Kenny Conversations: Dirt Racing Hall of Famer & Track Owner Kevin Gundaker

Summary

Kenny Conversations: Dirt Racing Hall of Famer & Track Owner Kevin Gundaker

Podcast: Herm & Schrader
Hosts: Herm Wallace & Ken Schrader
Episode: Kenny Conversations: Dirt Racing Hall of Famer & Track Owner Kevin Gundaker
Release Date: December 19, 2024

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Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of Herm & Schrader, hosted by Herm Wallace and Ken Schrader, the duo sits down with Kevin Gundaker, a legendary figure in dirt racing and the proud owner of Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois. The conversation delves deep into Kevin's illustrious racing career, his family's real estate legacy in St. Louis, personal trials, and the revival of a beloved local racetrack. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of their engaging dialogue, highlighting key moments, insightful anecdotes, and inspirational takeaways.

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Gundaker Family Legacy and Real Estate Empire

[01:02] Herm:
Herm opens the conversation by acknowledging the long-standing relationship between the Wallace and Gundaker families. He emphasizes the Gundaker family's prominence in the St. Louis area through their real estate business, "Gundaker Realtors," which served as a community staple with billboards adorning local highways.

[03:36] Kevin Gundaker:
Kevin shares the origins of the family business, founded by his father and mother in 1968 after leaving John H. Armbruster. The company rapidly expanded, capturing 62% of the St. Louis market with over 30 offices and 3,600 employees by the time his mother passed away in 2001. Subsequently, his father sold the residential division to Coldwell Banker but retained ownership of "Gundaker Commercial," exemplifying relentless entrepreneurial spirit even at 90 years old.

Notable Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [04:03]:
"He's like the Energizer Bunny, that man. He doesn't know how to stop."

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Early Beginnings in Racing

[08:16] Kevin Gundaker:
Kevin reminisces about his childhood passion for racing, ignited at the age of five or six when he started racing go-karts with the support of his grandfather, a former midget racer at the old Wall Stadium in St. Louis.

[09:21] Herm:
Herm highlights Kevin’s upbringing around a garage, shaping him into a "grease monkey" and gearhead, a foundation that would later translate into his hands-on approach in building race cars.

Notable Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [10:21]:
"And that's how we first started racing."

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Racing Career and Achievements

[11:56] Kevin Gundaker:
Kevin recounts his transition from a fan to a formidable competitor, influenced by friendships forged at tracks like Granite City and connections with racing legends such as Sandy Anderson and Mel Campbell.

[16:23] Kevin Gundaker:
He expresses a deep fascination with champ cars and silver crown cars, describing the "magic mile" ambiance of tracks like Bossertown Speedway and the unparalleled thrill of winning there.

[30:11] Kevin Gundaker:
Discussing his memorable victories, Kevin mentions winning significant races at East Bay, particularly in 1982, which solidified his status in the dirt racing community and earned him a place in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2011.

Notable Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [33:00]:
"If you've got a JW Hunt strawberry decal, you did something. Because he did it on friendship as well."

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The Turning Point: Motorcycle Accident and Recovery

[21:20] Kevin Gundaker:
Kevin shares a life-altering experience from 2002 when a motorcycle accident nearly cost him his life. The accident resulted in severe injuries, including a broken ankle, ribs, and a hole in his liver, necessitating a 30-day hospital stay.

[27:43] Herm:
Herm draws parallels between Kevin's experience and those of other racers who have faced critical moments, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and addressing personal health struggles.

Notable Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [22:45]:
"It was a very eye-opening experience about family and about the things that."

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Revival of Tri City Speedway

[46:44] Kevin Gundaker:
Discussing the acquisition of Tri City Speedway in 2005, Kevin reveals it was never just a business move but a heartfelt decision to preserve a racing home that held significant personal value.

[48:54] Kevin Gundaker:
He describes the moment of acquiring the track after a conversation with Bobby Winnie, culminating in the Gundaker family taking ownership and transforming Tri City Speedway into a premier racing facility.

[50:27] Herm:
Herm praises the Gundaker family's contribution to local racing, noting that Tri City Speedway and Ken Schrader's I55 have been pivotal in sustaining St. Louis auto racing traditions.

Notable Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [71:25]:
"It's a way of life, isn't it?"

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Future Plans and Inspiration

[55:27] Kevin Gundaker:
Having recovered from hip surgery in June, Kevin expresses renewed enthusiasm to return to racing. His swift recovery allowed him to be back at the race shop within hours of surgery, showcasing his unwavering dedication.

[62:12] Herm:
Herm shares his admiration for Kevin's resilience and announces plans for future races, encouraging listeners to support the revitalized Tri City Speedway.

[70:17] Herm:
As the conversation wraps up, Herm underscores the significance of the Gundaker family's role in preserving and nurturing local dirt racing, attributing much of the community's racing success to their efforts.

Notable Quote:
Herm [66:05]:
"When we want to race, race."

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Conclusion

The episode concludes on a high note, celebrating Kevin Gundaker's enduring legacy in dirt racing and his pivotal role in sustaining Tri City Speedway. Herm and Ken express profound gratitude for Kevin's contributions, highlighting his passion and commitment as the driving forces behind the resurgence of a cherished local racing haven. The conversation serves not only as a tribute to Kevin's achievements but also as an inspiration for racing enthusiasts to persevere through challenges and remain passionate about the sport.

Final Quote:
Kevin Gundaker [71:56]:
"It's been a hell of a run together."

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Key Takeaways

• Family Legacy: The Gundaker family's real estate success in St. Louis laid the foundation for their influential role in the local racing scene.

• Passion for Racing: Kevin's lifelong dedication to dirt racing, from his childhood beginnings to his Hall of Fame accolades, underscores the importance of passion in achieving excellence.

• Resilience: Overcoming a near-fatal motorcycle accident, Kevin's story is a testament to resilience and the power of family support.

• Community Impact: Through the revival of Tri City Speedway, the Gundaker family has significantly contributed to sustaining and nurturing the local dirt racing community.

• Inspiration: Kevin Gundaker's journey inspires others in the racing community to pursue their passions, persevere through adversity, and value the camaraderie that comes with the sport.

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Notable Quotes Summary:

1. Kevin Gundaker [04:03]:
   "He's like the Energizer Bunny, that man. He doesn't know how to stop."

2. Kevin Gundaker [10:21]:
   "And that's how we first started racing."

3. Kevin Gundaker [16:23]:
   "If you've got a JW Hunt strawberry decal, you did something. Because he did it on friendship as well."

4. Kevin Gundaker [22:45]:
   "It was a very eye-opening experience about family and about the things that."

5. Kevin Gundaker [33:00]:
   "If you've got a JW Hunt strawberry decal, you did something. Because he did it on friendship as well."

6. Kevin Gundaker [71:25]:
   "It's a way of life, isn't it?"

7. Kevin Gundaker [71:56]:
   "It's been a hell of a run together."

8. Herm [66:05]:
   "When we want to race, race."

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This episode of Herm & Schrader not only celebrates Kevin Gundaker's remarkable contributions to dirt racing but also highlights the enduring bonds of family and community that drive the sport forward. Through candid conversations and shared memories, listeners gain a profound appreciation for the dedication and passion that fuel legends like Kevin Gundaker.

Transcript

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[Herm]

Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny conversation brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to JEGS.com for everything you need to fix your hot rods up and they are telling me they got jeep parts and truck parts in stock. Well, there he is, ladies and gentlemen, one of the great dirt racers of all time, Kevin Gundaker. Kevin, how are you doing?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Doing great, Herm. Glad to be here.

[Herm]

Yeah. You know your family and the Wallace family, the Gundakers and Wallaces, we have known each other. I mean I've known you since probably I've been about 8, 9 years old. You and my big brother Rusty Wallace, my brother Mike, we raced together in the early days. So I just want to make sure everybody understood that. Man. When I come over to your and Tammy's track, Tri City Speedway, I feel like I'm at home and just want everybody to know that I love you. Kevin, I've known you forever and it's. It's an honor to finally talk to you and celebrate your career. Let's start like that.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, you know it start is 72 is when that you were just a little back then.

