Women's Motorsports Network Podcast & Let's Talk Racing LIVE
Women's Motorsports Network Podcast shares the stories of women involved in motorsports from around the world. The first episode was in 2018 and new episodes are added each week. Feel free to suggest potential guests to Melinda at melinda@wmnnation.com.
Let's Talk Racing LIVE airs on Wednesdays at 7pm EASTERN TIME on the Women's Motorsports Network-A Media Company Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/womensmotorsportsnetworkandpodcast
Melinda Russell
Women's Motorsports Network Podcast & Let's Talk Racing LIVE
Waving Shirts in the Front Yard: How a Boy's Dream Became Reality with Tony Eldridge
When Tony Eldridge decided to wave colored shirts on hangers in his front yard as a child, pretending to be a flagman, he never imagined it would lead to a 20-year career in motorsports that would touch countless lives. His journey from those humble beginnings to becoming one of the most respected figures in Midwest short track racing reveals both the magic and challenges of grass-roots motorsports.
In this candid conversation with Melinda Russell, Tony shares the full arc of his racing story—from his early days attending races as a newborn at Santa Fe Speedway to his own brief racing career that included championship wins, before finding his true calling as a flagman and announcer. The pivotal moment came in 2005 when Keith Hankins offered him a flagging position, launching two decades of Saturday nights dedicated to the sport he loves.
Throughout our discussion, Tony pulls back the curtain on the harsh realities facing short track racing today. "We're losing the old-timers, and there's no fan base," he explains, detailing how even packed pit areas with 100+ race cars can't sustain a track when only 300 fans are in the grandstands. He offers fascinating insights into the economics of track operation—from the $30,000 needed just to open the gates for a single night to how weather and competing entertainment options have dramatically affected attendance.
Perhaps most poignantly, Tony reveals why after 20 seasons without missing a single Saturday, he's stepping away from full-time track involvement. "When it's no longer fun, I just don't want to do it," he shares, explaining his determination not to let burnout ruin his love for racing. Yet his story isn't about abandonment but evolution—finding new ways to contribute through announcing at Hartford Speedway and with the MCR Dwarf cars while finally making time for family and personal health.
Whether you're a die-hard race fan or simply appreciate stories of passion and perseverance, Tony's reflections offer valuable perspective on finding balance between dedication to a calling and the need for personal sustainability. Join us for this heartfelt conversation that celebrates the racing community while honestly confronting the challenges that threaten its future.
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Hey everybody, Melinda Russell here and it's let's Talk Racing Live, and my guest is here with me, Tony Eldridge. I'm so excited to have him on the show with me. So Tony and I have known each other easily 10 years, maybe more. We'll just we'll say 10 years and that'll. That'll cover it, and I did some events with you for the announcers.
Speaker 2:What was that called? Yeah, announcers Choice.
Speaker 1:I think I did two or three events for send out cards with you guys and, oh my gosh, so fun and and so we've known each other in a lot of different ways, you know through racing, but we've done a lot of different things together, and so I ended up going to a race and I ended up getting to see you, which I hadn't seen you for a while, which was very fun and and so I was like I want to have you on my show and talk about how did you get started in racing? Because we see all these people that we've known for a long time. But I don't really know your story, Tony. I mean you know, so I want you to share that with my listeners and I apologize if you can't ask us any questions. I'm still working out some bugs with StreamYard and live Facebook, so if you want to post questions, try it. Otherwise, Tony, take it away. Tell us your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you want to ask questions, I have my phone beside me you can Facebook message me and we'll get them on there.
Speaker 1:So my story actually starts in Illinois.
Speaker 2:I was born in Aurora, illinois, so my story actually starts in Illinois. I was born in Aurora, illinois, and the first racetrack I ever went to was Santa Fe Speedway dirt track. Then, like LaSalle and Kankakee, so as a newborn baby, born in the middle of June, so as a newborn baby two weeks old, out at the racetrack and just kind of came up through it, we moved to Indiana before I was adopted. I moved to Indiana with my bio parents and we started going to New Paris, plymouth, mottville, angola, barefield, and so we just continued. So my funny, embarrassing story. Even as a young boy I dreamed of being a flagman. I always wanted to be a flagman, so I would take different colored shirts on hangers and stand out in the front yard and just flag my shirts all day, all night.
Speaker 1:That is so funny.
Speaker 2:That's all I had at the time. So you just make you know imagination. Like we were kids. We didn't have fancy stuff, so I would stand out there with all my pride and joy and flag the cars as they drove by, and so it was just always a dream to work at the track. So then fast forward. I raced um three or four years I raced really wasn't my thing. I raced at new Paris. I won a feature at Plymouth, um, I've got second in a mini stock at Kalamazoo. I won a championship at Mottville. I've raced Barefield, angola, uh, and I just it wasn't for me like it was fun, but it was like you know, you wreck, you have to fix it. I did get to race with my dad a few times, so that was a hoot at Montville and my sisters at Montville, um.
Speaker 2:So I was adopted, uh, when I turned 18, and my adopted family, larry Saunders and Robin Saunders, my mom and dad. They had always been huge into racing. I have known him my whole life and so I wanted one year where I could help my dad with his street stock, and so we did one full season together where he would just show up. He always dreamed of just being able to show up to the racetrack, walk in with his bag and race, not have to work on it. So he taught me such a tremendous amount we gave him that year.
Speaker 2:He never had the fastest car, we never had a lot of money, so he wasn't in the A feature. But back in the good old days we'd always have a B or a C and he was always in the B at New Paris and that year we won 14 out of 16 features, together with dad just showing up and being able to race. We run a D feature at Kalamazoo, at Super Shoe, and we run a B feature at Plymouth that we won, and so it was like the best year I could ever imagine. And then the next year was when Donnie Klotz had sold New Paris to Keith Hankins and Keith called me. We had known each other growing up and he asked me if I wanted to be his flagman and I'd worked a little bit at Plymouth with Caleb Woods and some guys down there, like getting my feet wet and I'm like heck, yeah, I want to do this. So that started my journey.
Speaker 1:Do you know what year that was?
Speaker 2:2005. Yeah, this was my 20th full-time season in racing, working at track, so, yeah, 2005. So after that, I loved flagging, met a ton of great people, had some really awesome staff, really had a great time. And then, from there, one day, jerry Cannon, who was the announcer at New Paris for my entire childhood. He had cancer and was sick and he couldn't make it all night long. And so Donnie came up and he said hey, you want to announce and have Chad Pontius finish flagging? And I'm like, why not? Like, this sounds fun.
Speaker 1:Now, you're back Now you're back. You were froze up. Yeah, fun, now you're back. Now you're back. You were froze up. Yeah, you were froze up for a little bit. So the last I heard you was um, you, it's 20 years you've been involved and so kind of go back and okay, yeah yeah, so 20 years I've been involved.
Speaker 2:Um, I started flagging. Uh, met a lot of really great people at the racetrack working there, learned a lot. Learned like the in and outs of, like behind the scenes and what it takes to to really open up a racetrack and and be at a racetrack. Um, and then I don't know the year, a few years after flagging full-time, jerry cannon, who was the announcer at new paris for as long as I can remember. Uh, he had cancer and one night he was really sick and he just couldn't make it. And so Donnie Klotz came up and he said, hey, you want to announce? And I public speaking was not my thing, like I was not a public speaker and I'm like, yeah, why not? So Chad Pontius finished flagging, I went up and started announcing and I'm like this is the greatest thing ever. Like you say yell and the people yell. I'm like I, this is better than flagging. Like I didn't know I wanted to do this. Yeah, so I announced for a long time.
Speaker 2:Uh, then took over as race director at new Paris and then, um, inter Michiana speed zone and MW racing news. It was a local TV show that covered short track racing way before flow and all that great stuff now. And so, uh, scott Feaster hired me full-time as the host and a production manager of the show and we got to travel all over, uh, meeting some amazing people along the way, doing the show for three seasons two of my best stories with this. I was I'm a huge bill Elliot fan, awesome bill from Dawsonville and we were at Winchester the first year chase Elliot one and so I'm standing there going to be ready for my interview. He's getting out of the car and I look up and right next to me is Bill Elliott and I couldn't even speak. Like I'm just like, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. And so Bill put his arm around me and he said you want an interview. And I'm like, yes, he just starts laughing Like he thinks it's great. So I got to interview him and then I got to interview Chase and then two weeks later he emailed me personally. He's like, can I get a copy of that show? And so I'm like, yeah, you can. So a few years back I end up in Georgia, in Dawsonville, I went to see the pool hall and then go to their museum the family owns, and I was in there talking to Bill's wife and I was like long shot. But you know, do you remember this story? And she's like yeah, we still have your, your DVD at home and the Winchester trophies in the museum, so super cool moment there.
