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

So far, I'm the oldest at 80.  Been a fan since childhood, beginning at the old 3/8th mile Tulsa Speedway at the fairgrounds.  From 1970 to 1978 ran a 6 cylinder modified on a part time basis. Crewed for Danny Wood for about 5 years. My real job required a great deal of travel, therefore I've  attended races in 30+ different states.  My latest venture was the Million to win at Eldora.  But mostly, now with Floracing and Dirtvision, I watch from home.

56  Grew up watching mostly fender cars in the Dakota's. Ran a couple enduro races(2nd once) and crewed on a friends modified and still on his sprintcar a bit. Was really hooked on Sprint cars first time in 80's at the old half mile at the Red River Valley Speedway. Been hooked ever since. Have been to many tracks all over. My favorites were Ascot,Memphis have been attending the Nationals for the past 15 years with exception to 20 and when i was 49 and had colorectal cancer. So Yes get screened EARLY!!!! Favorite drivers were, are Sleepy Tripp, RichVogler,Dave Blaney and the one and only Don Don. lol

52. Started racing before I was much of a fan. Older brothers got into it so I got a stock car at 15. Worked as a volunteer everything I think, except the secretary of the club. Raced at tracks in small towns across Saskatchewan. Was looking for a racing holiday the year I graduated so the Knoxville nationals caught my eye cause it had 4 days in one place and seemed like a big deal. When we arrived we still didn't know what kind of history we were a part of. Didn't continue to follow real close cause that was kind of before the web was so useful to find stuff. Follow remotely now, and probably more faithfully because of this forum having discussion of the news that doesn't show up on the woo/Ascoc web sites. Went to Pocono in about 93 for a nascar race and found some sprints the night before. Was totally amazed but didn't realize they were popular across the country. Almost found sprints by accident I guess. Closest sprint track is 8 hrs away in Edmonton and my wife surprised me with a trip to the Morgan Cup in 2017. 

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

53 years old here. My dad started taking me to races at Sandusky Speedway in Ohio when I was 6 or 7 to watch the supermodifieds run. My earliest memory of racing is going down on the track before the trophy dashes (they used to push the dash cars up on the front stretch and then let fans come out for autographs) and a driver picked me up and sat me on the right rear tire of his car. That driver was Tim Richmond. Got hooked on dirt-track sprint cars on the Sunday of Memeorial Day weekend in 1980 when I attended my first WoO show at Eldora. The rest is pretty mcuh history. 

Ah, the former Sunset Speedway.  I spent many nights there enjoying the late models and pro-ams (Camaros).  Strong car counts and talent levels in both divisions.  Awesome track.  The Kosiskis bought I-80 speedway after Sunset closed and ran that until last year when they sold the ground to Co-Part or one of the big salvage/auction operations.

SUUUUUUN-SET SPEEDWAY....

I can still hear the announcers voice. 

Several times I remember grabbing some friends and making the three hour trip down on a Sunday afternoon and eating fried chicken at the sit-down track restaurant prior to the races. 

Thousands of fans and jammed pits for the 2-division show. Great times. 

Good thread, nice to get to know some of you a bit better.

53. My earliest memories are of North Starr Speedway in Blaine MN where my dad and uncle were regular fans. Bill Dollansky, Bob Hopp, John Stevenson, Lyn McIntosh, Roger Rager, Denny Olson and Jerry Richert were the regulars I remember cheering for. Been to six night of racing this year, 4 at Knoxville and 2 at Cedar Lake, I have slowed down in my old age. Been to every Knoxville Nats since 1979 for at least a couple nights. Just a fan but I did drive a non-wing car at a test session a number of years back. I was so slow they had to throw the checkered after only 8 laps because the 11 year old girl in a micro sprint caught me from 10 seconds back and they were afraid we would crash. Pretty cool experiece. Watch the oil pressure come up, push the button and VROOM!

Have now attended races in 9 different decades. 

I'm 60 and been going to races my whole life,my father raced stock cars in the sixtes at Bear Field,Byran,Avilla.Dayton and Eldora. The family moved west to Californa in the mid 70's and we started going to Ascot and as soon as I turned 16 and could get into the pits I started helping on sprint cars,got to learn a lot from some very good people and by the time I turned 24 I became a crew chief.