[Herm]

I was born in 63 so I was 11. Yeah. So I was about right. I was off a little bit.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. So no, it's all good. Yeah, we met over at Tri city speedway and man, 50 something year history. You know, with us, I mean it. It is family.

[Herm]

You know, let's. What I want to do is I want to Celebrate the Gundaker family. First, I want to give everybody a little history and then I want you to straighten me out if I'm wrong. But you and your family, the Gun Dakers, unbelievably legendary in the St. Louis area. You've been racing over 50 years now. You got the kids coming along, you and Tammy, your wife. But let's even go before that. When I was a kid I'd go around these highways and I'd see these big billboards. Gundaker Realtors. Gundaker Better Homes and Gardens. Tell me just a little bit about your family and, and the Gundaker Realtors that really put that name on the map in the St. Louis area.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, it started with my dad. He worked for John H. Armbruster in the old Overland days. And he decided to go out on his own in 1968. Him and my mom opened the real estate company. Built a. An empire, so to speak. And in 2001 my mom passed away.

[Herm]

Sorry.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Miss her every day. And my dad decided at that time since her, my mom had built this business and it was time to sell the residential business. And at that time he had 62% of the market share in St. Louis.

[Herm]

I believe it, I really do. Yes.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He had 30 some odd offices, 3, 600 employees. A big business. And he sold to Coldwell Banker and agreed to stay on for several years. And he did. But after couple years he. It became a. A business instead of a family owned business, became corporate and he decided to get out. But he's still today has Gundaker commercial and he's 90 years old. He's like the Energizer Bunny, that man. He doesn't know stop. And you can bet you could call over there at that office right now and he's at Gundaker commercial. No, I took it back. He's on his way back from. We went to Branson over the weekend and he took yesterday. He's probably on the way back today. Him and Jan stayed there along with my sister Beth and got to spend the day there. And so I'm sure he's on his way back. But yeah, he's definitely a one heck of a businessman.

[Herm]

It is always.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He's one heck of a role model too. Trust me.

[Herm]

And, and I see that. Kevin, I want to talk about this. Your son Gordy and Trevor, they're really, they are really proud to post those pictures every year during the holidays when all the gun takers get together. And I really like looking at those pictures because I had one of your sisters, sell one of my villas. Tell me about the big. The big get together. I mean, it appears to me that you all enjoy getting together.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, it's always been about family. You know, we get together at Thanksgiving. We just got together at my sister Dana's house and all 60 something of us were there. It was amazing. And same way this weekend. It was about family. Our family's very close in a lot of ways. And my dad loves Christmas. You know, he really enjoys the Christmas spirit. He enjoys the family being there. He's just. He's just, I guess you want to say, a big kid at heart at 90. Yeah. And loves. Loves to have family at home.

[Herm]

I'm gonna have fun with his statement. I don't know if it's true or not, but it. It appears to me whenever I talk to Tammy or Gordy. Trevor, you know, not so much Trevor, but Gordy. Does, does your dad. Does Gordon say, okay, I want everybody to get their realtor license, Kind of like a badge of honor. Who does? Who doesn't have their realtor license, even if they're not selling stuff? Does any. I don't.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He doesn't, you know, want us to. I mean, sure, I guess he wants us to have it, but he doesn't say, listen, you're going to go out and get your license, you know.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He gives you guidance.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And he doesn't tell you you have to or that don't have to do whatever. He suggests things and then he lets you run your path. He's always been that way.

[Herm]

Okay, so we've established, you know, the Gundaker family out of St. Louis realtor company. Your dad, I know for a fact, loves you beyond belief because you all started this journey together. Later on, you meet Tammy. But let's, let's talk about this journey in racing. Take your brain. Let's go back to 72. You and my big brother Rusty, my middle brother Mike. When did you decide you wanted to be a race car driver? When? What moment was that?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, that goes back to when I was five or six years old.

[Herm]

Oh, I'll be darn.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. I drug an old yard card home and my grandfather lived with us. Oh, I drugged this old yard card home that I got from a neighbor a couple blocks down the street. He goes, my grandfather goes, what are you gonna do with that? I said, I'm gonna race it. And most people don't realize my grandfather used to race at the old wall stadium.

[Herm]

Well, there we go. There. That's what I wanted to hear.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He ran a midget down at the old Wall stadium in downtown St. Louis in the 30s, I'll be darn. Yeah. So anyway, so he helps me get this go kart going. And, you know, I terrorized the neighborhood with it. I had a lot of fun on it. I come had a garage in Paigdale. Had it for, oh, my gosh, 60 years. And I walk in there one day and. And I grew up around the garage. Kind of a grease monkey, so to speak, or gearhead.

[Herm]

All of us were grease monkeys.

[Kevin Gundaker]

That's when they had grease monkeys.

[Herm]

Oh, yeah, they.

[Kevin Gundaker]

They don't. They have technicians. But anyways, and I walked in there, and Harvey Coffey, a friend of my grandfather's, used to race go karts out at Bossertown Speedway.

[Herm]

I remember that place up in St. Charles.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Today it's a rental track now. We were out there a couple weeks ago, matter of fact. But anyways, so they had this margay go kart sitting there when I walked in, and I'm like, holy cow. And he looked at me and goes, this is what we're gonna race. I was like, oh, this is, like, great, you know? And gramps had a 63 Buick at the time, and he'd take the back seat out, and he put our parts in there toolbox, and we put the go kart in the trunk, and we go to Bossertown or we go to Quincy or we go to wherever. And that's how we first started racing.

[Herm]

Man, that is fantastic. Okay, so that was really interesting because I never. It's not like I thought about it a lot, but I'm like, how did Kevin get racing? Because his dad seems to like it, too. Gordon. But I. I want to jump ahead. I want to introduce you a little bit into the world of racing. You are a great, great race car driver. And sometimes I want to stop Gordy and Trevor and go, look at me. Look at me. Do you realize how good your dad is? You know, kind of like a Bob Pierce. You know, I put you and Bob in that same category. But Kevin Gundaker, the man you're looking at Right now, everyone. 2011 National Dirt Late Model hall of Fame. And let me tell you something, everybody, you don't get. You just don't get into the dirt late. My hall of Fame, Kevin. And I'm gonna vouch for him. I watched Kevin Bennett, or the man you're looking at right now, I watched him build every inch of square tubing of his race cars. Him and my big brother, Rusty. You guys built Your own trailers. You built your own race cars. You built them from the ground up. Kevin, you've won hundreds of dirt super late model races. You were, you know, you were the Ricky Thornton, you were the Bobby Pierce back in your day. Let's start like that. What do you remember about really getting good? And I remember you around here, but then I went to North Carolina and then here you become this world famous racer. Tell me about this. Starting to win everything.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, Hermit back in. I, I became a fan first, a couple buddies of mine from the Go kart track, we used to go to Granite City on Friday nights and we knew, it was kind of funny, but we knew we had to be going across that 270 bridge by 6:00 or we're gonna miss.

[Herm]

Yep.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And it was so funny that I'd pick up John and I pick up Sean and had an old 65 Buick and we'd be hightailing it over there and became friends with Sandy Anderson, oh, and Mel Campbell, which at the time they owned Webb Spaldy's car Legend 444. 444, that's correct. And kind of small world, but at, at one point in time, Mel and I used to ride some motorcycles together, you know, dirt bikes. I got to know them a little bit. And then at that point they decided they were going to sell that car, gonna build a new car. And I said, well, what are you gonna do with the old one? They said, well, we're gonna, we're gonna get rid of it. I said, I'll buy it. So I bought that car. And little did I know, Webb was kind of my hero back then in a sense. You know, he kind of took me under his wing and, and really kind of guided me, I guess you want to say.

