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Going In Circles Time Travel August 2020 Page 2 Page 3 August 2020

Time Travel The Midwest Publisher's Note RACING specials at LaCrosse during the county fair or around Connection Racing According to Plan th Racing According to Plan the 4 of July, but none involving the CWRA. The August 2020 CWRA came back into existence a few years ago, and I figured a Wednesday night at LaCrosse would P.O. Box 22111 be a great opportunity to re-live the past. St. Paul MN, 55122 In the past, we would arrive early to watch 651-451-4036 practice. As kid, I would stare through the fence at the www.theracingconnection.com infield pits and check out the cars of Tom Reffner and Mark Lamoreaux. As an adult, I’m actually in the pits Publisher and both these guys actually will take the time to talk Dan Plan with me when I stop by. It’s one of the great things I Contributing Writers enjoy about short track racing. From the other side of Dale P. Danielski the fence, they always seemed larger than life, but in Dan Margetta person, they’re just regular people. Jacy Norgaard The other item I enjoyed about the CWRA PJ "Jacklyn" Nuttleman return to LaCrosse was the disparity between Jason Searcy the top and bottom of the field. These days there’s so Charlie Spry much talk about parity and equality but having vari- ance in speed of the cars makes things exciting. They Photographers Guy Adams (815-980-0354) Dan Plan Vance Birno (612-308-3572) In this issue Dale Danielski’s column focuses on Jeff Blaser (715-498-7544) the Larry Wehrs Tribute race held at LaCrosse Publisher's Note continued on page 4 Martin DeFries (651-346-1199) in the middle of TJ Harron (608-301-5258) July. When I first saw this event an- Doug Hornickel (920-723-0522) Tom Loos (715-370-7895) nounced on the schedule, I made sure to Mark Melchiori (414-463-0131) pencil in the date on my calendar. I’ve Tom Reffner's AMC Concord at a Wednesday CWRA show at LaCrosse in 1981 Bruce Nuttleman (612-860-6622) mentioned before, I was pretty darn lucky Vince Peterson (612-419-6372) as a kid to make many Wednesday night Jess Riedner (608-334-5329) trips to West Salem during the Larry Wehrs era of ownership. In the late 70’s and early 80’s my dad had to work most The Midwest Racing Connection is published six times weekends but had Wednesday nights off. during the summer racing season by After years of reading about the The Plan Company, Inc. All material is copyrighted 2020 and may not be Central Racing Association reprinted without permission (CWRA) drivers in the local racing papers 651-451-4036. racing 5-6 nights per week, I was able to see all of them in person on many Wednesday nights. Eventually the Cover photos by: Doug Hornickel, Jacy Norgaard, Dan Plan and Joey Prusak Wednesday night program at LaCrosse came to an end in the early 1990’s and the CWRA slowly faded away. Since then, there have been a few Wednesday night CEDAR VIEW ELECTRIC, INC. 952-469-2100 New Construction - Remodel - Service Work Lakeville, MN August 2020 Page 4

Publishers note from page 3 had a huge invert for both main events. Watching guys like Carlson and Reffner (not Tom, but his grandson Colin) charge through the field made for great racing. You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll check out another CWRA show. Hopefully the LaCrosse County Fair RR && RR takes place next year and a guy can grab a corn dog before the show and see big crowd on hand for some old-school short track racing. And finally, we are back. Despite this being an extremely challenging year for many racetracks, the Complete Automotive Service restrictions and shutdowns also had an adverse impact Complete Automotive Service on the overwhelming majority of our advertisers. Luckily for me, all of them were willing to participate Minneapolis, MN in print issues for the second half of the season. I can’t thank them enough for helping keep this little 612-721-4210 paper alive during the pandemic. randrautomotiveonline.com

Mark Lamoreaux being forced to work by his crew (top photo) Tom and Baird Reffner working on Colin's car with Dale Danielski supervising (bottom photo) Page 5 August 2020 August 2020 Page 6

