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Gary Reents and 35 Years of Racing History

After 35 years of exciting wins and nights of bad luck, stock car racing has become a lifestyle for the entire Reents family.

July 4th Weekend in 1970, Gary Reents hits the track for the first time at Viking Speedway in Alexandria, MN. Gary was only able to run the consolation race with his 1955 Chevy being the track had a rule you had to race two weeks before you could run an A Feature. When deciding what number to use Gary said "There was only one class and you could pick any number as long as it was not already taken, so I chose the number 1, no one was racing a number 1 at Viking Speedway." Gary started out his racing career with the number 1, but many fans probably do not remember that the first year his stock car was painted orange and black.

The next day Gary and his brother Randy Reents headed over to Centre Raceway at the Fairgrounds in Sauk Centre, MN to race Sunday afternnoon. In only his second race Gary rolled off the back stretch, past the ditch and onto the highway. Gary said "Rolling onto the highway was a common occurrence back then, people would sit in lawn chairs in their front yards and watch the races, cars would end up in their yards."

When asked how the Reents Brothers got started in racing, Randy said "Gary decided he wanted to drive, so we built the 55 Chevy, we didn't even have a garage so we did all the work outside, all we had was a welder, hacksaw, and a few wrenches. It was three years later before we had a small garage."

That first partial season he ran, Gary said he rolled the 55 Chevy four times, and also four times the second year but the roll cage built from drive shafts held up. Gary went to his familiar red, white and blue paint scheme in 1971 and the Reents Brothers ran the 55 Chevy for three seasons. Gary said they raced three times a week back then running at Herman Speedway, Viking Speedway and Centre Raceway. They were known as the "Hippie Racing Team" with their long hair and beards.

Gary told many stories when asked about what would be his worst accident racing, but decided it was probably in 1971 at Viking Speedway. "I hit the wall and spun down the front straight away and ended up sitting by the pit gate, Joe Riesselman T-boned me right behind my drivers seat and shreaded the car. That was a bad one."

Randy Reents had another story about an accident at the Fairgrounds in Sauk Centre. "One car rolled over on its top and Gary turned to avoid it and rolled and ended up on his top and a third car hit Gary. They just had a nurse at the track and she wanted Gary to go to the hospital to get checked out. As they left the track she told Gary that the Sauk Centre Hospital was closed on Sundays and wanted to know whether he preferred going to Alex or Melrose." Randy said "Gary told her, just bring me back to the track."

In 1973 Gary began racing a 1963 Nova which he ran for two years. They hauled the car to the track on a 1958 Chevy flatbed grain truck. Gary then puchased a 1965 Chevelle from Wayne Kluver and raced it in 1975. The following year the team did some modifing to the car. The front end of the car was still the Chevelle but they built a home made rear end and put a 1970 Camaro body on it, Gary raced this car in 1976 and 1977.

Gary purchased a Late Model from Affordable in 1978, the car had originally been driven by Tom Nesbitt and then Mike Killian. In 1983 the car had to be changed over to a Limited Late Model, before Gary's car was finished he drove part of the season for Terry Merten. After changing the car to a Limited Late Model, Gary and Randy picked up a body for the car from Dick Trickle. The Reents Brothers Team continued racing this same Late Model through 1984.

Gary's Modified days began in 1985 with a purchase of an Affordable Modified. The Reents crew debuted the new car 4th of July Weekend that year and ran the same car on dirt through 1991. Gary then ran the Modified on asphalt from 1992 through 1995.

Through out Gary's racing career he not only drove his own cars, he also drove a Late Model for Bob Danzeisen, Ehrp and Goldstein, and Terry Merten, in addition to pitting for Matt Schroeder for a short while. In the late 1990's Gary's daughter Jessie and son Kyle began racing and the Reents family concentrated on their cars for a few years.

In 2002, Gary began driving a Street Stock for Black Gold Racing. Jim Fischer tossed around a few names of who he would like to drive the car, and kept coming back to Gary Reents, but he was unsure of how a retired Late Model driver would feel about driving a Street Stock. "I called Kyle Reents first and asked if he thought his dad would be interested in driving the car and we ran the idea past Jane, Gary's wife. Before I could call Gary, he called the shop and was very interested in driving the car." said Fischer.

That year Gary returned to the track and won the Rookie of the Year Honors in the Street Stock Division at Viking Speedway. "It gave everyone a chuckle." said Gary "It only took me 30 years to win Rookie of the Year, we had a good time and that's what counts." In 2003, Gary and the crew had the car handling well and Gary stated he had a lot of fun driving the Street Stock. Gary won the 2003 Street Stock Championship at Viking Speedway and also won the Wissota 100 Title that year. Gary said, "Winning the Wissota 100 was definitely a highlight in my career, that night meant a lot to me." In addition to winning the feature, Gary won his heat and came in second in overall passing points that year. "I am glad they went to passing points, I have never been good at drawing for position."

