Doug Hanna

𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

Before there was The Toad Charlie Hanna and Grumpy Girl Saige Hanna, there was Doug Hanna. For multiple decades, both as an active racer and now primary builder and helping hand, Doug has left his finger print on the area's short track racing scene.

In a racing career that started in 1968, Hanna battled with some of the best drivers around at a time there were many who are now considered legends, Doug included. Younger generations of racers likely don't know about the past where drivers raced as often as possible. They competed. They built cars from the ground up. They drove to the track in open trailers. Wreck the night before? Fix it up and get to the track the next day. While long ago, on a timeline, it wasn't all that long ago where drivers in the area raced at South Bend, New Paris, and Plymouth or some other arrangement of tracks in consecutive days which included Southwest Michigan Speedway (Mottville) or Kalamazoo, Galesburg, and Spartan.

The Grump Doug Hanna recorded multiple championships in his lengthy career that lasted well into the 2000s. Despite stepping away from active competition, Doug is still in the garage as he helps son, Charlie, who himself has multiple championships, and granddaughter, Saige, as she continues to build her career in Street Stocks with a potential jump to the Limited Late Models--a class Hanna won several championships at New Paris.

He might be 83 years old, but The Grump hasn't slowed down as each winter the team strips their cars down to rebuild from scratch. Hanna Racing has been around for a long time, and there appears to be no sign of slowing down any time soon as they chase checkers and championships in a sport that has changed so much yet still has a place for legends to make their mark on the next generation.

#toprowracingmedia #racetrack #racecar #racecarlife #shorttrackracing #racecars #racing #spotlight