years. Starting back in 1957 when a dirt track was Carlson took the first 30 lap event, while Jesse Facts, carved out of the landscape there, and later when Pokszyk won the 2nd. There was plenty of action in Larry Wehrs and others had the track paved for high between as Carlson had to fend off a late race charge Observances and speed auto racing. The Central Wisconsin Racing by Colin Reffner who came up a few feet short of Association was an integral part of racing at the track winning at the finish line. Not to be outdone, Pokszyk Opinions for many years. Wednesday night was the designated used a last lap pass of Nick Clements to win in his night for racing there, (Probably because it was the feature event. Reffner didn’t win either race, but his only night available to host CWRA) and racing was 2nd and 3rd place finishes made him the Inaugural great featuring drivers, , Marv Marzofka, Larry Wehrs Tribute Race winner and with it a Rich Somers, Mike Miller, Tom Reffner, Larry $500.00 cash bonus from Ultra Force Loading Ma- Detjens, , Jim Back, Dave Watson, Bob chines, by Wehrs. Also, of note was the event bringing Jusola, Larry Behrens, and so many others. Move out 1991 CWRA Champion, Mark Lamoreaux to race. ahead to 2020, and you have CWRA returning on The 69 year old driver didn’t disappoint either, as he Wednesday night, July 15th to the La Crosse Fair- led a number of laps in the first 30 lapper, ultimately grounds Speedway, for a race during Fair week. finishing a close 3rd in the end. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 situation put the kibosh on Truly a special night of racing, bringing back the Fair, but it was decided the race event would go memories of what was both a weekly Wednesday on. night racing occurrence and an Annual event with the What great racing it did indeed provide. As it Fair. Wehrs Machine and Racing Products, Bangor, turns out, it was quite the challenge for drivers, a WI., along with Bentley Trucking, Des Moines, Iowa, CWRA vs NASCAR match-up, as a number of the and Iron River, MI., made it happen this year, hope- Saturday night group went head to head with the fully it can be brought back in 2021 only with the Fair CWRA Tour racers to see who was the best of the actually going on this time! Dale P. Danielski best. Adding incentive was the fact the race was the Here and there...The first Clason Buick-GMC, Larry Wehrs Tribute race, with Larry on hand and 30 lap feature on July 15th, Larry Wehrs Tribute night extra purse money paid out. A strong field of 21 cars at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, found Steve With all the historical writing I do, it’s only fitting turned out for the race and close racing, and last lap Carlson the winner, over Colin Reffner, Mark that I would fill you in on a retro racing event held heroics were the order of the evening. Lamoreaux, Matt Henderson, Darren Jackson, Paul here recently, as CWRA returned to the La Crosse CWRA utilizes a twin feature format for their Fairgrounds after an over 25 year hiatus. events and the unpredictability of who will win on any The Fair race at La Crosse Interstate Speedway, given night makes the Tour attractive to drivers and continued on page 7 West Salem, WI., was a popular event throughout the fans alike. It was no different on this night, as Steve

Dale's pictures from the past

Dale’s pics from the past. Marv Marzofka #91 Ford Torino. Tom Reffner Mercury Cyclone. Page 7 August 2020

Racing Facts, Observances and Opinions Mary Schill photo from page 6

Paine, John Beale, Jeff Weinfurter, Jesse Pokszyk and Carter Christenson. Clason 30 lapper number two found Pokszyk 1st followed by Nick Clements, Reffner, Henderson, Paine, Harley Jankowski, Christenson, Weinfurter, Beale, and Dave Satorius. Reffner had a good night financially as he was also the Bentley Trucking Fast Qualifier. That earned the 3rd generation Reffner racer a cool $100 cash from Bentley...It was an epic battle in the first 30 lap race between Carlson and Reffner, and Steve was thankful for how Colin raced him. “My car was getting so tight, he could have got into me a number of times, but he didn’t. I like racing with him, he’s a good driver.”...Matt Henderson who got off to a terrible start to his season decided to bring his other race car out to the CWRA race and see how he’d do. “We just wanted to come out and see what we could do. The way things have gone this year, we just wanted to have some fun, and we did!” Henderson had a strong car all night and was rewarded with two 4th place finishes in the 30 Lap mains...Another great event honoring a former CWRA racer, was the John Brevik Classic at Marshfield Motor Speedway, Marshfield, Colin Reffner picked up the $500.00 bonus, from Ultra Force Loading Machines, WI., Saturday night, July 11th. CWRA brought 21 cars in the Larry Wehrs Tribute Race to the event and some super racing was seen by the huge crowd on hand. 30-lap feature winners on the night included Jeff Weinfurter and Colin Reffner. of 5,200 attended the event. On Wednesday night, July Remember seeing John Brevik racing many times 21st, 1971 it was the Fair Opener 50 at La Crosse through the years. Always competitive, John brought a Interstate Speedway. Marv Marzofka won the 50 Lap lot of positives to the sport... feature in front of Rich Somers and . The Looking back in time, at La Crosse Interstate 15lap semi-feature went to Greg Delapp, while heat Speedway, on July 17th, 1970 it was the Fair 100 race. race victors were Fred Beckler, Warren Droesser, Tom Reffner took the Feature win, and was followed and Larry Behrens. Behrens also won the fast dash. by, Dick Trickle, Jim Back, Marv Marzofka, and Roy Questions, comments, opinions and other infor- Schmidtke. Dale Pennel won the Consolation and 1st mation welcome at Starmaker Multimedia 701 Indiana heat race, with John Brevik taking the 2nd and Back Avenue, Stevens Point, WI. 54481 715-344-9072 608- the 3rd. Fast time went to Marv Marzofka. A crowd 518-2478 or at [email protected]

Steve Carlson (left photo) and Jesse Pokszyk (right photo) picked up wins in the Larry Wehrs Tribute Race at LaCrosse Speedway

