April 4, 2026

Mini Wedges Keep Racing Alive with Kenny Head

Send us Fan Mail A lot of racers retire and finally take it easy. Kenny Head went the other direction and built a youth racing pipeline that’s helping keep short track racing alive in Michigan. Melinda Russell sits down with Kenny to talk about the Kalamazoo Speedway Mini Wedges program, why it matters, and what it takes to turn kids as young as five into confident, safe, competitive racers. We get into how the program has grown from a small, inconsistent group into a steady weekly field, pl...

Send us Fan Mail

A lot of racers retire and finally take it easy. Kenny Head went the other direction and built a youth racing pipeline that’s helping keep short track racing alive in Michigan. Melinda Russell sits down with Kenny to talk about the Kalamazoo Speedway Mini Wedges program, why it matters, and what it takes to turn kids as young as five into confident, safe, competitive racers.

We get into how the program has grown from a small, inconsistent group into a steady weekly field, plus how racing at Berlin Raceway creates big moments for young drivers, including racing in front of thousands and getting real visibility. Kenny also shares how they’re bridging the common age gap with a new Charger series aimed at teens, so kids don’t get “stuck” between youth karts and full-size cars.

Safety and access run through everything. Kenny explains the push for strong rules that other tracks can align with, the move to a nonprofit 501(c)(3) model so every dollar goes back into the program, and how a volunteer crew makes it all possible. We also talk women in motorsports, with more girls joining the roster and proving that once the helmet goes on, it’s simply racer versus racer.

If you care about grassroots motorsports, youth racing, and the future of local tracks, hit play, then subscribe, share the show with a racing friend, and leave a review so more fans can find these stories.

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00:50 - A Friendship Built At The Track

03:11 - Kenny’s Racing Roots And Mission

05:21 - Taking Over The Mini Wedges

07:42 - The Volunteer Crew Behind It

09:27 - Growing Counts And New Age Classes

11:58 - Travel, Berlin Raceway, And TV

13:59 - Practice Dates And First Race

14:59 - Nonprofit Funding And Safety Focus

17:08 - Girls Racing And Real Competition

18:46 - Why The Racetrack Still Matters

21:30 - Welcoming Families New To Racing

24:06 - Why Mini Wedges Are Easier

26:47 - Turning Kid Racers Into Big Cars

28:20 - How To Join And Try Rides

30:25 - National Rules And Bigger Weekends

33:51 - Team Shoutouts And Closing

WEBVTT

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Hello, everybody.

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This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motor Sports Network Podcast.

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And I have an old friend on the show tonight.

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And like he said, we could probably talk for two hours, but we're not going to do that.

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I'm going to save you that because we what we need to do, Kenny, is get together and have dinner.

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Then we don't have to worry about what we say or who we talk about, right?

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Sounds like a planet.

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So my good friend Kenny Head is here, and I'm going to tell a little story about him.

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Probably 20 years ago, I went to the Kalamazoo Speedway for one of the first times ever because I hadn't lived here all that long.

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And there was Mr.

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Smooth, they called him, driving the 26th car.

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And he was my first favorite driver at Kalamazoo Speedway.

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And I don't really know why.

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I like the look of his car.

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I thought Mr.

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Smooth sounded cool.

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And so, you know, I just, you, you know how it is when you go to the races.

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Something about a car or a driver just like kind of speaks to you.

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And he spoke to me that night.

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And so he became one of my favorite drivers.

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Then it became autograph night.

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And I took my granddaughters down into the pit area.

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And I still have a picture of Madison Snyder, who Kenny is going to be 21 in April.

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She was probably about seven.

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And took her and I still have the picture of you and her standing by your car.

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And so yeah, it's crazy.

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We've been through a lot over the last 20 years, you and I and our families.

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And and you know, those friendships just don't go away.

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They just don't.

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And I know if I ever needed anything and I reached out to you, you'd be there and the same for me, for you.

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Yes, ma'am.

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Absolutely.

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So a lot of people that listen to this show are going to be like, who the heck is Kenny Head?

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And why do you have a man on your show?

