Latest / Top Row Racing Media Monday Night Rewind / Episode 26 | Monday Night Rewind | Anthony Duell | Jeremiah Woods | Bahama Brackets

Transcript

Episode 26 | Monday Night Rewind | Anthony Duell | Jeremiah Woods | Bahama Brackets · Top Row Racing Media Monday Night Rewind

1:00
Well, what's up race fans, Welcome in to the Monday Night
1:03
Rewind Live on Top Row Racing Media, presented by Federated
1:07
Auto Parts and Elh Detailing the interview show on Top Row Racing
1:11
Media. Tonight we have some great
1:13
guests lined up with Street stock driver Anthony Dual, who
1:15
competed at the flagger boy twin 50s this weekend.
1:18
He'll be coming up at seven O 5. At 7:30, we have a new Paris
1:23
flag man, Jeremiah Woods. He'll be joining us on the
1:25
program talking to life in the flag stand at a Bullring.
1:28
And at eight O 5, we have Brian Kuseva, 8 O clock.
1:31
Excuse me, we have Brian. Kuze 5 Hey.
1:34
Hey, whatever, 88, probably 810, if we're being real, Lewis,
1:38
right? But now Brian Kuseba will join
1:41
us from the Grundy County Speedway to talk about the
1:43
Bahama Bracket Nationals coming up in October.
1:46
But on this side of things, my name is Buju, host of the Monday
1:50
Night Rewind, Thursday Night Throttle and some other stuff
1:53
and a bunch of other things. And joined, as always, by Louis
1:57
Noakes, the man in the top row himself.
1:58
How we doing, Louis? Oh, I mean, it's kind of storm.
2:01
So it must be Monday. I mean, it's we should count
2:05
like how many shows we've done with storms or storms coming or
2:09
storms something so it. Feels like it's at least 50% at
2:14
least for sure. Yeah, but but it's also night of
2:18
destruction week. And so I'm excited because New
2:20
Paris has another night of destruction coming up this
2:22
Saturday. And then at M40 Speedway, they
2:25
have a their day of reckoning where if you come across a flyer
2:29
that has Johnny Russell's face on it, there's like a $5 off
2:35
dollar thing that you can bring. So you'll get it for 15 bucks.
2:39
So and then obviously this Friday I'm at Corrigan.
2:44
So it's it'll be nice to get to Corrigan.
2:45
I think this is my final trip there this year with tri-state
2:48
Sprint. So it's a nice week to look
2:51
forward to have a little bit of a different routine, you know,
2:54
after, you know, a couple big shows already and then obviously
2:58
we have some, you know, huge shows coming up next week with
3:01
Kalamazoo clash next Wednesday. Don't forget to pre register if
3:05
you are a street stock or late model driver.
3:08
There's a Google form going around for street stocks and
3:11
then big money to online there. Then obviously week after that
3:16
we got or two weeks after that. No, I think it's a week after
3:20
will be Summer Sizzler. So again, we just have so much
3:23
coming up, so much to do. And then before you know it,
3:26
we're post season racing with Super Shoe and Michigan Cup and
3:30
Bahama brackets, which we'll talk tonight with Brian Kusaba
3:33
about that. So, you know, if you haven't
3:37
been to racetrack yet, better find your way there because
3:40
we're running out of dates. I mean, it's hard to believe,
3:42
but it's obvious. Yeah, unfortunately the clock is
3:45
winding down. I'm going to be back at M40 this
3:47
weekend. I know that they have the
3:50
Woody's race for Down syndrome going on this weekend do with my
3:54
family team Dave's family racing.
3:56
We ran that race last year and had had Zach with us and I think
3:59
he's back with us this year. So I'm pretty fired up for the
4:02
to be back in M40 Saturday. That's a good a good cause and a
4:04
really fun night with the national compact touring series.
4:08
So I'm gonna be there with my family.
4:10
That's where I'll be this weekend.
4:11
I think that's my only track on the schedule this weekend is M40
4:14
on Saturday. But like you said, years winding
4:16
down and you got some great opportunities get to the track
4:18
with some great shows. So make sure you're taking
4:21
taking those opportunities here as the year winds down.
4:24
Well, and and if people haven't put it on their radar yet and
4:29
they haven't been to a mini wedge program to see like the
4:32
upcoming stars, I believe Plymouth races Saturday, mini
4:35
wedges if I saw the schedule right and then or Sunday.
4:39
It's one of those days and then August 30th.
4:42
Kalamazoo has a huge mini wedge program with chargers and
4:48
everything. They had a good count yesterday.
4:50
They had a lot of chargers, a lot more chargers than last time
4:53
I was there. When Dang, where did these all
4:55
come from? And, and they have a lot of them
5:00
now. And so that'll be exciting to
5:02
see how that class builds up. But they, you know, Kenny head
5:05
was on last week just after Kenny Wallace left and, and was
5:09
able to tell us a little bit about what's coming up.
5:11
So, you know, August 30th, I know that's harvest at Corrigan
5:15
oil. So a lot of people will probably
5:17
be at at harvest. But if you have nothing else to
5:19
do and you're in the Kalamazoo area, you know, come out and
5:22
check out those mini wedge drivers.
5:24
They put on a, you know, good few good races yesterday and
5:27
they're and their show. And so it's it's kind of one of
5:31
those again, you know, get out support.
5:33
That younger generation is $10 to get in.
5:36
But you can park on the Kalamazoo track and walk down an
5:39
infield. They always have some kind of
5:41
concession there, a food truck of some sort.
5:44
Yesterday was like an ice creamy kind of deal, snow cones, all
5:48
that kind of thing. But they've had hot dog people,
5:52
they've had hamburger people, they've had different things.
5:53
So something to check out again 'cause their season's running on
5:58
just a few dates left too. So let's get out to a track.
6:03
I mean, now's the type of year where tracks are probably
6:07
starting to look at their books and going, oh boy, you know,
6:11
let's get out and support him. You know, Flagger Boy had a huge
6:14
crowd. We have Andy who is just at New
6:16
Paris again on Saturday for Flagger Boy.
6:19
You know he's already committed to come back on September 19th
6:22
for the championship for Trifecta.
6:25
Of course, everyone knows the Sonic car.
6:26
You know he definitely stands out so he can climb the roof a
6:31
little bit to bring back one of my cameras.
6:33
But he got a chance to meet Andy and you know, they got to talk a
6:36
little bit about it. And I know he's he really loves
6:39
coming down a new pair. So it's always nice to see those
6:41
Kalamazoo invaders and Galesburg invaders come on down.
6:46
And it was one feature was. They're both pretty well, yeah.
6:52
One in particular was definitely more exciting.
6:56
Yeah. That's what we've been going
6:58
with is exciting. Yeah, but everybody knows,
7:01
right? And at the end of the day, it
7:03
happens, right? You know?
7:04
It's yeah, when you, when you got, when you, it's that much
7:07
stakes on the line on that tough and small of a track, stuff's
7:11
going to happen. But how cool was it?
7:13
Yeah. And Jeremy alluded to it when
7:15
when Logan and Austin got next to each other.
7:17
I'm thinking May 2nd or third, whatever it was last year,
7:20
right? I'm like, we're in for a
7:22
showdown between the two. And but for Josh Summers, I
7:25
thought that was pretty cool. He held off gay terrorists.
7:28
And you know, and, and I know one thing I want to remind
7:32
people is I'm just not going to do any, any comments or anything
7:35
on my page with either tracker driver bashing.
7:38
I'm just not going to allow it. I'm going to hide the comment
7:40
and give a warning. And if and if it continues, I
7:43
just send off because as we learned, when you driver bash
7:49
and, and there's a receipt, there's consequences and, and
7:53
you may not always be near your car to go lock yourself in and
7:56
hide. So not going any further than
8:00
that other than if you know, you know and just know that a fence
8:07
in a wall only does so much. So there is still a lot of open
8:12
area at a race track to cash receipts.
8:16
And so as someone found out, so I know you got a.
8:23
I had a great seat. I had a great seat for that one,
8:25
Lewis. I did it.
8:26
I didn't. But once I found out who it was,
8:29
I went. This might be the most glorious
8:31
day I've ever had in a long time.
8:32
So, you know, you just don't do it right.
8:37
You know, these guys are spending thousands of dollars.
8:39
Yeah, it's like, I mean, you got to be smarter than that.
8:42
The guy's just got his car junked and he and like if he had
8:45
nothing to do with the guy caught up in somebody else's
8:47
mess and his stuff is tore up, you got to be smarter than to
8:50
yell something at that guy. Come on.
8:51
Now, yeah, Yep. And well, and I have, I have the
8:56
video, I have exactly what happened.
8:58
But as you know, I've been very careful about what I post and
9:01
don't post and, and especially when it involves certain
9:03
drivers. I already know, right?
9:05
I already know. Well, this side of the crowd is
9:08
going to think all these things and then this side of the crowd
9:10
is going to think all these things and it's not worth it.
9:13
I don't have time to babysit the comment section most of the time
9:16
because I'm at the racetrack and I already knew because of who
9:19
involved with what the comment section was going to look like.
9:22
So it's one of those things that I'm just not going to do it
9:26
because I'm, I'm just not, I'm at a point I don't, I don't
9:29
tolerate it anymore. And I even then I didn't
9:32
tolerate it, but I more so now I dropped a hammer on it where I'm
9:36
like, I'm not, I'm not doing this anymore.
9:38
We're just not going to do it. And, you know, I know there's
9:42
always that freedom of speech. Well, technically at least, the
9:47
Supreme Court has reaffirmed it many times over.
9:50
That does not quite exist on Facebook.
9:52
You know, pages can monitor and control what's posted and not
9:55
posted. And if you're like, well, I'll
9:57
see you 'cause you're violating my freedom of speech.
9:59
I'm not a government page. The law doesn't protect you.
10:03
Now, if I were running for governor or Senate or whatever,
10:06
I can't take your comments off or anything unless it's
10:09
threatening or harming or that kind of deal, which is just a
10:11
standard, but do. You have any plans to run for
10:13
Congress? Lewis.
10:14
State it on the record. OK, No.
10:17
No, but the law controls, you know, you can't do that kind of
10:22
stuff on a government page like that, but private page like
10:25
mine, I have a lot of control and I can definitely control
10:29
what's said and not say without, you know, the laws on my side in
10:32
that case. So again, I'm just not gonna
10:34
tolerate or deal with it. But because talk about that more
10:38
later. I know it's 709, so a little bit
10:39
just passed, but I know Anthony's been working all day
10:43
with his dual construction. So I do.
10:45
When we come in his onboard camera, I want to point out
10:48
something just in Case No one else has noticed it or watched
10:51
it, but you could see some of his sponsors right on his
10:55
dashboard with his dual construction and high side
10:59
bodies. And so I thought, you know, he
11:01
gets a camera all the time. He's it's like mankind, you
11:04
know, Mick Foley moment. You know, he gets to do cheap
11:06
plug time at that time. So we'll bring him on because
11:09
they're right in the camera. So I mean high sight, you know,
11:13
Tristan Craigo and all them, they're getting a lot of
11:15
publicity with that. So but hopefully a lot of
11:18
publicity. So let's go ahead and let's
11:21
bring on Anthony. So again, Anthony dual, you can
11:23
see him at Kalamazoo on Friday nights, you can see him at
11:26
Galesburg on Saturday nights, and this past Saturday he was at
11:30
the new Paris Speedway. So again, Anthony, welcome to
11:32
the Monday Night Rewind. Happy to be here.
11:35
Thank you. And if there is any kind of
11:37
echo, do let us know right away, but I think there was no echo in
11:41
our sound check, But they'll let us, they'll let us know in the
11:44
comments section if they hear an echo.
11:45
But it doesn't sound like it's so far, at least in my ears,
11:49
other than who's just cutting his head off.
11:51
So, so Anthony, as you know, I know you've seen the show
11:56
before, you're, you're usually on the other side with comments
11:59
and all that. So you know generally how this
12:00
goes, but what I wanted to do that shout out because you're
12:04
definitely given obviously dual construction, which is personal
12:08
to you, giving a shout out each time.
12:10
It's right in the camera shot. You can see your logos for dual
12:13
construction, then high side bodies, you know, right there
12:16
too. And I know Matthew LC Junior
12:19
started to do that in his front wheel drives where he put
12:21
sponsor stickers because of quality graphics is in that same
12:24
shot too. So definitely something to think
12:28
about. Like if you get a camera all the
12:29
time, you might, you know, connect with Matt LC over
12:32
quality graphics or whoever your graphics person might be and
12:35
say, hey, I run a GoPro or do whatever.
12:38
I need some dashboard sponsor stickers because that's another
12:42
way to see them, right? It's not just outside the car,
12:45
but one other way. But so I wanted to do that shout
12:49
out because when I was editing, I don't think I've ever noticed
12:51
it before because I didn't pay that close it.
12:53
Like I wasn't paying attention to your dashboard because I'm
12:56
watching for yellow lights, but there's a lot of sunlight.
13:01
So I'm like, how the heck did he see out of this windshield?
13:05
But yeah, because that's sun, right?
13:07
So I was looking, even though I'm watching on a screen, I'm
13:10
like, I'm just looking at your dashboard and I'm watching for
13:12
cars to slow down and your hand to go out the window.
13:15
I'm like, OK, it's caution. So I'm like, hey, wait, they're
13:18
stickers. And so so anyways, that's where
13:22
you know, for those who may not know you, if you want to talk
13:24
because you haven't been on a race car that long and you
13:27
didn't go from drive racing, then move on up.
13:30
You went St. Stock racing.
13:32
So if you want to talk a little bit about your background, how
13:35
you got into racing, why you wanted to be a part of racing,
13:38
and just kind of, then we'll take the conversation from
13:40
there. Well, as a, as a young boy,
13:44
obviously I've always been into racing.
13:46
It's kind of just to think every, every man's Little Dream
13:49
so to speak. But I really never, never was
13:51
into the circle track thing. Scott, Gary Junior, he's pretty
13:56
much always been like a brother to me.
13:57
And I went to the track about 3 years ago, started watching him,
14:02
which is really the first time, even though I was born and
14:04
raised in Kalamazoo, Galesburg area, never went to either
14:07
Kalamazoo or Galesburg. And if I did, it just didn't
14:10
really stand out. And after that I started
14:12
sponsoring him a little bit through the business and got
14:15
pretty heavy with him on that. And him and Brad Brown, Landon
14:20
Brown, Dylan Parker, they all kind of gave me the jump start
14:23
when I finally decided to get a car of my own.
14:26
And that was about two years ago now.
14:28
I, I did super shoe the year before, but that was really
14:32
just, you know, putting some laps on the track.
14:34
And once I got my own car, I kind of went in hot and heavy
14:37
and just been a street shock driver ever since.
14:41
But again, it's a lot of times, right, you see an evolution
14:44
where you see like someone would come out on a front wheel drive,
14:48
then they'll do that for season or two, sometimes 3.
14:51
Then they'll take like a jump up to a street stock and then they
14:54
might do that for a little bit. Sometimes you they might see a
14:57
little bit of a late model or now limited late model or modify
15:00
that. That seems to be the big path
15:02
now is probably drive some modifieds.
15:03
We're seeing that across the area a lot, especially in
15:06
Central Michigan. So what stood out to you?
15:10
You know, you talked about your racing, you talked about how you
15:11
got into it. You know what stood out to you
15:13
about the street stock racing that just absolutely, you know,
15:18
hook flying sinker. Honestly it's probably the cost
15:22
and the the competition in general because in front wheel
15:25
drive it seems to be more of a a a Derby so to speak.
15:31
People more crashing reckon getting into each other.
15:35
They have a lot of money into a lot of those cars, but yet they
15:38
still seem to wreck each other more so than that.
15:41
Street stock drivers, late model drivers modified seem to have a
15:44
lot more typically a lot more respect for each other's
15:47
equipment and seem to be a little bit better.
15:50
But yet once you get into a late models and modifies, you get
15:52
into a, if you don't have a $60,000 car, you're really not
15:55
competing. So, and it's getting to be that
15:58
way with street stocks from the way it seems, you know, some of
16:01
these cheaper cars like mine, I'm not gonna say it's cheaper
16:03
car, but you know, little lower ends are still able to compete.
16:07
But it's not, it's not like these 50 and $60,000 cars.
16:11
And you know, some of us only have ourselves working on the
16:14
cars. And I have a, a huge following.
16:17
I've had a lot of people that have helped me and you know,
16:20
Tristan Crago, he's given me a lot of advice over the years as
16:23
far as how to do my setup, what to do Colin Bozell did a lot
16:26
with me in my first year. He really, really helped me
16:29
enormously start to learn how to do a lot of it on my own.
16:33
And now I'm, I'm really hanging out with Josh Trammell and Matt
16:36
Edmonds and all them right now. And that's, that's getting me a
16:39
long ways. Those guys are awesome.
16:41
They're really family oriented and I have young kids, so that
16:45
helps me a lot. So I'm kind of moving forward as
16:48
far as the street stock thing goes and don't really have a
16:52
major urge to go anywhere else just because it's it's so
16:56
competitive in street stocks. But if you want to do anything
16:58
more, it gets to be so expensive.
17:01
Yeah. Well, and that's the thing.
17:02
I mean, even tires alone, right, like here in the tire budget
17:06
that some people are on and, and I know some tracks allow certain
17:10
things and others, you know, have a hard rule and absolutely
17:14
no. And you know, but it's one of
17:16
those the tracks that allow certain things, right, that, you
17:20
know, they're, they kind of look at it as well.
17:22
We don't promote it, but we also don't stop it because if a
17:28
driver can get two or three nights out of those tires,
17:33
that's saving them some money, right?
17:35
The tracks not making money, which their profit margin is not
17:39
huge on these tires anyways like some do think, but but you know,
17:44
they're not selling a tire if certain things are happening
17:47
right. So it's not like they have this
17:48
constant, you know, push of tires.
