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By Greg Soukup

It’s now Sunday, and just 4 days out from Practice Night for the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals; 2016 version. It’s time to talk to another Eagle Raceway local; a veteran of many MANY laps on the dirt tracks around Lincoln, Nebraska. In fact, his fire suit reads “Old School”. Dwight Carter is the epitome of the low-budget racer, but despite that fact; or perhaps because of it, he is a fan favorite.

Q:        When did you first start racing sprints?

Dwight:         I originally started racing sprints in 1984. They didn’t really have a class back then; they were just sprints, running 355’s. I raced until the end of 1997, when I bought a local theater. I won the track championships in 1996 and 1997 at what is now I-80 Speedway in the old IMCA Sprint Class. There was no cubic inch limit, but they had an $800 motor claim. You could run whatever you wanted to, but you had to give it up for $800 if you got claimed. When Roger Hadan decided to go with the Racesaver class at Eagle Raceway I still had my old car; same chassis, same motor, same everything. So, I talked to Roger because he was running great deals on motors that year, and that’s how I got hooked……again!

Q:        You’ve raced every Nationals held at Eagle Raceway so far. Did you enjoy the experience?

Dwight:         Oh yeah! I mean, a bad night of racing is better than any other night if you’re a racer. It’s one of those things where it’s nice to load the car in one piece; it’s nice to win and everything, but getting a chance to do what you love to do….what’s better than that? The Nationals, they’re the top of the line. Race teams from all over come in there. To race against all of them, it’s like racing against the World of Outlaws in the old days.

Q:        So, what do you think of the Racesaver class overall?

Dwight:         I love it. I think it makes it so that a low-budget guy like me can be competitive. I run a cheaper motor than a lot of the racers, but there’s nights when it’s all that they can do to get around me. I mean, there’s still shocks and rods and other things involved in it, but it’s not the motor than wins anymore. Of course there’s guys running $20,000 motors, but they aren’t blowing everybody away.

Q:        So; what is it like to run against racers from all over the country?

Dwight:         I’ve gotten to meet a lot of them, with them pitting around me. That makes it nice. The way that Roger does it with letting teams in early, and all of the things that they have for the teams like driver’s luncheons and stuff, you meet lots of people. Then you become friends with them on Facebook and keep talking to them that way. I look forward to seeing them again every year.

Q:       What do you think of the 3-day qualifying they have at the Nationals?

Dwight:         I think that when we start getting as many cars are we are getting every year, if you don’t draw good, there’s going to be some top dogs that don’t make the Sunday feature. If they start at the back of everything, it’s going to be rough for them to make it up there. I haven’t researched into how some of the other tracks handle the big car counts, but I think we’re going to have to change; as far as the qualifying goes. I used to like doing time trials, but that doesn’t help the little guy like me. Now a guy like me, if I draw good and get to start up front, I have a chance. But, if I draw bad then I’m out there just for the heck of it.

Q:        The whole idea behind the Racesavers is to keep everything on a level playing field. And that is done by being sure that everyone stays within the rules, and is enforced by very strict tech measures.

Dwight:         If you don’t enforce the rules with tech the way that they do, then you don’t have anything. I don’t think that you can be too strict. The rules are the rules. There’s been a lot of people who lost their wins, points and purse money because they bent the rules. These guys, for so many years, if you give them an inch, they’re going to take that inch and more. I’m the same way. I mean, back when we were racing at Midwest Speedway, I’d read between the rule lines. Then I’d do what I could do. It maybe didn’t help, but I still tried it. If they leave the rules alone, a little guy like me will eventually get to the point where I have everything that I need to be really competitive weekly. It just needs to be enforced so that people know ‘Hey, I’d better not push it anymore’.

Q:        Anything else you would like to say?

Dwight:         Only that you don’t have to be a big dog to run at the Nationals. It’s one of those things where you come and run at the Nationals, and if you draw good, you could do good. If you’re not coming from thousands of miles away, you’re going to make a little money even if you don’t get into the big show. It pays pretty darn good all of the way back. For someone like me who only has to drive 20 minutes to the track, it’s great. Now; if we get lucky and make the big show, then more power to us!

Q:        Speaking of the big show, what do you think of the 3-wide start?

Dwight:         I like it. I mean, I was a little nervous about it when I first heard of it. I didn’t want a bunch of equipment to get torn up or anyone to get hurt. The first year when Mike Boston got into that big wreck, I thought to myself ‘We can’t even start the race 2-wide, let alone 3-wide’. But, as long as everyone plays it cool, and they know it’s not won on the first lap and they get past the first lap or so then the racing really starts. It’s kind of a gimmick deal, but it works!

