An 82-year-old stock car driver set to make his racing return after a 15-year hiatus

If you know the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, you know the quote “I live my life a quarter mile at a time,” but that may be just the movies.

For race car drivers in the Northland and beyond, their ‘Fast and Furious’ moments happen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at our local race tracks.

His name and number are familiar to Northland and beyond area racers and race fans. 82-year-old Dick Christman will be back burning rubber on his home track of Gondik Law Speedway in Superior on Friday, May 26, 2023, where he has 49 wins and is hoping to make it 50.

Christman shares that he hopes a lot of people will come to the race and there are two things that people will get the chance to see when that flag drops. “A lot of people are going to come to the race that hasn’t been to the race because they found out the 89 car is coming back. So, it’s going to be interesting. Either these young kids are going to take me to school, or I’m taking them to school; either or.”

His racing career began by hanging out with some friends and an invite to get behind the wheel of a car. That was the moment he figured out if he would be good at it or very bad. “We had an old man’s car club, and we found an old choppy 1948 Mercury, and we said we want someone to drive it. I drove it and I did pretty good with it, and that got me going, and I’ve been racing ever since.”

Christman has not been behind a stock car steering wheel in 15 years, and he raced in the Northland and surrounding areas for more than 35 years before his hiatus. WDIO will be at Gondik Law Speedway and will have more on his return to the race track after more than 10 years.