GREAT question Drew.  I've been going to Painesville Speedway for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, my brother and I would play Figure 8 with our hotwheels CONSTANTLY.  We would even melt our model cars with a candle to make them look smashed.  Growing up in Grand River you had racecars everywhere you went, so I guess it was engrained in me at a very early age.  When I was in high school I always took a new girlfriend on a date to the track within our first 2 or 3 weeks of going out.  If she loved it I would keep her around.  It wasn't soon after high school that I had my first Figure 8 car and the rest is history.

As far as influences and favorite drivers go, the list would be impressive.  As a youngster, I was a huge fan of #01 Kyle Matteson.  He was always charging thru the pack and fighting for the lead by the end of the race.  I still have a button with a picture of him and his car that I wore every week in the early '80s.  As I got older I really started to become a fan of Herb Reynolds, #93.  He was a very competetive driver who always managed to do a lot with a little.  In my opinion, Herb was one of the most exciting drivers to watch.  I am fortunate to have bought the car, that I currently race, off of him a number of years ago.  The list wouldn't be right if I didn't say that Joe March, THE #21, hasn't been a huge influence on Figure 8 drivers, including myself.  Joe March... What else can you say?  Once I began racing, I would say that by watching, and trying to stay with, both of the Marvin Brothers was a experience in and of itself.  Both of them could wheel ANYTHING that you put them in.  TRUST ME.  I take a lot of pride in the fact that I had, or still have, the opportunity to have raced with most of these drivers.  This list would go on, but I'm just posting a blog, not writing a book.  I believe that I learned from some of the best in the 'School of Hard Knocks'.

Well, the question was 'who was your favorite driver?'  For me this was easy... This guy epitomised SHOWMAN on and off the track.  He was the first to wave to the kids from his famous 'White Whale', and sign an autograph for a fan without rushing you thru.  To this day, I still have a 1984 Painesville Speedway program with his autograph in it.  I don't even have to look at it because I have it memorized.  It reads "To Chad, Good Luck and God Bless, Augie 'The Dog' Landsmann.