The dirt track racing season in the state of Minnesota ended on Saturday night, October 21st with the completion of the 13th annual Topless Nationals held at the Wagamon family Ogilvie Raceway.
With nearly three hundred race cars in the pits and full house in the grandstand on Saturday, it certainly wrapped up the 2023 racing season in the Gopher state in a big way. Micro Sprints joined the card on Saturday night so there were eight classes running either just feature races or a multitude of B Features, depending on the class.
Racing would begin promptly at 5 pm on Saturday with ten B Features to be contested before the main events could begin. Nearly all drivers returned for the Saturday night action so there were some very large, Jeff Broeg sized B Features to be run first with very few of the starters added to the mains. It was "go big or go home" time for many and the results would set the running order for the tail end of the pack for the mains. Only the Late Models, Hornets and Mod Four would not run B's with all of them slated to run the main event. Apparently the word got out that full fields were not yet in place in two of those classes and there were several additional entries that would tail the fields for those mains, making the complete car count for the weekend at two hundred and ninety cars plus the Micros. By the way, I overlooked the fact that there was actually one Michigan driver on hand too so there were six states and two Canadian provinces represented.
Super Stocks were first on the track for their main event with twenty five drivers taking the green as Shane Sabraski, last year's winner, was added as a provisional starter after he couldn't make the grid through a B Feature. It was a miserable weekend for Sabraski, at least by his standards, as while he would charge from twenty fifth to sixth in the Super Stock feature and come from eighteenth to eighth in the Modified main, not battling for the win in at least one class is way below is normal standards and probably his poorest effort of the entire Summer.
The Super Stock feature would see third generation driver Brandon Duellman out fight Dexton Koch to take the win. Duellman would start on the pole and lead the first thirteen laps before Koch came from the fifth starting spot to drive past Duellman just as the halfway signal was given. Shortly thereafter, the lone yellow would fly for a spinning car and bunch the field.
Strangely, Koch, who showed so much speed in taking over the lead, just didn't have the same burst once the race restarted and three laps later Duellman was able to repass him and take over the point. Duellman would then pull away over the last five laps to take the win over Koch, who was going for his twenty ninth feature win of the year, and Dylan Nelson who's late charge got him up to third. Only three cars failed to finish the event.
Pat Doar closed out another spectacular racing season for the New Richmond Wisconsin veteran as he would lead all forty laps to win the Late Model feature and take home four grand for his efforts. He redrew the outside pole and would jump into the early lead with Josh Zimpel, Steve Laursen, Kevin Eder and Shane Edginton chasing him.
A couple early yellows would keep the field bunched and this gave Edginton the opportunity to move forward as he pulled up to challenge Laursen for second. Doar would maintain the lead but things would get tighter when during a long green flag stretch, the leaders would catch the pack and Doar had to make some nifty moves to keep a charging Edginton behind him.
Track management made the mistake of just watering the track before the main events, rather than ripping it up and the track started to take rubber during the Late Model feature, forcing most of the drivers to the bottom lane and making passing of the slower cars even tougher.
Doar is smooth as melted butter, however, and he was able to find a way through the traffic while stretching his lead at the same time. The battle for second was a dandy though, with Edginton and Laursen trading the spot three times before Edginton would hold on for that position.
The race ended just in time for Doar too, as when he pulled into victory lane he had a flat right rear tire, likely the result of the rubbered up conditions. For Doar, it was his fourteenth feature win of 2023 in another banner season that included the WISSOTA Challenge Series championship among his other prizes.
Track workers then ripped the track after the Late Models were done and there would be no more track issues the rest of the night as they likely second guessed why they had waited to do so.
Modifieds would hit the track next with twenty four taking the green for this race which may have provided the biggest surprise of the night. Joseph Thomas would take the early lead and would run up front for the first eight laps with Ward Imrie and J.T. Johnson moving in to challenge him.
Imrie, the Canadian driver from Winnipeg and a former national Modified champion, would really put the pressure on Thomas and as the handle started to go away on Joseph's car, Imrie would drive past him to take over the lead. By the halfway point of the race, Imrie would lead but both Jeremy Nelson and Don Eischens were moving forward.
