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A Different View From The Track

Former champions find a new outlet as track officials

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Winning a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championship is special. For the lifetime that follows, the title “Champion” is always attached to a title winner. In the racing community, a championship title at any track in any division can be what defines a person’s whole racing career, and sometimes their whole life.

Racing careers can last seemingly forever. A driver may retire from driving, but few ever retire from racing.

“For any true racer, racing gets into your blood and you keep that for a lifetime,” five-time California NASCAR track champion Scott Winters said recently.

Some former drivers hang out at tracks to enjoy the only weekend atmosphere they’ve ever known. Some own race cars or work on them. Some help their sons and daughters become drivers. Typically, you won’t find a lot of retired drivers in the main grandstands at short tracks. That’s a foreign racing environment for many. Others decide they prefer the grandstands, shunning the work environment of the pits.

Some champions are asked, and in some cases pursued, by the operators of the places they once reigned to become a track official. Drivers pretty much know if working at their home track suits their interests and demeanor. For some, the switch is logical and comfortable, and quickly becomes a perfect fit.

Several former drivers contacted for this story say joining their track’s operating team is a great way to extend their participation in the sport, but nothing ever takes the place of wheeling a competitive race car.

Scotty Backman, 50, of Parker, Colo., has been the Colorado National Speedway track operator for owners Jim and Sue Nordhougen since 2008. Backman is the 2006 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model division champion at the .375-mile banked asphalt oval and has a diverse racing background.

Backman drove in the exotic Supermodified division for 13 years and most notably competed in the division’s showcase portion of the old Copper World Classic at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway 10 times. His best performance in the event was in 1994 when he won the pole and finished fourth in the feature. He also drove an Indy Lights car in 1991, and won the former NASCAR Elite Division Midwest Series Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and finished fourth in points.

Backman’s shift from driver’s seat to promoter’s chair came in an instant in 2008, and the move brought stability and growth for one of America’s great short track racing facilities.

“We had our car ready to go for the 2008 season,” Backman said. “Jim Nordhougen and I talked. He said in essence that he needed help to right the ship. I wanted to see what I could do to help. I took the job two days before opening day.

“When I stepped in, we had to win some drivers back with consistency and assuring a level playing field,” Backman said. “I knew the competition side and because I own my own sign business, I know the business side.

“I think I have the respect on the competition side because of the way I raced cars and that helped us move forward,” Backman said. On every side of what we do on Saturday nights, we created a team and that’s made a big difference. It’s just like running a race team.

“It takes our racers to put on the show and the show is what it’s all about,” Backman continued. “We’ve eliminated qualifying and went to qualifying races. We went to double-file restarts. When the competition side puts on a great show, the fans keep coming in the front gate.”

Does being a track operator fill the void of being away from the driver’s seat?

“I don’t think it fills the void,” Backman responded. “When you’re in your race car, your car is your world. Racing on Saturday nights is the best part and shortest part of being a driver. The hours in the shop, the testing, that’s where the real work is.”

Backman’s car owner, Shannon Muir, still has three Late Models garaged and available should the driver want to reacquaint himself with the competition side. Backman hasn’t closed the door on the idea of running an occasional race, but he’s comfortable in looking out for Colorado National Speedway’s best interest.

“I’m 50 years old and I’m in a good place,” Backman said. “Am I okay with where I’m at? Yes.”

A duo of champion dirt track drivers toil in key roles at I-80 Speedway, a nice .400-mile banked clay track in Greenwood, Neb. The track is owned by a consortium that includes three dirt Late Model champion Kosiski brothers – Ed (1998 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion), Joe (1986 NWAAS national champion) and Steve (seven-time champion of NASCAR’s former dirt Late Model All Star Series) – along with Mike Merrel and Jon Swartz.

Race promotion is nothing new to the Kosiski family, who promoted a number of special events at several Midwestern tracks over the years before the partnership bought Nebraska Raceway Park that includes I-80 Speedway in 2003.

Eventually, Ed Kosiski was selected by the partners to be the promoter and leader of the track’s operations. Ed, the youngest of the brothers, has quietly become respected for his promotional skills within the American short track community.

While brother Steve has retired from driving, Joe is enjoying competing on a regular basis with his son, Andrew. Ed, meanwhile, still has race cars and the desire to race them, but they’ve been garaged for two years.

“If I can’t put my whole heart into it, I can’t do it,” he said of his hiatus from driving. “I don’t want to do it unless I can do it right.”

Instead, he’s whole-heartedly committed to promoting I-80 Speedway that successfully operates on Sunday nights.

Without complaint, Kosiski is adamant in his comparison of being a promoter and being a dirt Late Model owner driver:

“Being an owner/driver is way easier – 100 times easier – than running a race track,” he said.

I-80 Speedway has about 50 events on the .400-mile oval’s schedule. In addition to regular Sunday night racing, the track hosts frequent Saturday special events, and Little Sunset Speedway, a flat .125-mile dirt track that operates Fridays with go-kart competition.

