Algona, IA- A brand new building is being constructed at the time of this article to house the Iowa Hall of Fame and Racing Museum along with the Kossuth County Ag & Motorsports Museum in Algona.
The Class of 2024 includes Harald “Andy” Anderson of Duncombe; Dave Chase of Bellevue, Nebraska; Doug Haack of Clinton; Ron Hutcherson and Steve Jackson of Des Moines; Bill Kirk and Karla Lampe of Fair Grove, Missouri; Hilbert Schram of Amarillo, Texas; Jerry Smith and Randy Smith of Mt. Ayr; Dale Suhr of Waterloo; and two Mt. Pleasant natives in Lynn Richard and Jeff Broeg.
These individuals were recognized for their on-track accomplishments and contributions to the sport in the state of Iowa during a ceremony in early November. Broeg has also contributed to KILJ, lending his voice to a variety of sports events and we had an opportunity to talk to him about his journey to the Racing Hall of Fame.
Below is a transcription of our Interview with Jeff Broeg
Slaten: “You’ve had a month to be in the Hall of Fame, how does it feel?”
Jeff: “Well, it feels pretty good and when I got that first phone call from Marty Pringle, who runs the Hall of Fame, it was a bit of—I knew I’d been nominated the year before, but they only put in one media member a year and believe me, there’s a lot of other people who are as deserving or more deserving than me—It was quite a thrill to go in and then, you know, to be able to go in with fellow Mount Pleasant resident Lynn Richard. You know that’s fantastic because, you know, without Lynn and Mike Barton, the Lee County Speedway probably wouldn’t exist right now after what they did down there from a promotional standpoint. He’s done so much behind the scenes to support the sport as well, so it’s pretty cool, two Mount Pleasant guys going in.”
Slaten: “Well let’s go back in time, how did this all start?”
Jeff: “Well, my mom says she took me to my first race when I was 15 months old. But, you know, I remember from age 4-5-on that that was what I wanted to do every Saturday night during the summer. And, you know, if it wasn’t my parents taking me, it was my grandparents taking me and so forth. And that just continued on until I was 15 and my cousins, Dean and Jean Church were taking me to the races at that time, and there’s a racing paper called ‘Hawkeye Racing News’ well there was it no longer exists and one night the editor was at the track, the West Liberty Raceway, and I just walked up to him and said, you know, hey, I noticed you don’t have any columnist from here and wanted you to know I’d be interested in doing that. He took my name and my address and the next week I had a press card in the mail and that’s that got me started on the writing aspect of it.”
Slaten: “What is it about racing that attracts you to the sport?”
Jeff: “You know that’s a good question because I’m not a gearhead by any means. You know, people ask me about the rules and so forth. Say hey, I can tell you what the guy’s name is and what his hometown is. But I don’t know, it’s just the competition and for anybody who really gets involved in it, there’s just like this second family unit that exists in the sport and it’s really cool to be a part of that.”
Slaten: “How long have you been involved on the writing side of the sport?”
Jeff: “Well, I started writing at the age of 15 so that would be 1978 and I advanced on. Larry Camp hired me to do his press releases and points and so forth at 34 Raceway back in 1982. And then through a series of circumstances, I got involved in announcing for him as well. So, you know, I’ve been doing that for a long time now, including, you know, KILJ was a step on the way to the Hall of Fame, really. Because we used to do the Midwest Motorsports report here myself and Sean Sullivan and my friend Barry Johnson, we have been doing a weekly show here for probably 3 or 4 years. And, you know, Paul gave us the opportunity to do that at KILJ and that was a lot of fun as well.”
Slaten: “You mentioned that you and fellow Mt. Pleasant native Lynn Richard were both inducted, how special is that connection?”
Jeff: “Well, it’s pretty cool. You know, I’ve looked at Lynn as being, you know, kind of an expert on racing himself. I remember him getting his first. He raced go karts to begin with and then he first went stock car racing in 1979. I can remember him running the sportsman class at West Liberty, and so, you know, I’ve known him for a long time. He was the realtor that I bought my house through and so forth. So, we’ve had a great relationship and he’s just been a lot of fun to bounce ideas off of and, you know, like I said, he’s done more for the sport behind the scenes than anybody will ever know.”
Slaten: “You’ve been both a writer and an announcer for the sport. If you had to pick, which one do you prefer?”
Jeff: “Well, that’s a good question because one of the things and from being an on-air personality, you kind of know this. One of the things that I kind of don’t like now in the modern day of race announcing is I like to be a bit whimsical, and throw in some jokes once in a while, and sometimes they don’t land properly. As you might know from doing live radio. And now that we have streaming of most of the races that we’re announcing, I hate having this archive of things that I can say that I can’t go back and edit like I can with the writing. I still do the writing through my blog on our website positivelyracing.com and you know if something, you know, that I said there may be a hour later, that doesn’t sound the way I want it to. I could go in and edit that, but I can’t do that on the streaming stuff.”
