Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

Stop number 2 of the Birthday Tour was Saturday night April 23rd at 34 Raceway Park in West Burlington, Iowa. It was the first ever event sanctioned by the newly formed Midwest Open Wheel Association. Thirty nine cars signed into the pits and over 3,000 people in the grandstand. Southeast Iowa and Western Illinois people have had a long standing love of Sprint Cars and it was evident as their vehicles filled the parking lot.

The Outlaws had cancelled earlier in the day on Saturday and Craig Dollanksy, Kerry Madsen, Terry McCarl and Danny Lasoski made the haul to Iowa. It was great to have them at the Inaugural event. Joey Moughan one of the original founders of the fledgling organization won the 1st heat and finished third in the 30 lap A-Main. An interesting note is that Sprint Invader regular Matt Sutton won the 2^nd heat utilizing his 360 motor. The 3^rd heat was Dollansky’s and Madsen won the 4^th heat. They then ran 2 B Mains and they were won by Josh Schneiderman and Kaley Gharst.

Thanks to 34 promoters Jeff and Amy Laue for only running 2 other classes with the Sprint Cars. It spit rain several times during the evening and the crew at 34 was masterful at maintaining the racing surface. Normally I sit in the stands just at the entry to turn 1, but I decided to stand down in the gravel area, so I could watch the cars run into turn 1. I was not disappointed as I was peppered with mud even during the A Main. It takes a strong sole to stand that close and know just when to turn your head to avoid a dirt marble to the eye.

After the races I returned to my motor home to find that it had sunk in the soft grass. I managed to get it moving only to be cut off by some teenage girl who must have needed to get home before her curfew expired. Several fans stopped to help, including a young guy in a new Dodge Hemi truck, who proudly stated he could pull my baby out of the mud. After several attempts he gave up and the kind folks at 34 Raceway, showed up with a HUGE tractor that easily pulled me onto a hard surface. My poor son ended crawling underneath the couch to hook up the chains and re-entered the coach with mud everywhere. My once spotless clean vehicle now sits with enough mud and dirt inside it to plant a small garden. We stayed in Burlington Saturday night and when the sun rose on Easter morning, the true picture of how much dirt, mud and grass became very evident. We drove home and backed into the driveway and she sits there waiting for me to get everything cleaned up before this coming weekend.

Next stop Knoxville Raceway for Friday (4/29) practice and racing on Saturday night. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and bought my Birthday shirt, all the proceeds go to diesel fuel. See you soon.

As always everything included above I own.

Contact me if you would like to discuss something. gorusty@aol.com

April 11, 2011
Well, my maiden voyage to PA to meet the Beer Hill Gang was a bust. The closer I got the colder it got. Driving across I-80 is bad enough, but thinking my plans to race Friday and Saturday night were going to be ruined made it even worse. The upside of this little adventure was that reconnected with Bill Woodside, who I had lost track during the past couple of seasons. Bill volunteered to be my TOUR Guide, which was much appreciated. Bill called me around 12noon on Friday to tell me the races were snowed out for the evening. I was sitting at Camping World having my motor home inspected so I could review the license. BUMMED to say the least, and Saturday’s weather didn’t look good, so I headed back to Iowa. 1892 miles to get a little red sticker on my bumper, so I can travel this summer.
With the SNOW out in PA, the first stop on my 60th Birthday Tour will be 34 Raceway Park in West Burlington, Iowa. The Midwest Open Wheel Association will be sanctioning their first ever event. As I stated in an earlier posting, this group was organized by a couple of young 410 racers in the Springfield, Illinois area. They have worked very hard and just recently announced that Monster Energy Drinks had signed on as the sponsor for the 11 event schedule in 2011. Congrats to these guys and hopefully it will reignite the 410 fever in what has become a 360 world.
Then it will be off to Knoxville for their opening on April 30th. Thanks to Cappy at Knoxville for changing the track’s practice night from Saturday April 23rd to Friday April 22, so that any 410 teams that wanted to compete at 34 would be able to make the short trip South. Knoxville will be interesting with TMAC and reportedly The Dude making this their home track. Dustin Selvage will be moving up from 360s to make his 410 career begin. There are some pretty tough teams that will now call Knoxville Home on Saturday nights.
I am looking forward to meeting up with the 3G Suite Spot people and all the Dingus regulars. Since I turn 60 this racing season I plan to really enjoy myself and blame any problems on my advanced years. I hope the Knoxville Police by that story. If you haven’t already, stop by my Facebook page “Rusty’s 60th Birthday Tour”, check out the t-shirts and the planned gatherings to celebrate.
I wanted to give a heads up to the TURN 3 or 4 gang, can’t recall which turn it is named after (remember I am advance in years) I am going to stop by this season, I haven’t done this before, so I hope they treat the “old” rookie with respect and dignity, both of which I usually don’t deserve.
Off for now, the sun is finally shining in Iowa. All my neighbors have worked in their yards and mine looks like it belongs in a totally different neighbor, so I better at least pick up some trash.
Until we me again or meet for the 1st time
Rusty

