It’s evident quickly that the excitement has built up.
When the green flag flies this evening, the first full race night since the summer of 2019 will get underway at Laird International Raceway.
With a full slate scheduled, local stock car drivers can’t wait to get started.
“It’ll sure be nice to get things going here again,” said veteran driver Rob Hiiemaa. “I miss it.”
The veteran driver, who will be running a new late model this season, added that getting into a race at Sunset Speedway last season was just what he needed to know he wanted to run again this summer given the opportunity.
“The good thing with that was I realized I still wanted to do it,” Hiiemaa said.
Thursday marks a full return to action at Laird after COVID-19 red-flagged the track the past two summers.
“The thing is, when something is taken away from you, it lets you know whether you really miss it or not,” Hiiemaa said. “For me, I definitely wanted to keep doing it. You don’t realize what you had until it’s gone.”
“I can’t think of anything else I would rather do in the summertime,” Hiiemaa added.
Hiiemaa isn’t the only one looking forward to racing getting back on track locally.
“Locally, it’s awesome (to get back racing),” added Chase Wilson, who will be running in the super late model division this summer. “We’ve had to travel everywhere the past couple of years just to race and be competitive, but we did what we had to do. Locally is a lot more feasible and a lot better because my family can come and watch and having all the fans there is nice to have too and put on a show for.”
While also running some races in southern Ontario this summer, Wilson called Laird “one in its own.”
“It’s just a different track,” Wilson said. “The backstretch is like a ‘D’ and it’s really fast once you get down the backstretch because you’re making a big turn all the way down. You pick up momentum and speed.”
Part of a familiar family in racing circles locally, Wilson added that having a track close to home to compete at for local drivers means something.
“It means a lot,” Wilson said of racing returning to Laird this summer. “Being able to go right in our backyard and do what we love to do and have family around, It’s pretty special.”
The first night of the season comes after the track hosted a 100-lap Enduro race in late-June.
All four divisions – super late model, Michigan modifieds, factory stock, and factory four – are slated to run tonight with qualifying beginning at 6 p.m. and a full race schedule beginning at 7 p.m.