Pierce Slides To Ogilvie WoO Late Model Victory

 The World of Outlaws Late Model Series continued their trek into the upper Midwest with a stop at the Ogilvie Raceway on Monday night, June 22nd. They will be in this are for the next week or so, having upcoming races in Minnesota and North Dakota before they head out following the 4th of July holiday weekend. 

This was the first WoO race at Ogilvie since 2019 and just based on the crowd that was on hand, especially given that it was a Monday night, along with the quality of the racing action provided by the track, it will not be near as many years before they return again. In fact, WoO officials must be wondering this morning why it the world that they ever stopped coming to this track and area. 

The Late Model feature was an excellent one with six lead changes over the forty lap feature race distance and more slide jobs than almost could be counted as Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport and Nick Hoffman were the primary deliverers of the slide jobs but that's not to say there weren't others doing the same as they fought for positions other than the lead spot. 

The field of thirty Late Model drivers on hand was a solid one with probably more open motor cars on hand for the race than in past years. Several of the local spec engine WISSOTA drivers also raced the event, some for track experience and some hoping to make the show. The most successful of those was Kelly Lake Minnesota Sketter Estey who made the show with his spec engine AK chassis car. 

Running with the Late Models on Monday night were the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and they did a great job as the supplementary class. They had a nice sized field, ran clean races that weren't caution plagued and indeed, ran off their feature race from start to finish nonstop. The winner in that class was Jake Molitor. 

The track was very slick for qualifying  and some of the drivers took some time to adjust to the slippery conditions but like the pros that these drivers are, they quickly figured out the track. Ross Robinson, as the first driver to hit the track for qualifying, was also the quickest at 15.969 seconds, the only driver under sixteen seconds. After that though, his night slipped a bit as he was the last driver in his heat to make the main and only could muster a seventeenth place finish in the feature. 

Four heat races and a B Feature set up the main event for the Late Models with Pierce drawing the pole position. However, the initial leader was Davenport who started on the outside and beat Pierce in lap one. Things got heated as the slide jobs and intense racing for the lead started almost immediately. In the first ten laps, those two had exchanged the lead four time officially and many more than that as they raced back and forth. The track was slick but had a bit of a cushion and it was ideal for slide jobs with the wide racing surface providing plenty of room to dive bomb each other. 

The action continued between the top two drivers with them either sliding each other or tail gating as they set up another run. Joining them after lap ten was Nick Hoffman and suddenly the two car battle turned into a three car war. The first seventeen laps, before the first yellow came out for a slowing car, was among the most entertaining and intense racing seen all year. And it was still good after that but unfortunately, a series of yellow flags did break up the action just a bit too much. 

When Davenport crunched the wall following that restart as the leader, it pretty much ended his night as he would pull off in just a few laps with much damage to the rear of the car. This also gave Hoffman the chance to slide from third to first  with Pierce trapped behind Davenport. 

Hoffman then led the next ten laps with Pierce all over him looking for an opening as the track started to change just a bit and low side became faster. This is when the yellows became most prominent with debris stoppages slowing the action twice. A lap thirty restart was key as Pierce got a poor start and Ryan Gustin moved past him for second, only to see the yellow fly once again as the restart cone had been "killed" which gave Pierce a break and as it turned out, Gustin had been the "killer" of the cone so it bit him hard. 

Pierce then got back into second and just a lap later drove under Hoffman to retake the lead. Pierce found the low side to be good toward the end of the race and the last few laps were a bit anti climatic as Pierce pulled away and everyone seemed to slip down to the bottom to race. One the final lap Hoffman got under Gustin to take back second with Tyler Erb and Trey Mills completing the top five. Twenty drivers were still on the track at the finish and the well spaced yellows had allowed all drivers to stay on the lead lap as traffic never became an issue during the race. 

Pierce appears to be on a roll right now as he begins to extend his point lead over Hoffman and no matter what the field seems to throw at Pierce, at the end se always seems to find a way to bring home the win. 

The Midwest Mods ran three big heat races plus a B Feature to set their twenty four driver starting field for their twenty lap main event. They did a great job of racing, going nonstop for the whole distance and only a single driver failed to finish the contest. Jake Molitor started on the pole and he would lead all twenty laps with a dominant performance, especially impressive given that he does not race at this track on a regular basis. 