[Herm]

Webb Spalding was great. He could run sprint cars, anything, the.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Super modifieds, late models, you know, if it had, in a sense in the day, if he could. If it had a break and a brake pedal on the steering wheel, he could drive it.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And Webb was. I was fortunate enough that Webb kind of took him, like I say, took me under his wing and, and guided me in a lot of respects. He never got on me, but he'd always say, boy, I don't know that I do that.

[Herm]

You know, he was always polite, wasn't he?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, he was great guy.

[Herm]

So spoken.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yes. And, and I really, really appreciate the guidance as well as the friendship. We became very good friends and you know, matter of fact, even right after that, he even drove that car a Few times we. We went to the mile. The first year I bought it, he drove the car, ran good up there. And of course, he'd been in it who knows how many times, you know, before that. But yeah, funny story about that car. We were racing go karts at Bossier Town Speedway, you know, before I ever started racing late models. And I broke a spindle on my go kart. And somebody said, well, there's a welding shop right down the street, like. So I loaded up a spindle and I ran down there. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a place called Kids USA. And Sandy Anderson was building the 444 car that I bought. It wasn't completely. Yet they were. They had a fuel funny car in there. Jerry Bickle had a pro stock car in there. Curtis Watson had his. Had his fuel funny car back in there. And I never realized at the time here I'm getting. I'm looking at the car that I bought before it was ever finished.

[Herm]

I'll be darn.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And several years later end up buying that car.

[Herm]

I want to. I listen, you know, as much as I talk, I do listen. And I want to touch on something that I. It seems to be a St. Louis institution also, this decoy mile, the Decoyne fairgrounds. It seems to be an institution with some of you, like. Like a religion. You have Kenny Schrader that goes there every year. Yep. The. The, you know, Gordon Steffens, you know, then you got Kyle, his son. Yep. What. And I mean this very politely, and I'm bragging on you all. What is it about the mile? Especially those St. Char, that St. Charles group. You're north of us. You all make that pilgrimage. Pilgrimage every year there. What started that infatuation? The love with the mile?

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, I. I don't know why this is, but I have a fascination with the champ cars or the silver crown cars.

[Herm]

Got it.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And I love to watch those cars on a mile.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

First time I went to the mile and race was Springfield. I loved it. I went to the Sedalia mile. I loved it. And then when they. When you had a chance to go to the coin mile with the mods, that. That was before the late models ran there. There was something about when you walked in there. They call it the magic mile.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And there's this aura that when you get there that you known Andretti foight. All of them run there. And there's just something about that that sticks in the back of your mind. And. And it's not about the money there. It's about winning there. And, you know, when we won there and the modified and we won there a couple times, and it was like, like a feeling you'd want, you know, accomplished. You climb that hill like walking into.

[Herm]

Churchill Downs, you know, you're right. Yeah. It's just this, this historic aura. It's like, oh, my God, this place is legendary.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Was like the first time I ever walked in Daytona.

[Herm]

Yeah, right.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Same thing. You know, there's something about like, you look around, you're like, wow, you're here. You know, and you have that feeling. You had that feeling the first time you went to Daytona, I'm sure.

[Herm]

Oh, yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, and it's, it's something that, that you can't scrub off. It's something about just going there every year. And like I said, I love the champ cars and there's. In my book, there's nothing sexier than a champ car on the mile. And, you know, it's the first coin race that they had at night.

[Herm]

The lights.

[Kevin Gundaker]

The light, yeah. Of all the things, I gotten hurt on the motorcycle. That was 2002 and I was not able to run that race. But I put Jim Sharrick in my car because I would. I knew when I was laying in that hospital, I was going to decline. Mile, first time under lights, I was going. And I had this thing in my mind that I was gonna make it there and race there, and I didn't. But I put Jim in the car and we had a great night. We got. I, I sat on the lift gate in my wheelchair. But you looked around and it was the magic at night, you know, I mean, it was just unbelievable.

[Herm]

I, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and when I would come up for air, you know, because I was so focused on my career and you just brought it up. I, I have my notes on you right here. I put a lot of work, I put a lot of work into this, Kevin, because I love you, admire you. And I wasn't gonna go there, I wasn't going to talk to you about it, but you brought it up. In life we have things called turning points. It means something happened in that life and, and yours was this horrible motorcycle accident and you just brought it up. Tell me about this life changing event.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, you know, I would. Doing great. I mean, the, our racing program was good. Life was good. Things are rolling along really good. And I've had motorcycles off and on all my life. You know, race some motocross, did it in a crazy thing. Alan Cape from Flying a motorsports. He called me up, and Alan and I are really good friends. He called me up and he says, hey, he says, my buddy out in Columbia is selling his Harley Davidson store. Would you be interested in buying a bike? He says he's selling off some of the inventory. We can buy these things pretty, right? I said, yeah. And it's not that I was shopping for one, but it just so happened to be. I guess in the back of my mind, I was in the market for one.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I bought two. I bought myself one and bought Tam one. Yeah. And the things that. We bought them in December, and they sat there till April, and we'd had a kind of rainy wet season. And we were at the shop one day and lunch came around, and I said, come on, let's ride that bike up. We'll go eat lunch. She goes, no, I'm in charts. I'm not going up. Okay. So it sat there till that evening and sun's out, and I'm like, I was just itching to ride this new motorcycle, so I had to go up and buy a. We've just bought a basketball hoop for. For Gordy. And a couple bolts were missing. Well, anybody else would have walked over to the bullpen, put two regular bolts. Well, this had carriage bolts in it.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

So I went to the hardware store to buy two carriage bolts, and I rode the bike. The hardware store was only a mile, mile and a half up the road from the race shop. And I got up there, got my bolts and got back on. Was coming back, and darn if a younger kid pulled out of a Walgreens and made a wrong turn and hit me head on.

[Herm]

Oh.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And most people don't realize how bad the accident was. I know you. You're well aware of it. But I got this. I actually died on the way to the hospital. And they. And I do remember Tam had just bought me a new Harley Davidson shirt. I had Harley Davidson shirt on. And the gal in the back of the ambulance started cutting this thing off, and I freaked out.

[Herm]

I knew.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Harley Davidson shirt off.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, some of the things that happened during that time. Well, I woke up off and on. You know, I had got to the hospital, and I had a reaction to painkillers they gave me. And I remember a doctor saying, why would you give him that? You know? And it made me extremely sick. And then I remember my dad showing up. Well, my dad was in Florida at the time, and I knew that. And I woke up and I'm like, what are you doing here? And he goes, I came to help you. And he said, what are you talking about?

[Herm]

Oh, my God. You didn't know?

[Kevin Gundaker]

No, I didn't know how bad I was because they had me on all this medication. He goes, you're in pretty bad shape. I said, no, I'm fine. You going back to Florida? He goes, no. He goes. And I'm lucky he stayed because I had some issues. I went through a lot of surgery on my leg. You know, my ankle was broke, I had ribs broke. I had a. Didn't realize it, but the next day my dad goes, you're going to Barnes because there's something going on that we. They can't handle here.

[Herm]

Barnes is the best hospital almost in America.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah, go ahead. And he knew some doctors down there very well. And so they immediately rushed me to Barnes where I had a hole in my liver.