Mary Schill photo Mary Schill photo August 2020 Page 8

after posing for photos. Modified feature winner Brad Wisconsin. The “Beerman” Sean Worman took home Wildes was so enthusiastic that he pulled it right out of third. He has been chomping at the bit to race at his Going in Circles the ground. Everyone got a bit of a chuckle out of that home track here, and is also missing his Friday night one! stop at Madison International Speedway, which still The Six Shooter division is very popular, and with has not been allowed to open. He has found plenty of Madison International Speedway still not being allowed tracks to travel to, including most Friday’s at Tomah, to open as of this writing, some drivers who would as well as trips to the Dells and Slinger. Best appear- normally race there make some trips to Tomah. ing car in this division in my opinion is the sharp Joshua Zacharias comes from the Madison area and looking orange Monte Carlo of Justin Tyler. He won runs pretty strong here. Sean Worman has raced the semi or B-main tonight. nearly every week here, and is often in the top three in Douglas Nighswonger raced all last year in the feature finishes. Teammates Dan Frye and Matt Sixer division, and started at the back of the field the Moore have won the majority of the features here this whole season. He learned quite a bit and now when he year in a very competitive division that is fun to watch. has a front or mid-pack starting spot he is taking it, and Charlie Spry Frye won the feature on this night. looking very racey. His Dad, long time Roadrunner Tyler Sauter looked pretty dominant in taking the competitor Curt, now has a sportsman car that he We started off the month of July by celebrating sportsman feature very strongly. He used an outside debuted with tonight. Overheating woes sidelined him America’s independence with, of course, short track pass to take the lead and checked out a bit. early, but he got some laps in. at the , where the The four-cylinder Hornet feature was a very Garrett Braden hopes to have put some struggles Star Spangled 76 brought forth the Big 8 late models interesting affair, with plenty of passing and dicing behind him, as he won his first feature of the season in for the series opener. throughout. Chandler Turner took a very hard-fought the Bandit division. “We have had nothing but trouble As one might expect, track regulars fared pretty victory home tonight. Rockford Speedway regular this year,” Said Garrett. “We couldn’t get the car to well, with Max Kahler taking the lead early and Steve Putman had a strong race going but got a little run for more than one good lap. We replaced part holding off several advances from varied competitors. high off turn two and ran into and up onto the back- after part and even rented the track twice trying to Tom Gille came back from several problems to finish a stretch wall, nearly going over. He ran back down figure it out. We finally got it.” It was the WT sensor, strong second. I think he started in the rear several onto the track and everyone avoided his car, so it which controls the variable valve timing on the engine. times after being involved in mishaps, and came back. could have been much worse. Going over the wall Glad to see they found the trouble. That is very I have to give a shout out to fifth place finisher Jeff would have surely meant flipping over, and he kept it frustrating stuff. Wakeman. He stayed out of trouble all night, kept on the wheels. Another Bandit driver with troubles this year has making laps, and finished in fifth. He does not have the Hobby Stock feature winner was Brandon been Mike Mahurin. On the opening night he got most modern high-tech equipment, but still finished Gallagher, who pulled out from a tight five car pack caught up in a pretty serious wreck.”I worked on this higher than most. He does this quite often in long earlier in the race to get the win car for two weeks, every night to get it fixed. I races, and it works. This track reminds me very much of the old replaced the tie-rod ends on the left side and just about The American Short Trackers were also in Columbus 151 Speedway in so many ways. it is a very everything on the other side,” Said Mike. This was all action tonight, with visitor Kyle Stark taking the won inexpensive, fun-filled place to watch some racing, done during a stretch of extremely hot weather, which over Kelly Evink. Visitor Brandon Delacy was present with a very laid-back atmosphere. If you are looking must not have been pleasurable to work in. This driver but had his car expire early in the night. Tim Finstad for a fun night out on a budget this is a place to check is very dedicated to the sport and does whatever it had another good run in finishing third. out The races are run quickly and the show was takes to get back on track. Austin Fowler took the win in the Roadrunner finished by 9:42 PM. Steven Erickson Jr. ran off to the sportsman “Paul Revere Midnight Ride,” A race run in nearly We returned the following week once again, with feature win, looking very strong. With impending total darkness, with only spotlights on the cars roof the Midwest Dash series making their season debut. storms approaching, the Bandit figure-eight was numbers. If everyone stays racing, it is usually a Local driver Steve Rozek took the win in a very tightly quickly run off, with Nick Schneider taking the win. trouble-free race, but if someone spins or something, it contested feature race. Mark Dewey made his first They worked very hard to get this show accomplished can get kind of hairy. Austin drove a flawless race to ever trip here, and started off kind of slowly, but both in a timely manner and beat the rain. get the win. he and the car gained speed all night, and he caught We also took in another show at the State Park We took in a regular Friday night show at the back up to the lead pack to finish a strong second and Speedway on July 15th. The pure stock division Tomah-Sparta Raceway recently. Promoter Greg might have won in a couple more laps. continues to really impress me here. It is simply Oliver is doing some very good things here. The staff Several visitors from Minnesota were present in amazing how competitive this class is here, The is very friendly and low-key. Veteran racer Scott the hobby stocks, but it was local driver Alex Rud numbers are not huge, but this group really races one “Chico” Riedner is the competition director. These getting the job done. Bill Schott took the sportsman another hard to the end from front to back. The action guys have been around racing their whole lives, and feature win, while Taylor Dawson won the hornet literally takes your breath away, and that is just from a they know plenty. Dan Deicher does the announcing feature. Taylor has much experience in varied forms fan! Jeff Spatz edged out Mitch Stankowski on this here, and has a clear and concise voice, knows of stock cars, and his experience showed tonight. The night to get the feature win. something about all the drivers, and keeps a great Sixers were super competitive, with many visitors One driver in this division who has made great banter going. present, and Dustin McCracken took the win. strides is Brian Plisch. I think this is only his second It was a night when Steve Parsons was present, On July 11 I returned to Rockford once again, year of racing, but he has been running real well here handing out huge trophies during his ongoing Kim with the season debut of the Sixers division. I came up and other tracks that he races at. He has definitely Parsons Memorial trips to various speedways, promot- with some thirty-three cars in the pits for this division, stepped up his game by several notches. ing organ donors at tracks all over the state. These although a couple never made it out to race. The The super late models had a couple of visitors trophies are HUGE, and the drivers work very hard to action was as you would expect, very thrilling! Lots of tonight, as they likely are preparing for the upcoming win these. new drivers and some returning veterans make this a Larry Detjens Memorial. Dan Fredrickson made the They have a bell planted into the ground here, division not to miss. David Cavin took the win over and each feature winner gets to ring the victory bell Austin Schott, who came down from northwestern Going In Circles continued on page 13 Page 9 August 2020 August 2020 Page 10