17:51
But in their mind, it's like if we can save a little bit without
17:54
having to change the tire because you know, that's
17:56
controversial in itself. If if the name American Racer
17:59
were set at some of these area tracks, people would lose their
18:02
ever loving mind because we're definitely Hoosier country.
18:06
But you know, if if it's a cheaper tire and it can keep
18:11
some people in the game, right? Like sometimes you have to make
18:15
a choice and whether people like it or not, right?
18:18
Like at the end of the day, if a track is trying to save drivers
18:21
money because drivers are not saving themselves the money, you
18:24
know, they got to get this shock or they got to get this when
18:27
it's like, do you really need that?
18:29
You know, and again, take that from a videographer who does not
18:32
work on cars. I just hear the conversations
18:34
and so. I think the tire game has a lot
18:37
more to do, is everybody having their own choice between the
18:42
tracks and really if the tracks could all get in on it together
18:45
so that it would save us. But really, I don't think they
18:48
think too much about that because there's not a whole lot
18:50
of people that travel all over the place.
18:52
Like I go all over in New Paris, Plymouth, all over here.
18:56
So I see multiple different kinds of tires, but I have only
19:00
dealt with Hoosiers and very little with American racers and
19:04
I didn't really notice a big difference.
19:06
But also I'm, I'm newer into the game, so I, I know I believe the
19:10
American races are a harder tire.
19:12
So I think they're slicker as far as what I've been told.
19:16
I haven't dealt with that too much.
19:18
I do kind of like the way Kamazoo does theirs.
19:20
Only allowing 2 tires a night keeps it a little bit more
19:24
competitive because back to those bigger race teams with a
19:26
little bit more money. Not everybody can go out and get
19:29
4 new tires every night and that that makes it a whole new game.
19:34
Well, and I know that I mean that that that tire game in
19:37
itself, right? It's just, you know, Charlie
19:39
Hannah a few weeks ago at New Paris Buju, you'll remember this
19:44
when he took second or was it third or something like that?
19:47
Or Yep, Yep. He was on Austin Maynard tires
19:52
that had over 100 laps on them. And he, Nick Stremi, a few weeks
19:57
before that too, ran second. Him and Haley Bold had quite the
20:00
competition and you know, but Nick was on old tires, right?
20:04
So sometimes, like old tires might, you know, get you a.
20:07
Little bit think Alex Sexton did the same thing in Plymouth a
20:09
couple weeks ago too because I think they made a post about
20:12
being on old tires and winning Plymouth.
20:14
So I mean it definitely, Yep. Doesn't guarantee the fact,
20:18
that's for sure. Yep.
20:19
So not only do you have to worry about tire game, but a lot of
20:24
times drivers when they become, you know, you jumped into this,
20:27
right. Drivers have to think about
20:28
number and scheme. How do they want to stand out to
20:31
the crowd? How do they want to be
20:33
recognized? So what's the story behind your
20:36
44? Because not only do you have to
20:38
worry about, OK, what kind of tires am I getting on here and
20:40
how much is that going to cost me?
20:41
And then what kind of engine do I need and what kind of this and
20:44
what kind of that? You know, because you started
20:46
from scratch and you went right to the best class around that,
20:49
at least Buju. And I feel it's, you know, if
20:51
not one of the top, you know, classes around to like you
20:55
jumped right into this. You want to be competitive.
20:57
So what's the story behind the 44 And then what's the story for
21:00
those who don't know the story behind Sonic and and your
21:05
schemes there with your character cars?
21:08
So the 44? Really, it was just a number.
21:11
I, I work in construction and I have for many years, so numbers
21:15
are nothing to me. I, I have different numbers come
21:17
through every day. I remember numbers from years
21:19
ago. That's really nothing.
21:21
That wasn't important to me. And you know, Scott and
21:24
everybody else are asking me, you know, what you're going to,
21:26
what's your number going to be? I bought the car from Barry
21:28
Jenkins and he was #44 the number was already at the car.
21:32
I drove it all during Super Shoe and I think it was it one of the
21:37
other races after that, I think it was maybe Galesburg.
21:39
But anyways, I drove it that year and I, I kind of asked
21:42
Barry, so would you mind if I just got the number just 'cause
21:44
I'm one of those respectful kind of people.
21:45
I just, you know, And he said, yeah, absolutely.
21:48
So I decided to keep the number and went with it from there.
21:51
And now it's just one of my things.
21:53
It's on all my cars. It's just the way it goes now.
21:56
And with the Sonic, when I started into it most, you
22:00
probably remember Scott Gary's Elsa car.
22:03
And I have a daughter and a son. Scott's got a daughter and a
22:07
son. So he had the Elsa car and I was
22:09
trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to go with.
22:13
And the the new Sonic movie just came out and my son was all over
22:17
it. He loved it.
22:18
He had a backpack. He wanted the Sonic.
22:19
So he kind of moved forward with that a little bit.
22:22
I was like, I like that idea. That'd be a perfect thing for
22:25
the the male area in the future. And kids.
22:29
Kids have always been my future. As far as the racing goes.
22:33
I feel like if there's no kids, there's no future in racing.
22:37
So kind of getting them into it and making them more want to see
22:41
the car, want to get close. And we have kids all the time
22:44
when we're driving down the road, looking at the car, I've
22:46
had multiples that the gas station want to see the car, get
22:50
in it. It's huge to me.
22:51
So Sonic is just stuck. Well, and I know that's
22:55
something too. Even when you pulled in, I was
22:57
down by the track exit area getting ready to go make fun of
23:03
Pressler's for a little bit and you were pulling into 'cause
23:07
that's my thing at anytime, Nick Corey or Gage, I, I have a bingo
23:12
board for them and it's a invisible bingo board.
23:15
And I go over and I say you suck.
23:17
And, and so I'm the first person that day at the racetrack to
23:20
tell them they suck. And then we have like a 10
23:22
minute conversation after that. But that's our thing every time
23:25
I see him. So I was heading that way to
23:28
make fun of him for a little bit and next thing I know,
23:32
Galesburg, Galesburg, Galesburg up there's Anthony, you know,
23:35
Galesburg like it was a like convoy coming down.
23:39
I think you guys were mixed in with the Amish buggy too.
23:42
At the same time. I think there's an Amish buggy
23:44
with you guys, but that's something that, you know, you're
23:47
on an open trailer, right? And so you know, you're in a
23:51
world where and you're in construction, right?
23:52
You have your trailers that have dual construction on them.
23:56
But that's something that right now at least your race cars on
24:00
open trailers. Is that purposeful?
24:01
Is that that's what I have or is that, you know, again, like you
24:05
have a car to showcase and you're doing it on every mile
24:09
you're driving? Absolutely.
24:11
I had a enclosed trailer, a big enclosed trailer to start with,
24:15
and that was just a little bit big for all my trailers and my
24:19
trucks that I have. And I sold that.
24:22
So I've been actually borrowing a good friend of mine's trailer
24:25
for this entire year and most of last year.
24:27
And that kind of has opened my eyes to, I probably won't go
24:31
with an enclosed trailer again. I do like the factor of being
24:34
able to have all of my tools and everything in one place, have it
24:38
all there. But I really, really like the
24:41
idea of all the fans, all the people.
24:43
I mean, you get really more looks from adults driving down
24:46
the road than you do kids in all honesty, that are like, look at
24:48
that car. And that's just, that's cool.
24:51
I don't care how you look at it, that's cool.
24:53
Well, and that was my my favorite thing as a kid, right,
24:57
is, you know, when we would leave Santa Fe Speedway or going
25:00
to Santa Fe Speedway is seeing, you know, Tony Izzo, seniors and
25:04
juniors and all the Izzos, you know, seeing their cars go by,
25:07
seeing those stock cars go by. And even during COVID, when
25:12
Indiana was wide open and Michigan was locked down that,
25:16
you know, so I was going down to South Bend.
25:18
And so a lot of Galesburg drivers, Kalamazoo drivers ended
25:21
up coming down. I mean, a lot of people may do
25:23
not remember Brock Gannison AC feature at South Bend, but he
25:27
was in AC feature at one time. And you know, having, you know,
25:32
all that talent come down, but then driving home from South
25:35
Bend cuz we're all going the same direction.
25:37
We're all going from wide open to lockdown that you know, those
25:40
enclosed trailers like man, this is like way back.
25:43
This takes me back to watching all those you know cuz some
25:47
wearing clothes but there are a lot of open trailer ones.
25:49
I'm like, I'm following a race cars home, how cool is this and
25:51
so. Absolutely.
25:53
And it, and again, it's exposure for your sponsors, right?
25:56
Like, you know, when you're driving by, someone may notice
25:59
something and all your sponsors have characters with them, like
26:02
they're all themed too, which is something you were purposeful
26:06
about. So again, you have, you know,
26:08
just such a nice St. stock. And I know a lot of people may
26:11
not know the story behind the Sonic car, but that's why I
26:13
wanted to bring that up because, again, it's not only does it
26:16
stand out, it's not a black car with neon numbers, but it's a
26:20
bright blue car with yellow, easy to spot even at night.
26:24
And it stands out how that, you know, you put a lot of work
26:27
into. You put a lot of thought into
26:29
it. And of course, you got Matt
26:30
Elsie. They'll help him with the
26:32
graphics. And obviously, he knows a little
26:34
bit of what he's doing when it comes to that kind of stuff.
26:36
Oh yeah. Between between him and Tristan
26:39
Craig go The two of them have helped me make that car look
26:42
very nice, that's for sure. So I'm I'm very happy.
26:45
It's been a little bit beat up now, but I guess, you know,
26:47
that's the saying, that's the street stock, that's the way.
26:49
Yep. Oh, we just lost your connection
26:53
for a moment. Sound.
26:55
Oh, you probably got a notification.
26:57
That's probably why Did did you get a notification come down on
27:00
your phone? I can hear you now.
27:04
Yeah, yeah. That's exactly what that was.
27:06
Yeah, yeah. Bingo board.
27:08
So we had our first notification today.
27:10
But yeah, so if you want to finish that a little bit, you
27:12
said they make it look great. You, we heard you at Tristan
27:14
Craigo have really helped. And then we saw lips moving but
27:18
no sound. Between Tristan Craigo and and
27:22
Matt Elsie, they definitely helped my car look extremely
27:25
nice. It was.
27:26
It was extremely nice the beginning of the year.
27:27
It still stands out from a distance, but when you look at
27:29
it now, it's a little bit different.
27:32
One day I told you, the one day I'm like, you know, it's just
27:34
St. stock. It's not supposed to win a
27:36
beauty contest. It's supposed to look like it's
27:38
been beat up and banged up. You know, you can let the late
27:42
models handle the beauty contest, but you know, but those
27:47
St. stocks are supposed to look rough and rowdy.
27:49
And if you want to talk a little bit about, you know, you
27:53
mentioned traveling and I definitely booze you.
27:56
If you think of something just like jump in and tell me to, you
27:59
know, close my mouth so you can go.
28:01
But but you talked a little bit about your traveling and so
28:06
obviously you came down in New Paris.
28:07
You've been down for both of our trifecta shows.
28:10
You go to Kalamazoo every week. You know, you're in the points
28:13
battle. They're doing points stuff.
28:15
And then you've been at Galesburg, you've been to
28:19
Corrigan Oil. Obviously we don't have, they
28:22
don't have St. stocks anymore. They cut them this year.
28:25
It's tough to get them in Central Michigan.
28:26
Even Springport, you know they get 678 unless it's a big show.
28:31
It's just that area that's modified country.
28:33
You know you can get modifieds from the trees.
28:35
But St. sucks you gotta go and hunt like you're finding a
28:38
dinosaur bone. But but do you want to talk a
28:41
little bit about what tracks you've, you know, really enjoyed
28:44
why you enjoy them, especially as someone who travels around,
28:47
you know, you get Kalamazoo every Friday, fastest 3 eights,
28:51
but then you're going to tight bull rings like a Galesburg,
28:54
like a new Paris, like Corrigan. So what tracks are your like,
28:58
favorites that stand out to you And and what about them stands
29:01
out to you where you're like, man, I'm just so excited to go
29:04
race that today. So I'd say that's hard because I
29:07
really don't have a favorite. I I enjoy traveling all over.
29:12
I really like to see different tracks.
29:14
I'm gonna plan on going to Owosso and a couple other tracks
29:16
this year. I've been to Corrigan a few
29:21
times. I really did like Corrigan.
29:23
Seems like a very tight track. I didn't have a lot of chance to
29:26
get to know it, but I really enjoyed it.
29:28
And I think as far as their, you know, race receiver, I can hear
29:31
them the clear. So I love that aspect about
29:33
Corrigan. That's awesome.
29:35
Communication there is great. Everything is awesome at
29:38
Corrigan. I liked it there.
29:39
I'm kind of bummed they don't have the Street Stock show
29:40
anymore 'cause I'm definitely going up there.
29:44
Kalamazoo and Galesburg both, they're just super local to me.
29:48
Kalamazoo, I like the track probably one of the most for the
29:52
the area. It's a lot more competitive.
29:55
There's a lot faster guys there. So I'm kind of stuck towards
29:58
the, you know, lucky to make it into the top ten and keeping my
30:02
way there, but I'm working towards it and eventually I'll
30:04
be there. I'm a lot more competitive at
30:06
Galesburg because I've been there since the beginning.
30:10
My car's a little bit better there for me at the moment
30:12
working there. I just went down to Plymouth for
30:16
the first time and I love that track.
30:19
Plymouth is awesome. It's it's fast, it's it's great.
30:22
All everything there. I had no nothing down about
30:25
Plymouth, but I think as far as my favorite travel track, it
30:30
would be a really big tie between Springport and New
30:35
Paris. Springport.
30:37
I did really, really good there. Taking second against Ricky
30:41
Leduc for my first year in the street stock was was really
30:44
cool. I know there wasn't some super
30:47
competition like Calum Bozell wasn't there, you know, Ganis's
30:50
weren't there. There wasn't some of those
30:53
really, really fast guys, but still the the competition was
30:57
strong and taking second place in a big race like that was was
31:00
cool to me. But new parishes every single
31:04
time I've personally been there and I know a lot of people have
31:06
ill will with new Paris. I'm big on until you do me
31:10
wrong. I don't do you wrong.
31:11
That's just a personal feeling and I've never had any problems
31:15
there. The the the biggest issue that
31:17
I've had at New Paris, which was minor was just this last
31:21
weekend. I circled the track and they
31:23
told me that I had gas leaking, fuel leaking and go up to the
31:27
check. They told me that it wasn't
31:29
well, I shouldn't say they would didn't tell me that, but they
31:32
didn't see any fuel leaking. Went back around and they said I
31:36
lost a soft by size oil leak. There was no oil leaks.
31:41
I had to leave the track and then I took the tail.
31:43
That's the worst thing that I've had there and nobody's perfect.
31:47
You know, things happen. It is what it is.
31:49
I did have to leave the track. I guess they could have black
31:52
flagged me and I just could have been done with the race that
31:54
ultimately so I'm I'm happy to be able to take eight.
31:56
I was, I was happy with that. Well, and especially in the
32:00
field that you were part of, right.
32:02
I mean, that's the thing with this twin 50s is that, you know,
32:06
you got odds in one race and evens in one race and you kind
32:09
of just look at the make up of the race.
32:11
I mean, you had Rich Bowl in your race.
32:13
You had Sai Bowen, a former MCR dwarf racer in your race.
32:16
You had both Hannahs. I mean, you just you name it,
32:20
you had Gage Harris in there. You just start going down that
32:22
line, Hannahs. Corey.
32:24
Pressler Saiow and you still Yep, Yep, it was just such a
32:27
stacked field and that the other one was in stack that one.
32:30
I mean had every freaking Maynard that existed, you know,
32:33
and that race and you know, like, I think half the field was
32:36
a Maynard or related to Maynard, but you know, and so again, you
32:41
have all that and that race too, that there's just a lot of
32:44
talent in one place, but that's where you held your own, right.
32:47
You're you didn't, you know, put yourself in too many bad spots
32:51
and and a quarter mile. You know, those things happen
32:54
quick. And so again, that's something
32:56
that I think, you know, you came out and, and you know, each time
33:00
you've been there, you've shown that growth and that
33:02
improvement. And so for you, how do you
33:04
tackle one and two? Because that's the one that most
33:07
people talk about, Although Evan Verdine, who's in the race with
33:10
you as well, we had him on last week and he said 3 and 4 is his
33:14
thing. But even Josh Summer was was
33:16
talking a little bit about turn 1 and 2.
33:18
That's kind of everyone's spot. So how do you handle turn 1:00
33:21
and 2:00? Because you didn't seem to have
33:22
too many issues with it on Saturday.
33:25
So to be honest with you, every other time I've been there, but
33:28
turn 3 and 4 has been the the best for me because you can just
33:31
seem to go full throttle through it.
33:33
If you set it up properly, you can pretty much you let off, set
33:37
it up, power through, you can just go all the way through the
33:40
rest. It's really not a big deal.
33:42
But Josh Trammell, when we were coming there, he was kind of
33:45
giving me some insights as far as to his opinion as to where,
33:48
where to how to so on and so forth.
33:51
And to be completely honest with you, maybe it's because I'm
33:54
still new into the car. I don't really know if you could
33:57
say that after two years through, but.
34:00
I. Really forget 90% of their
34:02
actual race. I never really remember up until
34:05
you post one of those videos or I see videos.
34:08
I'm like, oh, that's exactly what it was.
34:11
That's how I did it. So I can't tell you in all
34:14
honesty where I know I'm starting to let off a lot
34:17
sooner. Everybody's telling me, you
34:19
know, the first one off is the first one on.
34:22
And that's kind of I'm, I'm trying to play with that a
34:24
little bit more. I was kind of letting off more
34:26
like the flag stand area and riding through and it seemed to
34:29
be I was a lot faster in turn one and two.
