During the Southern Iowa Speedway’s Car Show last weekend at Penn Central Mall in Oskaloosa, No Coast Network Sports Director Joe Lancello had a chance to talk to Josh Gordon, the son of Southern Iowa Speedway driver Howard Gordon, Junior.  Howard suffered a stroke back in January and Josh gave us an update on Howard’s recovery.

“He’s  made a lot of progress, he’s come a long way.  After the stroke, after brain surgery, he had paralysis on his right side…in his right leg, right arm.  He’s made a lot of progress with physical therapy.  Pretty much got all the mobility back in his right leg.  He’s walking around.  He was using a cane…but he’s walking around by himself, hardly using the cane with no assistance.  They’ve seen movement in his right shoulder and his right elbow and he can make a fist with his right hand, but he’s still got to work on getting that back.  I mean, the speech is the hardest thing for him.  He’s got a pretty good vocabulary, But he can’t carry on a conversation right now.  He knows what he wants to say, but he just can’t get it out and that’s the most frustrating part for him.”

While Howard Gordon, Junior won’t be on the track at Southern Iowa Speedway this season, his car will be, as Josh explains.

“Honorary pace car for the four features at Osky.  If the nightly sponsor has their own pace car, obviously they would be in front.  But we would be behind them leading the field for each individual class.  We’d be leading them as an honorary pace car.”

The Southern Iowa Speedway’s 2022 season starts Wednesday, April 20 at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa.  Remember, you can hear the races at Southern Iowa Speedway all season long on KBOE-FM.