Nelson was really strong on the low side of the track and he took over the lead from Imrie, only to see Ward saved by the yellow flag. However, one lap later Nelson would make the pass stick and he would then pull away over the final ten laps to score the impressive win. Nelson is a former track champion here at the Big O, but this season has been a quiet one for him and his win in the finale was his first of the year here in the Mods. Eischens, who has had a very strong second half of the year after he brought out a new car, would finish a strong second with Imrie hanging on for third.
Tommy Bawden would win his twentieth Mod Four feature win of the year as the soon to be crowned 2023 national champion recorded another first place run. It was a tough race though and while Bawden was the third leader of the race, he didn't take the lead until there were just three laps remaining in the contest.
Dean Larson had led the opening lap but he was soon passed by Tommy Pogones and Pogo Jr would lead right up to the final late race pass by Bawden. It seemed that Bawden was biding his time and when it was time to go, he powered under Pogones for the lead and then pulled away in the final three laps for the win. Pogones would get a solid second with Larson rounding out the top three.
David Swearingen is a tough one to beat at Ogilvie in the B Mod class and once again on Saturday, he would dominate the proceedings, starting on the outside pole and taking the lead from Travis Schulte on lap two and then leading the rest of the way for the win.
Schulte did hang with Swearingen for most of the race, only loosing second to Joey Jensen with six laps to go. Jensen pushed hard to try and take away the lead but under green flag conditions he just couldn't match the speed of Swearingen, who would drive home for the win. Soon to be crowned WISSOTA national Midwest Mod champion Zach Benson would drive up from eighth to finish a strong third and probably could have used a couple more yellows to help his cause, but the B Mods did well with just two yellows for minor spins.
I knew it wouldn't be a fair fight and Tim Johnson proved this to be the case as the Brainerd driver dominated the Street Stock feature with his Stock Car, taking the lead and running away from the field in a division where this typically is not the case.
I talked to Johnson before the race and he admitted to me that the Stock Cars have motors more powerful than the Street Stocks and also weigh 250 less pounds and the only thing holding them back is the crappy tire they run on.
But Johnson, who is one of those rare drivers that could make a wheel barrow competitive, and has a multitude of wins and national championships in various classes, would just hug the bottom lane of the track, take the lead from soon to be crowned WISSOTA Street Stock champion Justin Vogel, and then pull away from the field. Vogel, who loves to pound the cushion, just couldn't find enough speed on that line and Johnson would baby his car through the turns and then use its superior speed on the chutes to pull away.
The battle for second, however, was a good one with Derek Turner, the Fargo North Dakota driver, nipping Vogel for second as they dueled back and forth for the spot. The Street Stocks did a good job with only two minor yellows in their race, where hopefully management will rethink their rules for next year's event or it will be a Stock Car show with no one else bothering to try.
The Hornets would wrap up a long night that stretched to the Midnight hour with Matt Dittman passing Jeff Rohner on lap five and then leading the rest of the way for the win. Late in the race Kole Kampsen would get past Rohner for second and close on Dittman but he would run a smooth line and drive home for the win.
While I didn't report on the Micros, I can say that they provided the most spectacular accident of the night when "Porketta" Paul Wrazaidlo from Duluth would pound the wall in turn four in a heat race and then barrel roll down the front chute, nearly joining Brian Reidemann in the flagstand before falling to the track below. But Paul never says die and after borrowing parts and piecing the car back together and despite the fact he was on "rubber legs" after the crash, he returned to run the feature! Paul later told me that this was the fourth time he has been on his roof this year! I think it time to try a different class.
I was disappointed that there were no victory lane interviews on this night as it would have been fun to hear the drivers one last time before we call a halt to this racing season but it is a long walk from the tower down to the track and for some reason, they never seem to be able to find a second body to do the victory lane interviews here.
It was quite the weekend of racing and a good way to send everyone off into the sunset on another racing season. Now the plans begin for 2024 and the changes that are inevitably a part of the sport as drivers change classes, some retire with new ones replacing them, tracks change promoters and classes and the off season swirl begins.
Thanks to Nate Fischer, the Wagamon family and all the workers at the Big O for a job well done this weekend.
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