34:32
Then I was in two and three or sorry one and two.
34:35
Then I was in three and four and I just kind of just rode with
34:38
it. My car did not like the outside
34:40
Saturday though it outside right there at the beginning of the
34:44
race. I had a a wrist brace on and he
34:47
couldn't see it because it was off of the video, but I was
34:49
taking it off and driving my steering wheel during one of the
34:52
cautions driving my knee trying to get it off because it was
34:54
ruining my steering. I couldn't control the car.
34:56
So I fell way back on the outside and it just every by the
35:00
time I went outside I fell back. It did not do me any good.
35:04
Yeah, a lot of people on Saturday, well, as soon as they
35:07
got to the outside, I think Evan, when I was watching some
35:10
of the videos doing the on on board, you know, there's a
35:14
couple people looking back, I'm like, this is when they fell
35:17
back, what happened or why? And it's like kind of when they
35:19
got outside, it's like they got they just kind of got sucked
35:22
back into like Saint Joe County, you know, like they just for
35:25
whatever reason. And and that's where I know like
35:28
I heard some chatter in the pen. I'm like, well, Kristen and
35:31
Jason Shepherd, who I know race, you know, he's also on track
35:34
staff, except that day, obviously he wasn't he's a racer
35:37
first, but they were helping, you know, with the the traction
35:40
stuff and all that. I'm like, you know, Chris looks
35:42
like he got into a bar fight. You know, he had it all over
35:46
him. But I know they worked so hard
35:48
on that too. But yeah, it just, sometimes you
35:50
just have that, you know, we've had it at Calamus Zoo where, you
35:54
know, you see Donnie going around doing the squirty squirts
35:56
and next thing you know, later on in the night, it's like
35:59
single file racing, you know, and you know, like it wasn't.
36:02
When the sun went down Saturday in new Paris, the top did come
36:04
in as Steve Stacey lost The Maine and were doing all their
36:06
work on the top side and the. Second, yeah, it it just it kind
36:09
of it's just it happens, right? And so, but I know some people
36:13
are on, you know, talk about that are in the pit area.
36:15
I'm like, it was not for lack of effort.
36:17
You know, the team here, you know, really wanted to do
36:20
everything they could in their power to make this happen.
36:23
And so, you know, some nights it's just like that.
36:26
It happens. And there's nothing you can
36:28
really, there's not too much you can do about it except for, you
36:33
know, it wasn't our night tonight, but we can, we can find
36:36
ways. And so one thing boos you, I,
36:39
I'm gonna step out really quick to just get Jeremiah Wood set
36:42
up. But this is the time 'cause I
36:44
know we're winding down here. Anthony, if you, cause again,
36:47
we've been talk about how beautiful your car is and
36:48
everything, you know who helps you get to the track because
36:52
racing, as you said, it's not cheap.
36:54
You know, tires aren't cheap, things aren't you know, you, you
36:57
don't have a lot in your car. You know, you have enough, you
37:00
know it'd be competitive. But if you want to talk about
37:02
those sponsors who've come in, because out of everybody that I
37:06
see consistently, and I've said this even on comments, right?
37:10
You're one of those drivers who stands out every week 'cause
37:13
you're literally tagging anytime you post anything about racing
37:16
your sponsors and thanking them and tagging their page, tagging,
37:20
you know, people with it. And it's like that's kind of a
37:22
model to do. It's not just thank you to my
37:24
sponsors. Exclamation point.
37:28
Who are they? I'd like to know, You know, I
37:31
might go be able to support one of them, right?
37:33
I'm not buying car parts or anything hopefully anytime soon,
37:36
but if it's a food place or whatever.
37:38
So if you want to thank your sponsors and and who helps you
37:41
get to the track. Absolutely, yeah.
37:44
I have quite a few different sponsors.
37:46
Actually. Most of my sponsors are friends
37:48
of mine. Some of them are people that I
37:51
met just between the race tracks.
37:52
But I got KC Heating and Cooling.
37:54
They came on just this year. They've they've done quite a bit
37:57
for me. They do heating and cooling,
38:00
pretty much anything that you need as far as that goes.
38:03
I've got my wife on there now actually.
38:05
She's dual imageries and I've she's she's doing a lot of the
38:09
photography for me and personal. I've also got high side bodies.
38:13
They he's obviously a good friend of mine.
38:15
He's done a lot for me through the years and he's done my body
38:18
this year. I'll have him do it again next
38:20
year. I've got obviously myself on
38:23
there dual construction. Matt Elsie's on there quality
38:28
graphics. We also have a good friend of
38:32
mine, Denali painting. He does painting and drywalling
38:35
of any sorts that you need. Another friend of mine, Flores
38:38
painting, he's great. His company is awesome as well.
38:41
Lewis is out here, Top row media.
38:43
I asked him if he'd let me put my his logo on my car.
38:46
So I did that this year. S&S power washing, they're on
38:51
there. They're they're great from
38:52
Kalamazoo area, probably one of the best power power washing
38:55
companies you're going to get around the area.
38:58
I've also got a good friend of mine, J&JSJJS landscaping.
39:02
He does my yards for me. So he's he's real good guy. him
39:05
and I hang out every year doing plowing.
39:07
We did a lot of plowing last year.
39:09
So we'll see. I'm sure we'll do the same thing
39:10
this year. Snow socks around here.
39:14
That's I'm over. I spent a lot of time in Florida
39:16
and now now I'm like I kind of want to go back, but I hate the
39:19
heat. So who else I know I'm missing
39:22
others My I take charters every year.
39:26
So I have a telling tales charters.
39:28
So if anybody's interested in any kind of fishing, they're
39:30
awesome. Every every time we go out with
39:32
him, we have a great time. We've never been skunked.
39:34
We've pretty much always hit our limit every time.
39:37
So that's been great. Worthy construction.
39:40
He's another really good friend of mine.
39:42
Any kind of insurance work that you have, any kind of roofing,
39:46
He's he's he's great, great person to work with us.
39:48
Worthy Construction, Kariworthy and the Kalamazoo, Pretty much
39:51
Lansing, Grand Rapids. He's all over the place.
39:55
Who else? Fox Photography.
39:58
Casey Stacy. She's Casey Fox.
40:00
Apologize. She's she's on there now.
40:03
She's a good friend and she takes pictures of the cars.
40:06
She's absolute amazing photographer.
40:09
I. Feel like I'm missing somebody.
40:11
I got a few of them on there you get.
40:15
Quite a list already, Anthony. It's been impressive.
40:18
Like I said, a lot of them, a lot of them are friends.
40:20
I like to support my friends. That's really one of the biggest
40:22
things. Support the people that support
40:24
you. It's, it's never about the
40:26
money. I mean, I, I, not to say that I
40:29
have it, but you know, I run my own company.
40:30
So I don't, I don't stress over that so much.
40:33
It's more about, and I go out there with junk for all I care.
40:36
In all honesty, I don't, I mean, it's, it's not about the high
40:38
dollar. So it's it's more about
40:40
supporting the people that support you more so than
40:42
anything. Again, you have really beautiful
40:46
car, right? You got a big group of people
40:49
behind you. And I know one thing that I've
40:51
always been impressed with, and maybe I don't get to see
40:54
everything, but I get to see a lot.
40:56
And you know, a few weeks ago at Galesburg, right, there's a
41:00
little bit of a thing on the front stretch.
41:02
And I know you're frustrated, but you didn't go, unless I
41:05
missed it, you didn't go yelling and screaming and shouting and
41:09
throwing fists and doing all these things.
41:10
You definitely didn't run to your car and lock yourself in
41:13
and hide, you know, you went you had a respectful conversation.
41:17
And you know, that's something that again, I said, you know, I
41:21
think that says a lot, right, because you also know your kids
41:24
are watching you and that doesn't mean you weren't
41:26
frustrated. That doesn't mean you were
41:27
angry. You just kind of wanted an
41:28
explanation and you talked it out.
41:30
And I've seen you do that at Kalamazoo.
41:32
I've seen you go to pit area, be like, hey, that's my bad.
41:34
You know, like I didn't mean to do that.
41:36
And, you know, and I think that's something again, that
41:40
sometimes even in the heat and the moment, it's one thing to
41:42
remember that there are a lot of people watching, especially that
41:47
young generation that we want to come to the track and be a part
41:50
of the track that we kind of need to be mindful of how we,
41:54
you know, how we react. And then because we see it in
41:58
sports all the time, right? If you're watching NBA or NFL,
42:01
they're going, you know, kids are going to mimic the people
42:04
who they're seeing, you know, from LeBron James flopping all
42:07
over the place like a dead fish. And you know, all these things,
42:10
right, Like, you know, they're going to mimic that or, you
42:13
know, NFL players doing their dances, Fortnite doing dances,
42:17
right, they're going to do that. So if they see, you know, race
42:19
car driver doing a certain thing and that's who their hero is or
42:22
that's who they're watching, they might just do that too.
42:24
And you're like, that's not the habit.
42:26
I need you to start. So again, that's something that
42:29
just continued to be who you are and and definitely I know you're
42:32
rounding out the season here. You got point championship
42:34
coming up at Galesburg soon, Points championship coming up at
42:37
Galesburg or we talked for Galesburg at Kalamazoo in a
42:40
couple weeks here. You got Ravers Rumble that's
42:42
coming up on next Wednesday. So there's a, there's a lot of
42:45
chances to see your Sonic, but we're also running out of time
42:48
on the Sonic because before you know it, but it's going to be
42:52
your favorite part of the year where there's a lot of.
42:54
You're going to be missing Florida again.
42:57
I wish. I wish I was able to.
43:00
But, and again, that's right, definitely thank you for coming
43:03
on tonight and joining us and being able to talk about you and
43:07
your car because again, it's definitely a car that stands
43:09
out. And I figure coming fresh off a
43:11
flagger boy, you know, you had a chance to talk a little bit
43:14
about your weekend, but still so many shows coming up for what
43:17
you're doing. And I know you'll be back at New
43:19
Paris September 19th. You were saying for the
43:22
trifecta. So I know Sonic will be making a
43:24
return trip here and a little over a month back down to the
43:28
hottest core mile in the Midwest.
43:30
So again, I know you got family time to go enjoy, movie time to
43:33
go enjoy. So thank you, Anthony, so much
43:35
for joining us tonight on the Monday Night Rewind.
43:38
Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys.
43:39
Oh, absolutely. And and I'll see you.
43:42
I won't see you this week, but I will.
43:43
I'll see you next week. Sounds good.
43:46
I'll see you next week. Yep, you guys have a good week.
43:49
Thank you. You too, again, we have been
43:51
talking with Anthony Dual St. stock racer at Kalamazoo.
43:55
Galesburg comes down to new pairs for our special shows.
43:59
You've seen them at Corrigan Oil and it also has Dual
44:01
construction. So if you're looking for any
44:03
construction needs, of course, you can reach out to dual
44:06
construction to see how they might be able to help you.
44:08
But now we're going to transition over here a little
44:12
bit and we're going to talk the life of flagging and how do you
44:16
even find yourself on the flag stand?
44:19
But there's also a big story behind Jeremiah too, that, you
44:22
know, he hasn't always been flagging, but there's definitely
44:25
generations in his family and how he found himself as part of
44:28
that. But one thing to remember that I
44:30
want to remind everyone is again, continue to like share,
44:33
send this out. You're able to ask questions in
44:35
the comments too. So if you have a question that
44:37
you would like to know, definitely drop that in the
44:39
comments and we'll we'll show many of them on the screen while
44:43
we're talking, especially if you don't know what it's like to be
44:45
a flagger. I believe Buju, that Jeremiah
44:48
will be our first flagger that we've had.
44:51
Sounds right to me. All right.
44:55
Hey, guys. How are you doing tonight?
44:57
Good, good. Good.
44:59
Well, I know. Oh, I was just saying I'm.
45:03
Finally calming down from all the back to school stuff and all
45:06
that tonight so. I was going to say you you had
45:09
back to school tonight. I know when I messaged you at
45:11
first we didn't have a a 740. Guess I'm like, well, I know
45:15
you've been doing I racing for the last couple weeks and all
45:18
that, so I didn't want to bother you because you and Matt Else,
45:21
Matthew Elsie Junior were doing the same I racing and so I'm
45:25
like, oh, I don't want to bother him, but I'm like, no, the
45:28
championship just happened so I don't.
45:29
Think I don't. Think he's I racing tonight?
45:32
This is this is the first Monday I've had off in a while, Yeah.
45:35
So that's why I'm like, I'm reaching out to him because I
45:38
wanted to get you on. But then like I said, I know
45:40
that that 500 Sprint card score I racing was happening each
45:43
week. So so other than that, like I
45:48
said, I think you're the first flag man other than Brian
45:50
Kuseba. Brian Kuseba used to flag at
45:52
South Bend and and Ileana and that kind of deal.
45:56
So but like full time flag man right now, he race tracks.
46:00
So if you want to talk about the life of a flagger and and first
46:03
start with who's Jeremiah Woods and how do you end up at a
46:06
racetrack? Well, I've been around them for
46:12
really my entire life, you know, kind of the same story.
46:15
A lot of the guys that we run into still, you know, and my
46:20
grandfather was race car driver flagman and you know, my uncles
46:26
Steven and Caleb, they both took to it and did the racing thing
46:30
for a while. And so sometimes they still do
46:33
and we see them off and on again and both of them flagged.
46:37
And you know, Steven, Steven has been working with Chris and
46:42
Tracy there at New Paris and the opportunity came up for me to
46:46
get in there and, and have my chance at it and I just run with
46:51
it. Or in this case, you just let it
46:55
drop. So, So what?
47:02
See, I mean, you've talked about the generations, right?
47:04
And so how do you learn to be a flag man?
47:06
Like how does someone find themselves with sticks in their
47:09
hands and become a flag man? To be honest, I I mean, I
47:16
watched, you know, Caleb for a long time and I really liked he
47:21
just had a, a different flair to him.
47:25
You know, I got to watch Stephen do his thing with the World of
47:27
Outlaws and, and some of the opportunities they've had.
47:32
I think the one that always stuck out to me the most was
47:35
Mighty Mike Powers and you know, new Paris was home and that's
47:40
where I was every weekend. And, and just even, you know, a
47:44
small frame does a guy that he was, you know, the, the amount
47:48
of respect that he demanded when he walked on the track.
47:51
You know, it just that kind of flair is just so he stuck with
47:56
me as far as like a formal training.
48:00
I really haven't had any. It just, you know, I, I wanted
48:05
the opportunity. I, I, I know and understand
48:09
what's going on. And so, you know, what better
48:12
way to be a, a representation of what's going on and, and have
48:16
some fun with it at the same time.
48:18
So I was there. I just took it.
48:22
Yeah, and I mean, you've definitely thrown yourself into
48:25
it. I mean, you dressed like the
48:26
traditional flagger boy. This past.
48:29
Weekend, you did get to run on the track this year like you did
48:34
last year. I don't think anybody's more sad
48:38
about it than I am. So you want to talk a little bit
48:41
about like why, you know, what's the tradition behind that, why
48:45
you wanted to do that and that the second feature you had at
48:49
times just right, but the first feature was.
48:52
Yeah. A little.
48:55
Yeah. So you know, obviously as the
48:58
years go on, things changed around the racetrack.
49:01
But traditionally there for a while, I mean that's how you
49:04
started the race was down on the track and and there was no tower
49:08
for the flagman to be in. So he would just start it from
49:11
right there on the track and run off to the side there and then
49:14
flag it from the gate, which is kind of what I tried to
49:17
represent this weekend, given I didn't get the opportunity to
49:21
replicate full thing. But yeah, I mean, just, I don't
49:28
know the, the history that the Galloway's have their new Paris,
49:32
you know, and, and honestly, you look at the tracks surviving
49:35
today, you know, and, and withholding against the storm,
49:40
New Paris has never gone anywhere, you know, and a large
49:42
portion of that was due to the, the, the passion that they put
49:47
into it, you know, and the, and the sport and to get to, to put
49:52
on that uniform, you know, and, and, and go for it like that.
49:56
It's just something I'll never forget.
49:58
And, and I I don't know that I could ever pass down the
50:02
opportunity. You know, it's just monumental
50:06
for a kid who grew up in New Paris.
50:10
Well, and that's where, you know, it was cool and you got a
50:13
shout out from Dale Earnhardt's podcast, I think, and all that.
50:17
But then obviously insurance didn't find it as groovy.
50:22
So, you know, and unfortunately, right, a lot of people don't
50:26
understand sometimes that insurance dictates so much what
50:30
a track can and can't do. It's not always the track.
50:34
Sometimes it's insurance like can't do that.
50:36
Try and make the same argument every time though.
50:38
I signed the same waiver that all the race car drivers do, you
50:41
know? I mean, if you do something dumb
50:43
and you get hurt, it's not the track's fault.
50:45
Well, I mean. That.
50:48
Seems to fall into that. Category, you know.
50:50
Did you have a moment last year where I was like, oh, that was a
50:52
little closer. Did you do you feel like you
50:54
were OK? I don't think I realized quite
50:58
how close it was until I saw the video afterwards.
51:02
I yeah, I mean. I'm not trying to shoot your
51:07
performance, brother. They they were, they were a lot
51:10
faster than I expected them to be, you know what I mean?
51:14
But did I ever genuinely think I was in danger?
51:16
Yeah, I hear. Yeah.
51:18
Yeah. I mean, you made it.
51:21
Yeah, right. And like I said, you know, and,
51:24
and like you said, as far as the first one, you know, was a
51:27
little rough, but then from there on we were good.
51:29
You know, I did, I, I kind of played with it as far as, you
51:32
know, the, the very first trial, which we didn't, you know, I had
51:35
to redo it. I was only maybe 2-3 steps out,
51:38
you know. And so it was like, well, I'm
51:39
not, you know, I, I have seen, you know, Landis do it and I, I
51:44
can go a little bit further, you know, and so I took the
51:46
opportunity and obviously it went way bigger than any of us
51:51
expected it to be, but. I enjoyed it.