Speaker 2:And then my second favorite memory with the TV show is we were at Berlin with Super Mods and Johnny Benson was there, another like huge childhood favorite and I walked up to get an interview and he brought me in, fed me at the driver's meeting. He told all these people, this is my friend, tony, if he needs an interview with you, you be nice to him. And I was just like, holy crap, like Johnny Benson just called me his friend. This is great, yeah. So over the years I've gotten to announce at a ton of local tracks. I've helped a lot of promoters and owners out. Uh, we got to do the the three shows with you guys with send out cards, which were amazing. Uh, we really had a great time. Our first one was at Mottville and it was just a blast. Like we went in there and we had 140, some odd cars and you couldn't get in the gate. Like it was just insane.
Speaker 1:You know what? I had never been to Montville, but I heard a lot about it and my friend, my best friend, Gail, went with me and we couldn't even find a place to sit.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And we ended up then, you know, we had our table with all our stuff. We ended up then sitting next to this family that had driven like a long way I can't remember where they were from to come to this race in Mottville. And I was thinking Mottville, you know, this isn't Michigan International Speedway, right, right, but it was crazy and the racing was amazing it was?
Speaker 2:yes, it was I, it was. I remember that that was so much fun. Andy Jack, Jason Seltzer and I, we came up with this. I'm sure it was one of those like, hey, we had a couple of adult beverages. Yes, hank, let's do something we're like, yeah, okay, and it was probably the best thing I've ever done, like seeing drivers from eight, nine, 10 different tracks come to Mottville and Mottville in the heyday was like the place to be, if you were in.
Speaker 2:Mottville, you were big time and so it was neat to see. The best thing that came out of that besides meeting a lot of great people and meeting and having you work with us and being there with you was Merle Holden. God rest his soul. Sent Jason, andy and I each a letter with a 200 check and said thank you, we never want to do this again. I'm sure I still have that letter around here somewhere it was the greatest thing, it was just too much money for merle and that was over.
Speaker 1:That was more than merle had ever done at montreal, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Definitely, and he was just like let's not. So then we did it. A couple other tracks. And it was just so much fun I mean, when you can bring it. It was like super shoe on steroids. When you get all these people to come together, and people from everywhere are just coming to be a different track every year, so it was definitely a lot of fun. Jason posted the other day never again. And I asked what do you mean? He was like announcer's choice for never.
Speaker 1:And I'm like well, you never know, but it was just a great time.
Speaker 2:So from there I continued working at New Paris for a while and then switched to South Bend. I moved to South Bend for work and switched to South Bend, started being the promoter there and then, when they bought Plymouth, we moved down there to be the promoter. And so I've just done this 20 full-time seasons, never missed a Saturday, never taken a day off, never really had a summer vacation or anything like that. And I've always told myself when it's no longer fun, I just don't want to do it Like if it's going to ruin the sport for me.
Speaker 2:I want out, and that's where I've been this year. Racing is not what it used to be.
Speaker 2:I mean I remember growing up playing in the dirt on my knees and there'd be 40 kids hanging around having a good time. Now the kids aren't into it, we're losing the old timers and there's no fan base and it's just a ton of stress with social media. And so I was like I'm just done. You know, I don't. I want to do other things in my life. I don't want to work full time at a racetrack. It was a very hard decision to make, but it was just one of those where, if I don't do it now, like I'm just going to end up hating this sport and I love racing, like I'm super passionate about it and I don't want it to get there.
Speaker 1:No, and you know, like we talked about earlier, you don't have a day off. You work a full-time job. You just told me you drive sometimes 1,300 miles a week. The last thing you I'm sorry, but the last thing you want to do on a weekend is have another job. I mean, I don't care how much you love it, at some point it's going to be overkill and it's going to be like I just can't do this anymore. You know, it's it's funny that we talk about the seasons of life. You just you just described several of your seasons of life and now you're starting a new one. I I've spent the last two days, plus some days prior, sorting and pitching at my house. Now I have, I live in a nice house and it's clean and it, but you accumulate too much stuff and I'm gonna have back surgery again. I was like, okay, got to do some stuff here, right, and and it's, you know it. I look at things that I saved and my kids aren't going to want them.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They're just going to have to sort them and get rid of them when I die. And I'm like no, and I went to the re the place today to drop off a whole carload of stuff and there was two pickup truck loads. This is not about racing, but it's about seasons of life. Yeah, two pickup trucks full of stuff. And the lady said, lady, and her daughter says to me yeah, we're cleaning out grandma's house. And I started laughing and I said, well, I'm the grandma and I'm cleaning out my own house so that my kids and grandkids don't have to, and we got a good chuckle out of it.
Speaker 1:But it's time, it's time for me to do that. It's time for you to spend time with your wife, and maybe, you know, instead of going to the track where you work, maybe you want to go to Kokomo, maybe you want to go to Kalamazoo, I don't know, and maybe you want to just stay home in the air conditioning, because Saturday it's going to be 95. Right.
Speaker 2:You know, yep, and that you're exactly right, and that's the thing. Like we haven't been able to take a summer vacation. Her daughter lives in Oregon. She just had a baby. We've seen him once, twice. They came here once, but we can't do that, you know. And during the winter you don't want to fly out there. It's freezing, cold and snowy, and so it's like we don't get to experience life. And when I was single or just dating around, no big deal, I didn't have anything better to do it was great. Now it's just like my focus has absolutely shifted. I still love racing. I mean, I'm still going to be involved. I've had several job offers in the last three years I've politely turned most of them down.
Speaker 2:I have been helping at Hartford. Leah and Tim have been amazing people. They run a very short schedule and my favorite part is I arrive at six o'clock on a Friday and 10 o'clock I'm usually walking out. No one's yelled at me, no one's cussed at me. I didn't spend all week trying to promote. I'm not worried about if there's enough money to pay the bills, I'm just nagging and going home. Or last year it was announcing, so we're going to continue. My wife and I have been working there. We're going to continue to do that. And then my buddy, eric Hoffman, with the MCR Dorf cars. He kind of jokingly sent me a message like hey, call me, I need an announcer. And I was like, count me in. Like definitely Travel around to all these tracks.
Speaker 1:I haven't been to.
Speaker 2:Like sign me up, like whatever, so I'll still be around and involved. We're definitely. I mean we sponsor several kids that race. Same thing you do. You help out a lot of people and that's where you get your joy. And that's where you get your joy and that's what I've learned. I mean we, life is tough, people are struggling and we get to help people and get to enjoy it. It means a lot more than you know.
Speaker 2:The kids coming up on the flag stand for five seconds because I'm doing four jobs and can't talk. Now I can go sit back, have a drink, enjoy my night. And you know my wife and I on Saturdayurday we called randy richie up at kalamazoo and I said, hey, you got a skybox. And he's like I do, and I was like, can I have it? Yep, so we went up there and we got to sit and watch, yeah, laughed and joked and you know, night of destruction. They're the most stressful nights on the other side of the fence when you're sitting in a skybox. We loved it. Sure, that was the icing on the cake. Like, okay, I made the right decision. Like I need to focus more on me. Just like your back surgery, I need a double knee replacement and I'm like, well, I've got to figure out when I can do it, because I only have this, you know, four months and season to to recover and do this surgery.
Speaker 1:I'm like it's going to be, or was it this year? No, it was last year, February of last year, and I got along great and it's. But it is a surgery that you can't rush and you have to do what they tell you, and you have to go to therapy three days a week, and you know. So you have to do some of those things for yourself you know, and those knees are not going to get any better, and being at the racetrack and standing in the flag stand doesn't help.
Speaker 2:Right and then walking.
Speaker 1:Oh, walking is killer.
