Tribute has become a family tradition for the Gades

CEDAR RAPIDS – For Brian Gade, what began as a tribute to his father’s era has morphed into a decade-long family endeavor.

The 63-year-old racecar driver and owner of Gade Motor Company in Clarence recalled the visitor to his shop that eventually helped the American Iron Racing Series, or A.I.R.S., come to life.

“It started when a friend of mine popped into my shop one day and was asking me if I had any idea where some of my dad’s old racecars were,” Gade said before the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Friday at Hawkeye Downs Speedway. “Because his dad used to drive them.”

Gade’s father, Del Gade, raced late model modified stock cars in the 1960s alongside friend and teammate John Connolly of Delhi. Both drivers were part of the G&H Racing Team in Clarence. When John Connolly, Jr. inquired decades later about those old racecars, an idea was born.

Brian Gade and Del Gade would build an exact replica of Del’s old 1961 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan.

“We had so much fun,” Brian Gade said. “He and I were talking. We were like, ‘I wonder if there is any way we could bring back these old, cool-looking racecars?’ … We put our heads together and we decided, ‘Well, we need people to join us.’”

Brian Gade put the question to the Facebook community and was immediately met with 30 interested individuals. The group met at Gade’s shop in Clarence, agreed on the rules – most notably, the racecar’s body style had to originate between 1950 and 1979 – and the first A.I.R.S. race was held in May 2016 at Davenport Speedway.

“The rules have changed very little since then,” Gade said.

Now in its 10th year, the series stages approximately 29 events between April and October each year and has appeared in states such as Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. Since Del Gade’s passing in 2020, Maquoketa Speedway has held an annual memorial race in his honor, highlighted by a 44-car field three years ago.

“Dad loved this car,” Gade said of the Ford Fairlane Club Sedan replica. “It became his legacy.”

Friday night at Downs, the Ford Fairlane Club Sedan served as the pace car for the A.I.R.S. race, and Brian Gade competed in a field that included original A.I.R.S. participant Dennis Etten of Wyoming and Gade’s sister, Lisa Miller.

“Her and I grew up with my dad and we learned the ways of racecars,” Gade said.

Gade drove his 1961 Ford Starliner and finished sixth. His 31-year-old daughter, Emily Meyer, drove a 1969 Ford Galaxy and bested her dad by one spot.

“I grew up with it my entire life,” Meyer said. “He let me race Go-Karts up here when I was about my daughter’s age now, five, and I just enjoyed being able to spend time with him and do something we both enjoyed and the competitiveness and going out there and doing something different.”

Miller placed ninth and Etten was second behind winner Wesley Jones of Monmouth, Ill.

Other Downs feature winners included Dallas Kibbe of Ames (Legends), Hiawatha's John Carnahan (Hornets), Tallan Chandler of Norway (Sport Mods) and Cedar Rapids' Hayden Sherman (Hobby Stocks) and Todd Ness (Sportsmans).

The next A.I.R.S. event is June 20 at Cedar County Raceway in Tipton.

“You know what makes me the happiest?” Gade said. “Regardless of the outcome … if there is a good show out here and the crowd likes it, I’ll get a call from (Downs Race Director) Brian Gibson and he’ll say, ‘Woah, man. Thank you, that was great. The fans loved it.’ When I hear that, I’ve won.”

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