Quick Time! Dan Plan photo

James “Nitro” Giossi made the Late Models take notice when he set fast time at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, WI. Giossi also had a top-10 qualifying effort during the WoO visit to Cedar Lake Speedway over the Independence Day weekend.

OCTOCT 8-9-10-11,8-9-10-11, 20202020 Page 11 August 2020

B-Shep Jacy Norgaard photo

Brandon Sheppard continues his domination of the World of Outlaws Series. At the end of July, Sheppard had picked up 10 wins for the season. Sheppard recently swept the state of Wisconsin with wins at Cedar Lake Speedway, Outgamie Speedway, Plymouth Dirt Track and Gondik Law Speedway in Superior. August 2020 Page 12

TUNDRA at Jefferson Gabe Sommers battles Casey Johnson for the top spot during the annual visit by the TUNDRA Late Models to Jefferson Speedway. Sommers would go on to win the main event.

Doug Hornickel photo

The North Pole Nightmare Bill Balog, also referred to as The North Pole Nightmare, is off to a strong start in 2020. Balog sits atop the IRA Sprint point standings with numerous wins to his credit on his way to his title defense. Balog has also had several strong runs with the World of Outlaws this season.

Dan Plan photo Page 13 August 2020

Going In Circles continued from page 8 trip over to try it out, and finished third in the late model feature. Another driver making a showing was Eric White from Indiana. There is a whole group of hungry young drivers that are coming from this area that you have already heard much about and will continue to do so. Justin Mondeik is one of them, and he took the feature win. Brock Heinrich worked the restart cone to his advan- tage and took second. Add in other upcoming young drivers Luke Fenhaus, Dillon Mackesy and Gabe Sommers and the future looks bright. Greg Blount took his first feature win here of 2020 in the mini-mods, in his appropriately numbered “2020” car, and Tyler Custer took the win in the mini- stocks. I had a chat with long time mini-mod racer John Lietz, intending to do a little write-up on him here. I found out that I cannot contain this story in one part of a column, so in one of the winter issues I will put it all together. There are just too many stories to contain in a few paragraphs! Between he and fellow racer Dale Louze, I have some real interesting stories to write about in future articles about their racing history. The Midwest Dash series was on tap at the Rockford Speedway on July 18th, the night after their stop at Tomah. Phil Malouf had the engine expire in his car at Tomah, so left quickly and took the car to his shop in order to change engines and make the Rockford show. They went right to work and got it swapped, putting in a junkyard engine which was even missing a few items that had to be put back together. He went out and set fast time at Rockford and finished the feature in fourth place. Always nice to see and chat with the Malouf’s. Ricky Wilson scored a bit of an upset in taking the feature win. He alluded to the fact that he always races at the Bahama Brackets here each year, and that helped with his knowledge of the track. He started his racing career a few years ago at some of the Chicago area tracks but said he doesn’t really have a home track anymore, just races wherever. His Dad, Rick, also has raced at the Brackets nearly every year since its inception.