Speaker 2:You know it's like it's just too much and you know I love the drivers, I love some of the best staff work for me. You know we've had a great friendship and I just I've talked to them all and I'm like my friendship, just like our friendship, doesn't revolve around the announcer's choice or anything of that. We have been friends for years, through thick and thin and gone through a lot together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to continue with other people and I'll still go to the racetrack, we're still going to support drivers and help people out. I mean, that's what we do and so that's our passion and that's where we're at, and so that's our passion and that's where we're at.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, and you know, I mean, ok, I've done almost 400 podcast interviews and in that time, 95 or more percent of the people when you ask them why, why do you go to, why do you go to the racetrack on the weekend instead of doing other things? Why know what's your favorite thing about being part of, uh, motorsports?
Speaker 1:and, and it's the people yes it's the people I've met and I and I say this all the time if racing ended tomorrow, if every track shut down tomorrow and there was never any more motorsports, I have so many friends. That is not going to change Right now. Seltzer is like one of my sons, you know I always called him my boys and and stuff and so and it's. It's just like you've got to. You've got to look inside sometimes and be like what's best for me.
Speaker 1:Yes, because you are a giver by nature. Yes, I are a giver by nature. Yes, I am a giver by nature, and so it's it's hard to the mindset, it's hard to change your mindset to yourself.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it is and that's I mean I'm a social worker by profession, yeah, so like I serve and help people every day of my life and all year long my wife will tell you all year long I'm like I just don't want to be here and I know like we have an employee group chat and I posted a few weeks ago like let's, let's have fun again. We're not having fun, let's figure it out and have fun. And we tried a million percent to to get back to the fun. It's just it was lacking and a lot of it is short.
Speaker 2:Track racing is just dying. I mean it's so sad to say, but if every Sunday morning I get up and I look around, I count cars and I look at photos and count people and I can tell you how much racetracks are losing, yeah, and it's like how, how long can you do it? Every track around is losing money. The dirt tracks. If it's not a big, huge show people aren't going to watch and so it's just tough to sit there. I mean you came to one of our big street stock races and it was a ghost town Like yeah, I was surprised.
Speaker 1:I thought it would be packed.
Speaker 2:We did too. They've done dollar night. They've done donation night. You can't get people to come. Night of Destruction is a completely different animal.
Speaker 1:It's a different crowd. It's a totally different crowd. It's just what those people To come on a Racing night. If you come to Night of Destruction, you get a free ticket For the next race, whatever it is, because in the long run it's going to pay off. When you take a person to the racetrack, either they're going to love it most of the time or they're not, and so, um, most of the time, if they experience it, they're going to come back.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1:You know, because they don't really understand what it's all about.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Right, you know I talk to so many people, especially younger girls. I'll say, well, what are your having your friends at school? What are they? Well, they don't understand it. Yes, you know they think this or that and I'm like, well, you need to bring them to the track to watch you race or hang out with you, you know, because that's where our future is, absolutely. And yeah, and you know the other side about the racing, of course, the cost is not getting any cheaper for the, the lower classes. And then you know, like you said, you got to fix your car because some idiot runs in two years and I'm sorry, but not paying attention to the flag. You know, um, speaking of new paris, ben raver drove ben, my benji's car at new paris. We were doing really good. They threw the yellow, uh, raver was on the front stretch, slowed down, you know, and the guy behind him wasn't paying attention right over him.
Speaker 1:I remember that right into the back that it ended our night yeah it's like oh, are you freaking, kidding me, and you know that wasn't around the corner from Kalamazoo.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you spent a ton of money to get there, a ton of money to fix the car. Yeah, it's crazy, and that's the thing. Like even the kids programs, you can do anything. Plymouth, 12 and under kids are free and it helped a little. But they don't want to come and if they do come, they're playing on the phone the whole time. Or you know they don't want to come and if they do come they're playing on the phone the whole time, or you know they don't have a desire, and so it's sad. Because I grew up with the racetrack I mean myself, the Strimmys, Slaybaws there are a ton of us that were our little clique Ashley Ward and Brandy and we're all still friends to this day. We're all still involved in racing. Yeah, Trying to get their kids into it. Some of them like it, some don't. The mini wedge program I mean it did.
Speaker 1:Okay, now it's it's five grand to get your kid in a mini wedge I know people can't afford that like it's just priced itself out in a matter of three or four years well, and a lot of times it's more than one kid that wants to do it in your family. You know, if one does it, the other one wants to do it. I see that. You know if one does it, the other one wants to do it. I see that all the time. And they cannot begin to afford it and that's that's the biggest problem. You know which? In in life too, you know you go to the grocery store. It's not getting any cheaper and it's just.
Speaker 1:Mark and I you know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:But but the the other part of it is, it just seems like, um, people have so many options of things to do and the weather you're weather dependent it could be too cold, it could be too hot, it could be a chance of rain that's going to scare people away. Yes, um, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I think I told you that, and I listened to one called um in the pits and it's a show out east Maine, connecticut, somewhere in there. I don't even know how I got connected to this show, but anyway I'm hooked on it and I don't even really like the guys that are on it, but I listen anyway Because I do, you know, like to keep up and they talk about their area, but they also cover NASCAR and Scott Tapley's on on it and he's a big friend of ryan freese's, so you know I I do like to listen to it.
Speaker 1:But he was saying, uh, he's a promoter for a couple tracks. He said 23. It had been until the last couple weekends, 23 weekends in a row that there had been some kind of precipitation where they live. And you know he says every time you know, I know you're sick of hearing it, but the tracks are losing money.
Speaker 1:hand over fist absolutely or they have to reschedule and then 10 of the cars can't come the next day, right, and half of the fans aren't going to come the next day. And it's tough. I wouldn't want to own a racetrack, for sure. But you know, the million dollar question is how do we get people to the track and how do we get them interested? You know, I mean, I have a whole list of ideas for somebody that owns a track, but they got to be willing to do it right, do some of those things and then, um, you know, the other thing is out of sight, out of mind.
Speaker 1:So if you have a couple weekends that it's rained or it's been too hot or whatever, and somebody kind of gets out of the habit of going to the racetrack, just like, maybe you get out of the habit of going to the racetrack, just like maybe you get out of the habit of going to church, same yes, then you filled that time slot on Friday or Saturday night with something else. And so now, how are you? How are you going to keep people interested or up to date on what's happening? That's part of why I'm doing this show. At least say hey, did you know that someone so won at Hartford, or this is what Hartford's got coming up, or whatever, because we need to keep promoting and I do not want my local racetracks to close. We all have to do a little bit to help them. That's the million dollar question. It is, and the million dollar question.
Speaker 2:It is and people want bigger shows. That's great. It costs more money, and then you still don't have the fans. And now, instead of losing five grand, you lost 20 grand. I've heard, like, why do you race every week? Then Again out of sight, out of mind. If you take a couple of weeks off, people already start making plans. They forget or the honeydew list starts going well, I've got projects at home I'm doing now and I can't come. And the one thing that just drives me crazy is that, well, there's plenty of cars.
Speaker 2:that's the worst thing a track can have when you get 100 race cars a night and you have 300 people in the grandstands. You're losing too much money. Racers are definitely still showing up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they are.
Speaker 2:That's really great, except when you have no fans to pay them.
Speaker 1:Well, because they all get start money.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You know the top. So many get however much. Where do they think that comes from? It doesn't come from the pit passes, I mean some from concessions, but it's the people in the stands is what keeps that track going. Yes, you know. Yeah, I wish I had the answer, you know.
Speaker 2:Right, me too.
Speaker 1:There are things that you can do, but you've got to be willing to put in the time and the effort or hire somebody to do it, whatever. And then, um, you know, there are tracks around the country that are getting lots of people every weekend, but it's tracks like Bowman gray where they go. We'll see the fights and you know, um, yeah, I just don't know the answer, but I keep hoping it's going to get better.
Speaker 2:Me too, and that's the thing. Like if it was one track then it'd be easy. It's a personnel problem, but it's everywhere and on a regular night at, say, Kalamazoo, before Randy Ritchie opens the gate with his 110 cars, you're looking at $30,000. You're going to need to get through that night. Yeah, that is a lot of people that have to come sit in those grandstands. It is To cover your employees, because that's the other thing. Your race day expenses don't just stop on race day. You have the lights. The lights at Kalamazoo Speedway cost, I guess, $150 an hour to be on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet.
