The 2020 IMCA Nevada state modified champion, Wade Lumsden, hopes he hit the right note to punch his ticket to the Bristol Dirt Nationals at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway in March. He recently posted on YouTube “Do You Want to Build a Racecar” (see below), a parody of the song “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” from the Disney film “Frozen.” Lumsden submitted the video to the Bristol Dirt Nationals Give Back program, which awards $2,000 for the best driver’s story in each division.
“I will include [the video] in a package of material I am sending to XR [promoters of the Bristol Dirt Nationals] by the March 1 deadline,” Lumsden, of Reno, Nevada, said. “It will include my profile, and why I am racing at Bristol. The video is the best way to show them who I am by being who I am.”
Lumsden wrote the parody song five years ago for his young nieces. They thought it was hysterical. He frequently sings and plays the guitar at tracks he ventures to. That includes a pair of Nevada tracks he won the track championship at last year — Rattlesnake Raceway in Fallon and Summit Raceway in Elko.
“I’d been singing since high school,” said Lumsden. “I love to perform and entertain people. I started playing pit parties and going to different teams to sing and play at the back of the trailers.”
His musical gifts help him make friends wherever he goes.
“I didn’t have the cash for the car in 2018, so some of the racers I race against fronted me the money to buy a new Larry Shaw chassis,” Lumsden said. “They appreciate me and I appreciate having those friends in racing. I paid them back as fast as I could. That car made all the difference. I became competitive with the rest of the field. It made racing better for all of us.”
Wade Lumsden competed in the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals in 2020. He made it to a qualifier race. That makes Lumsden hopeful that he can perform well at Bristol, with fields full of top-notch talent. He said he’ll make the trip alone to Bristol, if he has to, hauling his modified with an old RV.
“I am stoked after doing well at the Super Nationals,” said Lumsden. “If I can’t get a buddy to ride with me to Bristol Motor Speedway, or I don’t get the extra money, I’m still going. The only thing that can hold you back from life experiences is yourself. Being afraid because you are alone is not an excuse.”
Photo Credit: Melissa Coker
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.
