At one time, some of the season's biggest special events were held on the 4th of July. I can remember traveling to various race tracks all over the Midwest on the 4th of July for specials and other open events, often with the evening concluding with fireworks. Now, however, it's tough to even find a race on the 4th of July to attend.
Fortunately for me, I did find such a special event and it was only about two and a half hours straight East of me in Eagle River Wisconsin. For the second time this season, I attended the races at the Eagle River Speedway with the Mark Zdroik Memorial race for Stock Cars being the featured race.
As you might recall, Eagle River Speedway is a Tuesday night race track, certainly one of the rare tracks in the entire country that has their regular race night on Tuesday. So it was not near as much a stretch for them to race on the 4th of July since it was their regular race night anyway. However, with the help of some very generous sponsors, much extra money was attached to the purse on this night with the Stock Car feature paying two thousand dollars to win and one hundred and twenty five dollars to start, unheard of figures for this little track nestled in the woods of northern Wisconsin.
Thunderstorms were lurking all around the state of Wisconsin on Tuesday and I actually had recorded nearly an inch of rain at my place before I left for Eagle River. However, the line of storms marching toward Eagle River split as it neared that city and they saw no more than just a few sprinkles of rain early in the evening. Another line was due later but that got postponed also so they really were fortunate on this night to get their race in. However, the belief was that the dire forecast probably hurt the car count just a little as the expected onrush of cars from the Fox River Valley for this event instead turned into just a trickle. No matter, though, as they still had plenty of cars to put on a show.
In fact, for a track that doesn't get a lot of cars for their weekly shows, they had full fields in three of their four classes with only the Late Models, a unique class to this area, having a smaller field but one that remains constant from week to week. It seems to me that they might have turned the corner in getting more local racers with the vast majority of those running on Tuesday from the general area. There are rumblings that a couple of tracks that have been closed in this area might reopen and that would likely also help produce more local entrants.
The Stock Car field was the largest of the night with twenty one of them entered, which is enough for track management to schedule a B Feature as twenty five is a lot for this rather tight race track. However, mechanical issues on a couple of cars ended their nights early and management opted to start all nineteen running without a B Feature as the weather continued to threaten. Interestingly, four of the track's Street Stocks opted to run both classes and try to race as Stock Cars with Ryan Brown doing the best as he actually finished fifth in the Stock Car feature.
The race schedule was moved up on this night with an early start time due to the fact that fireworks was scheduled to conclude the evening and they wanted to get to them reasonably early while also knowing the unlike most Tuesday nights, most folks weren't working on this day and could get to the track earlier than normal. Racing would begin just after 7 pm with two heats for the B Mods and Streets while the Stock Cars ran three, the Late Models one and heats were also held for the 300 and 600 Micro Sprints which are a part of the weekly program also.
Management wisely decided to run the Stock Car feature first to make sure that it would be completed in case bad weather hit. Nineteen cars would start the main, scheduled for thirty laps but instead cut to twenty , again perhaps because of the weather. David Blackberg, second in track points here, would draw the pole and that proved to be a race killer as he would lead the entire event and never be challenged. Often special races here turn into yellow flag plagued events with some drivers over driving this tricky track and producing lots of race slowdowns. However, this night was not one of them as there was only one yellow flag during this race.
Actually it turned into a red flag as Jonathan Miller was nudged into one of the dreaded infield tractor tires, clipped it and turned over on his roof. He was fine and the stoppage was a short one. Eric Mahlik moved moved into second early as he tried to run the higher line on the track, sometimes a successful one but always a tricky lane.
Mahlik, by the way, is a former offensive lineman for the University of Wisconsin Badgers who was a starter on one of the Badger teams to win a Rose Bowl game. However, the outside line was just not working on this night as the track seemed a bit drier than normal, perhaps based on the weather forecast.
In any event, it was Blackberg who would lead from start to finish with the last fifteen laps of the race going nonstop. Jason Zdroik, one of many Zdroik family members racing on this night, would finish second with Hot Rod Snellenberger completing the top five. Zdroik generally races in just the Late Model and B Mod class but pulled triple duty on this night driving one of the other family members cars. Jared Siefert and Mahlik would complete the top five with visitors doing well at the finish but a local would take the big money.
The B Mod feature would see Upper Peninsula driver Dave Dishaw make a bold outside move on lap nine to pass another U.P. driver, Frank "The Tank" Gasperini and take the victory. Jason Zdroik would add a third place in this class to his runner up finish in the Stock Cars.
However, Zdroik was not done yet. He would then just into his Late Model, take the lead on lap two of that race and run away with the win, making for a very productive evening for the local driver. Jim Zdroik, another relative would finish third and yet another Zdroik, Austin, would complete the top three.
The Street Stock feature would be a two car battle from start to finish. Emerson Manos would take the lead from the outside pole and lead much of the contest with Quentin Morrison moving in to challenge him. With just five laps remaining in the race, Manos would get hung up in lapped traffic and Morrison would slip under him and take over the lead. The last five laps would be his and he would cross under the checkered from the starter as he would win his first ever feature race on the 4th of July. The last few laps would not go well for Manos as he would get shuffled back to fourth with Blake Hartman and Jason Melton both passing him.
Racing would conclude around 10 pm and then it was time for the last event on the program, the fireworks display. The Mark Zdroik Memorial would honor the owner of Harry's Fireworks with a whiz banger of a fireworks display as a multitude of colors reigned over the Northwoods on this night to conclude the racing program.
As expected, a packed house was on hand this night during the height of the tourist season in northern Wisconsin. It certainly didn't hurt that the city of Eagle River decided not to have a fireworks display this year so the one close by at the track was a handy alternative. The 50/50 Split the Pot was over fourteen hundred dollars on this night as they tourists brought their cash with them to the track.
As always, insight and extra information was provided to me by veteran publicist and track announcer Joe Verdegan. Thanks to him and all of the Zdroik family members for an entertaining night of racing. It was also entertaining on the trip home. Lightning flashed in all directions while we had just a few sprinkles. Also, it you want to see wild life, just take this trip at night. I had to stand the car on its nose three times on the way home, one for a monster buck that was trotting right through the city of St. Germaine.
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