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Because it's usually women.

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And so why don't you start by telling my listeners a little bit about yourself and then go right on into your racing story and kind of what you're doing now?

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Well, Kenny Head is uh, I mean, and love racing, have my whole entire life.

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I've been in the racing, my racing family, as it goes way back to both my grandfather's on my dad's side and my mother's side.

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Uh, I'm a third generation driver, and I started this 40 years ago, and I'm the third generation at that time.

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My son is racing, and I'm hoping my grandkids would be racing, and that's what we're gonna be talking about actually today.

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That's why I'm doing what I'm doing.

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Oh I started racing at 18, a little older than even some of the people that are starting today, obviously.

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And then so some of the kids we're helping today are they're starting at four and a half.

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So I I wish I had that back then.

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But yeah, I uh did it for a long time.

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Absolutely loved love the sport.

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And after 40 plus years of racing, it's just time for me to give back to the sport that's given me so much over the years, and got between championships and and and wins and everything like that.

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I can tell you that it it almost is the same thing for what I'm doing today.

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What what we're doing today is it kind of gives me the same feeling as it does not exactly sitting in the car, but after retiring last year or whatever, I had to find something to keep me busy, which we'd already started doing this.

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But I'm but I'm proud to say that I have a really, really big love with the sport, with the mini wedges, and to see those kids.

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And and you know as well, too, back in the day, we worked with um the quarter midgets for probably about five years with the host of our family.

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You know, Carson, host of ours, started.

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I watched him get into his first car, actually.

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You know, we were sitting in the garage and and uh Ben Raver and Dale Raver and I were sitting there, and Scott shows up with Carson, he jumps in his first quarter midget.

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I was there for that.

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It's kind of crazy that then we watched him race yesterday.

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So so I just I love the the young kids in the sport, and this is kind of my give back to everything that's been given to me over the the last 40 plus years.

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And the mini wedge program, it kind of got thrown in my lap to begin with.

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Gary Howe and myself were talking about some stuff that uh was going on at the racetrack before we took it over.

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And he said, you know what, we ought to go out there and and kind of take that over and and see what we can do to make that thing grow.

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And I said, I'm in, you know what, whatever we gotta do, you know, let's let's do it.

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And we we went out there, we put some stuff together, changed some stuff up, tried to make it a little safer.

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And then that first day, I turned around and looked, and there was no more week.

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It was just me.

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Gary, Gary had all the intentions on and helping or whatever, but he got pulled away.

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But I have I have some of the best people that help me do this.

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It's it's a joint effort.

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We're all volunteer.

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We we don't take a paycheck from this.

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We have so many new things don't coming this year alone.

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But I have I have 13, 14 people that help me uh run this program, and they're all dedicated to do the same thing that I'm doing.

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And it's just to watch the young kids in this sport and to keep the sport alive.

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And I think this is the only way it's gonna survive.

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The young kids, there's an age gap there where we just don't have kids getting into the sport, you know, 15 years ago.

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So there's a big gap between uh myself and then, you know, you drop down almost almost 20 years before it starts getting excited again where kids are getting back into racing.

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And I still think that we got to keep it going with this with this young program.

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But it doesn't matter.

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I don't think it matters if it's a quarter major, if it's a mini-wedge.

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As long as they get the love of the sport and they're out there turning laps, that's kind of why I'm here.

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And I I love it.

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And uh we like I said, we've got we've got many, many things that we're doing this year.

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Very excited about a lot of things that are happening.

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And uh, yeah, that's it's kind of where we're starting.

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You know, you make it sound like, oh, it was not that big a deal.

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So easy.

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I can't even imagine the hours that you spend.

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Probably as many or more as you did working on your race car.

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Well, I'm not out, I'm not up till two o'clock in the morning doing it anymore.

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But but yes, we do spend a lot of time.

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It's actually fun because now it's um it's not just me and my crew chief out in the garage or whatever.

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Todd's still helping.

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Todd's actually moved on to help me with the mini wage program.

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Him and his daughter both came over from that to help me with that.

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But now my wife is involved.

