had the bragging rights for the night. I remember holding up fingers to my buddies doing a count down to one once he broke into the top 10. I did enjoy that! Around the campfire that night they all admitted that what Doug was still able to do in a sprint car was damned amazing, and showed just how good he really was before the injuries. At that time, there were some pretty stout drivers still running the Jackson Nationals.

The Saturday night VFW super modified races in the 1960's at Jackson MN Speedway will always be some of my favorites. The features were inverted by point standings and there was always lots of passing with the better cars starting in the rear. The likes of Vic Dicks, Dave Engebretson, Dick Forbrook among others put on great shows. 

I was there, too.....Darly Dawley (my favotite a the time),  Jim Edgington, Marv DeWall, there is a healthy list too long to mention. Great days!

My favorite race I ever saw is a tie between every one that I went to where there were no injuries to any drivers and the ones where I was surrounded by my best friends and having a good time. Every race is a good race. Life is short. Way too short to spend time picking apart something that you love because maybe it was an off night for track prep or someone started on the pole and dominated. 

Going with my dad to Grand Forks Speedway ( now River Cities ) most Friday nights in the early 60s.  I would climb to the top of the grandstands to watch the cars pull through the stone arch to see who was racing that night.

I had no clue there was racing beyond that which I saw in far NE Minnesota other than when a car pulled in from Winnipeg or the Twin Cities.  It was all noise, flying mud and local heroes, and my father next to me.

It does not get any better than that.

That's interesting because Daryl Dawley in the number 25 was my favorite too. It's always interesting to hear Wolfgang talk about how Daryl got him started in a sprint car.

Bobby Allen's win at the Nationals was as Exciting and Drama filled as it Gets.

The 'ol 25/50/25 rule I tell everyone about dirt racing.  If you see 100 races-25 will be great, 25 will be terrible, and 50 will be good.  However, my absolute favorite day at work was not even close to as much fun as attending the worst race I ever went to! 

My first race was 55 years ago so there have been way too many to remember them all.  I have been to a couple Nationals and the Eldora Million so those three multi day events were all good.  Over the years writing for the papers and taking pics I had the privledge of getting to know some of the drivers personally so it's always a thrill to see a favorite take a big win.  Probably two of the biggest thrills were seeing Jerry Richert Jr. win an IRA race at Cedar Lake and Brooke Tatnell winning the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial in Jerry's car.  That Memorial win was his first race back after a driveshaft broke Brooke's leg out in PA so they had to help him out of the car in victory lane. 

It's also a thrill to be one of the first ones to shake their hand and congratulate them in victory lane.  There have been a lot of fun wins with drivers I know in the Sprints, Late Models and Modifieds over the years.  A lot of times it might only be a weekly show but the driver's personal circumstances like the example I gave with Brooke are what make the night memorable.  Mostly it's just fun being at the race track on a nice summer night and taking in all the sights and sounds and visiting with friends.  If a great race happens to break out that's a bonus. 

Stan Meissner

1980 to 199? Gold Cups Three nights of racing. G main to A Main.

Fred Rahmer winning the national open, I don't know if I was as excited as the dude in victory lane, but that was a good one. 

Words of wisdom right there.

If I really put some thought into it and came up with a list of favorite races, that one would no doubt be top 3 and most likely #1 or #2. Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better story and we got to watch it play out in real life. It was surreal to hear the crowd as he crossed the checkers. For a guy who once got relentlessly booed, he sure as hell got an entire careers worth of respect that night. I didn't see a single person in the crowd who wasn't on their feet clapping and cheering when he crossed the finish line and also as he was pushed into victory lane. For once, it wasn't about the Outlaws or the Posse or any of the other childish bullshit. It was all about paying respect to the best sprint car driver Central Pa has ever seen and one of the all time greats overall as he finally got to win the one big race that always eluded him. I'll never forget that for as long as I live.

1963. Jalopy race. 2 cars went into turn 3 on the last lap side by side. Officials lined up at the finish line to call a winner in case it was real close. They crossed the line together, nobody could call a winner. It was a dead heat, a perfect tie. I was just a kid and ran down to just behind the fence at the finish line and I saw it for myself. A tie for the win in the main event!

Yes, those jalopies were only running about 60 to 65 mph when they crossed the line but to a small kid 6 feet from the fence they looked like they were going 120mph.

Only tie I have ever seen. Now with transponders measuring times to the thousandth of a second there is probably no possibility of a race being a tie now.

 I dont remember the year, wilmot raceway. the night Carmen menzardo won the twin 50s. or Ithink it was 2011 IRA at wilmot again Todd Daun beat out Bill Balog and Wayne Johnson for the win. no matter what some people say wilmot produces some very good racing. 7 of my top 10  races are wilmot races

My favorite race and favorite moment are different from each other.

my favorite race is easily the best race I've seen in my 35 years of dirt track attendance: it was the 2005 ASCS speed week finale;

My favorite moment doesnt involve a first place finish for our team, but a second. our team was pretty low budget. When I say low budget, I mean poverty level racing. I rolled change and cashed it out at the bank for us to get enough for pit passes and draw fee. We made the ASCS main that night with a 9th place starting spot and brought it home P2 plus the hard charger.  

There is no replacement for cubic displacement