There’s probably no one who went to the Emo Fall Fair who enjoyed themselves as much as Joey Galloway.
The young Emo native came home from racing south of the border to eke out a narrow victory over Jamie Davis and Jason Anderson in the WISSOTA modifieds feature Saturday night to cap the Rea Memorial races held during the fair.
“It’s awesome,” Galloway said. “It’s nice to come back home from racing down south all year and run good. Put on a show for all the locals, I guess . . .
“It really means a lot to come back home and take a win, at the Emo Fair especially, when I haven’t taken a win (or) had any luck here for the past four years.”
It’s not hard to see the improvement—in last year’s Saturday race at the fair, Galloway’s car didn’t start. The year before, he placed 13th on the final race. This year it seemed luck was on his side, as Anderson wrestled the lead away from him throughout the feature but seemed unable to hang on to it, dropping behind a fast-running Davis for third.
“I knew Jason and Jamie were coming. They’re always fast here,” Galloway said. “I definitely didn’t count them out, that’s for sure.”
“I was on pins and needles, but it was a lot of fun,” Anderson said.
“Worked hard and made some money while I was at it,” he chuckled.
The Fort Frances native won the feature on Friday and said the packed grandstand brings the Rea Memorial races to another level.
“It is a big weekend, ’cause there’s a lot of people in the stands watching,” he said. “It means a lot to the racers. Ever since I’ve been racing, it’s been a big deal . . .
“I’m more nervous for the fall fair than I am going out of town racing,” he added.
The Midwest modifieds feature was similarly close, with Tom Smart losing a long battle with Don Smith who sits just four points behind the season lead. It was Smart’s second runner-up finish in as many days, after coming in behind Ron Saurer in the Friday race.
Smart admitted he thought Saturday was his to win. “I thought I had it made,” he said.
“For the longest time there was nobody there. I didn’t know what happened . . . I forgot about him,” he admitted jokingly. “I guess he races here a fair bit.”
Don Craig of Thunder Bay won the Street Stock feature for his second Saturday in a row in only his third race in Emo this year.
“Got lucky again,” he laughed. “I didn’t walk away with it. A lot of other quick cars for sure. But overall it was a good show.”
Jeff Wickstrom took the Friday Street Stocks feature but placed fourth on Saturday—which interestingly enough was where Craig placed on Friday.
After all the races over the two days, the Rea Memorial weekend definitely ended with a bang with Galloway’s win in the final feature. The crowd saved some of its strongest ovations for when he jumped from his car, both arms in the air ready to receive his trophy after the win was secure.
While luck may have had something to do with it, Galloway was quick to admit he’d learned a lot from racing a variety of tracks and competition with some guidance from his team in the States.
He said the biggest difference between how he’d raced this year and last was the time he spent setting up the car to deal with each individual track.
“Setup. Just setup with the car. That’s the main thing with these cars, and if you can get them set up, you’re gonna win some races,” he said.
After the win, the large crowd in the stands translated into a large crowd in the pits. Galloway was mobbed as he pulled into his spot by friends and fans and numerous fellow races went out of their way to shake the winner’s hand.
“You get congratulated by everyone, especially when you haven’t been home for a while and there’s people you haven’t seen in a while,” he shrugged. “Makes you feel good to be home.”
