It’s difficult to believe, but Jac Haudenschild has been thrilling sprint car fans across the country — and around the world — with his wide-open, up-against-the-fence driving style since 1974.
Think about that for a minute. That’s the year Richard Nixon resigned as president, Dick Gaines won the Knoxville Nationals, a new AMC Gremlin sold for slightly more than $2,400 and Johnny Rutherford won his first Indy 500.
But after 47 seasons of slinging clay, sprint car racing’s “Wild Child” is now 62 years old and he’s come to a crossroads in his career.
“I’m not sure yet; I’ve got to decide what I’m going to do,” Haudenschild told SPEED SPORT when asked about his plans for the future. “I’ve been running my own race car for the last three years and it’s not very profitable, so I’ve got to sit here and think about what I’m going to do down the road.
“If I decide to quit racing, I’ll probably just drive around to some Outlaws races and watch Sheldon (his son) race,” Haudenschild added. “Plus, I’ve usually got a project of some kind going on in the garage, just fixing whatever. Right now, it’s usually race car stuff that I’m working on, so when I’m done racing, I’m going to have to find something else to work on in there.”
Born on April 7, 1958, in Wooster, Ohio, Haudenschild grew up in a racing family.
“My dad (John) raced in the ’60s and early ’70s. He raced around home and didn’t travel very much,” Haudenschild explained. “The cars were kind of like supermodifieds, but they didn’t have the supermodified bodies on them. They were all homebuilt cars.
“We grew up going to races as kids, hanging out in the pits or the grandstands. We hung around the garage all the time too, so we were pretty mechanically inclined. My dad was a truck driver and worked on semis, so he worked in the garage all the time.
“I started driving for my dad in ’74. My dad owned two race cars and me and my brother (Ed) both raced,” Haudenschild continued. “We had two race cars for quite a few years and we started at the local tracks around home — Lakeview, Wayne County and Mansfield, those were the three tracks we raced at growing up.”
Haudenschild claims he’s never had a job that didn’t involve a helmet and driving suit.
“Racing is all I’ve ever done, but I didn’t know for a while whether I could do it for a living. In the beginning, we just raced for the fun of it. I drove for my dad for a few years and then a guy right out of our hometown there, Wayne Yerian. He had that maroon No. 75 car and we drove that for a couple years. The Nickles brothers started taking me to Florida to East Bay for the Nationals and I started traveling with those guys. Then, when I was driving for Bob Hampshire, we ended up racing three and four nights a week. We raced a lot.”
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