With the success the team was having Jim Fischer decided to put Gary in a Super Stock, as well as return Gary to the familiar red, white and blue number 1 everyone remembered so well. Black Gold Racing purchased an Affordable Chassis and built a new Super Stock in 2004.

The team is looking forward to the 2005 season where Gary will again be piloting the Super Stock. Many fans have enjoyed watching Gary race for many years, and his competitors will tell you he is a fair driver to race against.

Very few drivers can boast of a career of over three decades. Gary's fans and family will be happy to know he shows no signs of stopping now. Gary Reents will continue to head to the track and give us many more years of exciting racing action.

Gary Reents Wins Viking Speedway July 4th Special | July 2004

Brooten, MN (July 12th, 2004) - Local driver, Gary Reents and the Black Gold Racing Team overcomes the competition and takes home their first feature win of the season. The team has been anticipating the years first victory since moving to a new division, after capturing the Season Championship last year.

An impressive field of cars showed up to compete during the July 4th Weekend Event. Reents lead the entire Super Stock feature holding off the current point leader during the 20 lap race. As a local crowd favorite, many spectators felt it was fitting to see the familiar red, white, and blue #1 come out on top for the 4th of July Special.

Reents pilots an Affordable Super Stock Chassis which is powered by a Black Gold Performance Engine. The Black Gold Team with the support of many local businesses competes at Viking Speedway in Alexandria, MN every Saturday night through out the racing season.


Area Racers Recognized | November 2003

The area's top racers received formal recognition of their talents at a Viking Speedway awards banquet. The banquet was held on Saturday, November 22 at the Alexandria Holiday Inn. The top 10 racers highest points in six different divisions were awarded trophies.

Gary Reents of Villard won point champion of the street stock division. In this same division, Mark Blom of Glenwood took second place. Zach Johnson of Lowry won the point championship in the mid-west modified division. Kyle Reents of Villard placed ninth, and Jason Hoffman of Lowry took tenth place. Derrik Strickler of Glenwood placed tenth in the super stock division. He also took home the rookie of the year award in his class. Pope County Tribune Article


Following In His Father's Footsteps | June 2003
Gary and Kyle Reents made history with their victories on May 31st

By Michael Weerts (Pope County Tribune)
On May 31st at the Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Gary Reents had just pulled into the winners' circle when his son Kyle pulled out of the starting blocks to start his race in the Midwest Modified division.

Gary was the first to take first place that night in the Feature Street Stock as Kyle completed the Reents sweep that night, winning the Midwest Modified division, which was Kyle's first victory at Viking Speedway.

Having a father-son duo win their races on the same night is a rare occurence and something that is new to the Viking Speedway.

According to Gary, there are a lot of fathers who have sons that race, but a lot of fathers have retired when their son starts racing.

"A lot of fathers retire, when the kid comes and starts racing, because it takes a lot of work and money to keep one car in good condition no less two" he said.

Growing up in the midst of his fathers pit crew, Kyle was almost destined to follow in his fathers footsteps and race cars.

Through the years of racing Gary's kids helped out at a very young age and always gave a helping hand.

"We always had my daughter, Jesse and Kyle helping out with the car" said Reents.

As Kyle grew up around racing and worked on cars and gained vast knowledge about cars at an early age, he started to take an interest very quickly.

At the age of 15, Kyle built a U-Car front wheel drive racing car. "I wasn't old enough to race yet, so my sister Jesse raced the car for me, and did a pretty good job racing," Kyle said.

Kyle has been racing strong since he was 16 and is in his sixth year of racing. He spent three years at the Sauk Centre Asphalt track before starting at the Viking Speedway in 2001.

Racing cars has been part of Gary's life since he and his brother grew up working on cars. "We decided to build a race car and we just kept at it, and fell in love with racing," said Gary.

His debut began in 1970 and he continued racing for the next 20 years, but due to financial reasons, Gary Reents was forced to retire after 21 years of racing in 1991.

A year ago, Brooten Auto came knocking on Gary's door and asked if he would race a car for them. Gary jumped at the opportunity and got behind the wheel for the first time in nearly 10 years.

In 2002, Gary raced in the Street Stock class for the first time in his life. He fared very well on his comeback and after 30 years of racing, Gary won the Rookie of the Year Award, for being the best in his class the first year.

After racing cars, and growing up around and working on cars, last Saturday night was a remembered night for the Reents. "Oh, we were excited," said Gary. "I was more excited for Kyle though, this was his first win at Alexandria, and the first win is always the most remembered win."

The Reents were rained out of their title defense on Saturday, but will have another shot this coming weekend, to make it one even better for the record books. Pope County Tribune Article

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