♪♪♪
[First Call bugle fanfare
"Call to Post"]
♪♪♪
[Inaudible announcement
on Public Address Speakers]
>> Harness racing?
Hmm.
To me, harness racing
is my life.
I mean, it's in my blood.
It's what I do.
>> Fourth-generation
harness racer Mike Magee
is about to take the track
at the Vernon County Fair
in Viroqua.
>> You better have some
butterflies when you go out
to the track or you're going to
wind up hurt or dead.
[laughs]
>> You always go to the track
feeling you're going to win.
There's that much excitement.
Just thinking
'bout the competition.
And you've got a chance to win.
And everybody's just wound up.
>> Okay, drivers,
bring 'em to the gate.
We will score three wide.
>> Then you start to go
toward the starting gate.
Everyone maneuvers
to get into position.
>> You get to the gate,
and as it picks up speed,
so does your heart.
>> And you have to decide,
do I try to go to the front
with my horse?
Do I hold my horse back?
Do I try to find a position
in at the rail to shorten
the race a little bit?
>> By the time you hit the wire,
the horses are all going
all they can go.
>> GO!
>> Announcer: That's a go!
>> Everyone's next to
each other, and the nostrils
are flaring on the horses,
and you're going
as fast as you can go.
And that's when your plans
go out the window.
>> Planned or not, Mike shares
his family's long-term love
for harness racing
and a sporting tradition
that dates back
to the country's earliest days.
[crowd cheering in background]
>> It started early 1800s
with the farmers,
racing their horses up the road.
>> Come on!
>> The Magee family's
association with horses
goes back to ancient Ireland.
>> Usually, I just
turn him loose,
and he walks down to his stall.
>> Gary and wife, Donna,
keep the tradition alive on
their horse farm near Shawano.
>> My grandparents bought
this farm.
At the end of the driveway,
it says "Magee Family Farm."
And it is .
We look at it kind of like
we're the caretakers.
♪♪♪
>> Gary's great-grandfather
started the family racing
tradition.
Gary's dad pursued it
professionally, and Gary grew up
splitting his time
between here and the Chicago
harness racing track.
>> Growing up fast,
and by the time I was fourteen,
Dad was leaving me alone
with his stable in Chicago.
>> It wasn't your typical life,
I guess, of a family.
>> Exciting...
It's a business.
It's not as much
a family atmosphere.
Mom and Dad did an
awfully good job with us because
there's an environment there
that could lead you astray.
>> While other members
of the extended Magee clan are
among the winning-est drivers
in the sport,
back home in Wisconsin,
there aren't professional tracks
and wagering.
Here, harness racing
is done mostly at county fairs,
where it all began.
>> The county fair that we're
at, the Vernon County Fair,
this is here because of
harness horse racing.
That's why the county fair
exists.
Because they needed something
for all people who came
to watch the races to do.
It's the reason
for the rides and the games
and the demolition derbies.
We're the reason they're here.
[horse feet galloping]
>> And at the fairs,
harness racing is done
just for the joy of it.
A timeless thrill ride
where time almost stands still.
>> You're thinking things
so fast,
that the whole race slows down.
>> As long as the race feels in
slow motion, I will keep racing.
You try to get your horse
into a position where
they got a chance to win.
And if you're in the front,
it's one of the biggest thrills
you're going to get.
>> Well, this is Gary
and this is Mike.
>> Chasing that thrill has been
the shared passion for
generations of Magee's.
>> That was Gary's grandfather.
One of my favorites, too,
with father and son.
>> Mike was like, about a month
old, two months old maybe, when
we first took him to a fair.
>> And sharing the passion
with fellow harness racers
around the state has made the
Magee's an even larger family.
>> A lot of these people,
I grew up with them.
Because that's what we are.
We're a family.
We've known each other
for our whole lives.
>> The county fairs is family.
>> We've graduated to
almost Mom and Pop of the Fairs.
>> The Pop of the Fair's
practice track has the new
Shawano Hospital going up next
door, but there are no plans
to leave the farm,
or abandon their traditions.
>> Fourth-generation driver,
I'm still gonna wear
red and white just like
the rest of the family did.
It gives you some pride.
>> For the Magee's, time has
become like a flat oval where
you're always coming home again.
[horse hooves trotting]
♪♪♪