For those that read this blog, could I get a show of hands on how many of you have ever been to the Eagle River Speedway in Eagle River Wisconsin?
(Pause), that's what I thought, not many. And I'm not talking about the Eagle River Snowmobile track where the World's Championships are held each January, but the Eagle River Speedway about three miles West of town and just down the street from the Wisconsin River.
Well, here is my report from the Tuesday night show on June 6th at the Eagle River Speedway. Certainly one of the most unique dirt short tracks in the Midwest, the Eagle River Speedway was started way back in 1975 by land owner Ken Glembin. Ken owned a bar and cabins just down the road from the Wisconsin River in the deep woods county of northern Wisconsin. At some point his sons wanted to rip around with karts and small type vehicles so he built them a small track behind the bar. It was oddly shaped to fit in the openings between the trees in the woods behind their business. As time passes, more and more people wanted to race on their little track and soon they got organized and started to host a regular race program. The facility grew over the years, became more professional and hosted weekly races in several classes. One of Ken's sons, Mark, went on to become a proficient Midget racer with Badger and USAC.
The track, known at KG Raceway, always raced on Tuesday nights because that made for a good midweek break for the local drivers and fans that supported it with weekends reserved for racing at perhaps some other tracks in the area or just doing other things. With his kids grown up and moved away, at some point Ken sold the track and bar and several other owners ran things for awhile, even moving the racing to Friday nights that just didn't work.
Five years ago the track was in dire straits and was about to not open again. Stepping forward to buy the place at this time were Pat and Patty Zdriok, part of a large extended family, some from the Eagle River area and others that live in other parts of the state and race at other tracks, that have been at Eagle River almost since the beginning. They spent a considerable amount of money to upgrade the entire facility and one of their first moves was to go back to Tuesday night racing. In the last five years much has been upgraded about the track and facility while still retaining the charm the place has long hand. Their most recent change occurred since the end of the last racing season when then built a whole new and enlarged pit area and swapped the spectator and racer parking areas. They also made a new entrance to the track and built a catwalk that towers over that entrance, providing a spectacular viewing area for the pit personnel
While at one time both the track lights and p.a. system speakers were mounted in trees that surrounded the race track, things are much more modern here now with nice bleachers and rest rooms, but the bar is still just a short stroll behind the grandstand where a mixed drink can be obtained to take back into the grandstands. The track, while having been widened and surrounded by a concrete wall, still retains the odd shape that it has always held. It is sort of a "D" shaped track but is a one of a kind, and while they claim it to be a third mile, that likely is if you rode the wall all the way around the track with the real racing surface more likely under a quarter mile. It is tight racing but interesting and due to its very rural nature, the track generally hosts fields of forty to fifty drivers in their four core classes. We are so far North here that about half the drivers are from the U.P. of Michigan
Some wonder how a Tuesday night track can survive but actually that night plays to its best interests. For the locals that attend and race, it provides a nice midweek break and since many of the racers here race no where else, they can plan easily for the midweek racing. This is a low population area that survives off of tourism and during the Summer months, this quiet and sleepy area comes alive and becomes a bee hive of activity. This track survives on the tourist's dollars and Tuesday night, when they grow tired of fishing and other touristy things, provides the perfect venue to do something different. I have seen many families that come here from other parts of the country and know nothing about racing. They get a few hours of entertainment, the adults down a few cold ones and when they have seen enough or grow tired, they simply up and leave but management doesn't care, since they've already paid for their night in spades. .
That's the way it has worked here for years and I see nothing that will cause that to change. For the racers, they take it seriously but with a pinch of realism. Some come with high priced rigs and the latest in chassis while other pull the same cars out of the weeds in the Spring and have at it for another year. Joe Verdegan, a veteran journalist, author and publicist, is in charge of the media here. Joe retired several years ago from his weekday job and moved his family up to the Northwoods cabin that became their new home in this area, so he continues to call the action and write the press releases for the track as his last assignment in the racing world. Joe was in the middle of the busy Green Bay area racing scene for years and has many connections in the racing world and as such, is highly over qualified for this assignment but for him this is a retirement relaxing job.
The Eagle River Speedway now runs four classes of race cars along with 300 Junior Sprints and 600 Micro Sprints. They have a Street Stock class, an open Stock Car class, A B Mod class and they recently started a Limited late Model class based on USRA rules. They are sanctioned by no one as they are on the fringes of all the sanctioning bodies and basically now just let everyone run together under their own rules. It works for them on this small track and while they always like to have more and new cars, they can survive comfortably on their fields of present as they always have enough cars for a couple heats and a feature and that's all they need.
On the night I was there, the bleachers were mostly full and it is still the time when school is in session, both here and from the tourist areas. The first tourists are just starting to arrive as I sat with a group from North Dakota on vacation here but in the coming weeks this whole area with be crawling with vacationers from across the Midwest and this Tuesday night area will be packed with spectators to the point that seats are hard to find. All this to watch around forty cars and race.
On this night, the B Mods would provide a thrilling conclusion to their event when Jason Zdroik, one of three racing Zdroik's related to the track owners, would lead nineteen laps of the feature before being passed on a rare outside maneuver by U.P. driver Dave Dishaw to take the win.
Defending track champion David Blackberg would lead all the way to win the Stock Car feature. Blackberg is actually running a WISSOTA Street Stock but on this short track driving skill and set up is more important than raw horsepower.
Jason Zdroik would come back to get a win as he would lead from start to finish to win the Limited Late Model feature over a small field of six drivers, a number that the track is perfectly comfortable with.
The Street Stock class, which would be labeled probably as Pure Stocks or Bombers at most other tracks would see Json Eisel make a pass on lap three and then pull away for an easy win.
All racing was completed by around 10:30 pm, perhaps just a bit late given the number of events that they ran. That there was not a sense of urgency to both get the show started (the first race hit the track at 7:43 pm and the intermission where they gave away a multitude of prized that seemed to drone on forever(, would be the only criticism of a show that the vast majority of fans there were enjoyed thoroughly.
Thanks to Joe Verdegan for his help. By the way, he gave me a hot scoop in that 141 Speedway will have new owners. Toby Kruse still retains 51% ownership but Tim Czarneski has purchased the other 49% of the track.
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