Jason VandeKamp started fifth and worked into the runner up slot by the halfway point of the race and he spent the later half of the race trying to catch Molitor. As Jake got into lapped traffic, of which there was quite a bit in the second half of the race, VandeKamp started to make some progress and in the final couple laps was close enough to provide at least a mild challenge to the leader. Another five laps might have made things interesting but as it was, Molitor handled the traffic well and would drive on for the win. 

Jason Miller had an outstanding run in the Eric Gadach car, starting seventh and coming home third with Devin Fouquette and Joe Swearingen completing the top five. 

Congratulations to promoter Nate Fischer and the Wagamon family that own Ogilvie for putting on and excellent night of racing. Also, a tip of the hat to the track and series officials for moving the show along and even though the Late Model feature got a bit hung up in the later laps, the final checkered still waved before 10:30 pm. 

The series moves on to the I-94 emr Speedway on Wednesday where the Late Models will be joined once again by a likely big Midwest Mod field once again with the WISSOTA Street Stocks also racing. James Trantina III and Don Shaw will have the track ready for more outstanding Late Model action.  

Chris Simpson Tops Iowa Blowout at West Liberty Summer Nationals

 The Hell Tour Summer Nationals returned to the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty Iowa for the first time since 1995 and it appeared that Iowa racers had taken umbrage to the long snub, as they were waiting in force for its return, dominating the Late Model racing in an impressive fashion. Led by feature winner Chris Simpson, the top three finishers in the thirty lap main event call Iowa home with fifth place finisher Dylan Thornton now calling Iowa his home base after escaping from California. Only fourth place finisher Cade Dillard kept the Iowa forces from a clean sweep as sixth place finisher Billy Moyer, now enjoying the sun in Arizona, is also an Iowa native. 

Chris Simpson was on point all night, setting fast time while at the same time breaking the existing track record with a lap clocked at 18.165 seconds, winning the first heat race and then, after starting on the pole for the feature race, leading all thirty laps to claim the five grand top prize. It was very much a home coming for Simpson as both he and his brother Chad started their racing careers at this track and I can remember many years ago making a visit here and watching them as they dominated in the Pro Stock class before moving up to Late Models. 

Three other divisions of IMCA racing were also on the card with Spencer Diercks winning the Modified feature, Nathan Wood the Stock Cars and Colton Livezey the Sport Mods. 

Twenty seven Late Model drivers signed in to race on Tuesday night, a number that pleased just about everyone either associated with the series or with the track as there are not a lot of open motor Late Models left in the state but there turned out to be more than enough to put on a full show on this night. It was also an interesting mix of drivers that normally are not seen very often racing together which also helped spice things up. 

For some of us, particularly fans that are complimentarily referred to as "veterans", a return to a track like West Liberty for some hard core Late Model racing is like a trip back in time to a more pleasant time of racing. West Liberty is the classic fairgrounds track with its big covered grandstand, race cars pitting in the infield and a well maintained fairgrounds area. Forget that the grandstands badly need a coat of paint, the many posts holding up the roof make finding a good viewing spot from the grandstands hard, knee space is nonexistent,  the sight lines in the grandstands are bad and the scoreboard is so far away that field glasses are necessary to read the numbers. All this is only minor inconveniences, what is important is that it is fairgrounds racing like the best of times. 

What was impressive was the large crowd that filled the stands, crowds like I remember seeing back in the glory days of this and other dirt tracks in the area. And the track was in impressive shape also. Considering it was only the second race on the track this year, the surface remained smooth and while it did take a bit of rubber in the Late Model feature, overall the racing was as good as any time I can remember from the past. 

The crowd did some digging in their pockets on this night also as the 50/50 split the pot was up over eleven hundred dollars. 

Along with Simpson, Michael Leach and Tanner English were the quick qualifiers in their groups. It went downhill for point leader English from that point on as a flat tire ruined his heat race run. He took a provisional for the main event and started nineteenth and finished tenth which was his first non podium finish so far in over a week. 

