Gustin Wires Field for WoO Late Model Win at Wilmot

 The only new track on the 2025 World of Outlaws Late Model schedule was the Wilmot Raceway in extreme southeastern Wisconsin and only a couple miles from the Illinois border. Following a big weekend of racing at Fairbury, the WoO contingent rolled into the Wilmot Raceway on Monday night, July 28th for a one night show. It must have felt like a "hangover" night after the big doings at Fairbury, and quite frankly, the way every one raced and the way the management crew operated, that seemed to exactly be the case. I won't say that everyone didn't try, but everyone seemed to just be in a bit of a stupor following the long weekend in Illinois. 

The Late Model troupe rolled into town with a meager group of drivers to race on Monday night. They did present their top fourteen in series points but not much else and with the area contingent of open motor Late Models being small and most of them opting not to race, the field of twenty was about as small as anyone seem at a WoO race in quite some time. It didn't help that it was another sweltering day and night in Wilmot with  the humidity being high and the "feels like" temperature at race time being 88 degrees. 

The local drivers filled out the rest of the show with two other classes in action also. The IMCA Modifieds were joined by the local Street Stocks but neither one of those classes had many cars either with only a single heat of Streets and two for the Mods. This should have been a nice quick show on a Monday night which would have been ideal for everyone, including the drivers that wanted to head North to Cedar Lake. Unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case. 

Efficient time management took the night off Monday as quite frankly, they did a lot of "dicking around" on this night and made the show last much longer than it needed to. It appeared that the track prep crew misfired on how much water they applied or just didn't get on it quick enough as multiple hot lap and packing sessions were needed by all classes and the first race didn't take the green flag until 8:04 pm, much later than it should or needed to. I was longing for the crew that ran the Summer Nationals to show up and run the show as they ran off a much more efficient program when they appeared at the track last month.

The Wilmot Raceway is not designed for Late Models. The track is narrow and hard to pass on and the local mentality is that of a Sprint Car person which is what races at this track most often. While the facility is very nice with excellent seating, lights, sound, concessions etc, they never have done much to improve the race track itself and it boggles my mind that over the years with plenty of room available to do so, they never have put any more banking on this track which is really quite flat. It becomes two drag race straightaways with a tight flat corner on each end. 

To the credit of the Late Model drivers, they did a nice job on putting on a good feature race with what they were given. Dennis Erb was quick qualifier at 14.625 seconds and three heats were run with no B Feature needed. Gustin must have had his lucky horse shoe in the car on Monday night, as not only did he redraw the pole for the feature race, he got the best call of the night when his heat race was called back and Cody Overton docked a row for jumping the start and taking the lead over Gustin, a call that I questioned and one that Overton avoided in his post heat race interview but you could tell he wanted to say plenty about. 

Gustin led all forty laps of the WoO feature, hugging the low side from the start and then gradually moving up the track as needed. There was plenty of good battling going on behind him and the race was far from boring. Tanner English held second for the longest time, never challenging Gustin but holding off the rest of the field. As the track started to dry off, a few drivers ventured a little higher in the corners but passing was hard because the track narrows down so badly in places. The Sprint Cars must do plenty of flipping here when they run over each other's tires. 

Bobby Pierce was one of the hardest workers and he must be given credit for going where ever he needed to on the track to make passes. He just kept plugging away and by the halfway point of the race, he was up to fourth as Boom Briggs was having a great run. 

Piece continued to push forward, moving into third and close behind English. Following a lap thirty nine yellow for a slowing Nick Hoffman, who had himself a terrible night with much of that bein self inflicted, Gustin made perhaps his only bobble of the night, getting just a bit high on the restart and allowing English to make his only serious run at the lead. However, when he couldn't complete the pass, he left himself out of line and Pierce went zinging past to take over second. 

One  more yellow gave Pierce his only shot at victory but Gustin held his line, made no mistakes and drove home for the win. Piece  settled for second while English had a terrible final five laps, dropping back to fifth. The "catfish" Dennis Erb just kept working the inside line as he always does and on this night it paid off as he drove up to third in the late laps with Dustin Sorensen in fourth. Only three of the starting field failed to finish the contest.  With the time getting away, a change was made and the Late Model feature was run off first which allowed the Late Model fans to leave early if they desired. 

I would like to report some positive comments on the other two classes but I'm afraid that I might be struck by lightning for lying if I did so. They had ten Street Stocks, mercifully all put into one heat, and sixteen Modifieds that ran a pair of heats but mostly what both classes did is crash a lot. They drove as if no one had brakes and the only way they could slow was by running into each other. 

Back in the day, the Modified class here was unsanctioned and when local cars ran at other tracks, they presented some of the most rough and crude cars seen with their driving style much the same. When they became IMCA sanctioned a few years ago, I had hopes that they would step into the same generation with the rest of the racing world, but that doesn't seem to have happened. Most of their equipment is hulks and that's the way they drive too. Clean, up to date and nice appearing race cars are hard to find here, but it was pointed out to me, why have nice equipment when all they do is crash and smash each other and wreck stuff?

Somehow the Street Stock teams cobbled back together nine of the cars for the main event after a smash fest in their heat race. Brandon Mertes started dead last in the feature but won by a full straightaway as only half the field was running at the finish. Mertes was driving an un painted back up car as the point leader on this night, likely because his primary car was wrecked previously here. Just guessing on that point, but most likely. 

Joe Huenefeld from Freeport, driving one of the few sanitary looking Modifieds in the field, and by the way, not a regular here, took the lead from Scott Barnharst on lap five and ran away with the feature race. He had a full straightaway for most of the event with Dan Jung finishing second. 

It was an interesting night for Noel Seegert Sr who got driven into and rolled over on his top in a heat race tangle. Somehow his team got the car back together and even more remarkable, he moved up from the fifth row to finish third in the feature. The Modified feature was actually decent as they seemed to rid themselves of their aggression during the heat race demo derbies. 

All racing was completed just before 11 pm, about an hour later that it should have been, given the number of cars and races run. However, the crowd was a big one and they seemed happy and entertained so I'm guessing that the WoO will be back again in 2026. 

One last note, Wilmot Raceway has taken over the dubious honor of having the most blatant thieves of any track around! During the intermission, fans were coming down out of the grandstands and trying to steal the Great American Beer signs that were hung on the fence facing the crowd. These advertising signs are always reused by the WoO or whatever organization hangs them and they are their property. 

However, the fans here didn't think so and were just walking up to them, trying to cut them loose and then take off with them. Fortunately, the security force here was both large and efficient and it was quite entertaining watching them track down or chase down the bandits, get the signs back and then watch as these thieves tried to explain why they felt they were so privileged that they could just steal property. One bozo got escorted out of the facility for his efforts. What morons! Go back across the state line where you belong.   

Marolf PRO Late Model Victor at Dubuque Fair

 The first of three nights of motor sports activity at the 72nd annual Dubuque County Fair started on Wednesday night, July 23rd. It was an unbelievably hot and steamy July day and while a few tracks were either stormed out or opted not to race on this night due to the heat, officials from Dubuque County and the racing group pushed forward with their event. 

The PRO Late Models were making their first appearance of the season at Dubuque and along with them, four of the weekly classes were also in racing action, running for extra money as a part of the Fair. 

The grounds had been sharpened up in anticipation of the Fair with new paint on the wall that circles the third mile oval to brighten things up. They went with the red and white scheme again which dates back to the days when NASCAR sanctioned many of the tracks in this area and their colors adorned everything, whether it moved or not. I have to laugh as the old Union 76 globe still sits in the infield, even though it hasn't lit up in years but by now, it's kind of a part of the track's fashion and was also something that the NASCAR sanctioned tracks had back in the day. 

Now it's IMCA for the Modifieds and Hobby Stocks that were racing on Wednesday, along with track rules for the Four Cylinders and Crown Vics, the new class started at the track this year and one that seems to be springing up at more tracks around the country. The PRO Late Models run some combination rules that allow drivers from different sanctioning bodies to race together despite different motor packages and feature many of the household names  from eastern Iowa racing. 

Despite the heat and humidity, a good field of drivers showed up to race as the Dubuque Fair is one of those events on many drivers "must attend" lists. The only class on the short side was the Four Cylinders with only eleven of them on hand but the other classes all had enough drivers for three heats but just short of needing to run a B Feature which was just about perfect. It was a draw/redraw night across the board and I congratulate the PRO Series for being one of the few that hasn't gone to time trials to determine starting positions. I'm getting real tired of seeing qualifying no matter how regional the series are. 

