As if Darrell Brink doesn't have enough to fret about.

When he climbs into his sprint car at Black Hills Speedway, Brink, of Rapid City, has to contend with fierce on-track competition from the likes of Clint Anderson, Ron Rosenboom, Ryan Parks, Brandon Mills and even his own brother, Corey Brink.

Now, his son is getting into the act.

D.J. Brink, 16, made his four-wheeled racing debut in the rain-delayed races Sunday night at BHS, aboard his own car carrying the familiar Brink racing number 21.

"I'm pretty nervous," Darrell admitted before Sunday's races. "But I'm also pretty proud of my boy. He's done this all on his own."

While D.J. is a rookie in a sprint car, he's far from a racing neophyte.

Like his father and two uncles, Corey and Jason, D.J. earned his racing stripes with more than 10 years in the cut-and-thrust world of short-track motorcycle racing, finishing fifth in last year's Jackpine Gypsies Open Pro division and winning the 505 Expert point title.

But even the lure of gaining his AMA Pro license at age 16 wasn't enough.

D.J. sold his motorcycles and bought a sprint car rolling chassis and another frame from a Minnesota racer.

Engine-builder Austin Gillette is still prepping a powerplant for the 21, so Brink turned his first laps Sunday night with a motor borrowed from Anderson.

Father and son burned the midnight oil getting the car ready.

"I put in an all-nighter with him putting the motor in," Darrell said. "I don't think D.J. has been to bed before 3 a.m. any night for the last week."

The maiden voyage Sunday night had its ups and downs. D.J. stayed out of the way of the faster cars in his heat race, just getting some valuable seat time.

He picked up the pace in the feature, but retired early when the steering failed.

"I loved it," D.J. said afterwards. "I was out of traffic enough during the heat to try it wide-open like you have to do. It felt real comfortable."

"I still love motorcycles, but I can't see not taking a chance to run a sprint car," he said.

There was some time to do a little kidding around.

"I told Dad that I'd wave at him when I passed him," D.J. said.

During warm-ups, Darrell gently eased the nose of his No. 90 up to the rear push-bar of his son's machine and gave him a healthy shove down the backstretch.

But it was Darrell doing the passing, lapping his son repeatedly during the heat race, and less frequently during the feature.

"He did real good," Darrell said. "You could tell he was a lot faster in the feature."

The opportunity to see three Brinks on the same track may be a short one, however.

Darrell has indicated this will likely be his final season behind the wheel of the Wurl-Hopkins No. 90.

"I like to concentrate on helping D.J. get going,"

Darrell said. "We're hoping that maybe he'll be able to step into my ride."

Darrell said his son hopes to make a run at the World of Outlaws sprint car tour or maybe even NASCAR.

"I'm old enough now that I'm not going to go anywhere," Darrell said. "Maybe he'll have a chance to do something."

Which means that Dad will likely have plenty of chances to be nervous for some time to come.

Wally on the line at Sturgis Dragway

Sturgis Dragway is hosting an NHRA King of the Track Wally event as part of Black Hills Overdrive this Sunday at the eighth-mile strip east of Sturgis.

General manager Jerry Kutil said competition should be intense for the "Wally" a pewter winner's trophy depicting NHRA founder Wally Parks.

"Last year we had participants from five states competing for the Wally, as it is one of the most coveted trophies in drag racing," Kutil said.

Black Hawk's Patrick Demaranville, driving a '69 Camaro, took home the Wally last year.

Also on tap at three South Dakota drag strips is an appearance by the Midwest Wild Bunch, what Kutil calls the drag racing equivalent of the World Of Outlaws in sprint cars.

The MWB is a group of drivers from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Canada whose goal is to turn higher top-end speeds and quicker elapsed times without benefit of electronics.

The MWB, driving a variety of rail dragsters, vintage roadsters, muscle cars and even funny cars, will race this weekend at Oahe Speedway, north of Pierre.

Also set are two weekends at Thunder Valley Dragway in Marion on June 23-24 and Aug. 18-19.

Kutil said the MWB is coming to Sturgis Dragway on July 21-22. Wild Bunch driver Rick Schmidt of Dickinson, N.D., holds the Sturgis track record, 4.56 seconds at 167 miles-per-hour in a Mustang, and Ray Fuchs of Bowman, N.D. is a Sturgis regular driving a blown '67 Camaro.