Family’s track draws crowds of racing enthusiasts

By By Jonathan Stinson, Hartselle Enquirer
A couple of weeks ago, while the rest of America was at home watching college football and worrying about how high gas prices would get, there were about 30 or so people who really didn’t care— they were running off methanol.
This Saturday night was a little different for them though, not because another hurricane was blowing in the Gulf, and not because Auburn would only beat Mississippi State by a point. It was different because, for the first time ever, they were going to have a 75-lap tag team race at the track.
The track is Sunset Raceway, located in Bailyton in Cullman County on Highway 69. It has been open to the public for 16 years and been in existence for a little bit longer than that. It is owned by Donnie and Tresha Smith or, to everyone who knows them, Boss and Momma T, along with Trudi Smith Henry.
The Track
According to Momma T, Boss decided to build the track because they owned up to 26 different go-karts and every Sunday everyone would go out and play on the track. She said many of their friends had carts as well, most of them were home made and anything went when they put the motor together. The goal was simply to go fast and have fun.
Then, about 16 years ago, people from Tennessee and other areas, started to show up at the Smith’s track, so they decided to re-group and open the track to the public. At the time the only other go-kart track was in Talladega and gas prices were around $1.12 a gallon until Hurricane Andrew spurred them up to $2.50 a gallon in some places.
Momma T said when they first opened the track they would have about 50 to 80 karts a night.
This season their biggest night had about 80 to 100 karts show up for a money run, with about 30 coming out for an average race.
A money run is a race when the track returns all of the night’s entry fees back to the winning driver in each class. It’s not enough to get rich, but watching the racers on the track you would think the winner won a million dollars.
Even though the numbers have trailed off over the years, Boss, Momma T, Trudy and everyone else, which includes Boss’ and Momma T’s son Jacob and his wife Tracy, their daughter Kaci rae Ray and her husband Buddy Anderson, Boss’ mother, who goes by Tootsie except for when she goes to the doctor, and Chris Ritchey have still opened the track every racing season.
They did take a couple of Saturdays off this year because they had to see Jacob and Kaci rae get married.
The Drivers
Just about anyone can get involved in kart racing and that is evident from the wide variety of racers who come out to the track.
On a normal Saturday night the track will have about 10 classes. The number of classes really only depends on who shows up to race.
The drivers in those classes range from children like Hallie-Kate Smith (no relation to the owners of the track), who is 7 and just started racing in March and since then has already won 24 races, to Jeremy Boyd, who is part of the Boyd Racing Team that runs six or seven carts a night out of the back of a large trailer, to Jon Ohl, who just throws everything he needs in the back of his Ford Ranger.
For the most part all of the drivers seem to get along with one another. It is not uncommon to have competitors working on the same kart trying to fix what ever the problem is and get it running again, because in the end the only thing they really want to do is just race.
Before the racing begins each night there is always a driver meeting. It is usually Boss, Buddy or Jacob who addresses the drivers. It is always short and to the point because by the middle of the season everyone knows all the rules, which are basically if you cause three cautions you get kicked off the track and nobody is out here to make money, they’re here just to have fun.
And for the most part they do. Every now and then someone gets mad because the get run into the wall or they feel the official made a bad call, but usually they always come back next weekend.
All of the drivers agree go kart racing is not the cheapest sport to get into, but to them the price is well worth it.
Jeremy Boyd, who started racing six years ago with his father and brother, said that he thinks he has spent over $20,000 on karts, parts, and accessories over the years. On the other side Ohl said he has probably spent $2,500.
Ohl started racing last year when his friend Bobby Wilkerson got him interested in the sport and it was Wilkerson who sold him his first go kart. By the end of the season last year Ohl had earned enough points to claim 3rd place in the Medium Stock Class where he raced the weight limit.
Each stock class is separated by a weight limit. A driver plus their kart must meet a minimum weight limit for each class. This means that a driver in the Super Heavy class can race in the light stock class, but someone racing light stock can not race super heavy without adding weight.
For the 2008 season Ohl decided to race in the Super Heavy class and for a little more than half the season he was the points’ leader. Also, during 2008 he bought a new kart and won the first race he drove it in.
But because of some struggles on the track and missing a few races it looks like he going to finish in second place behind Jeremy Boyd, who won first place in the Super Heavy and Heavy classes in 2007.
The Race
Many of the drivers had been looking forward to the 75-lap tag team race for a while. None of them were really sure how it was going to work, and honestly track officials did not really know either.
The plan was to have a 75-lap race in 25 lap increments. After each 25 laps the teams would then have to switch drivers and change two tires before they could get back on the track. For the second leg of the race teams would be restarted in the order they finished the first leg. Then the pit stop after the second leg would be timed and the team with the quickest time would start first.
Each team started out by bringing everything they would need to the middle of the track so that all they would have to do when the karts came in to pit was run to the infield.
The teams were able to share drivers.
The winners of the race were Buddy Anderson, who took the night off from being the tech man and drove the 77 kart, which is the same go kart that he won Nationals held in Tunica, Mississippi in 2007, Brandon Garmany, and Houston Black.
The team of Jeremy Boyd, Jesse Boyd, and P.J. Littrell won finished second, while the team of Jon Ohl, Bobby Wilkerson, and Jodi Anderson finished third.
The fourth place team of Jesse Boyd, Tyler Laney and P.J. Littrell actually finished in first place, but was disqualified because they did not meet the minimum weight requirements. They found out about their mistake after Littrell finished his reverse victory lap around the track. According to the team they had mixed up which piece of seat led to use for Littrell. Each team had to change out seat leads so that each driver would meet the weight qualifications.