The first heat took to the track at 7:22 pm with the Four Cylinders up first. The heats across the board went very smoothly, again aided by the one spin rule that keeps the action moving. The track was then worked up some and packed, as a rather substantial berm was developing and track officials wanted to knock that down. 

Working in such brutal conditions for the track crew must have been difficult Wednesday but the humidity does help the track and tonight it proved that as the drivers were racing all parts of the track and there was no dust at all, despite the heat. 

The feature race running order was unchanged from the heats and the Four Cylinders would be the first class to race their feature. Jacob Welter started on the pole and led nine of the ten laps of this race to take the win. 

He had easy going early as he built up a good sized lead in what was a nonstop main event but gradually Jeff Allendorf caught up to him and somewhat surprisingly, on lap seven Allendorf drove past into the lead. This seemed to fire up Welter and he picked up the pace, taking only one lap to repass Allendorf and then pull away by a comfortable margin to take the win. Rick Zifko finished third as ten of the eleven starters saw the checkered flag. 

Crown Vics were next with fourteen of them taking the green flag for their twelve lap feature race. Travis Nesteby started fourth but by the end of lap one, he had the lead. A single yellow slowed the action with three laps complete but after that, the race went green to checkers. 

Nesteby built up a strong lead over Manny Bennett by the halfway point of the race and it seemed like this event was a foregone conclusion for Nesteby. However, you never know in racing and with a couple laps to go, Nesteby began to slow considerably as his car's motor sounded very bad and his lead began to be cut drastically. When cars he had just lapped drove back around him, you knew he was in trouble. 

Bennett smelled blood in the water, pushed his car for what it was worth, and drove past Nesteby to take the lead and ultimately, the win. Rob Culbertson drove up to second with Nesteby falling back to fourth at the line. 

I believe this race paid a grand to the winner although I heard no mention of that in victory lane but either way, it was a big win for Bennett and his first victory at Dubuque since way back in 2004 while racing Four Cylinders. 

Late Models were up next for their thirty lap, three thousand dollar to win main event and twenty two drivers took the green flag, minus Bobby Hansen who appeared to lose a motor while having a good heat race run. 

Eric Pollard had the pole but it was Lyle Klein that used the outside line to grab the initial lead. Klein, who doesn't get to race much since he moved out of the area, took full advantage of this rare opportunity by pulling away from the field in the early going. Pollard tucked into second with Nick Marolf moving into third as the first ten laps ran off green. 

A spin bunched the field but back on green, it was still Klein that held the lead with Marolf getting past Pollard to take over the second spot. Nick started putting the heat on Klein, who's car appeared to be getting a bit tight in the corners as he pushed up the track slightly. Marolf looked to the inside several times, but just couldn't quite get the push he needed to make the pass. 

A lap twenty one yellow when third place Pollard spun was just what Marolf needed though. On the restart, Klein pushed up the track, Marolf drove under him for the lead and that was race over, as Marolf led the rest of the way. 

C.J. Horn eventually worked his way into second but he could never put pressure on the leader. Proving that it does indeed make a difference who is behind the wheel of a race car, Chad Simpson stepped behind the wheel of the David Webster 44w and drove that car up to third after starting ninth on the grid. Matt Ryan and Ron Klein completed the top five after Lyle Klein rolled to a halt with issues with just five laps to go. 

A strong field of Modified drivers were on hand but that didn't matter to Jeff "Bone" Larson as after starting on the pole, he dominated for twenty laps to take the top prize of two grand back across the border to Illinois. 

In a race that was plagued by yellow flags, with four of them in the first five laps including a tangle on a bad restart that took out four drivers, Larson didn't let the slowdowns faze him as he drove a strong race and didn't let the competition catch up to him. 

A good battle for second saw Jed Freiburger and Jacob Hobscheidt swap that spot back and forth with Freiburger finally claiming it by the halfway point of the race. Joel Rust made a nice advance from eleventh to finish fourth ahead of Spencer Diercks. 

The Hobby Stocks were also racing for a grand as their top prize and twenty three of them took the green flag for their fifteen lap finale. Kyle Jared used the outside line to take the early lead after the initial start was called back when strong favorite Nathan Ballard spun and was relegated to the tail of the field. 

Jared was receiving big pressure from Jordan Miles in the early going but suddenly it was a three car battle as Dalton Weepie moved in on the low side of the track, and on lap six, he passed both the other drivers as they were battling and took over the top spot. 

Jared and Karter Miles then took up the chase, but neither could catch Weepie from that point on. A late race yellow set up a three lap sprint to the finish but Weepie took off strong and drove home unchallenged for the win. Behind Jared and Miles, Ballard had drove his way back up through the pack to take fourth with Matt Bennett completing the top five. 

Two drivers took the Done Right TV Challenge. Hobby Stocks were also racing as a part of the Maquoketa Fair on this same night and the two tracks worked it out so Maquoketa ran the Hobbies first and Dubuque ran them last so it was possible to race both features. 

Two drivers took the challenge and since both were from Wisconsin and Dubuque was right on the way home, why wouldn't you?

Blaise Watters had won the feature at Maquoketa and he worked his way up to seventh at Dubuque after starting twenty third. Brycen Wilson finished sixth at Maquoketa but settled for twelfth at Dubuque as there was plenty of traffic to try and get through to get to the front. But I salute both drivers for giving it a try and both tracks for coming up with this clever promotion. 

There is something about a Fair race that can't quite be duplicated and the Dubuque Co. Fair is one of the best around so it is always nice to be able to include it on my racing schedule. Thanks to all the staff at the Fair and the race staff also. They have one more big race coming up on Sunday with the long standing Julian Dubuque Classic to be held. 

O'Brien Edges Out Horn at Fayette County Fair

On a very hot and steamy Tuesday, July 22nd, the Fayette County Fair in West Union Iowa opened up. Unlike many Fairs currently, this Fair does not limit motorsports activity during the Fair that is held at the track the rest of the season. Despite hosting weekly racing, many Fairs these days either restrict or rule out completely any motorsports activity during the Fair, but here they actually increase the number of races held. 

Along with this Tuesday night show featuring the PRO Late Models plus three of the weekly classes, the Fair will also hold bus races in combination with Sprint Car races(an odd combination for sure) and a night featuring a IMCA Modified special, a class that doesn't even race at the track during the season along with a return engagement by the Sprint Cars. So for race fans, there are plenty of reason to attend the Fayette County Fair. 

As stated, the PRO Late Models were the top attraction on this Tuesday night but along with them, there were plenty of folks that came to see the B Mods, USRA Stock Cars and hear the tunes the Tuner class provided. 

The car counts were just about what you might want for a quick weeknight show where you wanted to get done early to turn folks loose on the midway or get then home early so they could come back again on Wednesday and watch the buses and Sprint Cars. Nineteen PRO Late Models, all of them from eastern Iowa or across the border into Wisconsin, signed in to race. USRA classes that race here weekly saw seventeen Tuners and Stock Cars and eighteen B Mods, just the right number for a pair of big heat races with no B Features needed. 

And a quick program would be necessary as storms were building and heading toward the Fayette County area as the evening progressed. Hot laps would roll at 7 pm and by 7:22 pm it was time for racing. 

It has been a while since I was last at Fayette County and quite frankly, I can't remember if the last time I was here that the wall had now been extended all the way around the track as for years the ends and back chute had no walls, just run off room for the drivers. But if not, it now has a wall all the way around the track and only one entrance off turn two, so the cars cut through the infield when done with their races and exit through the same gate they come on the track on. They are still missing one important item and that is a scoreboard as under the roof of the grandstand, it's really hard to hear the announcers when the cars are running to know laps completed etc. 

This track has one of the more sandy racing surfaces in all of the state, and as such the dust does fly more often than not. However, a nice breeze from the South was appreciated on Tuesday and that both kept us clean and kept the humid air moving, thus making it not quite so miserable. 

This is also one of the more vocal crowds of any around and even during the heat races they were loud in both their applause and their jeers and they waste little time letting everyone know who they like and who they don't. The heat races clicked off smoothly with few delays. The lone exception belonged to Stock Car driver Jason Schlangen who managed to spin out three times during his heat race. The first two were tagged on other drivers and he got his spot back but on the final lap he managed to spin once again without aid and saw his third place run instead end with him sitting in the infield as the rest of the heat took the checkers. He would get some revenge in the feature race though, as he did drive back up to seventh at the finish of that event. 