Speaker 2:And then you've got internet, you've got phones you've got all this stuff you have to pay for. So, before you get to the oil, dry the food in your concessions. All this adds up. So okay, randy, had all that stuff in Kalamazoo, and how many weeks in a row do they get rained out?
Speaker 1:Yeah, quite a few.
Speaker 2:So now you got all this food, you're sitting on all this money you've spent, there's nothing coming in, but you still have to pay your insurance. You still have to cover all these things. Yeah, and that's where I think people forget. Even if you break even on race day, by the time you pay the bills you've lost again. And so that's the struggle. And just like you're talking about groceries going up, the light bill has gone up, the Internet bill has gone up, Our food costs have gone up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Things are not as cheap as they were 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:And you know it used to be. I mean it still is. If you compare for Mark and I to go to the racetrack in any racetrack, even for a big show, let's say it's it's twenty five dollars to get in a piece. So we're going to pay 50 bucks to get in for, like, a bigger show. Well, if we wanted to go to the movie by the time, we paid to go to the movie, got popcorn and a drink or whatever it is. You know it's going to be easily $50. And it's a two hour movie. That might be good, might not be good.
Speaker 1:And and I can go to the racetrack, take my own food and drink, which I know doesn't help the track, but but me paying to get in does right and and most of the time we end up eating something there anyway, because the hot dogs smell way better than my bologna sandwich.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I mean it's getting them through the door yes, the thing, yeah, and once you get them in, you put on a quality show, you entertain them, you thank them as they're leaving and you hope they come back.
Speaker 2:You know, you had talked about churches. So in all the years I've been doing this, you've really never had church affiliation with any racetrack. No, like the churches, look at the racetracks like they have the plague, like we're a bunch of redneck drunken hillbillies. Yeah, exactly. And so in the last three years at Plymouth my wife and I have involved our personal church, and so there are 20 people that come on a regular basis that never would have stepped foot in that property. They got in free one night, they had a great time. They saw that we're not what the you know persona, the perception is, and they love it. They keep going back, sure, and it's so like it's south bend.
Speaker 2:We used to do faster pastor races and we'd put pastors in a race car. That's on my list of things that you can do, because that's drawing in all these people and you give a kick back to the church. Well, now you look good because you're helping out the church and it's a donation.
Speaker 1:Yes, off your taxes if you're on the racetrack.
Speaker 2:And it was something that was working great. Like people loved it. I mean, that is literally how our church got involved. Our pastor won the faster pastor race, the last one at South Bend, and they're hooked. They all go all the time now because they're like this is so much fun. Yeah, you've got to get outside the box. You can't do like it'd be like going to see the same movie at the show over and, over and over again. Why?
Speaker 1:are you going to do it? You know what I mean. You're not.
Speaker 2:People don't usually go to the same golf course. 20 times a year they venture out. You know they're not going to the same bowling alley, they're going plenty of things.
Speaker 1:You've got to mix it up and make it exciting.
Speaker 2:And it's hard on the owner's side because you're taking a gamble. Things cost money and so if it doesn't work now, you've lost more, which I totally get. Been there, saw that, uh, but it's also. You have a piece of property. South bend motor speedway is sitting growing up in the weeds. There's not a buyer interested? No, um, you know several racetracks are coming up for sale at the end of this year. There's no buyers that are going to be interested like well, that happens every year, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:And it's a rainy year or it's a whatever year when the fans aren't showing up and the next thing you know, this one's closing. There was one, you know, on the in the pitch show that I listened to a couple years ago. It was a huge track and honestly I can't remember now what it was called, but if I said it you would know. And the, the guy kept losing money and he sold it for millions of dollars and they're putting up a mall yeah that's gonna happen over and over.
Speaker 2:We've seen it a lot in my lifetime. I've seen it. A villa used to have one of the nicest racetracks and drag strip right on the highway. Well, eventually that was prime real estate. You are right off of the main highway. We can have a racetrack here and it's gone. Warsaw Speedway grew up going there. That's where I went to school and graduated from Warsaw. Grew up going there. That's where I went to school and graduated from Warsaw. Now it sits as an empty field on the lake because the Lakers didn't like the racetrack and got it shut down. Galesburg has been.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know to be snails and those guys trying to run that place like what a headache. Enough is going to be enough.
Speaker 1:And they're going to be like listen, just put a lock on the gates, like we're done, we're not going to keep, yeah, and then you, you know the other thing for poor galesburg is not only that guy, it's really one guy causing a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1:But then it's also then when the racers and I'm not saying all of them, because I have almost family that races there but then you've got a couple people who just want to see how dumb they can drive. Then they fight in the pit and all this you know and it's. And if I was them I'd be like you know what? I don't need this. Yeah, I mean it's a shame because I like galesburg and I like going there.
Speaker 1:It's close to my house right you know I know people that drive two, three hours on a weekend just so their kid can race or race. I'm so spoiled. I could go Plymouth as far as I would go, or Berlin, from the north to the south. Otherwise I've got Hartford, I've got Galesburg, I've got Kalamazoo. You know I could go a number of places, but it's interesting though, tony. You know I could go a number of places, but it's interesting though, tony. I graduated from warsaw high school too, but it was illinois but it was illinois really, that's.
Speaker 2:I never knew that. That's funny. Wow, yeah, I graduated from warsaw indiana I was in warsaw, illinois.
Speaker 1:So anyway, that's funny I had to, I had to get that in there that is is good, yeah, so yeah, you know if anybody's got any magic ideas, but you know you said something about a cost in the racetrack. You know if they had to hire somebody that would do some of that stuff and I, you know the promoter, whoever, but a lot of the things on my list wouldn't cost them a thing. Right, it'd be time it. You know they might have to pay the person something to do it, but if they sold four tickets it would probably, more than you know, pay for that person's hour of time or more. You know girl Scouts, boy Scouts, little league teams, the Kalamazoo growlers do all kinds of cool stuff to get people in the stands, because that's not a, that's not a huge crowd of people going there either.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They have the same problem as a racetrack, but they do a lot of fun promotions and you know there's there's things that they can do. And you know there's there's things that they can do. But I think as an owner it gets discouraging to the point where it's like you know what, why do I even try?
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know what's what's crazy about. Like the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, you can offer them all free tickets and I you can't get them to come to a racetrack. Really they have. I had one time, and all the years I've done this, I got them to come to a racetrack. Really they have. I had one time, and all the years I've done this, I got them to come to South Bend to present flags on, like Memorial Day or Independence Day. But racing has this bad rap about fighting and you know, and honestly, my brother's been in NASCAR the better part of 30 years it has turned into arguing, fighting, shoving, pushing, yeah. So people sitting at home that are clicking through TV and see that are like, yeah, this is why I don't go down to Kalamazoo, galesburg, plymouth, this is why I'm not going. I don't want my kids around this and they have no clue that that's a rarity. Right, you know it's not, and so I've tried some of those ideas.
Speaker 2:And people are like well, we're busy this weekend and I'm like we'll give you your parents like 100 free tickets, Bring whoever you want, Gone to schools and handed out tickets, you know, and it's like people. It's just sad because people have this persona, they have that mindset. Yeah, but then on an NOD, when you do have idiots and fighting.
Speaker 1:They back it out. I'm just like what is wrong, like I don't want to see crashes. Yes, I've torn up, that's why yes.
Speaker 2:My wife is one of those people. Like she loves NOD. She was living her best life at Kalamazoo watching the bus trailer races Like that's her thing, she loves it, she likes racing. But you tell her we're going to a bus race, she'll be waiting on me in the truck.
Speaker 1:My son-in-law worked worked a race with his Bobcat. I think I don't know what he was doing. I didn't have a chance to go there that night, but yeah, it's, it's. It's amazing to me what people will pay money to do.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And yet you and I both know that a regular night of racing at any track that we cover is a good night. Yes, I mean, some are better than others, but it's always fun.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's the thing. Like one thing, and I don't have a good answer to this, because people don't want to be there. When we were kids, we'd be there from noon to midnight, one in the morning, and never complain. Now they want to be there from six to nine 30.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Seven to 10. That's it. So, like people have said, you've got to get the drivers to meet the fans more and yeah, it's like you, just don't have time like the drivers. We tried this year my wife and I bought some really cool photo backdrops.
