[TQ29m]

Gee, I think it was late 40s, early 50s at Columbus motor Speedway, 25th st fair ground, the closest thing to sprint cars were the Roaring Roadsters who came in from CA every spring and held us captive all summer, same cars different bodies, Roy Prosser, Red Amick, and many more, they fertilized the state from one end to the other, the names are embedded into the state, course Red Amick was my favorite, he settled in in the montpellier area, and had the Flying A gas stations in Indiana and Ohio, they had a huge following, along with the midgets that followed them.

[diversified]

Atomic Speedway around 1964 at 5 years old-Dean Knittel was the winner, they were just transitioning from the supermodifieds to sprint cars then with the plywood wings...

[RACrappieman]

Paragon Indiana 1988. Went with Joe and Joey Saldana when Joey first started racing. It was a wing show and I was 10 years old. What I remember most was, there was a bikini contest on the front straightaway at some point during the evening. I wish they’d bring those back

[Stevensville Mike]

I got a late start seeing sprints in person. My first go was at Winchester in 1995 - USAC. The late Kenny Irwin won the sprint race. Mike Bliss won the midget race.

[chrismattlin]

Great idea for a thread! I'm loving these stories, guys.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer because I don't remember. I was born in November 1980 and started get dragged along to every track within a reasonable drive of Cincinnati in the spring of '81. Pretty much every week at The 'Burg, along with Northern Kentucky (now Florence), Eldora, North Vernon and everywhere in between. Racing was always life for the Mattlins- so much so that family vacations were planned so that we could hit up races while traveling.

One of my most vivid early memories was being at Daytona in 1984 for Richard Petty's 200th win. I can still see in my mind Air Force One landing just beyond the back stretch from our seats near the entrance to turn 1. Come to think of it, we camped in the infield that weekend in my Dad's full-size van and we were awoken at dawn by the Secret Service who flung the sliding door open without warning. Dad was really upset about it and told them so in some unnice words. "Just doing our jobs," they said and it was over in an instant. Great memories that REALLY make me miss my Dad. We never had much money, but I had a great childhood.

[Moreland76]

My first race would have been early 70’s as a toddler at Kokomo. My first asphalt race at Winchester in 75 was a Usac race won by Larry Dickson in Ensigns # 80. Been addicted ever since. Lol

[oldfan49]

Couldn't swear to it but I am sure my first race would have been super modifieds at Sportsman's Speedway in Marshall, Missouri sometime in the late 1950s early 1960s. My dad would have been in the pits turning wrenches and my mom and me would have been in the stands.
I am sure my 1st sprint race would have been Missouri State fairgrounds. I remember stories of them changing tail tanks and took off the cages and bolted on a hoop to run as sprint cars.
I do remember when if they had a sprint car tank they had to tape a box or something on the tail tank to run the Missouri State Modified Championship during the state fair

[Dick Monahan]

I saw my first race of any type at Dracut MA in 53. It was NEMA's first season, too. Later that year, i was thrilled to be invited to join the neighborhood crew i was "helping" with their dirt modified at Keene NH. And I believe it was the following Spring I was even more excited to join them in the 8 hour ride to the AAA Sprints at Reading PA. I had never been that far from home. There were only 12 cars but I wasn't bothered in the least; I didn't know there were ever more. I remember Thomson and Hinnershitz, but that's about all.

[SoIllSprinter]

First dirt race spring of 1965, I was born in December of 64 and my daddy owned a modified coupe for 3 or 4 years around the time I was born. The track would have been Turnpike Speedway in Marion, Illinois or Franklin County Speedway in Benton, Illinois.
My first super modified race would have been at Turnpike sometime in the late 60s or early 70s, I don’t remember exactly. The track ran Friday nights and I do remember that some drivers from the south would come, but sometimes ran late. When that happened the track would take the first chance they could and let those guys qualify which is probably why they made the long tow from the Memphis area. I remember many drivers. Hooker Hood, the very young Swindell brothers, Bubby, Chuck Amati, Gene Henson, Johnny Kemp, so many greats. I also remember a Murphysboro, Illinois driver named Gary Easton who had a modified which dominated that class and could run as a super modified and be more than competitive. He eventually moved to sprints. Great memories.

[Grocery Guy]

Great replies from everyone. My first sprint car race was a WoO race (pretty sure) in 1978 or 79 that was being tape delayed by NBC. It was a Sunday afternoon race on a half mile track outside of Champaign, IL on the Fisher / Dewey road. Of course, the track is now gone. I had some race fans on a social media site verify that this track existed, and one even sent me a map of where it once was located.