The track was very top side dominant during the heat races and a quick watering didn't change that as the feature races rolled onto the track. The intermission was kept very short as the weather was looking more threatening by the minute. 

Sixteen Tuners took to the track first for their main event and they proved to be right in pitch as their feature race saw the yellow wave only once. The all important race to the cushion where it seemed that the best speed was made was won by Nolan Lerch who beat pole sitter Josh Hills to that spot. It was then up to Hills to figure out a way past Lerch if he wanted to win. 

They raced in close formation with the rest of the field funneling in behind them. While there was some battling for position, much of the field lined up single file, searching for a way to get around others. 

The lap seven turn three pileup that eliminated two drivers still kept the field bunched and with the laps running down. Hills attempted to beat Lerch to the corners and slide up under him but he simply didn't have the speed needed. He made one last attempt in turn one on the final lap, it didn't work and he would settle for second as Lerch took the win. Dillon Riehle ran third the whole race and beat out Cory and Dalton Fels for that spot. 

The Stock Car feature started seventeen cars and it was front row starters Brady Link and Daryl Moss that would again fight to get to the cushion first and it was Link that did so to take the early lead. He was soon joined by Mitch Hovden who started third and quickly took the second spot. Hovden put pressure on Link but as long as Brady kept his line and didn't get too high up against the block wall, it was in good shape. 

However, Hovden was able to trick Link as he showed his nose low in the corners a couple times and suddenly and inexplicably, Lind changed his line and started to run low in the corners. Of course, Hovden jumped on that immediately and drove past Link, who then realized the error of his ways and got back up on the cushion but it was too late and Hovden was gone. 

The rest of the race saw Link try to make up for his error but Hovden was gone and the best Link could salvage was second. Bill Scherf was running third for most of the race until he broke right near the end and this allowed Kansas visitor Rodney Schweizer to move up to third with Kevin Donlan and Lynn Panos completing the top five. Panos made a nice recovery, having wrecked on the first lap of his heat race and then being forced to start tail back in the main. 

The B Mod feature has a wild finish, made even wilder by events that occurred after the checkers flew, the trophies were given out and most folks were unaware of the end result. 

Kansas visitor Jake Richards started on the pole for the feature but he was beaten to the cushion on the opening lap of the feature by Tim Heins who then controlled the early laps. One of the very few drivers able to make anything happen on the low side of the track was Dan Hovden who was able to drive low in the corners, keep his speed up and actually pass others on the low side of the track. 

Hovden started sixth but quickly came to the front using that rare line and while Richards was working hard on Heins for the lead, Hovden pulled up beside both of them and then drove under them down the front chute with a three wide move that saw him take over the lead. 

And once in front, he pulled away to a large lead, leaving the rest to battle for second spot with Richards taking that position by mid race with Dale Schwamman moving up to third Schwamman then began to challenge Richards for second but they were far behind leader Hovden. 

Things took a nasty turn for Hovden, however, as he tried to lap the slower car of John Gilson who chose to spin out right in front of the leader, with Hovden sliding into the spinner when he had no where to go. Fortunately for Hovden, his car was only slightly damaged and he was able to restart as the leader with just five laps to go. 

Things proved to be tougher on the restart as Hovden had to work hard to hold off Schwamman, who had moved into second, and Richards but after a couple laps, he was able to get up to the cushion which was still the fastest line, and pull away for the apparent win despite wisps of smoke coming from his car. Drama in victory lane saw a small fire break out on his car as he parked it.  

As he was interviewed in victory lane, the "leather lungs" next to me kept yelling "cheater" at Hovden. Apparently that guy was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. Later I would check My Race Pass for the official results and I assume, based largely on the information given the tech folks by "leader lungs", Hovden was indeed disqualified from his win for a violation only Hovden and "leather lungs" know. 

This elevated Schwamman to the win with Richards finishing second and Kyle Anderson receiving the third spot. All this was done after the event and no announcement was made by the track so most folks went home assuming that Hovden was the winner. 

It was time for the Late Model feature was the thunder heads continued to build in the Western skies. However, much to my chagrin, it was not the Late Models that came to the track but instead the water truck and the Sorensen built track tickler to make a few laps in the low groove, apparently to try and speed up that lane and widen out the track. They did it quite quickly but I was still nervous that it might rain before we got to see the feature. 

Logan Duffy and Justin O'Brien shared the front row for the twenty five lap main and it was Duffy who got the initial charge to lead after lap one. However O'Brien quickly got after Duffy and just one lap later, he was able to get under Duffy and take over the lead.

The track prep had the drivers all thinking that the low side was now the fast way around the track and Duffy kind of set the stage on that as that was the lane he was running as he pulled away. 

However, back in the pack, things were changing quickly. C.J. Horn had a poor heat race and he was starting sixteenth in the main event. Perhaps out of desperation as much as anything, Horn tried the high side up against the wall as everyone else had the low line blocked. It worked immediately for him and he began a long march to the front of the pack. 

The first and only yellow flew early in the race when Jeff Aikey rolled to a halt with a flat tire. At this time, Horn was not yet in the top five but was moving forward as Luke Goedert currently ran third with Ron Klein and J.D. Auringer next behind him. 

Horn really picked up the pace just after the halfway point as he was noticeably faster than anyone on the track, sometimes picking off multiple cars a lap in his drive to the front. He blew past both Auringer and Klein and quickly closed on O'Brien. 

With a power move off turn four, down the front chute he charged past O'Brien to take over the lead and it appeared the race was over. As O'Brien moved up the track to the cushion, it seemed that Horn had the race under control. However, lapped traffic proved to be his downfall. The two leaders caught a pair of cars that were running various lines on the track and Horn had difficultly getting past them, with O'Brien back to retake the lead and when Horn overshot the cushion and got hung up by the wall, O'Brien was able to extend his lead. 

Horn's charge to the front was with risk and when he got overextended in the corners, he lost enough time that O'Brien was able to  pull away and take the win. Horn certainly provided the entertainment though and he did hang on for second behind O'Brien, who's Rage chassis business is located just behind the back straightaway of this track. 

Klein finished third with Auringer and Eric Pollard completing the top five.  

The final checkered flag few just at 10 pm to complete an entertaining and quick show for the fans. A large crowd was on hand for the show but I would be interested to see just how many folks show for the buses and Sprint Cars on Wednesday. Thanks especially to the folks at the pit gate for their help on this night.   

A Fired Up Mullens Tops Granite City Mod Wars

 The USMTS completing a three night swing through Minnesota on Sunday night, July 20th with an appearance at the Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids Minnesota. A forty minute drive from Ogilvie on Saturday night completed the compact three night tour for the Modifieds as the final night of the Mod Wars with the USMTS vs. WISSOTA playing out once again.

And for the second straight night, the Modifieds would share the stage with the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series for Late Models and in by far the best feature race of the night, Shane Sabraski would make a late race charge to take the forty lap feature race in a three car duel with Billy Kendall and Kevin Eder. 

Midwest Modifieds and Crown Vics completed the card with Landyn Randt winning the MidMod feature and Calvin Saldana surviving in the Crown Vic class. 

Cloud cover and even a slight chance of previously not mentioned rain showers made for a more comfortable evening on Sunday. As the "dirty dozen" that seem to now be the travelers for USMTS prepared for their third straight night of forty lap feature racing on one of east central Minnesota's short tracks, Rodney Sanders continues to lead the standings over Jim Chisholm and Mullens with Rodney gaining just a bit of ground following Saturday night's show at Ogilvie. 

The Modified car county took a notable drop on Sunday as for many teams apparently, the third night of racing was just not for them. Many of the area teams that raced the first two nights of the weekend simply didn't show up on Sunday night. Only twenty one drivers signed in to race with the late addition of the legendary James Parker who as usual missed his heat race. 

Only two heat races were held following qualifying where Joey Thomas, an area racer from Hawley Minnesota, set quick time with a lap at 14.717 seconds. Thomas and Joe Chisholm won the heat races but it was Thomas' heat that set the fire simmering in Mullens. 

He was second to Thomas exiting the final corner of the heat when Jim Chisholm threw a slider that best could be described as "questionable." He did get the spot but in doing so, drove Mullens up into the wall under the flagstand with Mullens suffering significant damage to the rear end of his car including pulling the drive shaft out of it. It looked to be significant enough that he might have to pull out a back up car which would forfeit him of his good starting spot. 

