At 76 years-old, Vic Edelbrock Jr. shows no signs of calling it quits. Recently we got the opportunity to sit down and talk with Vic Jr. about the early days of Edelbrock, his father, and the current state of motorsports. Read the exclusive interview here.
Interviews
16 year-old Harli White has already been through more than some racers will experience in a lifetime of racing, including being pulled from the burning wreckage of a vicious accident, living to tell about it, and then stepping back into the cockpit. Read her story here.
The current school of thought on NASCAR history is that Bill France Founded NASCAR at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. Dr. Thomas Vogt, son of Red Vogt, Stock Car Racing’s first “Super Mechanic” and mentor to Smokey Yunick, says that’s not true. Read what “Little Red” has to say about it.
We sit down and talk with one of the most open and candid personalities from NASCAR’s ranks. Tiger Tom Pistone talks about his career and the people that he crossed paths with during his 60 plus years in racing.
If you are involved in any type of racing, and you want to win, you probably have checked out Keith Dorton’s racing engines. Dorton has never been a secret to racers seeking speed and performance engines, as evidence by his first ever customer… Ralph Earnhardt. Read the complete story here.
In the world of now, dirt tracks have had to start changing the way they speak to current and new fans. See how some in the industry are using new ways to spread the word about dirt tracks, and their events. What do you think is the hardest obstacle to overcome when marketing a dirt track?
Royal Jones, “The Driver’s Promoter” or a Walking Contradiction?
by Bobby Kimbrough
on August 2, 2011
Track promoter and racer Royal Jones explains why his philosophy of allowing quick change rear ends and racing transmissions offer more affordable racing than stock parts. Does running multi-million dollars businesses and two different dirt tracks allows Jones to see a bigger window to racing world?
This year Mike Spencer is having the best start of his career winning everything in sight. For the last three consecutive years Spencer has won the USAC/CRA Championship. We decided to sit down with him and ask him, what does it take to be successful at driving a sprint car?
We caught up with 350 time winner and 4 time IMCA champion Mike Nichols recently, and discussed his success. How would a man whose engines have been claimed 42 times over the course of his career speak of his competitors and his success? Find out here.
Paul “Scooter” Brothers is the President and co-founder of COMP Cams and chairman-elect of the SEMA board of directors. It turns out that the head honcho of COMP has quite a few racing stories that you’d never think a CEO of a major corporation would share, but we think you’ll find that Scooter is no ordinary CEO!
Doug Wolfgang has never been comfortable in the spotlight. Even being rated as one of the best sprint car drivers of all time, the man is more at home in his garage, far away from his adoring fans, building another chassis for the track. We found him back at the track and ready to talk.
The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) has taken the mid-West Modified scene by storm in the past 5 years. What was once a struggling series on the verge of going belly up has now become a highly cherished touring series which will soon be featured on national television. Recently, we talked with the USMTS marketing director, Jeff Nun about the success of the USMTS, where the series is heading, and which series champion goes commando under his fire suit. Jeff gave us the inside dirt on what the USMTS is all about.
D. William Smith was born and raised in the heart of the Great Plains in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of the local neighborhood auto mechanic. From this ‘salt of the earth’ blue-collar upbringing, Bill Smith has created a motorsports empire. Today, Smith’s privately owned Museum of American Speed and “America’s Oldest Speed Shop,” Speedway Motors, have made the name Speedy Bill synonymous with going fast. We talk to Bill about his history in racing.
Red Farmer is a short track God. A legend. Not a household name like Petty, Allison, or Earnhardt, but every racer across the nation knows him. Honest and candid, there are no mysteries about Red except his age, which he keeps a closely guarded secret. Red simply calls it like he sees it, and does things his way. We sat down with Red and talked about his racing career and inspirations.
Last November, Norco, California Sprint Car racing superstar Tony Jones shocked the racing community when he announced his retirement. Jones was just two months shy of his 39th birthday when he called it quits. If he had been a stick and ball athlete whose career was on the downside, it would have been understandable. That was not the case with Jones. Like fine wine, he was getting better with time and was seemingly at the top of his game. Jones is a second generation Sprint Car driver, the son of Sprint Car Hall of Famer Bubby Jones. This is his story.
Tom Wolfe once called Junior Johnson the “Last American Hero” in his first book of essays written in 1965. Years later, when I first heard that reference, I remember thinking, “Oh God, I hope not.” While Junior Johnson is indeed an American Hero, he most certainly is not the last. In these tough days, what we need most is home-grown heroes, and I would like to present sprint car racer Rip Williams as the newest American hero, and yet again, anything but the last American hero. Like most men worthy of the title, Williams would not want to be recognized as a hero, much less the last at anything.
You’ve gotta have thick skin to run a circle track. On any given night, a promoter or his crew will have to make calls that are not liked by the spectators or the race teams. It takes courage to make those tough calls, especially those that are in the spirit of competition but unpopular to the masses. At a premier dirt circle track like Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, California, where high profile series like the World of Outlaws and USAC routinely compete, the challenges are much more difficult.