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She's she's the secretary of the um of the program.

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I got Joel, which is the announcer at Cam Moses Speedway.

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He's our vice president.

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Michelle Sexton, she's our she's our treasurer, and Taylor's our race director.

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So I have all these people that kind of wish I still had a race car because I'm texting them all all the time or whatever.

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Hey, what do you think we should try to do with this?

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So they're little like, why don't you go back and work on a race car and leave us alone so we can get some other work done or whatever it was.

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I do I do find it fun.

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There's it it is a lot of work, and I'm not done.

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I got some things that we want to try to do.

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I want to try to do an indoor series next year.

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Look, I'm currently looking for a place to do it.

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I want to try to have at least five shows throughout the winter.

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Keep these kids engaged throughout the winter and and and it gives uh gives me something to do too.

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So yeah.

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So so Taylor's the race director, you said?

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Yes.

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Yeah, so I had her on, I don't know if it was last year or the year before, but she was on and talked about it a little bit, but it was in its infancy at that time.

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And I don't know, there was maybe 20 kids altogether on and off.

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So do you have about the same amount of kids?

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Because I know as they grow up, they can't be in, you know, they can't race those.

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So, about how many kids would you say you have on a typical weekend?

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We actually have we have over 50 kids that come back and forth that are in and out of that program, but we have a consistent number on Sundays when we run Kenamazoo.

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We usually have an average car count record around 25, 27 thereabouts.

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When when I came to the program, they had about nine to 12.

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Again, not consistent, but we actually we have a new class that we're starting this year because our class right now, we have a junior class that is four and a half years old that you can start practicing in, racing at five, and then you can race that junior class from five until nine, and then 10 to 14 is a senior class.

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Well, we have that gap in between the two that we really were trying to find something to take that place because a lot of kids at even 13, 14 years old, they're getting too big for the go-kart.

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And and now we've actually started a new class.

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It's called the Challenger, it's called the Henny Challenger series, and it's actually taken a lot of parts right now, the mini-wedge that that they're racing currently.

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And uh it's it's a little bit bigger cart, and they're gonna take the restrictor plate out, add a new, add a pipe to it, an exhaust pipe to it with a muffler, and uh it actually accepts adults even.

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I'm not taking that on yet, no adults.

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Uh, I'm planning my uh challenge series will be my charger series, sorry, charger series will be from the age of 12 if they've got experience, but basically from 14 to 18.

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So it's gonna bridge that gap right up to the big cars.

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That's really cool.

00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:10.240
Yeah, don't take on the adults because that no, that that would be a huge mistake.

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I've been there.

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So I'm I know what I know I've dealt with me for years and I wouldn't want to do that again.

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I know you have.

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And I I was just at the Michigan Speedway Promoters meeting last weekend, a couple weeks ago, and one of the things somebody said was, you know, I love working with the kids.

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The kids are great if we could just keep the parents out of the way.

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And so, you know, that's true of every sport, I think, for sure.

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And and racing, we know can get pretty competitive and you know, you wreck on the track, and we won't go down that road.

00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:46.320
But, you know, I get what you're saying.

00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.480
But to have that many kids, now, how far away do they come from?

00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:57.600
Because are those all pretty much local kids, or do they come from, you know, other cities pretty far away?

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We've got a pretty good following.

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We've worked together with the surrounding tracks, and we've all kind of changed our schedule around to make sure that we kind of stay off each other's dates and it travel.

00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:11.519
I mean, there's a lot of travel.

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Well, I got a lot of cars come from Indiana, northern Indiana.

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We also run the program at Berlin Race Bay, also.

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So they're coming from up north, they're coming from down south.

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I've got a I've got a young kid that actually, he's eight years old, and he is he's quite a star.

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And he won so many races this year.

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I had to move him up to the senior to the senior uh class.

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But he comes from the east side of the state.

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That's a it's almost a two-hour drive for him to come over, and I see him every every Sunday we race.

00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:56.559
We race at Berlin, given some given Saturdays, and we've got which we got six Saturday shows up there, and we have seven Wednesday shows in Berlin.