[Herm]

Oh my.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And I bloated, looked like I was nine months pregnant. So I got to spend 30 days in the hospital down there. And it was an eye opening experience because you start thinking about a lot of things, you know, and I believe this as yourself. We're race car drivers and it'll never happen to us. In a lot of ways, you know, you don't think about the dangers. You see it, but you don't think about it. And I got to thinking about life and different things and. And we've had this conversation, you and I. Yeah. And when I got out of the hospital, well, it's funny because they moved me from Barnes to a rehab center at St. John's and you spoke with Kyle Steffens. Well, Kyle and Jim Sherrick used to go by on Saturday on the way to Peebley. My, my room faced the highway and you could see him go by because they call me and go, hey, we're going. You want me to stop and get you? Yeah. I went out of this place, you know, I want to get going again. And it was a very eye openening time, eye openening experience and about family and about the things that. Not to say. You gave up racing. Yeah. But when you're a dedicated racer, you do miss out on a lot of things that your friends are doing, you know, and I, I firmly believe that. And. And to this day, you know, it's amazing because the whole time I was in the hospital, Tam never left my side. And we have never really discussed that, but it was amazing. Like even like Gordy, he walk up to the side of the bed and he'd look at me and go, daddy, are you gonna be okay? And I'm like, I couldn't answer that question. Yeah, maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I don't know. It was in God's hands, you know, but it was just a very eye opening experience. And when I got out, I got out a day after my birthday in May and had to spend this whole time in there. And then I was still in a wheelchair, like I said it in August. And finally the only thing in my mind was getting back behind that wheel, getting back behind that wheel like so. It was driving me crazy. But I never raced again until February of the next year. And Volusia was the first place I raced fast. But it, it, it, I looked at everything in a different light. You know, it was a more calm situation that things do happen, things can happen that you have no control over. And they brick kind of through, you know, flew through the window at that point that maybe I was going to take some time and do some other things with family. That's when Gloria kind of started racing quarter midgets and stuff. So we got to spend a lot more time together. And you know, at darn Motorcycle, they fixed it and it sat in my garage for almost two years.

[Herm]

My God.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And I wrote it down to the end of the street a few times and I sold it because I'm, I just wasn't ready to go through that again.

[Herm]

You don't want those memories laying around. You don't want to try to punch through and bring it all. I totally understand that.

[Indiana Jones]

Okay, now AT T Mobile get four 5G phones on us and four lines for 25 a line per month when you switch with eligible trade ins, all on America's largest 5G network.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Minimum of 4 lines for 25 per line per month with autopilot discount using debit or bank account. $5 more per line without auto pay plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge phones via 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due bill credits and if you pay off devices early ct mobile.com hey, that was.

[Herm]

What I call a turning point in your life. And you said everything that I wanted to ask you, it changed you. You slowed down a little bit, you know. You know there's a, there's an old saying, Kevin Harry Gantt would say it, the great race car driver, he'd say smell the roses. Because what that means, we would always walk by those pretty flowers every once in a while, just smell the roses. You Know. My God, that means slow down, but when we're young. How old were you, Kevin, when that wreck happened?

[Kevin Gundaker]

I don't know. It was 2002.

[Herm]

Yeah. Also. Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I would have been 30s. Well, I would. No, I would have been 50.

[Herm]

Wow.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

And you're 70 now. 70 something, right?

[Kevin Gundaker]

I'm 70.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

It was 20. 22 years ago.

[Herm]

Yeah. Okay, look, let's. Let's totally change the whole conversation right now. Let's. Let's totally change the whole conversation. Let's go back to where I wanted to lead you. And you. You have given me everything in chronological order.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. You've led me astray before.

[Herm]

Yep. Yep. I think I'm talking to Schrader right now. Okay, listen. When I called you and I said I wanted you on Kenny conversation, it's because I know how great you are. Now I want you to stay focused on this. I want to celebrate how great you are. You. You built these race cars yourself. And you built your truck and trailer yourself. Kevin. I brag on you all the time. I say I've watched you take our pair of red tin snips. And you know where I'm going with this? I've watched you take 065, which is a thickness everybody of a. Our tubing. Round. Tubing. And Kevin would just take. He hit your hands. Let me see your hands. Show me your. Look at this fingers. Everybody, look at his fingers. Those hands right there. Have built so many race cars. But I've watched Kevin tubing notch with a pair of red snips. I want to go back to your glory days as you winning everything. Let me just say this. You were one of the greats. What? Right. What races at the top of your mind. What are a couple of them that you remember. Damn. That was a big win.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You don't. Herm. I don't know that.

[Herm]

Like I said, in those days, we did. We didn't have crown jewels back then, Kevin.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Right.

[Herm]

What were the ones? You know.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know to say that? There's one that really sticks out in my mind. I don't know. God, I had some great races with your brother Mike. I've had a lot of great races that weren't big races, but that were really heartfelt races.

[Herm]

What about East Bay?

[Kevin Gundaker]

I loved East Bay.

[Herm]

Tell me about East Bay.

[Kevin Gundaker]

First time we went to East Bay, they used to run Twin Features.

[Herm]

Okay.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Line you up. You know, Larry Moore started up front.

[Herm]

What a name.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep. Buck Simmons. Bunch of them.

[Herm]

Wow.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, And. And we wiggled our way through there and we won that first 50 lapper.

[Herm]

That's big, Kevin. That's big.

[Kevin Gundaker]

But now what they do, they invert the field, and you run a second 50 lapper a half hour later.

[Herm]

Oh, wow.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah, that's. That's the way. And this was in. This was in 82, and, man, we come through there, like. And Larry Moore was leading again, and we passed him, and we won the second one, and it was like, you know, that's when I met Mr. Hunt. J.B. hunt.

[Herm]

Wow.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And, oh, what a great guy.

[Herm]

J.W. hunt. This. I want to stop you for a minute there. We. I always. I always act a little silly because I don't want people getting too serious about it. But, you know, the theory is, look, a stir. Racers don't have any money. We need the Eddie Petrovs, the Hoker.

[Kevin Gundaker]

That's exactly right.

[Herm]

So we. So tell me about this. Okay. He was the money man back then. J.W. hunt.

[Kevin Gundaker]

J.W. hunt was a big strawberry king down in Florida, and he happened to love dirt racing. And it was. I got some great pictures of him from back then, and I've got a. A plaque hand on my wall that we won the JW Hunt dirt series in 82. And that means. That does mean a lot to me because we. JW was a man of his word, and he always wanted to see his strawberry on the side of your race car.

[Herm]

Don't you know it? Yeah, I love that.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Strawberry decals. And if you've got a JW Hunt strawberry decal, you did something. Because he didn't just do it. He did it on friendship. Not only his money, but he did it on friendship as well. And he was a great man with a very big heart and did a lot for dirt racing back then.

[Herm]

Yeah. So. So you're. You go to East Bay. You're. You remind me a little bit of Kenny Schrader. Were of age now. But you want them. You want a lot of big ones against the best. You know, Buck Simmons, you name these names. Larry Moore was wild.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep.

[Herm]

I mean, that guy was wild. And, you know, maybe you were wilder, but you. You had great car control.

[Kevin Gundaker]

We. We grew up in the era of. And I'll say this. The best thing that ever happened to me was in 1979, I got. I got an argument with Don Ward.

[Herm]

Oh, Don. Or Collinsville, Illinois. We did, too.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Don was a tech guy at Tri City Speedway. And it was because of your dad I got in this argument. Yeah, they allowed a fiberglass hood on the Novas. And your dad had one.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And they would not allow them on the Camaros. And it was so funny. We got in the biggest argument over that hood. And I told him that night that I would never come back to Tri City Speedway as long as he was a tech guy. And I started traveling, I went to, oh, Donaldson, Iowa.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And this is how this started. And I go to Donaldson on a Friday night instead of Tri City. And I ran up there a few times. And Jeff Strunk, that used to be the kind of crew chief for Johnny Johnson.

[Herm]

99.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

J.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And J. Steele.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He goes, you need to go to Oscar. You need to go to Osce. And I'd heard a lot about Osce.

[Herm]

Oscaloosa, Iowa.

[Kevin Gundaker]

That's correct. And so they had a Wednesday special. NSCA had a Wednesday special. Lottie was promoted at the time. Robert Lawton has Boone Speedway now. And I wheel in there and we set fast time, new track record and won the feature. I fell in love with Oski and it was like, oh, man. So then I became friends with Don Hoffman from Des Moines. And Don says, you, you know, anytime you come up here, you can come stay at our shop. Well, I spent the whole summer up there. And Berlin Acres, I mean, you hit the who's who. I mean, Kenny Walton, you go right on down the line. When you pulled into a racetrack up there, you had 25 guys that could win the AMA.

