Most influential survey – follow-up

In addition to the people I mentioned in my opinion of the most influential (Roger Hadan, Land Developers, Inc. (NE Raceway Park), Greg Sanford, Dave and Kathy Cook, Johnny Saathoff, Del Friesen, Gary Dominguez), here’s a summary of other nominations for most influential in local racing.

One thing I REALLY, REALLY want to mention first:

The order I present people in this article is in NO WAY a reflection of any kind of “voting” results, which I didn’t keep since it wasn’t a contest, or how I feel about them, or anything. It is just how they fit into the flow of the article. I’m not making any judgment about the people here by presenting them first, last, in the middle, etc.

What it wasn’t intended to be: I didn’t really think this up looking to make a “Hall of Fame,” a “nicest guy” list, and it wasn’t meant to be a place for “shout-outs” or a popularity contest either. In fact, I admit that in my initial list of people/groups, there are things they do that I DON’T like but still have undeniable influence.

I do confess a few nominations wishing there was some more “why” included but I included them here regardless because they may be worth mentioning. As you’ll see next, there are a couple of people I didn’t know anything about but certainly deserve mention.

The best part of this survey was that I was enlightened by some of the suggestions not realizing what kind of impact they made. A few mentioned (in no particular order):

* Kevin “Littleman” Snyder – his car building knowledge was a key to the Jet Mods success, and built many of the cars that won championship across the country. This is underscored by the fact that Kevin was successful behind the wheel. I received a very long, heartfelt eulogy of Kevin which I may publish separately, as I know this brief paragraph isn’t doing justice to his memory.

* Travis Roth – a top Late Model competitor, owner of Roth Racing and part of a family spanning 53 years of racing involvement. Travis is an adviser to the Late Model community and short track promoters as well as a championship driver. He’s also branching out and getting kids involved in the sport through efforts in Kart racing.

I was reminded of a few people who, though their most active time in the sport was years ago their legacy still has impact on the way things are done.
Again in no special order:

* The Kelley Family – of course Craig and Mike are still influential in the racing community though not full time promoters/competitors. And Sunset Speedway’s legacy STILL presides over every track that runs weekly late model shows in the area as a benchmark for performance.

* Lawrence Ideus – who drove efforts in the early 1980s that many feel saved the fledgling (at the time) 360 Sprint class at Eagle.

* Lonnie Jensen, Jim Schuman, Larry Sinner, Pete Leikam, Don Droud, Sam Briscoe and others for the foundation of the 360 Sprint class, known then as “Modified” sprints


Some of the names sent in gave me a V-8, smack me in the forehead-moment asking myself, “why didn’t I think of that?” A few:

* Jeff Joldersma – Builder of Sport Compacts, and a big influence on the direction of the class. He was a guiding force behind the IMCA Sport Compact division and is a winning driver. In addition, he has stressed the importance of safety both in advice and in his own product and is a huge advocate for the fastest growing class of dirt track racing.

* Wayne Dake – whose Speed Secrets program brings local racing’s faces to the public and is one of the most prominent and recognized personalities at ANY track he visits.

* Brett Root – as the IMCA Vice President of Operations, the indirect influence is obvious, but with IMCA rules guiding all but a handful of classes what happens in Vinton, IA affects nearly every track directly.


There were many others brought to light. First I’ll list the ones where comments were provided. I’ll give the list here and a brief summary of the comments given by the nominator (in alphabetical order):

