Kidwell’s work with kids earns him spot in hall of fame
By RON WARE
Classic Motorsports
INDIANAPOLIS – Chuck Kidwell was all of 9 years old when he cobbled together his first race car, a Soap Box Derby-style racer that used a lard bucket for the seat. He and his buddies in Wisner, Neb., would stage races on a dusty hill, with the winner collecting every penny, nickel and dime contributed by the onlookers, many of them veterans back from World War II.
On a good day, a kid could take home $5.
“Back then, 40 or 50 cents an hour was a good wage,” Kidwell said. “I always remember those guys doing that for the kids.”
Eventually, those memories became the motivation for his life’s work – building safe and affordable cars for youngsters yearning to sample life in the fast lane.
Kidwell, who turns 69 on April 27, has designed and constructed more than 750 race cars over the years, almost all of them for kids. The creator of the national Jr. Sprint class – which will share the stage with midgets and sprint cars during the upcoming “Sunday Afternoon Stimulus” races at the Indianapolis Speedrome – he also designed the first IKF caged kart and was an original builder of the NHRA’s Jr. Dragster chassis.
Cole Whitt, already a USAC national midget champion at age 18, and sprint car standout Hunter Schuerenberg, 19, are among racing’s rising stars who got their start in one of Kidwell’s Jr. Sprints.
“It’s really cool to know that someplace along the line that you did something to influence these kids – to get ‘em into racing,” Kidwell said from his Kidwell Racecars shop on Gasoline Alley near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “By no means do I deserve full credit. But some little things we did helped them along.
“And those kids don’t forget you.”
Neither have folks back in Kidwell’s home state. He will be inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame on Oct. 2 in Lincoln, Neb., joining such luminaries as Eddie Rickenbacker and General Curtis LeMay as well as drivers Jan Opperman, Doug Wolfgang, Joe Saldana and Roger Rager. The hall, which enshrined its first class in 1998, is located at “Speedy” Bill Smith’s Speedway Motors complex.
Kidwell raced with all of those guys – he and Opperman were close friends – and drove for Smith during a career that began in 1949 and hasn’t officially ended. Once a regular at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, he’s raced in seven decades, driving sprinters, supermodifieds, modifieds, stock cars, drag racers and karts.
He made his mark, though, with his wrench, not his right foot. His tenure at the Indianapolis 500 goes back to 1967, when he helped prepare Chuck Hulse’s seventh-place car, and includes more recent stints with drivers Lyn St. James, Jimmy Kite, Scott Harrington, Memo Gidley and Phil Giebler. Since 1998, he also has served as chief mechanic on the Ricky Nix-owned No. 43 USAC Silver Crown car that Johnny Parsons drove until retiring last fall. Tony Elliott is expected to take over that ride.
The aptly named Kidwell approaches every task with the same zeal, whether he’s preparing a car for an Indy veteran like Parsons or a wide-eyed kid with dreams of getting to Indy or Daytona. And he tries to keep it simple. As president of the National Modified Midget Association, which sanctions Jr. Sprints and three other youth classes, he advocates simplified rules, including no restrictions on tires.
“You have to remember,” he said, pausing, “we’re doing this for the kids.”
Eden to return to her roots
Sondi Eden, who made auto racing history at the Speedrome in 2004, will return to compete in the three midget races that are part of the “Sunday Afternoon Stimulus” events.
The Crawfordsville, Ind., driver has lined up a ride in Tom Hayworth’s No. 61 Hawk-Stanton Mopar. Five years ago, she turned the track into the “Garden of Eden,” becoming the only woman to win a USAC season championship when she claimed the regional midget title.
“I’m really excited to go back to the Speedrome,” said Eden, a former Morehead State basketball player. “Racing there is such a good learning experience. It teaches you how to race and how to pass. It’s a small track and it’s close quarters, but that means you’re always wheel to wheel.
“It’s such a good place to learn a lot, and it was so important to my career. It’ll be neat to go back.”
Eden’s success at the Speedrome almost led to a developmental deal with NASCAR’s Roush Racing. Her career stalled when sponsorship fell through, and she drove just three times in 2008, all in the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper winged sprint car series.
She’s fired up for this season, though, and plans to tackle everything from the Speedrome’s almost flat, 1/5-mile oval to the high-banked tracks at Salem (Ind.) and Anderson (Ind.). She plans to run as many sprint car races as possible for the team owned by Marv Carman and Wayne Stickney, including the Little 500 at Anderson.
The Wolverine/Rumble midgets will head the May 3 and May 31 programs that open the four-race “Sunday Afternoon Stimulus” events at the Speedrome. The Hoosier Outlaw winged sprints and Wolverine/Rumble midgets will combine for a doubleheader on July 19, and the series wraps up with the HOSS sprints and UMRA TQ midgets on Aug. 30.
Young Dossey to drive Jr. Sprint
Jack Dossey III, whose father, Jack Jr., is a six-time winner of the Speedrome’s World Figure-8 Championship, is among those expected to compete in the Jr. Sprint class at the “Sunday Afternoon Stimulus” events. The younger Dossey, who drives in the Bandelero class at the track, quickly got up to speed in a recent practice session in a Jr. Sprint.
Other support classes for the Sunday series include modifieds, quarter midgets and karts.
Information about ticket prices and entry forms is available at rumbleseries.com, by e-mailing
tbracefest@aol.com or calling (317) 418-3216.
The 600s are invited to test on May 3 at the Speedrome.
Photo: A Kidwell Jr Sprint- With Jack Dossey lll