Chris Simpson had only one bad period of racing through the whole night and that was when he caught the back of the pack shortly after the halfway point of the race. The track started to take rubber at this point and when he couldn't get past Curt Schroder for several laps, Dallon Murty and brother Chad quickly caught up to him with Murty making a rather serious challenge for the lead with Chris caught out of the rubber a couple times while trying to get past Schroder. 

A lap twenty yellow though, for a slowing Mark Voigt was his saving grace. Once back under the green with an open track, he was again able to put some distance on Murty and Chad to take the win. Seventeen of the starters were still racing at the finish. 

The most dominating winner was Diercks who started on the outside pole for the Modified feature, rapidly pulled away from the pack and cruised for eighteen laps to get the win. He was over a full straightaway ahead of the field at the finish and on the big West Liberty track, a full straightaway is a considerable distance. Kurt Kile ran second for the entire contest with Jace Echrich third. 

The Stock Car feature saw four different leaders during its eighteen lap main but it could have been so much better than it was if we could have avoided all the yellow flags that broke up some great racing so many times. The leaders were dicing back and forth, trading spots on the track but it seemed like just about when things were really getting interesting, the dang yellow would again fly. They never got more than five consecutive green flag laps in with the yellow waving seven times. 

Greg Gill led early  with John Oliver Jr passing him on lap seven for the first lead change. He could only hold the top spot for a single lap though before David Brandies passed him. Nathan Wood started ninth and with just three laps to go, was able to drive under Brandies and take over the lead, after which he stretched it out some to complete a strong drive for the win. Brandies would settle for second with Oliver Jr third. 

There were several crashes and a considerable amount of wrecked cars in this race. The most violent one occurred right on the front straight when Rusty Zook spun in front of most of the field. He got hit head on once and then was packed by a couple more drivers with Zook being pushed over on to his roof. All drivers were OK as crashes on this high speed track are all hard ones. 

A small field of Sport Mods was on hand but in the early going, they put on a good competitive race. Bryson Echrich took the early lead but Shaun Slaughter liked the outside line and drove into the lead on lap four. Echrich fought back and retook the front spot on lap eight and they battled for a couple laps, going side by side. 

Unfortunately, Shaughter got run high down the front stretch and hit the wall hard, he slowed and was done for the event. Echrich gained the lead back but he couldn't hold off the charge of Colton Livezey who passed him on lap ten and then pulled away over the final half of the race to score the win. Echrich settled for second with Trey Rock third. 

Two groups of old time racers were also on the card but I. among with most fans, were on the way out of the grandstand by the time they hit the track. If there's one thing  we should have learned from Tuesday, its that six classes of racing is about three too many. 

If I was the DIRTcar officials, I would insist that the number of support classes be limited and that the main event the folks came to see, the Late Model feature, was early on the agenda while the track was still lively and the kids were still awake! Midweek shows should be quick and spun off in rapid fashion, focusing extra time needed for interviews to just the main division. 

Thanks go out to promoter Jeff Struck and his crew from the Davenport Speedway who put on this show, along with all the DIRTcar officials on hand. It was great to see FLO impresario Dustin Jarrett in the house while photos from the event were covered by one of the sports best, Mike Ruefer from Davenport.  

Feger and Fryer Top Summer Nationals Stop at Wilmot

 Minus rainouts, it was stop number five  for the fortieth annual DIRTcar Summer Nationals at the Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot Wisconsin which just about rides on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. The Monday night, June fifteenth event also marked the start of week two for the Summer Nationals in 2026, a grind that will see them race at least thirty times in the next month in one of the toughest racing series in the country. They will visit a number of states, race back to back for weeks on end, only get a night off if it rains with the rained out events then usually jammed back into the schedule at some point and work andrace in some of the finest facilities in the country and also some not quite so nice. Those that complete the tour will be left with tired equipment, tired teams and hopefully will have earned enough cash to cover their expenses. 

The Monday night Wilmot race marks the only visit of the series to the state of Wisconsin and they barely get far enough into the state to sample the cheese before they head West for three nights of racing where Pork is king. 

