Local drivers tear up the track at Knox County Fair

Written By: Todd Rudolf (Galesburg.com)

Knoxville, IL (August 3rd, 2011) – For most of the local racers, competing at Wednesday’s Knox County Fair stock car races at the Knox County Fairgrounds was the highlight of their season — racing in front of family and friends just miles from their hometowns.

But Galesburg native Dean McGee had a different approach as he stood in his trailer before his open-wheel modified race.

“It’s just another fair race,” McGee said.

It’s an understandable approach. After all, McGee is no stranger to the half-mile course where he has been racing for nearly 40 years.

“I’ve won here a few times in my day,” said McGee with a smile. “I’ve been driving here so long, I was out here when they had weekly races.”

McGee admitted he is probably old enough to be most of his competitors’ father, but still keeps active, driving in roughly two races a week during the summer.

So what keeps him going?

“He never had the good sense to quit,” his father Fibber McGee chimes in.

Fibber is the reason Dean started his racing career back in the 1970s. And apparently Fibber has failed to take his own advice, staying involved in his son’s career after being a drive himself.

Abingdon’s Jimmy Neal has a long way to go before he reaches the experience level of the McGees, and that showed the first time he participated in the modified lite race at the Knox County Fairgrounds.

“I put my car into the wall on turn two,” Neal said. “Now I’m always a little nervous making that turn now. This year, my goal is to keep it one piece.”

Neal accomplished that goal, finishing third in his heat in his third year competing at the fair.

Always a fan of the sport, it wasn’t until three years ago that the 37-year-old got behind the wheel of a stock car. After watching his friend Greg Rossell — who also raced in Wednesday’s event — compete at a local race, Neal was invited to take a few laps in one of the family cars.

“Gene (Greg’s father) let me drive his car one night and I loved it,” said Neal. “I actually bought it from them right after that.”

Galesburg native Tony Daniels got into the sport a little earlier than Neal, but it wasn’t until after he finished up a very busy high school athletic career. While attending Galesburg High School, Daniels was involved in every sport imaginable. A three-sport athlete for the Silver Streaks, Daniels played football, basketball and baseball before he graduated in 1993. Then he found racing. Just a year after graduating, Daniels began his racing career in 1994 driving stock cars, but quickly made the switch to sprint cars in 1996. The reason was simple.

“The speed,” Daniels said. “There is nothing better.”

But back in the 90s Daniels was able to quench that need for speed frequently, competing in over 20 races a year. Now a full-time job and an eighth grade daughter, Lexi, has forced Daniels to cut back on his racing schedule.

“It can be tough,” Daniels said. “It’s a huge time commitment. It’s like having second full-time job. You work at your regular job from 8 to 5 and then you spend another three, four hours on the car.”

Wednesday’s event was just the second race of the season for Daniels, and even though he didn’t have an ideal night — failing to start in the main event — he said racing at the Knox County Fair is always a special event, regardless of the outcome.

“I love racing here,” he said. “It’s great. It’s basically right in your backyard.”

Ben Wagoner of Emden won the sprint race main event, beating out Matt Sutton of Macomb and Ryan Jamison of Burlington, Iowa. Jimmy Davies of Oquawka was the area’s top finisher, taking seventh, while Galesburg driver A.J. Fike won his heat in the open-wheeled modified.

While it wasn’t the finish some of the local racers were hoping for, all involved were happy to be a part of Wednesday’s race.

“When it stops being fun I’ll just walk away,” McGee said. “But I’ll never slow down.”

H7 Racing Team and Dean McGee would like to thank all of their sponsor for the 2011 racing season. These include; Gustaf Engine & Machine, Rheinschmidts Carpet Center, 1st Solutions Pro LLC, Blossoms Flowers, Nelsons Auto Salvage, Lacky & Sons Monuments, Glass Specialty, Roberts Tire Center, Allen Automotive, Bob Harris Race Tech Info of Roland, Iowa, Team GRT, Aftershock Racing Decals, Tri-State Speed Review, Chris Damitz Photography and WaltersWebDesign.com

Additional product sponsors of the team include; R.A. Benson Motorsports, Bassett Wheels, Performance Bodies, Afco Racing Shocks, Oval Craft, Shirts4Dirt.com, BSB Manufacturing, Fast Shafts, DDZ Dirtdigs, DirtHead Wall Graphics and Willy's Carburetor & Dyno Shop.

You can learn more about Dean McGee by logging onto his website at WWW.H7RACINGTEAM.COM