Spaw, Fleck still getting it done

Finding perspective at the racetrack can often be a challenge.

Racers are most often wired to have a singular focus on winning, with the long term pushed off to the side to think about later. But as racers age and compete into their 50s, a new perspective takes hold.

For some, the swing of emotions can be all the greater, because they can feel time catching up. For others, it becomes more about gratitude for still being able to do something they love. Two veteran racers from Cedar Rapids got to mix those two things over the weekend, getting wins in their respective divisions.

Johnny Spaw, 53, ran two races in one day on Saturday, finishing second in his Stock Car at the Jones County Fair race in Monticello, then loading up and heading to West Liberty Raceway where he edged David Brandies for the win in IMCA Stock Car. He hadn't done two races in one day for many years, but relished it with a big smile in Victory Lane at West Liberty.

'This never gets old,” Spaw said. 'I'll hate it when I can't race anymore, because nights like that make it all worth it.”

Spaw battled with Brandies - who races a chassis Spaw built in his shop on Mount Vernon Road - throughout the second half of the race, trading the lead repeatedly. He had finished second to Darin Duffy earlier in the day, and while he likes and respects both guys he battled for wins with, he didn't want to take home two second place finishes.

But as much as winning, he enjoyed being able to race so close with both Duffy and Brandies like it was still the mid-90s and a so many wins and accolades in various series were still in the offing, not just fond memories.

'(Brandies) knew my lines and I knew his, and we were just playing the game,” Spaw said. 'I have a lot of respect for Darin, we're friends. I was maybe a little faster than him up there, and one time I got into him but I didn't want to take him out to win the race.

'It was really cool (today); it was fun.”

Dudley Fleck, 54, was at Elkhart Lake Raceway Park for an SCCA Club Series race, competing in the Formula Atlantic and Spec Racer Ford classes. In two days of racing and four main events, Fleck came away with a pair of third place finishes in the Spec Racer class and a win on Sunday in the Formula Atlantic class.

The win was his second this season in that class at Elkhart Lake, where he won in June at another Club Series event. He missed his induction into the Hawkeye Downs Speedway Wall of Fame to be up there for the event - something he had committed to do to enable him to qualify for the SCCA National Championships.

'Finally in my old age we got to run these cars and we're having some success. I've raced up there (in Elkhart Lake) in one form or another since the mid-80s. That's kind of my Mecca for racing,” Fleck said. 'Hated to miss the Hawkeye Downs thing; it's great what they do to recognize people who've helped there.

'My dad was one of the early honorees. He's been gone for 10 years now, and it's cool to finally be included in that group with him. We've been involved, in one way or another, for 40 years.”

Make no mistake, though, neither Spaw nor Fleck consider themselves 'old-timers” and aren't slowing down anytime soon.

Spaw has a bunch of IMCA Stock Car races ahead of him the rest of this season and beyond, including his first IMCA Supernationals in Boone later this year. Fleck is contemplating running the SCCA Club Series National Championships at Daytona International Speedway later this year. And both could be in a Late Model at Hawkeye Downs Speedway should they feel like it on any given Friday night.

'Tim Plummer's running my old car, and he's offered it up, so maybe some time in August we'll get out there and run it around a few laps and see,” Fleck said. 'He let me do it last year and I lucked into a win. So who knows, maybe we can do it again this year.”

Their desire hasn't gone anywhere, and they certainly don't feel any negative effects of the years they've lived when they're behind the wheel.

That was best exemplified by Spaw at West Liberty, when asked if the two-race day had him tired.

'Hell no, not at all,” Spaw said through a laugh. 'I'm ready to go again right now. I wish I was getting in one of these dirt Late Models.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com