Bob Baker, Promoting the Future of Sprint Car Racing and Preserving the Past
Friday, June 3, 2016
by Joanne Cram
Entering his eighth year with the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, Bob Baker has seen plenty of progress in and around the museum, but admits there is still a lot more work to be accomplished.
For many years around Knoxville Raceway, Bob and his brother Jerry were known as the youngsters/teenagers from Kansas City who drove up to Knoxville for the weekly races. Then in later years Bob was known as the Weld Racing Wheels guy from Missouri, where he was their Motorsports Director. When Weld Wheels began to undergo restructuring, Bob found himself in search of a new career adventure. While at the Chili Bowl back in 2008, Bob had been in casual conversation with Doug Auld, with Sprint Car & Midget magazine, about the redirection of staff at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, including Tom Schmeh’s desire to tackle the role of museum curator. Bob hadn’t considered a position with the museum before, but was eager to be included in the museum’s national search for an Executive Director for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. After the nine member board decided to make a national search for a candidate, Bob submitted his name for consideration. He made the first round cuts when narrowed to sixteen candidates, then again made the second round cuts which were narrowed to four candidates; to be extensively interviewed during the Hall of Fame Induction weekend. At the conclusion of the very busy weekend, Bob made the three hour trip back to Kansas City, where upon approaching the outskirts of the city, was called and informed that he had been chosen to be the new Executive Director of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. And so Bob’s career in Knoxville began in June of 2008 as the museum’s new Executive Director.
Some of the museum’s progress the past eight years have been the completion of the second floor of the Hall of Fame; including the displays, the theater, research library, interactive kiosk, picture displays, building up the gift shop to become the greatest and largest collection of sprint car items on the planet, and of course, the Expand the Dream Project. This project is one of the most important focal points on Bob’s work due to the fact that the NSCHoF and Museum has never turned down any donations of any kind relating to sprint car history. The facility is simply out of room. The extensive collections have been housed in various locations across Knoxville, as well as neighboring cities, even states. It’s time to get everything under one roof to be able to rotate displays and allow collections never seen before to be given their proper day in the light. Phase One of the Expand the Dream is set to begin construction on August 15th, just after this year’s Nationals, and will be completed by Christmas. With many more avid sprint car fans, families, and drivers including the NSCHoF and Museum in their estate planning, projects like this can become a reality, along with the fundraising efforts of all involved with the board and staff at the NSCHoF and Museum.
The nine member board which serves two to four year terms includes; Jeff Savage (Board of Directors President), Mike Husted (Vice President), Larry Boos, (Secretary), Bruce St. James (Treasurer), Alan Brown, Steve Van Wyk, Erin Crocker-Evernham, Kendra Jacobs, and Tony Bokhoven. There are also twenty-one Advisory Board Members. The executive board meets four times a year, typically planned around a major sprint car racing events: two at Knoxville, one at the Chili Bowl, and one at the World Finals in November.
This year’s 27th induction ceremony into the Hall of Fame will be held on Saturday, June 4th at the Dyer-Hudson Hall, where eight new members will be formally inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. The 2016 class of inductees include Dale Blaney, Doug Clark, Gene Crucean, Roy “Bud” Grimm, Frankie Kerr, Shirley Kear Valentine, Mark Light, and Gus Linder.
Before Weld Wheels, Bob had had an extensive career in marketing, management, and research; most of which was centered around the motorsports world. He’s been all over the Midwest and the South, from Kansas City, Missouri to Austin, Texas where he was the marketing manager for demographic research and data collection for special events at PBC Marketing. He has also has worked in race track management, where he was the manager for Lakeside Speedway and I-70 Speedway (Kansas City area tracks), as well as State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri. Bob’s history in sprint car racing goes all the way back to the Ted Johnson era of the World of Outlaws, where Bob was the marketing director assigned the task of finding sponsors for the series from 1988 through 1990. Bob promoted indoor car racing as well, at Kansas City and Topeka with the Miller Indoor Winter Nationals, with the NMMA (very much like today’s mini sprints). Bob’s sales and marketing background found him with National Tire Wholesale in the early 1980’s. marketing NTW for their western markets which included Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona.
The Museum is chalk full of interesting, uniqueness; full of one of a kind items and original memorabilia that promote and preserve sprint car and open wheel racing.
Bob’s current Top 10 Things to see and do at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame
& Museum include:
1. "Celebrating National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductees at Indy" exhibit:
featuring Inductees who have participated in the Indy 500 and some of
the Indy roadsters and Indy cars they competed in.(Which opens June 10th)
2. 'Salute to Women in Sprint Car Racing': featuring sprint cars,
memorabilia, photos, driving uniforms, and artifacts from several of the ladies in
sprint car racing past and present.
3. World's Fastest Sprint Car driven 211 mph by Damion Gardner at the
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
4. Best seats in all of Knoxville to the Knoxville Nationals and every race
held at Knoxville Raceway up on the museum's second-floor.
5. Sprint car movies that run continuously in the museum's movie theater up
on the second-floor.
6. Largest selection of sprint car merchandise on the planet, on the first
floor inside the museum store. (Check out the new stainless steel cups that
will keep your drinks ice cold for over 24 hours).
7. Fan Fair Forums every day inside the museum during the Knoxville
Nationals every year.
8. Driver and celebrity autograph sessions every day during the Knoxville
Nationals every year inside the museum.
9. Sprint Car 101 presentations once a month, with the next two scheduled
for Saturday, June 11th, and Saturday, July 16th.
10.Over 25 sprint cars, big cars, Indy Cars, midget's, and open-wheel race
cars on display year round, seven days a week - in the only museum in the world
dedicated solely to sprint car racing - the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum.
Whether you are a local, frequent-fan of the famed half mile, or just passing through, be sure the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum are on your short list of places to visit when in Knoxville, Iowa! Stop by and tell Bob Baker and his staff hello.
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