00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.759
Okay, we have them coming from all over the place.

00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:06.159
So when you do the Saturday shows at Berlin, is that part of their Saturday program?

00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.120
Yeah, they get the kids get to race, they have their flow racing going that day.

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So they're racing on TV in front of about you know somewhere between four to six thousand people.

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Now, isn't that cool?

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It it really is.

00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:21.279
That's really it's a lot of fun.

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It's gotta be a lot of fun.

00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.519
And then Wednesdays, would that just be just the mini wedges then?

00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:33.840
That is just the mini wedges, and it'll be our new series, which will be the new cart that we're bringing out, also, yes.

00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:37.679
Okay, and then Kalamazoo is typically on a Sunday.

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We do a Sundays.

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I tried to make the schedule this year where it was really close to about every other Sunday, but the track actually has a couple things that that that they're doing that that mess it up, but not really mess it up, but just change it a little bit.

00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.279
But for just about every other Sunday we're at Kamazoo.

00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:56.000
Yeah.

00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.799
And how soon are you gonna be starting that?

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April 12th is our first practice, and then we April 19th will be our first race.

00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.919
Well, you better hope it stops this because I'm looking out the window and it's snowing.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:21.279
So we we've already had three three springs already this year, so yeah, I know it can't make up its mind if it wants to lettuce and bread or not, but yeah, I think this is the end of it.

00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:21.919
I really do.

00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:30.399
I'm just confident of that because all over the country and people that I talk to, they're all racing, and you know, and so now we're waiting.

00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:40.879
And so I interviewed some gals that race snowmobiles, and you know, of course, they go up north and they don't want it to stop snowing, and then you and I are ready for the sunshine.

00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:44.320
So yeah, we're gonna get outside exactly.

00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.039
Yeah.

00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:51.759
So do you have people that like sponsor like businesses or anything that give these kids trophies?

00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:57.519
Like if they win a race, what it are they are they working for points for the end of the year?

00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:58.879
How does all that work?

00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:00.240
All the above, actually.

00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:02.080
I've got some people that help us.

00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:06.480
I've not really pursued too much sponsorship yet at this point.

00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:13.840
Um, because for the one reason is we're in the process and the paperwork, it's all been accepted, it's all done.

00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.000
We are a nonprofit organization now.

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I I have my the 501c3, we have that paperwork, it's all completed.

00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:23.600
It actually has been approved by the government.

00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:27.440
We should have that, I would say, in the mailbox any day.

00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:33.919
So I didn't want to pursue too much sponsorship and until we were received that all the way.

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But I do have some people that some actually that just come up to us, hand us some money.

00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:45.919
Here's some money for trophies, or here's money for this, or you know, you guys are doing a great job, you know, do this and do that.

00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:51.519
So I do have and a lot of those are the we talk about the adults that we have sometimes we have trouble with.

00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:59.039
These are the people that are racing with us that just kind of just hand us over, you know, a couple hundred marks here, a couple hundred bucks there.

00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:02.159
We like I said, we we don't take a paycheck on from this.

00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:11.440
Everything that we take in, penny, every penny we take in goes right back in the program, whether it be for trophies, safety equipment, tools.

00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.679
I'm in the process right now.

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I'm working on the light saver program is actually the track lights.

00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.360
I'm actually working on getting that for our program.

00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:27.840
It's and it's a wireless system with the uh with a box that we're actually we're gonna hopefully have that.

00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:30.080
And we'll be able to take that to most racetracks.

00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.639
So um we're working on that.

00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:34.480
But you got some big plans.

00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:38.320
We still got some things that we would like to do as far as some tools.

00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:39.360
Go for tech.

00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.799
Chris is my tech, my head tech guy.

00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:48.320
He loves he loves tools, but we're we're gonna start doing some checking of fuel.

00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:58.559
Just we don't really have a big problem with things like that, but I suspect the bigger we get, the more things are gonna come to us as far as that goes.

00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.360
So we're just gonna we're gonna beat it up before it gets there.

00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.080
Yeah.

00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.759
Better to be prepared than try to fix it later.

