(Bill W) May 4, 2016 - The first race I ever saw at Knoxville Raceway was really an accident. Doug Wolfgang and car owner Bob Trostle had been on a tear. It was July 9, 1977 and I was a whopping six years old! My parents were not race fans…quite the opposite. But back then, we had coverage in newspapers and real promotion. The name Wolfgang was just cool. I remember my father saying, we better check out who this Wolfgang guy is.
We drove fourteen miles south from our home in Monroe to Knoxville. I was hooked from the beginning. Wolfgang had won nine races in a row, including sweeping Twin Features on June 11. After almost forty years, I have never heard anyone booed like he was that night. Even at my young age, I thought if he’s being booed like that, he must be pretty awesome!
The sights and sounds captured me, but not until the feature was I hooked for life. Twenty fire breathing sprint cars (non-wing at the time) came roaring out of turn four to take the green! I became one with the noise and roar as they came by a shaking grandstand. I knew no one other than I kept one eye on this Wolfgang character. Everyone else did as well.
Little did I know, a guy named Ralph Blackett was leading. Lloyd Beckman would steal the show, however. When Wolfgang tagged the turn two wall, losing some ground, the crowd went wild. Beckman went on to win and snap the streak. The crowd erupted as he did cartwheels on the front stretch. That was it, I knew I wanted to be here next week and the week after. Many respected historians believe Doug Wolfgang saved Knoxville Raceway in many ways. It was the novice fans like my family that started coming more and more in the late ‘70’s into the ‘80’s.
It was tough with parents who weren’t race fans, but over the years I would beg and plead. I would find friends who went every week. As I got a little older, mom would drop me off and pick me up at Bailey’s Donut Shop (now the Rib Shack). I remember our pickup time was 11, but I would sprint from the front stretch to campaign for another half hour. Usually, she obliged. She was the greatest, and understood.
It was $2 to get in for 14 and under, but I found about every way there was to get in. I knew the pass out ladies, their families, and their favorite treats. Incidentally, I was 14 for a lot of years. The races became my drug. I was never a drinker, never a smoker, but I was an addict to sprint cars. The racetrack kept me out of trouble every Saturday night.
When I got my license, it was game on. A tank of gas took me to other tracks in Iowa, and then Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Eldora and beyond. The internet came along, and I took my journalism experience and education degree to my passion.
I have twenty years of stuff sitting here from my journalism days. I’d like to share it on Openwheel101.com. In addition, I’d like to bring not only my new writings, but fresh, unique content on a daily basis. We have a good start, but there will be hours of archiving ahead. We have some great writers from different aspects of the sport who are going to contribute (and we would like to add many more), but one thing links us all…we are fans with a passion for open wheel racing!
Hopefully, you’ll like OpenWheel101.com as much as I have building it. I have to thank Kyle McCullough from www.IowaWebGuy.com, Kris Krohn who will be helping with videography for interviews and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum.
Most of all, I have to thank a former Pennsylvania plumber named Allan Holland. When he started Hoseheads.com, I was fortunate that he asked me to write for him back in 1996. For years, I was content being the anonymous Bill W reporting from Knoxville and other places. What happened was a springboard to allow me to branch out not only in press, but in broadcasting, announcing and website management. Allan is not only a great person and a great friend, but he’s also my first partner here at OpenWheel101.com. With his help, we’re getting this thing off the ground today!
I am indeed “Living the Dream”!