Fremont Speedway postpones first race date to accommodate Attica schedule change
Fremont Speedway is forced to postpone this season's opening race, originally scheduled for Saturday, because Attica Raceway Park moved its spring nationals to the same date.
Speedway traditionally opens racing season in the middle of April, but cooperates with Attica depending on Easter weekend. Attica traditionally holds its Spring Nationals on Easter weekend.
“We try to work with other tracks so that the race teams and fans are the winners and we hope other tracks will be willing to work with us," Speedway Committee Chairman Ryan Schiets said. "This year Easter weekend was scheduled for April 7-9, so we wanted to get back to our traditional mid-April opener.
"Attica has decided, due to weather, to move their scheduled race. We looked at options including running on April 16, but it just wasn’t economically feasible."
Speedway's first races are now April 22 for Johnny Auxter Opening Night on Pub 400/Fort Ball Pizza Palace Night, featuring the All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series presented by the Baumann Auto Group. It pays $4,000 to win, the NAPA of Bryan ASFCS 305 Sprints pays $1,000.
Speedway will also be home to the Rick Ferkel Classic, honoring the national sprint car hall of fame member and one of the original Outlaws. The Rick Ferkel Classic is June 10, as part of the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Fremont.
Ferkel, 84, who began his racing career in 1965, is also enshrined in Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame. He lived in Findlay and Tiffin most of his life, recording nearly 400 sprint car wins during his driving career.
Known for traveling wherever in the country there was a big money show, he became known as the Ohio Traveler and was always a fan favorite because of his friendly demeanor.
Ferkel’s iconic No. 0 came about after not making much money during his first year of racing. Speedway hosting the Rick Ferkel Classic is appropriate, as the Ohio Traveler scored his first ever sprint car feature win at Fremont.
It’s also fitting the Rick Ferkel Classic is held during an All Star sanctioned race as Ferkel was one of the first “All Stars” competing across the country in 1973 and later became an All Star official.
A former sprint car driver, owner and race promoter, Shane Helms came up with the idea to honor Ferkel in 2018, promoting the race at Ohio’s Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe. He later moved the event to Waynesfield Motorsports Park near Lima, Ohio.
When Helms stepped away from Waynesfield after the 2022 season, he knew he wanted to continue to honor one of his childhood heroes.
“Rick is an icon not only in Ohio and the region, but across the country," Helms said. "I always felt there are people in this sport that need to be continually recognized and honored. This sport wouldn’t be what it is today without people like Rick Ferkel.
"I knew Fremont Speedway was the logical place to continue the Rick Ferkel Classic."
It's here to stay.
“We are honored to host an event that pays tribute to such a legend in sprint car racing," Schiets said. "We hope the younger drivers and fans can learn to understand what Rick Ferkel means to not only Fremont Speedway, but sprint car racing as a whole."
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sprint car race legend Rick Ferkel remembered, kept alive at Fremont
