Greg Pfaff recalls when his father, Bruce, started racing in the early 1980s.
“I was a kid then helping out,” Pfaff said. “We used to lay on the grass working on the race car; we didn’t have a shop back then.”
HIs dad raced in the street stocks and hobby stocks, and that got Greg Pfaff interested in racing himself. And in eastern North Dakota, particularly at Sheyenne River Speedway in Lisbon and Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, Greg Pfaff made a name for himself.
Racing in the street stocks, super stock and modified division, Pfaff, from Enderlin, N.D., won five track titles at Sheyenne River and four at Red River Valley Speedway before retiring from racing in 2008.
In 2006, after his father, Bruce, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Greg Pfaff won the Wissota Modified track championship at Red River Valley Speedway by 100 points.
“In 2006, I won the championship when dad was sick. That’s something you never forget,” Pfaff said. “He was a guy who’d rather beat you on the track. If you were broke down and needed a part, he’d do whatever to help.”
Greg Pfaff’s career started in 1989 in the street stocks, where he won a track championship in his first year behind the wheel. He went on to race hobby stocks, super stocks and modifieds in a career that spanned almost two decades.
One memory jumps out for Pfaff, now 48 — a super stock race at Red River Valley Speedway. He started in the front but noticed right away something was wrong and dropped to the rear of the field. During a red flag, the culprit was found — a bolt wasted tightened on a shock that had been replaced, and it fell off. Pfaff had to go to the rear, and from there, he made a charge through the field to pick up the feature win.
“I drove like I normally do,” Pfaff said. “I went to the bottom of the track and won the race by a half a lap. And we taught ourselves something with that setup.”
Pfaff and long-time Lisbon racer and friend Duffy Froemke went into business together, opening City Side Collision in Enderlin, a business that is now owned by his cousin, midwest modified driver Randy Klein.
“Duffy, we raced back when we were kids,” Pfaff said. “He raced my car one weekend while I was at the lake. We’re still friends to this day.”
Bruce Pfaff died of pancreatic cancer in Jan. 2007. Greg sold his share of the body shop and took over the family business, Pfaff Plumbing and Heating. Family and work commitments led him to step away from racing after the 2008 season.
“You lose your drive,” Pfaff said. “There were a lot of different things going on. When you start racing it takes a lot of time away from your kids. Racing 2-3 nights a week, it just got to be a lot of work.”
Greg Pfaff is a busy guy these days. He has a wife and two children and in addition to running Pfaff Plumbing and Heating, he farms 340 acres, owns the Napa AutoCare shop in Enderlin and
also owns a bar and restaurant on Pelican Lake in Minnesota. Plus, his family enjoys going to the lake cabin as well.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss being behind the wheel.
“I still think of it,” Pfaff said. “It was more the family you get to develop. It’s fun. You get there, and you can’t wait to talk to your buddies you haven’t seen all week…you miss the guys.”
Comments