The Racing Report is a five-part photo essay shot at short tracks in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania that will run in Farm and Dairy through the summer. The fourth installation finds photojournalist Matthew Chasney at the Sandusky County Fair.
There’s something magical about a sprint car race on a balmy late summer evening at a county fair. On Aug. 24 at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds, home of Fremont Speedway, the smell of frying funnel cake batter mingles with the sharp, sweet aroma of methanol. Fairgoers gaze from atop a Ferris wheel at the pack of snarling sprint cars. Their drivers are vying for a check for $1,500 and a kiss on the lips from a mild-tempered dairy cow named Spade.
The heart of sprint car racing is a belt from Indiana, through northern Ohio and across Pennsylvania. In the early 20-century farmers took the mechanical skills they developed maintaining farm equipment and transferred them to building light, powerful cars that they raced on fairground short tracks (originally built for horse racing) on weekends. Agriculture and sprint car racing have always walked alongside one another and the Fremont Fair Race carries that tradition.
On the menu were 305 sprint cars and school buses. Joining them were 410 sprint car regulars like Bryce Luscious and World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year contender Kasey Jedrzejek on the lower-powered 305 field on a level playing field. For the first time in over a decade, the track hosted school bus racing.
The buses offered glacially slow but intense racing, with Zeth Sabo taking the win.
The sprint car feature saw a dominant performance from Kasey Jedrzejek, which was hampered when he spun after tangling with eventual race winner in turn three with Brian Sebetto. Sebetto, a 305 regular, took his 11th win of the season, and he received the coveted smooch from Spade.
After Sebetto and Spade locked lips in victory lane, Sebetto offered an apology for locking wheels with Jedrzejek.
“First, I want to apologize to Kasey. That is all on me… I hate that happened and he has every right to be mad at me,” Sebetto said.
Sebetto swigged milk from a bottle as he and Spade went their separate ways. The Tilt-A-Whirl spun as the Fremont dust settled back to earth.