00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:06.880
Yes, exactly.

00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.160
Yeah, for sure.

00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.000
So, you know, I'm all about the women, although I love you men.

00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.119
I always say I love the men, but I'm all about the women.

00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:19.599
So, about how many girls would you have, do you think, racing?

00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.480
I'll tell you, honestly, I would say we're about 60, 40.

00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.640
There's the girls, the girls are really kind of coming into it.

00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:42.400
And I think from what I understand, I've got a rookie class that we're starting this year, and I'm gonna have five, four or five new girls that are like somewhere between the ages of five and seven.

00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.000
So wow, yeah.

00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:54.319
So we're the girls are definitely a big part of what we have going on, and we've got some we've got some really good talents in uh in the women.

00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.920
I mean, the girls are just they're really aggressive.

00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.200
Um when they put a helmet on, they don't you don't know who they are.

00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:17.440
I mean, and if you didn't know sitting in the stands that that was a girl or if they've got pink on the car or whatever, obviously you might be able to tell, but there's a couple of girls that race with us that um they put it to the boys just as just you know, they they don't they don't lighten up on anybody and it's fun to watch.

00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.240
Yeah.

00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.480
You know, I interviewed Billy Vennerini one time in Chicago.

00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:30.960
In his program.

00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:39.920
And so one of the things he said was when you put the helmet on, nobody knows if if it's a girl or a guy.

00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:41.599
It's just a racer.

00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.920
Yeah, just a racer in that car.

00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:53.279
So what what you know, you could you could be camping every weekend, you could be traveling.

00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:55.200
There's so many things you could be doing.

00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:57.039
Why are you doing this?

00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:01.200
My my wife asked me that to begin with.

00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:09.920
Um because she says if we're gonna retire, you know, we've got we've got a fifth-wheel camper sitting out here that we've not used nearly as much as we should have.

00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:17.279
But after getting her into the into this or whatever, she's she's just as much into it as I am.

00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:20.640
And she's the first one in the truck when we're getting ready to go to the racetrack.

00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.680
So I I don't know, to be honest with you.

00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:27.440
I I I love I just love what we do.

00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.160
And I I want to be at the racetrack.

00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.400
I mean, I've got um I've got a son that races still, you know, nephews that race.

00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:36.880
So I'm gonna be at the racetrack regardless.

00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:45.279
Um but I I just I I really can't even answer that question because the racetrack's all I know.

00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:49.680
I mean, that's really quite honestly, you know, I grew up at the racetrack.

00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.440
I ate more dirt at Gale or Galesburg Speedway than anyone else ever should ever eat again anywhere.

00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.599
But I've I've that's the that's the only thing I know is racetracks.

00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:06.319
Um to go off and relax somewhere and and hang out, it's I just it's just not me.

00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:12.480
I just I want to be someplace where I can smell tires burning and squealing and making a bunch of noise.

00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:14.880
So that's that's just where I want to be.

00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.519
That's my that's my happy place.

00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.200
Well, and knowing your wife, that's her happy place too.

00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:22.079
It is.

00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.880
She she just wondered at the time how much work and how much you were gonna be gone.

00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:31.119
But now that she's part of it, it's something the two of you are doing together.

00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:35.680
And you know, she's had a heart for racing, we know, for a really long time, too.

00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:43.440
And so you can't have anybody better by your side to be doing I wouldn't be able to do this without her, that's for sure.

00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:55.119
She made she makes it easy for me to do what I love, and now her love for it is actually we we've we missed out on some things with the family and stuff like that, just like we did with race carves.

00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:09.519
But I I don't know, like I said, I wouldn't be able to do it without her, and I appreciate I mean I appreciate all the people that help us or whatever, because you've got like Taylor Sexton or whatever, she races and then she does this.

00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:15.200
A lot of my crew that helps us the nights that we race, they give up a lot.

00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:26.319
I mean, there's we've got 26 shows that we're doing this year on top of half the people that help us or whatever, they're either working at the racetrack already or they're racing.

00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:29.440
So yeah, uh yeah, it's a lot.