Jon Reynolds Jr. took model and races both on dirt and asphalt. Phil Malouf had the engine expire in his car at Tomah, so left control and drove off to the Justin Wagner took the win in the Roadrunner quickly and took the car to his shop in order to change engines late model feature win. It main event. He is having an outstanding season thus and make the Rockford show. was nice to see Big 8 racer far. Hunter Drefahl show up to The new high school division got their first race with the late models. chance to race tonight. Six high schoolers took to the Chad Smith avoided track to represent their schools. Janesville (Wi.) problems in the sportsman Parker high school racer Tyler Vincetich took the feature and took the feature inaugural feature win. Rockford Harlem student win, over Cody Douglas Nighswonger was the heat winner. Both Houseweart, who did the drivers were absolutely overjoyed with their wins. I same. think you will see both of these drivers doing a lot of Scott Koerner took racing in the future. the win in the midgets Highside Photography feature. Scott races a late August 2020 Page 14

over Casey Johnson and Luke Fenhaus. With the Dangerous Dan lap leader bonus payouts added to the winner’s share of the purse, the 2020 Slinger Nationals was believed to be the richest asphalt Wiscon- sin super late model race in history and judging from the positive com- ments from the traveling drivers and everyone Doug Hornickel photo involved, next year’s event should be even better. Brandon Sheppard dueled for the win before Sheppard Just a few days after the Slinger Nationals, I eventually prevailed. The next evening at Plymouth headed to for a pair of IndyCar races found an impressive 39 late models in the pits even Dan Margetta as the weekend event featured a double-header for with the SummerNationals taking place at the same the sleek Indy machines. The Road America events time in Illinois. The strong car counts should go a long Despite what seems to be limited opportunities also allowed fans to attend with less limited restrictions way in bringing in future World of Outlaws Late to go racing this year, the month of July provided quite and with plenty of room to spread out, everyone did a Model events and it was refreshing to see the local the smorgasbord of events in Wisconsin and I made fine job of safely enjoying the events. Someone had to drivers support these two events. Once again Brandon sure to take advantage of it. take the lead on eventually holding a major sporting Sheppard charged to the victory while Wisconsin The biggest event for me was the prestigious event with fans and I favorite Jimmy Mars SuperSeal Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite at was proud of Road kept him honest in the Slinger Speedway and the 41st edition of the America to be able to second. The drive of the summer classic drew a very strong field of 29 super pull it off and I was night came from local late models. A field consisting of , honored to experience weekly racer Justin Stephen Nasse, , Sammy Smith, and it. Despite the nervous- Ritchie who took it to Carson Hocevar taking on Wisconsin standouts Ty ness of some outside the Outlaws and fin- Majeski, Casey Johnson, Dennis Prunty, Steve Apel, observers and officials, ished third. Even though , Alex Prunty, Brad Mueller, Luke the track staff and once he was knocked back a Fenhaus, and Derek Kraus is completely stacked and again, the Midwest race few spots in tech due to they all didn’t disappoint. The anticipation and fans proved they could a fairly new “droop” excitement on the originally scheduled Tuesday night responsibly attend an rule, the strong run from was quickly replaced by chaos as a sudden monsoon event and the weekend a local racer should sent everyone running for cover as tents were was a success with encourage other locals wrecked and the track was drenched. A shoulder- very little problems. The racing was pretty good too as to participate more in these special shows. deep lake was formed in turn one and a waterfall Scott Dixon won the Saturday race and Felix From the dirt it was back to the asphalt at the actually flowed over the turn two wall, postponing the Rosenqvist scored his first career IndyCar win on Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna for the event to the next evening. Like racers do, everyone Sunday after taking the lead from McLaren’s Pato second round White race from the Red, White, and made the most of the extra night and bright and early O’Ward at the white flag. Blue Series for the super late models. The second the next morning, some special people stepped up to In between the IndyCar events I trekked out to round traditionally has a longer feature race and this fix the damages to the facility so the Nationals could Outagamie County Speedway in Seymour and the year’s main event consisted of 96 laps in honor of continue. Ryan Kuhl from Town and Country Lawn Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth for World of Out- Roger “The Bear” Regeth. The field took a scheduled Service, John DeAngelis from DeAngelis Construc- laws Late Model Series events. It was my first trip to half-way break at 48 laps but there probably wasn’t tion, and Jerry Mueller from AllPro Asphalt Paving Seymour and I was pretty impressed with the facility. enough adjustments to be made to catch Bobby along with Bob’s Auto all pitched in to make repairs A good sized field of 36 dirt late models showed up Kendall who dominated the event en route to the on the track. In the case of Jerry Mueller, not many with the Dirt Kings Tour adding their stars to the victory. The Series points heading into the final event people realize he was set to compete in the Nationals World of Outlaws regulars. While the heat races next month are up for grabs as Red Race winner but a disputed on-track incident the previous Sunday in weren’t too exciting with little passing, the feature Brent Strelka and Andy Monday both experienced the Big 8 race resulted in him withdrawing despite event proved to be much better as Jason Raun and problems and finished down in the running order. already buying tires and yet in lieu of the disagreement The month began with the TUNDRA Super Late with the track, he still showed up when needed to keep Model Series opener at the Dells the race going. That’s a true racer and he should be where Dalton Zehr passed Mike Lichtfeld late to win commended for his efforts. The race fans themselves and ended with the series’ second round at the also have to be commended as they all showed up the Jefferson Speedway. Jefferson has a unique racing next night and even contributed a record $12,500 to groove especially off turn four where drivers can the lap leader bonus payouts. easily run three wide in a charge toward the check- Although delayed one night, the Nationals still ered flag and the super late models always put on a provided plenty of excitement and was the man to beat as he scored his second Nationals victory Dangerous Dan continued on page 15 Page 15 August 2020

