Brian Backes always wanted to try his hand at auto racing. But since he didn't know much about mechanics - let alone racing - he stayed away. That is until he discovered Legends cars.
"If it wasn't for these cars, I really wouldn't be in it (racing)," Backes said.
Backes is in his second year of racing after a banner rookie season in which he finished sixth in the INEX national points standings for semi-pro, dirt-track drivers.
The Bismarck racer plans to compete at Dickinson's Southwest Speedway at 7 p.m. Saturday night and drive his car during special Legends races coinciding with the track's Mid-Season Championship.
"That's a fun track, I'll tell you that," said Backes, who is currently fifth in the INEX semi-pro, dirt-track points standings. "...When we went last year, that first one, the crowd was awesome."
ADVERTISEMENT
The Legends racers compete at the Southwest Speedway three times during the season - the others during the two-day Harvest Shootout in September - even though the closest drivers live in the Bismarck-Mandan area.
Ivan Sailer, the man who brought Legends car racing to North Dakota, said the cars compete at the Speedway to help further interest.
"We get a lot of interest," Sailer said. "To make it further, they have to make a commitment that they'll put it in as a class."
Currently, making Legends a weekly class isn't feasible at the Southwest Speedway because of the lack of drivers in the area.
However, Sailer points to Backes - a 49-year-old accountant whom he calls his "poster child" - to show how easy and affordable racing the cars can be.
"I actually made money last year racing, if you don't consider driving to the races," Backes said with a laugh.
Backes said he hauls his Legends car, a 5/8 replica of a 1934 Ford Sedan on a 12-foot trailer behind his Ford Explorer Sport Trac pick-up truck.
"It's a good class for a beginner," Backes said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Backes said that his lack of skill fixing cars - although he added he's not completely inept - was a big factor in persuading him to pursue the sport.
"I'm no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, and that's what got me into this," Backes said.
Sailer said Legends cars have become known for the durability of their parts and efficiency at the fuel pump.
"The economics of these cars are coming into play now, especially with $3 per gallon gas," Sailer said.
The cars only use 1 to 1½ gallons of 87-octane unleaded gasoline each night and are driven by racers ages 14 and up.
"I have young guys who are 14 and I have guys who would be in their mid-40s who never got to race their whole life," Sailer said. "Thirty- to 50- (year-old racers) are my most committed guys. It's something they wanted to do and it was the only way they could feasibly do it."
