Backyard Adventures

BACKYARD ADVENTURES 2018 PIKE PUBLISHING 1B CONTINUED ON THE PAGE 3 > TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY Every track, Tom Helfrich says, has a personality, and Tri-State Speedway, a family-run track in rural Haubstadt, has a bright, buoyant, clean and organized feeling that inspires people to call it "the Class Track." People may think they've seen racing if they've seen the Indy 500, but the shorter tracks that run weekends around Indiana are impossible to look away from, ac- cording to Tom Helfrich, second generation owner of the track with his wife, Loris. Loris Helfrich agrees about the excitement. "People are afraid to look away, because you feel like something might happen," she said. That something might be flames under an engine or one of the four wheels pulling off the ground as the drivers spray dirt that reaches into the crowd and drift sideways through the corners. The smell of popcorn fills the air, and the announc- er's voice revs the crowd like the rev of the engines. "It's a better experience. Being in a place where there's a crowd invigorates you," she said. "There's not much down time, it's one after another." The lack of down time is something the Speedway has worked hard towards. They start with qualifying heats of 10 laps, and work up to longer feature races, but the races are much shorter than what a person would see at, say, an Indy 500. There's also a lot more variety in the ability and back stories of the drivers. While the World of Out- laws is a race with professional drivers that runs all year, traveling the country, the track mostly has races that run the gamut. A driver that's an elementary school teacher through the week may be a race car driver on week- ends, as a hobby. People get into racing for a variety of reasons, and while some want to move up the ladder and become the next Earnhardt, there's many that only race locally, or just for fun. "You have personalities from A to Z," said Tom. "It gives it such a different feel. Most are working class people. It's different too because the levels people are at are different. When you watch at a NASCAR level, everyone is going to be a professional, and watching them race, they're all pretty close to each other in the way they drive. Here, we don't turn people away, whether they're professional or if this is the only place they race." The family has seen people buy a car as an oppor- tunity without having much mechanical knowledge, then get a mentor and surround themselves with people who teach them the ropes. It opens a new door to something they wouldn't have learned otherwise, Tom said. The cars tend to be built and worked on by the drivers. The race fans like to come to the pit after the races and see their favorites, and learn more about who they are. The children are often sitting in the driver's seat of the car pretending to drive or getting pictures. "Kids like the loose atmosphere," Tom said. "It's not like a movie theater, where you have to be quiet. They can let everything out." With 12 years old and under admittance being free STORY AND PHOTOS BY JANICE BARNIAK TRACK is a class act SMALL- TOWN

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