Do you remember the first race you ever attended?

[hookedondirt7]

When I was about seven or eight years old, my grandparents brought me along to a practice session at Silver Spring before the racing season started. I don't recall what month this was, but the weather was FREEZING. That's really all I remember from that particular date. It really says it all about my grandparents that they'd go out in that kind of weather just for practice. That track meant the world to them. My grandmother's brothers raced there and so most of my grandfather's dates with her were at Silver Spring races (How many guys would love to have a woman like that, huh? ). They had season tickets for about twenty or thirty years.

Later that same season, they took me back. I randomly picked some driver to root for (Larry Jackson, probably) during the sportsman events and I distinctly recall looking behind to see two very angry looking country boys glaring back at me for cheering for a driver they hated. Being a little kid, I shut up thereafter.

I didn't go to my first fullsize sprint car show until I was a teenager. Holy crap, was that amazing to a new fan! The speed! The sound of the engines idling and the engines at full roar! I've never encountered any greater rush than the first time I saw 410s fly down the front stretch at Williams Grove. Can't remember who won, and it was probably actually a boring race that night, but that didn't matter compared to how awesome the sprint cars were. Just their existence on this planet was awesome!

P.S. I miss Silver Spring.

[greenflag]

No, but I wish that I did! I was 2 years old and it was at Anthracite (Schoentown PA) Raceway.

[supertc88]

As I recall, my Grandfather took me to a race at Lancaster Speedway which was South of Lancaster, PA and near Willow Street when I was a young kid!

[sprint-momma]

yes....2 weeks after we were married (1976) Cris Criswell entered his first race at Port Royal and he qualified. That night I fell in LOVE with Sprint car racing.

[speedracer5]

When i was 6 years old GOLD MINE SPEEDWAY with my DAD 1964 p.s i miss silver Springs also

[GOSHOW]

1953 my mom and dad were on their way to Lincoln and had to make a detour to the hospital. Couple weeks later I was going 3 times a week and grew up at Lincoln, Williams Grove, and Susky. The first I actually remember is somewhere around 1957. I do remember being in victory lane with Lee Petty at Lincoln. What a life, don't regret any of it..

[hotrodney]

No. That would have been either selinsgrove or port royal in the mid 70's when I was about 5. My earliest memories are of the demolition derby's and Chitwood thrill shows they had on the frontstretch at Selinsgrove. As a kid that stuff caught my interest more than the racing. I remember the cars I rooted for though, Pink Panther #73 and Weikert #29(Pitzer).

[Brent Leach]

nope

[Brewster]

1978 - moved here from Texas, got a job at "Wanda's" was working one Saturday night, Heard the Engines, Drove down Silver Spring afterwork... GARY WOLFORD WON !!!

[Flying Tiger]

1959 up on beer hill at Williams Grove. My grandfather parked up there and put a blanket on the hood of his car where my sister and I sat and watched the races.

[harddrive]

... had to ask Dad ... his guess was either St. Thomas Speedway or Hagerstown Speedway

[Old51]

Cirle M Ranch, about 1955

[g2aacc]

1970. Hersheypark stadium. ARDC midgets. Johnny Coy won the feature. After the race went into the pits and sat in Dutch Schaffer's car.

[PHL80]

Yep, 1964 Harmony N.J.. My Dad went to Reading weekly but choise to take me to Harmony instead of Reading for the first time because as a Kid (4 at the time) I was deathly scared of loud noise and at Harmony there was a Drag strip between the Grandstand and the Home stretch so you sat farther away,but it didn't help..I cryed all night..lol..It was a whole year later before my Dad took me again and that was for the Fall Championship Race at Langhorne..I was fine after that and attended Reading and other tracks weekly from 1967 on.

[JTR13]

Can't tell you what year it was and I can't tell you how old I was, but I can tell you it was an Outlaw race at the old Flemington Speedway in Jersey... My parents always let us pick something special to do for our birthdays so my older brother said he wanted to go to the race track... I don't remember much, but I remember sitting in the grandstands on the front stretch down by turn 1... When we got there we couldn't believe all the open seats down front along the fence, nor could we understand why those who were sitting there had on goggles and handkerchiefs wrapped around their faces, well needless to say after the cars whipped around turn one the first time and we felt the sting of little balls of clay in the face, we figured out why real quick and moved up the grandstands, lol... Then they had to ruin it by paving it, then eventually shutting it down... I remember the sounds and smells and immediately got hooked on dirt trackin, that was also the only time I ever saw a sprint car till I moved out here to york 8 years ago... I grew up just up the road from East Windsor Speedway where I became a regular until someone decided that what we REALLY needed was another housing development...