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[ Home ] Larry's Racing History I started helping my Uncle Dale Holdridge (Modified #28 @Waterford Speedbowl) in the early eighties. In spite of my help Dale won 6 features in a two season run. Of course it happens to be the only two years in Dale's long career that Dale did not foot the nearly the entire bill by himself. I started out being the chief "dust wiper guy" and eventually actually helped some on the car. Proves that knowledge is secondary to interest when you want to start a racing career. I then preceded to make the roadways safer by stealing my brother's 66 Valiant and turning it into an enduro car. The little car that could...made the field for seven enduro's (which was tough to do in those years), but never finished a feature even once. When I built another car, the Valiant, "Red Lightnin'" was given back to my little brother Mark. Mark proceeded to shorten it by several feet (front and rear collision). Following a very sad funeral in the Waterford infield, poor Red Lightnin' finally died. (Picture some day. Tears flowing by all the Barnett Boys, I'm sure) Hint: More beer parties may have occurred in or near Red Lightnin' than any car in the history of man kind.
The next car was another enduro car. This prize was an olds, 76 I think. Raced it several times. By mid eighties I had also been introduced to SCCA style auto cross racing by good friend Mike Kugler. I chose to compete with my 77 Chevy Monza. Within a couple years the Monza had become a lowered handling machine not really suitable for normal highway driving. I managed to win many events for my class which included Camaros, Corvettes, and Mustangs. One fun event was held at the Stafford facility around 1986. We used the track surface that day with slaloms down the straights and nearly full speed through the corners. Finally came opening day 1988 at The Waterford Speedbowl. The Korteweg family had decided to add a Strictly Stock division that spring. 4 cars took the green that day. I knew I could do a bit better than those guys! 4 weeks later I had a 77 Monte Carlo ready....it was #28 and I tried to make it look like Uncle Dale's yellow and red Modified. We had two features that first night. I got a third and my first feature win in a field of 23 cars. I guess I was hooked up and hooked on circle track racing. I won 4 features & 5 runner ups that year. I even made a profit! '89 Season: I built a new car, a 78 Buick Regal with Mike Kugler. Debbie took the wheel of the Big Monte. Sophomore season blues I guess. Two blown engines, a total destruction of the big Monte and building another replacement Monte mid-season made for a tough year. Two more wins helped out some. This was the last year of racing on street tires. Expensive racing, here we come! '90-'95 Seasons: Life as a single dad put funds tighter than tight. I raced occasionally, mostly at Thompson Speedway. Scattered another 5 feature wins. Usually ran things until they broke. Finally gave up on repairing the 78 Regal at mid 95 season. Had been 4th in points at Thompson that year before one last wreck finished off the car. '98 season: Finally built a new car! whoopee! I was behind the eight ball most of the year. Raced full time at The Waterford Speedbowl for the first time since '90 season. Took a bit longer than planned to retool the shop, etc. I was running well by seasons end. Traveled to Thompson twice with a respectable 6 place finish in a September event. Season ended with a big wreck at the Thompson World Series. $2000 dollars damage. A complete shame. A ridiculous 53 car field brought out the worst in many competitors, as everyone tried to survive the carnage. '99 season: A spring of repairing instead of getting something pretty. New front clip installed by Tom Fox. In order to run both tracks with the same number I reluctantly gave up old faithful #28 (it had been reserved at Thompson during my absence). I decided to take the #73. Feature win #12 came on my second race of the year at Waterford Speedbowl. Then I moved the operation to Thompson where drivers have the option of passing cars cleanly. I became one of the fastest cars and moved into the top ten in points in spite of missing the first two races. (see weekly results). New crew members have made great strides in helping improve the car's speed. I was leading the race (this was the first time all season that any new tires were purchased for our car...) in September when my axle broke. I'm told we did a respectable fireworks display worth of sparks as the car spun "tirelessly". All the talented drivers were near the front of the pack at that time, and all thankfully dodged my car. I searched my compass and realized that I wasn't in Kansas, and that I was sitting dent free in the high groove of Thompson's turn one. This year's World Series had us starting deep in a 43 car field but finishing 4th in a three way battle for second! Things are really coming together for our team. '2000 Season: We continue to make great strides. We finished the year in 8th place out of over 40 regular competitors. To get more particulars of last year's season, check out our race day page! '2001 Season: We are really excited to be running a Mike Pettit Powered engine this year. This is our first year running with an engine by one of the top engine builders. Can't wait to see what the new engine and the new track surface will mean!!!! See 2001 season results pages for details. 2001 season highlights: -9 Wins at Thompson Speedway Sportsman
division. New Track Record for wins. 2002 season highlights: -4 Wins at Thompson Speedway Sportsman
division. 2003 season highlights: -4 wins At Thompson Speedway. 2004 season highlights: -3 Wins at Thompson Speedway Limited Sportsman
Division. 2005 season highlights: -6 wins at Thompson Speedway in the Limited
Sportsman division.
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