So far they have been catching a break from the weather, at least on the temperature side as often the Summer Nationals seems to stir up the hottest weather South of Hades but so far this year it has been relatively tepid, temperature wise. It was certainly so in Wilmot with a nice breeze to move the air around and temperatures barely breaking the seventy degree mark. 

Monday night racing is tough but something the race teams are used to doing. It is even tougher for the fans but a late arriving  but decent sized crowd would enter the Wilmot Raceway spacious grandstand with most arriving just at race time. 

Wilmot is a pretty flat third mile oval where Sprint Car racing is king and both Late Models and IMCA Modifieds, which are the support class on Monday, only race here on rare occasions. Not surprisingly, the car counts are tested here in both classes as there are few if any local drivers to help supplement the travelers. There are a few Modified teams from the general area that race here and at other tracks along the tri state border but the closest Late Model teams are from the Milwaukee area and many of them are not up to the challenge of taking on the travelers from this series.

For those reasons, the Late Model field was the smallest for any series event so far with twenty two signed in to race while the Modified field was set at eighteen, many of them Freeport area drivers seen usually at Dubuque and other far eastern Iowa tracks. 

The officials of DIRTcar understand that these are midweek events and do a very good job of moving their shows along, helping to make it quick and entertaining event for the fans so they will remember that next year and not be hesitant to return. Also the quick shows are important for DIRT Vision tv where the same holds true and their viewers have to get to work also on Tuesday morning. 

With the smaller fields, officials forsake adding any extra races just to try and make it look like they have more cars than they do. Slam, bam, they race and send you on your way home. Three heats and a thirty lap feature for the Late Models and a pair of heats and a feature for the Modifieds constitute the program and I heard no one complain about that. 

Off course the Late Models would qualify and start their heats straight up. The heat winners then redrew for starting spots in the feature with everyone else lining up based on how they finished in their heats. The Modifieds drew for starting spots in heats and then the top five in each heat redrew for starting positions in their main event with the others falling in behind them in the starting order. 

The track started out slimy which required a little extra packing but that quickly got blown off and the track turned quite dry and slick. The preferred line on this relatively flat track in on the bottom unless a berm starts to build up and the bottom gets too slow and slick. Drivers have to be paying attention to when and if the track changes because that is a key time to make some moves. 

The Late Models qualify by group of which there were three with the quick timers being Mike Spatola, Cade Dillard and Jake Rainey with Spatola quickest overall at 15.313 seconds. Heat races were relatively uneventful with all five going green to checkers. Four of the five were won from the front row with only Jason Feger making a big move on the opening lap of his heat to pass the front row drivers and set himself up well for the main event. 

Often the outside pole is the place to start races here as the inside line seems to get pinched going into the flat first corner and that is Feger started the thirty lap feature race. It was then time for him to check out on the field which he mostly did for the length of the race. The main got off to a rocky start with a three car pile up in turn one that saw Turk Letezia planted on the hood of Mike Mataragas with all four tires off the ground. Turk restarted the race but Mike was done. 

Feger then jumped away from the field and led without challenge for much of the race. A good battle for second saw Frank Heckenast Jr hold off Tanner English for a number of laps before English got by and then began to cut into the lead of Feger. 

There wasn't a lot of lapped traffic but what there was proved to be tough for Feger to get past and English was able to close up on him as Jason tried to get past the slower cars. He did make one great move, splitting two drivers to give him more space but then that was negated when the second and final yellow waved with twenty laps complete when Doug Tye spun and collected fourth running Mike Spatola. Summer Nationals rules state that anyone that stops for a spin or wreck becomes part of the spin or wreck so Spatola was forced to tail back the field. He didn't like that and had a snit before he barreled to the pits and kicked up some dust. 

Feger pulled away over the last ten laps as the yellow seemed to slow English's progress and he had to settle for second. Dillard made some challenges to Heckenast Jr before falling back and settling for fourth with Mitch McGrath completing the top five. There were just two yellows in the race and only four drivers that failed to finish. 

On this night, the Modifieds produced much more passing in their main event and even a pass for the lead. All eighteen on hand took the green flag for their feature, run as the last event of the night with most of the crowd staying to watch, perhaps because it was still so early. 