Dangerous Dan continued from page 14 show. Jordan DeVoy set a new track record in qualifying but Gabe Sommers Dave Noble turned back all challenges while leading from start to finish to win the 75-lap February 1, 1934 ~ July 21, 2020 main event. The most fun I’ve had at a race in a long time occurred during the special King of the Ol’ Cornfield Sandox 25 contested between six hobby stock drivers and six sportsman drivers on the smaller Jefferson track. The event, dreamed up by track announcer Randy Kamenick, originally paid $250 to win but the purse soon grew exponentially a as sponsors, fans, and crews chipped in. In the end, around $3,700 in cash and prizes were collected with some of the fun ones being a bottle of Captain Morgan to the second place finisher and a twelve pack of Coke to third place so they could party and $250 put up by a guy from Illinois to the highest finishing car that sported deroga- tory comments towards the Green Bay Packers. With all the money on the line as well as the hype, the race was super intense as the big cars tried to navigate around the small track and the racing was physical. In the end, Brandon Angileri muscled Bud Riedner out of the way for the win and honestly with all that was at stake it was no surprise some feathers would be ruffled. Overall it was a fun event that really pumped a lot of excitement into the night and I hope it continues in the future. August will provide may more opportunities to head out to the tracks as believe it or not, this season begins to head towards its stretch run. and Bubba Pollard are set to race in the Dixieland 250 August 4th at Wisconsin International Raceway and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series return to the also on August 4th. Road America will hold its IMSA Sports Car event on the first weekend of August and the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads there on August 8th. Slinger Speedway has the Carl Wegner Memorial on August 23rd and holds some Alive for Five super late model races on August 1st and August 15th. I’ll be sure to hit as many of them as I can and you should to as this crazy season continues.

While Dave Noble gained most of his notoriety on the South Eastern Minnesota dirt tracks of Kasson, Lansing and others, he also gained many followers in the Twin Cities metro area. For many seasons, Dave would tow up to the cities to run weekly shows at or at the now shuttered Raceway Park in Shakopee. Dave was also a guarantee to make an appearance at the Minnesota State Fair for many, many years. RIP Dave Noble.

