Redmond ready at Fairmont, MN in 1967.
By Chad Meyer
Stacy Redmond grew up in a racing family, following his father Jack to the races from their Sheffield, IA home. Stacy started racing in 1957 when he was 15 years old. At the time, his father owned a race car that was driven by Ted Zeiman and Dale Wilhite. Stacy got his start in racing when his father was in the hospital for surgery. Stacy and his friends snuck the race car to the Belmond, IA speedway for his first race behind the wheel.
After a successful first night of racing, Redmond snuck the car out of the garage again the next weekend for another trip to Belmond. This night ended rough for Redmond, as he crashed off one of the turns, flying through the air and smashed into a pole several feet in the air. The result of the accident was a broken collar bone for Redmond and his father learning about his racing adventures.
After taking time to mend, Redmond resumed his race driving career a year later in 1958. His racing career heated up in 1961 when he raced modifieds at promoter Lamont Wellendorf’s race tracks in Iowa. 1964 was one of Redmond’s best seasons behind the wheel, racing modifieds primarily at Algona on Friday nights, Sunday nights in Mason City and racing at Webster City on Wednesday’s.
The 1964 season culminated with Redmond winning the K & K Insurance modified series championship at Wellendorf’s tracks, earning the seven foot trophy that went with the championship. During his modified racing days, Redmond was the winner of an amazing 11 races in a row.
Redmond fondly remembers his year’s racing modifieds at Algona. He said every week was great racing there and he and his family always looked forward to going to the Kossuth County track. Redmond recalls that most A features then paid $500 to win and a driver could make money if he ran well.
He felt that any win at Algona was thrill, because you had to beat great local drivers like Gene Schattschneider, Les Wildin, and many others. Redmond says that any win in Algona meant more to him than any local victory because you were an outsider that had to beat great local talent to get the trophy.
In the early 1970’s, Redmond also competed racing snowmobiles in Iowa and Minnesota. He accumulated several wins and also competed in the four day Winnipeg, Canada to St. Paul, MN endurance race.
After a trip to one of the first Knoxville Nationals, Redmond fell under the spell of sprint cars. Upon making the transition to the sprint car class, he began competing at the legendary half mile in Knoxville. In his first season at the legendary speed plant, Redmond finished fourth in points.
Redmond spent most of his sprint car career behind the wheel of a wingless sprinter. Even though he was an underdog to the teams that had more money and resources, Redmond notched multiple feature wins at Knoxville.
In his final season behind the wheel, Redmond captured the 360 sprint car season point championship at Knoxville Raceway in 1984. His son Wayne followed in his foot steps by capturing the 360 sprint car season championship two years later, with Stacy as the car owner. The Redmond family holds the distinction of being the only father-son connection to win season championships at the Knoxville facility.
Redmond is 1985 inductee into the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame. His father Jack joined him in the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame in 1987.
Today, Redmond is co-owner of Grawmondbeck’s Competition Engines in Mason City, Iowa. Most Saturday nights, you will find him watching the races at Knoxville Raceway.
