Don Droud Jr. was a runner-up again. In the end, what did that really mean?
“I have been the runner-up a lot of times. A lot. My idols growing up, and even now, win championships. That‘s how I measure a racer. Although, now I kind of get it. There are good racers who don‘t win championships. So, I kind of feel like the Buffalo Bills or the Minnesota Vikings, which was my team growing up.
“Twenty years ago maybe I wasn‘t OK with it, but I‘m fine with it now. You know, I won that NCRA championship and it doesn‘t change your life. Not at all. I would rather be judged, or evaluated, or whatever word you want to use, as just being a good racer.”
He‘s been a whole lot more than just good. Droud once qualified for the Chili Bowl, the Belleville Midget Nationals, and the Knoxville Nationals in the same year.
That‘s a claim very few can make.
Don Droud Sr., who still competes in vintage meets, was inducted into the Nebraska Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2011. Seven years later, the same group called Droud Jr. and informed him that he had been elected to that body as well.
In typical fashion, he tried to refuse the honor. After all, he was still racing, he protested. And plus, he wasn‘t sure he belonged.
But there are times when fathers really do know best.
Shortly after he had been contacted by the Hall of Fame, Droud was subjected to a little straight talk.
“Junior came out to the garage one night,” Don Sr. said. “And I said, ‘I want to tell you something, son. I want to see you inducted in the Hall of Fame before I die.‘ And he told me he didn‘t deserve it. I looked at him and said, ‘The hell you don‘t.‘”
When the ceremony was held, a deserving Don Droud Jr. was there.
When Droud Jr. hits the track in 2021, it will mark the 40th anniversary of his first summer in a sprint car. That alone is noteworthy.
But the more impressive point is that he is still at the top of his game.
So how has he done it? His response is humble as always.
“I‘m blessed that God has given me my eyesight and my health,” he says. “And he has also provided me with some real good car owners. That has helped with my longevity. I think I have mellowed, but I do think I have tried to appreciate every owner I have raced for, whether he had 20 bucks in his pocket or was a millionaire.
“I always raced the same, no matter who it was.”