BOONE, Iowa – The 40th annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals has featured a new competitor in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified ranks.
Septuagenarian Pappie Leonard, from Ravenden, Arkansas, is finally visiting this storied event.
Leonard served in the Vietnam War with the United States Marine Corps and was the recipient of five purple hearts.
“This is one of the best races that I have ever been involved in,” said Leonard. “The track and the people here are just fantastic, and the way they manage it is just unreal.
“I rate the Super Nationals as the best race in the United States. There’s nothing I can say bad about it.”
Leonard has a pair of top-five finishes this season at Crowley’s Ridge Raceway.
“I started the year pretty good there at my home track. I was third in points but I destroyed my car the week before I came up for the Salute To Veterans Tour,” Leonard said. “Shaw Race Cars built me this car in four-and-half days and I used all my egg money, my wife sold the cat, three tracks in Iowa, and my friend Radar all helped raise money for me to come up here.”
“The best thing about racing is the kids in the pits and the grandstands,” he continued. “The teenagers and young people involved in racing are not out there doing drugs or getting killed.”