The Cadillac CTS wagon body on the GM metric car driven by Randall Schlafer (R00) turns heads wherever it goes. That includes Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas, where Schlafer took the Cadillac to victory lane in the stocks feature.
“I put the body on the car just to be different,” Schlafer, of Munford, Tennessee, said. “It is a stock roof. It even has the original luggage rack on it. I was thinking of riveting some suitcases on top, just for fun.”
Tech inspectors often scrutinize the Caddy Wagon’s body. Some competitors complain that the car’s roof acts as a giant wing, providing Schlafer with more downforce. Occasionally, track officials demand Schlafer take his body apart.
“The body makes no difference on a little ¼-mile like Riverside,” said Schlafer. “I’ve raced the same chassis topless, with a Monte Carlo body, and as a station wagon. I cannot tell the difference in speed or handling.”
Regardless of whether his competitors like the car, Randall Schlafer said his car has become a fan favorite.
“All the cars are Monte Carlos or Camaros,” Schlafer said. “We changed it up. Fans want pictures with our car. They honk and wave when we tow it to the track on our open trailer. We’re the Grave Digger [monster truck] of our division. We’re bringing attention to the division.”
Since the body’s debut three years ago, the Caddy Wagon has won three races — two at Riverside and one at Old No. 1 Speedway in Harrisburg, Arkansas.
“We plan on taking it to the track every week and we wait to see what happens,” said Schlafer. “We’ve had to pull it apart and run topless a few times. Hopefully, that won’t happen this year. The Caddy Wagon’s only advantage is that it keeps fans in the stands when the street stocks or factory stocks are out on the track.”
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.