51:54
For the record, I liked it. I insurance may not know.
51:56
But I did you know. Obviously everybody's got an
51:59
opinion on Facebook and there was a lot of mixed opinions and
52:02
a lot of people that were like, you know, the the worst could
52:05
happen. Well, it didn't, You know and
52:07
and. The worst could happen every
52:09
week, right? I mean, we're all taking risks.
52:11
Like I said that that used to be a a weekly thing that you would
52:14
see there. I mean, it's the only difference
52:17
between now and then is how much faster the cars have gotten.
52:20
That's it. And honestly, I got a lesson in
52:23
respecting that given the opportunity, you know, so.
52:29
And I think that's kind of how we all live and learn anyway.
52:31
So, yeah, I mean, could the worst have happened?
52:33
Sure, probably. But I don't know.
52:38
It's not what went down. And I hear you.
52:42
We're all better for it, I guess.
52:44
Yeah, well, so being a flag man, what has been moments or times
52:49
that has stood out to you from the Tower, right?
52:52
Because now you get that bird's eye view of these races.
52:55
So what moments have stood out to you while you've done it?
53:01
Flagging the first, My first Sizzler was pretty, pretty epic.
53:05
Kyle Krum. I I've been a fan of that guy
53:08
for a while and to see him and Bobby Blunt equipment come down
53:11
and run it and, and do well was pretty special.
53:18
Honestly, I think it's just some of the moments, you know, that
53:23
like I said, I I've watched Caleb do it.
53:25
I watched Steven do it. I knew my grandfather did it,
53:27
you know, and some of the moments that I get to have and
53:31
and get to live through them, you know, the flagger boy the
53:35
first year and even like some of the autograph nights, you know,
53:39
just getting to see the drivers interact.
53:41
I mean, so many of them, you know, Charlie Hannah ritual to
53:45
to get to see those guys and you know, be a part of that.
53:49
You know, even Ronnie Maynard was one of my biggest heroes
53:52
growing up. I love that guy.
53:55
And you know, now getting to flag his races and stuff.
53:57
It just it brings a special flair to even I mean, I already
54:02
have a a fantastic job. I love it.
54:06
I it is a ton of fun, you know, but then to kind of be a part of
54:11
those moments with those guys, you know, even summers winning
54:15
the the flagger boy, like I, I flagged that race, you know what
54:19
I mean? No, but nobody else is there,
54:20
you know? I don't know.
54:22
I just, those moments really stick out, the big ones, you
54:25
know? Now, have you flagged anywhere
54:28
else or is new pairs so far the only spot?
54:31
So I did flag in Angola. I did that for a little while
54:35
and I definitely a different track, you know, and a different
54:41
perspective. No scoreboard there either.
54:43
So counting laps and some of that I'm a little spoiled with
54:45
here at New Paris makes my life a lot easier.
54:51
Have you ever forgot to wave the flat?
54:53
Oh, sorry, go ahead with you. I'm just curious, like I've,
54:56
I've done a little bit of flag in the night of destruction
54:58
events and I feel like when I'm in the flag stand, I'm trying to
55:00
watch everything so I don't see anything.
55:03
Do you get to, do you feel like you get to enjoy the races while
55:05
they're happening? Or is it sort of like like me
55:08
and Lewis were talking about when he drove a car for the
55:10
first time? Is it like afterwards like, oh,
55:11
that was a good race. I.
55:14
Mean obviously I'm watching all of them.
55:17
I mean, safety is my biggest thing.
55:19
I could. Really, you know, obviously I, I
55:21
like to have a good player with the flags and stuff, but it none
55:24
of that matters to me. My, my biggest thing is just, I
55:27
mean, we all know how much money all these guys who got wrapped
55:30
into them cars right now. And for me to be watching the
55:34
race and, and have somebody, you know, spun out of two and they
55:38
all barrel roll through him and we got a parking lot.
55:40
I can't have that, you know what I mean?
55:41
That is 100% what I'm there for. And and so that is my my top
55:46
priority always. There are sometimes, you know,
55:50
like this weekend where I got my youngest, she just got out of
55:55
the bath. She wanted to come say hi to
55:56
Dan, you know, try to remember where I was going with it.
56:04
Sorry. Enjoying races, watching from
56:07
the flights. Oh yeah.
56:07
Watching you gave them joy, you know?
56:09
There are times where you can definitely tell, you know, and
56:12
like summers and and debris in their battle, you know, that was
56:16
some some St. stock racing 1/4 mile, you know what I mean?
56:19
And so obviously, you know, those guys leading the field.
56:22
I'm watching that because the second something goes wrong
56:25
there, the entire field is right behind them, You know, so there
56:29
are times where I do get those moments, you know, the the
56:31
weekend before with Mike Harvey and his St. stock run and Hannah
56:36
Riff in the top. And so, you know, I, I get to
56:38
see those things. But as far as you know, there
56:42
are times where even after the races, you know, on the way
56:44
home, my wife's talking to me about what's going on and, and
56:47
she's, you know, did you see that?
56:48
No, I honestly didn't, you know, I, I really didn't catch it, you
56:51
know. So, yeah, I mean, I think there
56:55
is, like I said, I get to see the big, the big things and some
56:58
of the movers going on. But I mean, really I'm just
57:00
focused on what's going on. You know, I you miss one thing,
57:04
it could be quite a big deal for everybody so.
57:09
I hear you. Did you have another?
57:13
One no, Fort Lewis. That's why I was letting you go.
57:17
I don't want to step on you again.
57:19
So but it does dovetail. So it's like we'll just reverse
57:23
it. I was going to say, do you ever
57:24
get such a cheer race? You're like, oh, shoot, I'm
57:27
supposed to wave the flag. It's white flags, everybody or
57:30
check because I was it on flow somewhere a flag man completely
57:36
forgot to wave like the white flag because he was just like
57:39
into the race and then did a Hector's flag like and
57:42
everyone's like, where's the white flag?
57:44
I, I'm so I know I did have some issues in Angola with the
57:51
countdown not being on there. So sometimes like I would give
57:54
them the white, like maybe one too early or something like that
57:58
anymore. I think the biggest one that
58:00
you'll catch me on is like I missed the halfway.
58:02
I, I try and, you know, when the race starts, I'll, you know,
58:06
however many laughs we've got, you know, say it's 30, you know,
58:08
I'll tell myself 15's the magic number.
58:10
And I do, you know, kind of as I watch the crowd come around,
58:13
I'll look up at the board. But sometimes I, you know,
58:16
especially if something's going on.
58:17
Again, I mean, the safety and the paying attention is my
58:20
biggest thing. So, you know, and again, maybe
58:24
this is a luxury at New Paris where they can all see the
58:26
scoreboard as they go down the backstretch.
58:28
But you know if if I miss telling them it's halfway or. 10
58:33
laps. Because I was watching something
58:35
that that could possibly turn worse, you know, I, I mean, if
58:39
that's something that nobody's ever said anything to me.
58:42
But if, if somebody was to come up and tell me that, you know,
58:44
I, like I said, safety is my big thing.
58:46
And if I miss it, chances are I was probably watching something
58:49
going on, you know? I think that's perfectly
58:51
understandable, from my perspective anyway.
58:54
Well, what's something that you wish people knew about like
58:57
being on the flag stand? Because obviously, as you said
59:00
on Facebook, everyone has opinions and everybody, there
59:05
are many people who always feel they could do it better, right?
59:08
Or, or they've watched someone and they think you should be
59:12
just like them, right? That's the glorious thing about
59:15
Facebook is you will never be short of someone's opinion.
59:21
But even in person, right, there's people who probably come
59:23
up to you or come to the flag stand because you're right
59:26
there. It's easy to come up to you and
59:27
shout at you as if you're the one making the decisions, right
59:31
where you're like, I'm turn around, you know, like those are
59:36
the people. I mean, honestly, I think I
59:43
don't know. I mean, the, the one thing as
59:46
far as like people coming up, you know, a lot of people tell
59:48
me about stuff on the track or whatever.
59:50
Most of the time we're already working on it.
59:52
You know what I mean? Like that kind of stuff, which I
59:54
mean, I don't, I enjoy the interaction and they'll, people
59:58
feel they can come up and, and say something, you know, But
1:00:02
yeah, some of the decision making.
1:00:03
I mean, that's, that's not really on me, you know, And, and
1:00:07
I'm I'm. OK with that, you know, I don't
1:00:10
get me wrong. Am I scared of the
1:00:12
responsibility? Have I made calls?
1:00:14
Have I been asked? You know, absolutely.
1:00:16
But you know, they got video replay up there for us.
1:00:20
Yeah, I, there's not really any question making or anything, you
1:00:24
know, it's, it's on him and, and how he feels about the
1:00:26
situation. You know, restarts are, are my
1:00:29
thing. You know, I pretty much if, if
1:00:32
I'm OK with it, I'm going to, I'm going to send it, you know,
1:00:35
But past that, I'm mostly there for safety and presentation, you
1:00:40
know what I mean? I I enjoy it from the by the
1:00:44
towers perspective when Jeremiah's not letting the
1:00:46
restart go because the head drops and it's just.
1:00:48
Yeah. I mean.
1:00:51
I have an expectation, you know, and, and you know, the same.
1:00:54
You said everybody's got an opinion.
1:00:56
I probably do too, you know, But yeah, it's not my jurisdiction,
1:01:01
you know what I mean? It's not my, my call to make
1:01:05
And, and, and not to say that we don't agree on a lot of things,
1:01:08
but just, you know, it's not, but I don't mind showing that
1:01:11
emotion because I feel as though it's a, it's part of the
1:01:16
presentation and part of the passion that I have for, for
1:01:19
what we do. I mean, this is, I live this
1:01:22
short track stuff day in and day out.
1:01:24
It's, you know, any, any way I can get it.
1:01:27
So I, I feel as though, you know, the position that I have,
1:01:30
I should show that passion. Well, otherwise you're just a
1:01:35
guy with sticks. Right, yeah.
1:01:39
And and not, not to say that I'm, I'm better than anyone or
1:01:44
the other, but you can, you know, if you watch some of the
1:01:46
guys and it's not even just here, you know, watch it when
1:01:49
you you're watching the replays on on TV and you'll see them.
1:01:52
I mean, just not very excited to be there, you know, and I I just
1:01:58
wouldn't want anybody, you know, especially the younger
1:02:00
generation. Like I said, I mean, I paid
1:02:02
attention to those guys when they were up there, so I
1:02:04
wouldn't want one of those kids to look up at me and I'm just,
1:02:07
you know, bland, you know, just a little, even for, you know,
1:02:14
say it a short term of whatever I'm, you know, how long I'll be
1:02:18
there. Like, it's just, I wouldn't want
1:02:20
somebody to look up and be like, no, that's a part of part of the
1:02:24
show always has been a new Paris.
1:02:26
Yeah, well, I mean, and just that anywhere, I mean, I there's
1:02:31
five men sometimes, you see. And I'm like, oh, like put a
1:02:36
little spaz in it. Put something, you know, just
1:02:40
put a little extra wrist in it. I don't know, like something.
1:02:44
Otherwise you're just guys holding sticks.
1:02:47
You know, and I feel like I'm I'm really inconsistent too,
1:02:50
like I don't necessarily have a for sure pattern.
1:02:54
I'm just kind of up there having fun, you know, and maybe that's
1:02:56
because I've not never been trained, you know, this is the
1:02:59
way to do it. I'm, I get there and I play with
1:03:02
the flag when I, you know, the wind starts picking up or
1:03:05
whatever and see what I like for the night and I'll run with it
1:03:07
and try something different. You know, I, I mean, nobody's
1:03:10
coming to me and been like, you're the worst.
1:03:12
You need to get down from there, you know, So I just keep going
1:03:15
with it. So you've talked about racing,
1:03:19
you've talked about flagging. You also like we talked to at
1:03:22
the beginning, right? You've done I racing.
1:03:24
So how did you find yourself and I racing where you're like
1:03:28
behind the wheel? Honestly, I started that all the
1:03:32
way back 2014 something I think I've been on there for 11 years.
1:03:40
The the short track passion. You know, at the time we had
1:03:44
like short track racing, you know, the NASCAR games, but
1:03:51
nobody had done, you know, short track, St. stocks, late models,
1:03:57
you know, nobody was doing that. And for them to come out and do
1:04:00
that, you know, at the time I I was going to race, you know,
1:04:04
that was everything that I had my sights set on when I was
1:04:07
right out of high school. And life happens, you know,
1:04:11
sometimes we don't go down that road.
1:04:13
But for me, you know, and in my position in life, there is yeah,
1:04:18
I I've heard all the the same complaints about it's not real
1:04:22
or you don't feel it in in your butt or this that you know, and
1:04:25
it's true. But the the racing adrenaline
1:04:30
pump is the same like you. You are still.
1:04:32
Running door to door sometimes three wide you know, having a
1:04:37
good time and you know I get to cut it up with, you know, Ryman
1:04:41
and and even, you know, gay Terrace.
1:04:43
You know, from this weekend. You know, I've, I've gotten to
1:04:45
run laps with all all kinds of people, you know, even as far as
1:04:49
like SVGI ran a dirt Rd. course with him, you know, just stuff
1:04:53
like that that you don't really get to, you know, even in real
1:04:58
life, you know, say I had it, I'd I'd be spending buku bucks
1:05:01
to get the opportunity to do that and you get to go cut it up
1:05:04
with them. And yeah, I mean, 90% of the
1:05:07
time they spank you. But at the same time, where else
1:05:11
do you get that opportunity, you know?
1:05:13
So what's your number in I racing?
1:05:15
You know, what's your or what's your preferred number?
1:05:18
And if you want to talk a little bit about like, you know,
1:05:21
sometimes I racers will have like sponsors and that kind of
1:05:24
deal. If you have any sponsors who
1:05:26
jump on your car with you. Yeah.
1:05:29
So usually I pick either 222 or 75.
1:05:34
The 222 is my wedding anniversary.
1:05:36
We got married on 2/22/22 and then the 75 was the number of my
1:05:41
grandfather ran. Steven did for a little bit too.
1:05:44
Still kind of does on the the Midget stuff.
1:05:51
Yeah. I mean, sorry kids.
1:05:54
What was the question the second?
1:05:56
.0 No, you're fine. Like you, sometimes I racers
1:05:59
will have like people who help sponsor them or they're on their
1:06:02
car as support or whatever. Who?
1:06:05
Who do you have on your car? Well, I I did ask you about it
1:06:09
for the 500 Red car tour. You know, shout out top row and
1:06:15
past that I would say my biggest one is Winston deal with WD
1:06:19
broadcasting the LTP St. Stocks.
1:06:22
Shout out we we have been doing Winston and I have been eye
1:06:29
racing togethers 05/5 or six years now.
1:06:34
I actually raced direct for him on Tuesday nights for the Street
1:06:37
Stock series. And I don't know, he he's a
1:06:42
younger guy from the area, you know, and he shares that same
1:06:45
passion for racing and he has supported me anytime he's head
1:06:53
up help or anything like that or even a league to run.
1:06:55
You know, I, I really don't run too much else other than the
1:06:58
ones that he puts on. And, you know, it's just the
1:07:01
kind of same thing that all the drivers around here want his
1:07:04
consistency and a good schedule to run, you know?
1:07:09
So would you ever racetrack a real race?
1:07:12
Yeah, I mean, I I wouldn't, wouldn't shy away from the
1:07:16
responsibility. I think a lot of it is just, you
1:07:19
know, yeah. I mean, there's sometimes
1:07:22
there's going to be hard, hard decisions to make.
1:07:24
But past that, everybody wants decency and respect.
1:07:27
And I mean, honestly, with the amount of work that it takes to
1:07:30
put a car together and bring it to the track anymore, you have
1:07:33
to respect the guy, you know? I can't do it.
1:07:38
Why? I'm, I'm filling in where I can,
1:07:40
you know, and like I said, I think, I think that's a lot of
1:07:43
it and just communication. Well, cuz you know, our next
1:07:48
guest coming up here in just a little bit was a, was a racer,
1:07:52
then became a flagger and now is race tracker over at Granny
1:07:55
County St. Way in Illinois.
1:07:56
So kind of a path, right? There's a, you know, there's a
1:07:59
path maybe to the top of the tower with the like errors.
1:08:02
I like to say the big kahuna. I don't know if everyone wants
1:08:07
that sometimes, but but you never know, you might be called.
1:08:13
Hey, I mean, like I said, I was, I was grateful for the
1:08:16
opportunity to be where I'm at. And you know, if the ladder
1:08:18
continues to go up, I'll keep going up with it.
1:08:21
I, I, I have a huge passion for this sport and if I can do
1:08:25
anything to to influence it for the better, I absolutely will be
1:08:29
there for it. Oh no.
1:08:31
Well, and that's where I know you've had, you know, you've had
1:08:36
a really long day because you not only had work, but then back
1:08:39
to school night. And I, I know how that goes.
1:08:43
I'm very familiar with back to school nights and, and the work
1:08:46
that goes into the behind the scenes.
1:08:48
But then obviously you have multiple kids, right?
1:08:51
That's those are long days out of school and and they're
1:08:55
probably like, why do I have to go back to school?
1:08:57
I'm, I'm going to have all four of them in school this year, so
1:09:00
it's going to be. Crazy.
1:09:02
There and everywhere with the school bus, you know?
1:09:05
Yeah, I'll ask you September 19th how you're feeling.
1:09:08
Hey, I'm going to be getting ready to go salmon fishing then,
1:09:10
so I'm going to be on cloud 9, promise.
1:09:13
OK, well, well, I'll still ask by then going.
1:09:17
So how's it like having four kids in school and managing the
1:09:21
bus and managing what's for lunch today?
