We did visit Falls Park.  Beautiful park.  Would have rather watched a sprint car race though!!!

I totally agree. If ya get a chance on Facebook look up Husets Speedway timeline If ya haven’t already. They recently posted some cool Bill Rook Stuff. As well, We Loved Lake County Speedway on FacebooK.  That one is a closed group so you have to apply to be accepted but there s some great stuff there as well. And I’d also like to have some of my Rawhide apparel as well. But quite honestly if I still had that all, no way I could fit in it anymore...haha. 

i remember Bill being virtually unbeatable on the Lake County Speedway openers that were normally a day race. 

And a local legend from that area as well C Mac Chuck McGillvary in the purple 101. Hell he still wheels a sprinter and has been behind the wheel of a race car since the late 60’s I believe. When I was writing for the Madison paper he was always a helluva interview. I remember a particular night at Lake County that was amazing. His old man Bill was always his crew chief and on Friday he wasn’t feeling well and skipped the trip to Rock Rapids. Unfo while Chuck racing there Bill passed away. Now ol Chuck hadn’t been having the best season thus far , but Saturday at LCS he was on a mission. In the driver meeting, The classic McGillvray grin and laugh was gone. He was BAD FAST from hot laps on, ran away with his heat and blistered the field in the main to take the trophy and cash. As the story goes Chuck went from the track directl to the funeral home and beat on the door til they opened up so he could give his old man one more trophy. Couple years ago at the Huron WoO show I was able to take my son to his first WoO race and introduced him to several drivers, his fav Schatz, Saldana, Dan Motter who was great, Bobby Allen etc, but he talked for days about Chuck and how he made him feel like he knew him for years and he raced through the B to make the main against the big boys. 

I must say Murphy, thanks for creating this thread. Takes me back to the old days of this board....what a cool post. 

     I'd buy a Darryl Dawley T-shirt in a heartbeat. He was my hero in the mid-70's. I lived in Rapid City, SD- 360 miles from his home base in Sioux Falls. One year, the promoter at Black Hills Speedway had a bonus points sytem that brought Dawley and a few other SF cars west. Dawley used to give the locals driving lessons.

Sedalia, mo....Bill Utz, Roy Hibbard, Jerry Blundy, Ray Lee Goodwin, Dude, Ken Taylor

Tom Cummings -# 69  he made lots of money with that Oldsmobile , took the tow  in $ and parked it

I guess I'll take a stab at the Carolina region.  We haven't had that many racers that had a long career with sprints being a niche sport around here.  Some did make a slight impact on the regional scenes.

Mike Hudson - Carolinas, Outlaws, raced a little in PA.

Billy Wilburn - Mead Car, Rusty Wallaces crew member (Use to fly RW's private jet to local races!)

Scott Young - won a ton around here and 1 ASCS national race.  Raced for Dale Jr's asphalt team, but quit cause he was tired of everyone wrecking him on purpose out of jealousy.

Johnny Bridges - probably the longest careers in the Carolinas.  Won a heat race at Charlotte in his first 410 race I believe at the inaugural outlaw race at Charlotte.

Eric Riggins - Carolina Kid.  wins a lot around here.  flirted with 410s in PA but never seems to have any engine luck.   

Those would have to be your top 5 in the Carolinas.  Hopefully in next ten years, the list will be a lot longer with sprints gaining momentum down here. 

Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's

Jimmy Sills at Baylands...Brent Kaeding at the San Jose speedway

Randy Smith won the point championship at Knoxville a number of years.

Shane Carson, Dick Sutcliffe, Lonnie Jensen, Jerry Blundy, Ray Lee Goodwin, Eddie Leavitt, Doug Wolfgang, Earl Wagner.

Wow! Where do I start??? It's hard to remember all of the legends I saw around here (Lincoln, Nebraska), but I'll give it my best shot. 
Between Midwest Speedway and Eagle Raceway, so many HOF drivers raced here on a pretty regular basis.

Little Joe Saldana, Ray Lee Goodwin, Kenny Gritz and Jan Opperman were all winners of the Knoxville Nationals. In addition to those 4 we regularly saw Wolfgang, Shane Carson, and so many other of the top drivers of the day.

In the 60's you had the true locals in the supermodifieds like Lloyd Beckman, Cliff Sealock, Keith Hightshoe, the original Black Bandit Lonnie Jensen, Rebel Roy McCain, Louie Quattrochi, Frank Brennfoerder and the Drouds. 

Sprint car drivers were such names as Ed Bowes, Steve Grossenbacher, "Smokin" Joe Wade, the Drouds (Don Sr. and Don Jr.), JJ Riggins, Lloyd Beckman, Lonnie Jensen, Dean Chadd, Don Maxwell, Ray Lee Goodwin Jr. and dozens of others. There are just too many to recall all of them, but I relish the memory of every night spent watching them.

For a glimpse of Midwest Speedway's history, go to http://www.nebraskadirt.com/ and see for yourself.

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

In the sixty, seventy, and early eighties my  favorite drivers were Barry Kettering, John Stevenson, Larry Wood.

They fan with the midwest sprint association, at Princeton, North Starr speedways and other tracks in the upper midwest.

That's as  a great time in racing the change from super modified's to sprint cars.

     I used to have a Randy Smith T-shirt, back when I was skinny enough to wear a medium. :)

An Oldsmobile sprint car? When and where? Tell me more please.

In the mid-80s I loved going to Knoxville every weekend as a kid watching two drivers already mentioned on here, Randy Smith and Jon Stevenson, race with "The Jedi" T.J. Giddings.  I can still hear Tim Trier calling those races ("he's got the kite string out!").  Also for a couple years in the mid '90's Danny Young and Larry Pinegar waged some wicked battles at the now-defunct Iowa State Fair Speedway.

Russ Laursen of Cumberland, WI who raced around the upper midwest (mostly WI, MN and Canada) back in the 60's and into the 70's. Multitime winner in IMCA, the Minnesota State Fair and at the old Riverside Speedway in Thunder Bay. I never got a chace to see him race though, he lost his life in a sprint car accident at Fairmot (MN) Raceway in 1970. Reading lots of articles on him he won many, many races and championships. Both of Russ's sons, Brent and Steve also had successful carrers mostly in late models. Steve still races today.

Other big names from this area back then were Jerry Richert Sr, brothers Scratch and Itch Daniels, Barry Kettering and Jerry Lepinski.

Juniata County, PA and specifically Port Royal Speedway.

Keith Kauffman, Todd Shaffer, Jim Nace

Some years Shaffer & especially Nace ran Selinsgrove on Saturday nights when it was a 410 track.  Todd, by far, was more of a PR regular, but I do remember Nace having some full-time years at Port too.

Brad Pake ,Lou Kennedy Sr.

Gene "Tubby" Black from Farmington Mo, in the 60's and 70's in southeastern Missouri. Bob Thoman, Dean Adams Sr and Jr, Aron Milton, Dean Shirley, the Standridge's, Tony Weyant,all won a lot of races in Missouri and Illinois 

Jerry Richert and Scratch Daniels were probably the two most well known drivers out of the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.  Cool that you mentioned Jerry Lepinski as he spent most of his career driving for a cousin from my mom's Wilke side of the family.

When we mention successful Sprint Car drivers with a Minnesota connection we can't forget Roger Rager.  Last I heard he was still tending to his resort up in Pequot Lakes.  I saw his daughter in line at the Richert hauler after the Memorial race but didn't get a chance to talk to her to see how he's doing.  He was having back trouble the last I heard but I don't know to what extent.

Stan Meissner

Hooker Hood enough said