He said nothing as he left the area, riding on the back of promoter James Trantina III's four wheeler but it was clear that he was boiling over. And as luck would have it, Mullens and team got their car repaired and when he redrew the pole for the main, you knew Mullens meant business. Ironically, it was Chisholm that shared the front row of the feature with Mullens. 

There were no shenanigans at the start, but Mullens showed he meant business as he jumped out immediately to the lead, once that he would never relinquish over the forty laps and indeed, a lead that would never be challenged at all.  As Mullens pulled away, Jim and Joe Chisholm battled it out for the second spot with Thomas also a part of that fight. 

The yellow flew with sixteen laps completed when Kyle Brown rolled to a halt and during the next four laps before the halfway point, a Chisholm fight for position saw Joe get past his brother to take over second with Jim now fighting with Thomas for position. 

A long period of green flag racing, well over twenty laps, saw the running order stay the same and Mullens remained in the clear. However, just as the white flag was ready to be displayed, Kyle Strickler pounded the concrete wall for the second straight night, taking a wrecker ride back to the pits and likely tapping into car owner Troy Giralamo's pocket book once again for a car repair. 

The two lap dash to the finish was intense but didn't include Mullens who once again checked out. Jim Chisholm selected the inside line but when he cut the corner too tight on the green, he made hard contact with the dreaded infield tractor tire positioned there and doing severe damage to the front end on his car, he limped to the infield as the race finished up. 

Mullens drove home unchecked for the win with Joe Chisholm and Thomas following. Zach Benson made a fine drive, coming from eighth on the grid and made a strong run forward in the last twenty laps, winding up fourth. Sanders took full advantage of the late yellow, as he charged up after languishing in mid pack most of the race, to wind up completing the top five. Shane Sabraski had made a charge up into the top five and was still moving forward but contact with a lapped car gave him a slowly leading tire, and following that late yellow, he lost several positions because of that. Sixteen of the twenty one starters were still on the track at the finish. While fighting the odds, the WISSOTA drivers still made a good showing while placing two drivers in the top five finishing positions for the third straight night. 

The Late Model feature, a part of the Challenge Series, was by far the best race of the night. They too were down on numbers on Sunday with a hard weekend's worth of racing plus Sunday night racing both taking its toll. Following a couple of scratches, nineteen cars took the green flag for their forty lap feature. 

Earlier, Dave Mass, Cody Lee and Sabraski had been quick timers of their groups with Mass quickest overall at 13.748 seconds. Three heats racing for passing points set the field with everyone able to run joining the feature. 

Kevin Eder had the pole position and he took the early lead over Mass and Sabraski. This race played out in a very interesting fashion as drivers raced very different lines. Eder was running right through the middle lane while Mass was banging the cushion and Sabraski hugging the ute tires on the inside. 

Sabraski took over second as the first of two yellows during the race flew with eight laps complete when Jared Zimpel hit the outside wall. On the restart, as Eder continued to lead over Sabraski, Cole Searing who started fifth, moved into the third position with Billy Kendall also on the move as Mass started to slip back in the field. 

As the race moved into its second half, slowly but surely Sabraski started to move in on Eder, gaining little by little on each lap. On lap twenty nine, Sabraski drove under Eder to take over the lead while at the same time, Kendall went to the cushion, passing Searing and then closing in on Eder. One lap later the final yellow waved for debris on the track and the race turned into a ten lap shootout. 

Sabraski was leading but Eder then moved to the cushion, seeing the success that Kendall had using that line. Sabraski moved up the track, making his car wide as he tried to block Eder but at the same time, Kendall saw this, dropped to the inside line previously used by Sabraski and began to make time. He passed Eder and then closed in on Sabraski, who now found himself committed to the cushion. 

Kendall continued to charge and with just five laps to go, he nosed past Sabraski to take over the lead. How interesting it was with both drivers now finding themselves racing on the opposite lines from where they had success earlier in the race. 

The final five laps saw the two racing side by side for the lead. Sabraski nosed ahead on lap thirty eight but it was less than a car length to the good. They continued to run side by side, both charging hard off the final corner and Sabraski took the win by .022 seconds, or about a half car length. Eder, after leading so many laps, would finish a disappointing third with Searing next in line. 

A word about fifth place finisher Jayson Good. He was set to race at his father's track, the Casino Speedway in South Dakota until they rained out at mid afternoon. He threw his equipment in his toter and came flying across the state of Minnesota, arriving after the heat races but was allowed to start at the back of the feature. 

Although perhaps not a house hold name across the country, Sabraski's probably should be. Although still a young man, the statistics he has built up are almost unbelievable. Sunday night's feature win was his nine hundred and eighty first of his racing career and his thirtieth of the 2025 racing season. With still many races left this year, it seems almost inevitable that he will break the one thousand mark sometime yet in 2025. He is also one of the most prolific racers in our area, racing in three different divisions and often racing in three classes per night with his Metro Buick GMC team, he runs a Late Model, a Modified and a Super Stock and is a threat to win every night in all three classes. 

After scratches and such, he started sixteenth on the grid for the main event but with a smooth drive, cracked the top following the last restart, making his trip worthwhile. Only four drivers failed to finish the race and everyone was still on the lead lap at the finish. 

While over forty Midwest Mods raced on Saturday night, only eleven found their way to Granite City on Sunday. No matter to Landyn Randt, who stopped at Granite City on his way home after racing in South Dakota over the weekend. He started on the pole and led all laps to take the feature win. 

Things got tight at the end as a charging Ryan Putnam nearly caught him but Randt held on for the win. Jake Hagemann, David Baxter and Jason Vokavan completed the top five.

Granite City has started a Crown Vic class at the track this year. They made their debut about a month ago and have now grown their numbers large enough that two heats are required for the class. However, after Sunday night's demo derby disguised as a race, that number may be reduced somewhat for next week's show. 

When the antics were completed, it was Calvin Saldana that took the win over Mike Layne and Austin Goedker. 

A very good crowd was on hand for the show and it ended up being one of the most pleasant weather nights of the season. USMTS returns to action with races in Oklahoma before heading to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri. The Challenge Series is off now until the second weekend of August when they make a swing through Wisconsin, racing at Red Cedar and Rice Lake. Granite City Motor Park returns with a weekly show next Sunday at 6 pm. 

Joe Chisholm's Turn In USMTS Victory Lane, This Time In Ogilvie

 The USMTS troops moved just twenty six miles up the highway from Princeton Minnesota to Saturday night's race scene, the Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie Minnesota. For the Chisholm family from Iowa, it was just another chance to show their dominance over the rest of the Modified racers on hand. However, is the spirt of playing fair and taking turns, it was Joe Chisholm's turn to grab the victory and he did so, leading all but two laps of the forty lap Modified feature that was night two of Mod Wars in Minnesota. 

It was a very big night of racing and an expensive one to for the management of Ogilvie and not only did they host the USMTS, the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series for Late Models was also in action on Saturday and their forty lap, five thousand dollar to win main event went to Josh Zimpel. 

WISSOTA sanctioned Midwest Modifieds and Mod Fours rounded out the evening's racing action with Joey Jensen, who used to run frequently with USMTS back in the day, topping a forty plus car field of Midwest Modifieds while Keith Thell, out of retirement after about four years on the sidelines, went to victory lane in the Mod Four in only his second time back  behind the wheel of one of the four cylinder Modifieds. 

Thirty six Modifieds signed in to race on Saturday with that requiring four heats and a pair of B Features to set the field for the forty lap feature race which on this night started twenty six drivers. WISSOTA drivers shown well early with Jody Bellefeuille and Ryan Gierke setting the quickest times in the two groups with Gierke quickest overall at 16.990 seconds, he being the only driver under seventeen seconds. The redraw number was five on Saturday, setting the lineups for the heat races. 

The redraw for the main event found Joe Chisholm on the outside pole with Clayton Wagamon starting right next to him. Chisholm got the jump and took the early lead. However, Wagamon got up on the wheel and moved to the cushion and on lap five he slid past Chisholm to take over the lead on what looked to be a promising move. 

However, on the next lap he clobbered the back stretch wall which caused him to fall all the way back to fifth and turn the lead back over to Chisholm. Wagamon would eventually leave the race with his car never again being the same after the concrete impact. 

