Logan Anderson took his version of Herbie the Love Bug to victory lane. The winning visit took place on Monday at the IMCA Sport Mod Nationals hosted by Hancock County Speedway in Britt, Iowa.
This version pays homage to the anthropomorphic 1963 Volkswagen Beetle featured in several movies. However, Anderson first noticed this Herbie at his hometown’s Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.
“I was the poor kid, with the older cars,” said Anderson. “That car, which was number 53 already, was wrecked on the big ½-mile quite a few times. We stubbed it twice, put on a new tail, and we kept coming back and winning. Friends began calling it Herbie because it never died — it just kept on going.”
Anderson and Herbie won 11 races in 2019 and another 11 in 2020. Last season, he replaced the chassis, but the Herbie lived on. Anderson drove the car to 22 wins in 2021. Among those triumphs included a first-place trophy from The Duel in the Desert at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada.
This season, the duo has scored nine victories, and finished in the top-five except one night they had a DNF. Anderson credits part of his success to Herbie.
“We ventured to [Hancock County Speedway] for the race I always wanted to run for the last three years,” Anderson said. “We’re going to shows that pay $1,000 or more.”
No matter where Logan Anderson and Herbie race, fans flock to their pit. He gives away 53 decals, with T-shirts for sale coming soon. Anderson’s wife, Jamie, and daughter, Livia, 5, love Herbie, and handle the swag.
“I had to ask Jamie for help with selling merchandise and giving away stickers,” said Anderson. “Herbie has taken on celebrity status. It takes a lot to race, and handling merchandise was too much for me. She was glad to oblige.”
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.