Dennis Schoenfeld, on his way home to Arkansas after racing a big event at 141 Speedway in eastern Wisconsin over the weekend, grabbed the initial lead by again using the top side to get a good jump. He then dropped to the inside, cat fishing around the dry oval to maintain the top spot. 

There was some good racing back in the pack at this point while Schoenfeld built up a nice sized lead as the green remained out. Eventually, Jaden Fryer, who has had some experience at this track, tried out the second lane and found it to be very good. He was able to maintain speed in the corners and drive past other drivers spinning their tires down low. A big shelf developed in turns three and four and that gave him an extra boost if he hit it correctly. By the halfway point of the race, after starting eighth, he was up to second and Joel Crowbridge, who saw Fryer drive by him on the top side, moved up there also and was up to third. 

Both were closing rapidly on Schoenfeld who had no idea what was going on behind him and on lap thirteen, Fryer went blasting by and took over the lead. A late yellow slowed the action for a spin and set up a three lap dash to the finish. 

But another yellow slowed things down again and saved the day for Fryer who had opted to go back to the bottom and protect i guess, but that opened the door for Crowbridge to drive by him for the lead, only to see the pass negated by the yellow for debris. 

Feyer didn't make the same mistake twice and got up on the cushion for the restart, effectively blocking Crowbridge from making another run at him. Jaden drove on for the win, riding the high side the last three laps to do so. Crowbridge finished up second while things went sideways for Schoenfeld who had last lap mechanical issues and failed to cross the line, giving third to Adam Abbey who also gained a number of spots late using the top side also. Only two drivers failed to complete the race. 

Even with a couple of slowdowns during the Modified feature, it was still a quick night of racing, no doubt appreciated by the fans that came out on a Monday night. I think all racing was done about 9:`5 pm. 

Thanks to all the DIRTcar officials and especially track promoter Chris Klemko for his help. The Tour moves on across the border to historic West Liberty Raceway on Tuesday night and DIRT Vision will be on hand to cover it for those fans not able to get to the track. 

Panitzke, Father and Son Along with Timm Big Winners at Cedar Lake

 After the Friday night portion of The Masters at Cedar Lake Speedway was rained out after all qualifying was done, it set up a huge night of racing on Saturday night with three make up feature races from Friday before the entire qualifying process started once again for the Saturday night show which was paying the biggest prizes of the weekend. 

A tremendous number of laps and races were held starting at 6 pm on Saturday and when the final checkers waved at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, there were some hugely divergent results for the drivers to either revel in or hate and the same for the fans. 

Among the biggest winners were the Panitzke family from Lonsdale Minnesota where not only did fourteen year old Cam win the USRA Saturday night feature, but dad did the same in the Late Model class, taking home twelve grand for his upset win. 

Jake Timm also had himself one of his most successful nights in some time, winning the Friday night Late Model feature and then coming back to top the USMTS finale on Saturday which also added twelve grand to his check book. 

Other winners included Mitch Fenske in the USRA Late Models along with  Cade Dillard in the USMTS Friday night show.

Things were in quite a dither even before the first green flag flew on Saturday, especially in the Modified pit area. Three drivers that had been disqualified for a frame rail violation and likely then lost starting spots in the Friday feature were instead reinstated on Saturday and they got their spots back. I'm told various reasons why this happened and not being able to find either Todd Staley or tech inspector Darlo Mulder on Saturday, I don't wish to speculate because I didn't get to find out the story first hand. 

In any event, the reinstatements made a huge difference in the lineups for both the feature and B Features for the USMTS in their make up event from Friday. Several drivers that thought they had made the show were surprised to find out that instead they had to run a B Feature and all three that were initially disqualified instead earned starting spots in the Friday feature race. As you might guess, this caused quite the buzz in the open wheel pit area. However, there was racing to be done and money to be won so the show went on, riled up drivers or not. 

And while all this was going on, Tanner Mullens, Terry Phillips and Reece Solander all made motor swaps for the Saturday night action, so there were some expensive heat races on Friday before it rained. 

