1949-1985…the first 150 or so

This page will take you through my lifelong history of racechasing and trackchasing. It won’t be all pictures of racetracks because that’s not how it was.

As a kid I played basketball every minute of the day for years.

In 1965 I was just getting my driver’s license and the “new” Peoria Speedway had just opened.

Peoria Speedway….still my all-time favorite track.

We always had fun at Rockford Speedway.

I first started going to Rockford during my high school years. I’ve always had a good time at Rockford especially with the fall “Nationals” event.

Seeing the USAC stock cars race at Milwaukee was the first “big time” racing I had ever seen.

We never came back from the Milwaukee races a single time without stopping at the Mars Cheese Castle. When I pass it today I still stop!

I saw several events at the Capital Super Speedway during it’s asphalt days. When it changed to dirt I was rained out of an All-Star sprint race and never did see competition on the dirt.

Some of the best racing I ever saw was during the special events on dirt at Hawkeye Downs in the middle of the summer. If you know anything about Iowa racing you’ll appreciate a feature lineup like this from the 1972 Gold Cup.

I found myself out in California with the U.S. Marines in 1972. I had a weekend leave and spent it at Riverside.

This group of tracks may have the best dirt racing in the country.

Who didn’t like Richie Evans?

With the addition of our first son, J.J. our family was started.

Manzanita aka Manzy was our home track while we lived in Phoenix (1974). It’s still one of my all-time favorites. I learned to eat “cheese crisps” there.

I loved going to the Copper World Classic at PIR. I saw that event about ten times and Jim Thirkettle #5 was always a favorite of mine.

Somewhat incredibly these workers are trying to get this super modified, which flew over the wall, back to it’s rightful owner after dark when the Copper World racing was finished.

Las Cruces Speedway kna Southern New Mexico Speedway, Las Cruces, NM hometown of my in-laws. (2002 photo).

My love of wingless sprint cars began at Ascot Park with drivers like Dean Thompson.

Who remembers Ascot Park for their 100-car enduros?

Evelyn Pratt ran things with a tight rein for the CRA sprint cars. Here she works at El Centro.

My first stop at the nationals saw Ronnie Shuman win in 1979. On this visit in 1982 my stepfather Bill and son J.J. came along.

How many people have seen the famous Knoxville Raceway looking like this? I stopped during the winter on my way to a  working assignment in Iowa City.

I bought this 1980 diesel powered (what a mistake!) Caddy in late ’79 from a New Jersey dealer when we moved to Connecticut.

With a growing family trackchasing took a back seat for about 15 years!

In business I had the chance to hang out with celebrities including Joey G. and Wolfman Jack!

This was one of the multiple occasions where I played “Elwood” of the Blues Brothers on stage at our national sales meeting.

East Bay is one of my top 10 all-time favorite tracks. I’ve been there more than 20 times which isn’t bad for a trackchaser. I like the late models best there but I’ve seen some great sprint car racing there too. This shot of Doug Wolfgang comes from East Bay.

Some of my best ever “race chasing” days were at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway just outside of Dallas. Here youngsters Brad Doty, Tim Green, Jimmy Sills and Kenny Schrader listen in at the driver’s meeting.

L-R, Randy, Jim Sabo, Pete Kreyling, John Kane. On one of our many visits to Eldora and the World 100.

Carol knows enough to go to the top! Here’s her buddy Earl Baltes famous builder and promoter of the Eldora Speedway.

I’ve seen my share of radical designs during my trackchasing travels.

This is Bing Metz winner at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. Bing is now an active trackchaser.

Silver crown racing at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.

We followed Dick Trickle all over Wisconsin and Illinois and lots of other places. He is one of my all-time favorite drivers.

Despite the Spoon River Speedway being only about 25 miles from where I grew up I only went there once. When I did it was a real dust bowl!

Workin’ Woody was the World of Outlaws full-time push truck pictured here at Skagit Speedway.

The first time I ever went to Hawaii for a race the event was cancelled by a hurricane!

This competitor showed up at Hawaii Raceway Park back in 1984.

A lot has changed in racing since 1985.

Riverside Park is one of many racetracks that have closed their doors since my last visit.

Thunder Road is one of the more famous tracks in the country. I’ve been itching to go back for years. Maybe in 2014?

Thunder Road….I will be back.

It’s ironic that I don’t see super modified racing very often and I would visit two of the bigger super mod tracks back to back.

Supermods have always been big at the Bonneville Raceway Park near Salt Lake City.

Luckily I was wearing a Bill Elliott t-shirt the day I first met him at the Evergreen Speedway (WA) in 1985.

Rained out of a big ASA race here after just 30 green/yellow flag laps.

Steve and Karl Kinser were a force in sprint car racing for many years. Karl adds fuel at Hanford.

I didn’t think much of my visit to Rockingham. I couldn’t see the race that well.

We looked like this going into 1985 when I knocked down a grand total of 11 tracks for the year.