Start your Engines

April 2010 The Motor Market | 13 Most of you have either attended a car race or have watched an event on the television. We all know the millions of dollars that are spent in the “Big League” of the racing scene, that being NASCAR; how much time is spent orchestrating the teams, corporate sponsors, drivers, crew members, all of the traveling, hard work and dedication that goes into that. But, do you realize that a lot of that same

Remember when you were to park your own car as well as your wife’s outside of the garage in the freezing cold and snowy weather of South Dakota to work on your prize possession of your hot rod or muscle car, spending thousands of dollars on that car, simply for the enjoyment and relaxation of building something of your own from the ground up, to take that car and present it in front of thousands of people at a car show in hopes of that 1st place trophy? Well, Racers aren’t much different.

I have been involved in racing my entire life and have sat behind the wheel of something since I was six years old. I have put that same amount of time and effort into a race car to have a competitive racer when I showed up to a Saturday night race. I wanted to have the best possible chance to win that trophy, and I knew that time, dedication and hard work would get me that two foot piece of plastic.

Muscle car enthusiasts and race car drivers have a very similar way of doing things. We join clubs and associations to involve us with other people of the same interests, and we both spend great amounts of time in what we love to do.

It is an addiction, a disease, if you will that one is born with and it cannot be lost. Racing is a sport in which everyone can be involved; very similar to car shows, the entire family can be a part of it. A local race could have as many as 60 to 70 teams on a given weekend all with their families and friends supporting them and not to mention the thousands that sit in the stands that come each and every week.

We are very fortunate to live here in Sioux Falls where we have four racing venues within a 35 mile radius. One can watch non-wing sprint cars along with street stocks and modifieds at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, then go to Hartford for a Saturday night thrill of 360 winged sprints and a few classes of stock cars, catch a motocross race at the Sioux Valley Cycle Club in Renner on a Sunday afternoon and then top off the weekend at the “Home of the Professionals,” Huset’s Speedway.

Going to a race and supporting the local drivers is a pastime for many, and it is certainly a perfect way to spend an evening. The competition is fierce, the excitement is through the roof, and we live in an area where we can experience this five months out of the year, three nights a week.

I am Josh Holt, co-owner of Driver Websites.com, pilot of the Driver Websites #16v Outlaw Winged Sprint Car, and this is just the beginning of a monthly capture on the local auto racing scene.

April 2010

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