MOORESVILLE, N.C. — It has been a while since I have had a chance to sit down and write a column.
That’s because we have had a very busy race season on SPEED SPORT 1. The addition oflive coverage of all of Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli events, including the Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series Presented by Pirelli, live coverage of the F4, Formula Regional America’s and the Ligier Junior Formula Championship Series along with great coverage of a wide variety of racing with the Sports Car Vintage Racing Ass’n, has had us scrambling all over the country with microphone in hand. And there’s no rest for the weary – we are live this weekend from Watkins Glen.
Now our travel schedule is going to get even busier with the announcement that the International Hot Rod Association is also coming to SPEED SPORT 1 and 2 beginning this week.
The IHRA, under new ownership, will be running nitro categories, including Top Fuel. It will be an all new IHRA in 2025. It is being reimagined in every way. Follow along with us on SPEED SPORT 1 SPEED SPORT 2 and SPEEDSPORT.com for all of the latest developments.
The first event is at Darana Raceway, Hebron, OH (formerly National Trails Raceway), with live streaming of Pro-Am Qualifying beginning Wednesday morning at 9:00am Eastern. We’ll have live coverage of every round on SPEED SPORT 2 (formerly SPEEDSPORT.TV) and the Top Fuel finals live on SPEED SPORT 1 on Saturday at 6:30pm Eastern. Don’t miss it!
Major sanctioning bodies such as Trans Am, SVRA, F1 Powerboats and now IHRA choosing to broadcast their races on SPEED SPORT 1 says a lot about the industry’s belief in SPEED SPORT 1 to provide high-quality FREE coverage of their series.
SPEED SPORT 1 is easy to find. It’s available for FREE on Sling, Pluto, Amazon Prime, Roku, Fubo and more. With more announcements coming soon, don’t miss any of the action. Click HERE to learn how to get SPEED SPORT 1 and start watching now.
Millers At Milwaukee
I owe my good buddies Rocky Hodges, the former World of Outlaws ace, and Mike Lashmett, of Vintage Indy, a huge thank you for an incredible experience at the Milwaukee Mile during the recent Millers at Milwaukee event.
I was able to stop at the event on my way to the Trans Am weekend at Road America.
First, Lashmett put me in a replica of Parnelli Jones’ famed Ol’ Calhoun the 1963 Indy 500 winning Watson Roadster. I used to race a Thunder Roadster, which is a scaled down version of a Watson Roadster. However, there is nothing similar between the two cars.
The gear shift was on the left with a traditional gas, brake, clutch pedal setup, but no power steering. The car was quick and it definitely required some arm strength to run the big roadster through the long sweeping Milwaukee Mile turns.
They had sent me out with the fast group, which meant there was a wide variety of machines out on the track at the same time which forced me to focus hard on my line and to hold that line so that I didn’t impede anyone. I am always very honored and grateful when someone invites me to drive their race car or ride their motorcycle.
You have to treat these vehicles with lots of care. They are expensive and someone else’s prize possession. It’s not about you proving how fast you are, it’s about experiencing the machine at speed and bringing yourself and the machine back in one piece, which I did.
As soon as I hit pit road and brought the roadster to a stop. Another gentleman walked up before I had my helmet off and said you need to drive my car next.
When I inquired as to which one was his. He pointed to an old Board Track racer. Which of course wasn’t similar at all in how you sat in it, let alone operated it compared to the roadster.
You sit a lot lower in the roadster. Both cars actually felt like they had plenty of grip in the turns. Even the significantly more narrow rubber on the board tracker held firm. You feel more exposed driving the board tracker.
After parking the board tracker in its pit box, I hopped into the passenger seat of the 1931 V-16 Miller Indy car alongside Hodges. The car is owned by Dana Mecum of Mecum Auctions.
The sound of the V-16 was glorious! The cockpit was definitely not designed for two guys in 2025. Apparently, the driver and riding mechanic in 1931 were significantly smaller. But we made it work and the laps at speed were thrilling.
Prior to Milwaukee I made a stop in Indianapolis to help honor my longtime friend Irish Saunders, who retired from his position at Hoosier Racing Tires last year.
The Heroes Midget race involving Tony Stewart, Ron Capps, Levi Jones, Sammy Swindell and a host of others was entertaining.
Most of the stars hadn’t driven a pavement midget in anger on a big half mile track in close to 20 years. The adrenaline was apparently too much at the initial green with a major incident involving Jones and Capps that collected Swindell and Stewart.
Fortunately. nobody sustained serious injuries, although the same can’t be said for the cars of Swindell and Capps.
All in all, it was a fantastic night of seeing great friends and some very competitive racing. Congrats Irish on a fantastic career.
