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• OLD RACING FRIENDS

BROADSLIDING WITH
Bev Thompson

You know I just love meeting new friends and getting to know people is so much fun for me, but I have to say after being on this earth for 70 some years, I really enjoy connecting with old friends. It’s been especially fun the past two seasons, since my Grandson, Mike moved up to 410 racing. Last season as a rookie in the toughest competition in dirt racing, it’s been refreshing for me to run into lots of folks I haven’t seen for years. Going to the races with the Thompson Team is great and I love being part of a race team again, but for anyone who knows me, it’s ALL about the people in the sport that amaze me.
The dedication that I have experienced over the years boggles my mind. I’m not only talking about racers and their families, but I’m also talking about crew guys, track promoters, photographers, journalists, track personnel, fire and safety crew, and the best FANS! How could the racing industry have survived for over a century without the dedication and love of these people involved in this crazy exciting volatile sport?
It must be my old age that makes me emotional about all these old friends but sitting in the Port Royal stands at the Greg Hodnett Memorial race Saturday night, brought tears to my eyes. Not just because of the loss of so many good friends and racers like Greg, but because of the friendships Bruce and I have developed over the years in racing. Truly I can’t believe how many good and wonderful people we have met and raced with for over 50 years. We started out drag racing as kids and once married moved on to Stockcars at Flemington and East Windsor, making many wonderful friends. Our three children all had quarter-midget careers as well, which provided them with many long-time racing friendships over the years.
Then in the 80’s we moved to sprint cars and URC, which was like a family to us. A good portion of our racing time was spent involved with URC as we traveled to so many tracks up and down the eastern part of the US. We had so much fun traveling and racing with those folks, we still tell stories about those days. Many of these URC people are still our good friends of ours.
Then when our son Len grew out of quarter midgets, we joined KARS and shortly thereafter went to 410 racing in Central PA. When we shut down our race team a dozen years later Len drove a few years for other owners, but Bruce and I wanted to pursue other hobbies such as boating, so the Thompson Team faded into the sunset. Or did we?
Along came Michael and Owen, our next generation of quarter midget drivers, and they renewed our love of the sport. While Owen has pursued other sports, Mike loved racing and had a successful career in micro racing. Now part of the PA Posse, Mike is slowly adapting to the high powered 410’s and the tough Central PA competition. This of course brought his grandfather Bruce back into the fold. And where Bruce goes, there you will also find Bev.
My point in all this is the strong ties and relationships that we have made over the years. Three generations of friends that we have, such as the Tanners. Bruce and Bill Tanner have been friends for a long time, our children, Len and Christy Tanner/Westcott have been friends most of their lives and now Mike and Joe Toth (Christy’s son) are good friends. Len and Tim Tanner played football in the infield as kids and both went on to race. Their sons are now good friends, and we just watched DJ Tanner win his first 305 feature at New Egypt, NJ this past weekend. Bruce and Roger Laureno raced together and now Roger and Bonnie’s son Kenny and Mike are friends. Our kids raced quarter midgets with the Haggenbottoms and we were two generations of friends. The Haggenbottom boys crewed for Bruce. Now a 3rd generation racing friendship survives with Mike and Jared Krieder (Dawn and Jeff’s) son as friends. Fran Hogue and Bruce raced in URC together for years. Len and Tim Hogue are still best friends and raced together. Currently Tim’s stepdaughter Makenzie and Len’s son Owen are dating. There are many other old friends I’ve seen lately and it’s been so nice to catch up with them. Just a few random folks we reconnected recently are Todd Rittenhouse, Charlie Massey, and Dan Mussleman from Maxim Chassis.
Where would racing be without the dedicated promoters countrywide? I’ve been lucky enough as a writer to meet many of them over the years. Coming back into racing has recently given me the opportunity to reconnect with a few of my favorites, such as Alan Kreitzer, one of the nicest and most dedicated men I’ve ever met. Also enjoyed talking with Steve O’Neal whose love of the sport shines through all he’s done with Port Royal. It is a pleasure to sit in the grandstands at this facility as it has become a premier track in PA. I loved catching up with Dave Adams who has helped Bridgeport gleam success again. These guys all truly care about our beloved sport!
As a former AARN columnist, I had the privilege to be in some good company over the years. I’m talking about guys like Hosehead. Allan Holland recently told me he’s just lucky to have gotten into the internet at an opportune time, but don’t believe him, he’s well written and famous today because he saw the future in our sport and wanted to move it forward, which he’s had a big part in doing. Let’s not forget my former boss Lenny Sammons, who I love dearly and has been in the media business for his entire life. A second-generation successful owner of AARN, the paper thrives today because both of his sons continue to be there for our sport as dedicated 3rd generations workers. Don’t forget Len’s also an accomplished promoter as well and both his sons are racers in their own rite.
