Engines roaring, crowds cheering, and dirt flying it's time again for the Flyin' High at the Eagle Showdown, which will be held the weekend of Sept. 28 and 29.
Derrick Big Eagle first designed and built his own race track after selling his herd of buffalo. The land was left open and Big Eagle wanted to create something he could not only do with his family, but the community to a larger degree.
"I just thought it would be good for generations of my family and not only that, but for kids in the area who want to give racing a try," Big Eagle explained.
A love of racing developed amongst his sons, Masen and Jett, while others in the area also became enamoured with the sport. Many who will be participating in the upcoming Showdown.
Through this Big Eagle began to think of ways to bring together the community at large and the entertainment value of racing, while giving back to the public.
"I had the race track at the house and I just thought it'd be something good for the area, you know, I always look at the area that there's always lots of work; but, we don't have enough things to entertain us," Big Eagle explained.
He initially held one before the formally organized event, where he simply phoned people the day of to stop by. The Showdown has since grown and has become a main fundraiser for the Manor Fire Department.
"I know my goal this year I'm hoping we're going to have, probably, 70 cars there this year and my goal next year is going to be 100," he explained.
Not only has the number of cars grown, but Big Eagle has added to his facility and event to make it the best experience of dirt track racing in the area.
"We've got a few different races we're going to bring to the focus of the fans and see how they like them," Big Eagle explained. "So, I always try to make it better the next year."
" We added some more new grandstands to the area, rebuilt the track again to make it racier and faster. We're adding a skybox now for a media and VIP box out there."
Though passionate about racing and cars, Big Eagle says the event is important because it is a fundraiser for the Manor Fire Department.
" they've got a good group of young guys who really want to do something with it [the Manor Fire Department] and it's a shame, but they really need better stuff," Big Eagle explained. "Being from a small community and knowing how tough it is to raise money, it's not just lying around to buy new stuff, you have to raise it amongst the community and have people chip in. So I think this is a good way to do that."
A new feature this year will therefore include a driver Calcutta to be held during the Saturday night cabaret. The bidder will have a chance to win 50 percent of the money raised, while the other half will go to the Manor Fire Department.
"We're going to sell the Calcutta at the cabaret night," Big Eagle stated. "The top ten drivers out of all the categories will be sold in a Calcutta on [Sunday's] feature races."
Throughout the weekend Big Eagle says donations to the fire department will be accepted as a way to raise as much money as possible.
"Donations will be accepted on behalf of the fire department at the dance and the races, so people are more than welcome to come out and help support the Manor Fire Department the boys need a new fire truck and they need a new shop, so we're going to see if we can do that for them," he said hopefully.
Overall the event is described as a fun day of racing for a good cause.
"It should be pretty interesting," Big Eagle stated. "And all the local hot shots from the area will be there [in addition to drivers from the MTS Tour] It's nice to have that day to just go out race hard, have some fun"