1:09:23
Well, I don't like what's for lunch today and all the things
1:09:26
that come. That make that makes for a good
1:09:28
race director. I am, I cannot take any of, I
1:09:33
mean, I, I'm here and I'm present and I'm a part of it.
1:09:36
But my wife is a rock when it comes to all of that and she is
1:09:42
experienced at it at this point. You know what I mean?
1:09:44
I am just just the support to make it all happen, whatever her
1:09:49
vision for them is so. That, well, I'm a big fan of
1:09:52
her, so I didn't get to see her on Saturday.
1:09:54
I was so busy. By the time I got to the roof,
1:09:56
I'm like, I never went and said hi.
1:09:59
I felt really bad about that because we tried to do that
1:10:01
every race. Yeah.
1:10:04
So I have to double it up if she's at.
1:10:06
If she's there Saturday, I have to double it up and make sure to
1:10:08
circle around a couple times, be like I'm making up for last
1:10:11
week. I'm so sorry.
1:10:13
Yeah, we might have something on the grill for you too.
1:10:16
Oh yeah, I mean, I like, you know, I like those routines like
1:10:19
that where it's connections and and her and I have that special
1:10:24
just like with the safety team at Kalamazoo, I walk the track
1:10:27
while they're walking the track and I fist bump them, you know,
1:10:30
going to opposite directions. And so, you know, we have that
1:10:32
connection and with her it's always good and over saying
1:10:36
hello. How's she doing?
1:10:38
Yeah, you know, it matters to me.
1:10:39
So I know she appreciates it. Oh no.
1:10:42
So I almost messaged him like I'm so sorry if you hate me I
1:10:45
understand. No, to be honest, she's the one
1:10:48
that convinced me to do it. I think I would normally be too
1:10:51
shy, but I I'm not much of A talker.
1:10:56
I mean, if you want to talk to me, I'll talk to you, but I
1:10:59
don't usually go out of my way to conversate.
1:11:04
It's OK, you'll you'll come around, you'll see the the light
1:11:07
side of things. Yeah, well, you know, like I
1:11:10
said, I'm not against talking, but I'm just not usually one to
1:11:13
go out of my way for it so. Yeah, but hey, you get to the
1:11:18
best seat in the house and so, you know, sometimes you're kind
1:11:22
of in your own world, right? That's what I say in the roof
1:11:25
because I'm in my own world and but we all get to live the same
1:11:29
experiences together. So that's why, like I said, I
1:11:32
wanted to bring you on for a couple weeks just because it's
1:11:35
like we haven't really had like flag men on here.
1:11:38
And I'm trying to get like all these people who I feel we
1:11:42
should spotlight on. And so that's where I'm glad we
1:11:45
were able to get you on. Well, I appreciate it.
1:11:47
I really do. Thanks for talking to me guys.
1:11:49
Oh no, absolutely. But like I said, I know you've
1:11:51
had a long day, so and it's almost time to get them ready to
1:11:54
go to bed because school comes back very quickly around the
1:11:57
corner. So yeah.
1:11:59
Well, big super start in 4 minutes too so.
1:12:02
Oh, there you go. OK, so I'll let you get going
1:12:07
then. That way you can enjoy that.
1:12:08
But again, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
1:12:11
Yeah. Thanks, see you guys later.
1:12:12
Have a good week. Yep.
1:12:13
See ya, you too. But again, you'll get to see
1:12:16
Jeremiah Woods this Saturday at top of the new Paris Speedway
1:12:19
flag stand. Don't know what he's going to
1:12:20
wear this Saturday. He always seems to come in
1:12:22
something different and to match the theme.
1:12:24
But it's a night of destruction at the hottest core mile in the
1:12:27
Midwest. And then we have Championship
1:12:29
Week the week after that and Summer Sizzler rescheduled for
1:12:35
August 29th, but something to put on your calendar for
1:12:38
October. I want to make sure I say these
1:12:40
dates, right? If not, Brian will correct us.
1:12:41
15th, 16th and 17th I believe are the dates because it's my
1:12:45
birthday week or it's 17th, 18th, 19th.
1:12:48
It's one of those combinations. We have Brian Kusaba on from the
1:12:51
Grundy County Speedway again, I'm borrowing his car again.
1:12:56
The logo, Grundy logo didn't want to load for me the way I
1:12:59
needed it to and I went does not look good.
1:13:01
So I'm not going to do it. But so we're I'm borrowing his
1:13:05
car again. But we are here to talk Bahama
1:13:07
brackets. So if you've never been to the
1:13:08
Bahama, oh, you've got the shirt on.
1:13:10
So if you've not been to the Bahama brackets at the used to
1:13:14
be Rockford, right. So historically they're at
1:13:16
Rockford, but then obviously the history of Rockford came to a
1:13:20
sudden close and now they're building stuff on it where
1:13:24
Grundy County was one of the area tracks to take on
1:13:27
historical events from from Rockford as Slinger and others
1:13:31
kind of split the split all the things.
1:13:33
So again, I know a lot of people look forward to it, especially
1:13:37
from this area. So last time we were going to
1:13:39
try to bring on Brian, that's when a tornado came through your
1:13:41
area and you know, you weren't too far from the action with
1:13:44
that tornado. So obviously bigger fish to fry
1:13:47
and that's like, I know storms are rolling through today, but
1:13:51
like, I don't know, it's Monday. Eventually it won't storm on a
1:13:54
Monday, but. It's almost like what else is
1:13:57
new now. The last, the last several weeks
1:14:01
we've, we've just been getting hammered and unfortunately it's
1:14:06
taken its toll on our Friday and Friday and Saturday night shows
1:14:10
where we've actually had to in the last, I, I believe three to
1:14:16
four weeks, we've had to cancel almost every single night.
1:14:21
We almost, we almost wasn't able to get Friday night show in.
1:14:26
We were, we were battling pop up showers that were, I would say
1:14:31
probably no more than 10 miles away seeing lightning strikes.
1:14:37
I'm like, oh, we're not going to get this night in.
1:14:40
And we pushed through and somehow, we somehow we got one
1:14:44
of our makeups in on Friday when it didn't look like it was going
1:14:48
to end up happening. Well, and I wasn't, I follow
1:14:52
like Matt Rodkin and all that, but I feel like it was WND or
1:14:55
someone said, does it feel like every weekend it's rained this
1:14:59
year? And they had like a graphic and
1:15:01
I want to say it was like over 60% of weekends so far up to
1:15:05
that point had rain or storms of some sort during that time.
1:15:11
Because it feels like, I mean, Kalamazoo, we've had our
1:15:13
schedule on Fridays decimated. New Paris has only had, they've
1:15:16
gotten lucky. They've only had one rain out,
1:15:19
and that was the Sizzler, and we had storms at our night of
1:15:24
destruction on July four or third, but they still got almost
1:15:27
all the show in -2 or three races.
1:15:30
At some point. It's like lightnings above us,
1:15:32
guys. I don't think we can do this
1:15:34
anymore. You know, like at some point
1:15:36
you're like, I'm not here to get struck.
1:15:38
And, you know, and there's a lot of metal and a lot of other
1:15:42
things that makes us super attractive to lightning.
1:15:44
So they ended up missing 3. But so they've been lucky in
1:15:48
this area. But you know, Fridays have just
1:15:51
been absolutely. I mean, Hartford, you know,
1:15:54
already starts with only a couple shows a year anyways.
1:15:57
And now I, I think they've maybe had four or five if, if I weekly
1:16:02
shows, night instructions, think they've gotten both in.
1:16:05
But weekly racing, it's like not a lot of it has happened and I
1:16:08
feel so bad. We had a damn Canadian wildfire.
1:16:12
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys were impacted by that
1:16:15
too. So so I know with the Bahama
1:16:17
brackets coming up and that's where, you know, when we last
1:16:21
had you, if you want to do like as you were doing, if you want
1:16:23
to do like a catch up on I had Kenny had to do this last week
1:16:26
like a state of the union with the Kalamazoo mini wedges.
1:16:30
And so if you want to catch us up on what's been going on at
1:16:33
Grundy County, you know, to this point, again, I don't know how
1:16:36
many people from this area maybe been the Grundy, but if you
1:16:38
haven't been, especially for Bahama brackets, you need to
1:16:41
make this a trip. It's not too far from this
1:16:44
corner of Michigan and even Kalamazoo wouldn't be that far
1:16:48
away. Obviously a lot of Indiana rich
1:16:51
bowl heads down there and Extremi heads down there, a lot
1:16:53
of cars. So if you want to catch us up to
1:16:56
where we've been since we last talked towards the beginning of
1:16:59
this season and then we can dive right into the bracket
1:17:02
discussion. Rain.
1:17:07
Whole lot of rain. No, we, we've, the, the nights
1:17:11
that we've been able to run have been very successful for us.
1:17:15
We've been having decent crowds that I know during, during the
1:17:20
springtime, our crowds aren't that great.
1:17:24
And our crowds, our crowds are going to taper off come
1:17:29
September because once high school football starts, they all
1:17:32
seem to flock on Friday nights there.
1:17:35
I don't know, I'd rather be at the racetrack on a Friday night
1:17:38
than than at a football stadium. So, but we, again, rain has been
1:17:47
our Achilles this year. Last year I, I want to say we
1:17:51
only rained out maybe two or three nights.
1:17:54
And of late, we're lucky to even get 2 Friday nights in a row in
1:18:01
you know, we'll, we'll run on a Friday night and the next
1:18:05
weekend we'll have a Friday and Saturday show and it'll rain out
1:18:09
or Canada will send us some smoke and we can't, none of us
1:18:13
can breathe. So I know there was there, there
1:18:17
was a week leading up to a big show and we had to cancel
1:18:21
because we had so much rain. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, it
1:18:26
was a stretch where we received close to or the racetrack itself
1:18:34
received close to 8 inches of rain in that stretch and there's
1:18:39
nowhere to put it. They there's a pond Outback and
1:18:42
that pond is just overflowing right now.
1:18:46
So the leading up to this past Friday, Friday was looking like
1:18:52
it was in jeopardy because the the track still hadn't dried out
1:18:57
because nothing was draining anymore because of the pond.
1:19:01
So we've we've had to push a lot of our bigger shows back.
1:19:08
Like for, for example, this coming Saturday, we have the
1:19:12
Midwest Truck Series in town along with the Mid American
1:19:16
Stocks stock car series. The trucks will be running 50
1:19:20
laps, the Mid am series will be running 40 laps and that is also
1:19:26
become our make up date for the trailer race and for the five O
1:19:32
fastest operates. So it's Saturday is going to be
1:19:37
pretty packed pretty full of action hoping that Mother Nature
1:19:44
cooperates because depending on what you're looking at, it's
1:19:48
kind of iffy. We're I'm I'm hearing rumbles of
1:19:52
Thunder right now every now and then as I was waiting and I'm
1:19:56
looking at the radar and it looks like everything is already
1:19:58
passed out out at out by Gary and points east.
1:20:03
But I'm still hearing collapse of Thunder.
1:20:05
So everything's just building around and hopefully.
1:20:10
Hopefully the track doesn't sustain too much more water this
1:20:14
week cuz we really cannot afford to to push many more events
1:20:19
back. Another event coming up this
1:20:22
Friday is Cheryl Cheryl Rin's back to school night where we we
1:20:29
give away backpacks that has been delayed from a couple weeks
1:20:34
ago because we we had to rain out.
1:20:38
So it's the only the only positive out of all this rain is
1:20:42
the lawn looks great. Probably not what we want
1:20:47
looking great unless it's like growing Hoosier tires that are
1:20:50
getting ready to be put on race cars, right?
1:20:52
But I know that 5O race you mentioned that that's such a
1:20:56
huge event for Grundy. You guys have been doing that
1:20:59
for a couple years. I know we touched on in a little
1:21:02
bit the first time that you're with us, but it's been many
1:21:06
episodes now. We're already at 26 episodes,
1:21:08
Brian. I mean, it's kind of crazy,
1:21:09
right? And so if you want to talk a
1:21:12
little about that 5O race, because we just don't really
1:21:15
have anything like that around here anymore.
1:21:17
You know, faster, once faster pasture was done, that kind of
1:21:20
just disappeared and no one's really taken the baton on that
1:21:24
to carry it forward. And you know, so if you want to
1:21:28
talk a little bit about that 5O race, give a little bit of a
1:21:31
plug for that because if the weather turns and people are
1:21:33
looking for somewhere to go Saturday, you know, maybe they
1:21:36
find themselves down at Granny County Speedway.
1:21:40
So, so the five O race was started many years ago and it's
1:21:46
it's they're they're all police officers or retired police
1:21:50
officers. And I'm just finding out that
1:21:53
firefighters are allowed to run this event as well.
1:21:56
So this year will be, from my understanding standing, it'll be
1:22:00
the first firefighter that is going to be piloting a Crown
1:22:05
Victoria. And that's all these cars are.
1:22:07
They're retired squad cars. They're Crown Vics.
1:22:11
We had, we had one gentleman from the Illinois State Police
1:22:15
that ran a Caprice and just destroyed the field with that
1:22:21
car. So they, they pretty much
1:22:23
outlawed that car cuz it was untouchable.
1:22:27
But but the these guys and gals, they they they raise money for a
1:22:33
Special Olympics for Illinois, OK.
1:22:36
And all of the drivers, like I said, they're they're current or
1:22:40
retired police officers, firefighters in the Chicagoland
1:22:44
area, They have to raise money for the for this cause.
1:22:50
And how this works is the driver that raises the most money that
1:22:56
that's who's starting on the pole.
1:22:58
So your lineup is based on how much money you've raised.
1:23:02
So it's so it's pretty important to, you know, be the one to, to
1:23:06
be able to raise as much money as possible.
1:23:11
One night again, that's where if if someone's not been to Morris,
1:23:14
IL to go and check out Grundy. And I mean, I know that's
1:23:19
something on my schedule that I'm like, I got to get out to
1:23:21
Grundy one of these times and we have a couple Fridays coming up
1:23:25
that I don't have anything in my schedule yet where I might be
1:23:28
like Ryan, I'm going to come and I want to shadow you as a race
1:23:32
director, right? I'm not going to bring a camera
1:23:34
or anything. I'm just going to come and be a
1:23:35
fan and then, you know, shadow. I'm saying, no, you commented on
1:23:39
my 1 post where I'm like, I just wanna learn how to be a
1:23:41
racetracker and have that as a, an extra tool in, you know, in
1:23:46
my pocket. And you just never know when,
1:23:49
right? And so you need to go down and
1:23:52
check out Grundy, especially like this 5O race.
1:23:54
I know I don't get AI haven't had a chance to go watch it, but
1:23:58
I see all the highlights every single year.
1:23:59
I see the cut, you know, the police stations around the area
1:24:02
that get excited for it and you'll start seeing their posts.
1:24:04
I'm like, I'm not in Illinois, but I'm seeing their posts pop
1:24:07
up because you're talking about the race or they're talking
1:24:10
about fundraising or they're talking about whatever.
1:24:12
And especially being, you know, Special Olympics, right?
1:24:15
It's, it's one of those things that I think that's really
1:24:17
awesome that, that you guys are doing that, right?
1:24:21
And so, I mean, it's extra work, but it's worth it, right?
1:24:25
You know, it's extra planning, but it's worth it.
1:24:28
And so I know sometimes it's like, we just don't have time
1:24:31
for that. We don't have time for that.
1:24:32
But in a case like this, you're making that time.
1:24:34
And I know that place always gets packed out and it's, those
1:24:38
are huge bleachers. They're not small.
1:24:40
And and so I know what was it a few years ago that you guys said
1:24:45
the Figure 8 where you paint it painted, paved, not painted.
1:24:50
It's not like Wiley Coyote and all that, but you, you paved the
1:24:55
Figure 8 track and all that. So what has it been like even,
1:24:58
you know, you talk about trailer races.
1:25:00
I know you guys have bus races, if I have seen right and that
1:25:03
kind of deal. What's it been like to have
1:25:05
accessibility in the infield, which was grass at one time?
1:25:09
I mean, there's nothing in the infield except like a strip I
1:25:12
think for like tractor poles, you know, what's it been like to
1:25:15
have more access for surface stuff to do extra things?
1:25:22
This has broadened the horizon for the Speedway and it's
1:25:27
allowed a lot of improvements to to have taken place in and
1:25:35
around the Speedway. You know, because of the, the
1:25:38
attendance that were we get on, on those special nights when we
1:25:43
run the bus races, when we, we run the trailer races, you know,
1:25:47
we, we pack them in. We've been able to bring monster
1:25:51
truck shows in, you know, something that they've tried in
1:25:55
the past and it just, you know, it just didn't seem to work out.
1:26:00
But now with the monster trucks coming in, this is, this was the
1:26:04
second year that we've had them and, and it was a standing room
1:26:09
only show again, there, there's, there's so many, there's so many
1:26:14
avenues that can be used, you know, use the, the XS utilized,
1:26:19
you know, in so many different ways.
1:26:21
As a matter of fact, this past Saturday we had tuner fest.
1:26:26
OK, since we've had the X put in, you know, it, it's, it's
1:26:30
like going to fast and the Furious, you know, right, right
1:26:34
in front of you. It's exactly what you see in the
1:26:37
movie. You know, where they, it's,
1:26:39
it's, it's the music, it's the cars, it's the drifting.
1:26:43
You know, it's, it's a, it's a really cool atmosphere.
1:26:47
And we, we don't get to do that unless we have the X there, you
1:26:52
know, and they, they took, they took a gamble in putting the X
1:26:58
in. They've seen at places like
1:27:01
Rockford, they've seen it at Anderson Slinger, every place
1:27:07
that has an X that can run some sort of Figure 8 race, they've
1:27:13
seen the success out of it. So you know, that that was that
1:27:18
was something that was brought up a few years ago and you know,
1:27:23
they, they got the funds for it, the approval, they went ahead
1:27:27
and did it. And what a change it's been, you
1:27:31
know, just not only to have these type of events, but again,
1:27:35
like I said, the, the improvements that we've been
1:27:38
able to make the last bus race that we had it pretty much
1:27:43
destroyed turn 1:00 and 2:00 and we were like, there's no way we
1:27:50
can race without having these repairs done immediately.
