3/16/2021
Five Flags Speedway
Maxwell Gets Rare Shot to Compete Saturday at Five Flags in Track’s Annual Sweat Hogg Grand Prix
Maxwell Gets Rare Shot to Compete Saturday at Five Flags in Track’s Annual Sweat Hogg Grand Prix
By Chuck Corder
Five Flags Speedway has been Ryan Maxwell’s second home for most of his 43 years.
Born and raised in Pensacola, the Michles & Booth facilities manager started coming to the Snowball Derby as a child. This past Derby, Maxwell was in the pits serving as the fuel man for good friend and Super Late Model driver Jeremy Pate.
Maxwell will live out a boyhood dream Saturday afternoon at Five Flags when the track hosts its seventh annual Sweat Hogg Grand Prix. The 90-minute race starts at 2 p.m. Saturday and features only four-cylinder, front-wheel-drive cars. The Sweat Hogg Grand Prix will crown a $1,500 winner based on an enduro-type format. Whoever completes the most laps in the hour-and-a-half window is the winner.
“We’ve gotta make sure nothing stupid happens or have silly breaks,� said Maxwell, who will drive a 1989 Honda Civic. “Half the cars probably won’t finish because of something dumb. We have to make sure we have everything good to go.�
This year’s event – which gets its name from the group of misfits in the 1970s TV sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter� – has a new wrinkle. There will be two stage winners as track officials will stop the race at its halfway point and the field will reverse directions through the road course that covers the infield mostly.
Five Flags General Manager Tim Bryant is excited about the dozen early entries he has received and anticipated another dozen will round out Saturday’s Sweat Hogg field.
“As a track known for one of most prestigious Super Late Model races in the country,� Bryant said of the Derby, “this is something 180 degrees from that. These are pure grassroots racers. These are inexpensive cars, right off the street, and we apply safety conditions to protect them. But, it’s intended to be and always has been a completely fun event.�
Gates open at 11 a.m. Saturday and the race begins at approximately 2 p.m. Similar to the Derby, the Sweat Hogg will get its taste of national exposure Saturday. MAVTV will televise the event for its Lucas Oil “On the Edge� show. There will be no practice, no qualifying, and a random draw to set the field. While always fun, it remains competitive and prone to delivering plenty of crashes.
“Beyond anything you can imagine,� Bryant said, laughing. “Because it’s the enduro format, there will be no caution flags unless the track is completely blocked. As long as people are getting around safely, we don’t throw the yellow.�
Drivers can make pit stops on the infield of Turn No. 2, but with the goal to finish the most laps, don’t expect many.
Maxwell, whose first Sweat Hogg last year ended with a blown motor, bought his ’89 Civic for this year’s race off Facebook Marketplace because “they’re supposed to be fast.� The married father of two daughters admitted he had to do some convincing before wife Heather Maxwell signed off on letting him wheel a racecar.
“She’s always been a huge race fan,� Ryan said of Heather. “She’s just never a big fan of me climbing into something that wasn’t as safe as a late model. Something that’s not highly regulated.
“I convinced her these are slow cars, and it wasn’t very dangerous,� he continued, joking. “Neither of those are true.�
Ryan Maxwell has added modifications to his Civic to make things safer, installing a fuel cell and a roll cage.
Bryant shared that because of the limited rules, drivers are getting creative with their paint jobs and some have put wings on roofs.
Maxwell hasn’t even driven his Civic yet. He purchased it a little more than a month ago and it has yet to leave his shop. With most of his free time spent on getting the Civic ready, 16-year-old Ryleigh and 10-year-old Emalyn are looking at their father quite curiously these days.
“They weren’t real receptive of it,� Maxwell said. “They’re worried because Dad is not the safest person they’ve ever met.�
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