TURNER COUNTY, S.D. (KELO) – A man from Yankton has the need for speed ever since he was in his early 20s. Now at the age of 80 years old, he’s still gearing up on the weekends and burning rubber on the race track and has no plans on stopping.
N’s love for cars started at a young age. His first-ever race was at Thunder Valley Dragway in Parker, South Dakota.
“I do everything myself with the car,” Wohl said.
Throughout his lifetime he’s had to opportunity to race around the country and build his own cars. One of his most memorable races was winning first place in the mile-high national in Colorado.
“Everybody tries their best, you know, every race,” Wohl said. “Doesn’t always work out that way.”
During the racing season, Wohl finds himself at a different track around the country on the weekends. Even after all his travels, the Yankton native still finds time to compete in his home state.
“Every track you go to you meet new friends, you might not see them for a year on that one track. But we’re still friends and we call each other,” Wohl said.
His daughter Shelly Eilers says she remembers coming to the race track since she was a child.
“I can’t imagine him not racing because it’s been his passion and his love his entire life. But to think that he’s 80 years old and still doing it is pretty darn cool. I’m super proud of it. We all are very proud of him,” Eilers said.
Eilers says he was the first in the family to take his talents to the race track.
“He just loved cars and he loves creating something out of nothing where he would just go find something and build it to be what it could be,” Eilers said.
However, drag racing is more than just putting the pedal to the metal.
“Well, you want to cover the quarter mile as fast you can in time and speed,” Wohl said.
“It does take skill. Number one, you got to have a good car and you got to have the engine and all of those kinds of things,” Eilers said. “You have to you have to take off from the line quickly, but not so quickly. Like you want to have a really good reaction time, but not so quickly that you’re red light. So I mean you can lose the race at the line and people might not realize that.”
After banking thousands of miles throughout the decades, Wohl says it’s the people and memories he’s made along the way that he cherishes the most.
“Even if I don’t win I still enjoy it. It’s the friends that you meet,” Wohl said.
“He’s a great role model for other people to say, you know what, if it’s something you love, who says you have to stop doing it at some age? I honestly think I think it’s what keeps him going,” Eilers said.
Wohl says a typical day on the track he hits around 100 to 120 mph. He says he also got his cousin into drag racing.
