Writer on Downs Wall

CEDAR RAPIDS - The names and faces may be unfamiliar, the cars may have changed, but the memories were thick for Al Miller during his first race-night visit to Hawkeye Downs Speedway in 35 years.

The former Gazette sportswriter covered Downs and all things racing in his column, “Al Miller on Racing”, from 1963 through 1975. Before last night's feature races, Miller and nine others were inducted into the Hawkeye Downs Wall of Fame.

“I'm really honored,” said Miller, 74. “I took the job just for something to do, and I had a love affair with it. I went out there and I told Gus (Schrader, former sports editor), ‘Hey, I'll go out there every Friday night.'”

Miller's twice-weekly column and stories provided race fans with information on local drivers such as Darrel Dake, Curt Hansen and Ed Sanger. He also wrote about regional and national races, including the famed Indianapolis 500, an assignment he called “my cherry.”

“I had such a quality of drivers. I'd put my drivers up against any in the Midwest,” Miller said. “We'd have special races and we'd have people come from all over the place. That's what was great about it.”

The Flint, Mich., native now lives in Flushing, Mich., where he is involved with the sports halls of fame for several counties.

Miller lettered in football in 1958 and 1959 at Iowa for Coach Forest Evashevski. He played end on offense and defense for the 1958 team, registering two sacks of California quarterback Joe Kapp in Iowa's 38-12 victory in the 1959 Rose Bowl.

“It was so exciting because my parents were there with my two younger brothers, and to have the game I had,” Miller said.

Joining Miller in this Wall of Fame class were late model driver Bill Barthelmes and modified drivers Johns Schlemmer, Keith Siefken, Bill Stepanek, and Walt Hickey. Hickey's wife, Judy, was also inducted as one of the first drivers in the Women on Wheels division of the 1970s.

Also inducted was former Downs chief pit steward Ed Otten, and the late Merle and Evy Gardemann of Shellsburg were the first to join the Wall as fans.

In feature races, Matt Petrzelka (hobby stocks) and Dave McCalla (sportsmen) continued to dominate, and Bettendorf's Tim Goettssch won his first Legends feature. Tim Plummer (modifieds), Griffin McGrath (late models), and Kurt Bohnsack (hornets) each won a second feature this season.