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

By Greg Soukup

Monday, and the 2016 Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals is coming closer and closer all of the time. Andy Shouse, 36 years old and from Mustang, Oklahoma is the subject of today’s Q & A.

Q:        I see that you currently are leading the points for the National Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car championship. That’s not an easy accomplishment.

Andy: Well, it’s not something that we really planned on doing. It’s nothing that we started out the year even thinking about. We just got three quarters of the way through the year and we were up towards the front, and it looked like we had a pretty good chance of winning this deal. So, we just kind of upped our efforts at that. We decided to not worry about going and running other races, and so far it’s worked out pretty good.

Q:        How long have you been racing sprint cars?

Andy: I started running sprint cars in 1999. I started out in a 360 sprint with a 2-barrel carburetor on it. It was pretty similar in horsepower to what the Racesaver motors are now. Then we stepped up and started running the 360 in Texas and at Oklahoma City, doing the NCRA and stuff. Later we moved up to the ASCS and even ran a 410 for a while.

Q:        When did you start running the Racesaver class?

Andy: We got a Racesaver motor in 2011. We were running a lot of 360 stuff in Texas so we didn’t have a lot of stuff to do on Friday and Saturday nights. So, the guy that I was driving for decided that he wanted one and we built a Racesaver motor. We ran it on and off since about 2011. Then we ran it quite a bit last year. It’s probably been the last 2 years that we really started running it a lot.

Q:        Have you been up to the Nationals before?

Andy: Oh yeah. We were up there the first year that they had it. A very cool deal. I just had some stuff that didn’t work out, so I missed it the last couple of years. But, we’re ready to make the trip up there this year.

Q:        What was your impression of the Nationals?

Andy: It was a lot of fun. The last time that we were there my race car shop was hit by a tornado, and tore it up pretty good. The Nationals was my first race back and we were kind of still getting things back in order. It was looking like I was going to be very successful, but I made a mistake on my own and it probably cost me a shot at a win of the deal but sometimes we aren’t perfect. But, I’m really looking forward to coming back up. It’s a fun place, very racy. And it’s just the kind of fun thing I love to do.

Q:        What did you think of getting the opportunity to run against racers from all over the country?

Andy: It’s a lot of fun. It kind of brings in the best from all over the United States. You’ve got a lot of good teams. All of these cars are so equal; that’s the neat thing about the Racesavers. It doesn’t take a team that has a high-end budget. Say you have a guy who built a motor in his garage; they can be competitive with a top-of-the-line motor that they bought from a top-notch engine builder. It puts it more back onto the car set-up wise and the driver. The primary motor that I have; it’s not a super high-end motor by any means, but it is a very nice motor. And when we sat back and looked at everything, and we decided we could build it there in the shop. My dad used to build our motors when we ran the 2-barrel stuff and some of the other 360 stuff. I don’t think it really matters. My spare motor is built right here in our shop, and I haven’t had it on a dyno yet. But, I would bet money that it’s not 5 or 10 horsepower off of our good motor.

Q:        The whole idea behind the Racesaver class is that nobody can have an advantage; due to motors or whatever. You go through extensive tech just to race. Are those strict tech measures a good thing?

Andy: Oh, definitely. You can have rules for everything, but if they aren’t enforced and checked, then the rules aren’t good for anything. I think they’ve come up with a very good set of rules. That’s one thing that they’ve done is all the tech, whether it’s the Oklahoma stuff, or up at Eagle Raceway they check cams and valve springs. We were at a race in Dallas earlier this season. They have a deal where if you win 3 races, they do thorough inspection of your motor. They pulled the inspection plug on my oil pan and looked in it. They couldn’t really see in there with a scope, and they didn’t like the way that the crank looked with the scope. So, they asked us to pull off the oil pan so that they could look at the crankshaft. We ended up pulling the crankshaft out of the motor so that they could weigh it. To a lot of people that would be a big deal, and it was to me too. We got the crankshaft out, they weighed it and everything was fine. But, when we got the oil pan off and slid the rear main cap off, we found that the oil pump had broken an ear off of it. So, that saved me from having a motor scatter down the back straightaway. I think the tech deal is great. It’s one thing that makes the Racesaver deal what it is. Don’t get me wrong; a racer is a racer. Everybody is looking for an advantage. Everybody is looking to push the envelope, find the grey area. If somebody lies to you and says that they’re not, then they’re not a real racer. Because everybody is looking to go faster. Every time you think you’ve found something, they’ve got a rule in place that says you can’t do this or you can’t do that. That’s great because it really keeps the valve stuff, the motors and everything down. It really makes you scratch your head and figure out a way to be faster than the next guy.