00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:36.000
So do a lot of the kids that you have do they come from families that are already involved in racing?

00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:38.799
They there are some.

00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:46.319
Uh we have some of those, and then we have some others that are familiar with it because they know somebody that races.

00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:50.400
Funny story we had a we had a family show up last year.

00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:59.359
They they played baseball and they didn't really didn't really like the traveling all over the place or whatever with the baseball.

00:21:59.440 --> 00:21:59.759
They did.

00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.279
some other things, talked about doing some motorcycle racing or whatever, but they decided to go check out a program, a dirt track somewhere.

00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:09.920
And they went there on a Saturday night.

00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:11.839
And they went up there, checked it out.

00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.440
We weren't really impressed with it.

00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:24.960
They've never been to the they've been to the Kalamazoo Speedway to watch races, mostly night instruction stuff or whatever, but they've been they knew about Kalamazoo Speedway, but they know nothing about racing whatsoever.

00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:38.799
And they showed up on our program that next Sunday just to kind of get a feel for to see if it was any different than with the first track they were at because the people found out that they were new, they were interested in getting getting into the sport.

00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:42.160
And all we wanted them to do is just show them a good time.

00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:48.559
Just say, you know what, if they work out to nothing other than just to come out and they we get fans or whatever, great.

00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.200
You know, we actually just showed them around showed them what we do.

00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:59.599
And then my wife friended the lady that was this the the mom and uh she they friend each other on Facebook.

00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:04.079
She asked her a bunch of questions and they showed up two weeks together two weeks later with a car.

00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.200
And then the following week they had it they have two boys.

00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.480
Then the following week after that they showed up with a second car.

00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:16.079
They uh bought two used cars but they're they they love it.

00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:26.960
I mean they're they're in deep as they can get now so they they again they're from nowhere shape or form have anything to do with the racing background whatsoever.

00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.319
So a lot of ropes have to be shown to them about what we have to do.

00:23:30.559 --> 00:24:05.759
One good thing about the mini wedges too there's not there's no suspension on these there's still some setup work to do on but you don't have like um with quarter midgets I mean you have a lot of work to do with offsets of tires and what tires to run and suspension shocks and springs and all that stuff which is a lot for somebody to take on you know I think that um I think somebody to get started should look at our program first and then maybe if you figure that part of it out then then move up to a quarter midget if you're going to do something so you can learn suspension work.

00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:16.079
But they absolutely had a great time and they're they're we went we've actually went to dinner with them a couple times over the winter and they're excited to get back to the racetrack with us this year.

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:17.839
Yeah.

00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:29.680
And you know what Kenny I mean not not to take anything away from the kids whose parents race but I I talked to so many girls whose that's how they got in it.

00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:37.839
Their dad raced their mom raced their grandpa raced whatever and that's a natural progression right you were a fourth generation right third generation.

00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:45.680
Third generation my son's a fourth your son is the fourth generation and your little grandson will be the fifth right he will be fifth yep.

00:24:45.839 --> 00:25:14.960
And so so those those make sense but when you can see that you've impacted a family with two little boys and brought them into the sport and that has to be to me the most gratifying because kids who grow up around racing tend to want to be in racing but to find somebody who hasn't got any knowledge at all and then they love it.

00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.519
And here's the other thing I heard you say Cindy befriended them.

00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:26.480
And so I I do a lot of reading I listen to a lot of podcasts all racing stuff.

00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:48.480
And one thing that I hear over and over is you know when you have new people come to your track whether they're coming to watch or coming to check out the mini wedges you have to reach out be friendly show them where the bathrooms are show them this show them that and and somebody has to kind of take them under their wing and so many times that does not happen.

00:25:49.119 --> 00:26:09.359
And yet we know that racing has some of the most friendly people it has some of the people that care more about each other than any other sport right when something happens when something happens the first people there are the race people.

00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:47.359
And so to get those people involved it has to just make your heart just explode absolutely I I tell you that's that's you know you we go back years ago like when the grand the granddaughters were racing I go back and look and just watch the progression of what the where they started and you know and the Sextons when they first started and the longs you know you you see when they first start or whatever and then where they come to and where they're at now today and and that's that wholeheartedly is the reason that we're doing what we do.

