|
HEI
Motorsports began as a small, family racing team in 1962. Proprietor
John Helgeson was an avid racing enthusiast, going weekly to racetracks
and helping work on others’ racecars. After spending sometime helping
others enjoy the sport, John decided to try his hand in the world of
professional auto racing. Helgeson’s first racecar was a flathead 1937
Ford that he partnered with long-time friend Gerry McLees to drive. The
two formed a fruitful partnership that lead to many victories and
ultimately landed John behind the wheel of his first competitive race.
Through out the 1960’s, as racing flourished in the Northwest,
Helgeson would travel racing two – three times weekly. Contesting
every event that he attended, John built a strong reputation as someone
with a quick smile and who got the most out of his equipment. This
winning reputation brought many track records, feature wins and
championships in the region to his #23 sprint car.
This intense racing schedule showed John Helgeson that there was a
demand in the Northwest for racecar parts and racing tires that was not
currently being met. Making weekly trips to the Los Angeles area to pick
up parts and equipment to be used in his R.V. business, Helgeson saw a
way to fill this void. His entrepreneurial spirit lead to another
partnership with former teammate, Gerry Mclees. Together, they created M
and H distributing specializing in professional racecar parts and tires.
The R.V. business dictated that John cut back his time spent on the
racing parts business, but not before he and Mclees had built one of the
premier west-coast racing parts stores.
Helgeson’s heavy racing schedule had slowed due to the purchase of a
small Chevrolet dealership in Ellensburg , Washington leading to the
passing of the torch onto son Dixon . During a night of racing scheduled
for John at the Wenatchee Speedway in 1974, John had come to the
decision that his friend’s car was not to his liking. They were
planning on loading the team up, when Dixon showed an interest in
getting his first chance at driving. While this may have been Dixon ’s
first time behind the wheel, as a young boy he had spent many nights in
the shop helping his father. This finally provided the opportunity for
the move from the stands to the driver’s seat for young Dixon .Dixon
continued to run the B modified type racer for the remainder of the
’74 season. John saw the genuine interest his son had taken and in the
spring of 1975 Dixon made his debut in an ultra-fast super-modified.
Dixon received sponsorship and support from long time friend, Chuck
Moore of Oval Enterprises. This team fielded cars for Dixon and John
through the mid-eighties amassing multiple main-event wins running with
many different series including USAC and NASCAR.
As the eighties wore on, Dixon like his father, was forced to cut back
his racing schedule as his role at the family RV store increased.
Sponsor Chuck Moore was looking to increase his schedule at the same
time, and as a result Dixon had to hand the driving duties of the Oval
Enterprises sprinter over to friend Steve Beitler. The Moore-Beitler
team had success on the national stage with the World of Outlaws Sprint
Car Series. Dixon continued here in the Northwest, landing a ride with
the Kearns Brothers in another competitive super-modified. As the
popularity of the super-modified class began to die out, Dixon returned
to the sprint car world running with the WOW series as well as the NSRA.
The next phase of Dixon ’s racing career began with the involvement of
friend and fellow racer, Mike Reece. When assisting with Reece’s cars
and driver Dixon saw how much he could offer the next generation of
sprint car driver. In 2003 Dixon quit the RV business and moved on
opening HEI Motorsports, specializing in the construction of racecars
and street rods as well the sale of professional racing parts. That same
year a third generation of the Helgeson family began his driving career,
son Wes. Wes began driving a midget style racecar, sharing the ride with
his father. 2004 brought the return of sprint car action to Stateline
Speedway in Post Falls , Idaho . HEI Motorsports was a driving force in
the re-introduction of the Inland Northwest Sprint Cars to the
Northwest, and Wes captured the “Rooke of the Year” title in his
first full year of driving.
|