Q:        What do you think of the 3-day qualifying at the Nationals?

Andy: I like it! There’s good and bad. I don’t think that with that many cars that there is ever going to be a great format. I think if you tried to do a bunch of heat races with passing points, there’s advantages and disadvantages to that too. The deal with having 3 shots at qualifying is that if you have 1 bad night it’s not going to ruin your weekend. Where you have 1 day of qualifying on a Thursday or a Friday, and you have a bad night of qualifying you might just as well load up and go home. And with this deal it’s not so much that way. The draw can be your friend or it can be your enemy, but you at least have 3 chances to make it to the front and get into the show.

Q:        What’s your opinion of the 3-wide start?

Andy: You know, I think it makes it very interesting. The first year when I came, I was told that there was going to be a 3-wide start and I was like “Oh MAN! That’s going to definitely be interesting”. But, the racetrack is good and wide. And one thing that I really like about the Racesaver deal is I’ve been to a lot of different racetracks, and raced with a bunch of groups of different guys. And 90 percent of these guys are guys that work Monday through Friday. They’ve got a full-time job. Most of them aren’t driving for a team; that’s not how they make their house payment, off of their racing. And so it seems like everyone has a little more respect for each other. I think that that makes the 3-wide start deal work. I think that if it was in another series and stuff I don’t know if it would be quite as successful because I think there would be so many guys trying to gain so many positions on the start. I’ve watched videos of it and everybody respects each other and gets kind of spread out a bit and then gets to racing after a couple of laps; when everyone’s gotten themselves to where they’re going to be. Nobody is trying to gain 10 positions on the first shot.

Q:        Anything else that you want to pass along?

Andy: I just want to come up there and put on a good show for all of the fans. We’ll see if we can’t come up there and do that.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

By Greg Soukup

Only 3 more days before night number one of the 4th running of the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals. Yesterday we visited with the current front runner for the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car points championship, so today we go back two years to the 2014 winner; Clint Benson, a 36 year-old Eagle Raceway regular.

Q:       You didn’t start running sprints until the Racesaver class started at Eagle Raceway, right?

Clint:  Yes; it was 2013.

Q:        Do you like the Racesaver class?

Clint:  You know, I do think it’s a good deal. It’s a lot better than buying a $30,000 motor for a 360, and the 410’s are even worse. Any time you’re a racer you’re going to spend money. There’s a lot of guys who still don’t think it’s real cheap, but any form of racing isn’t cheap. It’s an affordable class that lets a guy who wants to spend a little bit of money on racing; he’s able to have a couple of engines. People keep wanting to call it an introductory class, but it’s becoming the thing to do! I mean, let’s face it. You keep seeing all of these 360 and 410 guys coming to it and they’re getting beat by some of the new people out there in the Racesavers. So, I think it’s teaching them a thing or two about how important chassis set-up is. You can think that someone has 100 more horsepower than you in a 360, but sometimes it’s just that the chassis is working that much better or they’re driving a little bit better.

Q:        The really strong tech measures they have to keep things even. Good or bad?

Clint:  I’m absolutely for it! You get guys who want to build their engines on the border line edge of being illegal. But, that’s the consequence of doing that. You can go in with the cam lift being way under, or be right at the limit. If you have a good car, that little bit isn’t making that much of a difference. Speedway builds their motors right on the edge and that’s why a lot of times a part fails and then it’s illegal because it’s over lift. To me, it’s just not worth riding on that border line all of the time. It’s like the speed limit; you don’t have to go 55, you CAN go 50.

Q:        You’ve raced at all 3 of the previous Nationals, right?

Clint:  I have. I kind of failed there in 2014 where I wrecked a car. I’ve had bad luck there the last 2 times. In 2014, after I rolled the car I didn’t want to push it because I was running for the championship, so I bailed on the race. A lot of guys come out of the woodwork, just to run this one race. I mean, running just the one race is great, but all of the Racesaver races are important to me. It’s a good time though.

Q:        The 3-wide start; are you a fan of it?

Clint:  I can’t honestly say yes or no to that. You know, it sounds cool; and I’m sure it looks cool from the stands. It just kind of depends on what shape the track is in. If it’s a good, smooth, slick track it’s great. If it’s a really rough track, and it’s heavy, it can get real ugly real quick. I mean, I’m not partial either way. It’s whatever. I’ll race whatever we have; it is what it is.

Q:        Do you enjoy getting to race with the guys from all over the country?