Photos courtesy of long-time race fan John Kaufenburg. August 2020 Page 16

Dixieland Delight

Racing Nuggets sometimes retired) will be paying the Year, Gabe Sommers will be ready for battle, attention to who nabs the checkered flag at this one. along with other series standouts who are regulars or I imagine will perhaps have some part-timers: Paul Shafer, Austin Nason, Johnny interest in seeing what happens at the Dixieland 250 as DeAngelis, Skylar Holzhausen, Dennis Prunty, and well, and likely deep in his heart of hearts, he may be Ryan Farrell. wishing he were poised to have an entry as well if it Justin Mondiek has been racking up some were possible. It’s hard to say if Chip Ganassi, the substantial wins already this season. He nabbed his team owner for his current Cup ride would even let first Midwest Tour feature at State Park Speedway him run this event. It’s been well-documented how for series opener on July 25th—the Detjens Memorial. Ganassi didn’t want his former driver, to He hopes to keep his momentum rolling into the run any extracurricular racing activities. Dixieland and make it two series wins in a row. This year’s entry list is quite the buffet of talent, Some of the favorite regulars who run at WIR even beyond Busch, including seasoned veterans, like will also be making a bid for the title, like current point Rich Bickle, , who has won the event leader, Brent Strelka, reigning Red, White, & Blue twice, and allegedly Dan Fredrickson. Champ, Maxwell Schultz, Bobby Kendall, Jesse I say “allegedly” because Fredrickson is often Oudenhoven, Andy Monday, Trevor Vandermolen, PJ "Jacklyn" Nuttleman like the proverbial flatulence in the wind. He seemingly and Pete Vandermolen. enjoys keeping an air of surprise to his racing. He’s Of course much of the Midwest is buzzing about been listed as an entry for events sometimes in the Bubba Pollard coming to make his WIR debut. It will There are many crown jewel races that drivers past and ends up not showing. And then there are be fun to see how he adapts to the track and if he can would love to etch their name into the record books as times when he shows up out of the blue and flexes his pull off another win to add to his impressive accolades having claimed victory. We’re pretty lucky to have a muscles. that he’s already been racking up this year. many of these prestigious asphalt races here in the Case in point: State Park Speedway on July 16th. Sammy Smith will be making a bid for the Midwest. One of them is slated for Tuesday, August Fredrickson just showed up for their regular race night checkers out of the KBM () 4th at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. without much fanfare, laid down the second fastest stables. And Cayden Lapcevich from Canada will be The Dixieland 250 has the proverbial “who’s time in qualifying and went on to post a third place traveling to Kaukauna and racing in a car prepared by who” on the list of winners, with the legendary Dick finish in the feature. former ARTGO WIR winner, Bobby Blount. Trickle scoring the inaugural win back in 1991. It’s I personally hope he does choose to show up for I’m sure I’ve missed some competitors and there fitting that Wisconsin’s most popular driver was the the Dixieland, as he always raises the level of compe- are almost always going to be last minute additions— first to leave his mark on this event, and that certainly tition and I enjoy his swagger in the pits. For the but surely you can see that the competition will be T- elevates the significance of the race as well. record, I did try to call him to confirm his plans, but his H-I-C-K. The Dixieland is definitely one that many voicemail was full. He did respond to a text inquiry. It Gates open up at 4pm on Tuesday, August 4th. hardcore racers circle on their calendar to enter. It wasn’t a “yes,” but it wasn’t a “no,” so we’ll just have Qualifying begins at 5pm and the first green flag will says a lot when the reigning NASCAR Cup Series to wait and see if the Northfield, MN driver shows. drop at 7pm. Advance tickets are just $20 and are Champion also plugs it into his schedule. Casey Johnson has been on fire again this year available online at midwesttour.racing. And as always, Yes, Kyle Busch will be making a return to the and pretty much a threat to win wherever he shows the event is kid-friendly. Kids 12 and under are FREE. unique half-mile, D-shaped oval this year. By all up. Not only has he won the last two championships at accounts, this facility is a fun and challenging track WIR, he looked pretty stout at the Slinger Nationals, Dixieland 250 Winners where many racing greats have battled. It holds a posting a second place finish. He’ll be looking to 1991 – Dick Trickle special place in their hearts from back-in-the-day become a two-time winner of the Dixieland. 1992 – Steve Holzhausen when they ran here. You can bet that many nationally- Last year’s winner and reigning Slinger Nationals 1993 – known retired racers, such as and (the Champ, Ty Majeski will be wedging the race into his 1994 – Joe Shear NASCAR Truck Series 1995 – schedule to defend the title. 1996 – Joe Shear His Truck Series teammate, 1997 – Steve Carlson and reigning Redbud 400 1998 – Steve Carlson winner, Carson Hocevar has 1999 – Scott Hansen also entered the race. Fellow 2000 – Brian Hoppe Truck Series competitor, 2001 – Steve Carlson Derek Kraus, who is in the 2004 – Steve Carlson top 10 in the Truck point 2005 – Stephen Leicht standings will also be making 2007 – Kyle Busch the return to Wisconsin for 2008 – Steve Carlson the event. 2009 – Steve Carlson Former Midwest Tour 2010 – Johnny Sauter Champions, Dalton Zehr, 2014 – Johnny Sauter Andrew Morrissey, and 2015 – Nick Murgic Jonathan Eilen will all be 2016 – Dennis Prunty coming with their best piece 2017 – Casey Johnson Bruce Nuttleman photo to challenge for a win too. 2018 – Last year’s Tour Rookie of 2019 – Ty Majeski Page 17 August 2020

