With Christmas in the middle of the off-season, the racing industry is kept busy

BEATRICE - Many kids grow up asking Santa for a toy car, but some grow up to develop the unique hobby of racing, hoping to maybe find a 750 horse power race car under their tree.

Johnny “The Jet” Saathoff is a four-time IMCA National Champion with over 400 career wins. He’s the owner of Jet Racing in Beatrice.

“I started racing in 1980 and then it seemed like 1993, we started doing things for other people,” Saathoff said. “And then about 1995 we started Jet Racing.”

Ever since then, Johnny and his team produce race cars for both local drivers and those around the country. They also make fire suits and have other racing essentials on hand. With Christmas right in the middle of the off-season, it’s the busiest time of the year.

“For us, it is Christmas, we’ve got a lot of stuff to do,” Saathoff said. “We’re booked up through February getting cars done. It just seems like everyone has to get everything done. The off-season is getting shorter and shorter.”

Beatrice Speedway’s season begins in mid-March with spring nationals. With the combination of both Christmas and the off-season, team driver and salesman Dillon Richards has been kept busy, with some areas of the country still racing.

“It’s the off season, so everybody’s trying to get ready for next year,” Richards said. “In Arizona they’re already racing, so trying to parts out there. Back here, everybody wants new bodies, new cars.”

In addition to the off-season and an increase in business from customers buying items as gifts, Saathoff says there’s even the occasional “self-gifter's.”

“You know in the off season, nobody’s racing so they come in and get things ready for Christmas and a lot of guys, they come in and say ‘well, I’m going to buy this for myself for Christmas!”

Saathoff has been in the racing industry for over 40 years. In that amount of time, the sport has changed in countless ways at every level. For Richards and Saathoff, both drivers and Saathoff an owner as well, they’ve both had to adapt.

“To try to stay up with the times now, it’s way different with Facebook and all the different technology that’s out there,” Saathoff said.

“Back in the day Jet Racing was the best around,” Richards said. “We’ve kind of slowed down, but we’re looking to make it back to the top.”