Clint:  I like seeing the different racers. They come to Eagle and they can compare their notes to our notes. I’ve raced all over against Minnesota guys and Texas guys and Iowa guys. You learn to see where the better groups of racers are; where there’s really tough competition and the guys have their stuff together. You start figuring out where you can go race and do good. I know I can go to Minnesota and usually pull off a pretty good finish up there it seems like. Texas is a little different. We don’t have a lot of those really small tracks around here. And down there the tracks go dry and ice slick; out of nowhere they’ll just go! It’s just different from what we’re use to around here. I would rank the Texas racers and the Nebraska racers as probably the best I’ve seen.

Q:        Any other thoughts that you’d like to share with the fans out there?

Clint:  Other thoughts or anything? Ummm….pray for no rain! That’s about the best advice that I can give at this point.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

By Greg Soukup

Over the last 6 weeks, you have gotten a little look at some of the drivers who will be participating in the 2016 Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals. From east to west, north to south, and places in between, they will haul into Eagle Raceway. All with the hope and belief that they have what it takes to be a part of the biggest race ever held in the class.

But, this week we are going to speak with the man who decided that it was possible to have a series for sprint cars that would allow the low-budget teams to be competitive and not have to worry about losing because they were outspent.

Having been a racer himself, running 410’s, French Grimes knew that problem was real, because he had experienced that worry. And, after long hours and much thought, the Racesaver Sprints were born.

Q:        What year did you start the Racesaver series?

French:          1997 was the first full year.

Q:        What made you decide to start the class?

French:          I raced 410’s; most of the time around Pennsylvania. I had no money; I was an 18th to 20th place car at Williams Grove on a good night. In those days, it was horribly expensive, but nothing like today. A couple of guys wanted to put together a series that had claimer rules and things like that. And I said “Look. I’ll help you guys, the plan that you’ve got is stupid. I know you’re all going to cheat! We’ve only got 3 cars, one of them is mine; and 2 of them will cheat”. And, they DID! So, we held 2 races and they decided ‘Well, why don’t you write some rules?’. I went at it pretty hard. When I wrote the rules, they were almost identical to what you see today. I sent them off to my contacts in the industry, which were good. I asked the best engine builder and the best component manufacturer to tell me how they would cheat these rules. The end result was they knew me well enough to know that I was pretty resolute. So, they said “We’ll do this, this and this”. I told them to read the rules. They said “You won’t enforce them”, so I told them “If I write the rules, I will enforce them!”. And, over the years, the valve spring rule is the one that people that I respect greatly said wouldn’t work. But, I was sure that rule was the key to everything. It did work, and I am reminded regularly by that same person that although he thought it was a bad idea, I rapidly proved that it was a good idea.

Q:        What about the cylinder heads?

French:          The Racesaver series was built around the Racesaver cylinder head. None of this would be possible without the integrity of JB Bretherton of Brodix. He has guided me very well, but his integrity is the reason that Racesaver could work. He told me “We will make this head for you, and we will not make it for anyone else; nor will we sell it so that anyone else can get their hands on it”. That fact remains in place today. Every cylinder head, from Serial Number 0000 to Number 1500 and some now, is measured and those measurements are recorded both on paper and in my computer. Every head, every cylinder is measured. So; if you have Serial Number 23 or 680, I will pull the paperwork to see what that head measured when we sold it to you. If you have to repair it, you must have received a repair authorization from me with a number that is recorded. Any time that cylinder head does not match our records, it is not legal. We stay on this incredibly closely. Every head from when we started Racesaver is in the computer, backed up by paper records. There is no middle ground; there is no “Well, that’s the way that the head came!”. We can measure it to the thousandths of an inch to see if it’s different. If it’s different, you’re toast.

Q:        You recently sold Racesaver to Roger Hadan. Why?

French:          Roger has done one hell of a job promoting Racesaver. We were around probably 600 or 700 heads when Roger first contacted me. With his promotional ability, Racesaver grew exponentially in the Midwest. Roger could promote ice cream to Eskimos and do it well. And, Roger is a man who has earned my trust. I had big boys that were interested in Racesaver, and they were willing to part with big money. But; they wanted to have all sorts of deals made for parts and stuff like that. I sold Racesaver to Roger for one dollar, and that’s the best decision I ever made. That’s because I am in charge of the rules, the cylinder heads and the tech. Roger will take Racesaver and turn it into something monumental in a few years. Roger got nervous because we had 700 cars when he took over. Do you know of ANY sprint car class that has 700 cars? Well, now we are way over 1400 active cars. It’s only going to get bigger. Doug Wolfgang called me the other day. He said “I asked a big racetrack promoter I knew what his premier class was”. The promoter told him ‘The 410s’. Doug said “No, it’s not the 410s. There isn’t a guy alive that can afford to race weekly with a 410. The same is true with the 358s. Maybe you’d better start paying attention to your premier class which is the Racesaver cars”. Doug then said “People were worried about the motor costs. ‘Aren’t they $15,000?’”. So, Doug told them “My $5,500 motor runs right with them; or BEATS them”. So, you have promoters who claim to be engine builders who are running the racers into a dead end. But, a man with a little money can put together a Racesaver car. I have a racer; no money but he is competitive. I gave him a Racesaver motor. We took the heads off and the cylinder bores looked okay. So, I never pulled a piston, rod or bearing. I put on Racesaver heads, made an injector out of an old 4-barrel manifold and that was it. Total cost in the motor was a set of heads. I put it on the dyno and it measured around 450 horsepower. There will be people at the Racesaver Nationals with a $5,000 motor and run right with the motors that cost all of the money that a fool can spend.