March 8, 2011

As I stated in my last column, there is a group of young 410 sprint car drivers around the Springfield, Illinois area that are forming an association to promote opportunities for them to race. Well, it looks like it is coming together very quickly. They have a website up and running at http://midwestopenwheel.com/. The driving forces behind this new group both come from families with very long histories in racing in Illinois. Jeremy Standridge and Joey Moughan are both great young guys who are working very hard to help themselves and others. The 410 cars race at Jacksonville most every Friday night, but then Saturday they have to either tow to Farmington, Missouri or Knoxville, Iowa. Being a person who has made both these trips on a regular basis they are expensive long hauls and lead to total exhaustion by the time you finally get home and with fuel prices these trips are practical for these younger teams that are funding themselves for the most part. There is phone conference coming on Thursday for those persons interested in discussing a schedule, point fund, rules and management. I plan to participate and see if this old dude can help them make this work. If you are interested in participating go to the website above for information about getting connected.

Also in my last column I indicated that Knoxville still needed to do something about the Master’s Classic and they did. I want to thank Cappy and everyone at Knoxville for listening to the fans and making the changes necessary that this year’s Master will actually be a Master’s Classic. Good JOB Knoxville!!!

I still am beating the bushes trying to get Knoxville to provide space at a reasonable cost to their regular Saturday night drivers to sell their t-shirts during the Nationals. I have heard all kind of stories like the fairboard wants to make money, the Outlaws controls vendors and on and on. It doesn’t matter who thinks they are in charge they need to do something for the teams that race every Saturday night. You could even put some rules in place to prevent local outlaws like McCarl would not meet the criteria. The majority of Knoxville regulars never race anywhere else. That is one thing that has always amazed me, you own a sprint car, most have nice trailers and trucks and the only place they go is Knoxville. There are a few that venture out to another track, but it is rare. Anyway, I would love to see the regular guys have the opportunity to sell their shirts, meet with fans and be visible to all the visitors that come to the Nationals. If you have walked to the barn by the pit gate there appears to be fewer and fewer vendors renting spaces, so there is plenty of room. I think the other vendors would love having the local guys in the building, because it is sure to increase foot traffic. Not sure how to get this accomplished and am open to any suggestions you might have.

Listen to a Thursday’s night broadcast from Las Vegas on Dirtvision. Wow there are some intense fans on there cheering their driver on and bad mouthing anyone else who straps into a sprint car. It all seems to be good natured and the group of listeners seems to have made connections with one and other even they live all over the world. On Friday night I paid the $14.99 and watched the live video. It was good and I enjoyed it. I think Dirtvision needs to figure out some filler information, so that there are not long periods of silence. Some prerecorded interviews with drivers, team owners and sponsors might fill the gaps. Several times I wondered if I was still connected.

For those of you that have not joined my 60^th Birthday Tour page on Facebook, stop by an give it a look. The link is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rustys-60th-Birthday-Tour/143479359039915 My t-shirts are printed and I am ready to hit the road. I hope many of you stop by my motorhome and introduce yourselves as tour around the country. Here is the design of the t-shirt For those who know me you will see some similarity to a shirt I sold many years ago. T-shirts are $20 each for all sizes. There are no children sizes as they are inappropriate for kids.

Don’t forget to get your Front Row and Ultimate Challenge tickets ordered if you want to insure you get the same seats you had last year. As always this promises to be some of the best nights of racing. I want to suggest to all the infielders that this year’s party theme be Pirates and Wenches..

As always I own what I say and you can contact me at gorusty@aol.com

February 14, 2011

February thaw is occurring today and it makes me think that racing is not to far off. I’m no fool though as the worst of Iowa’s winter may occur next week. I thought I should bring you up to speed on things I have heard. I won’t be like IBRACN and tell you fact or rumor, I’ll let you figure that out.