00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.359
I just I want these kids that are racing with us today.

00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:57.440
I can't wait to see them I say today I want to see them come to a local racetrack and race.

00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:14.960
I want to watch them race you know locally we all know it takes a lot of money to go farther than the local level and if if we get we get these kids to jump into the big cars and we can watch them race on Saturday at night or Friday night race, I am that's what I'm here for.

00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:23.759
I just want to keep the short track alive and and that's that's more fulfilling to me to watch those kids want to race at the big track.

00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.599
And yeah that I love it.

00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:31.440
That's what I that's that's that's my goal is I want every one of these kids to jump into a big carnival race.

00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:33.359
Yeah and what does that do?

00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:43.039
That keeps our local tracks healthy absolutely you know look at you mentioned Ken along you know look at her she was just a crew chief a week or two ago.

00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:58.400
Yeah exactly I interviewed her last last fall maybe I don't know and I can remember when she was little and that little Alyssa you know she sat in a car you didn't even know there was anybody in the car.

00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:59.519
She was so tiny.

00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:14.079
And and now look at what she's doing and there's so many opportunities for girls and boys even if they can't keep racing but they can keep their hand in motorsports just like what you're doing.

00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:19.119
Right exactly that's what that's what that's what it's about is is keeping them involved.

00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:19.839
Yep.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:29.839
Yeah so if somebody wants to get involved with the mini wedges at Kalamazoo how would they go about doing that?

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:30.880
Who do they call?

00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:32.240
Where do they go?

00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:35.599
Let's get that let's get to 40 kids.

00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:41.440
Well we have we have a Facebook page it's right now it's called Kalmazou Scheme Win Mini Wedges.

00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:57.920
Get a hold of us on there we I mean there's several of us that have access to that page and we'll answer any questions that we can and then and how you want to get involved whether it be just to come out and watch or if you want we're we're actually going to do a tri ride on the I was going to ask you that.

00:28:58.160 --> 00:28:58.480
Okay.

00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.559
So yeah we're gonna do that.

00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:05.039
I got to kind of get some cars together for that but uh we're gonna do a tri ride.

00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:07.039
So there's several ways to get involved.

00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:27.839
We also you know I'm looking to try to get some some kids involved that that uh may not be the race fans and maybe not racers but come out and in and just see what we have you know as far as helping these young kids get into the car showing them you know how to get the seat belts on you know help them get in line and stuff like that.

00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:31.920
You know just just have everybody involved in what in what goes on.

00:29:32.160 --> 00:30:02.720
So but yeah Kalamazoo Speedway Mini Wedges has their own Facebook page look at that and we also will be uh the website we just that's new to us this year also too that's uh should be up and running hopefully within the next couple weeks our nonprofit organization name is Family Fund Mini Wedges and it'll be family funding familyfundminiwedges dot com so that's that's gonna be our nonprofit part of what we have going on.

00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:12.240
So we'll have our website go to that and it's um that way it'll be for the whole entire program for Berlin and uh Kalamazoo.

00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:13.200
Yeah.

00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:24.640
So Kenny let me ask you uh and I I won't keep you much longer because I know you have somewhere to go so there's many wedges not just in Kalamazoo obviously they're all over the place.

00:30:24.960 --> 00:31:08.400
Do they have any kind of a national like series or anything if kids are really good that they want to move on to or is that the next thing you're gonna be doing it's kind of funny you say that actually we've um our we've we rewrote our rules two years ago actually it'd been last last winter I'm sorry we wrote our rules and kind of spent and my secretary my wife and I spent almost two weeks rewriting all the rules looking at see what everybody else was doing but I don't want to be an island all by myself but I also one of the things that we're really really strict on is safety we want you to have fun first and and be safe.

00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:21.359
When you can't do those two things you're probably not gonna be you're not gonna have a good time at our pro in our in our program but I really think that we're probably really close.

