[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.
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>> 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! >>
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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.
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>> 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.
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>> 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.
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