Dwight Cook, left, helped present the trophy to driver Bud Peterson, center, during the Kossuth County Fair.
Dwight Cook began his career at the Algona track in 1962 as flagman. In 1969 or 1970 he became the track promoter of the Kossuth County facility.
As flagman for the speedway it was Cook’s job to make sure all cars were first in the proper alignment and that the driver’s seat belts were fastened. When he was done with his pre-race checklist, he ran to the edge of the infield to flag the event. In those days the flagman stood at the edge of the speedway to keep an eye on the action! Cook said that some fans would come to the track just to watch him run around to keep the show moving.
During his years as a track official, Cook flagged at Algona, Denison, Mason City, Osage and Webster City. His most exciting night as a flagman occurred in Mason City and as the field came by the front stretch four wide…two cars went high to miss Cook and two cars went low. Cook commented that ‘that was exciting’.
The racing bug bit Cook early. His brother Elmer owned race midgets and stock cars and Cook would go AWOL from the military at times to go racing with Elmer.
When Cook first started promoting the speedway, they raced on Friday nights. It wasn’t long after he promoted the track that they changed to Saturday nights. The move to Saturday was made at that time because stores stayed open Friday night and the store employees wanted to go to the races.
