2020 Inductees

Al drove sprint cars for 20 years from 1976-1996, traveling all over the United States. He posted two career wins at Fremont and drove his own cars most of the time but did sit behind the wheel for owners like Donny Clapper, Ray Smith (dirt champ car), the DePalma family, Bob Hampshire, Harold Kemenah and the Coats family. All got interested in racing through his friendships with hall of famers George Gillespie and Eric Phillips.

Dave started racing in 1964 in the hobby stock division at Fremont Speedway. He drove sprint cars from 1968-70, driving for Gary Willey and Dick “Soup” Sabo. Dave drove a Buick powered race car and his first sprint win was Fremont Speedway’s mid-season championship night in 1969. Dave scored four feature wins during his career at Fremont Speedway.

Frank, a four time champion of the All Start Circuit of Champions, posted 10 career sprint car wins at Fremont Speedway, seven of them being All Star victories, placing him fourth on the all-time All Star win list at Fremont. In fact, Frank’s last All Star win came at Fremont Speedway during Ohio Sprint Speedweek in 2000 as he would retire from driving the next day. Frank posted 2 career World of Outlaw wins during his career, one of them coming at Fremont. Kerr has been a crew chief in NASCAR for 14 years.

Bob worked on race cars from 1963-1973, with cars he worked on winning many features and championships at Fremont Speedway. Having worked at Century Die with hall of famer Al Franks, Bob developed the racing bug early on. When Neil Keckler decided to build a car for Franks to drive, Bob became a racing mechanic. Bob worked alongside hall of fame mechanic Tom Schemmer on race cars driven by Franks and hall of famers Darl Harrison and Harold McGilton. Bob’s car won the 1969 IMCA championship with Harrison at the wheel. Harrison also drove a Bob Dorr prepared car to one of his three Little 500 victories.

Floyd built cars along side hall of famer Earl Lowe. One of Floyd’s creations was driven by hall of famer Harry Kresser. Floyd started building race cars in 1954 and he even drove some of his creations, mainly on asphalt. Floyd’s favorite creation was a super modified he built in 1965

Innovator is the best word to describe George. A drag racer, hall of famer Rick Ferkel got Gillespie to attend a sprint car race and he was hooked. Gillespie helped innovate better sprint car engines. George also was one of the people responsible for bringing the “drag tire” to Ohio. George soon turned his attention to the suspension of sprint cars. He teamed up Laverne Nance and started designing sprint car chassis. George became very active in the racing shock absorber business, designing shocks and shock dynos. He established ProShocks, which is still around though he sold the business.

Chub -  One of the only ….if not THE only…car owners to bring three race cars to Fremont Speedway every week. Minier owned cars in the 1960s through the 1970s – those being the #R3. #R3sr. and #R3jr. with drivers George Pridemore, Mike Bogart and Jack Minier. The “R” in the numbers came from Red’s Place, a trucking business in Clyde. Minier’s cars were all equipped with Ford power under the hoods.

In high school Chuck’s interest in automotive mechanics began and it turned into a lifelong passion. From his little shop in Tiffin, Ohio Chuck built and owned sprint cars for nearly 20 years. Chuck devoted his work earnings and all his personal time to his race cars. Miller’s #22 sprint cars carried drivers such as Fred Steinhouser and for 16 years (1979-1995) Larry Helms.

Sam and Joyce – The husband and wife owned sprint cars driven by their son, Byron, beginning in 1989. The #5 sprint cars still compete at Fremont Speedway with Byron behind the wheel. The Reeds have recorded 36 feature wins at Fremont and seven sprint car championships – 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Reed family team also scored 3 Fremont Attica Sprint Title (FAST) championships in 2010, 2014 and 2015.

Jerry helped get the word out about the racing at Fremont Speedway, writing a weekly column for the local newspaper called “Around the Oval.” He and his wife kept all the statistics for Fremont Speedway for many years. Jerry even raced a car once.

Christina and her husband Jim “Smiley” Roepke began coming to Fremont Speedway shortly after the track opened in 1951. Jim was the track’s 1956 super modified champion. The Roepke’s little garage in rural Gibsonburg held race cars for many years; not only their own but other driver’s used their shop from time to time. Christina played host to many after-race parties and Sunday morning coffee sessions to discuss the previous night’s racing. When Christina’s brother-in-law Jim Ford reopened Fremont Speedway in 2000, Christina went to work running and organizing the track concession stands. Christina can still be found today working the “Country Kitchen” concession in the track’s pits.

Ted’s support of Fremont Speedway began when he was just 13 years old, riding in the wrecker with his dad to the track. By the time Ted turned 16, he was running the family-owned wrecker weekly at the track. Ted and his father helped build Fremont Speedway, putting the poles in for the track guardrails. Ted helped out on the track’s ambulance crew, drove the track’s pace car and even helped work the pit area for a couple of years. The Foster wrecker from Foster’s Auto Body called Fremont Speedway home for nearly 30 years.