Speaker 2:Everybody wants instagram photos yeah didn't work at all, like, didn't see, I mean a few. We had a mascot. You know we had, uh, connor powell can be our mascot every week. Didn't help and I'm like, so I don't like we tried really hard. My thing was like Andy Jack, big into hockey, they do all kinds of dumb stuff at hockey and I'm like we don't want to do that, like hockey games are full.
Speaker 1:Yeah, didn't help.
Speaker 2:Wow, I don't know if we just didn't do it long enough. I mean, we did it until last week, so I don't know if it was just. But even like we did, like popcorn bingo and things to get adults involved where you win a free popcorn, people have free stuff, and yeah, I don't know, I wish I had some magic cure. I do too, when we could just, I mean in 40, they had to reveal the hammer show. The place was packed, yeah, and it was 95 degrees late miles haven't been there in five years, uh-huh, um. But then you go to berlin and there's not a lot of people there to see the same exact show right, that's coming this weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think yeah yeah, and then I know this is such an unpopular opinion, but the live streaming, the flow racing, it's killing it, I'm guilty. So M40, it was hot, we were going to go, my wife wanted to go and I'm like, listen, it's on Road America or Road Trip Media for $19 and I can sit on my couch and watch it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do that and we didn't go. I know it's like $20. I'm sitting at home watching it having my own drinks and eating my pizza and it cost you half as much. Yeah, and that's the thing I get it. Berlin this week Would I go Probably if it wasn't going to be the same $20 I can spend to watch it at home.
Speaker 1:And going to be 95 degrees.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And Berlin.
Speaker 2:You're sitting in the sun right, so we'll get the pay-per-view and we'll sit at home and most of the time you've got replays and better coverage than if I was there and I missed the rec. I can see it four times on my TV and so and people are like well, lots of people live stream they do, but Melinda Russell's watching Brock Gayness, so he she's focusing on Brock on her cell phone and she's moving around a lot and it's not a TV camera from high atop the grandstands. I'm like, listen, I've never sat at home and said, okay, justin Leroy, I'm going to watch Justin's video instead of going. They suck, god love him, he tries, he gets too excited.
Speaker 1:He does, but he can't follow everybody.
Speaker 2:And so and you get excited, and so I'm like I've never thought I'm not going to go because I can watch this live feed.
Speaker 1:I would have never thought I would say that either, but I did watch. It must've been. Where did Brock race last week in M40? Yeah, yeah, yep, I paid the 20 bucks and watched it from home. Yeah, I was going to ride with Maddie, but I was just I'm like it's too hot, I just I and I've been working trying to clean it and you know, I'm almost 70 years old. It's like, oh, maddie, I'd love to go, but I just don't think I can. And I ended up didn't paid the money to watch and got to watch, you know, and watch Jeff, because Brock's dad and that's who I watch, you know, and it was a great. It was a great race.
Speaker 2:It was yeah.
Speaker 1:But it would have been way better if I had been there.
Speaker 2:Right. You know, but it's just hard, like it's like I work 60 hours a week at the real job, I do 40 at the racetrack. Like I was exhausted. We had done a flea market that morning at south bend trying to help the the owners make some money and I was just like I'm great, I can't do it. Yeah, we're gonna sit at home. And now with flow racing I mean, jason seltzer, he's the key of this like he's got three or four tvs out back I know he's crazy, like you're watching everything you want to see and you don't have to leave, and I think more and more people are doing that.
Speaker 2:And even if it's not Plymouth or Kalamazoo, there's racing on TV and if you pay your $150 a year for Flow, you can watch racing every day of the week and that's so cheap.
Speaker 1:Yep, you can watch it all over the country. My friend, lori, works for Racers. She's volunteers with racers for christ and and her husband is a retired pilot but he got his like um, he does, uh, fire or medical stuff, like even for nascar when they're in iowa and stuff and and they travel with high limit. So they go, they're at every high limit race and she does the prayer and race racers for Christ, you know, and he's and they hire him to do the be on the medical team or whatever, and I'm like damn, that sounds like a lot of fun. Yes, go every, go wherever they go and watch all those people race and they've gotten to be really close with a lot of those people.
Speaker 2:And it's like man. That sounds like a lot of fun, yes, but I can watch her on flow, right? You know I can't go all those places, right, so you can still sit at home and watch every week and see everything and, like I said, the replays are insane, you know. And then even like race monitor, race pass.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like I like racing, so I can sit at home and watch the race in Iowa for high limits and keep an eye on Plymouth, kalamazoo. I do it all the time, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know when Maddie was racing and I couldn't go. You know I have my, I have race monitor and my race pass and whatever they are. Or you know, I interview a gal and she says I'm going to be racing at such and such. I find her. Yeah, you know, I mean the technology is amazing and it is killing the racetracks. I think too. I mean I love it because for me, as I get older, and that it's great for me, but it is hurting the tracks, you know.
Speaker 2:The other thing is that. Sorry to interrupt you. The other thing with that that really hurts is okay. It's 90 degrees out today. I kind of want to go watch Brock race. It's hot. Let me see how many cars there. Oh, 46 cars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just going to stay at home.
Speaker 2:Because they're like that's not really going to be worth my time and for some tracks, under 50 has been the normal car count People. I get on there and look and think, man, I was going to drive up there, but they only got this. You know, maybe I'll just go to Owasu. It has 100 cars tonight, or I'll just stay at home tonight, or I'll just stay at home. And that's what I can't get people to understand. Like this technology absolutely amazing, it's great and it's killing us because people are getting on there. Before you had to drive your happy butt to the track Exactly Then you're already there. So if they only had 50 cars, it didn't matter, because you drive there. Now, everybody, if you go live at a racetrack, how many cars are there? Show me the pits. That's what they're basing their decision on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, we have fickle fans.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You know. You said you're a Bill Elliott fan, you know. And so you know I was a Kyle Busch fan. Still am a Kyle Busch fan, of course. Now I'm loyal to my hometown boy, mike Carson, josef Martin. I love that he's getting so much attention. I don't care if it is bad attention.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because if they're talking about you, then what is? It. They say Even if they're talking about you negative, they're talking about you and not somebody else.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And you know, a lot of people are coming on board with him and they're saying you know, if you follow social media which I know you do they'll be saying, hey, this is like the old days racing dale jr never got in trouble for doing the thing, or dale never. Dale arthur never got in trouble for doing the things he's doing. But you got I'm sorry, but you got some drivers now in the cup series that are kind of whiny babies. They were real successful or they drive for Penske or whoever, and they think that they don't deserve to be bumped in the bump or whatever. And it's like you know what I want to see? A good race. And man, the race at Echo Park was amazing last weekend. But you know, I love what Carson's doing and more and more and more people are getting on board with him.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing. Like people are talking about all the gimmicks and stunts NASCAR is doing and going here, they have to, they have to, they have to. If they're losing their TV ratings, there's not going to be a NASCAR. Those people are spending a fortune to go to put on these shows and not a lot of people are going to watch the NASCAR.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's getting better, it's way better this year and a lot of it they talk about. They talk about when it's like Michigan only has one race anymore. Yes, then it's either I'm going to that one race close to my house or or I'm not going to get to go to a race, and so it gets more people to come to that one race, which, you know, I don't know what that track, how it makes money the rest of the year, but there's things they can do. You know, I was really good friends with the lady that ran Phoenix and now she runs the Chicago street race, which is this weekend. Yeah, and, and she was on a podcast, julie, and you know she said the same thing.
Speaker 1:You know they, they had a tremendous crowd the first two years at the Chicago street race. This is going to be it. Now they're going to be going to San Diego or somewhere, you know, and so you have to. You have to mix it up to keep people interested. Even the small tracks, you know they, people want more than just a race. They want to be, they want some entertainment. You know, and that's hard.
