3/29/2015
WSS - Wingless Sprint Series
Getting Up To Speed With...Brad Rhodes
Getting Up To Speed With...Brad Rhodes
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Madman Photography)
A little history lesson. The unincorporated city of Aloha was created in January 1912 with the opening of a brand new post office. It is said that the first postmaster of the area, Julius Buck, named the post office after a lakeside resort on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. The name of the resort was called Aloah and the legend goes that while filling out the application the name was misspelled and the letters got jumbled and turned out to be spelled Aloha. Thus the reason why the name of the town is pronounced Alo-wha and not Alo-ha.
Back to the subject at hand. Brad Rhodes was crowned the Northwest Wingless Tour in 2014 becoming the sixth different series champion in it's six year history. After earning the Rookie of the Year title in his first campaign with the NWWT in 2011 Rhodes, originally from Veneta but now residing in Aloha, has quickly became a force to reckon with. He enters 2015 looking to defend his title as well as possible try some winged racing towards the end of the year.
Name: Brad Rhodes
Hometown: Aloha, Oregon
Chassis: Eagle Motorsports
Sponsors: Beaverton Automotive, Pro Tow, Herz Precision Parts
Year Racing: 4
BD: When did you start your racing career?
BR: Well I went to some races out at Sunset (Speedway Park) and I rode in the two-seater Late Model and had a blast. Whoever was driving it actually spun it out on the last lap. I had lived in the area for about four years before I started racing. I really thought racing would float my boat and I can't remember if it was a Oregon Double Shot Series (ODSS) or a Northwest Wingless Tour event but I started watching some Non-Wing Sprint Car racing.
I looked out for a Modified or Late Model but I didn't find one so I looked for a car that I could rent before I bought one. I looked around on the web and found Ron Brown with Competition Motorsports and went down and talked with him about getting into dirt racing. He suggested I get a Sprint Car because they're really fast and easy to work on. At the time he had a lot of different cars like Dwarfs, Midgets, and Sprints.
He invited me to the Big E Weekend at Grays Harbor Raceway and afterwards I was in awe. That's when Theo McCarty was driving for Ron and Chris Peterson was working on his cars.
I eventually found a Sprint Car on flagtoflag.com which was kind of like racingjunk.com is now. There was a guy that ran ODSS with a 1989 Gambler that he was selling so I acquired his car during the 2010-11 offseason. Actually believe it or not the reason I was #04 for a long time was because the guy had a really cool paint job so I kept that for awhile.
BD: So why the #50 these days?
BR: Well that was my number all throughout Middle School and High School doing sports. I played Football, Basketball, and Baseball at Elmira. So it's always been my number and I've ran with it my whole life with exception of that brief time as #04.
BD: Who was your favorite race car driver growing up?
BR: Probably Rick Brown. My good friend Will lived next to Rick so we got to see his snoopy car all the time.
There was also another driver that I liked and that was Joker Crenshaw who owned a gas station down the road from me. He had a Street Stock and ran it at Cottage Grove and Eugene. Both of them were really nice guys in the community.
BD: Biggest highlight so far in your career?
BR: The last race of 2014 at Madras when I got second to Gary Lynch at a ODSS event that was pretty cool. Also getting quick time at Sunset this last year too with the NWWT.
BD: Any big plans for 2015?
BR: Well I got a new Eagle chassis, that was built in 2012, from Jeremiah Hester that he originally got from Mark Herz. But no real big plans besides running the full season with the NWWT. I think the ODSS has a couple of races that don't conflict and I may run some of those. I'd like to throw a wing on it towards the end of the year in September or August of it if financing allows .
The 2015 Northwest Wingless Tour season will commence on Saturday May 9th at Cottage Grove Speedway. Be sure and stay tuned for the latest news and information by logging on to wingless.nwextremeseries.com. Also if you have a Facebook account check out our fan page and "Like" it.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
