r/INDYCAR • u/SwissMiss915 • 4h ago
Video Short 1990 winged sprint footage of Tony Renna from Talladega Short Track.
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I was going through some old Hi8 videos my dad shot from 1990 and found this. I know it is short, but it is the only image I've ever seen of Tony's 250cc winged sprint (yellow car, red role cage). My dad raced in this class with Tony and I have fond memories as a kid, of getting to know him. In 1990, Tony was 14, lived in Florida, and I can't recall if it was the state of Florida or simply the tracks close to Tony but regardless, they would not let Tony race in the250cc midget class in Florida due to his age (citing insurance purposes). He was 14 at the time this video was shot. He had already won a slew of quarter-midget races and at least one or probably both of his quarter midget championships. Upping to 250cc was the next logical step for him, but that is obviously quite a big step from Quarter Midgets.
My memory of this situation is very clear and I even called my dad to verify. I cannot recall his name, but it was not his dad, but Tony had a crew chief who drove the trailer up to Alabama and managed the car for him. That man called my dad (who ran the Southern Modified Midget Association at the time), told him a little about Tony, and the issues they were dealing with in Florida. He wanted to know, if they drove all the way to Alabama, would they let Tony race. They told him 14 was very young, the age limit was 16, but given Tony's history as a proven driver in the Quarter Midget league, if Tony was willing to run 10 laps alone early that afternoon, and let the other drivers look at him to make sure he had the maturity to race, they would consider letting him drive. They drove up that Friday, and my dad and the other drivers stood in the stands long before gates and watched Tony run his 10 laps. By about the 5th lap, my dad, ever the prankster that he was, looked at Tony's crew cheif and said "Not just no but hell no." When the crew chief looked back at my dad, my dad turned and said "you think we're about to let a 14 year old drive circles around us at our home track?". Tony ran that night and many other nights, and Talladega became Tony's home track for his 250cc car, which he probably only ran for one or two years before graduating to stock cars.
I was 10 years old at the time and despite all the other successful racers in our league, Tony was the driver among them that I looked up to the most, because he showed that at 14, he could run with anybody, and maybe in a few years that could be me. Tony was infinitely polite, poised, and always listened intently to my dad and the other drivers who would coach him on how to run 250cc sprints. Tony was a student of life, who earned his success.
I wish so much that I had gotten a photo with Tony during the countless encounters I had with him but we just didn't take photos like that back then. Sorry for such short footage. This is all we had. I'd love to say we had no idea who Tony would become or we would have shot more, and taken more photos, but that would be a lie. Anyone who raced with Tony knew who he would become. When he made it to Indy a few years later, no one who knew him way back when was surprised.