1:27:53
So because of the income that we, we received, you know, from
1:28:00
that bus race, we were able to do those improvements
1:28:04
immediately. That way we, you know, we
1:28:08
otherwise we wouldn't, we wouldn't be racing for a couple
1:28:11
weeks. You know, we would try, we would
1:28:13
be trying to figure out how we're going to patch these areas
1:28:16
up. And we actually were able to fix
1:28:19
some other areas that weren't quite damaged, but they were
1:28:23
kind of iffy, you know, and we're going to continue to make
1:28:28
improvements, you know, because of these events that were able
1:28:32
to hold, you know, the, the, the five O race, it brings in so
1:28:38
many different type of people. When we first had that event,
1:28:43
we, we had it in conjunction with an enduro.
1:28:46
We had the enduro in the afternoon and we're looking,
1:28:49
we're looking around and we're like, where are all these people
1:28:51
at? Well, all of us that were on the
1:28:54
racetrack, we had no idea there was this huge party outside in
1:28:59
the parking lot. So the five O guys, they take
1:29:03
their cars and they basically have a car show outside and all
1:29:09
the fans, they go out there, they can, they can meet their,
1:29:12
their favorite, you know, driver the, the municipality that's
1:29:16
being represented, you know, from, you know, wherever they
1:29:19
live. Once the enduro was over and we
1:29:23
started rolling into the five O race, my God, where did all
1:29:27
these people come from? And we had to delay the start of
1:29:31
the race because we couldn't get the people in fast enough.
1:29:35
We, we just, we could, we had no idea that we were going to have
1:29:40
that kind of crowd. And I'm talking the place was
1:29:44
just about sold out versus versus a couple hours prior to
1:29:50
that when we were running, you know, a 2 hour enduro that you
1:29:54
could count the people in the stands.
1:29:56
So, you know, these, these these kind of events that were able to
1:30:01
hold, you know, it's, it's very beneficial, you know, for
1:30:05
everybody at the racetrack, for the racetrack itself and, you
1:30:09
know, to keep Illinois's only short, paved short track alive.
1:30:14
You know, we, we lost Rockford. And when we lost Rockford, I,
1:30:20
that's kind of what I started preaching, you know that that
1:30:24
Grundy County Speedway is the last paved short track not only
1:30:29
in the Chicagoland area, but in the state of Illinois.
1:30:34
I didn't realize that you gave me chills when you said that
1:30:36
It's. It's, it's mind blowing, you
1:30:39
know? When we lost Illiana, that was
1:30:42
we lost Chicago lands, only half mile paved racetrack.
1:30:48
You know, we we lose Rockford now there's only one paved track
1:30:53
that that supports, you know, short track racing.
1:30:58
You know, for, for a while there we were the only, we were only
1:31:01
the only paved track that was existing.
1:31:06
And then when they brought Chicagoland back then, you know,
1:31:09
we're so we can't really call us the only paved track in
1:31:13
Illinois, but we can call us the only paved short track.
1:31:19
Isn't that wild to think though? Like I didn't even realize that.
1:31:22
Because you know, I, but I mean, you're right, there's so many,
1:31:25
there's a lot of dirt tracks. It's like where my brother is up
1:31:28
in the, in the Minnesota area, he's surrounded by dirt tracks
1:31:32
and can go all over the dirt tracks.
1:31:34
But when it comes to pave tracks, he doesn't have a lot of
1:31:37
options. And I hadn't really thought
1:31:41
about Illinois, just because it's Illinois, right?
1:31:44
You just kind of assume like it's in this area, you know,
1:31:47
there's probably, you know, tracks all over, but not, I mean
1:31:50
not tracks all over, but you know that there's tracks.
1:31:53
But I didn't realize like only paved.
1:31:55
And again, that's I love Grundy. I mean, if if something ever
1:31:58
happened to Grundy, I'd I'd be like really sad about that
1:32:01
because I have so many childhood memories, you know, being there.
1:32:05
But you know, hopefully these improvements, I mean, I I've
1:32:08
seen some of the pictures and I'm like, and you know, those
1:32:11
are big grandstands too. It's not like those are tiny
1:32:14
little things. Those are big and tall and you
1:32:17
can see them clearly from the road or you used to be able to
1:32:19
see them clearly from the roadway and the highways.
1:32:21
You get to get to come up to Morris and you know, that is my
1:32:25
favorite thing. You could always I'd always make
1:32:27
sure when we left the track looking behind, there's the
1:32:29
track again, there's the track. And so it's really cool.
1:32:33
But I had wondered because again, we when we talked with
1:32:35
you, it's kind of like beginning of the season ish.
1:32:37
It was still early and all that. So it's like, you know, where
1:32:41
are we house at X working out just because I remember like
1:32:45
Grundy didn't have that. You know, especially during fair
1:32:47
week, the track pretty much sat empty, you know, like everything
1:32:50
was behind it, where now that mean, you know, that still may
1:32:53
be somewhat true, but like you could use the track for other
1:32:56
things now because you have so much more resource in that sense
1:33:00
with the accent and with just the seating.
1:33:03
You know, that was what was always so sad.
1:33:05
It's like man if all the seating and it sits empty during fair
1:33:09
week. So now.
1:33:12
We've talked a little bit about Fibo.
1:33:13
I know you guys have the big eight late model series that
1:33:16
you've been able to bring in and do that.
1:33:17
Do they have any or is it big six big big?
1:33:21
Do they have any shows left at? Grundy that people can.
1:33:24
Kind of circle and look at or is their schedule pretty much done
1:33:27
for Grundy this year? So the Big Eight Late Model
1:33:30
series has one more. Show and that's for the big
1:33:33
Bettenhausen Memorial weekend. And I off the top of my head, I
1:33:38
don't know what the date is for that, but it is I believe it's
1:33:42
the third weekend in September. So the So the Big Eight late
1:33:46
models will be in town on Friday night, a prelude to the
1:33:52
Bettenhausen Memorial 100 that will take place the following
1:33:56
day on Saturday. Yeah, I remember the
1:33:59
Bettenhausen too. That I mean that's.
1:34:01
That's one of the crown jewel races there.
1:34:04
And so for those who are watching who may not be as
1:34:07
familiar with Grundy again, they run a template style super late
1:34:11
model like a Slinger does on that.
1:34:14
Once you get past like South Bend, it all goes from wedge
1:34:16
nose to, I mean, Wisconsin has some 610 or whatever they call
1:34:21
those up there, but not 610. That doesn't sound right. 6O26O2
1:34:26
I'm like 610 and it's not right. That sounds like a Sprint car,
1:34:28
but. But but yeah, they have 6O2
1:34:32
Crate Lane models up in Wisconsin.
1:34:34
You can see up The Dells and all that.
1:34:35
But you know, pretty much in Illinois that's it's a
1:34:38
traditional template style super late model.
1:34:41
Then you have the Mid AM series, which looks kind of like that,
1:34:44
just a little bit slower, like a limited for those watching who
1:34:47
may not know the differences over there.
1:34:49
So. So with it, you have the Big
1:34:52
Eight series and then at some point you might get a
1:34:54
championship night, you know. Yeah, Well, we have well.
1:35:00
Some of our champions are crowned that weekend also.
1:35:03
OK, so it never, it never you the Bettenhausen traditionally
1:35:06
when it was at Ileana, you know, that was our last event of the
1:35:10
year and our championship was crowned, you know, typically a
1:35:15
week or two prior to the Benton housing, but with when Rockford
1:35:20
closed. We.
1:35:21
Absorbed a, a few of their divisions and we went from
1:35:27
having four weekly divisions to exploding to I, I don't know
1:35:33
where, what we're at like 7 or 8 now.
1:35:36
And there's just, there's not enough time in order to run all
1:35:40
of those divisions in one night or even one week about having to
1:35:45
run, you know, two nights a week every single week.
1:35:48
And I'll tell you what there, there's a, there's already a lot
1:35:51
of burnout people, even with all of the rain outs we've had, you
1:35:55
know, and if, if we ever went to two nights a week every week, I,
1:36:01
I don't know how we're going to do.
1:36:03
I don't know how they did it at Raceway Park back in the day
1:36:06
when they ran four nights a week, when they ran what was it,
1:36:10
Wednesday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday?
1:36:13
I remember going there Saturday and Sundays, but never like it
1:36:19
was before my time when they ran Fridays and definitely before my
1:36:22
time when they ran Wednesdays. So I can't even think of how a
1:36:27
lot of us would be able to do a Friday and Saturday every single
1:36:31
week. Yeah.
1:36:33
At that point, you know it's almost you do like a rotating
1:36:36
schedule. Where this set of four runs this
1:36:38
Friday, then the following Friday it's the set of four and
1:36:40
that you know, you here's 14 races, you get 7, you get 7 and
1:36:46
you know, but then obviously with rain outs that could
1:36:48
potentially impact that or others.
1:36:49
So you know, but you're already losing them back-to-back.
1:36:52
So it's kind of like the same boat.
1:36:55
But yeah, that's, I mean, that's one thing that I sometimes
1:36:59
forget too, is that you guys, I mean, Grundy was one of the
1:37:02
biggest tracks to say we're just going to take as much as we can
1:37:07
because we have the facility to do it and we obviously have the
1:37:10
history of Grundy to do that. But it is a lot, right?
1:37:13
Because that's a lot of dedication from your staff that
1:37:15
you're asking for. That's LED dedication from the
1:37:17
racers, you know. But it so far, I mean, it's as
1:37:21
you said, there might be some burnout, but so far it seems to
1:37:24
kind of be working its way out, you know, as in at least so a
1:37:29
lot of those racers have a place to go.
1:37:31
And and that's one thing that you definitely, I mean, you
1:37:34
would be a front row seat person in that going.
1:37:36
I know what it's like to not have a place to go.
1:37:39
And so let's always try to remember that.
1:37:41
What can we do? But let's also not kill each
1:37:42
other while we're doing it, right?
1:37:44
Right it? I've talked to, I've talked to
1:37:49
several drivers, you know, this year and even last year and the
1:37:54
way the schedule works for them. I thought, I thought, you know,
1:37:56
if I was a driver, it wouldn't be so bad now because you're not
1:37:59
tied down to like back in the day, I was tied down every
1:38:03
Saturday night at Illiana. Now some of the divisions
1:38:07
they'll run. 2. Or three weeks in a row and then
1:38:10
and then. They easily have a week off, you
1:38:13
know, so and, and, and they're not grinding for for a
1:38:17
championship for 15 straight weeks.
1:38:20
You know, they're their season is definitely cut short and hit,
1:38:24
you know, cut that in half. You know, we're, we're talking
1:38:27
one of the guys at work today, you know, we're talking about
1:38:30
how he's only got 3 nights left. And I'm like, boy, it just seems
1:38:35
like you, you just started running.
1:38:37
Which reality? I mean, with all the rain outs,
1:38:40
I think, I think they're only going to end up running maybe 7
1:38:45
or 8 shows this year. If, if, if we run the last
1:38:48
three. So it's there, there, there are
1:38:52
pros and cons to it. So, and, and again, with, with
1:38:58
tracks closing, you know, and absorbing some of that stuff,
1:39:01
We, we, we give people places to raise.
1:39:05
But again, but then again, we're on an island.
1:39:08
Basically you were talking about everything that's.
1:39:12
You know West. Of South Bend I I I always said
1:39:17
anything that was east of I-65. The rules are totally different,
1:39:21
which which is true, you don't when anything that was beyond
1:39:27
Ileana, you know, everything was different.
1:39:30
The street stocks are different. The late models are different.
1:39:33
You know, even even your, your Hornets are different versus a
1:39:36
little bit different versus our pure stocks.
1:39:39
You know, so looking, looking northward in Wisconsin, it's no
1:39:43
different. They, they run a lot of legends
1:39:47
races up there. That's something I would love to
1:39:51
see them bring back down by us. Is it going to happen?
1:39:57
I'm not sure that ends up becoming another division but it
1:40:03
but it but it might be something in the future for you know,
1:40:06
maybe if they wanted a tour a little bit farther S you know
1:40:10
the the great thing of having this Saturday night's deal with
1:40:14
with the Truck Series. I've always loved the Truck
1:40:17
Series and they finally came back after.
1:40:22
I don't know how many year hiatus it was.
1:40:25
They came back three years ago only for it to rain out
1:40:29
actually, but they they got their show in last year and it
1:40:33
and it was a great show to watch, you know, and I'm looking
1:40:36
forward to seeing them. But we are we are basically an
1:40:43
island. Our street stocks do not compare
1:40:46
to anybody, anybody that's in Wisconsin and anybody that's
1:40:51
beyond I-65, you know, it's, it's, it's I, I won't say that
1:40:58
it's close to a hobby stack because it's far beyond that,
1:41:02
but it's definitely scaled back versus the, the street stocks,
1:41:09
you know, that, that run out at Plymouth and M40 Kalamazoo and
1:41:13
you know, places beyond that, you know, no different than
1:41:18
they, they, I believe they call them more of a sportsman car in
1:41:22
Wisconsin. Their cars are a little bit
1:41:26
closer to what you all are are used to, but their rules are a
1:41:32
little bit different as well. So how've your car counts been?
1:41:37
Like, you know, are they still? Sometimes I think with Hartford
1:41:41
and I sometimes forget that we have Butler nearby and we have
1:41:45
Madarioville, Shady Hill, you know, but Hartford sometimes
1:41:51
like they just. Keep.
1:41:52
They kind of scale back because there's just not enough dirt
1:41:57
tracks in this area to really like drivers are like, well, I
1:42:02
can go to six different asphalt tracks or whatever the number
1:42:04
is. It's like close to that six
1:42:06
different asphalt tracks or one maybe 2 dirt tracks.
1:42:09
And so they kind of switch. So but car counts kind of across
1:42:14
with the economy all that are kind of down just about
1:42:16
everywhere in general. So how car counts been for you
1:42:19
guys over at Grundy? They actually haven't been too
1:42:23
bad, so. Like this this past Friday we
1:42:27
had a super late model race which they they don't have a
1:42:32
whole lot of them this year. They have 6 big shows and then
1:42:37
they only have like 3 or 4 just regular Friday or Saturday night
1:42:42
type show. So we only had, we only had 13
1:42:46
cars, but the 13 cars that showed up, their caliber cars,
1:42:54
you know, so a, a, a lot of people, they always, they, they
1:42:57
always get online and they're like, well, how many, how many
1:43:01
late models do you have tonight? Well, we got 12 cars.
1:43:04
Well, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go there and spend $15.
1:43:08
Well, do you want to know what drivers are here?
1:43:12
Because out of out of the 12, I guarantee you 10 of those our
1:43:19
past champions, past winners, and all 12 of them are caliber
1:43:23
drivers that can definitely win a feature.
1:43:27
So it's not like it's not like we're getting 12 supers and six
1:43:34
of them is your show and the rest of them are field fillers.
1:43:39
You know, the, we've been blessed where we really haven't
1:43:43
had a lot of those field fillers.
1:43:48
You know, we, we have, we, we have a couple of new drivers
1:43:51
that are, you know, they're getting their feet wet and, and
1:43:54
they're improving every time they're out, you know, and, and
1:43:57
I can appreciate that. And I wouldn't call them field
1:44:00
fillers. You know, I, I, I feel, you
1:44:04
know, maybe maybe the field filler days have have gone by
1:44:07
the wayside because of how much it cost to run a late model
1:44:11
that, you know, our, our big 8 style late model, which is kind
1:44:17
of like a limited late model. That division is starting to
1:44:21
grow. You know, they're, they're not
1:44:24
allowed as much, you know, as much sophistication as a super,
1:44:30
you know, as which is, which is starting to open the eyes of,
1:44:35
you know, some of the drivers and they're looking at, you
1:44:37
know, moving up, right or moving down, you know, however you want
1:44:41
to look at it. You know, it's, it's a little
1:44:43
bit more affordable if you want to, if you want to call it that.
1:44:46
I can't afford it. But but it it's, it's, it's
1:44:51
refreshing to see that we started, we started running
1:44:56
those style cars when Rockford closed and we went from maybe 68
1:45:01
cars to now the last time out whenever it was, whenever we
1:45:06
were ran them last when it was dry.
1:45:10
I want to, I want to say there, there was 1314 cars and they're
1:45:16
becoming a bigger draw than the supers are.
1:45:21
You know, a lot of it has to do with you cost effectiveness and
1:45:26
and again, with them not having to having a brutal schedule in
1:45:30
traveling, you know, down to Grundy every Friday or every
1:45:35
Saturday. You know, it, it's beneficial
1:45:37
for them. They can they typically run 11
1:45:41
show a month. It is what it seems like and
1:45:45
then they're off for, you know, a good two to three weeks.
1:45:48
And they, and I think they're loving that because they now
1:45:53
they've opened up more options to be able to run the Big eight
1:45:57
series. They can run Madison, WI on a
1:46:03
Friday night. They can run up at The Dells on
1:46:05
a Saturday. They can run Jefferson if they
1:46:08
if they have those cars up up there on a particular night.
1:46:12
So they a lot of those drivers are from Northern Illinois,
1:46:16
southern Wisconsin. So they're allowed those type of
1:46:20
options or they might just have a lot of family time, you know,
1:46:25
in, in those weeks off, you know, and, and I think a lot of
1:46:28
them are loving that. And it's, it's definitely
1:46:31
helping, you know, the, the, the wallet, the checkbook, the
1:46:34
credit card bills, you know, it's, it's, it's very beneficial
1:46:38
to be able to do something like that.
