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With Racing Running through Genes, ‘Hollywood’ Hodivsky Eyes Shot at Pro Trucks Title

By Chuck Corder

Taras “Hollywood� Hodivsky Jr. has regretted little in his 36 years on Earth.

He’s held a wide array of jobs from the sublime — 19 years and counting in restaurants and a lifetime in the family business of fencing installation — to the ridiculous, one time serving as a boxing promoter (hence, the "Hollywood").

Hodivsky has enjoyed every second of a full life that now includes short-track racing, yet another family business that originated when granddaddy “Shorty� Rollins got into the sport in the 1950s and became NASCAR’s first official rookie of the year in 1958.

Like he’ll do again this Friday at Five Flags Speedway, Hodivsky — whose mother Deborah is Shorty’s daughter — helps keep the racing torch alive by competing in the fledgling Pro Trucks series.

“We’ve been gaining and making strides here and there,� said Hodivsky, who sits third in the season standings. “We’ve been coming on strong and running consistently.�

So much so that the Foley, Ala., resident has posted back-to-back runner-up finishes at the last two features run at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

The trucks along with the Faith Chapel Super Stocks, Beef “O� Brady’s Sportsman and Butler U-Pull-It Bombers will all get more bang for their buck Friday thanks to Double Feature Night at America’s Favorite Home Track.

It’s $10 for all adults to get through the grandstand gates, which open at 4 p.m. Friday; $7 for children ages 6 to 11; and free for kids 5 and under.

“Tire management is going to come into play because, obviously, we’re running more (laps) than normal,� Hodivsky said. “My truck is a great piece. A lotta guys have trouble with the suspension and handling, but not this one.�

Just 27 points shy of series leader Okie Mason and 15 behind Jay Jay Day for second, Hodivsky seems poised to seize the moment with the twin-feature format.

“There’s a lot that can happen on Friday night,� Hodivsky said. “The three of us are tied in a knot trying to win a championship.�

Despite his bloodlines, Hodivsky just recently began pursuing racing atop a “circle track,� as he dubs it. (Back in his younger days, Hodivsky may or may not have attended a drag race or two, either as a spectator and/or participant.)

He always loved the sport. Loved listening to his mother’s stories growing up in it as a little girl. Like the time she froze to her seat on a wintry New York night while Shorty swapped paint for the family’s supper.

Hodivsky loves pulling out old black-and-white videos and intently studying Shorty pulling down pit lane mid-race, before catching clouds of cigarette smoke seeping out the window.

“Pit stops back then took three or four minutes. They weren’t in a hurry,� Hodivsky said.

His interest was certainly there, but the desire was missing.

This became abundantly clear when Shorty came to his then-18-year-old grandson and offered to put Hodivsky in a ride on the local circuit.

So back to that question of regret: He’s had at least one.

“I was too busy chasing girls; didn’t take (Shorty) seriously,� Hodivsky said. “When he passed away (in 1998), the opportunity was gone.�

But like the throwed rolls at Lambert’s, the famed Gulf Coast café where Hodivsky has served for two decades, the sport just kept coming to “Hollywood.�

An avid car collector, dabbling in classic Corvettes and Impalas, Hodivsky had convinced himself to purchase a Sportsman car a few years back.

Instead, on the advice of Uncle Tommy Rollins, a Pro Late Model stalwart whose No. 11 is being driven by Johanna Long this season, Hodivsky went the Pro Truck route and hasn’t looked back.

“It’s the baddest one out there,� he said. “I like the direction we’re headed, and I hope the class stays strong as it does.�

Hodivsky won’t be 100 percent come Friday. He recently had surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized cyst from his left thigh.

Doctors refused to stitch Hodivsky up, opting to let the open wound heal from the inside out. Deborah, his mother and a retired registered nurse, has come over every day to help Hodivsky treat the gaping gash, yanking out blood-soaked gauze and replenishing it with fresh dressings.

But in the mold of his grandfather, the show must go on.

“As long as I can get in and can get out, I ain’t putting a stop to racing,� Hodivsky said.

No regrets.

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