The wrap up for the Red Clay Classic was held on Saturday night, October 1st at the ABC Raceway just South of Ashland Wisconsin. After a full night of racing on Friday, the program would consist of B Features for all four classes plus the four big feature races.
The weather returned to what we would much more normally expect for the Red Clay as after a sunny, seventy degree day on Friday, on Saturday we would have gray slate skies, only about fifty degrees and a still Northeast wind directly off Lake Superior. It would be time to put away the shorts and break out the heavy, Winter coats and hats. But for the second straight night, the grandstand would be packed with fans and the pits jammed with over two hundred race cars. Friday night was a smooth night of racing with very few crashes and mechanical issues so just about the whole field returned to take a shot at making the field through multiple B Features.
Recently the Red Cedar Speedway had a fund raiser where they raffled off a new MB Modified race car with Travis Anderson having the lucky ticket. And Travis is going to use the new car as he has decided to move up from the MidMods to the Modifieds for 2023 which will be good for that class with another quality racer that has faithfully raced his two tracks every weekend. His old car, which is also an MB with perhaps only a dozen or so shows on it, will be for sale.
A tradition of the Red Clay is that Tim Ludwigson of Tim's Automotive, builder of some of the finest racing engines for all classes in this area, always hosts a big feed on Saturday of Red Clay featuring his special chicken recipe and he invites all his customers and friends to partake. Others bring dishes too and lots of great deserts and a feast is held for all. As always, thanks to Tim for doing this yearly as it involves a lot of work.
Track officials made the decision to move the show along as quickly as possible to try and beat the cold and any possible rain. In fact, we drove in rain for the first half hour on our way North Saturday and ran into wet pavement not far South of the track so it as a near miss. There were no hot laps, racing started right on the dot at 4 pm, and all driver out of car introductions were dropped to move things along(thank you!).
The B Features were most intense with everyone in the field wanting to make the main event. Yellow flags were quite numerous and in one of the most unusual moments of the weekend, after Tucker Budreau spun his Super Stock and then drove it head on into the guard rail as he tried to keep going, he literally stuck his car's nose right into the guardrail. The recovery crew was unable to pull the car off the rail and ended up having to cut the plastic nose of the car off to get him loose and for the rest of the night, the blue end of his nose was still imbedded between the rails of the guard rail.
With a fifteen minute time limit for the B Features, things got a little testy as several were called complete when the number of yellows built up and the time limit was exceeded. One could see the point of the drivers that got riled, as they stuck around for twenty hours to make one last shot to get into the show and then in a couple cases, only got five or six laps of racing to try and get to the front and qualify. This feels like punishing the cars that don't cause yellows by cutting them short because others were causing yellows.
It was pleasurable to wrap up the entire program by about 9:30 pm but I still felt bad for all those teams that basically got rooked out of their last chance to qualify.
The four feature races were not classics in the true sense but that was because a dominant driver emerged in all four classes. Twenty four cars took the green for the MidMod feature with Justin Bassa and Jason Schill battling for the lead early. Schill would take over the top spot but it was veteran Tony Bahr that quickly moved in to challenge. He would move to the high groove and pass first Bassa and then Schill to take over the lead and once in front, he would not be challenged.
Bassa had bad luck when he spun while batting for second and had to go tail back while Scott Splittstoesser and Cody Carlson moved forward. Splittstoesser caught a big break when he slid into the infield but would keep going while the yellow was thrown prematurely. He was given his spot back as he kept going and things would work out well for him as after restarting fifth, he would take advantage of a late yellow to motor up to second with Carlson coming on for third. The veteran Bahr, who only races when he feels like it these days, continues to win major events, as he has in the Super Stocks, Modifieds and Late Models over the years.
Ryan Adamzak, a veteran local MidMod driver passed away over the Winter and a local fan group, Finlander Corner, with the help of WISSOTA Board Member Dennis McCauley, solicited money in his honor with this money to be given to the ninth and seventh place feature finisher as his number was #97. The money collected amounted to a $3,100 bonus for two drivers. This turned into a bit of a drama as one car had a transponder that wasn't recorded that messed up the finish and then one top five finisher was DQ'd, but eventually things were sorted out and Zach Benson and Kennedy Swan eventually collected the big bonus.
Shane Sabraski has been a dominant driver in the Super Stocks all year and in fact, in a couple of weeks will be officially titled WISSOTA National Super Stock champion. In the meantime, his feature totals rise and his racing income mounts. On Saturday, it took him only five laps to drive past Terran Spacek and Steve Stuart to take the lead and then hold serve the last twenty five laps of the race for a dominating win. Several yellows brought the pack back to him but each time he would pull away again. This did result in a great battle for second between Spacek and Stuart for laps and laps. However, a yellow with five to go allowed Cole Chernosky to be a part of the fight and the Canadian driver would slip past both to finish second with Spacek holding on for third.
The Modified feature would produce a bit of an upset. Despite holding track championships and being third in all time wins at ABC, Jeff Spacek had not won a feature race at the track in three years so even though he would start on the pole, his route to victory figured to be a tough one. However, the Phillips veteran got the jump right at the start and quickly pulled to a considerable lead. And that lead never faded as there would be no one with the speed to stay with him.
The two race yellows hit at just the right time so as to avoid having to fight traffic until the end of the track and even that didn't show him as he navigated through three slower cars with ease, putting them between himself and eventual runner up A.J. Diemel at the finish. Shane Halopka would get past Ashley Anderson late for third.
Early during the weekend, I stopped by to talk elcctric scooters with Darrell Nelson and someone pointed out that during his distinquished career, he had never won the Red Clay in the Late Model class. However, it would not be many hours later until that couldn't be said again as Nelson would dominate the fifty lap feature for the Late Models, leading from start to finish.
Early on, Pat Doar appeared faster than Nelson but simply couldn't find a way by but as the laps progressed, Nelson got faster and Doar perhaps a little slower and Darrell would pull away.
The yellows were minimal and the last thirty laps of the race would go nonstop. Nelson would maintain a comfortable lead all the way to the finish with Nick Anvelink coming on strong late to get second from Doar.
The Red Clay is a weekend of giving and also one of traditions. One of the most interesting is what they call the “Bridesmaid's Challenge”. Somewhere along the way, the second place finisher, or “Bridesmaid”, started to get a bonus and the whole thing just gradually expanded. A local establishment, The Neighborly Bar, has a Thursday night fundraiser for this particular award and this year they went all out.
In exchange for donning a formal gown and holding a bouquet in the victory lane photos, the runner up gets a very healthy bonus. All four “Bridesmaids” donned the garb this year and in exchange, each received a nice bonus of $2,200 each! As crazy as it sounds, this made the runner up in each class go home with a bigger check than the race winner!
So another Red Clay Classic in now in the books. As usual it remains one of the most successful of the Fall racing specials with big attendance, lots of campers, plenty of partying and lots of race cars. Generally there is some sort of weather to battle but that almost seems like part of the flavor of this event, one that never lacks for action and entertainment.
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