Slaten: “You’ve been doing this for a long time, what’s been a memory that sticks out from the journey?”
Jeff: “Oh well, probably my favorite time was when we ran a racing series that benefited the National Kidney Foundation of Iowa back from 1998 through 2001 and I made so many friends through that time period, not just with racers, but also, you know, the ladies from the Southeast Iowa Renal Dialysis unit. They would come and help us out at our races at Burlington and at Donaldson and as we raise money for the dialysis unit. And that has to be my favorite time period. And not only that, but you know, one of the things that I make my daughter cry every time I talk about this because she worked for me on the final two seasons that we ran it at the age of 17-18, you know, and it’s like how many dads get the opportunity to work with their daughter and spend that much time driving down the road, going to a race track here or there and that really helped boost our relationship. Definitely, that’s been my favorite time.”
Slaten: “That’s awesome. I know no one likes to think about a mess-up or a slip-up but is there one that sticks out to you to possibly encourage anyone out there that has messed up?”
Jeff: “Really, no. I mean, one doesn’t come to mind. I know there was one column way back when I really had first started. You know, I was a little cocky when I was 16 years old and writing in a racing paper. And, you know, I made some comment that after it got published, I was like, ‘OK that wasn’t very good’ because I got some letters to the editor saying what a jerk I was. So, yeah, I learned my lesson from that. And, you know, way back when I was 16, when we all need to learn some lessons, right?”
Slaten: “So the ceremony was back in November, can you talk about what that was like?”
Jeff: “Yeah, it was Saturday, November 2nd at the Briggs Woods Conference Center in Webster. It’s their local Country Club and I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t gone to it. You know, I’d had friends be inducted, but honestly, a lot of times when I was going to go, there was another race going on like Columbus Junction or nearby and so I would skip the ceremony and go to the race instead. But obviously this time went up and it was amazing how formal it was. You know, we all kind of think of dirt track racers as kind of this down in the dirt type of people and just again the family, the camaraderie that it was just a special evening. Probably the coolest part of it was for me was at the end of the ceremony, and as people were just milling around, one of my favorite drivers from when I was like ten, 11-12 years old, who’s in the Hall of Fame, already came up to me and asked if he could get his picture with me and I about melted on that one.”
Slaten: “It’s amazing how far along you can be in a career or in life and that one childhood hero can transport you back in time.”
Jeff: “And this was Kurt Hansen and I’ve known him for years. You know, I’ve written about him many times and he’s appreciated the coverage I’ve given him. I’ve announced some of his races over the years and so forth as well, but you know the difference was like he was a hero to me all that time, and now him coming and asking me for his picture with me that kind of put us on a different level that I’d never been on before.”
Slaten: “That’s crazy and you mentioned that the Lee County Speedway, the evolution of it as a whole, what’s been one of the advancements that you’ve gotten to witness that’s been really cool to watch?”
Jeff: “You know, racing so much. Everybody will always tell you, I think if you talk to almost anybody who’s in my age range or 10 years younger, 10 years older is going to say, oh, it’s so much better then, you know, back in the 80s or back in the 70s or whatever. I don’t disagree with that, but there’s something to love about each time period. In this sport, you know, right now people would probably complain that we have too many racing divisions. I know when I was growing up, it was basically two divisions that would race on a given night. We have some tracks running six and seven divisions and, you know, while some old timers might not appreciate that, I appreciate the fact that we’re getting to see seven different feature winners on a given night. You know, those divisions span seven different budget levels of guys where they can compete and fit within their budget. So, that’s cool to see, you know, just the number of extra drivers that we get involved in as well. So, you know, that’s been probably one of the biggest changes in the sport over the last 40-some years is just the proliferation of the number of divisions. I don’t always think it’s the best thing. I still lobby to go back to three or four a night, but you know, that would probably be the biggest change that I’ve seen over the years.”
Slaten: “Do you have any advice to give to someone that might have this profession as a dream?”
Jeff: “Well, one of the things I’ve always wanted to do was drag you to the racetrack because if you look at the roster of racetrack announcers that we have around here, right? Now they’re all gray like me, and so we need some young announcers to get involved with, with the track. And, you know, anybody that would be interested in doing that, I would highly encourage you to, you know, just go talk to see if you can get to do a heat race on there. Get involved, you know, that’s how I did it. I went up and just asked the guy, you know, I’m interested what can I do. And that’s how he got me.”
Slaten: “Well Jeff, I appreciate you taking the time to do and congratulations for this terrific honor, is there anything you would like to add?”
Jeff: “You know, a big thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak with you, Slaten. And you know, like I said, it’s a fantastic honor, one that I never dreamt that I would, you know, achieve. And you know, just very appreciative of the recognition.”
Broeg will get his own dedicated section at the new museum, which will feature memorabilia picked by him to give race fans a collection to visit when the construction is done.