Jack Sprague cut his racing teeth on the dirt tracks at nearby Thunderbird Raceway and Winston Speedway before motoring on up to the top of the auto racing world. A native of Spring Lake, he won championships at both of those local tracks before heading off for greater challenges.

His first competition was not a race, but rather a Demolition Derby, held in 1981 on the oval and infield at Thunderbird, where he finished second. All that remained from the event was a good engine. Jack’s Uncle Darrell owned an auto parts yard in Muskegon.  Assisting his uncle, they dropped the engine in a ’74 Chevelle commandeered from the yard, and a racing career was born. Soon, he had left the local tracks for asphalt, competing at Berlin Raceway in Marne and beyond.  Although he found little success, he found support from his parents who encouraged him to press on.

In 1987, Sprague headed for North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series, where he won more than 30 late-model stock car events in his first two years. In 1989, he raced in the Busch Series, debuting in the All Pro 300 at Charlotte.  It was the beginning of a highly-successful nine-year career in the Busch series, including a fifth-place overall finish on that circuit in 2002.

But it was in the Craftsman Truck series where Sprague made his biggest mark and where he is considered by many as the top driver in the history of that circuit.  Sprague won Craftsman Truck series titles in 1997, 1999, and 2001 while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He finished in the Top 10 in points in each of his 12 seasons on that circuit and was the first Craftsman Truck driver to win more than $6 million in his career and to lead races for 6,000 laps. He retired from racing in 2009.