Over the past 44 years of crew chiefing cars I've been very fortunite to have been able to have worked with many ledgendary drivers, Sweeney,McSpadden,Hood,Hewitt,Haudenshcild,Jones and many others. I've also have gotten to win races in the past 5 decades with all the great drivers and friends that I've known over the years racing non -wing and some wing sprint cars.

Still love it as much today as the day I started.

79.  Parents started taking me to Warsaw Speedway in Warsaw, Indiana when I was a 8-10 years old and have been hooked on dirt racing ever since. Cars were called modifieds at that time and started evolving into sprint cars. I remember when someone brought a sprint car in with an Offenhauser engine. As just an exibition one of the drivers that ran Warsaw named Don Walker drove the car around the track faster than the then track record. Eldora Speedway on Sunday afternoons, I believe, became the next step when I was 18 years old. I have been attending dirt sprint car races since that time.

My name is Murphy, and I'm a sprint car zombie.....

 I'm not the oldest on here.I'm 62 and this is my 50th year of attending sprint car races. First started going to the races in 1973 at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City SD. The grandpa of the kid acrross the street let his grandson bring frineds to the races. It gave the kid something to do while grandpa, grandma and their friends emptied a coooler of Red White and Blue beer every Friday night. Back then, the "B-stock" modifieds were morphing into sprint cars. The other classes were the "A-stock/super-stocks" which were late 60's Chevelles and the "C-stock/ hobby stocks" which were mostly 55 Chevies.

Murphy is a screen name I shortened from a name I used on a railroad site. On that one I am Murphy Siding.. 

77 First race was at Wright County Speedway admission $1 kids free and specials paid $1k to win in probably 1950. Been a fan and competitor until 2021. Was champion in go karts ,snowmobiles,mini sprints,and also drag raced and had a stockcar for awhile, son raced at Knoxville in 360/410 sprints and won some features.He retired and I still had the desire so got a micro but age had won but still fun. Love a good sprint car race on short track,hate to see anyone wreck,like good clean racing and admire those who do well. I know that a ticket is cheapest thing in racing. Fans who are disrespectful and are drunk or unruly should be escorted from the track , If people want to fight bring them in front of grandstands.

52, My first racing experiences were going to Selinsgrove and Port Royal as a kid in the 70's. I rooted for Paul Pitzer in the Weikert 29 and Kramer Williamson in the Pink Panther 73. Started venturing out to other tracks in the mid-90's.  

A

I'm 57. I grew up in Amarillo, TX watching the Super Modifieds (100 inchers.) Started working on them at 14 and did so until 21 and then the USAF came calling. Did a little photography back then as well. Spent 21 years bouncing around the world, and went to the sprint shows when I could. After retirement from the USAF in 2009, I picked up the camera again and now shoot when I feel like it or when time permits. Just enjoy staying involved in the sport, making friends, and having a good time. Helped with some promotional work for three years and now on the Texhoma Racers HoF committee. Also, do a little sponsorship as well.

TexDel - I'm from Texas, wife grew up in Delaware.

I'm 4th oldest at 73, but probably less years going to sprint cars than most of you. Started going to dirt track races in 1960 in Virginia (East Side Speedway, Waynesboro) where they raced "jalopies", "sportsmen" & "modifieds"...the old coupes, all home built & different, full inversion by points. Tons o' fun! In 1966 we moved back up North, went to 2 races on pavement & lost all interest for the next 40 years.

Fast forward to 2010, I was at a music fest in Upstate NY & a gearhead friend gave me a Circle Track mag for an article about Smokey Yunick. They mentioned that Central Pa. was a sprint car hotbed, was going to visit a girlfriend in Pa. the next day, was always curious about sprint cars, so I got on the ole Interweb & found a race at lil Clinton County Raceway. Empire Super Sprints & Patriots. I was surprised to see a guy from Connecticut racing there: young David Gravel, from a state with ZERO dirt tracks. I asked around & was told about Posse vs. Outlaws races at Williams Grove. So my frst BIG race was when Sammy won the National Open. I was hooked. Since then I've been to 38 tracks in 18 different states..... drastically cut down on my trips for live racing the past 6 years since I've been taking care of my Mom. She passed away last week, 17 days short of 101 years old...so I'm probably going to a lot more races now....

