If You Build It, They Will Come

You won't find too many famous names on the Iowa Connections Racing checklist.  As you'll see below, Michael Annett, Landon Cassill and Joey Gase have the most cards.  However, Iowa does have a rich racing history, with drag races, dirt tracks and other smaller courses throughout the state.  In the early 2000s, Iowa Speedway was built and has hosted truck races and other lower series races from NASCAR and Indy.  I'm positive I'm missing connections because of this things, and I hope next year I have some exciting additions.  For instance, did you know that Rusty Wallace designed Iowa Speedway?  Well, I'm sure he wasn't the only one, but still.  Does that qualify as an Iowa Connection?  Probably not, but it definitely puts him close enough I should grab a couple of his cards.   As for racing cards this year, I've had a little bit more success.  Actually, pretty good success.  I started the year with 5 total cards, and now have 2...

        Profile Shawna Robinson was a racecar driver at a variety of levels in the NASCAR* tree, all the way up to the Winston Cup.  Born in Des Moines**, she competed in the highest of levels, and is one of three women to race at the Daytona 500.   * Other racers with Iowa connections: Michael Annett (Des Moines), Landon Cassill (Cedar Rapids), Joey Gase (Cedar Rapids), Dick Hutcherson (Keokuk), Johnny Beauchamp (Harlan), Tiny Lund (Harlan), Brett Moffitt (Grimes) ** Des Moines (well, really Newton) is also the home of the Iowa Speedway, a track where I saw Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth compete Personal Notes Shawna was a trailblazer, being one of the "firsts" or among the firsts for a variety of things in the racing world, yet you really won't hear about it from her.  She put on her flame-retardant pants one leg at a time like the rest of the driver, and didn't want to be seen or treated any differently. Shawna i...