• There is group of 410 racers in the Springfield, Illinois area that are attempting to create a non-profit organization to promote 410 racing in the area. Jacksonville, Illinois currently runs 410s on Friday nights, but on less you want to tow to Farmington, Missouri or Knoxville, Iowa there is really no place for these guys to race on Saturdays. Go to http://standridgemotorsports.com/ to find out the details. They have a poll where you can vote on the name of this new group. I selected MWSA Midwest Sprint Army. I hope these young guys can get this accomplished. The Standridge name is a household name in Sprint Car racing in Illinois.
• Search your facebook pages for http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Rustys-60th-Birthday-Tour/143479359039915 Since I will be turning 60 this year I started a fun pages to see how many fans wanted to be a part of the summer long celebration. T-Shirts are currently being made at Outlaw T’s in Nauvoo, Illinois. They have a retro style about them and I can’t wait till they arrive.
• There appears to be no Sprint Invader races scheduled at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. Originally the home base of the Sprint Invaders, it appears that Terry and Jenni have other plans for 2011. The July 8th Lee County Fair race has not been announced, but in the years past the fairboard has had the Sprint Invaders.
• 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa has 2 410 events on their tentative schedule. The first on Saturday April 23 and the 2nd on Saturday September 24th. They are also having their regular classes on Saturday night July 9th, but they are having Jake McVey in concert afterwards. Jake is a huge crowd drawers in Southeast Iowa. You can visit his website at http://www.jakemcvey.com/fr_home.cfm He is an awesome country/hard rock kind of entertainer.
• I see the Master’s Classic is on Knoxville schedule. Unfortunately if it is the same format as last year it is worth missing. Allowing full time drivers to compete totally defeats the purpose. So Sammy is over 50 should he or others like him be allowed to compete? Most fans say “NO” Seems like an easy fix, but sometimes an easy fix to me is a difficult task for others.
• I am still pushing for Knoxville to provide reasonably priced space for their weekly drivers to sell their T-shirts during the Nationals. Again, it appears like an easy fix. I don’t believe any weekly team can afford to rent any space at the prices being charged. Even if it was a couple of tables under the grandstand and the drivers picked times to move in and move out.

As always the words written here are mine and I own them. If you have questions, comments or concerns send me an email gorusty@aol.com. I look forward to seeing who joins the Birthday Tour and I will see you at the races.

December 9, 2010

It has been a long time since I aired my thoughts and opinions, so I thought I should bring you all up to speed.

2010 was a great season of racing. As always there were high points and low points. One of the highest points for me was Tim Shaffer winning the 50^th annual Knoxville Nationals. What a triumph that was and it goes to prove that the underdog ( money wise) can pull off a stunning victory. Also impressive at the Nationals was young Josh Schneiderman coming out of the B-Main to finish 13^th in the A-Main capping off a year long 25^th anniversary celebration for the family owned team. Josh also was awarded Knoxville Raceway Hard Charger Award at the banquet and topped that off by being picked as a recipient of The Rich Vogler Scholarship. Josh is Senior at the University of Northern Iowa.

The lowest point of the summer came on May 26, 2010 when Jesse Hockett was killed while working on his trailer. My heart still aches for over this unfortunate accident and prayers and thoughts continue to go out to his family and friends.

Took my son to his 1^st Kings Royal in July and he was not disappointed. The battle between Kerry Madsen and Steve Kinser was some dang good racing. My son being a life long Jac fan love watching him ride the fence both nights. Later this summer my son and his wife had a baby boy and Jack was the chosen name. Mom wouldn’t agree to the JAC spelling, but the compromise was awesome. I can’t wait to take Jack to his 1^st sprint car race, just like I took his Dad when he was 4.

The annual Front Row and Ultimate Challenges continue to provide fans the unique opportunity to watch from the infield. Sammy wining this event was a mixed bag for me, as you know I am not a Sammy fan as I think he is boring, yet he was driving the Big Game Treestand formerly driven by Terry McCarl, who is a friend and someone I try to help whenever I can.

Now I would like to make a suggestion to Knoxville Raceway and the Marion County Fairboard. Why not give your regular Saturday night teams a break on the cost of selling their T-Shirts on the grounds. The current price for booth space is cost prohibitive for the regular guys. Why not set up an area and allow them to peddle their wares at a much lower price. They don’t own t-shirt trailers and generally operate out of Rubbermaid tubs. They support the track every week, how about a little payback for their loyalty? What would you be out?

In an earlier column I mentioned that the Master Classic is broken and I haven’t heard any news that it is going to change. I still believe that if a driver is 50+ and racing on regular basis he should not be allowed to run the Master Classic. Sammy lapping the field in 2010 is proof enough that it is broken.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season and hope that whatever you are looking for you find under the tree.

Lastly, I want to Thank the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders for inducting me into the Hall of Fame. The Sprint Invaders will celebrate their 10^th season in 2011. The group has come a long way since it’s inception, which was a result of a conversation held in Knoxville over a couple of beers. WAY TO GO!!!!

As always I own everything I say and my email address is gorusty@aol.com if you need to reach me.

A Hosehead Production

Hosehead's Sprint Car Photos & News,PO Box 42, Drums PA 18222-0042