The Hoosier Race Report: Through the Eyes of a Child

I didn’t mean to do it, but I fell asleep right after we crossed into Ohio and woke up just as we parked the car. We stood in a line for awhile and then went and stood in another line. The man put a bracelet on Grandpa and we talked to John for awhile. The only time I see John is at the races. Grandpa says that pretty soon I’ll be as tall as John.

We watched the cars warming up their engines, well, the sprint cars. I was ready for some popcorn and we went to get a box of that, which I ate. I asked Grandpa what the fire truck was doing. He said it was really a water truck and it was putting water down on the track.

While the water truck went around the track (the wrong way), Grandpa showed me a rainbow way up in the sky. It had three colors, blue, yellow, green, and red.

The sprint cars came out to practice and Grandpa showed me how to look at the numbers on the cars. He showed me this pretty blue car and said that Dave (Darland) was the driver. Soon I was yelling, “go, Dave, go!”

We went to the restroom and I went all by myself. But Grandpa had to help me wash my hands. I’m too short to reach the soap. I told Grandpa that I was hungry, but he said let’s wait awhile.

So I sat on Grandpa’s lap and rooted for that blue car. Oops! The 23 car (Rob Chaney) flipped over. He was okay, or at least he looked like it. Later another car flipped over, too (Jake Martens).

We went shopping. Grandpa bought me a non-wing sprint car. I played with it quite a bit. Later I let Jerry look at it. He gave it back.

It was time for the races to start. Grandpa explained how the push trucks have to push the cars so they can start. I rooted for the black and white car (Jon Stanbrough). Another car flipped over (Danny Williams Jr.) Grandpa said that he might have a bad headache later.

We were near the turn four bleachers when it started to rain. We put our hoods up and went back to the grandstands. By the time we got there the rain had stopped. We were walking and Grandpa heard a bunch of people yelling. They were yelling at him. It was John, Jerry, Tom, Keith, Steve, and Tim.

Racing started again and I was more than ready for an Eldora hot dog. It was good. Grandpa said that, with him buying me that hot dog, now Tony would break even.

The main event took a long time but Grandpa, the guys, and I all hung in there. Two cars flipped over right in front of me. The ambulance was busy checking on the drivers, but all of them were okay.

We left for the parking lot. I walked by myself. I’m getting too big for Grandpa to carry my very much. I told Tim and Keith good-by. Grandpa said that maybe I’ll see them again at Lawrenceburg later this year. But I hope that me and Grandpa can go back to Eldora. I love that race track. Last year they let Grandpa and me on the stage to get our pictures taken. And I remember sitting in a sprint car at Lawrenceburg when I was little. Thanks, Kevin.

On the way home Grandpa told me about his daddy. When Grandpa was a little boy, his daddy took him to races all the time.

Not long after that, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until Sunday morning. I woke Grandpa up and then we walked to the park. Not long after that he left. He had to go home and check on Grandma. She has been sick and my uncle kept an eye on her while Grandpa was at my house.

I’ll have to check with Mommy and Daddy to see when my next race is. Grandpa said that he’s planning to go to Bloomington and Lawrenceburg this weekend.

Your friend,

Landon McIntosh

Elsewhere around our state, local boy Tim Spindler was the feature winner at Lawrenceburg. Friday night saw Bloomington and Gas City both too wet to race. Steve Barnett was Brownstown’s winner in dirt late model action. Evan Jackson was the late model winner at Salem. Jon Sciscoe was the feature winner at Lincoln Park. The World of Outlaws Late Model Series invaded Kamp’s Speedway with Clint Smith winning. Kevin DeYoung and Toby Howard were among Shadyhill winners.

I should thank my grandson for being such great company as we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Eldora. He forgot to mention that young Robert Ballou dodged the trying circumstances to take the feature at Tony’s track. This turned out to be Round One, instead of two, of Border Wars. Gas City’s version of Border Wars has been re-scheduled for June 14.

Signing up to help NASCAR make the “call”, I’m…

Danny Burton

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