[Herm]

Kevin, don't you agree that Iowa, in those days, in the 70s, Iowa's was the epicenter of the greatest dirt racers. It seemed to me like it was. Am I wrong or no?

[Kevin Gundaker]

You're exactly right. You could race seven nights a week up there within a hundred miles of Des Moines.

[Herm]

Ed Sanger, all the big boys, Kurt.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Hansen, you just go right on down the line and just keep going. You know, all these guys, I mean, Dan Dickey, I mean, you. You hit.

[Herm]

I remember him.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. Yeah. So many of those guys that were. Were just unreal. And I was fortunate enough, Eldon Amanda, who owned Don Hoffman's cars, greeted me with open arms. Greeted us, our team.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Thunder and myself.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

So you can imagine that.

[Herm]

So. So you're saying that night at Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois, when Don Ward made you mad, you're like, I'm not coming back here. You're letting Russ Wallace run this fiberglass hood, but not us. So you're saying he in. In a. In a beautiful way, he forced you. You said, the heck with. And then you realized you could win anywhere in America. Did that get. Did that give you the. The belief in yourself. Like, damn, I can do this.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, you know, you never really looked at it like that back then. You know, it changed your. It changed your level of competition. Yeah. Not saying the guys at granted at the time weren't good. They were. They were great. But when I went up there, I went to school. You had these guys, Dick Schiltz. I mean you had. We went to Mason City and Dick Schultz had won 10 features in a row and they had a bounty on him. We strolled in there, same thing, new tracker. I love it when the dash and win the feature. And everybody was like, who is this kid? You know. Yeah, this kind of afro.

[Herm]

You all had the big. And we all got them. We all got them. We had straight hair. But you and Rusty and Mike, we all got these afros because that. That was the 70s, man.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Rusty had to have his done.

[Herm]

Yeah. Disco.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Hey, that's what made him mad. Mine it naturally agree like that. And he always tried to keep this fro going. And he'd always gunned her. He goes, how does your hair grow like that? You know, that's back when he. He had to go get his done all the time. It was a great thing between him and I about that hair.

[Herm]

You and. You and my brother Rusty had a great friendship. I remember several times. I don't know if you had a fallen out with your dad at the time. Why was your dirt car at our little race shop there in Arnold, Missouri for a week or two? What? And you know, you and Rusty were always fabricating partners. Why was your race car in our house at that time?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, my dad basically told me. He says this is going to be good. Yeah, you're not keeping that race car at the house. I'm like, what do you mean? I drug it home, you know, not standing here. Well, it lasted about nine days, you know, because my mom said he's keeping it here, you know.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I was always on my side with that, but it was so funny. So I had to get a place to. To get it. Well. And Rusty said, why don't you just bring out to the house and your mom and your dad and everybody welcomed me with open arms and I really appreciated that. And I was in the lower garage.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And got. And I finally. I found me a little shop and then, you know, it was just. We were working at. At the Sunoco station, Sunny Sonoco on. On Manchester Road at the time. Rusty and I were.

[Herm]

Yeah. Oh, damn.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh my gosh. We have more fun because we run the tow truck Together. So we go out on calls together.

[Herm]

Hold on, hold on. I don't know this part. You and Rusty work together?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, yeah. Oh, wait a minute.

[Herm]

You never got anything done. I promise.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And then, of all the crazy things. Oily Doily, I remember him. Oh, yeah. He worked two doors down at the Firestone store.

[Herm]

What was that you called him? Oily Doily. I remember that. That was a nickname, right?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Gosh, I can't think of his first name. I knew it was great.

[Herm]

Rusty always tore things up. Why did you guys destroy so much stuff? It was funny for you guys to blow things up. You guys had a good time? You and Rusty Wallace did.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, my God. We had a great time together. You know, and most people don't realize back then, Rusty and Kenny Schrader and I, we all kind of ran around together.

[Herm]

Oh, yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, I mean, back in the day, we. Some of us chased the same women and everything. You know, I mean, it was. It was.

[Herm]

Oh, you fought over women, did you?

[Kevin Gundaker]

We never fought over. You know, I mean, it wasn't like we fought over. We just. We had a great relationship growing up.

[Herm]

Okay, this is a good segue. Let's do a 180, because you and I know that there's going to be a part two to Mark Richards with Rocket. There's going to be a part two to you, too.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

We can't. We can't wipe this all out in one show, and that's time for another show. Let. Let's go to your wife, Tammy. You know, I'm gonna set you up. You meet Tammy at East Bay. Tell me about. No, okay, I'm wrong. Tell me about you and Tammy, your beautiful wife.

[Kevin Gundaker]

We. We go down and Volusia always has a practice night. On Sunday night at the Bush Clash, it was still the Bush Clash. Yeah, well, we would always go to the Bush Clash during the day, go to Volusia to practice on Sunday nights. So we wheeled in the. In the parking lot at Daytona. We're going to Bush Clash. We pull in there, and I look in the mirror, and there's. You know, we've been there, I don't know, half hour or whatever, and there's a gal out there looking at my race car, and I'm like, women don't go look at race cars. So we had the motorhome and the open trailer back then. And I go back, introduce myself, and we got to talking, and I said, hey, we're getting ready to grill some burgers and brats. I said, do you want something to eat? She said, sure. So we hung out and talked a little bit. And that was then we go in Daytona, you know what, is there150,000 people there for the bush clash or whatever at that time?

[Herm]

Yes. Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

They're sitting two rows in front of us.

[Herm]

Okay. A marriage made in heaven. Here we go.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Here we go. And we come back out and we talk again. It was supposed to rain that night, and I said, if it rains out, would you like to go out?

[Herm]

Wow.

[Kevin Gundaker]

She said, sure. So honest to God, it rained out. It was just like it was supposed to happen. Rains out. And this in 1983. Right. So I'm, I come back to the, to the racetrack there. And she told where? Well, find out there at the bar up the road. So I meet her at the bar and honest to God, we've been together ever since, ever since that night.

[Herm]

She is, she is a very rare breed. And what I mean by that is she loves, like three loves. Loves. Loves. Loves racing. Now, there are ladies that love it, but, I mean, she works like a man. Tri City Speedway. I mean, she lines those cars up. It. Kevin, is she the leader? Because at the racetrack she's the one that will, you know, raise her voice and tell the guys this is the way it is. While you're off doing all the maintenance, is Tammy a leader?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, yeah, she's a leader. Just ask her.

[Herm]

Well, my wife, too.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Exactly. They'll tell you exactly what's on her mind.

[Herm]

Yeah, but I mean, she, she practices what she preaches.

[Kevin Gundaker]

She gets something in her mind, and if somebody tells her no, she can't do it, oh, my God, back up. Because it's gonna happen. And, you know, I, I, I love her to death about that. She's all for, you know, doing whatever. Even when it came time and we bought Tri City, when I went to talk to Bobby, Winnie, about it, it was, it was on a deal. I'm gonna go talk to Bobby. So I call her on the way home. She goes, well, how'd the meeting go? I said, I guess we own a racetrack. And she goes, what? You know, at first, and then. I'll never forget this. You remember Florence Dueling?

[Herm]

Oh, yeah. He, he owned the racetrack.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Elvis.

[Herm]

And Ed Bloom was the promoter at Tri City Speedway. It's a two prong thing. And, and Elvis Dulin's, he lived in the single wide trailer right there behind the grandstands. And Ed Bloom was the promoter. Yes.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, Florence, after we bought the track, right after we bought it, we were over there working in the spring of 2005. And she walks in and she always called me boy because she. If you remember right, she always did payout. Yeah, I remember at the end of the night she always did payout. And she came in with them hands on the hips going, boy, what were you thinking? And I'm like, you know, and that still stands in my mind today. And so then she walked in and started telling me about things and. And Tam, kind of her and Florence hit it off.

