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Topic: Who was Minnesota's best sprint car racer?
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March 07, 2011 at
07:54:20 PM
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Before WoO. Before wings. Before big budgets. Before TV coverage ?
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March 08, 2011 at
12:22:52 PM
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The "Flyin Farmer" - Don Mack
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March 08, 2011 at
03:14:27 PM
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Hands down Jan Opperman
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March 08, 2011 at
05:44:05 PM
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I agree....my childhood hero, Don Mack
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March 08, 2011 at
05:52:25 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Terry Enter on March 08 2011 at 03:14:27 PM
Hands down Jan Opperman
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Nice try, but Jan Opperman wasn't from Minnesota
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March 08, 2011 at
07:05:00 PM
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Jerry Richert Sr.
Stan Meissner
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March 08, 2011 at
08:24:56 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: StanM on March 08 2011 at 07:05:00 PM
Jerry Richert Sr.
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Hmmmm....Myself, I would have picked Jerry Richert. But then, I guess I had forgotten that Don Mack lives in East Grand Forks. I always thought of him as being from Noooorrrt! Uh-kota. One thing is for sure, the Mack family is probably the most prolific as far as members who raced sprints.
Jan Opperman? You almost had me there for a second.
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March 09, 2011 at
07:55:44 AM
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A top 5 and my favorite, Johnny Stevenson.
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March 09, 2011 at
08:06:57 AM
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I can't really narrow it down to just one driver, so I'll give a top five. In no particular order I would have to say :
John Stevenson(the "pumpkin eater" special)
Jerry Richert
Jerry Richert Jr.
Barry Kettering
Don Mack
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March 09, 2011 at
09:50:40 AM
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How about Roger Rager
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March 09, 2011 at
01:15:54 PM
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This message was edited on
March 09, 2011 at
03:32:28 PM by PorschePeteTx
Some of my fondest racing memories was of my Dad and I going to Grand Forks Speedway and watching Don Mack run against Buck Peterson, the Swangler brothers, Don Guida, Denny Sather and the rest of the locals.
Don was the big fish in the small pond up in Grand Forks area. It is hard to believe that Don and Doug Howells could compete against some of the best in the country on both dirt and pavement from a place so far from the big sprint car tracks. Whether it was IMCA, the Minnesota State fair, the Little 500 or the winter tracks in Florida, they would win. And this was in the day where you may have bought a chassis, but everything else was home built including the Plymouth engine that was under the hood for many years.
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March 09, 2011 at
01:52:46 PM
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I can remember Don Mack in the Howell #4 kicking azz at a WoO show in Hartford, SD. Don't remember the year, mid to late 70's. Think there was an intermission for heavy snow reducing visibility during the event. Steve in the white #11, Sammy in the Fed-X car.
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March 09, 2011 at
09:45:04 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: jah42 on March 09 2011 at 07:55:44 AM
A top 5 and my favorite, Johnny Stevenson.
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John Stevenson !!!
I can remember him coming out to Black Hills Speedway near Rapid City, South Dakota every fall for their end of the year race. That guy was incredible on dryslick tracks.
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March 10, 2011 at
12:21:40 PM
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Bobby Geldner gets my vote
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March 10, 2011 at
05:44:57 PM
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Scratch Danials get my vote.
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March 10, 2011 at
09:10:04 PM
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Marv Dewall
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March 10, 2011 at
09:52:29 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: 56sprint on March 10 2011 at 12:21:40 PM
Bobby Geldner gets my vote
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I only saw Bobby Geldner race once, but it was memorable. In the spring of 1981, NSCA(?) had a daytime race at the old, big, 1/2 mile track at Hartford,S.D. . This was back in the pre-wing days. The weather was kind of drizzly, and the track was fast. We were sitting on the wet grass, down near turn one. There was a big crash. The front axle of Geldner's car, complete with tires, came over the fence and landed about 30 feet from us. We moved up the hill a ways. Shane Carson won.
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March 11, 2011 at
05:59:39 AM
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All of the drivers named were outstanding but in terms of career accomplishments none of them come close to Richert. Jerry Richert Sr. and Daniels were team mates in the Rose Plumbing cars so Scratch ran basically the same circuit as Richert but never had the same success. Mack, Geldner, and others never came close either.
Read GRP's tribute to the career of Jerry Richert Sr. to get an idea of his accomplishments:
http://www.gotomn.com/racing/history/jr%20project/jr-history.html
Stan Meissner
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March 11, 2011 at
06:00:59 AM
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P.S. GRP's tribute was published some years back in the Knoxville Nationals program. Jerry Richert Sr. won the Nationals in 1962.
Stan Meissner
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March 11, 2011 at
10:14:00 AM
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Yeah,,, but can you imagine if you could put all of these guys on the track for an A-main?? Who would out brave who trying to get to the cushion first?? Rager or Richert?? Would Kettering or Stevenson finesse their way to the front first?? I'd pay money to see that race...
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