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 second installation sees photojournalist Matthew Chasney riding along with the driver of a push truck driver.
Jeremy Durnwald has run more laps around Fremont and Attica than some race car drivers. “Speedy,” as Durnwald is known, has been a fixture at western Ohio dirt tracks for 31 years. His familiar 1979 Ford Bronco has been helping to push start sprint cars at Fremont and Attica since before some of these drivers were even born. Speedy is easygoing and well-liked among drivers who he greets with a signature fist bump through the window of his Bronco.
Sprint cars are little more than a 900-horsepower motor and a fuel cell bolted onto a lightweight chassis with a driver sitting in between them. This Spartan design doesn’t leave room for a battery, a starter or even neutral gear. As such, sprint cars rely on a fleet of volunteer push truck drivers, like Durnwald to physically push the car up to speed in order to fire up the motor. Without them, sprint car racing wouldn’t exist.
Durnwald is a lifelong sprint car fan. The Fremont native fell in love with the sport thanks to his mom who would take Durnwald and his siblings across the state for Ohio Sprint Speedweek every summer as a family vacation. Durnwald, whose day job is working at Kistler Engines wanted to have a life in racing. He joked, “I’m either gonna race one or push them, whatever I can afford to do. And racing is a little expensive, so here I am.”
On June 5 at Attica Raceway Park, 24 race cars wait to be pushed for the A main race. It’s a scene of highly choreographed chaos with race cars and push trucks (which range from pickup trucks, Jeeps, and side by sides) all sharing real estate on this 1/3 mile Ohio dirt track. Durnwald constantly looks over his shoulder for race cars and other push trucks before diving into the infield “here’s the hard left,” he warns before making the turn.
In the back seat his 10-year-old daughter Mallory enjoys a push pop and offers some advice. “Whenever he makes that turn, I do this,” she leans into the left side of the interior for support. Mallory has been along for the ride since she was a baby. “Had her in the car seat and everything”, he says proudly. For her first race Durnwald and Mallory’s mom planned to go home if she didn’t like it but “she just sat there and cruised with it.” Ever since, this has been a typical summer Friday night for the pair.
Pushing is a labor of love, Durnwald doesn’t get paid for his services. In both time and dollars, upkeep gets costly — U-joints, the air cleaner for the carburetor require frequent attention and the Bronco needs extra maintenance before the start of each season. That’s to say nothing of the ever rising cost of fuel “gas prices will change someday,” he says. “If not, we’ll work with it.”