The first of seven yellow flags waved with nine laps complete when Shane Sabraski, who started in the top three rows, slowed with a flat tire and called it a night. Landon Atkinson had moved into second at this point and it was his turn to put the heat on Chisholm as several slide jobs broke out and Atkinson was even able to grab the lead for a single lap on lap twelve before Chisholm crossed him over and then retook the top spot. 

However, Chisholm's biggest was Tyler Peterson who started third, rode with the leaders during the first part of the race and then replaced Atkinson as the challenger to Chisholm. Through several yellow flags, one of which saw Kyle Strickler move into the top five and then hammer the concrete to end his night, Peterson continued to stalk Chisholm

Through the mid portion of the race, it was highly entertaining as on nearly every lap, Peterson would slide Chisholm for the top spot, only to see Joe cross Peterson back over and retake the lead. Quietly, Rodney Sanders had moved up into third by the halfway point of the race and going into the last ten laps, it looked like it would remain a two car shootout. 

However, that all changed when with just eight laps to go, Peterson pushed too hard in turn one and caught the concrete and ground to a halt, his race completed. Sanders then had the final  chance to pull the upset and he did get close, running off the bottom in the corners to pressure the leader. 

However, Chisholm did not slip up and he drove home for the win with Sanders, Tanner Mullens, Bellefeuille and Atkinson completing the top five. 

Bellefeuille had quite the journey as he was disqualified after his heat. He then had to come from twelfth to just make the feature and then drove up from twenty second to finish fourth and he was still moving forward when the checkers flew. It was a grueling race and nearly half the field ended up being DNF's. 

The WISSOTA Challenge Series, the traveling series for WISSOTA Late Models, brought a strong field of thirty drivers to the track and their format also includes qualifying, heat races running for passing points that set up the starting field for the main events. 

This marked the first time in quite some time that I had to endure qualifying for two different classes on the same night and for a brief moment I thought I might have been transported East and was at some mysterious UMP race somewhere. But when they didn't qualify the water truck and motor grader I realized this wasn't the case!

Cole Searing, Peterson and Zimpel were the quickest qualifiers in their groups with Peterson quickest overall at 16.354 seconds so the Late Models, even running on a more used up track than the Modifieds, proved that they are indeed the faster class. The Late Models ran three heats and a B Feature to set what would be their twenty five car field for their forty lap main. Tough luck hit Canadian driver Shane Edginton when he had to scratch out of the main event with motor problems. 

Zimpel started on the pole and took the early lead from Sabraski, who ran closely behind him during the early laps. Peterson came charging up to third but then, shockingly, on lap nine he spun by himself in turn two and had to go to the tail of the big pack. This cost him dearly as he was only able to race back to mid pack by the end of the contest. 

For much of this race, it was a two car battle between Zimpel and Cole Searing who stalked Zimpel. Zimpel was running the "gambler's line", right up against the concrete while Searing run a more conservative line low off the corners. 

Things got tough for the leader when he caught a series of slower cars and the traffic saw him have to check up a couple times. breaking his momentum and allowing both Searing and Jeff Massingill to close up on him. Zimpel got caught in traffic badly and on lap thirty three, Searing was able to drive under him and take over the lead, after which Cole was able to put several car lengths on Zimpel. 

It looked like Searing was going to steal a win until the yellow flew with just four laps to go for a slowing car. While Searing elected to protect the low side on the restart, Zimpel went for broke, rolling hard into the corners and going back to his original strategy of allowing his car to run up against the concrete. It worked for Josh as he immediately regained the lead and held off Searing the final three laps to take his first ever Challenge Series win and only his second feature win of 2025. He uses a Victory chassis by Moyer, somewhat of a dinosaur in the world of Late Model racing, but Zimpel is a budget racer who makes that combination work, on this night to the tune of five grand!

Massingill had a strong run to finish third with Dave Mass and Joel Bennett, having his best run of the year, completing the top five. Despite six yellows for various spins, only four drivers failed to complete the race and all but two were on the lead lap. 

With a twenty five grand to win race just next week at Ogilvie for the Midwest Mods, a large number of them were on hand Saturday to prep for that event with over forty signing in to race. Five heats and a pair of B Features set the running order but it was Jensen who dominated this race. 

He started on the inside of row two and quickly moved to second behind early leader Will Moelter, stalking him lap after lap. Finally, on lap nine, Jensen got to the inside of Moelter in turn two and made what turned out to be a winning pass. 

The track had been freshly groomed for the MidMods and they were flying around the oval but no one could stay with Jensen and his big Ford power as he pulled out to a nearly full straightaway lead over the field. David Swearingen, who always runs good at Ogilvie, moved into the second spot but he had nothing for Jensen on this night as Joey stayed strong, despite three yellows all near the halfway portion of the race. 

After each showdown, he again pulled away for a comfortable lead with the last eight laps running off nonstop. Behind Swearingen, Paul Ripley topped a three car battle for third with Parker Anderson and Jason VandeKamp completing the top five. It was a smooth race overall with only four drivers not finishing the event. 

In the wee hours of the morning, Keith Thell led from start to finish to win the Mod Four feature. Thell was one of the best around in this class until he called it a career four years ago but with the offer to drive a top notch car, he has returned and will obviously make things tough for the current hot shots in this class as he won on only his second time out. 

He started on the pole and held off Rowan Tramm through a series of yellow flags that saw the action stopped five times during the first half of the race. Each time, Thell pulled away and at the end, Tramm had to fight off Blake Hawker to claim the second spot. Tyler Larson and Bob Holtquist completed the top five after apparent third place finisher Dustin Holtquist had some issues in tech post race. 

The grandstands, by the way, were packed for this event so there is apparently a desire to see combination big specials featuring fender and open wheel cars racing on the same show. You can bet the Wagamon family that own Ogilvie took notice of this fact and despite the fact they were paying out quite a large purse, they came out just fine, thank you.  

Jim Chisholm A Hard Fought Winner In USMTS at Princeton Speedway

 Mod Wars Night 1 was contested on Friday night, July 18th at the Princeton Speedway in Princeton Minnesota. Located at the Mille Lacs County Fairgrounds which sits squarely in the middle of the city of Princeton, the Princeton Speedway has been operating since 1956. At one time, the Fairgrounds was right on the edge of town, but with the growth of the North Metro of the Twin Cities, all the towns in this area are now growing at a rapid pace. 

Redone state highway 169 runs just pass the pit area to the West of the speedway and both the city cemetery and residential housing runs just to the North and East of the race track. The track has a curfew but management of the speedway is always careful not to race too late into the night and the Princeton Speedway has long been part of the  fabric of the city with it being one of perhaps the few tracks welcomed by the local population. 

The Princeton Speedway has seen a few different management groups run the track over the years with it long being a WISSOTA sanctioned track. It did switch over for a few years to IMCA sanctioning under the Cliff Sasker promotion but they struggled to get race cars and when the Wagamon family put in a bid and took over the track last year, it was a breath of fresh air for the track as car counts again rose, special events started to be held again and they were welcomed by the city to provide strong and long term management of the track under promoter Nate Fischer. The Wagamon family also own Ogilvie Raceway which is one of the premier race tracks in the state of Minnesota.

Ogilvie has for a number of years welcomed the USMTS to their track with their Mod Wars being their event of choice. This pits the USMTS drivers against the WISSOTA drivers with the WISSOTA drivers allowed to run their rules package which is an encouragement for them to race as they don't have to buy tires for just one weekend of racing and while their rules package makes them down a bit in horsepower to the USRA cars, familiarity with the tracks is to their benefit. 

Along with the USMTS, several divisions of weekly WISSOTA racing cars would also be in action on Friday night as while the Mod Wars has raced for years at Ogilvie, this would be the first ever USMTS race held at Princeton as in the Wagamon's first year at Princeton last year, they concentrated on just building the program back up and did not host much in the way of special events. This year would be a change and many were looking forward to see how the open Modifieds would race on the high banked quarter mile of Princeton. 

The USMTS does not travel with the strength that they did at one time. Truly, there are only about ten or so drivers that can be counted on to race with the USMTS at every race, so if they aren't running near a USRA stronghold of Modifieds, they can struggle to draw a full field of drivers for their events. 

A promotion like the one going on this weekend helps, as the WISSOTA cars can race just as they are without making a bunch of expensive changes so many of the regulars give it a go and hope for just a little bit of luck to make the show and on Friday, twenty nine drivers signed in to race. 

