This past Saturday night I got the chance to do something that I’ve rarely done in the past 10 years — I sat in the stands with my family and watched races at the Shawano Speedway.
In doing so, it reaffirmed my love of dirt track racing and made me realize how I got hooked on this sport to begin with.
As we all made our picks for who we thought would win races, I recalled times in my youth when my mom, my dad and I would bet quarters on who we thought would win. If memory serves me right my mother always left with most of the quarters.
As the family of Lucas Lamberies cheered him on to victory, I remembered vividly Bonnie Lamberies cheering on her son Kevin when I was a kid. Spending a beautiful summer night sitting in section E just high enough up to see over the haulers, you can feel a pounding in your chest when the cars throttle up coming off of turn four to start a race.
When it comes to dirt track racing, you never know who will show up to race. As a kid I always wanted to get to the track early and watch as the haulers rolled across the track to the pit area. Out of town invaders always added excitement to the show.
This week former WISSOTA Late Model national champion Rickey Weiss of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was on hand to race. I got my money’s worth Saturday night watching him hot lap as he toured the speedway without ever lifting off of the accelerator pedal.
Another treat Saturday night was being able to watch the teams up close working on their cars at intermission as my kids sucked back their Sun Drop Slushies. The atmosphere at the track was filled with excitement all through the night as everyone waited to see the spectator eliminators race.
Drivers Mel Westhphal in the grumpy gremlin, Jeff Olson in his big block powered Chevy Camaro, Dave Stoffer in his Camaro, Beau Schroeder in his Bobby Allison themed Monte Carlo and Scott Williams in the world’s fastest station wagon all put on a great show that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats.
To finish the night out we strolled through the pits as my kids picked up some hotshot race cards. I good friend of mine recently told me that life is about making memories. Bring your kids to the races some time and make some memories they will not soon forget.
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