By John RittenhouseThe rush of adrenaline drivers experience on race night is part of the reason they’re willing to risk their lives from week to week.It’s a feeling of excitement that can’t be duplicated in everyday life, and it draws drivers back to the track regardless of the dangers that could be in store for them.Rural Luverne’s Ron Fick is well aware of racing addiction.As a long-time sprint car driver, Fick found out that life without racing was a tough adjustment to make when he retired from the sport a number of years ago.Watching the sport on television has helped, as has following current drivers at area tracks.Fick also found a way to fill some of his weekday nights with a racing-related activity, and his work currently is on display at the Sprint Car National Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.Fick acquired a sprint car formerly driven by legendary driver Doug Wolfgang, and he embarked on a restoration project that took nearly 10 years to complete."I’ve had this project in mind for about 10 or 15 years," Fick said. "It really started coming together about two years ago when I found the complete parts, and finished it about a year ago."Fick has immense respect for Wolfgang, who he says was one of the World of Outlaws top-three drivers before a serious accident chased him out of the sport more than one decade ago.When he had the chance to purchase Wolfgang’s sprint car in the late 1980s, Fick didn’t hesitate. Fick sold the car to local driver Tim Cowell after the purchase, but he bought it back when the Luverne driver crashed the car during a race nearly one year later.The car was seriously disabled when it came into Fick’s possession for a second time, and it sat idle in his workshop for a long time as the owner began the lengthy process of collecting parts for a major restoration project."I traveled a lot of miles going to different swap meets to find different parts," Fick said. "Yes, it was costly, and I spent a lot of hours working on it. I couldn’t even guess how many hours I spent working on it."Wolfgang himself actually helped during the restoration process."He was pretty excited about it," Fick said.He collected most of the parts he needed two years ago, and that’s when his dream of restoring the car became a reality. When April rolled around in 2004, the 4X sprint car formerly driven by Wolfgang and sponsored by Speedway Motor Cars (of Lincoln, Neb.) was completely restored."I brought it down to the park for (viewing) Buffalo Days last year," Fick said. "I took it down to Knoxville a little later. It will be there for a total of 18 months."Although the restoration work didn’t deliver the same rush of adrenaline Fick experienced as a sprint car driver, completing the project was rewarding in itself."I used to be a sprint car racer, and I still love it. I still enjoy going to the races, and restoring stuff is a hobby that I enjoy," he said.Fick’s next project is to restore a 1939 midget race car.
