NATIONAL SPRINT CAR HALL OF FAME
we were invited to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville, Iowa for our 2007 awards Banquet. That seems appropriate, since our type of racing seems to be a training ground for future Sprint Car drivers. Several racers at English Creek Speedway have sprint car ties already. World of Outlaw star Terry McCarl's sons Carson and Austin race 600cc Micro Sprints, Larry Ball Jr's son Jamie Ball runs at the front of the 500cc "Open" class. Jeff Mitrisin's daughter, Brooke, raced in our restricted class this year, and won Rookie of the year and class champion ! Jamie Moyle's son Collin Moyle ran hard in the Box Stock class, Colton Roorda from the restricted class is the grandson of former sprint car shoe Archie Ergenbright. The list goes on, it reads like a who's who list of sprint car personalities. Heck, when the outlaws came to town for the Knoxville Nationals, we even had Jac Haudenschild's son in a Outlaw Dirt Kart !
Anyway, as you an see, the hall of fame was an appropriate place for our banquet to be held.
Joshua was flanked by his entire "team". Mommy and her significant other, Jerame, Both Grandma's, Poppy, and his brothers David and Kaleb all attended. We watched as Big Mike, track coordinator, Mike Brady, videographer, Dan Ebright, owner/promoter, and all the volunteers put on a fabulous presentation. They served a wonderful meal of Ham and Turkey, veggies, taters-n-gravy, salad, and lovely cobblers for desert. They offered up Pepsi and Coke products to maintain the family atmosphere promoter heavily at this racetrack, and everyone had a great time watching and listening as the awards were presented. As the awards were handed out, the microphone was passed from competitor to competitor, allowing them to say anything they thought appropriate and thank those who helped them achieve what they achieved. When Joshua got his turn, he thanked Grandpa for "putting his car together" and grandma for "working some overtime". That got a laugh from the crowd because we all know racing, while beneficial in lots of ways, does cost a little money.
Especially nice, too, was when 2nd place finisher in the restricted class, Kelby Watt, acknowledged class champion Brooke Mitrisin on her win. Some of the adults could learn from these kids and their level of sportsmanship. It was nice, too, to see some of the drivers out of the cars. You see them perform some pretty outrageous feats on the racetrack week after week, and then they get out and they are just regular folks, a lot of them seem MUCH younger than you would expect.
Joshua received a VERY nice award for his 4th place points finish, and near the end of the evening, an award was given for the most improved driver of 2007, and Joshua was named for that award. He received a BEAUTIFUL trophy, and could not have been more pleased. He said it was the best night of his life. To add to that, 4th place came with a nice check, triple digits, a nice haul for anyone, let alone a 7 year old. I told him next year he starts splitting cash awards ! At the end of the night, he went to Terry McCarl, one of his idols in life, and met him, said hi, shook hands, and pretty much just beamed in the moment ... doesn't get any better than this !
Please take some time to review the pictures of the evening, and at the end, I will show some pictures from inside the Hall of Fame.
ENJOY !
this is the awards table ... lots of great things to reward the season's drivers
Dan Ebright, Track Owner/Promoter ... cuzza him, we have a place to race
AND WE LOVE IT !
Thanks, Dan !
Jamie Ball and Nick DeMoss ... these guys ran the 500cc Open class, and were a show all their own !
(Jamie is the on talking)
the restricted class, I never get tired of showing these guys ! ( and girls )
There wee some outlaw dirt karts in the hall of fame for the banquet !
Josh found some BIG trophies, man he LOVES big trophies !
midget or sprint car styled kiddy ride on display !
race ready V8 Flathead ! take a long look, may be awhile until you see another !
race ready Flathead v8 w/ Ardun head conversion, take a picture, cuz you may NEVER see another !
hey, there WAS a 15 before Donny Schatz ! WAYYY before !
here's an early example of a winged car ...driven by JD Parker !
or an EARLIER winged car !
there was open wheel racing before they were sprints !
I remember watching these cars run ! State of the art for their day !
Joshua found a collection of hand whittled models of each Nationals winner !
toys for sale at the souvenir stand included Jeff Mitrisin .. HEY ! we race with his daughter !
the King, Steve Kinser, in hammered brass !
This is just a short, very brief tour. You can spend all day in here and always see something new. We looked at it through the eyes of a 48 year old and a 7 year old, both excited to get to the awards banquet. Maybe someday soon, we will come back and take a longer tour and post more pictures.