00:31:21.440 --> 00:32:53.839
There's a lot of racetracks that are copy and pasting our rules to theirs so I would say we're probably not very far away from having a national set of rules and it'll be our rules that'll be national yes yeah it doesn't surprise me and wouldn't Kalamazoo be an excellent or Berlin be an excellent place for a national weekend race type thing I do my super shoe weekend we have a we have a super we have our own little super shoe weekend I knew you did you know I went to I got my Knoxville sweatshirt on I went to English Creek in Iowa which is a huge it's not a huge track Kenny it's out in the middle of nowhere it's dirt but it draws the week of the week of or the week before the Knoxville Nationals it draws hundreds of not just kids adults race there too but mostly kids the Brexton Bushes the Wyatt Millers those kids were all there when I was there two years two different years I went there I had a friend I have a friend that lives in Pella and wow I'm telling you what that is a cool event and if you can park trailers every which way in somebody's field which is what that was and you can hold a national race and they come from everywhere you know think what Berlin or Kalamazoo could do in that so there you go that's that's my challenge.

00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.839
I know you're gonna now you're gonna figure it out because that's just who you are.

00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:31.599
So somehow exactly somehow yeah well Kenny I'm I'm not I'm not a a you know somebody that can be the flag man or do any of that at the track but I do want to help in any way I can so you have to always know that I'm here and if there's something you need some help with or anything I can do you know you know where I'm at and how to get a hold of me and I'm gonna do a better job this year of coming out and watching those kids and interviewing some of those girls that are racing.

00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:32.559
That'd be fun.

00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:38.000
That would be really fun actually be great actually yeah anytime you just let me know you're coming we'll take care of you.

00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:50.960
Okay it sounds good anything else that you want to share Kenny that I didn't ask you about or that we left out you know not really we've like I said we've got a bunch of new things that we're gonna be doing this year.

00:33:51.119 --> 00:34:15.519
I think we've covered most of them but just really excited about 2026 see where we're gonna go with this I've got I I've got to kind of thank my the people that helped me as far as my my volunteer people like I said before Joel Michelle Cindy Taylor Joe is our safety director we actually are that's how serious we are about safety.

00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:25.519
Joe from our KTS the actually the head guy from the KTS him and his wife are doing our safety that's that's wow that's how we'll yeah we we take it pretty serious.

00:34:25.599 --> 00:35:04.559
So Dale McGahn Tyler McGann Eddie Benjamin again he's on the safety crew or whatever Chris and Kevin do my uh my tech work Kim and Caitlin are I'm sorry Kevin Todd and Caitlin are doing the lineups and what have you and now we've actually brought in a new we got our own photographer this year which is April she's uh she's gonna be doing we have our own like I say we have our own photographer that will be able to get get some pictures and keep them keep it regularly updated and what have you so gotta thank those people can't thank them enough they don't ask for anything in return they're just there every week doing everything that we do and I just I love it.

00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:15.119
Yeah you haven't stopped smiling since we started talking so you know that's all it's this is this is all it takes to get me to smile to talk about these talk about this program.

00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:50.719
So yeah and those kids for sure yeah yeah well Kenny thanks for being on I wanted to get you on before the season started so that we could start from the beginning and and let people know what you're doing and and that and just go to Facebook Kalamazoo Mini Wedges and for now that's where we're gonna find the schedule and what's going on or if there's a you know a special event happening whatever and and we'll keep track of you that way and again if I can ever do anything or promote anything you know where I'm at.

00:35:51.039 --> 00:36:02.639
I appreciate that Melinda yeah and like I said anytime you're coming out just let me know we'll like we'll take care of you and and I and you get out there and and interview those little girls or whatever like I said well we'll have plenty of them to do.

00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:05.440
So yeah yeah it'd be awesome.

00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:06.400
Sounds great.

00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:12.320
Tell your wife I said hello give her a hug and uh just walked she just walked in the door and I'll tell her.

00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:12.880
Okay.

00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:14.559
All right I'll talk to you soon.

00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:15.119
Thank you.

00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:23.920
All right thank you start to rent the women's women