Why we race: the fans

Editor's note: this is the third in a three-part series focusing on why people take part in auto racing. Part I was on drivers and Part II was on the owners.

Commitment, maybe more than anything else, is what drives auto racing.

To be the best driver or owner, one must fully commit – like every other sport. But a group that rivals those ultra-competitive drivers and owners are those behind the scenes and in the stands.

The commitment racing fans have to their sport – and make no mistake, it's theirs – literally keeps the sport afloat. With no fans in the stands or watching on television, there's no sport. It takes a special kind of person to spend the time and money to dedicate their life to being a race fan.

You can see them on television in the infields and grandstands, many on campers or grilling out. Often there's no better alternative to spend their free time.

'It's perfect,” said Dan Renfrow, a Dallas Center native who is a staunch Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. 'It's my only vacation. We take it a day at a time, or like Daytona, we're there for 10 days in the infield.

'Here (at Iowa Speedway), it's a 58 minute drive from home. It's great… There's about four or five campers that we're all friends and have the same spot every year. All out meals are community meals and 20 of us sitting around every night, indulging and eating.”

Renfrow brings his motorhome to Iowa Speedway every year, parking in the same spot on the back stretch, as close to the fence as you can get. He said he pays $3,000 for the season for his spot, surrounded by the same people each year, who he calls his neighbors.

He and a varied number of friends take road trips, too. Renfrow and friends Roger and Julie Belgrade did a 3,000 mile racing tour in February 2012, leaving Iowa for North Carolina to see the race shops in the Charlotte area, then on to Daytona for 10 days of Speedweeks and the Daytona 500.

They also go to Michigan and Kansas Speedway for races. They're one group out of thousands of people who make expensive trips to see the sport they love.

'We were gone 16 days, drove 3,000 miles and went through 26 cases of beer,” said Renfrow's friend Roger Belgrade about that 2012 trip. 'We had a blast.

'We went out on the pontoon (on Lake Llyod in the Daytona International Speedway). It's relaxing and fun.”

Racing people come from all walks of life, too.

For every diehard race fan who grew up in a racing family, there's a guy like Iowa Speedway President Jimmy Small, who knew basically nothing about racing before getting a job with NASCAR in 2008 straight out of Notre Dame. He was a baseball and football fan who got dropped into a whole new world.

But, he said, it didn't take long to feel a part of the family. Though it took him a while to break into the NASCAR ranks, once he was on board he was thrown right in. He was even initiated into the family with a prank from high-ranking NASCAR officials.

Racing, at every level, is an inclusive sport. There's very little actual fighting among fans rooting for opposite drivers – trash talk is way different – because there are so many to choose from.

So what the grandstands and campground become is truly a community. Everyone has their driver, but at the end of the day everyone is a race fan.

It's being in that world that endears people like Small so well to the sport and its people. It provides tremendous motivation for track officials and workers to wake up before the sun comes up to get to the track and ensure the fans have a great time.

Once you're in, more often than not you're in for life.

'The decision to go racing…was (initially) a great introduction to sports marketing. … But it became what I wanted to do and anything else wouldn't have satisfied what I wanted to do,” Small said. 'You can see where fans really get emotionally invested.

'What I really love, and I've been saying for a long time and admire so much about our sport is that our fans are so welcoming to everyone that shows up to a racetrack. …Everyone just wants to have a good time. It's for all age levels. It's extreme tailgating, extreme camping. I love parts of our society where everyone gets along, everyone's there to have a good time and there are no bad wishes or no negative energy.”

To be in an administrative role like Small is and track promoters are at small dirt and asphalt tracks around the country requires that love for the sport.

Running the show can be a thankless effort, as obviously it's not all roses and happy times – especially in hard times economically. But this is where we circle back to dedication and commitment to the sport. Seeing it flourish is more important to most people than anything else.

Simmons Promotions Inc. owner Keith Simmons fits that mold. Having been involved in racing his whole life, he built engines at the NASCAR level for Bill Davis Racing (when he fielded a then-Busch Series car for some guy named Jeff Gordon), Sabco Racing (fielded cars for Joe Nemechek) and Richard Childress Racing. He moved back to Iowa when Sabco Racing sold out to Chip Ganassi, and he took over West Liberty Raceway and Farley and Dubuque Speedways.

Running dirt tracks is rarely a profitable venture, but Simmons – and so many more like him – persevere.

'I'm just too stubborn to quit,” Simmmons said. 'We're definitely not making money, and haven't for years, but we're just trying to keep the sport alive. We're just trying to keep some quality racing going.”

Football may be the most popular sport in the country. Baseball may be its past time. And everyone fills out a bracket during March Madness.

But find a more passionate group of fans with more commitment to their sport, and you'll have found something brand new. People who have been in the sport for decades are reminded so often the family atmosphere that surrounds racing all the time, and it reaffirms why we race.

Why does everyone take part in this sport? Because they truly believe it's the best.

'Racing is all about the people,” said Simmons Promotions announcer Jerry Mackey, who's been in racing for 30 years. 'We have a camaraderie in our sport that no other sport has.

'The fact that we're racers – that's what we do. We go out on the race track and race hard. But when it's over with, everyone's a family. We're all friends. We all come together. Because this is what we do and we love being a part of it.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@sourcemedia.net