Qualifying would be the first order of business for the Modifieds with them qualifying as one big group, unlike the last time I saw them race and they qualified by heats. Joe Chisholm, fresh off a feature win the night before, was quickest at 13.370 seconds. The Mods ran three heats and a B feature with the final three spots in the main reserved for provisional drivers, two from USMTS and one local track one. It was quite surprising to see how poorly both Terry Phillips and Kyle Strickler ran as both finished in the back of their heats and weren't close to qualifying out of the B either, having to rely on those provisional spots. 

The Mod B Feature was delayed partly through it for a time as a surprise rain shower hit the track. It was very little however and didn't last long so they were able to restart the program with not a large delay. However, more storms with a bigger punch were closing in on Princeton and the Modifieds were moved up to the second feature on the program to try and beat the weather.

The USMTS show was a good one. The quarter mile was smooth and fast and the little extra "juice" provided by Mother Nature turned a good track into a very good track for feature racing. 

Twenty five cars ran forty laps and there was just a single yellow flag and only five drivers that started the show failed to finish and there were only two cars that were a lap down. 

Jim Chisholm took the lead from Clayton Wagamon on lap two and then led the rest of the race but that lead was under fire the whole contest. After Wagamon led the opening lap, Chisholm got by him on the outside on lap two but Wagamon didn't give up with him attempting to slide back under Chisholm on just about every lap. Reece Solander was also on the move as he challenged Wagamon for second. 

When the only yellow of the race flew with sixteen laps completed for a single car spin, Solander had moved to second with Gary Christian and Joe Chisholm also up to top five spots. 

Chisholm was working the extreme low side of the track and he got past Wagamon for third by the halfway point of the race. The last twenty four laps would go green and after getting away to a half straightaway lead, slowly but surely, Solander was starting to reel in Jim Chisholm for the lead. 

Both were working the top side of the track and with no outside wall here, it is a very fine line that drivers run between being fast on the cushion and flying off the end if you just get a bit too far up the track. But Solander kept coming an in the last ten laps, he drew closer and closer. 

The slide job that you knew was coming occurred with just two laps to go as he dove under Chisholm in turn two and cleared him for the lead. However, Chisholm crossed him back over and retook the top spot and Solander's attempt put him too far back to make a last lap attempt once again and Jim Chisholm drove on for the win. 

Christian came home third and Dave Cain threw a late slider on Wagamon to claim the fourth spot with those two being the highest finishing WISSOTA drivers in the field. Point leader Rodney Sanders was quiet all night and finished in eighth spot. 

WISSOTA racing was also scheduled in five divisions as a part of the program. However, only two were completed before the rains hit and wiped out the rest of the program. In the Street Stock feature , there were three different leaders with Lucas Boyce leading the opening lap before he was passed by A.J. Kellar who had towed down from Thunder Bay Ontario to race this weekend. 

Kellar led until the halfway point of the race when Tommy Pogones, who started sixth, drove around him on the high side using the banking and then led the rest of the contest. Kellar settled for second and Boyce finished third. 

After the Modifieds finished up, the WISSOTA Super Stocks ran their feature with eighteen cars racing for twenty laps. This was an exciting race with a late pass for the win. Defending WISSOTA Super Stock national champion Dexton Koch started on the pole and drove off to an early lead after battling with Alex Myers. Austin Niemeyer got past Myers for second and after two yellows in the first two laps for spins, the rest of the race would be completed nonstop. 

As Koch continued to lead, Curt Myers, who started fifth, was on the move and he drove into second by the halfway point of the race. He then set off after Koch who had about a half straight lead. Koch was running the low groove and after staying about the same distance behind the leader, Curt Myers moved to the cushion and was rewarded as he started to close on the leader. 

As Myers started to reel in Koch, Dexton at the same time was developing a push in the corners with the front end of his car wanting to go up the banking. He tried correcting that by racing higher but he wasn't comfortable up there and dropped back to the inside line. 

Myers was coming like gangbusters however, and with just five laps to go, he blew past Koch on the outside and then drove away for the win. Things really deteriorated for Koch at the end as both Shane Sabraski and Dylan Nelson also passed him in those last few laps. All eighteen drivers were still on the track at the finish. 

The Mod Fours were lined up for their feature race when the skies opened up and the show was done. They, along with the Midwest Modifieds and Hornets will see their main events rescheduled at some point over the coming weeks. 

A big crowd was on hand for the first ever appearance of the USMTS in Princeton that contributed to a nearly fourteen hundred dollar 50/50 drawing  and I would be shocked if they don't return in 2026 as part of the schedule.  

Pospisil and Lund Survive Brutal Northdurft Memorial at Husets

 The storms finally ended, the North wind started howling and the temperature dropped markedly for racing on Wednesday night, July 16th at the Huset's Speedway in Brandon South Dakota. It was Silver Dollar Nationals week for the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series but Wednesday night was reserved for the Ben Nothdurft Memorial featuring the Late Models of the Tri-State Late Model Series. Along with the Late Models the Stock Car Crown Summer Series would also be presenting a full show. In recent years, this has been the opening night act for the Silver Dollar week and while many of the Lucas Oil teams were in the parking lot working on their cars, the Tri-State Late Models and Stock Cars  would be testing the black dirt oval of Huset's. 

The is no getting around the fact that on this brisk and very overcast Wednesday, the track itself was the major story line for the racing. Everything that happened during the course of the evening was predicated on track conditions and the racing action and everything else that happened was a direct result of what the racing conditions were. 

We were told that during the storms of Tuesday night, one and six tenth inches of rain fell at Huset's in Brandon. That is a lot of rain for any track to recover from and with absolutely no drying conditions(sun or heat), the track was a mess come Wednesday. 

The track crew opted to leave the track alone as they didn't touch it until around 5 pm on Wednesday when vehicles started to roll in the surface. Obviously the track crew knows their surface far better than I and I will not second guess the way they prepared the track and maybe there was just too much precipitation for them to work any kind of magic. But the bottom line was that the track was a mess with mud from top to bottom which never did get better, even as the evening wore on. When four wheel drives get stuck in the mud on the bottom side of the track, even at the end of a long night of racing , you get an idea just how bad the track conditions were. Why they waited so long to start rolling in the track, I don't know but perhaps they were hoping the track would dry more on its own before they started to wheel pack. That didn't happen on this night and with the long period needed to make the track even somewhat serviceable, the first race didn't hit the track until almost 8 pm. 

The bad thing is that the conditions kept us from seeing a decent racing program and much worse, resulted in a considerable amount of torn up racing equipment. Of course, no one puts a gun to the head of the drivers and tells them they must race and there were a few that did opt out of competition, but most feel that once they are at the track, they want to race, no matter how bad things are. And there was considerable money up for grab on Wednesday, with the Late Models racing for a top prize of six grand while the Stock Cars raced for three thousand dollars to the winner. And let's not forget about series points that certainly some of the competing drivers were interested in, but require racing no matter how bad things get. 

I was told that the purse for this entire program was guaranteed by sponsors, and if so, that might be a large reason why the race was held come Hell or high water and that Huset's wasn't too concerned whether there were any fans in the stands or not. 

The program order was changed several times to reflect the track conditions and how well the track was starting to roll in with the Stock Cars running their heats before the Late Models ever hit the track for qualifying. 

there were forty six Late Models on hand with virtually all the regulars from the Tri-State Series in attendance along with a number of other "wild card" drivers that showed up to be a part of this program. The drivers qualified by group with six heats set by time trial with a straight up format that did make a good qualifying attempt nearly mandatory. As the drivers ran the track it got faster and Billy Leighton was the quickest of all at 12.897 seconds, just about three tenth off the track record for the Tri-State cars. 

Three drivers came out of each of the six heats and two out of each of the twin B Features. It appeared that the heat winners redrew amongst themselves and the second place finishers also redrew amongst themselves for feature starting spots. Two Tri-State provisional starters completed the twenty four car field. 

The thirty lap main was marked by five yellow flags with most being for multi car incidents, a couple of which made significant differences in how the feature played out. Leighton redrew the pole and took the early lead over Lance Matthees. The first eight laps ran green until there was a slowing car that bottled up the back chute exit, the cars started stacking up and nearly blocked the track and leader Leighton was one that spun. 

He was able to restart but because he had stopped, he was relegated to the rear of the field. He then pulled off soon afterward. This gave the lead to Tad Pospisil who had passed Matthees for second. Blair Nothdurft and Jesse Sobbing had moved into position behind those drivers. 

