Marion senior Ethan Hogan couldn’t wait to continue ‘family tradition’ of racing

VINTON — The experience was described as “kind of scary… weightless… everything around you just spun.”

Marion High School senior Ethan Hogan was 15 and in his first year of dirt track racing at “The Bullring,” Benton County Speedway, the first time his sport compact racecar endured a rollover crash.

One might think the fright would deter a rookie driver from getting back on the race track.

Hogan, now 17, said he could not wait.

“I wanted to get back in and race that next week,” said Hogan who will close his second season of racing Sunday at Benton County Speedway’s season championships.

Hogan — the youngest driver in the Sport Compact division at BCS — has a clear love of racing that runs deep through his family tree. His great-great-grandfather, Ed Janey — the patriarch of Janey Family Racing — was inducted into the Hawkeye Downs Wall of Fame Aug. 2. The front visor of Ethan’s car contains the decorative phrase, “It’s a Family Tradition” and before he could walk, he was introduced to the sport by attending the weekly races at BCS to cheer on stock car driver Scooter Dulin, a friend of his parents.

“I knew that he was going to be interested,” said Ethan’s father, Josh Hogan. “We would take him with us to the pits when he was old enough to get in. At first he was interested about hanging around the pits and then he was more interested about watching the races. That is when I knew that working on the car wasn't going to be as much for him as racing weekly was. He cared more about going up and watching all the cars race than what was going on behind the scenes.”

At the end of 2022, Ethan Hogan saw that Hawkeye Downs Hornets division driver Beckett Flannagan’s car was for sale.

His mother, Kim Hogan, said no. Josh Hogan told him to ask his mother.

“I've always wanted to race since I was about maybe 10ish,” Ethan Hogan said. “I originally tried to convince my parents at 14, but then they told me, ‘You know, once you turn 18 you can buy it.’”

After some additional wrangling, the grandparents were brought into the discussion.

“We went and picked up the car the next week,” Ethan Hogan said with a laugh.

After finishing 15th in the points standings last year, a variety of improved skills has Hogan ranked ninth entering Sunday’s season championships.

“Obviously your skills are going to improve after your rookie campaign, but I feel like I can move my car around the track more than I used to be able to,” Ethan Hogan said. “I have more comfortability being around other cars than I did last year. I feel like I could just drive the car harder than I used to.”

While Hogan does have an eye on possibly racing in the Sport Mod or Stock Car divisions in the future, his immediate goal involves finishing his second Sport Compact season in a strong way.

“I just want to complete all the laps,” Ethan Hogan said. “And hopefully, if I can do it, pull out a win. I think that would be a great cap to the season. Just finishing the season championship and maybe pulling out a win or top 10.”