This has been a week to put a lot of miles on the vehicle, attending races in South Dakota, Iowa and now back up into my Cheesehead state, albeit the opposite of the state from where I lay my head down on the pillow.
Some of my running around this week had to do with my attempts to avoid nasty weather and get the maximum number of shows in while out on the road. As it turned out, the weather never really played a factor for me, as all races that I showed up at were held and a couple of nights when I bailed for "plan B" also got their shows in, so everyone was happy.
After feeling that the chances of rain in Iowa on Thursday were quite high, I decided to head back to Northeastern Wisconsin where if seemed that racing could beat the approaching line of rain. And again, as it turned out, everyone was happy as I saw a good show at 141 Speedway and the track I left also got their show in too.
141 pulled off an interesting last minute change that I doubt many tracks could have pulled off. Their original schedule for this week was to run a "Cowbell" Street Stock series race on Thursday night along with the Modifieds while the Stock Cars would have a practice night. Then, on Friday and Saturday there would be a Stock Car special with qualifying for them on Friday night and their main event on Saturday along with full shows for the Sport Mods. I believe the Stock Car feature was scheduled to pay either four or five grand to win with entries coming from all parts of the Midwest.
However, the weather forecast for the weekend was very grim with rain likely both days that would likely disrupt the entire program. So, here's what Toby Kruse and the staff at 141 came up with. With the weather still sounding OK for Thursday night, they would continue to host the Modified and Street Stock special plus they added Stock Cars to the mix, likely to give them at least one show for the weekend for those out of towners still on hand, and then the rest of the program, including the finale on Saturday night, would be rescheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, thus not interfering with other tracks weekend events.
This trio sounded appealing to me, plus the fact that the rain would seem to hold off for the evening sent me heading back up through Milwaukee(always a treat during road construction season) and then up toward the hallowed grounds of Green Bay(I did have a Lambeau siting), and to 141 where I received a warm welcome and a "what the hell are you doing here!" greeting.
I'm wondering just how many tracks in America could change up their program so drastically within twenty four hours of the first green flag dropping and still make a success of the evening. And you're wondering just how big a success? Well, what about one hundred and three cars in only three classes with four heats, two B features and three main events for the show? Not back by anyone's standards I would say, particularly for a last minute addition to the schedule. Of course, part of this success is because Kruse knows his crowd. He has been getting tremendous fields of cars lately in the race car rich Fox River Valley area along with Green Bay and there are a wealth of race fans within a short freeway drive from the track. Fans like to come to his track and drivers like to race on it also and that, my friends, is the formula for success.
The Cowbell Street Stock Series is a traveling series for the Street type cars, using an amalgamation of rules between the eastern Wisconsin tracks that run Street Stocks and the WISSOTA cars from western Wisconsin. Thirty five of them were on hand Thursday night including series from the western part of the state, which seems to produce the fastest cars, whether it be because of rules or perhaps they just are quicker on my side of the state.
Their main event saw Jimmy Randall from Rice Lake lead early but he couldn't keep his car from drifting up the track in the main and ultimately, it was the Genett brothers, Karl and Kyle, from the central Wisconsin burg of Auburndale, that dominated the action. They both have Street Stocks for both asphalt and dirt tracks and run both surfaces and they have always been very fast. Karl put on a driving clinic on Thursday, using the cushion to come up from the fourth row and drive by Cody Potter for the win.
A late race yellow made things interesting but Karl hung on for the win with his brother Kyle finishing third behind the retro 1957 Chevy that Potter drives. Gary Kasperek, who races both Stock Cars and Street Stocks and also races enduros and basically anything on four wheels, finished fourth with his unique Pontiac Ventura ahead of 141 point leader Jordan Ross.
A powerhouse field of thirty eight Stock Cars was on hand to race, including three drivers from Kansas that were too far along on their trip to turn around and head home. Their plan was to hopefully beat the weather the rest of the weekend and find some racing on their way back to "The Sunflower State."
While the Street Stocks started twenty four cars in their main event, the other two classes started only twenty for some reason, and just making the field for both classes was a tough chore. Come Stock Car feature time, the pole car would be Benji LaCrosse, crossing over from the Modifieds to drive one of Travis VanStraten's cars for the night. and he shared the front row with former Wisconsin and now Hawkeye state driver "General" Troy Jerovetz.
They battled for the early lead in the race until a yellow just past the midpoint of the event really changed things around. Aaron Stolp, second in track points, got a great restart and he blew past the front row with a well placed slider and took over the lead. The rest of the event saw everyone chasing Stolp with Kyle Frederick nearly pulling off a late race pass as he was the only one to get the low groove figured out. Jerovetz, LaCrosse and J.J. Heinz completed the top five.
By the way, two of the Kansas entries made the main event and were led by Jeff Tubbs who finished seventh.
On a night when yellow flag slowdowns were scarce to begin with, the Modifieds upped the stakes as their main event went nonstop, green to checkered. It was probably not the most dramatic of races but Brian Mullen didn't care as he got up on the cushion from the drop of the green and led all the way for the win. Russ Reinwald chases him for twenty laps but couldn't provide a serious challenge. There was a good battle for third with veteran R.M. VanPay holding on for the spot over Kyle Kudick and Tony Wedelstadt. And not only did they run off the main event nonstop, all twenty starters were still on the track at the finish and not a single car got lapped.
One of the things that Kruse is famous for is for his quick programs. While the drivers race hard, they know that the starter isn't going to throw the yellow flag unless you're upside down and on fire so they move when they spin. This helps create a slowdown free environment that the fans love, trust me. I was told that last Saturday night they had over one hundred and sixty cars in the pits and the final checkered flag waved at 10 pm , after a 7 pm start. And they've been doing this on a regular basis.
On Thursday, the first green flag waved at 7:01 pm(have to get on them for that late start) and by 10 pm I was driving out of the parking lot on my way home. And I didn't race to the parking lot either but made a stop before I evet left the grandstand area. And all this was accomplished even with a fifteen minute delay during the fourth Stock Car heat when a renegade shower spitted on the track for a few minutes. However, the heavy equipment was on the track as soon as it stopped raining and they had the track ready to race on in a few precious minutes. There is a reason this place is receiving national awards year after year. There is quite a list of other promoters that should visit this place and see how to do things the right way.
It was a fine night of racing even though a couple of the mains weren't spine tickling events not decided until the last lap. Sometimes it just turns out that way. But I left feeling I'd seen a good show and a show that was run in a pleasing manner by people that knew what they were doing and were doing their level best to run off a quick and entertaining program. And that's all I would ever ask for.
With 141 now off this Saturday night because of the weather, many of the track officials at the track were planning a visit to the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday. With the terrible storms of Thursday afternoon however in the Marshalltown area, I'm not sure if those plans still hold and indeed, I have not heard if Marshalltown is even racing now with the situation in town. Best wishes to everyone from that city and area and hopefully, all is well with the racing people of that community.
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