Only one more lap was completed before the next significant accident happened. Matthees was hooked from behind by Sobbing with the two getting locked together and sliding to a halt in turn three. Charlie McKenna came flying in under speed and ran into Sobbing in a violent collision, lifting Sobbing's car high off the ground. Both of those two were eliminated and Matthees just rode around at the back of the field for the rest of the race. 

That made Nothdurft the main competition for Posipsil and they raced hard for the lead spot. By the halfway point of the race, Lee Grosz had moved up from the eighth starting spot into third and he was challenging Nothdurft for that spot. Grosz eventually got past Nothdurft for second and made the stiffest challenge to Pospisil of the night, drawing to within a couple car lengths as they were finally able to string together a few laps of green flag action. 

One last yellow when the Ward family was stacked up together on the front chute set up a final ten laps of green flag racing. Nothdurft got a good restart and edged past Grosz to retake second but he had nothing for the leader and as badly as Nothdurft wanted to win this race for his grandfather, it was Pospisil that controlled the end of the race and took the win. The top three remained the same with Jeffrey Larson and Josh Leonard completing the top five. Fifteen of the starters completed the contest but most looked like they had been in a war. 

I was under the impression that the Dirt Crown Summer Stock Car Series was an IMCA series but that appeared to not be the case. Yes, there were IMCA cars in attendance but there were also a number of USRA Stock Cars on hand, running on their American Racer tires. There were also fifteen WISSOTA Street Stocks that were allowed to race also. Despite bringing a butter knife to a gun fire, the Street Stock drivers, most of then from other parts of South Dakota, apparently wanted the opportunity to race at Huset's once and actually it was a good thing there were so many of them, otherwise the field might have been a little on the light side. I expected more of the IMCA "heavy hitters" to be on hand for a three grand to win show but perhaps the rules package kept them away. 

In any event, the Stock Cars were the "grunt class" on this night, having to do the heavy lifting when it came to packing the track and they also got the privilege of racing first, when the mud was flying at its worst. They drew for their starting positions and ran four heats with the top five making the show. One huge B Feature, with over a half dozen DNS's , set the rest of the running order for their twenty four car field. 

Ferlin Sheridan and Hayden Bender started on the front row but Cadyn Wessels made a great move on the opening lap, ducking under both to take the early lead. One of the highlights of the evening though, was watching Sheridan battle for the lead in his classic 1957 Chevy. He eventually would get roughed up enough though that he would call it a night. 

The Stock Car portion of the program was marked by some very over aggressive driving, even so by drivers that I had seen race previously at other tracks in not such a manner but the racing, as a whole, was brutal in this class on Wednesday. 

Wessels led the first seven laps of this race and through the first three yellow flags. He was attacked during this time by several different drivers, and attacked is probably the correct description. Finally, in one of the rare clean passes of the night, Curt Lund drove by Wessels to take over the lead. 

Six more yellows would slow the contest with more and more drivers retiring to the infield as their equipment either gave out on them or they got wrecked. At the end, there was just as many cars in the infield as left on the track. 

But Lund withstood all the challenges and all the hubris of the many restarts to take the win. A former Sprint Car driver of note, Lund's last win at Huset's came back in the 1990's  driving a winged car. Justin Luinenburg moved up from ninth to finish a close second with Wessels hanging on for third. 

One of the highlights of the race was the steady charge of Maria Broksieck. She started sixteenth on the grid, kept her nose clean and raced into the top five late in the race. Her secret was to stay out of the messes, drive her car straight in the corners and take the opportunities when they came in her WISSOTA legal Street Stock .

It was a long and tough night for many. There were a lot of torn up race cars that will need fixing at a big cost and even those that survived the carnage will need many hours to clean the mud off them. Track officials now have to put the race track back together in less than twenty four hours for the Lucas drivers who are a very critical crowd. I'm glad they didn't just cancel the race because I would have then been disappointed, but it was a struggle, no doubt for many. 

Pierce Tops Race of the Year Candidate; Lucas Oil Dandy at Shelby County

 After last year's inaugural success appearance on the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model schedule, everyone was expecting another good show on Tuesday night, July 15th at the Shelby County Speedway in Harlan Iowa. when the Lucas Oil Late Model Series came to town.  However, what they got later must have been even more than the most optimistic race fan could have expected as the LOLMS drivers put on a show that had the fans buzzing all the way to their cars in the parking lot and certainly the fans that watched on tv were already booking this race on their 2026 racing schedules. 

In a race that had so much going on it was hard to keep up, Bobby Pierce came from the seventh starting spot and after engaging in some thrilling slide jobs with a variety of drivers, led the final thirteen laps to win the Kosiski Family 53 and take home twenty five thousand and fifty three dollars for his efforts. 

The IMCA Late Models also ran a full program with Jack Hearty coming from the fifth starting spot to take the win in that race. 

It was a steamy and hot Tuesday in southwestern Iowa with thunderstorms promised for the over night hours and you could almost hear the corn growing in the rolling hills around Harlan, a part of the state that is quite hilly, despite everyone's belief that the state of Iowa is flat as a pancake which isn't really true. 

Thirty eight drivers signed in to race with the Lucas Oil Series and the one thing that Lucas brings to the table is the strongest group of racers that follow all their races of any series around. The top sixteen in current points were on hand plus there was a surprise infiltration of World Of Outlaws drivers with an off weekend and lots of money available for the taking that joined the regulars. The SLMR Series was also represented which made the overall number of entrants significantly larger than last year. And along with the Lucas Oil cars, a very nice field of IMCA drivers was also on hand, making a solid two division field of all Late Models for the fans. 

The Lucas Oil program was their standard one with qualifying followed by four heats and a pair of B Features which set the starting field of twenty four drivers for the fifty three lap main event. Only two series provisional starters joined the field on this night, which made for a twenty car field. But the two provisional starters were heavy hitters including Hudson O' Neal who had mechanical issues earlier on the night. O'Neal earlier was quick qualifier at 13.400 seconds but then broke in his heat and used a B Feature as just a test session. Local fans were pleased when both Shane DeMey and Jesse Sobbing made the feature race. 

It is not very often that there is so much going on during a race that I can't keep up with my notes but I can say that the fifty three lapper for the Lucas cars was one of those. The crowd was absolutely beside themselves, there was so much excitement and wild racing going on. 

For the first forty laps, Jonathan Davenport led the race but he had to survive many challenges to hold the top spot for that long. Drivers were moving up from deeper in the pack than is normally seen and it would be one driver after another challenging Davenport for the lead.

Early on it was Garrett Alberson but then he faded and Dennis Erb and Ricky Thornton Jr replaced him. Brandon Overton was on the most also and Bobby Pierce moved into the top five by lap fourteen. Thornton and Overton became the chief aggressors for awhile but then Pierce started picking off drivers one by one and suddenly, there he was battling for the lead. 

Davenport and Pierce exchanged sliders on lap after lap and then suddenly Thornton Jr was back beside them as they raced three wide down the back straight. Pierce would take the lead and then suddenly he was challenged by Brandon Sheppard who had quietly moved up from the twelfth starting spot. 

One last yellow set up a four lap finish and following the single file restart, that was probably the quietest time of the entire race with Pierce holding off Sheppard and Thornton Jr. O'Neal started twenty third but by the end had raced all the way up to fourth with Davenport fading back to fifth. Alberson and Erb had both lost ground in the late going also. 

The fans were absolutely limp after this race which certainly will be considered one of the best of the year. The amount of passing and repassing plus drivers making big charges up through the field was staggering. Certainly not a fan that was on hand could feel that they didn't get their monies worth on this night.

But while the Lucas drivers more than exceeded expectations, the IMCA crew had more trouble. I don't know if it was the hype of the night and they were all too wired, but the drivers in this class treated their racing more like a demo derby than a race. I can't remember the last time I saw so much banging and bashing in what is a premier division of weekly racing in this area. 

Micah Brown led until just at the halfway point of the race when Jack Hearty passed him and he then led the rest of the race. Not many cars failed to finish the race but just about everyone had some sort of damage from the body to body passing moves made by a number of the drivers. Patience was not a virtue for them on this night and the slamming was almost constant. 

Two late yellows kept the field bunched but Hearty held off the late challenge of Nick Deal to take the win. Jake Bridge, Brown and eastern Iowa visitor Sam Halstead completed the top five. The IMCA feature was run first and perhaps the speed of the track after a complete farming session lead to their over aggressiveness.  