Q:        Why move the Nationals from Virginia to Eagle Raceway?

French:          Very simply; once I met Roger and saw Eagle Raceway, the race could no longer be in Virginia; it had to be at Eagle. It had to be with a man whose promotional ability was unequaled. So I told Roger “You’re going to have the Nationals from here on out”. Lots of other people would love to have the Nationals, but Roger now owns it. He and his family have done a fabulous job of making it go. I look forward to the opportunity to come and tech all of the cars and be as hard-nosed as I know how to be, because that is what the racer has come to rely on.

Q:        What would you like to see in the future for the Nationals? What do you see it becoming down the road?

French:          What I hope for is that we will attract a national sponsor for Racesaver. One that is not in the racing business, but makes hot dogs, or soap powder or other things that would be consumer items that would fit the household and the sport. They would provide money to the racer, that doesn’t come from the racer. Big corporations of consumer items; if they give you a dollar in sponsorship, they will spend two more dollars to advertise and promote that. That is what we are hoping for, and will do if we have the opportunity. With the quality of the people at Eagle Raceway, and the belief system that Racesaver participants have, I’m sure that the series will grow.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

By Greg Soukup

Yesterday we visited with French Grimes; the man who came up with the Racesaver Sprint Series and who still holds sway over the rules, the Racesaver cylinder heads and the tech for the series.

Today, we do our last Q & A session before the 2016 Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals begins in earnest. In 2013 Roger Hadan, owner and promoter of Eagle Raceway made the switch from having the 360 sprints as the premier class and went with a relatively unknown class of cars; the Racesaver sprints.

Q:        Why the switch to the Racesaver sprints?

Roger:            The honest truth is that owning a racetrack is a business. So, you have to have a car count that puts fans in the stands. The car count in the 360 class was constantly dwindling. And, as the owner, I didn’t feel that I was giving the fans their money’s worth with the smaller car count. I wanted to come up with a way to get more sprint cars weekly, and retain the sprints as the premier class. I read the rules for the Racesavers, and I could understand the rules easily. When I was still racing, I was always accused of being a cheater. But, I couldn’t figure out any way to cheat the Racesaver rules the way that they were written.

Q:        You did quite a bit of research before settling on the Racesaver class though, right?

Roger:            Yes. I had probably 50 sets of sprint car rules spread out on my living room floor, reading through all of them. I found some good, some bad, but the Racesavers stuck out as the most logical set of rules.

Q:        So; in 2013 we had the first Racesaver Sprint Nationals at Eagle Raceway. Why did you have French Grimes move them there?

Roger:            French was not having very good success at his track in Virginia as far as attracting cars, because of the economy being very bad in that area. So, since we were pushing the Racesaver series farther west, it seemed logical to move the race to the middle of the country.

Q:        Are you happy with what the Nationals has become so far?

Roger:            I’m happy, but not satisfied yet. I always think that we can do better; make it a bigger event. Eagle Raceway holds over 9000 people, and until it’s full I won’t ever be satisfied.

Q:        We have around 130 cars pre-registered. How much bigger do you think it can get?

Roger:            It’s not so much the car count. We have to make people understand that Racesaver is a viable, valuable and exciting type of sprint car racing. Then we can fill the stands.

Q:        Other than bigger and better, what would you like to see in the future as far as the Nationals is concerned?

Roger:            More national recognition. I want to get to where people travel from all over the country and come to Eagle Raceway just to see the Nationals every year. I want to make the Nationals a race that is on every race fan’s bucket list.

Q:        Anything else that you would like to say?

Roger:            Racesaver wouldn’t be what it is without the people who are involved believing in the rules as they were originally written by French Grimes. The class is all about the racers, and that is the way that it should be!

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

  how much are the dogs???

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...