After Cody Manmiller won his first modified feature at Grandview Speedway, his parents joined him in victory lane. His father, Doug, poured water on his son’s head as his mother, Colleen, embraced him at the Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, dirt oval.
“If it wasn’t for racing, I wouldn’t be around my family so much,” Cody Manmiller, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said. “They are the only reason I race. My car is at their house, which means I see my family three times a week.”
Manmiller didn’t race as he grew up, choosing soccer and tennis as his sports. However, he still cheered his father on at tracks such as Grandview Speedway and Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
“When I graduated from Lebanon Valley College, I lost all my competitive outlets,” said Manmiller. “That’s when I turned to racing.”
He competed in the sportsman modified class until three weeks ago, when he blew up his sportsman engine.
“People reached out to me offering their spare engines,” Manmiller said. “I was thinking it would be better for my progression as a driver if I made a move to the modified division.”
Manmiller sold his blown engine and backup one and moved into a modified that his family bought earlier in the year.
“It made sense for me to race where my dad races,” said Manmiller. “I knew Grandview Speedway would be a huge learning curve for me.”
Despite a full, competitive field of cars, Cody Manmiller didn’t take long to get acclimated to the new class. He won in his fourth race out. On the day of his victory, Manmiller also ran five miles in record-breaking heat.
“I like to think running helps me on the racetrack on hot nights,” Manmiller said. “I was still dehydrated after the race, in pretty rough shape, and that water sure felt felt good.”
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.
Photographers
The Outside Groove contributor from Macungie, Pennsylvania, has covered the sport since 2012. Sabo serves as the official track photographer of Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Photography is a family ordeal for Sabo. He shoots with his daughter, Abby, at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. At Grandview and other venues Sabo travels to, he and his father, Stephen “Poppa Pepper” Sabo Sr., capture the night’s action with their cameras.
