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

This past weekend really sparked up the 'young driver' awareness to a whole new intensty level.

The top 3 finishers in Huset's last night alone is enough to keep a lot of fans excited going into the soon-to-be off-season at how exciting the 2023 season is going to be.

I thought it would be interesting to the HH'ers out there if, collectively, we started a list of young drivers and included some of their lineage.

And really, it doesn't have to be just young drivers. It can be drivers that are currently racing with a note or two about who may have helped 'steer' their career based on their experiences racing.

It really fires fans in the stands up when they're made aware of a bit of the story behind these drivers, and in turn, provides a great reason to get those fans interests piqued and hopefully return to the track more often.

So here's a kickoff spot from this past weekend's action:

Ryan Timms age 16 (dad Randy Timms, awesome modified driver) - in his WoO debut Friday finished 9th and then 2nd on Saturday night and 2nd (from 7th) last night at Huset's. He already has about 15 wins, including last year's Trophy Cup finale. 

Corey Day age 16 (dad Ronnie Day, won a dozen or so sprint car features) - started 6th at Huset's last night and won, and I believe that brings his feature win total to 4.

Ayrton Gennetten age 23 (dad Steve who raced sprint cars and won at least 1 feature, grandpa Gene that raced primarily midgets including a Chili Bowl prelim win as well as IMCA sprint car wins) - won at Knoxville on Saturday night, Fast time at Huset's last night and finished 3rd in the feature after starting 4th.

It really is quite amazing how resilient this sport can be during changing times and how we used to worry in the 90's about what was going to happen 'after the Big 3', but essentially now, it seems it's more like the Big 23 there are so many capable drivers.

Exciting times, IMO!

My first thought after watching last nights VL interviews at Husets was that I didn't see any whiskers until they got to the third place driver.  These kids coming out of Karts and Micros are changing my mind about young drivers.  On the subject of up and coming drivers my neighbors son is driving a 305 with UMSS winged division and was second in points among over 40 drivers that have run their races this season.  He is 16 and came up through Karts and his name is Lucas Nellis car 74n.  They have gotten some experienced help getting started and are doing well with one race weekend to go at Cedar Lake's Legendary 100.  Talking to his father they are planning on moving up if things go as planned.  They are having fun and doing well locally in a limited division but not on the level of these kids with bigger budgets.  His driving style is smooth and he doesn't tear up a lot of equipment.  

Stan Meissner

Got several young multi-generation racers running 410's in OH, MI and IN that are 15-18 years old

Jett Mann (second or third generation)

Corbin Gurley (second generation)

Darin Naida (fourth generation)

Reece Saldana (third generation)

Creed Kemenah (third generation I think)

You're going to need to devote a lot of space to folks named McCarl, Kinser, and Swindell.

At Husets you have Steve Ballenger, son Dusty and his daughter and son racing.

Justin Henderson's dad Rod also raced at the track.

3 generations of Forbrooks & the DeWall family

4th place Johnson and 7th place Goodno also very young drivers.

5th and 6th Justin and Austin are suddenly oldtimers.

The future of racing seems to be in pretty good shape

The worst president of my lifetime:
Ronald Reagan

All great responses! Good stuff indeed. 

Don't forget Sam Henderson at Huset's

Thomas Kennedy from Canada is the son of Lou Kennedy Jr, the son of Lou Kennedy Sr. I've seen all three race.

While it was a 305, it was awesome seeing a Pake 64 on the track again at Husets. 

Sye Lynch. His grandpa was bad ass in a modified and a sprint car. Ed Lynch jr. had a great career in a sprint car.  His grandmother was Jean Lynch, a lady that loved sprint car racing to the core.

Kaedings

Also Nick Ringo's son is racing now.

Anybody mention 'Little Rim'?

No disrespect, but that's laughable. 

OK, I'm not sure why it's laughable. I count about 7 Kinsers who raced, plus Karl, 5 MCCarls who raced and 3 Swindells who raced, unless Sammy's dad also raced?

Sammy's Dad Sam Swindell also raced.

That's cool! Is Sammy a Junior?- Samuel Swindell Jr?

What are we looking at in this picture? Is this a car after a crash? What kind of car is it? It kind of looks like an old time midget, but seems to have a roof on it.

Golibeck....Facinnto