A busy weekend wrapped up on Sunday, October 19th with a visit to historic Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie Wisconsin for a rescheduled race from earlier in the year that featured the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and the Midgets of the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association.
Not many races are held this late in the year in Wisconsin and this was quite a risk I thought by SLS Promotions to reschedule this race, both because it was so late in the year but also because it was on a Sunday during the school year. I know that Angell Park races on Sunday nights all year but there is quite a difference between a nice warm Sunday in July and this time of the year when school is in session come Monday morning.
This race was scheduled as the final part of a three night, three state swing by the WoO that saw them race in Indiana on Friday, get rained out in LaSalle Illinois on Saturday and then drive a couple hours North on Sunday to race at Sun Prairie, just East of Madison.
It rained for quite a few hours overnight in Sun Prairie on Saturday too but while the pits were a bit wet in spots, the track itself seemed to relish the extra moisture with six drivers breaking the old track record that was set quite a few years back. David Gravel was the fastest at 11.556 on the third mile track that is uniquely shaped and almost a complete circle.
Along with the rain, a front came though over night which dropped the temperatures considerably and also produced a strong Northwesterly wind that of course, was blowing right into the main grandstands. I watched social media closely because I was convinced that they would cancel the show. Clearly, SLS knew the crowd better than I as even though it was not pleasant by any means, the stands were packed with race fans that plopped down forty five bucks a pop to watch the WoO in action. Many, however, were constantly watching their phones for updates on the Packer game and there was one of the bigger cheers of the night when it was announced that they had won, although not too impressively.
The field showed twenty five WoO Sprints and twenty four Badger Midgets. The WoO brought their top fourteen drivers in series points but not much else and the area series like IRA and MOWA produced few cars. The Midgets are kind of on an island here with not much Midget racing anywhere around here and they are kind of a throw back in many ways. Their field was fortified by a number of Illinois drivers on this night and they were actually very pleased to have two dozen drivers on hand.
Did you know that the four wide lineups for feature races were not the concept of the WoO but instead of Badger and when the late Ted Johnson, a native of Wisconsin, saw them at Angell Park, he coined the idea when he started the WoO years later? Neither did I until Johnny Gibson produced that fact for the wind swept crowd.
Between the short field of entries and mechanical issues that took out a few cars, neither group would need to run a B Feature before the main events but I think no one was complaining was they just wanted to see the main events and then head for their cars and warmth.
WoO has always been good about moving up the starting times and moving along their shows when weather threatened or it was not a nice night. They did so again on Sunday, moving up warm ups to 5 pm but by the time they got done qualifying etc, it was about 6 pm when the first heat hit the track. The Sprints ran three quick heats and their dash and then it was time for them to run their main event.
Connor Morrill was a scratch for the feature after flipping in his heat so twenty three cars started the thirty five lap main. Early racing action saw the field most hugging the inside berm on the relatively flat track. If this would have continued it would have made for a likely really boring event.
However, when they dropped the green, several of the drivers and most particularly Sheldon Haudenschild went to the cushion right away and this made all the difference in presenting an interesting race. It took Haudenschild a few laps to blow off the outside lane but after that, he was very fast out there with several other drivers then mimicking his line.
Emerson Axsom got the jump on Gravel at the start but while Gravel was hugging the inside line, Haudenschild went roaring right past him on the outside, with the first and second turn being the most successful line on the top.
Haudenschild continued to charge and drove past Axsom for the lead. Emerson gained it back for one lap when Sheldon went a bit high but one more lap and he grabbed it back for good. After that it was just a matter of fighting through lapped traffic which he did successfully.
The best race then was for second with Gravel moving past Axsom for that spot. Emerson, however, didn't lay down when he got passed and near the end of the race he retook second from Gravel and actually closed a bit on Haudenschild while he was slowed in traffic. Logan Schuchart and Buddy Kofoid completed the top five in a race that saw the yellow waved only once for a slowing Lance Fassbender. Only two drivers failed to complete the race.
Parker Jones was the quick qualifier for the Badger cars and he turned a lap at 14.733 seconds as the Midgets used group qualifying to move things along. They then ran three heats and the redraw number was apparently six as Parker started outside of row three.
The first heat for the Midgets brought about the biggest wreck of the night as Jordan Nelson took a huge flip in turn four with the red flag waving and it taking a few minutes for Nelson to get his bearings but he was reported as being OK.
Zach Boden snuck up from the second row to lead the opening lap of the Badger twenty five lap main event but it took Jones only six laps to work his way up from row three and drive into the lead. After that, the battle was for second as he was long gone.
Even a yellow for a slowing car with sixteen laps complete didn't bother him as he pulled away again once the green came back out. He never had to worry about lapped traffic as there wasn't much and he was able to drive home for the win in a rather easy manner.
Former pavement Late Model racer Todd Kluever moved up from the third row to finish second ahead of Luke Wacherlin, Boden and Logan Julien. Only one driver failed to finish the Midget feature.
With only two classes in action, and a tight schedule that featured only nine races with them being contested smoothly with few yellows. the final checkered flag of the night waved just before 8:30 pm. This was perfect, given that Monday was a work and school day and the fans were able to get home before it got too late and cold. I'm sure the residents of Sun Prairie, with the track located right in town, also appreciate a quick Sunday night program.
Thanks go out to the WoO and SLS Promotions along with all the track officials with both groups plus the Badger folks too. It was a smooth show and I must confess that I was surprised just how many people would turn out on a cold Sunday night when the Packers were playing a late game in the middle of October. I guess you can be both a Packer fan and a race fan too.
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