65. sw Ohio. My earliest racing memories are from mom & dad taking us to lawrenceburg when we were kids.  We'd back the car up to the fence in 1 & 2 and picnic and watch the races. We stopped going when a wheel broke off a car and hit the fence next to us where a little girl was standing. It knocked her down and they put her in the ambulance, we left and I remember mom calling trying to find out how she was. We quit going as a family but the seed was planted for me.  Fast forward to when I was a senior in high school and working part time.  A guy my age that worked there was a race fan, we became buddies and would go to kil-kare & Queen City for pavement late models. After a bit we ventured out a little further going to salem, Dayton & Winchester. Then we went to eldora for the world 100 in 78.  I enjoyed that and went back later that year for the sprint cars, when we walked in the first thing I saw was Doug Wolfgang in Doug Howell #4. It was life changing and I became a huge sprint car fan. I knew I would someday do it. A couple years later I started racing Karts but it was sprint cars that I wanted. So in 83 I'd bought a car & built a motor and started racing non wing at lawrenceburg & Bloomington. After a couple years of that I wanted to run more wing stuff and went to the reopened Atomic speedway (KC raceway). I think I only ran 1 nw race after that and continued racing for another 18 years. I was lucky enough to have won at most of the tracks around here and a couple track championships.  Now days I just mess with my old cars and ride my motorcycles. It's not uncommon for me to hop on one of my bikes and have a 1500 mile weekend to a race somewhere. 

35, I was blessed to be able to race sprint cars 360's and 410's for almost 10 years. Had a few top 24 finishes with the outlaws in A mains. Mostly raced in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, but did a couple of west coast trips. My favorite local tracks are Cedar Lake and Ogilvie which the outlaws came to for the first time this year.  I really liked Parris and Tulare also. 

I'm 56. My dad was a open wheel fan since right after the war. He was a friend of Bill Vukovich and the two owned service stations together in Fresno until Bill's death at Indy. My mom and dad's first date was a Champ Car race at Sacramento in '66, so you can say that I was destined to be a fan. I grew up going to Ascot most Saturdays where my favorite drivers were Rick Goudy, Walt Kennnedy and Jimmy Oskie. Later I was a big fan of Eddie Wirth. When Ascot closed, we traveled around following CRA and later SCRA around Califonia and Arizona until Perris opened.  My parents and I went to nearly all the SCRA races during the 90's and even into the USAC-CRA days. To me, the period between '93 and '03 was the golden age of Southern California sprint car racing. Mike Kirby was my favorite during that time. I moved up to the Pacific Northwest in '08 and still go when to see the sprint cars I can, but it's much tougher now with a family and minimal local sprint car racing. It's all winged stuff up here, so I have learned to appreciate them and am no longer a wingless only snob. I just love sprint cars and will continue to go until I no longer can physically do it.

51, went to my first race at Lernerville at 13 years old.  Been to over 100 tracks, still prefer late models over sprints most days lol.  Used to be 3 night a week guy at a miniumum now life has me at a once in a great while situation but the only TV I watch is Floracing (sorry Dirtvision).  I've always loved all kinds of racing but dirt has always been at the top of the list.  Tried to get my son to love it, he barely tolerates it, but took a friend of his a couple weeks ago and they get it, so now I might have a new racing buddy.  

62. I have been going since I was born. My Dad was a safety man at Wilmot, and when I was 4, I was allowed to be in the stands, alone.  Dad across the track, 1965, that was a thing back then. It wasn't my first rodeo lol. I witnessed the movement from 60's modifieds to the supers of the 70's, and finally SPRINT cars in the 80's forward. In 1975, 76, the IRA hired my Dad to manage Wilmot, and I of course helped out.  I watered and sheepsfooted the track solely for those 2 years. I occasionally had to do everything on weeknight shows as my Dad worked.  My mom would have to drive me over there as I had no license yet. My hero Dick Colburn won his first 2 modified championships in 75, 76.  I'd like to think I had a part in them lol.  These are just great memories I have and really like that I have not moved away from the area. I attend Wilmot every week, and travel with my RV trailer to follow the Wisconsin wingLESS crates to shows around Wisconsin.  I've been to Knoxville 3 times and love it.  I see the Outlaws and All Stars quite a bit in this area and plan on attending local races for as long as I physically can. I have been to 27 different tracks.  Nickname is from an old Packer player I liked and people started calling me HIS nickname.