[Herm]

Oh yeah, you think? Do you? Okay, but let's stop. It's right here. It's right on my list. 2005, everybody. The Gundakers decide to buy the legendary Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois. Now this is my opinion, okay? You straighten me out all you want, but. But Granite was a great racetrack. But by this time, Kevin, Granite had been run down. The wiring's old, the track is looking old. Okay, so in 2005, you and your family, your father, you all go in there and. And I've seen the renovations. You have took the track from this big half mile down to a three eight. You spent millions of dollars on the concession grant. Your racetrack right now, Tri City speed with Granite Granny. Granite City, Illinois is a first class facility. What made you want to own a racetrack? Well, tell, tell me about your thought process at that time. Why?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, you know, it wasn't a thought process of owning a track. And most people don't realize again, that's the first place I ever raced.

[Herm]

Okay.

[Kevin Gundaker]

So it was always home to me. So it's more than a racetrack to me.

[Herm]

Got it.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And when we decided to purchase it, the winner, it was the winner of 2004. 2005. We made this deal with Bobby and it was after my motorcycle wreck and it was like, you know, when this. And it happened to be on the last night of a year in the winter of 2003, 2004, that I was over helping Kyle Steffens. Yeah, they had one of the legends cars and legends car racing. Bobby Winnie approached me and he says, you ought to just buy this place for me. And I said I'd entertain that thought. One thing leads to another and he wasn't ready to sell at the time. So in the meantime, my dad had some property out here in St. Peters and I had gone to the St. Peter's City hall and got they're blessing about building a racetrack out there. Out there on where it's 370.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Anyway, so. Phone rings and it's the. It's the end of 2004 at this point. And Bobby, winning, goes, what are you doing? I said, I'm actually out walking a piece of ground, thinking about building the racetrack.

[Herm]

Gonna be your competitor, buddy.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I never looked at it like that, but I bet this has been in my mind that, you know, here I am, I'm 50 years old, I'm thinking about future, and one thing leads to another. He goes, we need to go to lunch. So we went to lunch, and I owned a racetrack when I left lunch, you know, and, well, I should say I. It's not I, it's. It's. We. Our family owns a racetrack.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, I approached my dad with this, and he's always kind of let me run whatever I wanted to do. And he's a great partner. He's my business partner, and he's my dad. At the end of the day, I get to call him my dad.

[Herm]

Kevin. It's hard. It's hard to ignore wise men, right? We. We would be stupid if we didn't listen to people like your father. I mean, when I'm around your dad, I'm almost afraid of him, even though I shouldn't, because I know how great your dad is.

[Kevin Gundaker]

My dad has never, ever to this day forgotten where he's came from. He doesn't sit in a glass house. He doesn't sit. And you know, and you know this from being around him, Herm, that you can approach him and talk to him about anything you want to talk to him about. It doesn't matter if it's about the weather or a million dollar project you want to do. You know, he's open to. To anything you want to talk about.

[Herm]

I will never forget Kyle Busch, the great NASCAR driver. Kyle's in town here in St. Louis. He's out there running your barn race about five years ago.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep.

[Herm]

Well, Kyle Busch, he wanted a restaurant. He wanted to eat somewhere nice, him and his wife and, you know, the crew. I called your dad because I had his phone number, and your dad set him up. I mean, it's. It's like your dad's. Now this. This is kind of a joke, but it's kind of like your dad's the mayor of St. Louis. He knows every great eating institution. He had Kyle Busch set up. Your dad's the man, isn't he?

[Kevin Gundaker]

He. And like I say, he. He's never forgot where he's came from.

[Herm]

He's.

[Kevin Gundaker]

He's just so down to earth, you know, I mean, for a businessman. And what he's done is just unbelievable. And at the end of the day, I really, really, really admire what he's done, where he's done and how he's done it.

[Indiana Jones]

Now AT T Mobile get four 5G phones on us and four lines for 25 a line per month when you switch with eligible trade ins, all on America's largest 5G network.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Minimum of 4 lines for 25 per line per month with auto pay discount using debit or bank account, $5 more per line without auto pay plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge phones via 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue build credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due bill credits and if you pay off devices early ct mobile.com okay, so you've.

[Herm]

Led me right into this great segue. The Gundaker family was introduced into the St. Louis Sports hall of Fame. And the gun. What's key here is Gundaker family. It's very rare where we see, you know, like, like I, I was in the St. Louis Sports hall of Fame.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Schrader Yep.

[Herm]

But, but listen to this. Kevin Gundaker family auto racing into the St. Louis Sports hall of Fame. The Gun Baker family has been part of the St. Louis motorsports scene for almost 50 years. Kevin Gundaker started his racing career back in 1973 at Tri City Speedway, which he now owns along with his wife Tammy and dad Gordon. Kevin Gundaker's racing career included hundreds of victories and earned him a place in the National Dirt Late Model hall of fame in 2011. Kevin it goes on, but that gives me goosebumps. I almost want to cry. I mean, you, you. Listen, buddy, you're a trailblazer. What does that make you feel like?

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know her. Back when I started racing, you never envisioned anything like this. Never. I was just a young, dumb kid that wanted to go race in circles.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And enjoyed it. And I've made so many great friends over the years because of it that this never really crossed my mind about hall of Fames. When I was, when I was inducted into the hall of Fame, the National Dirt hall of fame in 2011.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I hung up on him. I thought this was a joke, you know, because you don't think of things like that. And then again when we got the call about the St. Louis Sports hall of Fame.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

It was like, wow, you know, I don't, like I said, it never started out like that. It's like you being the rookie of the year in nascar. You never started up when you ran that mile race with your street Stock. You never thought about nothing like that.

[Herm]

I won the race and didn't even know what it meant, like, because I was just going and doing. Right.

[Kevin Gundaker]

That's what it was back then.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And. And it was so great. Now you stop and you think about it, you know, And I know I got my boys growing up in this, and I still go places that people want autographs and different things, and it's not about me anymore. It's about the boys, you know, and I enjoy that. And it's that warm, fuzzy feeling I get with those boys that when they run good and, you know, and the camaraderie between the two, I mean, it's.

[Herm]

Amazing, you know, so we like to keep this. In an hour, we're rolling in on 52 minutes we've been going. And it's been easy. It's so easy to talk to you because I know you so well. But I. I wanna. I wanna get to a point here towards the end where. Let's come up to right now. It's no secret that in the St. Louis area last year, your racetrack, you. You said we're going to run a limited schedule, but because I know you, I want to share a little light and know that Charlie's probably going to edit this and everybody's going to see this. This piece right here.

[Kevin Gundaker]

It won't.

[Herm]

It won't be buried in the back of Kenny conversation. So later, you know, a couple months ago, you said to me, and I'm bragging on you, you said, you know, Herm, I was kind of in a bad place last year. I. My hip was killing me. I didn't feel good. And. And now you've had hip surgery and God knows you've been roughed up with that motorcycle accident, but. But now you just announced that you and Tammy are ready to go again and that in 2025, besides the big races, you. You say Granite is back. This is a feel good story. Granite is back. Tell me about this change in mind.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, and I'll tell you, I didn't really know how bad I was feeling. I knew I was feeling bad, and I always assumed it was that rod in my leg.

[Herm]

Oh, my God. Hold on, hold on. You have a rod in your leg from the motorcycle wreck still to this day?

[Kevin Gundaker]

No. And when I had my surgery in June, they took the rod out. Yeah. And they put this hip in. And I'll tell you, when I went in, the doctor told me, I mean, it got to hurting so bad, I couldn't climb in a tractor.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And without it really, really hurting. But so I finally got. Went to this doctor, Dr. Burning. And this is a crazy story too, but.

[Herm]

And this is a new story. This is like a couple hand months ago, right? Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Right. This is in June.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I go in there and he says, there's nothing wrong with the rod in your leg. He goes, your hip is bone on bone.

[Herm]

He goes, oh my gosh.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And he goes, I don't know how you're enduring a pain. And he says to me, he says, well, we can do one or two things. He says, I can give you, you know, a shot, cortisone shot. It might last a week, a month, I don't know. You know, he can't predict that. And he says, but the downfall is if you decide to have the surgery, you've got to wait three months for the cortisone to be completely out of your system. I'm like, sign me up. Well, the first date he had was the day before our high limits race at granted. I said, I can't do that.

