Private Race Track For Cars, ATV's

Private Race Track For Cars, ATV's AG WORLD 32-3-24 Racing cars and ATV's is a fun pastime for Dwight Keller of Berthold, N. Dak. But he doesn't go to the local speedway. Instead, he uses a 1/8-mile dirt race track that he carved out of an alfalfa field on his farm. "I built the track about one year ago and we use it a lot. It's a fun place for my 11-year-old grandson and I to race old junker cars and 4-wheelers," says Keller. "There's no start or finish line. We just pull up two cars or ATV's side by side, wait for someone to drop a flag, and go." He used an old 1968 self-propelled Gallion road grader to make the track and he also uses the grader to maintain it, too. The grader is equipped with a Cummins 6-cyl. engine and a 14-ft. moldboard, along with a dozer blade on front. The cars he races are usually old ones that he's able to buy cheap. "All together we have five cars that we race which include a 1995 Geo Metro, a 1993 Ford Escort, an old Honda Accord, and two Nissans," says Keller. "I didn't spend more than $50 for any of the cars. In some cases they were pretty banged up when I bought them. We paint numbers on the cars to give them somewhat of a race car look." Once in a while, he says, a few local people will come up and "enter their car". "I always have them sign a æno liability' form before they race on the track. All drivers have to wear helmets and seat belts, although so far we haven't had any incidents. But mostly it's just a family thing. Because the track is so small it's impossible to go very fast." When Keller first started racing cars, he wrote the mileage down for each car because he was curious to see how many racing miles they'd put on. "One of the cars already has 140 miles on it, which is a lot of racing for a 1/8-mile track," says Keller. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dwight Keller, 12401 198th St. N.W., Berthold, N. Dak. 58718 (ph 701 468-5525).

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