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Dave "Navy Davy" Trautmiller

Jerry "Zimmy" Zimmer photo jerzimmy@msn.com

On January 4, 2008, friend and fellow photographer Dave "Navy Davy" Trautmiller passed away peacefully in his sleep.  In addition to being a fellow Navy veteran Dave was also a friend and frequent companion in the infield at local dirt tracks.  Dave never had a bad word to say about anybody and always lifted the spirits of everyone he came into contact with.  Cedar Lake, Kopellah, Red Cedar, you never knew where he was going to show up.  What stands out the most for me was Dave's enthusiasm and his love of racing.  He always wanted to show me that special shot and his favorite question was "did you get any good shots?"  Anytime there was a break in the action he would page through the menu of his digital camera and find that special shot he wanted to show me.  

If you attended races at Cedar Lake, Kopellah or Red Cedar you'll likely recall seeing a photographer that was partial to bib overalls.  Bibs and a racing shirt was Navy Davy's "uniform of the day", a term fellow sailors will recognize as one of "Mother Navy's" daily requirements.  

Dave once told me about an experience he had while stationed at San Diego, California.  Dave and a few shipmates would attend races at a track called the 117 Speedway near Chula Vista, California, whenever their ship was in port.  One young driver there won a lot of races and stood out above the rest.  Late Model racing was more popular east of the Mississippi so it wasn't long before Scott Bloomquist moved from California to Tennessee where there was more Late Model racing. Quite a fe years later during a Cedar Lake Late Model special Navy Davy told Scott Bloomquist this story.  The King of Dirt Late Model racing found it amusing that somebody way up in Wisconsin remembered watching him early in his racing career.

The memory of Navy Davy will always be with me, especially when I'm taking photos in the infield of one his favorite dirt tracks.

Here are a couple of photos that I took during the 2008 racing season that had Navy Davy in them

Some of Navy Davy's "Shot of the Week" photos from 2007 and 2008

Raleigh Sandberg

Many of you knew Raleigh Sandberg from his days wheeling a 360 Sprint Car around Minnesota and western Wisconsin.  Raleigh had been retired from racing for several years but would still make it to some of the races.  The last time I talked to him was the summer of 2006 at Cedar Lake Speedway at one of the Sprint Car shows.  Raleigh had hauled a triailer of parts from Long Prairie and was staying at a motel up inOsceola.  

He was having trouble with a stubborn oil leak on his truck that would have drove me crazy but Raleigh just laughed about it. We lost Raleigh suddenly due to illness on March 6, 2007.  All of the Sprint Car people in this area lost a good friend, rest in peace Raleigh.

raleigh brainerd	raleigh owatonna	raleigh princeton	raleigh rice lake 2	raleigh rice lake 3
		raleigh rice lake

Steve Haman

Steve Haman raced 360 Sprint Cars at the Husets Speedway where he lost his life in a crash.  I never met Steve but he was the brother-in-law of my wife's aunt Barb Muckle.  Barb's maiden name was Barb Schmidt and she grew up near Flandreau, South Dakota.  Husets Stock Car fans will recognize the name Jimmy Schmidt.  Jimmy is Barb's brother and he builds engines that are used in many of the cars that compete in the area.

Doug Johnson Photo

Billy Anderson of Dayton, MN, passed away as a result of complications from a sprint car accident at the Knoxville Raceway in June of 1998.  The Billy Anderson Memorial each April at the Cedar Lake Speedway honors Billy's career as a Sprint Car driver and the  impact he made on the local racing scene.  I watched Billy race 360 Sprint Cars at the Cedar Lake Speedway many times during his brief career.

Billy Anderson

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