[Herm]

Here we are. Yeah. Schedule our life.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. Well, I can't do that. It's real simple. So the second date he had was the week of our summer nationals race. Well, he had Monday. And I said, all right, sign me up. So he goes in there, I got to be in there at 5:30 in the morning. And he comes in at 6:00 and he goes, I got good news and I got bad news, so just give me the bad news first. He goes, if I can't get the rod out, I can't put the hip in like, okay. He goes, but we're gonna get the rod out. Oh God. Good. So I'm laying there in recovery after all five and a half hours of surgery, and he coming in swinging this rod like a samurai sword going, we got her, you know.

[Herm]

Yes.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, he told me I was spending the night 1:30 that afternoon. Nurse comes in and goes, can you use your walker? I said, yeah. She goes, well, show me. So we made a trip down around the nursing station and came back. And she says, you got this doctor comes in at 2:30. He goes, you're going home. I said, home. I was back at the race shop at 3:30.

[Herm]

Oh my gosh.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, that is home to me, you know.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know when I'm. I'm not much going home and laying on a couch somewhere.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And we just put a new motor or Trevor put a new motor in. I just wanted to check belt tension and a few things. So I stopped there and then went down to the house. And then that was on Monday. By Wednesday, I wasn't even using the walker. I was using a cane.

[Herm]

Oh, my God.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And by Friday, that was our summer national show at Granite. I was back in the water truck, you know, so it was like night and day difference about how I felt, how I looked at things. I mean, man, I'm feeling like a new man now. I mean, I. I can't believe I lost some weight and things were really going. I told Tam, I said, I'm gonna have to get me a younger woman. He says, you're not gonna. You know. Well, her response to that wasn't, not something we can air, so.

[Herm]

But, you know, this reminds me of when I interviewed. We had a Kenny conversation with Jonathan Davenport, Superman. And we went back through his life, and he said, you know, I'm racing, and I realized that I can't see. And. And JD Goes and gets glasses.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep.

[Herm]

And Greg desert. Yeah, yeah. Greg Dethridge. But my point is, is that Jonathan Davenport saved a lot. You know, ever since I've done that Kenny conversation. Dean Hoffman, we've had all these great race car drivers. Now they show up with glasses on because all these racers, they watch Kenny conversation. So it's kind of like you and Davenport share something in common. He couldn't see and didn't realize it, and then finally got glasses and he. Then he's like, I could race better. I could see where it was going to rubber up. And here you are. You couldn't really figure out why. You just. You were just. You weren't right. And then you. You realized it's because you feel bad. It's a big thing in life. Pain is a real thing, ain't it, Kevin?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, pain is unreal. You know, like I said, in. You kind of just push it away, in a sense, because you want to keep going, what you're doing, how you're doing it, and you don't realize how bad you're really feeling.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And I'm not much on liking doctors anyways.

[Herm]

Nobody does. Yeah. All they do is save our lives. But Marie.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah, Exactly.

[Herm]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, listen. Yep. So go ahead. No, sir.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I mean, you get your health back, you get your life back in a lot of ways.

[Herm]

Yeah. So that changed your mind. You're. You're ready to go at it again. And I gotta tell you, I want to thank you so much. With your racetrack only running a handful of times last year, it was miserable for me because Your track's only 30 minutes from my House. And it was painful. I was having to drive an hour and a half. I love Brownstown, Illinois, love Josh Carroll. But it's like, oh my God, I'd go buy your racetrack. I'm like, oh, you know, here I'd be pulling in a 30 minute trip.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, Herm and you. And I've had this conversation. At what point do you call it quits or do you slow down? And I know you're 60 and like I told you that one time, I said that brick will come through the window and hit you and.

[Herm]

And that'll be the deal that did for nascar. That brick came through the window for me. For nascar.

[Kevin Gundaker]

But that's great.

[Herm]

Go ahead. Yep.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You. And you don't lose that urge or you don't lose that want or will because to be perfectly honest, I think I'd like to race again.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And you know, here I'm 70. And I don't mean go out on the road. I mean, I mean go and have some fun and enjoy yourself like you're doing.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And you enjoy. You enjoy what you're doing now.

[Herm]

Yes.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And if you enjoy that, you. You'll do that till the day, like I said, when that brick comes through that window. And I, I love that about you. That, that you have that drive and you have that want, you have that ability still to strap yourself in that race car and go out and have fun and at the end of the night, smile and. And you know who else is like that? And you'll think I'm crazy. Bob. Stan.

[Herm]

I don't know this man.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yes, you do. He's racing. Bob Stanton runs the number 51B mod at our place. It's orange.

[Herm]

Okay.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Bob has raced every year at that racetrack since it's been open.

[Herm]

No way.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yes.

[Herm]

That's unbelievable.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Every year at that racetrack since 61.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Now you talk about the Energizer Bunny. Wow. And he generally comes by himself.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Or he might park next to his. His son John that also runs a B mod. But he's either run a street stock or an A mod or a B mod. He's had, I think every kind of car that we've raced there. And he's got to tell me some great stories about Grant. You know, back in the day, Grant and I didn't know it that back in the day they had an 8th mile dirt drag strip on the front sheet.

[Herm]

Oh, my God. I had no idea.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. He's got the. Open my eyes. And. And Bob is a fixture of Tri City Speedway.

[Herm]

I had no idea. I. I want to leave you with this. So, you know, for 27 years, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and I. I was lucky enough to realize my dream. I was never great, but I was good enough to stay. And I came back and I wanted to run dirt. I just wanted to accomplish it. So we've been having a really good time. And I would go to Granite and I would see some of the. These young kids start telling me about granite. And. And I got on. I had to get something off my chest. I made a post about two, three years ago. I said, let me tell you kids something about granite. Back up. I know all about granite. You don't know anything about granite. And of all people, Rusty Gripoff, he responded positively. And I said, you guys don't know about granite. I'm the man. I sold programs. Programs. Get your programs, see all your stars and cars. And I would sell those for a quarter and I would watch Lynn gitter, Russ Wallace, CeCe Corbin, Webb Spalding, Kevin Gundaker, Mike Wallace, Granite Lake Hill Speedway, you know, Valley park, all these tracks. I had this journey. I. I left. I left home for 27 years.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

And I came back home and Dirt racing. Kevin, I want to inspire you right now because this is the reason I'm giving this little speech to you. Dirt racing has inspired me. It has saved my life. Because when NASCAR was over for me, I could have simply give up.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

You know, I see Rusty and Mike and I'm like, oh, my God, they're bored. You know, I just love this dirt racing. I just eat it up. It's just fun. I. I don't gotta do it. So follow your intuition. If you want to race, race.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, no. And. And like I said, Herm, you know, you're an inspiration. I mean that in that respect that you still have that want, you still have that drive, and you still have the enjoyment.

[Herm]

You gotta wanna.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You got. I mean, at the end of the night, sure, there's frustrating things that happen, but you're always so upbeat about it. And, and people today can take a lesson from you on that.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Because there is so much tension in our sport today that I don't know if I. It's not good. But I tell the boys, the day it quits being fun is the day we're gonna quit. And until that point, you know, people ask me, well, when are you going to retire? I said, I have no intention of retiring. Gordy even asked me that. He goes, did you retire? And I'm like, I don't think so. Know, I never.

[Herm]

My vocabulary.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, no, I never really looked at it like that.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know, and I think one of the things that inspired me there. And I said. Then I got to thinking about. I said, well, why do you ask that? He goes, because I'd like to race against you.

[Herm]

Oh, my gosh.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And then the other one, Trevor, he piped up and he says, yeah, I'd like to race against you, too. And then Gordy said something to me. He goes, yeah, because I'm gonna kick your ass. And I'm like, whoa, back up.