1:46:42
Our our mid am division, It's up and down.
1:46:47
A lot of a lot of the drivers that have run in the past every
1:46:52
single Friday night. They're running the series now
1:46:56
this year, which which is awesome to see.
1:47:00
I'm seeing car counts for for that series like it used to be
1:47:04
back in the late 90s where they're they're getting the the
1:47:09
last show they had 35 entries. Wow.
1:47:13
I think it was 30 at Plymouth earlier this year when I was.
1:47:16
There, yeah. So it.
1:47:16
Oh it it was supposed to be a Slinger.
1:47:19
On Sunday and naturally Mother Nature had to rain on that, but
1:47:24
they had they had 35 pre registered cars.
1:47:28
I haven't seen a list for what we're going to have, but I would
1:47:32
definitely be willing to bet we're going to have a minimum of
1:47:35
30 cars, you know at one of the home tracks for mid Ann right,
1:47:42
right. So I'm I'm looking, I'm really.
1:47:44
Looking forward to. Seeing that show on Saturday,
1:47:49
our Street stocks have been up and down again.
1:47:53
We're on an island. So our street stocks, they're
1:47:58
automatic transmissions, they all run power glides, they all
1:48:01
run metric rear ends. They're drum brake rear ends.
1:48:07
They're they can't, they can't run 9 inch, they can't run quick
1:48:11
changes. So, so they're, they're on an
1:48:15
island on themselves, but we've, we've seen spurts where we've
1:48:22
had 1618 cars, but we've dropped down to where we might only have
1:48:28
10 cars a night. So it's, you know, it's, it's
1:48:31
back and forth with that our, our two big divisions that that
1:48:36
have been really well, that's been doing really well this year
1:48:40
as a Crown Vics. And that started off fairly
1:48:43
slowly. And over the last I'd say about
1:48:47
month and a half the, the car count has exploded.
1:48:53
This past Friday night, it was it, it was probably one of the
1:48:57
lowest car counts we've had in several weeks, but we still
1:49:01
ended up with I believe 14. And I think, I think the largest
1:49:08
field we had was roughly about 22 or 23.
1:49:13
And they have, if I, if I remember correctly, I think
1:49:17
Friday night is their night. So each division gets their
1:49:22
night where we do out of car introductions, they get extended
1:49:27
laps, little bit extra pay. So I believe this Friday night
1:49:31
is their night also. So we're probably going to be
1:49:35
bringing in the cars. There are Sixer division that
1:49:41
that's the V6 division. It is a if you want a stock
1:49:46
division, that's the division right there.
1:49:49
It's American made cars only and they have to be no larger than
1:49:56
3.8 cubic or I'm sorry, 3.8 liter engines and no, no turbos.
1:50:04
So I mean, those cars are all over the place, but that's a
1:50:10
division that we brought down from Rockford.
1:50:13
They are widely popular up in Wisconsin in the the the Sixer
1:50:19
division up, up in Jefferson, in Madison.
1:50:23
I mean, they're getting, they're getting well, double digit for
1:50:27
cars and, and we started off like that.
1:50:31
And I'm not sure if it's the travel, if it's the, the timing
1:50:38
or what it was, but this year, like we've only been averaging
1:50:42
about 8-9 cars. So, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a
1:50:46
big fan of that division. I'm a big fan of those drivers.
1:50:50
And I've been trying to do as much as I possibly can to give
1:50:53
them a plug and trying to reach out other drivers and saying,
1:50:57
Hey, you know, why don't you come down, try it out, You know,
1:51:00
I mean, the way I look at it is what it what does it hurt?
1:51:04
You know, it's, it's another place, you know, for somebody
1:51:07
very sad. So, but our, our final Division
1:51:12
I that I'll talk about is our pure stock and that's the
1:51:16
equivalent to a Hornet division. We started the season probably
1:51:25
low to mid teens and car count. We are now up to a bad night
1:51:33
would be 18 cars. So we're we're any we're we're
1:51:38
anywhere from like 20 to 24 cars a night.
1:51:43
And that's not even special shows.
1:51:46
We've we've been getting some more cars come down.
1:51:51
Some drivers that were running Slinger, they're coming down
1:51:56
drivers that are running places like Jefferson, they're coming
1:52:00
down they they appreciate you know what what we have to offer.
1:52:06
Apparently our payout is better than then tracks like Slinger,
1:52:11
which which kind of boggles my mind, you know, but and and if
1:52:16
they. Want it if they want.
1:52:17
To travel. I mean, I'm not going to, I'm
1:52:20
not going to stop this. So and that's.
1:52:24
Why, you know, bringing. You on I thought.
1:52:26
Let's, you know, let's try to get you on that way 'cause with
1:52:30
travel, right? You know, if you know,
1:52:33
definitely wrap up the, you know, wrap up that I don't want
1:52:36
to cut you off there to talk about, you know, your shout out
1:52:38
to your division so that everyone listening knows like,
1:52:40
hey, these are divisions. And then when we transition to
1:52:43
the brackets, then it's like, here's what we do for the
1:52:46
brackets to bring in like a Knicks trim, to bring in like a
1:52:49
rich bowl, to bring in all these cars from all over.
1:52:52
So I didn't mean to cut you off, but since you said travel and
1:52:54
bring them down like that, just pin that point because we're
1:52:58
going to wrap back to it. As you know, for everyone
1:53:01
listening to go, we said, you know, St. stocks are like this,
1:53:05
but maybe for brackets, maybe it looks different, maybe it feels
1:53:09
different. So I just wanted to pin a point
1:53:12
on that word, but sorry to cut you off, but I'm like, remember
1:53:14
the word travel? No, we're no, we're good.
1:53:17
We're good And and and it's. And it's circles and A and a
1:53:21
perfect spot to where we can talk about the brackets.
1:53:25
So the brackets will be October 16th, 17th and 18th.
1:53:32
So yes, yes, you do you, just you skipped.
1:53:34
One of the. Days so, but so that's Friday,
1:53:39
Saturday, Sunday. Friday night is always, and it
1:53:44
always has been practice night. So we'll, we'll usually, we'll
1:53:49
start hot, hot lamping at, at 5:00.
1:53:53
We break, we break the cars up in different groups sometimes,
1:54:01
sometimes it's a little difficult to figure out like
1:54:04
who's going to be in, in what group.
1:54:08
But generally, like the, the more and longer we do this, you
1:54:12
know, and the more we recognize people, the more we know that an
1:54:17
extremity is going to be, you know, in one of the fat in one
1:54:21
of the faster groups. So he's going to have to get one
1:54:24
of one of the first two or three stickers.
1:54:27
That way he's in with cars that he's, you know, more comfortable
1:54:32
with cars that he's going to compete against.
1:54:37
So, so we do practice for a couple of hours and then we will
1:54:41
end the night off with not qualifying.
1:54:44
Not qualifying is just basically you, you get a time, it doesn't
1:54:49
count, just to kind of see where you stack up at, you know, give
1:54:53
you an idea of what kind of times you're turning versus what
1:54:57
whatever the breakout time is going to be, you know, for the A
1:55:01
bracket or for the B bracket. Saturday, we'll have a bunch of
1:55:07
practice in the morning and then we will start qualifying, which
1:55:12
qualifying tends to last hours and hours and hours.
1:55:19
But that's OK 'cause if you, if you feel like you messed up on
1:55:24
your initial qualifying run, you have an opportunity to better
1:55:29
your time. You can't make your time worse.
1:55:33
Once qualifying is is in the books, they will go back and
1:55:38
figure out how they're going to break off each bracket between
1:55:43
the A bracket cars and the B bracket cars.
1:55:46
Once that's all situated figured out, they'll have lineups ready
1:55:50
to go. We'll roll into our opening
1:55:53
ceremonies and we'll start our initial heat races for all of
1:55:58
the brackets. Once that's done, we roll into
1:56:01
our bash races, which is kind of like the first set of of Last
1:56:08
Chance races in order to get into Sunday's feature.
1:56:13
Once all those bashes are done, then it's party time.
1:56:18
We'll have opportunity, we'll have opportunity to to have some
1:56:23
beverages, we'll listen to some music, we'll have some karaoke.
1:56:28
For those that have not transferred yet, they can try
1:56:31
and sing their way in and Sunday is a big hangover day for a lot
1:56:37
of people and they'll be racing at the same time as well.
1:56:41
We'll have we'll we'll have our actual last chance races and
1:56:48
then we'll have a lucky dog draw.
1:56:50
If we have that many drivers leftover in a particular
1:56:54
bracket. I believe they start 24 cars and
1:57:02
everybody that's leftover will be in a in a consolation race.
1:57:06
And they usually race for their their entry fee for the
1:57:11
following year, which which is pretty neat.
1:57:14
And the entry fee usually is like, it's like 50 bucks.
1:57:18
So, so, I mean, you're, you're still in that concey race,
1:57:22
you're still racing for something that's meaningful, you
1:57:25
know, so after that we'll, we'll have our our features and then
1:57:31
that'll be pretty much it. But the to talk a little bit
1:57:36
about the cars that are available.
1:57:40
We, we will, we do not allow tube chassis cars.
1:57:45
So it's, it's pretty much anything that's a full frame car
1:57:51
for, for an A bracket. So you'll, you'll have straight
1:57:56
stocks running up against modifieds, asphalt cars, against
1:58:00
dirt cars. I've run up against, you know,
1:58:08
some 4 cylinders. So it all depends on how you
1:58:13
want to register yourself. Then we also have our 4 cylinder
1:58:19
class, which is the B bracket car that that Buju will be
1:58:23
running in, in one of the many Davis Family Racing enterprise
1:58:28
cars, which Lewis you should. You should be able to get
1:58:32
yourself a ride for that too. Oh yeah, Derek, Derek's only got
1:58:38
50. Cars.
1:58:39
So, but same deal. It, it, it, it it's all, it's a
1:58:47
whole lot of fun. You, you run up pretty much
1:58:50
against cars that that you're timed with.
1:58:54
Yeah, you know, that's my favorite part about it.
1:58:56
But it's not a show where it becomes a contest of who's
1:58:58
spending the most money. Like a lot of racing is these
1:59:01
days, it's a racers race where you're going to, you're going to
1:59:04
show up and you're going to be racing against cars of your
1:59:05
caliber and it's just a blast of the weekend.
1:59:08
Saturday, my Saturday night is my favorite part personally.
1:59:11
I had a really good time Saturday night last year, but
1:59:14
the whole show is great. I'm very much looking forward to
1:59:17
coming back in October. Yeah, I'm when we found out that
1:59:21
we. Were going to have the brackets
1:59:24
at Grundy. The first thing I thought of was
1:59:27
how many E cars will come now since it's a straight shot down
1:59:32
80. Even though the construction
1:59:34
sucks still when you when you go through Joliet, it's getting a
1:59:38
lot better. It's getting a hell of a lot
1:59:41
better, but I thought, I thought, I can't wait to see
1:59:46
after a couple years how many E cars show up because it's it's
1:59:53
more convenient and it's it's closer, you know, for somebody
1:59:57
that you know, that's out in Plymouth, that's out and, you
2:00:01
know, close to M40, you know, the Kalamazoo, you know, that
2:00:07
neck of the woods. You know, this, this gives an
2:00:09
opportunity for somebody to, you know, not necessarily put the
2:00:14
car away for the winter. It's, it's cool to see that
2:00:17
South Bend is doing the showdown again.
2:00:20
You know, I, I was, I was part of the, you know, the, the
2:00:22
original, you know, showdown. You know, we, I was there for
2:00:26
the 1st, I believe two, the first two or three, you know,
2:00:31
and, and, and it's a, it's a blast to run those weekend long
2:00:35
shows. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's
2:00:38
a lot of racing, it's a lot of seat time.
2:00:41
It's a lot of camaraderie. You don't with with the drivers
2:00:46
that you're you're always around.
2:00:48
And then given some of the drivers that you only see, you
2:00:51
don't want, you know, that that was one of the unique things
2:00:55
that went when I ran the brackets at Rockford.
2:00:57
You know, there are there are people that I still to this day
2:01:01
never talked to, but I recognize those faces, you know, and I'm
2:01:05
like, I'm like, Oh yeah, I remember that guy.
2:01:08
You know, he, he he was here last year and he was here the
2:01:11
year before. Isn't there a guy that hauls
2:01:12
from like Alabama or something from so so?
2:01:15
So Jim Gilbert hauls from. I I don't remember the, the town
2:01:21
that he's, that he lives in, but he's from Georgia.
2:01:24
He's a he So Lewis, I don't know if you'll know the name Jim
2:01:30
Gilbert. So he used, he used to raise
2:01:34
semi pro at Raceway Park. So he he's originally from Blue
2:01:39
Island and I don't know how. Many years ago it.
2:01:44
Was it was after, I think it was after Ileana closed, he moved
2:01:49
down to Georgia. Ross, Rossville, GA is where
2:01:53
he's from. So the brackets, that was his
2:02:00
weekend every year. And when he moved down to
2:02:04
Georgia, he's he said I'm going to be the one that gets the $100
2:02:09
travel money. And ever since he moved down
2:02:12
there that is what he's gotten. Judd Fielder, I, I believe I, I
2:02:20
don't, I don't, I think they were going to give it to him the
2:02:23
one year because they're tired of Jim getting it.
2:02:27
And, and Judd said, no, Jim gets it because he actually hauled
2:02:30
his car. I only took a flight to to
2:02:34
Chicago and was able to go to Rockford.
2:02:38
So, but it, it we, we get, we get to do things from the
2:02:42
weekend. That's why I want to break that
2:02:44
up. We we have we have a group.
2:02:46
Now that comes. Up from Louisville they run,
2:02:50
they, they run Crown VIX down down at Salem and and couple
2:02:56
other tracks down that way. And it, I, I cannot think of his
2:03:01
name, but he, he originally was from, from Wisconsin and he
2:03:07
moved down around the Louisville area and has been racing down
2:03:12
there. And he's always come to the
2:03:14
brackets when the brackets came to, to Grundy, some, some of the
2:03:20
guys that he raced with, they're like, oh, well, it's not that
2:03:24
far. So we'll, you know, we'll tag
2:03:26
along. And every year we seem to get
2:03:29
more and more cars from that Louisville area.
2:03:33
So you know, we again, the cars out east, you know, I'm, I'm,
2:03:38
I'm sending, I'm sending the, you know, the invites, I'm
2:03:41
sending the save the date, you know, cards that, that have been
2:03:45
posted. I'm just, I'm trying to go
2:03:48
through the list of drivers that, that I used to flag for
2:03:53
it. South Bend, you know, that I
2:03:55
know, still have cars and I'm like, hey, you know, I'd, I'd
2:03:57
love, I'd love to see you at the track.
2:04:00
I'd love to see you come down. Even if you, even if you don't
2:04:04
show up with a car, I'd love to see a lot of those people just
2:04:07
bake their way over because sometimes just seeing as
2:04:12
believing and then the following year, you know, that's, that's
2:04:15
when they bring that car. You know, that's, that's how it
2:04:17
started with me. Everybody kept talking about the
2:04:20
brackets at Rockford. Got to go to Rockford.
2:04:23
I went to Rockford for, for other things.
2:04:26
Then I finally went for the brackets and I'm like, why
2:04:29
didn't I bring my car? And then I was able to hop in a
2:04:33
car to help dry the track off and I fell in love with the
2:04:37
track. And then the following year I
2:04:40
brought the car and I was confused as hell how this whole
2:04:44
thing works. Yeah, I've been explaining so
2:04:46
many times. I finally have it now.
2:04:49
And, and believe me, it took me. Probably about three years to
2:04:53
really get the, the whole idea. And some of the people they,
2:04:58
they try to have this down to a science and, and sometimes
2:05:04
there's a wrench thrown in it and the all, all other
2:05:07
projections are out the window and they don't know what to do.
2:05:10
So it's, it's kind of fun seeing that too.
2:05:14
I, I would love for this event to be as big as it once was
2:05:20
where we have 4A bracket groups instead of just two or three.
2:05:28
When, when, when you have when you have single A AA, AAA and
2:05:33
quad A brackets. It really makes for a more fun,
2:05:40
a more competitive weekend, you know, and, and the same thing
2:05:43
for the B bracket cars. There are so many 4 cylinder
2:05:48
type cars around. I I don't understand why we
2:05:54
can't be at at 4B brackets. I'm with you well, and I know it
2:06:01
it. For those watching still.
2:06:03
Bahama brackets falls after Super Shoe, so our Super shoe at
2:06:07
Kalamazoo is the last week of September.
2:06:10
The and then Michigan Cup is always that first weekend in
2:06:14
October. So those are the 2 big shows
2:06:17
here in this area that are towards the end and I think
2:06:20
Owasso Nationals is usually or no Owasso Nationals this year
2:06:23
goes head to head with Super shoe.
2:06:25
They tried to go head to head with Michigan couple a few years
2:06:27
ago and went O and two. So now they're going to try
2:06:29
Super Shoe, but but that's something that, you know, they
2:06:33
have those. So like this falls after that.
2:06:35
So you know, you probably just have to change your car maybe a
2:06:38
little bit to kind of fit in the rules and and all that kind of
2:06:42
deal, which I know you guys will be putting more of that and
2:06:44
maybe they don't even have to change that much.
2:06:46
Right. But you said tube car or no tube
2:06:48
cars, you know, they, they, you know, so that's something that,
2:06:53
you know, if someone's looking to do, you know, 'cause will you
2:06:56
guys have camping and all that there camping's available.
2:07:01
There, there are several hotels that on the street and then the
2:07:06
exit that is east of the track, there's several hotels there as
2:07:09
well. And there's if I remember
2:07:13
correctly, there's 10 rules that you have to follow.
2:07:17
I don't remember all of them, but the tire rule is pretty much
2:07:23
you just have to run the same type of tire.
2:07:25
So, so if you're running, if you're running American Racer,
2:07:32
all four tires have to be American racer.