• Charlotte Bivens and Butler County Speedway for being one of the few Friday night tracks
• Brad Brown – whose IBRACN.com was the first of the fan sites in the area
• Rhonda and Bernie Bryan – their efforts with Kid’s Night at Eagle are not just a huge fan draw, but the goodwill passed with the bikes makes them ambassadors of the sport
• Mark Burch – sprint car owner, whose cars are a threat at any 360 race. He was also cited for his help making other teams faster through advice and services.
• Craig Cormack – though not actively a part of Eagle, the changes he made to Eagle are still a model for tracks to follow. As one person noted, “Craig’s influential because he still owns Eagle Raceway!”
• Tom Denton for bringing Thayer County Speedway back to regular racing
• Doug Deterding – long time competitor and known as a promoter of modified racing at Eagle
• Rodney Droud – as a longtime racer and promotes a positive message
• Jay Eckley – Eckley Racing Engines – whose power is in many of the cars you see locally
• The race fans – without them there wouldn’t be any racing
• Rik Gropp – longtime modified racer and big on getting kids involved with his team
• Emmet Hahn and Lanny Edwards for their growth of the ASCS and the numerous shows now in the area
• “Speedy” Hill – for his efforts in promoting racer safety
• Darrick Klima – modified builder and driver, bringing a low cost, competitive car to the racer
• Joe, Steve, and Ed Kosiski each received separate nominations for their on track accomplishments and their off-track influence, through parts, car building, etc. As one described them, the “First Family” of dirt late model racing. (Note: I considered all this as reason for the inclusion of the LDI group in my initial list).
• Toby Kruse, new Beatrice Speedway Promoter
• Randy Lawrence – media director for Team Dover as well as article writer for ASCS, etc.
• Jeff Lowery – for trying to bring wingless sprint car racing back to Eagle
• Bob Mays – Photographer and writer. Historian, author, and current columnist for Flat Out magazine.
• Mike Meyer – Six-time Eagle Modified Champ who got a lot of modified guys started
• Ron Meyer – writer for Dirt Late Model and other magazines
• Chris Moses – whose Oval Operations blog is becoming popular in the sprint car community
• Jason Orth – for the Heartland RaceNews.com site and writing for the Turn Three section in the Lincoln Journal Star (I didn’t want to put myself in, but one of the nominators insisted)
• Joe Orth – Nationally known sprint car photographer, as well as the producer and keeper of a huge repository of visual history, especially Eagle/Midwest Speedway
• Val Perkins of whowon.com – whowon’s message boards were THE hot place for local racing smack talk, not to mention the huge news/track info databank.
• Tyler Phelps – modified builder and driver, a positive influence on other competitors
• Dan Rhiley – supporter of much of the sport compact field at Eagle Raceway
• Bill Smith – the famous “Speedy Bill” of Speedway Motors. Nominated for the influence Speedway Motors has had on the grass-roots level racing parts industry and his support of IMCA.
• Support class teams who are “floating tracks with back gate money”
• Gary Swenson – the most dominant car owner in Eagle history is still fielding competitive cars that are at the front of most 360 shows still.


Where comments weren’t given (again, in alphabetical order):

• Chris Alcorn
• Billy Alley
• Kyle Berck
• Ed Bowes
• Marty Boyer
• Frank Brennfoerder
• Stan Cisar, Jr
• Larry Danhauer
• Tom Deery of DIRT Motorsports / World of Outlaws
• Todd Devenich
• Jack Dover
• Marc and Lori Dover
• Trish Dover
• Don Droud, Jr
• Phil Durst
• John Gerloff
• Tony Glenn
• Tom Grasso
• Tom Gutowski
• Ray Haase
• John Hart – Eagle Raceway Pit Steward
• Todd Henrichs – Lincoln Journal Star sports editor
• Wayne House
• Willie “The Welder” Ideen
• Ray Lipsey
• Charlie Martin
• Terry Klatt
• Don Maxwell
• Curt McKeever of the Lincoln Journal Star
• Randy Palmer
• Joe Proctor
• Bob Richardson
• George Roseland
• Chuck Spanel
• Bruce Steenson
• Ivan Tracy
• Dave Trauernicht
• SLS Promotions (fyi: the co-promoters of the June 2007 WoO show at Eagle)
• Greg Soukup – AKA “Eagle Pit Shack Guy”
• Nick Rubek of the Omaha World Herald
• Ray Valasek
• Wavelink Raceway Park
• Larry White – flagman at Eagle and I-80

To conclude: this is a pretty wide list, but by no means comprehensive. And, there is a lot of Eagle-centrism here, but that’s what I got from the public – it wasn’t intended. If anyone got left off the list, it wasn’t intentional.

There are a LOT of people who do a lot of things at many tracks to make local racing what it is today. Just looking at this list alone shows you how wide the scope of the sport is.

Thanks to everyone who participated!