They went right into racing at 6 pm with the make up B Features and then the three feature races from Friday night. The USRA feature race was a grinder with five yellow flags and only about half the starting field still on the track at the finish as they were provided a fast track to begin the night and there was perhaps just a bit too much adrenalin flowing. 

However, it was an historic race for Mitch Fenske as he won his first ever feature race at Cedar Lake in the USRA class and picked a great night to do so. He started on the outside pole and led all laps to get the win but had to fight through all the restarts and pressure from first Patrick Kelley and then later from Cam Panitzke. For Panitzke it was just a preview of even bigger things to happen later on. Lucas Peterson came from the fourth row to finish third. Fenske is the son of the late Modified and Late Model star from Winona Minnesota, Karl Fenske. 

It was the open motor Late Models vs. the spec engine cars in the first Late Model feature and round one would go to the big horsepower cars. Jake Timm started on the outside pole and would be scored the leader of all forty laps but it was much more challenging than that statement would make it seem. 

Early on he was challenged by Kyle Peterlin who was having a great race in his 525 crate powered car, moving into second and all over Timm for the lead. Eventually Cade Dillard, who started fifth, would pass Peterlin for second and by the halfway point of the race was putting big pressure on Timm for the lead. They engaged in a series of slide jobs that saw them crossing over each other in corner after corner for a number of laps that started at about the halfway point. 

Eventually you knew that something would happen and it did on lap thirty four when Dillard got into Timm as he tried to race under him off turn two. Timm went around, creating the fourth and final yellow of the race and everyone waited to see what  the call would be and who would go to the tail. 

When Dillard pulled off the track, it was clear that he was called for the yellow and parked his car rather than start at the back of the field. He, in a later interview with Pat Graham, would indeed confirm that the call was correct and the mistake was his. 

Timm then held on for the last seven laps for the win but was pressured by Cole Searing as the South Dakota driver drove up from the fourth row and very nearly stole the win. James Giossi came from the seventh row to claim third. 

Dillard didn't have long to stew over what happened in the Late Models as the Modified feature was next and he focused instead on that event with the result being a successful forty lap run that earned him five grand. He started in row two but before the first lap was finished, he had passed both Clayton Wagamon and Gary Christian to take the lead. 

Jake Timm quickly moved to second by lap three and the two went at it again for the win. However, this time Dillard was able to pull away and as Timm faded, the biggest challenge to Dillard was Kaden Blaeser who had started in row three. Blaeser used the top side of the track to drive into contention and he was the thorn in Dillard's back the rest of the race, continually challenging through the four yellows that slowed the race. 

Tanner Mullens had moved into a challenging position but contact with a lapped car saw him get a flat tire and pull up lame on the track, creating the final yellow with a dozen laps left. 

Once again Dillard continued to maintain the lead with Blaeser doing everything he could to get past but ultimately, Dillard was just a bit too strong and he drove on for the win with Blaeser setting for second with Jim Christian passing Timm for third. Only one driver in the twenty six car field failed to finish the race. 

After some track prep, it was time to begin the Saturday night show with the first green flying somewhere past 9 pm. We did see track prep a number of times over the course of the evening but there were many laps put on the racing surface and the wind didn't help things either but the racing surface held up, only rarely and briefly showing rubber a couple of times and always being smooth with drivers all over the surface in multiple grooves and not much more than than can ever be expected. 

The qualifying process was a repeat of Friday night with only the Modifieds qualifying. That portion of the show was topped by Mullens and Keith Foss with Foss being the only driver to drop into the fourteen second bracket. 

Once again, heats and B Features would set the lineups for the second set of feature races and the running order remained the same. USRA Late Models went first and their main was again a grinder with five yellows and a couple of multi car tangles, the last with just three laps to go. 

Jason McFadden led the opening lap but was quickly passed for the lead by Larry Fitzsimmons. He could only hold off Cam Panitzke for a pair of laps before the teenager drove by him to take over the top spot. 

Panitzke then drove a very smooth line around the track, avoiding all the slower cars and wrecks that broke out and he led the final sixteen laps to claim the win. Fitzsimmons and Clayton Hofteig both pressured him at various points but Panitzke remained smooth and didn't the yellow flags faze him.  At the finish, Lucas Peterson made another determined drive, this time from the eighth row to finish second with Fitzsimmons settling for third. 