Speaker 2:A track can't always have extra stuff going on right, and one of my favorite things about NASCAR now is that everybody's a pit reporter or a commentator. Carson has done it like everybody. That's cool because he's great at it yeah, you know, and you're getting to talk to all these guys like listening to Kevin Harvick and those guys like you know, and you're getting to talk to all these guys like listening to Kevin Harvick and those guys like you're getting to know these people completely different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know they're arguing back and forth about. I thought this, I thought I love it, I do too. It's better than and nothing against, like the Mike Joyce and those guys. They're amazing, jamie Little, but they haven't raced when you put one of these guys with a microphone. And last night Carson took out Billy Bob and now Billy Bob, he's got to interview him. What's better, what's better, it's amazing Like you know, Prime video killed it. Oh man yes.
Speaker 1:And if the TV deal hadn't already been redone for the next however many years, five years or whatever. Yeah, prime video, I mean. First of all, I love Dale Jr much more as an announcer than a racer. Yes, myself.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Steve LaTarte is so smart.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then Adam Alexander just like ties it all together. They're just like the perfect trio.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You know, I love that they have people who know what they're doing.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Talking to me about the race, yes, or the strategy? Yes, you know, and my husband makes fun of me because I want to see all the pre-race shows and all the things they do, because I learn so much and that's how I really learned about the craft of racing is from watching those. It's not from watching a race.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I'm the same way. If I'm going to go to a racetrack, I will be there when the gates open. I don't want to miss anything. I paid to see hot laps. I paid to see qualifying. I want to see the b feature, like I'm there. Yeah, I'm there. And even that, like thinking in the past, everywhere I've been, as soon as the late miles are done or the sportsman, everybody leaves and I'm like, well, you missed out on the rest of these classes, which are going to be way better than that race, yeah, I don't care though, hornets or four cylinders, whatever they're going to put on, three and four wide.
Speaker 2:They are going to beat on each other and keep right on going. Yeah, you don't laugh and smile.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You know and those guys are in it for the fun.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've always said, like the people that put down the Hornets. If you ever want to see who pays the bills at a racetrack, look at victory lane photos. You see Tylery bob when the hornet see feature and there's a hundred people in his photo. Yeah, every grandma, cousin, aunt, uncle. They're all there because the race car driver.
Speaker 1:I can't remember now which, whether it was m40. I printed some stuff that I was I'm going to share later M40 or Galesburg, one of them, I think. The list of, like the, I always say four-wheel drive, front-wheel drive is what they are, right, front-wheel drive. I always have to stop and think as long as my arm. You know. There's like 80 cars.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:They have ABCD. I think it's Galesburg Crazy amount of cars. That's right, they have ABCD. I think it's Galesburg Crazy amount of cars because they can get into it cheaper and you don't have as much to fix, but they put on a heck of a race. Yes, I know.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing it's like. I get it. Some of them they crash. Okay, well, Plymouth just had a street stock race. They had multiple red flags. Okay well, Plymouth just had a street stock race. They had multiple red flags. It took two and a half hours. I know it happens to any class, Like things happen, Like it's part of racing, but those guys are going to go home and fix it and be right back next weekend and have a blast.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely, and it's literally. The whole family comes to it. I always laugh. I'm looking at Victory Lane photos. You can't even see the Galesburg especially.
Speaker 1:Galesburg is the number one and I would stand behind the car. Yes, because I used to. So Kalamazoo used to be the same way. I used to send cards for Gary, when he owned it, to the drivers years ago. Yep, and half the time if there was a picture, unless they tagged who it was, it was a picture of a bunch of people. You couldn't even see the car. Yeah, I was like gary who is?
Speaker 2:this, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's the great part. Like those and they have fun, they do it, they do and and I love it like it's one of my favorite classes, you know, because it's cheap, it's fun, they don't care, they're racing for 150 dollars and, boy, if you give them a trophy, then they're going to go crazy, because they love it and they take it to work with them and oh yeah, we used to give away when we did our send out card stuff.
Speaker 1:Do you remember the big ass trophies?
Speaker 2:Yes, they were six foot trophies.
Speaker 1:And you know, really at the time they didn't really cost that much more than other trophies.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And you know, really at the time they didn't really cost that much more than other trophies, right? And people were so tickled to have that huge trophy. I don't know where they put it when they went home, but huge trophies.
Speaker 2:But that's the thing. They love it Like Crown Trophy Mishawaka, that does a lot of stuff for me. That dude Travis and his wife. They come up with the neatest trophies. Timmy Horvath.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's amazing.
Speaker 2:Man, these and I'm like dude. When I raced we got a little plastic trophy Like I might have wanted to race more if I was winning stuff like this.
Speaker 1:Timmy Horvath is so creative with his trophies. Yeah, I'm not familiar with Crown as much, but I know, I know, he does an amazing job. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:And that's what it takes. So you got to have that little extra. The big checks have become a huge hit, Huge hit and everybody loves them. They're easy to hang up in your trailer, your garage. So Plymouth was giving away Hornet Bee feature. You got the same big check as everybody else and those guys thought it was the neatest thing ever. They didn't care.
Speaker 1:It was like look what I won, you know? Yeah, exactly. Oh gosh, tony, our hour. It's almost been an hour and we could talk. We could talk for another hour, you and I. I know we did.
Speaker 2:We have the best stories. I mean you mentioned Ben Raver and you're, ben, two of the funniest guys I've ever met. I mean I have stories for days on both of those guys like what an impact. They had Even the announcer's choice stuff like your send out cards booth. When you brought about the big ass trophies, I thought you were going to say, do you remember the brownies? And I'm like yeah.
Speaker 1:I kind of miss getting brownies. Well, they still make those brownies. I didn't brownies, okay. Well, they still make those brownies. I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2:But even then, look how much work you did to send out cards, like after the announcer's choice.
Speaker 2:You sent a card to everybody, 150 cards that you've got to go through and find addresses, and that's what people like you are literally what the sport is missing, like things. They don't do that anymore. Even my last quick point even finding help at a racetrack, you can't beg people to work. When I was a kid I would have paid to work at a track, like we sold the mark times and programs. Now you can't find anybody and if you do, they want 40, 50 bucks an hour and I'm like, yeah, we can't. Like what are you gonna pay? Like we can't.
Speaker 1:Are you a college graduate, whatever? Yeah, like that's, that's not happening. No, I know, I know, I, I just you know, I just keep hoping all these tracks that you know people realize what's going on. You, you can talk to people in kalamazoo that don't even know there's a racetrack right and you know I I don't know how you fix that advertising so expensive.
Speaker 1:This is a free way to promote, you know, and so that's kind of where people go, but um, but yeah, it's, I love, I love racing. I think back to how I got really interested. My first husband when I lived in warsaw, illinois, north of quincy, illinois, which had the racetrack, and benji was about four years old and we would go to the racetrack and he would sit on the front row. It was a dirt track, probably still is. He would sit on the front row and never move unless he needed to go to the bathroom or wanted food. Then right back to his spot. We always had to stay so he could sit in two cars John Miller and Ronnie Monroe. Those were his favorite. You know, we knew him, we knew those two guys and he would always sit in the car.
Speaker 1:And I was never, I was. My dad was a farmer. I wasn't brought up watching NASCAR, didn't even know anything about it until we started going there. And then, you know, that was our life until he started playing baseball and you know you're at baseball tournaments in the summer. But then you know, he graduated from high school and took his graduation money $5,000 and bought a race car behind my back and that was not good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What are you going to do? So you can't fight him, so you're going to join him.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And the first night I went to watch him race, brianne was little. She was probably I don't know maybe four or five years old. She was sitting on my lap. He came out in his car and she looked at me and she started crying. Well, that's how I felt. I wanted to start crying. I couldn't cry because she was. And then some old guy was going to show this young kid and ran him in the wall and he broke his hand and he didn't know enough to let go right broke his hand the next week.
Speaker 1:He shows up at the track. The cast is off. His buddy had taken some kind of a saw and they sawed the cast off. That's what crazy racing people do yes yes, and that's how I got my love of racing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know a little dirt track in Macomb Illinois.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's great.