New Dirt Outlaw on the road

The Cedar Lake event was billed as the first major sports event since the Covid 19 pan- demic hit. There were Covid screenings at every entry point surrounding the track, something I’m sure we will see going forward at sporting events or large crowd gatherings. Thursday night’s event showcased a rather unique elimination type event following qualifying. They would caution the race every 5 laps and eliminate the last 4 drivers from competition. They did this until the field was whittled down from Jacy Norgaard photo Jacy Norgaard 20 to 8 competitors. They then competed in an 8-lap shootout for The next night we made the 75-mile drive south to $3,000.00. This made for some exciting last lap Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, WI. I had to laugh The month of July has been a busy one for me passing in both the Sprint Car and Late Model show- at the barn we parked by on the fairgrounds as it had a spent traveling from small town to small town, observ- downs. The light schedule on Thursday night was sign that read, “Sheep/Goat” at the top. Perhaps it was ing an inordinate amount of racetracks. The crazy actually quite refreshing as the heat of the day really meant for Brandon Sheppard “Sheppy” and Scott middle summer month started off at Cedar Lake wore on and it was nice to get off the track. I was Bloomquist “The Goat”? The facility was one of my Speedway for the mega three-day World of Outlaws able to edit photos on my iPhone and send them into favorites I have seen this year with homes in the show. This was the first time outside of the World World Of Outlaws, despite the questionable WIFI and background and people out on their roofs watching the Finals in Charlotte, NC that both World of Outlaws cellular connection at Cedar Lake Speedway. Friday races. A much welcome sight to other facilities that touring series would be together at a race track. The evening’s races saw an incredible feature event for struggle with the neighbors loving living by a race- event offered race fans the best of the Open Wheel the Late Models as Georgia Rookie, Ashton Winger track. The cars staged between the front stretch and world and the best of the Late Model world all to- held off defending World of Outlaws champion, the grandstand and this was a great place to capture gether on one stage over one scorching hot weekend. Brandon Sheppard for his first ever Outlaws victory. photos and listen as the fans cheered before and after Adding to the excitement of the event for me was the His excitement as he climbed out of this car and the races. Brandon Sheppard repeated as winner and fact that I was also moving into a new place over the dropped the steering wheel like a microphone was made it three straight in the state of Wisconsin with his weekend coupled with me deciding this would be the icing on the cake for a wonderful evening. Brad Sweet victory. The Grand Nationals were my highlight of the weekend I also break in a new laptop for photo swept the weekend in the World of Outlaws Sprint evening. The class is almost a hybrid between an editing. Unfortunately, FedEx failed to deliver on time, Cars and The Rocket Brandon Sheppard accom- asphalt Late Model and a dirt Super Stock. and I had to make my way to Cedar Lake without the plished what he wasn’t able to do Friday night and After being home at my new place for less than ability to edit photos. Technology is a savior though picked up the victory on Saturday Night. The caveat to 24 hours I made the trip north to Gondik Law Speed- and I was able to edit photos on my iPhone thanks to Saturday night’s racing was the live broadcast on CBS way in Superior for a rare Tuesday night race. The Nikon’s handy SnapBridge application and Lightroom Sports Network. It’s great to see dirt track racing get event itself was questionable up until race day as the mobile! a spotlight on live television. track needed to sell a certain number of tickets in My Outlaw order to make the event happen. Thanks to some great adventures continued sponsors and resilient race fans they were able to get the next weekend in the show in. Brandon Sheppard dominated the night the Green Bay area as leading all 50 laps and holding off Lucas Oil Dirt racer I made my way to Jimmy Owens in the process. We left the state of Outagamie Speedway Wisconsin having witnessed Brandon Sheppard and in Seymour, WI. The the Rocket racing team on a hot streak of 4 straight. track was your run of I was once again home for a short period of time the mill fairground before heading north west to North Dakota for the facility with a covered final leg of the Northern swing with the Outlaws. grandstand. Despite Grand Forks and River Cities Speedway was slated lackluster presales on for Friday night and the finale at Red River Valley event tickets, the place Speedway in West Fargo on Saturday. Mother nature was filled with fans had alternative plans and our Friday race got pushed to from one end of the Sunday evening. I spent Friday night out on the town grandstand to the next. in Fargo with friends and geared up for the festivities Brandon Sheppard at West Fargo on Saturday. Red River Valley had made it back to back victories taking home New Dirt continued on page 18 Jacy Norgaard photo top honors at the track. August 2020 Page 18

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New Dirt continued from page 17 smoothly until the Sprint Car feature. A race that drug wanted to sleep in my own bed for once. Driving on for what felt like an eternity with endless cautions down Interstate 94 in the early Monday morning good lighting and good races in a feature that saw and red flags. But as my photography pal and adven- hours, I felt like Brandon Sheppard as I worked my Darrell Lanigan absolutely dominate the field and ture cohort Tim Hunt says, “Sprint cars are wild way through lapped traffic. I thought to myself put an end to Brandon Sheppard’s streak. I ven- cards”. That was certainly the case this night. Their how great it would be to follow a series full time tured to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on feature finally ended, and the Outlaws fired off the and then I thought about how much work it was Sunday evening and was quickly amazed at the line. Ricky Weiss jumped to an early lead, but just for me to shoot photos of these races, I sight lines and shooting opportunities. I always Sheppard caught him in lapped traffic around halfway couldn’t imagine having to race like that. I have a appreciate tracks with multiple vantage points for through and sailed away to his tenth victory on the lot of respect for the touring folks who take their shooting and staff that allow you to do what you year and his fifth out of six races. dirt circus from one town to the next. It’s a need to do without interruption. The famous bull I made the decision to make the trek back to the different way of life and for a few July days, I was ring certainly lived up to its reputation with exciting cities from Grand Forks after the races Sunday night. I able to be an Outlaw with them. racing. The night seemed to be going along had been on the road for what felt like forever and I Page 19 August 2020

Midwest Tour at State Park Speedway The ARCA Midwest Tour kicked off their 2020 season with the Larry Detjens Memorial at State Park Speedway in Wausau, WI. Justin Mondeik continued his dominance at State Park this season picking up the win in the long-running memorial at the track.

Nuttleman family photos

Grand Nationals at Outgamie When the World of Outlaws Late Models made their visit to Outgamie Speedway in Seymour, WI the Grand Nationals were added to the card. Jacy Norgaard captured this fantastic shot of the Grand National drivers entertaining the crowd.

Jacy Norgaard photo August 2020 Page 20