I was so happy to reconnect with friends like Steve Barrick of Program Dynamics and AARN. Steve and Pam are just wonderful people to be around and have done so much for our sport locally over many years. Where would we be without writers like Shawn Wood, Joe Kaminski, and Jeff Ulrich, all some of my favorite people. What about Jack Kromer, whose racing photography is known throughout the country. It was so fun to bump into him at a recent race and catch up. What about Steve Koletar from Reading, who is like a bad penny and whose face shows up with cameras in hand at all kinds of race events and always has a smile on his face. He never fails to say, “Hi Broadsiding” as he stops buy our pit area to catch up on the latest gossip. How about Debbie Gastelu who is now one of my new race friends. I got to talk with photographer Hugh Snyderman last year at Grandview along with promoter Bob Miller who never fails to thank the race teams for supporting his shows. I caught up with Matt Butcosk in FL last and we had a great conversation. The list of folks goes on and toomany to mention, but I continue to give accolades to old friends from racing who report and write the stories.
Recently I’ve also gotten to reconnect with some of the long-time drivers that we’ve known for many years who I really admire. A few of them include Lance Dewease #12 who won Port on Saturday night. Lance was often Len’s mentor when he drove Walt Dyer’s Brickmobile. We pitted next to them at the Grove many years ago and Lance was always a humble and a great representative of the sport. Then there is Mike Wagner, #55, a clean gentleman racer who I love. While I like to watch his son Logan run, I mostly cheer for Mike to win at Port Royal. I guess I relate to the older drivers. A good guy who I watched growing up in and around racing is Lucas Wolfe who is a 2nd-generation racer. It has been nice pitting next to the #5w and seeing Lucas’s children now playing on the pit cart. A tenacious racer like Steve Buckwalter, #17B who is always working hard to win and do well. I remember him as a kid racing quarter midgets against my daughter Julie. He was so fast and she was so slow, Stevie couldn’t help but spin her out sometimes. We chuckle at that now. There are also many local 2nd generation racers I like to watch and we’ve known their families for years, such as Danny Dietrich, Freddie& Brandon Rahmer, Nash Ely, Tyler Ross, Cody Fletcher, Kassidy Kreitz, and Derrick Locke. I love watching all these youngins.
Don’t get me wrong, I also love seeing the new generation of racers do well at the tracks and it has been fun to meet and become friends with some of my Grandson’s generation. Because of the Hogue connection I got to talk with Briggs Danner #39, a multi-talented young driver with the USAC wingless group. He comes from a great family and does well in whatever he drives. I enjoyed getting to know Justin Whittall #67 (mostly at the car wash) a NJ boy but also comes from a nice family. Justin and Mike raced quarter-midgets together for a while as youngsters and now they are both in 410’s. It’s been fun to watch Justin greatly improve this season. Another nice guy who our team met out in Western PA is Garrett Bard, #95. Older than Mike, he’s now racing mostly Central PA and is so close to winning a feature in Central PA.
What credit do the crew guys get? What is their glory? I have watched the crew members of sprint car teams for years work their butts off. They transport the cars, they set them up, they work on them tirelessly. They load the cars back up and then go to the car wash after the race is over before they even get to go to bed. They put them back together when the drivers crash and wreck them. They show up during the week to maintain the cars. They take vacation time to be at the races; they eat sleep and breathe race cars. Oh, they get a shout out by the driver in victory lane, and a picture in victory lane but what about the drivers who never get that podium spot? I sometimes think these guys are the REAL heroes of our sport, because we know the drivers can’t do it alone. I want to shout out to the crew members of Dewease #12 car, the Wagner crew guys, the Buckwalter boys, and the Deitrich #48 crew who I have recently witnessed work and sweat week after week. I can’t remember all your names because I’m old, but you all deserve an “Atta Boy!” And of course, a special shout-out to the legend, Davie Brown who works on the Kreitz #69. He’s been doing this longer than many of us are alive. He is an amazing old friend and deserves much credit for his love of our sport!I enjoy chatting with him.
What about the folks who work at the tracks? The ticket takers like Krissy Lauer, the Bryan Householders of the world who have been scoring, doing lineups, handicapping and working at several tracks almost his entire life. I don’t remember his name but the back pit gate guy at Williams Grove has been working there for many years. He always has a friendly smile on his face andI appreciate his hard work. It’s always nice to see Flo Fling, who has worked with URC for more than 25 years. The push truck drivers who are too many to mention, the corner men, and the guys like Fred Putney at Lincoln who work the track, week after week to make it raceable. I can’t tell you how important these people are to our sport. Let’s not forget our flagmen either. A shout-out to Wayne Harper and Warren Alston. Also, I love the announcers who keep us informed and of course the FLO and Dirt Vision guys and gals.
I reconnected with so many fans as well who come up to me and say they remember reading my column and ask me when I am going to start writing again. I’ve never stopped writing; I just paused my motorsports writing for a while. I love talking to these people as they share stories with me about Bruce’s racing and later Len’s racing. Hopefully someday I can share some stories with them about Mike’s racing. I also love the stories fans tell me about why they are so dedicated to our sport. I just had a guy this weekend tell me he slept in his pickup truck just so he could afford to go to several Speedweek shows. All race fans are SO important to our sport and I love it when a driver in victory lane gives a shout-out to the fans in the stands for coming out to watch. They are the people who buy the tee-shirts, buy the grandstand tickets, buy the 50/50’s and cheer their drivers on to victory. They make racing successful and viable today. Thanks to all of you out there, especially my OLD friends and my NEW friends in racing.

Contact Bev Thompson at bevthompson1014t@verizon.net