Speaker 1:Look where, look where it took me. Right, I've met amazing people, just like you say. You meet such amazing people, either through the stories I do, or the people I meet at the tracks, or people like you. People either through the stories I do or the people I meet at the tracks, or people like you, and and you just think, wow, my life would be empty without all those people. So you know, you've got all that for your next season, right, you've still got all those people. You're still going to be doing some cool stuff. I'm still going to be saying hey, tony, you want to be on the show Absolutely, because we can talk about all kinds of stuff and it's just. It actually really fills my heart to have racing as part of my life, and the stories I get to tell and the people I talk to. So, yeah, same, you know, I, I just I love you. We've been buddies for a while. I want you to have the best rest of the summer that you've ever had.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:There's. You know, don't look back and be like, oh, just look forward and be glad that you realized. You know it's like race car drivers. They're like it's not. You know, even if they're Kevin Harvick, whoever they say, it's time, it's time for me to stop and work with Keelan or, in his case, or whatever. You did the right thing and you're going to have a great summer. I know you are Absolutely. Maybe I'll actually get to see you at Kalamazoo or somewhere now.
Speaker 2:I was getting ready to say I love you too and I can't wait to see you at a racetrack, because now you can call me and be like hey, I'm going to hear the wife and I'll meet you. So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:We got to. We got to do that because it's so much more fun to sit with somebody you know and watch a race. Yes, Love my husband, but he's not into it quite as much. Right?
Speaker 2:and, by the way, happy anniversary to mark russell today, 21 years ago today, we got married, and so that's awesome yeah so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:So, um, he probably won't watch this replay, but I wanted to give him a shout out because, yeah, I love, he's a good guy and he he doesn't necessarily love racing like I do, but he supports it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah. So I know you're going to mention Hartford here a little bit, but then you have a great show tomorrow Fireworks. Oh, like the Air Flyer, the Eierly brothers do an amazing job with their fireworks. Yeah, it's going to be a good show. I heard their flagman's kind of decent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard that.
Speaker 2:Support Tim and Leah. They have done a lot for this sport as well. Two amazing people. They are Lots of racing going on this weekend. What I've always told everybody I don't care where you go, just go to a racetrack, doesn't matter where it's at.
Speaker 1:Pick one, take your family and if you wanted to, you could go to hartford tomorrow night. You could go to kalamazoo on friday night yep, with drew andy, and then berlin or plymouth or whoever wherever, on saturday night probably. So if you're a race fan and you're not at a track at least one night this next few days, then you're missing out on you.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, so you can hang on. I'm going to share some stuff if you want to, real quick. So yes, hartford, tomorrow night fireworks. It's going to start at 730. The gates open at five. It's only $10 to get in. Six to 10 are $5. Five and under are free with a paid adult. Don't send your five-year-old to the track as a babysitter. Come on, people.
Speaker 2:You know what's sad is? They have to put that because it's happened.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's happened. I don't get it, yeah. So yeah, I'm not surprised. Um, you can have 14 inch coolers. No glass, obviously. No outside food support, the food stand. There's nothing like track food. Come on, people. So that's hartford. That's going to be a great night for sure. Russell's M40 is going to have the VROA. What does that stand for?
Speaker 2:Vintage Racers of America. So this is all the cars like when we were kids that they've restored and they come out and put like some exhibition.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, I was going to look that up and then I didn't, so thank you, I'm glad you shared that for me with me. So, um, they're also gonna have the mottville stocks, so that must be like four wheel drives, front wheel drives, yeah, like bone stock.
Speaker 2:Knock the windows out, put a cage in and go racing yeah, so that's your entry level.
Speaker 1:and last week james maxi, the fourth, actually won the race. No, I'm sorry, he's leading the points, yeah, in the motville stocks, so that's pretty cool for him. So then, um, the winner was oh, I wanted to make sure I mentioned this britney bennett won the a feature last week. Britney was on my is on my podcast. Yeah, it's, I record. You know it's recorded. You can go in and listen to her. I believe she's from Augusta or Galesburg. Um, yeah, so that was cool. I liked seeing her name on there for sure. So, um, they're not in. In addition to the vintage cars, they're going to have Mottville Stocks, the Factory Fords, road Warriors, extreme Stocks, street Stocks. How many kinds of stocks can there be? Come on, michiana Limited Outlaws and the vintage modified Racing starts at 630. That is a great track. Yes, I love that track. Sometimes it feels like I'm going in the middle of nowhere when I go there, but once you get there, that is a great track.
Speaker 1:And their concession stand is actually really good. Yes so yeah, Hang out there. So I wanted to talk a minute about the National Compact Touring Series presented by Rev-X, which is our friend Do you call him Drew?
Speaker 2:or Andy. I still call him Andy, I know that goes by Drew a lot, but I can't do it.
Speaker 1:He's Andy to me. I can't. I got to ask him what he prefers, right, anyway. So this Friday I'm going to read this.
Speaker 1:This Friday, july 4th, at Kalamazoo Speedway, the National Compact Touring Series, presented by Rev-X Oil, is proud to host A Kid Again, a special night for 48 amazing families, which will be 211 people. They're inviting the drivers to create and bring autograph cards to sign for the kids. A small gesture that makes a huge impact. Plus, some of the drivers will be heading up to the party deck to hang out, take photos and create unforgettable moments with these pans. So let's make this a night to remember. So they're going to have it's called America Night at the Zoo Fireworks. Adult tickets are $25. Kids $6 to $12, $10. Five and under is free. Pit gates open at 1. Racing starts at 7. It's brought to you by Great Lakes Promotions, which is Andy, drew, jack, whatever you want to call him. And yeah, that's going to be so fun. And what they do for those kids and those families. You know that's what a lot of people don't understand too. Racing gives back, even when they're losing money. Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1:They give back even when they're losing money. It says 410 Sprints. We don't get to see sprint cars very much around here.
Speaker 2:These are the wing sprints I mean. If you've not seen wing sprints here in Kalamazoo, you talk about a thrill.
Speaker 1:I have seen them and they go fast.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, they also have, I think, the lightning sprints, which are a little smaller.
Speaker 1:Must-see sprints. Must-see Midwest Lights Yep. And then the Compact Touring Series is see Midwest lights Yep. And then the compact touring series is going to race Yep MCR dwarfs, hornet, front wheel drives, modified wheel, horse racing tractors.
Speaker 2:Yes, which they're fun to watch.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Two wheels and flip over and the Dorf cars hands down one of my favorite traveling shows. First of all, eric and his brother, tim, run an amazing program. They get 18 of these guys out there. They're all friends, but when they get on the track, man, these little, they're like old coops and sedans, like they have no problem beating and banging and, oh yeah, the hoot, like they're a great group to watch the sprints. That's going to be a good show, definitely one of the ones you miss.
Speaker 1:I've miss. I've got this show on my list for the weekend. Yeah, for sure, because cars that I don't normally get to go In person to see, so that's going to be Fun for sure.
Speaker 2:If you miss it, you're not going to see it again. It's not coming back. This is it.
Speaker 1:That's it. Don't say, oh, I'll go the next time they come. They may never come back again, right, yeah, so I do want to mention also. We were talking about Raber, little Kalamazoo Speedway, kind of near and dear to my heart because my granddaughter started racing there and that's where I met Ben Raber back in the day. But they have the John Tri, ben Raber Memorial Race and the senior animal winner was Weston Kudner, k-u-d-n-e-r, and the Ben Raber Memorial Race in the unrestricted animal was Luke Volkner, and they're both from the Kalamazoo Club and so I wanted to mention them because that's a. That's a pretty cool race that they do every year to remember those two guys that gave so much to Little Kalamazoo Speedway, so much so. Galesburg is we talked about them Saturday night is the Freedom 100.
Speaker 1:They'll be the ABC Berg Stocks Limited, late Models and Street Stocks. According to my list Admission kids $10, adults $20, seniors, like me, twenty dollars. Kids under five are free. Pit passes are thirty five dollars. Practice starts at four if you want to get there and watch everything. Racing is at 6 45. So, um, the template late model standings they. I've been asked trying to find who's putting those out on social media. I couldn't find them, so they finally did. Kevin England, I think, posted them, so I'm going to give a shout out to these guys. The template late model standings at Galesburg because they have some pretty cool and interesting races at.
Speaker 1:Galesburg yes interesting races at galesburg. Yes, so the template late model standings right now are jerry osterhaus, scott gary, josh trammell, jesse van abry jr.
