What’s special about August 20 for Zach Day? That day Stuart International Speedway inducted his late grandfather Fred Day, a multi-time stock car champion, into its hall of fame. And that night Zach earned his first feature win, coming in the sport compacts.
While Day comes from a line of racers, which also includes his father, Jason, Zach just started competing this past April. Day grew up listening to stories of his grandfather racing. Fred’s remembered for always arriving late at the track. His lateness often resulted from his meticulousness about race car setup. Zach kept his grandfather in mind as he competed in the feature.
“I can definitely say my grandfather was riding with me,” Zach, of Stuart, Iowa, said. “I was talking with him the whole race. When I was in the lead I said, ‘Hang on with me,’ and later, ‘Let’s bring it home.’”
Fred Day passed away in 2021 at age 64.
“I was tearing up thinking about him and the stories my dad told me,” said Zach. “My grandfather was a show-up late type of driver who went out, was fast, and won. He was proud of my dad, Jason being a racer — just as proud as my dad is of me being a racer. It’s pretty cool being a third-generation driver.”
He drives his sport compact for friend Tyler Fiebelkorn. Zach hopes to drive a hobby stock next year, and has a home-built car ready to go.
“I’m waiting until I am done with the sport compact season,” Zach said. “I know that if I got into a rear-wheel-drive car now, it would be completely opposite of how I drive my front-wheel-drive car. It’s best to start fresh and drive only my rear-wheel-drive hobby stock next season.”
As for his first win, Zach Day said he will never forget it.
“The whole family was there,” said Zach. “Everyone came out for the induction ceremony. I had the coolest reason to win that night.”
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.
