Toledo Speedway

(TOLEDO, Ohio – July 1, 2014) – Like his great-grandfather and grandfather before him, 15-year-old Sylvania Northview High School sophomore Austin Nemire wants to carve out a name for himself in racing.

VIDEO: 4 generations of racing Nemire's talk racing, family legacy

The next and fourth generation of racing Nemire’s will get another shot Wednesday night, July 2, at Toledo Speedway where he’ll compete in the USAC Honda HPD Midget tour on the quarter-mile oval alongside a stellar line-up of King of the Wing big sprint and Top Speed Modified divisions on the lightning-fast half-mile. The inaugural Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic is here.

His Nemire last name – among the local and national racing ranks – is already nicely carved through 60 years-plus of family heritage…reaching back to when his great-grandfather and Toledo native Kenny Nemire became a rising local star before his life was cut tragically short in a stock car crash at Toledo’s Raceway Park in 1957.

Kenny’s son Jerry Nemire then picked up the torch and carried on…in a major-league way among the USAC Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown divisions before settling into a more prominent role in the twilight of his career in the Silver Crown Series and ARCA Midget tour. He was the ARCA Midget Series champion in 1997.

Third generation Kenny Nemire II was next in line but opted out of the driving role in favor of focusing his energy on his father’s championship aspirations, and ultimately, his son’s racing endeavors to which he would commit whatever resources he could muster up.

Enter generation IV – Austin Nemire, who’s been at the helm of a motorized open wheel machine since he was five.

“Started out at the Rec Center in quarter midgets when I was five, then when I was 12, I tested one these (full-sized midgets),” Nemire said during testing Monday on the Toledo Speedway quarter-mile oval.

And like his tenure in quarter midgets where he won multiple championships, he’s been a winner all the way through into the full-sized midget cars.

“We’ve had a good year; we’ve won five out of six on the pavement…couple at Columbus, couple at Kil-Kare, and one at Kalamazoo. If we can keep that going and win here that’d be really cool in front of a lot of friends and family who are going to be out here, so hopefully Wednesday night we can be talking here too.”

Given his family’s heritage, there can be no doubt what the fourth generation Nemire wants to do for a living…for life.

“For sure…it started about eight or nine years ago, and ever since I really took a liking to it. It’s really not up to me; it’s up to Ron Hemelgarn. I know he owned Indy Cars, but I think ARCA would very cool to run, but I also think whatever Ron wants to do would be best.”

Well said Nemire…arguably displaying a thought process in demonstration of smarts and intellect beyond his 15 years. Fortunately for Nemire, the Hemelgarn he’s referring to is Ron Hemelgarn…the 1996 winning car owner in the Indianapolis 500. The No. 91 on Nemire's midget is the same number that Buddy Lazier drove to Victory Lane in the Indy 500 in Hemelgarn's car.

“You’ve got to win races to advance, and you’ve got to do it regularly,” said Hemelgarn, who was on hand at Toledo Monday for the test.

“And that’s basically what he’s doing now. He’s just winning races…very, very talented. He pays attention. He’s very smart, and he’s very personable, so he’s got all the necessities to move himself up, and I think he will…and I’m happy to be a part of that.”

All that said, it’s doubtful Nemire would have gone in this direction at all if not for his great-grandfather – the late Kenny Nemire, who lost his life in a racing accident on the Toledo Raceway Park half-mile dirt track on July 6, 1957, almost to the very day that Austin will compete at Toledo Wednesday night.

“I just heard a lot of stories…seen a lot of pictures. I never got to meet him obviously, but what I’ve heard, he was a really good racecar driver, and my grandpa was really young when he passed away. I don’t know too much about him, but I’ve heard a lot.”

Austin’s grandfather Jerry Nemire was just a small boy when his dad died that night at Raceway Park.

At right: Three generations of Nemire's from left to right: Jerry, Austin & Kenny. The first generation Nemire - the late Kenny - is represented by the restored 1941 Ford truck in the background, which was his.

“My dad was killed racing at Raceway Park in ’57,” said Austin’s grandfather Jerry “He was 31; I was 11 at the time. Then I raced for 39 years…sprint cars, from stock cars…from a Figure-8 car right here (at Toledo). Then you come all the way up through. That’s the reason my boys didn’t have a shot at it. They helped me on the car all the time.

“They bought a midget and I thought they were going to start driving but they had me drive it. Then we won a midget championship, so I have to thank my sons for putting me in that championship because I used to run all over…where the money was at. I didn’t care about a championship, but once you win, you wish you had more of them.”

So now the torch is officially passed on down to the fourth generation…to a kid who just turned 15, who will not hold a driver’s license in the state of Ohio for another full year…yet he already knows what he wants out of life.

“It’s beyond the legacy of my family, even though that’s a big part of it,” Austin added. “It’s what I want to do…it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I climbed in a quarter midget eight or nine years ago.”

And now he gets to do it in front of his hometown crowd…on a big Toledo Speedway stage.

“I just need to be smooth…a little luck starting up front because it’s going to be hard to pass on, but if we can get that down, I think we’ll be fine.”

Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness “King of the Wing” Rollie Beale Classic
The King of the Wing show at Toledo Speedway, part of a six-race national tour, kicks off the first of three King of the Wing events in the Midwest, which also includes shows at Winchester Speedway July 4 and Grundy County Speedway July 5.

The King of the Wing concept, which matches drivers from the west coast and southern states against the Midwest, is the design of Indy 500 veteran driver Davey Hamilton, who will also be competing at Toledo. Hamilton’s father Ken Hamilton and his son Davey Hamilton, Jr. are also expected to compete, marking three generations of Hamilton’s racing in the same show.

Toledo’s King of the Wing Rollie Beale Classic will also include complete shows from two other tours – the Top Speed Modified Tour, which also competes on the half-mile, and the USAC Honda HPD Midget Series featured on the quarter-mile. Austin Nemire, the fourth line among four generations of racing Nemire’s from the Toledo area, has filed an entry for the Midget show. Nemire is the great-grandson of Kenny Nemire, who lost his life in a stock car at Toledo Raceway Park in 1957. Nemire is also the grandson of USAC sprint car veteran and ARCA Midget Series champion Jerry Nemire.

The Toledo race is named in honor of Toledo native and 1973 USAC national sprint car champion Rollie Beale, who passed away this past February.

The King of the Wing Rollie Beale Classic is sponsored by 1996 Indy 500 winning car owner and local businessman Ron Hemelgarn through his Toledo-area Super Fitness chain and Hemelgarn Racing.

Toledo track management will host an open-wheel Racer’s Reunion and a vintage racecar display as part of the program for the Wednesday night special, which will kick off the tour and the July 4 holiday weekend in the Glass City.

The winged sprint cars are the fastest cars on the planet, as demonstrated by Charlie Schultz in 2011 when he circled the Toledo half-mile in 12:389 seconds, an average speed of 145 mph-plus.

Race fans can save $5 per ticket if purchased before 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 1. Both reserved and general admission seating is available. Tickets may be purchased by phone by calling the track office at  419-727-1100, by visiting the track office or by downloading the ticket order form at ToledoSpeedway.com. Most major credit cards are accepted for phone orders.

Time trials will begin at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7:30.

@DonRadebaugh
dradebaugh@arcaracing.com