Speaker 1:Who is going to marry my granddaughter yes yep, um, so I always want to get his name in there matt edmonds, matt stanton, aj foot, long time racer, everybody knows. Aj landon de planche, terry Humphries and Anthony Foot, which doesn't fall far from the tree. That's right, because his daddy's taught him probably everything he knows Now. The street stock standings top 10, jesse Van Avery, sr. Scott Gary again Scott Gary's name, brad Van Avery. Brad is running the car, adam's car we lost out of this year.
Speaker 1:Fourth is Bo Brady, anthony Duell, ethan Easy, josh Van Dusen, colin Bozell, john Kennedy and Eddie Bergen. That's your street stock standings at Galesburg. And then the last one I'm going to share is the Bergstock A-Class, and right at the top, will Slaughter Isn't he always winning races at Galesburg? Always. Isaiah Higdon, dylan Rose, danny Payne, brent Denton, april Patterson yeah, got a woman in the list Dwayne Crum, jesse Hard, lonnie Green II and Bridget Watson another gal. So glad to see those women out there making some noise. And Ginger man is my last one. So have you been to, ginger man?
Speaker 2:I have not. I want to go.
Speaker 1:So we were there for grid life, which was about a month ago, and I'm telling you what it was amazing, packed. The racing was crazy and we didn't really. We had never been to that event there, we'd been to a couple others. I said to Mark next year we're going to come early with our lawn chairs up on the Hill where the shade is. We're going to be there for the day. So much going on.
Speaker 1:I interviewed three or four women. There's a lot of women that run in that series and, um, that is a fun place to go. So this weekend they're having, um, the independence day weekend is saturday, starts at 6 am, but I know I'm not going to be there until then through sunday at 7 pm, but um, it's going to be. It's called the rev match track days. I really don't know that much about it. I tried to look more up about it, but it's a. It's a great place to go. They usually have. They have good food there. Let me tell you, we ate there and then you know, it's just a fun road course and you can sit up on that hill and you can see what's going on. And some of the classes are Hawk novice. I tried to look some of these up. I need to do better about knowing what they are. But you know, if you live over in the South Haven area and you want to just make a short trip, it's really close.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's about a South Haven address, so you know, head out to ginger man saturday during the day. You can google ginger man raceway and find out all about it. I just saw something posted last night about it so I didn't have a chance to really get the details. But um, love to promote all these tracks. Didn't hear berlin hasn't raced? Um, you know no results from them and that, but I get it when I get it.
Speaker 2:Some women that have been on your podcast Melissa Keys from Left Turn Graphics.
Speaker 1:Oh, a long time ago. I need to have her again.
Speaker 2:Super great supporter of racing. She is actually leading the points in the Hornets at Plymouth.
Speaker 1:Oh, I saw, she just won.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with Fast Time she just won again this past week, so she's a huge supporter of everything you do and loves watching you, and so she is really having a great year.
Speaker 1:I got to have her on again then. It's been a long time. She was one of my like, probably 2018 or 19 guests.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so I'll reach out to her. Tony, thanks for mentioning that. Yeah, you know anybody out there. If you know a woman that's racing, I do Women's Motorsports Network podcast and two or three a week I try to do. There's so many women, tony, yes, I can't keep up really. And so somebody said well, what days do you release? I said I release them as soon as I get them done and ready, not always a certain day, right, some weeks I might have. You know I was doing three interviews a day, three or four days a week, back before racing started.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Right, because they were all available. Yeah, now they're racing, it's harder, but right. But yeah, amazing stories. I just interviewed a girl and this will be the last thing I share. I just interviewed a little girl. Her name is lizzie vogel and she's eight years old and I I love telling the stories of the women. Okay, don't get me wrong, but I love interviewing the kids yes me too.
Speaker 1:Lizzie vogel's eight years old, has big glasses and and we were, you know, doing a Zoom or doing StreamYard, like you and I are talking, and she was kind of shy and she would shake her head and I said you got to use your words, because they can't hear you shake your head. So her mom was helping her. But come to find out and I talked to her quite a bit before I even realized this she was born with a cleft palate. She's had 12 surgeries. Wow, I didn't even notice it when I was talking to her. After she mentioned it, maybe I could tell a little bit. Yeah, but I didn't even notice it. And then she raises. She gets donations for care packages that she sends to kids. They live in Pennsylvania, so it's a children's hospital where she gets treated. She makes care packages and gives them to the kids who are going in for their surgeries, and she's just an amazing little girl.
Speaker 1:That podcast is probably going to release early next week and I just encourage anybody to listen to it, not because it's mine or because it's a little girl, but her story and what she does to give back. We could all take a thing or two from it. Yes, it's not just the thing she gives those kids who have cleft palates. But she does a couple other things that she gives books to and whatever. And so I, you know, I wrote a book, it's all behind me and so she asked me if I would send her a copy of my book. So I'm gonna send her my book, but she's just amazing, and and you just, I was not expecting that. You know, you plan to record. With a eight year old girl, you never know what you're going to get, right, you know, and she wasn't overly talkative, but her mom helped her out, you know. But then to find out what she's doing, so that was pretty cool. So it's Lizzie Vogel. It'll be out, probably the first of the week.
Speaker 2:So I will definitely check that out. That's that one. You know, something I'm going to put you on the spot for, because you know I do that a lot with you. I really think that and I'd be willing to help, however I can. Maybe a woman's show for the Mini Wedge girls. I know like Plymouth has three or four girls. I know there's several at Kalamazoo, berlin area. I think that'd be really neat to have just a bunch of them on in one night and just kind of talk to them.
Speaker 2:I'm going to write that down when you were mentioning her. I'm like man, I'm thinking of like Lake and Dameron and Lily and Longenecker Alley North and the race down at Plymouth all the time. They have the coolest stories and other things they're doing and I think it would just be really neat I know there's several at Kalamazoo Just have all these little girls on to talk about, because even many wedges are still predominantly boys.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:These girls get on there and be like I do it. I win races, whatever, I can be the boys.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I love that idea. What would really be fun is to do a live show at the racetrack.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I have to check the schedules out, and that because don't they race at Springport too, some mini wedges? They used to. They used to. Maybe not anymore, but I know kalamazoo's yep, kalamazoo and taylor helps with it.
Speaker 2:I think, yes, yep, taylor's there every week, yep yeah, yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1:I think that I'll put that on my schedule. Awesome, that would be fun. Well, hey, everybody, thanks for sticking with us. Um, tony, you're just the best and you know, you know so much about racing. I'm going to have to maybe make you my co-host.
Speaker 2:I am down anytime you want me to. Okay, I can't thank you enough, not only today this year, but in the 10 plus years I've known you. The one thing I love about you is you are a giver and there's very few like you left in the world, and so I appreciate you. Like, the highlight of my years so far is that you finally got to meet my wife. I didn't even get to introduce you because you know, uh, but the fact that you, you got to meet her and I got to see you, cause it's been quite a bit, and so thank you for asking me to be on the show and for just talking and and being who you are.
Speaker 2:Like I, I love watching everything you do, from the old send out card days to now, and everything you're doing. Don't stop, because you are touching people and you're making a difference.
Speaker 1:I love you. Thank you for that, thank you for that and, um, I'm going to see you at the racetrack somewhere.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you we're going to come meet you guys and have a night out.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So you everybody for listening, for being here. We'll be back next Wednesday at 7 o'clock and who knows who my guest will be Might be Tony, might be who knows and it'll be a surprise for me and the person. So thanks for being on and hopefully we can grow this show to where I can figure out how to see comments and we can figure that out and maybe that'll make it different. But this was great this way nobody interrupted us.
Speaker 2:Right, and we could talk for days. So thank you, like Melinda said, for sticking with us. And again I'm going to say it one last time Just support Short Track Racing. We want it to be around forever, I don't care where you go. If you like this place, that place, don't watch it on tv, get out, spend 20 bucks and enjoy it because as soon as you know, fall hits, it's gone that's right we're.
Speaker 1:Nascar is more than half over, so let's get our butts to the track, get your backside trackside, that's right, that's right. All right, Tony, you have a great rest of your week. Have a great Fourth of July. Thanks everybody. Celebrate the Fourth of July on Friday, Saturday, whatever you're going to do, and we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Melinda. Yeah thank you, bye-bye.