[Herm]

Jack up.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Back up a little bit. I'm like, okay. So Tam got in the middle of that. Yeah. She was up there when all this is going on. And she goes, I got a thousand bucks that says your. Your dad can still kick her ass.

[Herm]

Oh, I love this.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. And then Gordy goes, or Tam goes, you want a piece of that? And Gordy thought about it a little bit, and he goes, yeah. And then the other one piped up, he goes, she goes, you want a piece of that, too? And she go. And he goes, yeah, I'll take a piece of that, too. So in a lot of sense, that's one of the things I still want to do. I'd love to race against the boys.

[Herm]

I want to warn you something about this that I've experienced that caught me off guard. I'll be 62 years old August 23rd, and to this day, I'm still setting quick time and I'm winning these a mod races. And I. And I'm thinking they're all having fun with me because I'm. I'm an old man now, Kevin, if you come back racing, I'm warning your competitors are going to treat you like they treat me. They look at me as a real competitor still. I was thinking they'd laugh. Oh, Herman, he's 62 years old. But they get pissed at me.

[Kevin Gundaker]

They should.

[Herm]

They'll do the same thing against you. Shall be ready, be ready, you know?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah. But years and years ago, Schrader said. Told me this. He goes, if you're not getting booed, you're not going fast enough. And. But you got the other side to that is the people love you, you know, And. And you've got to. You've got to have that warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart that it doesn't matter. I mean, I've heard them cheer for you at the Dome at our place, you know, so many places, because they want to see you do good. And you're. You're kind of one of the last American heroes that gets that kind of, you know, enthusiasm going in a crowd. Because you take you. Yeah, but you take that time for that crowd, and that's great.

[Herm]

The reason I'm not stopping you is because when I brag on Kenny Schrader, he. It's very embarrassing. So you are embarrassing me right now. But the reason I'm not stopping you is because when I want to brag on you, when I want to brag on Kevin Gundaker and when I want to brag on Schrader, you guys stop me. I just want to let you know, you know, this is about you. I want to thank you for the nice words. But, Kevin, that's it. We're gonna have part two. We'll get to your boys next time. I told you, this is about celebrating. Celebrating the great Kevin Gundaker. Kevin, you. You've done it all. You are a dirt super late model hall of famer. You've won hundreds of races. You're in the St. Louis Sports hall of fame. I tell this to Schrader because they just sold their racetrack.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep.

[Herm]

I. I believe in my heart of all heart. And I mean this. I'm not just saying it to say it. There's two racetracks that have saved St. Louis Auto Racing, and it is Kenny Schrader's i55. And of course, Granite was there before i55.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yep.

[Herm]

Your racetrack, you and Tammy and your family, you guys have saved local racing. And here's why. Because they all shut down. They all. St. Charles shut down. Belvoir shut down. Highland was on its last limb. You've been there every year. Even though last year was a little fuzzy, you announce you're coming back. And from the bottom of my heart, even though I was gone 27 years, I would look, I would come up, I would look back, man, they still racing. So thank you, Kevin. Thank you.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Well, no karma. I appreciate those words. And, you know, I guess probably part of that is this isn't so much a business to us as it is a passion. And it takes that passion to make this work.

[Herm]

It's a way of life, isn't it?

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yes. Yes.

[Herm]

The boys of yours, they wouldn't know what to do if you guys said, okay, we're quitting racing. They'd probably go crazy.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Oh, they go crazy. You know, they tell me all the time that I'm old school on this. I'm that. Well, yeah, I probably am.

[Herm]

Yeah, that's right. We are.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah, we are. Now what it's Part. It's part of growing older just the way it is, you know?

[Herm]

Well, there he is, everybody.

[Kevin Gundaker]

One more thing.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I used to be able to do 120 with my 10 steps. I can only do 95 now.

[Herm]

Okay, everybody, one last time. Kevin, let me see which one's your worst hand. Let me see it again. Put it right up there. Look at that, everybody. And I'm telling you, those are fabrication hands. Now, now, Mike Miller. We lost the great Mike Miller. When I say great, these are people that made a difference in life.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah.

[Herm]

Great Mike Miller. I called you great because you made a difference. Mike came up with the tubing notcher. Wow. You sure needed that tubing notcher back then, didn't you?

[Kevin Gundaker]

I'll tell you, my hands probably wouldn't look like us. Oh, my. Touching on Mike for a second. Mike. You know, I Met Mike in 1980.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And what a great friend and a great guy and. Same thing. He had a vision of where he was going with stuff, and he was able to do it. And it's a shame we lost him. And I really miss him. You know, it's funny because in my phone, I still have his contact, and I still have all of his text messages. I just, for some reason, cannot delete them.

[Herm]

Right.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You know? You know, and it. It's a shame he's gone. Yep. Yep. Oh, I know.

[Herm]

You know, it's kind of like people calling me Wallace. You know, I always called my, you know, hey, you know, so I still got Babs and.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Yeah, I know. I know that feeling. I mean, like I said, it's. It's. You just can't delete. Here. Same thing right there.

[Herm]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You just can't delete it. It's. It's. I don't know.

[Herm]

Okay, well, listen up, everybody. As I always say. There he is. Kevin Gundaker. We are celebrating. We celebrated Kevin's career. We. We can go on for hours just like we did all these other great dirt racers. There'll be. There'll be another one. 20, 25. Everybody, listen up. Tri City Speedway, Granite City, Illinois is back. Kevin's feels better. He's got his hip surgery. Tammy's ready to go. How's Tammy doing right now? Where's she at?

[Kevin Gundaker]

She's over at the T shirt shop, actually. Yeah. Probably barking orders at Gordy in that group, you know. Yeah.

[Herm]

When's our schedule coming out? When.

[Kevin Gundaker]

When we have it out right away right here. Look at this. Mod Mania. Right?

[Herm]

I love it. Well, what a great event. Yeah. What a Great event.

[Kevin Gundaker]

It's big this year.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Okay, everybody, it's really big this year.

[Herm]

Well, save it. I can't wait.

[Kevin Gundaker]

I know.

[Herm]

Yeah. Okay, so you got some good stuff coming for 2025 modified mania. It's a big three day event. I love it. Get over there.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And you know that's, that's also the weekend of the cup race at wwt.

[Herm]

Oh, praise the Lord. That way, that way. I. Because, see, I always. This year I'm gonna make sure I can run all three nights at Mod Mania. It's in September. You're right. Oh, my God, that's great.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Now think about this.

[Herm]

Yeah.

[Kevin Gundaker]

You gotta run three nights, so. Yeah, you'll have to bring three oxygen bottles instead of.

[Herm]

Yeah, I can do it. Yeah. Okay. I keep saying goodbye to him, but it's so much fun talking to you. Okay, everybody, remember, Kenny Conversation is also found now on Dirty Mo Media in podcast form. So right here we're on YouTube. A lot of people like looking at us and, and seeing Kevin, but you can also find this in podcast form over there on Dale Earnhardt Jr's Dirty Mo Media. Kevin, until next time, my friend. I. I'll see you soon. You got anything else to say because we're leaving?

[Kevin Gundaker]

No, Herm, just that we've had a great run together. I love it. I love you and your family and our f. I, I consider it our big family. You know, I. It was great to see your mom. Just not. Not so great under the circumstances with Mike losing Carla. Yeah, but I've always loved your mom, your, you know, her spitfire self.

[Herm]

Yep.

[Kevin Gundaker]

And you know, it's been a hell of a run together.

[Herm]

And you're right, everybody. This was a love fest. I think I told him I loved him twice and he just told me. All right, until the next Kenny Conversation, we'll see you all next time. Bye bye, everybody.

[Kevin Gundaker]

We'll see you later.

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[Kevin Gundaker]

Twas the nights before Christmas. Despite last minute stress, few were delivering except Walmart Express stockings were hung by.

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[Herm]

An hour stuffers would soon be there onto the road.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Walmart Express Delivery we went chock full.

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[Herm]

Express Delivery to y'all and to all a good night.

[Kevin Gundaker]

Welcome to your Walmart.