It’s said that the most loyal, passionate fans in sports are those who follow auto racing.
This week’s Herald survey, the aim of which was to elicit fans’ opinions of the greatest driver ever in Evergreen Speedway’s 50 years of operation, backed that up in spades.
If you’re not a steely-eyed regular at Evergreen, the fans said, off with your head. Superstars, schnuperstars. Big-time national names? Big deal.
Fans made it loud and clear that the guys who scrape together enough funds to go racing on a weekly basis at Evergreen deserved their votes. Some voted early and often. Some voted for as many as 13 different drivers. Some, let’s face it, stuffed the ballot box. Some picked drivers not on the original list of 50 dreamed up by a committee.
To which we say: Here’s to ya, kids.
If they nudged themselves over the line of propriety, it’s only because they care. Racing has a long, storied history of those squeezing out an advantage any way possible, whether it’s on the track or in the shop.
As Robert Duvall drawled in Days of Thunder: Rubbin’s racin’, son.
Besides, Steve Peters, the three-time Extreme Contact Figure Eight champion who picked up 16 of the 66 votes cast, isn’t a bad choice. Not bad at all.
The guy’s out there every night, often in multiple classes. The guy can win driving anything from a Corvette to a bulldozer. Who’s to say he’s not the best who ever crawled into a firesuit at Evergreen?
Figure-eight drivers were well represented. Two-time champion Doug Delfel has a fan club out there that poured in seven votes. Three-time champion Steve Cox grabbed a pair of votes.
The fans sent a message of support for the drivers who are overlooked by the mainstream. Besides the figure-eight drivers, three-time bombers champion Dave Lund, who wasn’t even on the list of 50, picked up two votes. Duane Schosboek, who won 11, yes 11 Western Washington Racing Association titles, got two votes.
Guy Daggett, 1996 bombers champ, another not on the original list of 50, got two votes. Billy Zimmerman Jr., who won foreign stocks titles from 1974 to 1977 and again in 1980, got a vote.
So you don’t have to be in the hyped-up super stocks class to gain a following.
The list even encouraged some all-important intra-family communication.
Five fans voted for seven-time track champion Carl Zaretzke. Son John Zaretzke, 1996 super stocks champion, managed just two votes.
What would you give to be a fly on the wall around dinnertime at Casa Zaretzke?
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
