Logan Johnson rolled his compact two-and-a-half times at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Illinois. The rookie’s first rollover came during the six-car dash. He qualified second among 30 cars that night.
“I lost a tire, the rim bit the dirt, and my car rolled over,” Johnson, 22, of St. Charles, Illinois, said. “It was destroyed.”
The compacts race as part of a Friday-night program of entry-level divisions. Locals call them “junkyard classes.”
The divisions calls for passenger cars that competitors simply gut and go, with minimal changes and safety requirements.
Johnson sat in the factory seat of his 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier, but had a six-point roll cage, Simpson five-point harness, Bell helmet, and RaceQuip neck collar. The classes hope to entice newcomers with a low-cost barrier of entry. It certainly lured Johnson in.
“I grew up down the street from the speedway, so how could I not be a fan?” said Johnson. “My buddies and I formed a group and bought some old street cars to make into race cars.”
Johnson’s friends Zach Innocenti and Draven Hutcheson race Ford Crown Victorias in the Socker Stocker class.
“The Friday-night program keeps growing,” Johnson said.
As soon as Johnson got out of the ambulance, he wanted to find a way to race again next Friday.
“We went out searching for one car on Sunday and came back with two more,” said Johnson. “Our girlfriends want to race, too.”
Logan Johnson added that Sycamore Speedway makes sure that their drivers feel appreciated, and that includes the entry-level classes run on Friday nights.
“When I got out of the ambulance after my rollover, there was a crowd waiting to see if I was okay,” Johnson said. “Monday, the track called me and emailed me, asking me if I was good. I told them not only was I okay, I’d be back with a new car on Friday.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