After the preliminaries were completed, track officials opted to farm the track completely and that proved to be the correct call. Instead of most everyone hugging the low groove, the drivers were all over the track in the main events and it certainly improved the racing. And to be fair, on a humid night such at Tuesday, quite often the race tracks are at their best, even if it is miserable enduring the muggy conditions as a fan.   

The crowd was huge, just what both the sanctioning body and the local track officials want to see. This night had it all, an excellent race, a great crowd and the kind of "county fair" track atmosphere that is often missing but so much desired these days. Congratulations to all involved. I'm sure that Lucas can hardly wait to come back again in 2026 and the fans who saw this race live and many on tv will be marking the calendars as soon as next year's schedule is released. 

Sproul and Masters Top Midwest Madness Clay Co. Stop

 The last day of June, 2025 produced beautiful weather as the Midwest Madness Tour made stop number two of their week of racing on Monday night at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. Five of IMCA 's divisions were in racing action, corresponding to those classes that usually race at this half mile oval with an excellent field of one hundred and thirty eight drivers signing in to race on a Monday night. Along with the full pit area of drivers, there was an excellent crowd on hand to support the event. 

The top prize of a grand to the feature winners in the Modified and Stock Car divisions saw Kansas driver Dakota Sproul take the Modified win while area driver Jake Masters dominated the Stock Car field to also earn the top prize. Other winners in a fast paced program included Jake Sachau in the Sport Mods, Cory Probst in the Hobby Stocks and Tyler Thompson in the Sport Compacts. 

Track crews had done an excellent job of getting moisture into the racing surface for this event and the track might have been in as good of condition as perhaps for any of the races I have seen here. There was a big berm that remained all night and allowed those drivers that like to run the cushion plenty of dirt to lean on while the lower part of the track stayed smooth and clean so we saw much side by side racing and plenty of passing and perhaps as much close racing as has been done on a half mile recently. 

And while the drivers had to race hard to make the mains with B Features necessary for both the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks, they raced clean and without incident. That is, until the main events when things got a little bit more contact laden. 

As always, the one spin rule is a savior of putting on a quick show and it was clearly in effect on Monday as we saw time after time where spinning drivers would restart their cars and rejoin the race after an incident as opposed to just sitting and waiting for the green. The benefit of this was very pronounced on Monday as we saw sixteen heat races completed in just fifty seven minutes with the yellow flag only being used one single time! That is amazing. A couple of B Features and we were ready to being the main events. 

Sport Mods started off the action and a familiar driver ended up in victory lane but driving and unfamiliar car as Jake Sachau, driving the #39 car, led from start to finish to win the feature. It was not an easy win however, despite the fact that he led from start to finish after starting on the outside pole. 

The smooth early part of the program was soon changed with the Sport Mods however with two yellow flags by back marker spins and three more yellows added on later. Sachau took the lead immediately with Jacob Tacheny and Willy Kirk following. The early yellows shuffled the running order and soon it was Caleb Woodard, who had started way back in the sixth row, that would find himself all the way up to second. 

In between slow downs for spins and collisions, he put plenty of pressure on Sachau for the lead, making a number of attempts to pass but not quite getting the job done. Also on the move was Taylor Kuehl  and Matt Hollerich who both cracked the top five by the halfway point. 

Sachau continued to lead with Woodard still trying hard to get past as Cam Reimers also cracked the top five. A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Woodard made an all out attempt to take the lead but he jumped the cushion and lost ground, with Sachau then crossing the line without challenge for the win. Reimers made a last lap pass on Kuehl to take third with Kirk completing the top five. 

The Sport Compact feature went green to checkers and after an early exchange of the lead, it was Tyler Thompson who controlled the action. He and Mike Vogt shared the front row with Vogt leading the first lap before Thompson made the pass that proved to be the winning one on lap two. 

Once in front, he controlled the action the rest of the way with Vogt trying to keep up with him. Behind these two however, there was some dandy racing going on as drivers fought for position, exchanged spots every lap and ran in a pack of six or more. 

On the last lap, Tyler Fiebelkorn made a strong move and edged out Texan Stephen Stiteler for third with Gilbert Aldape rounding out the top five. 

The Stock Cars were impressive as a full field of twenty four drivers ran off twenty five nonstop racing laps in their event. Jake Masters was the show as after starting third, he ran down early leader Levi Feltman and after passing him with an outside move, simply drove away from the field. The top side of the track was really picking up during this event and those drivers that picked up on that found a better path to the front of the field. 

Justin Luinenburg and Austin Brands both moved to the high side of the track as they marched from the fourth and fifth rows respectively to move into contention. By the halfway point of the event, they were up to third and fourth spots and continuing to march forward. Feltman continued to use the low side of the track and gradually the other drivers started to reel him in. 

As Masters continued to drive away from the field, Luinenburg was able to take over second with Brands following him forward. They would finish up that way, as no one had anything for leader Masters who drove on for a convincing victory. One can never count out Kelly Shryock at this track and he made a late charge after starting twelfth, as he drove up to third, edging out Brands for that spot as Feltman held on to complete the top five. 

The Modified feature got off to a very bad start. With twenty four drivers pounding off turn four on the opening lap, Matt Bonine, who started on the outside pole, got crowded up into the wall on the home stretch which he then hit and turned sideways facing the track. With so many other drivers running tight together and no room to avoid the "dead in the water" car, the grinding collisions then took place as driver after driver either piled into Bonine or ran into each other trying to avoid him. 

The aftermath was a mess on the front chute with several cars badly damaged. Josh Rogotzke ended up sitting on his side, propped up on the rood of Cody Hokenstad's ride while the cars of Bonine and Nick Meyer both showed heavy damage. In all, four drivers were out before a lap could be scored but fortunately, there were no reported injuries. 

On the restart, Chaz Baca Jr, who started sixth, made a great opening lap move and edged past Sproul to take the initial lead. Some slide jobs broke out between the two and they traded the top spot but by lap three, Sproul had cleared Baca Jr. to take over the lead. 

After that, it was a game of chasing as Sproul continued to lead with Baca Jr staying close as both worked the heavy cushion which occasionally became tricky for both as each had at least one incidence when they jumped the cushion but were able to say themselves without losing positions. 

The driver on the move, however, was Brandon Beckendorf who started way back in eleventh. He quickly moved into contention but it took him, on the tricky track, a considerable number of laps to get past Shawn Harker and take over third. However, once that was accomplished, he started to reel in the leaders at a high pace. 

Things tightened up toward the end, with Beckendorf clearly the fastest driver on the track. However, he ran out of laps as after the initial wreck, the rest of the race ran green to checkers. Sproul kept his car pointed the right direction and fought his way around the berm as he headed home for the win. Beckendorf's late rush climaxed when he passed Baca Jr on the final tour to take second. Behind them, Harker and Kelly Shryock completed the top five. 

The Hobby Stock feature gave Cory Probst another chance to flex his muscle, as he added to his mid season feature win total which is now up to fifteen with another impressive performance. The first lap was a scramble with cars spinning and plowing into others on both ends of the track and the yellow waved quickly to get everyone sorted out and the cleanup completed. 

On the second attempt, Blake Luinenburg made a great move as he took to the high side of the track and came from the third row to lead the opening lap. However, Probst, who started fifth, quickly moved into contention and while Luinenburg chose the low side of the track, Probst moved high and quickly drew in on the leader.

Probst was unstoppable as he drove past Luinenburg to take over the top spot and once in front, he pulled away from the field. There was some great jockeying of position behind him though and following a yellow flag that saw Luinenburg get over the cushion and lose several spots, there was quite the battle for second on back with a group of six or more drivers trading paint and positions. 

As Probst checked out, the battle behind him raged and would carry on right to the finish. Probst was already declared the winner when the second group came of of turn four with Brandon Nielsen coming from the fifth row to claim second. Will Smith made a great low side move on the last corner, gaining perhaps three spots as he crossed the line in third with Tyler Smith and Luinenburg tight behind him as second through eighth were in a tight group. 

As usual, Spencer runs off a quick program under the direction of Trent Chinn Promotions. The first half of the show blazed through quickly but with a number of yellows in the features, it was sometime after 10:30 pm before the final checkers took place. I would like to see them somehow shorten up the hot lap sessions, which always make the start of the program at nearly 7:30 pm so they barely took over three hours to run off a big show, but they just get too late a start in my opinion. 

Three more nights of the Midwest Madness Tour remain with visits to Park Jeff, Alta and Stuart upcoming.