2:07:34
If you're running a Hoosier 790, all four of them got to be a
2:07:38
790. If you're running for Goodyear
2:07:42
Wranglers, that's what it is. The Crown VIX, they're they're
2:07:47
all running, you know, radial tires got to run radial tires.
2:07:52
You know, it's very simple. So yeah, no, no tube chassis.
2:07:57
The tire rule is pretty, pretty simple.
2:08:01
My favorite rule of all limit 1 carburetor.
2:08:06
So so if you have if you have a Tri power, if you have dual
2:08:10
quads, sorry, you can't run that.
2:08:14
And and the best rule of all is have fun.
2:08:20
Yeah, yeah 'cause like at Super Shoe, we'll.
2:08:24
Have a super shoe class where they could take off like their
2:08:26
roof panel, but they have to have arm restraints and all
2:08:29
that. So for Rahama rackets, is that
2:08:32
similar? Like if you don't have a roof
2:08:34
that so I I remember at Rockford.
2:08:37
That was always encouraged and I never, I never really paid
2:08:41
attention to that in the rules until I was at South Bend.
2:08:44
And I'm like, what are these people doing with no roofs?
2:08:48
And then, and then that I, I believe it was in 2016, the
2:08:52
first year I, I was working at South Bend when I saw that on
2:08:57
the rules for the brackets. I'm like, was this always on
2:09:00
here? So, and, and I know the I want
2:09:04
to say the I want to say it was the last year at Rockford cars
2:09:08
finally showed up without, you know, so, so if, if if.
2:09:14
If. You're going topless.
2:09:16
It's it's encouraged. Yep, Yep.
2:09:19
On the race car, Yes. Yes.
2:09:22
Yeah, So what happened Saturday night, That's a different story.
2:09:26
Yeah, it's the Saturday. It's pretty fun.
2:09:28
Track. And the.
2:09:29
Grandstands cars. Are encouraged to be topless but
2:09:34
'cause that's that, that starts getting a super shoot.
2:09:36
Territory too. So it's like, but that's where
2:09:39
again, I'll start pushing it, you know, now that we're getting
2:09:42
especially closer to championship points and
2:09:45
postseason planning, like we just announced super shoe stuff
2:09:48
today, a lot of super shoe stuff.
2:09:49
It's like this is the time of the year now people are really
2:09:52
going to start planning those postseason shows.
2:09:54
So that's where it's like, hey, if you go topless at Kalamazoo,
2:09:57
you could go topless, you know, at Grundy.
2:10:00
I know Michigan Cup doesn't have topless cars.
2:10:02
Usually they're the class is class.
2:10:04
You know, if you're a late model, you have it all.
2:10:06
If you're a street tech, you have it all.
2:10:08
So sometimes that's why cars didn't run super shoe because
2:10:11
they Michigan cups a week after and they don't want to have to
2:10:13
do a lot of changes to their car.
2:10:15
But now super shoe, they have the Super shoe class V eights,
2:10:18
which could be fancy, but pretty much for the rest of the
2:10:21
classes, it's like it's pretty much class racing St. socks or
2:10:24
shoe socks, like miles or like models, all that.
2:10:27
But again, you know, that's where you can head down to
2:10:29
Grundy and I'll like I said, I'll start posting that flyer
2:10:33
because now is when really people are going to start
2:10:35
planning even more. And it's like make it a
2:10:37
destination. I already know I reached out to
2:10:38
you say, what could it look like, you know, for me down
2:10:41
there, You know, just because I know Bahamas are so huge and
2:10:44
I've never been a part of it, but it's like, what kind of, you
2:10:48
know what, how can I help make it big?
2:10:50
Too. And I just, I just want to
2:10:51
stress about how fun of a weekend it is like Brian.
2:10:54
Said one of the the most important rule on the list is
2:10:56
that you need to have fun. Yeah, I mean, we have Super Shoe
2:11:01
and we have Michigan Cup and we have Showdown and all those
2:11:03
shows around here, and those are great, but the brackets are just
2:11:05
a little different. It's a little more to me, a
2:11:07
little more fun. I'll get a Flamingo like yeah,
2:11:10
the Flamingo triple feeds on. My shirt.
2:11:13
Yeah, the beach. Theming everywhere.
2:11:16
The Foo Foo. Races and yeah, it's just a
2:11:18
little more, it's a little different.
2:11:19
It's a little more fun at the Bahama brackets.
2:11:21
If you've never been, like Brian said, at least go check it out.
2:11:24
Even if you're not bringing a car.
2:11:25
I'll be bringing my car because I had such a blast last year.
2:11:27
I don't think I'll miss the Bahama brackets for as long as I
2:11:30
can. So yeah, I encourage you to go
2:11:32
out there. I'll be there.
2:11:33
Come have fun in October with us, man.
2:11:35
It's, I mean, there, there's a, there's a good handful of
2:11:38
drivers. Out that way that people can
2:11:41
talk to don't just take it from me.
2:11:44
Rich Bowl is a former champion of the brackets, Austin Maynard
2:11:49
Austin Maynard Nick Stremi. There's a, there's a, a, a good
2:11:55
handful of people that come out of like Rich Hensley always
2:11:58
comes out with, with, with his Thunderbird and, and, and for
2:12:04
me, it's refreshing to see those cars in those faces once again.
2:12:11
You know, so I'm, you know, I'm not only trying to plug, you
2:12:16
know, the Speedway and getting people out there, but I really
2:12:19
would love to see, you know, the, the, the people that you
2:12:24
know, I, I, I worked with for, you know, for those four or five
2:12:28
years you flagged for, for the, for that time that you know, was
2:12:33
there, there are drivers out there that maybe I only talked
2:12:38
to once or twice. I would love to see those
2:12:40
drivers as much as, as the other drivers that, that I, I, you
2:12:46
know, held, you know, great friendships with and, and some
2:12:51
of the drivers that flip me off several times when I was at the
2:12:54
flag stand. You know, I, I, I would love to
2:12:58
see as many of those people again and especially with a car
2:13:03
to show up. Yep, Yep, Like I said, I'm going
2:13:06
to start. Pushing it more.
2:13:08
That way. Again, it's just it's a
2:13:10
destination to to go. And of course I say that as
2:13:14
someone who grew up going to Grundy on Friday nights before
2:13:16
we went to the LaSalle on Saturdays.
2:13:18
Like that was my weekend as a kid for a couple years.
2:13:22
And that's where I really, really felt even more in love
2:13:24
with racing. That's where I collected my
2:13:25
first tire turds was at Illinois because a couple of the drivers,
2:13:29
Schulers and others would bring tire turds around and hand them
2:13:32
out to the kids. And that was like, the biggest
2:13:34
thing, right, is, you know, now I look back and like I can walk
2:13:39
on any track right now, even walk around the track and get
2:13:42
those. But it's like back then as a
2:13:43
kid, I didn't realize that, right?
2:13:45
And so it's like sometimes I'll grab one and hand it to a kid,
2:13:47
be like, this literally came off of a race car and that's the
2:13:50
coolest thing to them, right? And so again, just Morris, IL
2:13:55
make it a destination. I'll post the fire tomorrow.
2:13:59
I'll schedule post it that way people can see it.
2:14:01
I'll do it at noon my time. That way it's 11 your time and
2:14:04
it hits the lunchtime for anyone who follows and you know, we'll
2:14:08
just start getting out there. So if you have any other
2:14:10
promotional stuff, Brian, that you have that I can share other
2:14:13
than the flyer, anything you'd like.
2:14:15
Like I said, we could even get bring you on closer to that.
2:14:18
We're like 2 weeks out or three weeks out.
2:14:20
We're like, hey, OK, we're getting your October, you know,
2:14:23
let's I know we have haunted houses and Notre Dame football
2:14:26
or Illinois football over there, or I guess you could say since
2:14:29
it's big 10 country, but it's like, but they're still racing
2:14:32
and there's still a chance to turn left and go fast.
2:14:34
So I'll start post posting that and pushing that because again,
2:14:39
if you've never been in Grundy, you need to.
2:14:41
And if you're not sure how to race it, you know, you got James
2:14:44
Dimman out there with Dimman race videos.
2:14:46
You can watch plenty of his racing videos to see how Grundy
2:14:49
races and what you might need to do to have success there.
2:14:53
But again, even on their flyer, they put have fun in all caps.
2:14:56
So it's supposed to be fun even if you are still competing, Yes,
2:15:02
yeah. So if anybody wants to come out
2:15:05
prior to then. To see the remainder of the
2:15:09
schedule, go to grundyspeedway.com.
2:15:12
Check them out on Facebook. You'll, you can go direct from
2:15:17
their Facebook page and you can view the schedule of events that
2:15:23
we have this coming Friday and Saturday as long as Mother
2:15:26
Nature cooperates. Or you can see some of the the
2:15:30
rest of the shows that we've got coming up the rest of the year.
2:15:33
We've got some decent, some pretty big decent shows coming
2:15:38
up yet. You know, prior to the brackets
2:15:42
earlier I talked about the Bettenhausen.
2:15:43
That's that the crown jewel. That's the big daddy, you know,
2:15:48
of our races, you know, so that's that is one that you
2:15:53
might want to circle on your calendar.
2:15:56
If not next year, this year, definitely do it next year.
2:15:59
Bus racing coming up. We have night of features coming
2:16:06
up. That's unique.
2:16:08
Each division that we run, that we have runs that night, it's
2:16:13
features only. So fan appreciation night is
2:16:18
prior to that that that's all on Labor Day weekend, but there's
2:16:23
still plenty of regular action going on as well prior to these
2:16:28
bigger shows. Well, that's where we try to
2:16:30
advertise you on Thursday as part of our show.
2:16:33
If I don't reduce the schedule down, I.
2:16:34
Try to make sure that Grundy's on there because I, I don't know
2:16:37
if anyone from our show will go to Grundy, but you never know.
2:16:40
It's like, let's keep talking about it because someone may be
2:16:42
like, hey, that actually looks like something I want to go
2:16:44
check out or a track here. Might, you know, rain out or
2:16:47
whatever. But you guys got lucky and it
2:16:49
maybe missed Illinois or that part of Illinois And it, you
2:16:52
know, because there's been times we've cancelled here, but
2:16:54
Kankakee's still running, you know, And so it's like you just
2:16:57
never know. And and it plans to see for
2:17:00
Bahama brackets, which is after everything is over and done out
2:17:02
here for them to head out. Yeah.
2:17:04
Championships have already been claimed.
2:17:06
You know, everyone's kind of getting in the post season mode
2:17:09
you. Know slash winter mode so it's
2:17:11
like you know take one more chance be prepared to dress warm
2:17:14
for brackets as well. That's that's what must be in
2:17:16
the rules is bring a coat. Yeah.
2:17:19
But definitely, you know. Something to get out there.
2:17:21
So like I said, I'll start posting that.
2:17:22
Flyer, I'll have it scheduled for noon tomorrow.
2:17:25
That way it's already I'm going to do it once we're off because
2:17:28
otherwise by the time I start editing the new Paris program,
2:17:31
I'll forget. So I better do it as soon as
2:17:33
we're off. But but again, anything else
2:17:35
that you'd come across, Brian, you know, to have me share or
2:17:40
even post directly, you know, we can definitely get it out, you
2:17:43
know, for for anyone who wants to try something different,
2:17:45
right. We just had Anthony Doolon who
2:17:47
talks about traveling and, you know, and others.
2:17:50
And since you can camp, why not, you know, go camping, go to
2:17:53
Illinois, check out, you know, some sights and sounds while
2:17:56
you're on your way and and then go to racetrack in October.
2:18:01
What's wrong with that? I slept on an air mattress in
2:18:04
the race trailer last year and I slept fantastic.
2:18:06
There you go. There you go.
2:18:09
But again, Brian, that's where I definitely appreciate you coming
2:18:11
on. And talking Grundy, not only
2:18:13
the. State of the union of where
2:18:15
we've been since we last talked at the beginning of the season.
2:18:18
But then definitely, you know, talk about Bahama brackets and,
2:18:21
and giving, giving drivers something to chew on.
2:18:23
So I'll make sure, like I said, I'm going to share that out
2:18:26
because I have it on my schedule right now where I'm like, all
2:18:31
right, I I need to get to Grundy.
2:18:32
I keep saying I need to do it, we need to do it.
2:18:35
So like I said, I think of a Friday night coming up where I
2:18:38
don't have anything planned where I was going to reach out
2:18:40
and go, can I shadow you tonight?
2:18:43
Can I come this weekend and shadow you?
2:18:45
And you know, plus to be back home, you know, because that was
2:18:49
my home for a lot of years. And so I mean, you've already
2:18:52
said a different ways that it's changed around there.
2:18:54
So I can't even imagine when I'm going through like, oh, that
2:18:57
wasn't there, that wasn't there, that definitely wasn't there.
2:19:01
And I definitely know that X was not there, definitely not.
2:19:06
But you, you guys are always. More.
2:19:09
Than welcome to hang out with me.
2:19:11
Just make sure you exercise prior to that because 37 rows.
2:19:14
Oh yeah on the hike. Yep, it is not like I I That's
2:19:18
why I keep emphasizing like. Those are not small bleachers.
2:19:21
If Buju, wouldn't you say that they're probably even a little
2:19:26
bit taller than Kalamazoo's Turn 2 Bleacher?
2:19:29
Yeah, I mean, they're, so if you think of Kalamazoo's turn to
2:19:33
Bleacher, which is hefty, they're taller than that,
2:19:37
They're steep. They're they are not forgiving
2:19:40
on the legs. I remember there's a kid
2:19:42
climbing up and I had energy back then, so I can only imagine
2:19:46
right now, Right. But but again, something to make
2:19:49
it, you know, look up Morris, IL, a couple of different ways
2:19:52
from this area to get there. But most of it's highway.
2:19:55
Not a bad drive. Not a bad drive at all.
2:19:57
The track is literally off the highway.
2:19:59
You take the exit. And it's.
2:20:01
Like a sneeze over. You don't even you won't even
2:20:04
get a full sneeze out before you're turning into the
2:20:06
fairgrounds there. So it is at the Grundy County
2:20:08
Fairgrounds, but it's Grundy County Speedway and Morris, IL.
2:20:12
And other than that, Brian, if if is there anything I always
2:20:16
ask at the end, is there anything else good for the group
2:20:19
that we might have missed for Bahama?
2:20:23
Just come one come all come fun different.
2:20:26
Yep. So again, we'll start pushing it
2:20:28
more and more and. Because man, it's it's time.
2:20:32
So I know this is our our favorite part at the end of the
2:20:35
show too, because Buju, do you have anything good for the
2:20:38
group? No, Sir, you did it.
2:20:40
No, I think, hey, we got it all in and and.
2:20:44
And the floor is on and it. Really wouldn't storm well and
2:20:47
that's where I haven't seen lightning yet because.
2:20:49
The storms are supposed to. We're supposed to get a good.
2:20:51
Round tonight and then tomorrow's supposed to be wicked
2:20:55
yes, we're it's gonna oh, it's going right now it's going it's.
2:20:59
Basically hitting South of New Paris, right?
2:21:01
Now, so it's going South of us. So it's clear, clear here, but
2:21:05
it's missed all of us. It's gone.
2:21:06
It's, you know, Plymouth is getting it, but always we've
2:21:10
missed it here. But I know tomorrow you're in
2:21:12
Level 3, so I might even reach out be like, are you safe today?
2:21:16
Because I literally had just texted Brian not long after the
2:21:19
tornado went through and I didn't realize it because I
2:21:22
hadn't seen it on the news or anything.
2:21:23
Obviously, you know, I don't get Illinois news.
2:21:25
But when he said that I'm like, it's now on the news now they're
2:21:28
talking about it. And and then I sent you a
2:21:31
picture look like and then you your store.
2:21:35
Or the store across whatever it was was on the TV like.
2:21:38
They showed literally that one on on TVI think you would even
2:21:41
posted that one saying hey, they made it on the TV.
2:21:44
But but again, definitely be safe because I know they're
2:21:46
definitely sounding the alarm for tomorrow.
2:21:48
I mean three out of five is not good.
2:21:50
So oh, my lights just went off. It's like clap on clap off.
2:21:54
It's not working now. Do you have a storm coming in?
2:21:57
No, no, it's outside light decided I didn't.
2:22:00
Move fast enough. It's one of those motion ones.
2:22:02
But other than that, we'll go ahead and wrap up.
2:22:06
Just a shout out next Monday. One of our guests that we're
2:22:09
going to have is Randy Maggio from the Lorraine Raceway Park.
2:22:12
They just made a comeback last week and they opened for the
2:22:15
first time this year because the track is for sale or was for
2:22:18
sale. I think there's a new buyer
2:22:20
who's going to be taking it over.
2:22:21
But they have three big events that they just had one.
2:22:24
So we're going to have Randy Maggio Junior.
2:22:26
I should say it's not Randy Maggio, he's Randy Maggio Junior
2:22:29
and so he'll be on at 8:00 same slot that Brian had tonight to
2:22:33
talk about everything Lorraine in Northeast Ohio.
2:22:36
So we're going to go from Eastern Illinois all the way
2:22:40
over to Eastern Ohio next Monday night.
2:22:44
So we're we're going to have Randy and then I don't know who
2:22:48
else yet. I still working on that.
2:22:50
I have a couple names, but I racing Brian, there's a couple.
2:22:53
You know, we're still doing I racing.
2:22:55
I'm like, man, you better put me on your schedule as soon as I
2:22:57
racing is done because I've been patient.
2:22:59
But but other than that, boozoo, it's almost hopefully the with
2:23:04
the weather, right, it's almost time to turn left and go fast
2:23:06
because we'll see you at the races.
2:23:08
See you at the races again, Brian, thank you so much for
2:23:10
joining us tonight. Thank you, guys.
2:23:12
Yeah. Thanks BG.