Trackside with Rick Minter

  I’ve never claimed to be an expert on country music, but I do believe there’s a country song that’s appropriate for about any occasion.  Sometimes, when I’m pondering the future of the old-iron hobby and of short-track racing, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” the George Jones tune, written by Troy Seals and Max Barnes, comes to mind.  I’ve watched a couple of generations come and go in both old-iron and racing, and there’s concern in both arenas over whether the youth of today will carry on the sport and the hobby, especially given all the entertainment options available today.  But just when I think the end is around the corner, I see signs of a bright future.  Both the old-iron crowd and the racing world are celebrating a stunning victory in the Great Race by two young women who are regulars at Senoia Raceway.  Sisters Olivia and Genna Gentry, ages 20 and 18 respectively, became the youngest drivers and first pair of females to win the famous cross-the-country rally event.

 The same weather that caused the postponement of the Southern All Stars race at Senoia Raceway last Saturday put a damper on our Inman Antique Truck Show and Kickin’ COVID Crank-Up.  We went ahead with our show last Saturday, hoping to get the event in before the expected rains arrived, but we were off by a few hours.  But, Saturday night, as I reflected on the events of the day, most of my thoughts were positive ones. What our show lacked in volume was more than made up by the great fellowship enjoyed by those that were here.   The days leading up to the show were fun, as a group of volunteers pulled together to make the necessary preparations. And the visits on Saturday with friends new and old who share a passion for things mechanical were priceless.  It was especially nice for the racers in the group to get to visit with two fellow members of the racing community – Steve “Duze” Dzulniewski and John Denniston – who drove their vintage wreckers down from Concord, N.C., for t

  The racing headlines over the past week or so should have come as pleasant surprises for short-track racing fans. On the local front, Senoia Raceway announced plans to host a big-money race on Nov. 12-13. The plans are to pay $10,000 to win on Friday night, a considerable sum, then shell out $52,000 to the winner of Saturday night’s main event. Those numbers, as large as they are, are just for one finishing position, so the total purse likely will far surpass them. Those are some pretty big numbers, especially for a tightwad like me. I pointed that out to track owner Sonny Pollard in a phone conversation earlier this week, but he seemed comfortable putting that much money on the table. It made me think of a saying my friend Jeff Landrum used the other night: “You can’t play poker with scared money.” Sonny Pollard’s money definitely is on the bold side. On the national news front last week, another saying I picked up from friends years ago came to mind. That is: “A rising t

    A couple of roll-over crashes at Senoia Raceway last Saturday night got me to wondering what role wrecks play in attracting fans to race tracks.  While no one wants to see anyone get hurt or killed, TV networks and racing promoters often use replays of the “Big One” crashes at Daytona and Talladega to promote upcoming races at those tracks. Personally, I don’t care for the Big Ones. I’m not particularly close to many of the drivers as I once was, but it’s different when you know the drivers involved on a personal basis. I consider Ryan Newman a pretty close friend, and I was sickened to see his crash at Daytona in 2020.  Last Saturday at Senoia, I saw my friends Jody Knowles and John Wayne Harbin flip their cars in separate incidents. Both wound up being OK, but it is unsettling when someone whose phone number is stored in your phone is upside down in a race car. But I also heard a story Saturday night back in the day that made me want to write about a big roll-over wreck.

  Hanging out at a recent midweek practice session at Senoia Raceway, I felt right at home when I saw a can of Vienna Sausage Bites among the snacks Bubba Pollard’s crew had laid out for their driver. Vienna sausages may not measure up to some folk’s culinary standards, but they are a popular treat for many, including a good number of old-school racers.   NASCAR team owner Eddie Wood often makes a meal of viennas and crackers. (I’ve seen him fish them out the can using the keys to his rental car.) You can tell who eat them regularly by watching how they remove them from the can they come in. There are seven sausages packed into the tin. The best way to fish them out is to take some utensil and jiggle the gaps between the sausages to loosen them up. Then pull out the center one and the rest will come out whole too. Otherwise they will get all chopped up before you ever get them out of the can. While some prefer to eat them with plain “soda crackers” I prefer Ritz crackers, or th