Former Shawano Speedway hot shoe Ben Banaszynski stopped at the track during Saturday’s prep session and spent some time telling old stories to his future grandson-in-law, Bobby Reiter.
Banaszynski, at 76 years young, shared the story of how he bought his first race car for $600.
He said the car was fast but not fast enough. Times have certainly changed since the track’s early days in the 1960s when Banaszynski got his start.
The sport and the track alike have greatly evolved. Superb driving talent and the ability to adjust to changing track conditions have been, and will always be, a huge part of winning.
In the 1960s, though, drivers primarily built their own race cars, and ingenuity on the part of the racer reigned supreme. Money certainly helped a racer win, but winning was much more dependant back then on the ability to out-engineer your opponents.
Today’s racing is more about picking up a parts catalog and ordering the right combination of parts to go on your race car.
In the track’s early days, all of the cars had stock bodies that looked just like the cars driven on the street. Even the early versions of Late Models were built from Chevelles, Torinos, Camaros and Monte Carlos.
Today, the IMCA Stock Car class and the Mighty Fours still look like street cars, but the other divisions are all custom built aluminum racing bodies.
The track itself has evolved a lot since the early days as well. The wooden covered grandstands and steel bleachers have been replaced by the concrete and aluminum construction, which by the way isn’t the best acoustic design.
The track surface has been widened and banking has been added to the corners. Originally there was not a guardrail on the back straightaway of the track. Then steel barriers made up the outside wall of the track.
Nowadays concrete blocks serve to keep the race cars inside the racing surface. The tower used to be just one level. It looked very much like a gazebo way back when. Today it stands three stories high and gives a great vantage point to watch the races.
The haulers have evolved, too. From flat-towing race cars with street cars, to trucks and open trailers, to today’s toterhomes and enclosed rigs.
The race fan has evolved, too. It used to be you needed to read the Shawano Evening Leader to stay abreast of the racing gossip. Now it is all available online at your fingertips.
Through the ages, though, the food has stayed tasty, the on-track action has been exciting, and the ravenous fan base is still the best around.
See you at the track.
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