J&J Auto Racing Builds Sprint Car for Hall of Fame Sweepstakes

By Brad Sam, brad@mckenziebanner.com • June 11, 2025 • Updated July 12, 2026

From the Jun 17, 2025 e-Edition

J&J Auto Racing staff see off the sprint car they built for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum sweepstakes. Pictured are (L to R): James Tucker, Eric Pinson, Ryan Crocker, Dusty Legens, Josh Brewer, Jack Elam, Bonnie Elam and Addy Sullivan, the Hall of Fame's special events coordinator who traveled to McKenzie Thursday to receive the car.

McKENZIE (June 5) — The newest sprint car built by J&J Auto Racing won't see a race track for quite some time, but it will be the subject of much excitement for racing enthusiasts around the country.

The car, which was custom-built to be the grand prize in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum's biennial sweepstakes fundraiser, was picked up from the downtown McKenzie shop Thursday by Addy Sullivan, special events coordinator for the nonprofit museum.

Sullivan will transport the car to Knoxville, Iowa, home of the museum, where it will be "wrapped" in sponsor logos, including the J&J Auto Racing insignia.

It will be unveiled trackside at the High Banks Nationals in Brandon, South Dakota from June 18-21 and will continue to be displayed at premier sprint car events across the nation for the next 18 months leading up to the sweepstakes drawing on December 21, 2026.

For the tour, the car contains a plastic motor and no fuel or fluids. After the winner is announced, a brand new 410-cubic inch engine will be installed by Don Ott Racing Engines of Pennsylvania.

All components and labor for the vehicle were donated by J&J, Don Ott and dozens of other sponsors in support of the museum and its mission of "promoting the future of sprint car racing and preserving the sport’s history".

Bonnie Elam, co-owner and wife of J&J owner and founder Jack Elam, expressed to The Banner thanks to fellow sponsor and sprint car racing owner Janet Holbrook of Ohio for generously covering half of J&J's costs in the project.

This is the 16th sweepstakes and the third such car produced by J&J (2003, 2009).

Since 1973, J&J has built winning cars driven by racers such as Tony Stewart, Dave Blaney, Shane Carson, Bobby Ward, Terry Gray and Sammy Swindell (to name a few), all Hall of Famers alongside Jack, who was inducted in 2009.

Entries in the sweepstakes can be purchased at winasprintcar.com until December 13, 2026. Donation amounts and numbers of entries range from 18 entries for $25 to 4,000 entries for $2,000. The winner has the option of a $50,000 cash prize in lieu of the sprint car.