Retired NASCAR champion dirt Modified and Late Model driver Mark Wyman joins Kosiski in hands-on race officiating each Saturday night at I-80 Speedway. Wyman is the track’s competition director. He won championships in both divisions at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa, a divisional track championship at Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa, and was the Midwest Region champion of NASCAR’s former ShorTrack Series while racing at Adams County in 2000.

The decreasing availability of family time and escalating costs of staying competitive merged with an offer to buy all his racing equipment brought Wyman’s decision to stop racing in 2006. Wyman, always personable as a driver, got over the hump of racing retirement by becoming the track announcer for I-80 Speedway for the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

“I was asked if I was interested in being the competition director at I-80 Speedway between the 2008 and 2009 seasons, and I said, ‘sure!’ ” Wyman said. “We didn’t speak of it again until the season started.”

Wyman said he does everything he can to keep the playing field level and encourages drivers to race with others the way they want to be raced.

“Ten or fifteen years ago, drivers would do things to intimidate an on-track rival. Three guys could slice and dice for position and there would be some rubbing going on. They’d come in after that race and all three would tell you it was some great racing. If someone got rubbed the wrong way, they left it on the track. Some drivers coming up today tend to get mad and want to argue about something someone did. We just tell them to know who you’re racing with and leave it on the track.”

As competition director, Wyman counts being a good listener as part of the job description.

“I get phone calls and e-mails all through the week, and I try to give each one the respect I’d want to get. I might have helped some of them one way when I was driving, and now I’m trying to help from the other side of the fence. We want to keep I-80 Speedway a place where everyone wants to keep racing and not get discouraged.”

Staying around the track as an official doesn’t replace jumping in your race car and going for a win, Wyman said.

“Nothing replaces that thrill of competing or winning a race,” Wyman said. “Nothing replaces the speed you experience. Nothing replaces how you feel passing someone.

“Last summer we went to Colorado and jumped off the cliff of a mountain in tandem paragliding,” Wyman said, “and it didn’t come close to the feeling when I was racing.

“When racing gets in your blood, there’s no higher high,” he said.

“I think I’m doing today as an official what I did as a driver, though. As a driver, I was part of a team and we always did our best. Now I’m an official, I’m part of a team, and we still always do our best.”

Champion pavement Late Model driver Donny Reuvers, 34, of Dundas, Minn., only had to give up half his racing career when, in late 2008, he and his wife Melissa became owners of Raceway Park, a .250-mile paved oval south of Minneapolis in Shakopee, Minn. Reuvers won five consecutive Raceway Park Late Model championships from 2002 through 2008. Reuvers is presently trying to win his sixth consecutive Late Model track championship at nearby Elko (Minn.) Speedway, a .375-mile banked paved oval. Racing at both tracks, he also won the NASCAR Division IV championship – he finished second in the standings as well based on performances at the tracks individually – and the 2007 NASCAR Minnesota state championship.

While Reuvers still operates his Short Track Racing Experience, a commercial Late Model and Modified driving and ride-along program just as he did before he purchased the track, he decided it was in the track’s best interest to set aside his race car on Sunday nights.

“Sure I miss competing at Raceway Park,” Reuvers said. “I enjoyed it and had a lot of success here. But if I was racing and working on the car, I wouldn’t be able to do the things I need to do as promoter. I like talking with the guys in the pits, visiting with fans and sitting in the grandstands, and being wherever I need to be on a race night.

“We’re fortunate to have some of the greatest drivers ever competing at Raceway Park. Our car counts have increased to over 100 in the pits on Sunday nights. The guys go out there every week, have fun and race hard to give our fans a unique and special experience.”

Previous track owner and promoter John Hellendrung and Reuvers began conversing about the good fit the popular Reuvers would be as the track’s owner. The discussion started during the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banquet weekend at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., in 2005.

“Of course we have a lot of responsibilities. Things come up that you find out about and learn about. We learn something every day.

“As long as you’re willing to learn, you’ll move forward,” Reuvers said.

“It’s hard work. You’re a promoter 24/7. You’re mind is always on it. It’s not like an eight to five job where you go home at the end of the day and relax.”

Reuvers started his racing career at Elko in1993, but didn’t visit Raceway Park until 1998.

“A friend of mine, Shane Pesch, who now works for Roush-Fenway Racing, knew about Raceway Park and said we needed to go see it.” Reuvers said. “Today I get to introduce Raceway Park to others and tell them they need to come see it.”

Reuvers remains competitive on the other side of the fence, as well. He leads Elko’s Late Model points standings. He’s second in the Minnesota NASCAR points standings to Adam Royle, who is the track points leader at Reuvers’ Raceway Park.

Reuvers 2010 racing record is 14 starts, six wins, 13 top fives and 13 top 10s.