Veteran Terry Casey started on the pole and led a number of lap in the Late Model feature as he successfully knocked off the rust from his years of inactivity well. He and Nick Anvelink had quite a battle for first with Anvelink several times nearly getting past and throwing in a few sliders as well but Casey managed to fight off all threats. 

Meanwhile, Nick Panitzke, who had started seventh, wasted little time getting to the front as he was up to third by the first yellow on lap twelve when Searing got a flat tire. He then for the next few laps battled with both Anvelink and Casey and on lap twenty two drove around them on the high side to take the lead. 

Anvelink also got by and they then swapped the top spot three times until on lap twenty six, Panitzke finally claimed the lead for good. Following a yellow when Kevin Eder's strong run ended, the last fourteen laps of the race went nonstop and Panitzke pulled away to claim an impressive win. Anvelink finished second and Casey was impressive also as he hung on for third. Panitzke scored one for the sped engine drivers as his motor is a WISSOTA spec engine, not a big one like Casey, Dillard and Timm utilized. 

With a late race pass, Timm completed his double win night and also provided the closest battle of the evening as the USMTS group wrapped up a long night of racing. Rodney Sanders started on the pole and led the opening lap but then, surprisingly, he started to quickly slip back into the field. Tanner Mullens then passed him and would lead the vast majority of the race. 

Timm started eleventh on the grid but moved forward quickly, passing Brandon Davis, Sanders and Calvin Iverson to move into third. A grinding crash on the front chute saw a number of contenders eliminated including Harley Dais who flipped and Nick Ayotte who was making a great run to the front after Iverson looped it in front of a pack of speeding drivers. 

Mullens continued to lead as Timm drove into second but Mullens seemed to have a fairly comfortable lead. However, Tanner hit some lapped traffic that was causing him grief and as he fought to get past them, Timm used the opportunity to quickly catch up to the leader. Mullens kept trying to get around the slower cars but he just couldn't quite make it and this gave Timm his chance as he shot under Mullens down the back chute and drove into the lead. 

And once in front, Jake then pulled away as Mullens had nothing to offer in return with Jake stretching his lead over the final seven laps Mullens hung on for second with Sanders getting up on the cushion and fighting his way back up to third after slipping almost out of the top five. For Timm, it was a nice seventeen thousand dollar night after he has been ice cold of late. 

It was a weekend of much speed but with that speed and intense competition, there were some bad wrecks too. After Onyx Johnson went to the hospital on Friday night after he totaled his Late Model, there were also some wild wrecks on Saturday including Taton Hansen who went over the wall in turn two with his Modified and nearly wound up in the pits, to Dais' wild flip on the front chute and Cooper Sundby who took a horrendous flip during a USRA Late Model heat. Fortunately, the word was that all were OK. 

Thanks go out to Todd and the whole crew from the USMTS as well as the entire crew at the Cedar Lake Speedway and probably most pointedly, to the track prep crew who worked overtime for two straight nights to keep the track in racing shape. It was a demanding weekend of all employees, no matter what their job but without their efforts, we don't get to see races such as this and then we are the losers. 

Rain Delays Cedar Lake Masters Night Two

 The twenty seventh annual Master's at the Cedar Lake Speedway has run into more than it's share of weather difficulties in recent years. Last year the whole event got washed out and again in 2026, weather has played a factor in the running of the three night event. 

Night one on Thursday was washed out by all day rains and while the sun shown for the majority of the day on Friday, by evening the track would be chasing the weather once again and surprise thunderstorms, not in the forecast until added in late afternoon, shut down the racing prematurely on Friday night. All heat races were completed, the last USMTS Modified while it was sprinkling lightly and then it quickly picked up in intensity. The Late Models had pulled on to the track for their first B Feature but were then quickly hustled to the pits and that constituted the Friday night portion of the weekend as series of storms then rolled through the New Richmond area over the course of the next few hours. Friday night's program, including B Features for the USMTS and Late Models, plus three feature races for those two classes plus USRA Late Models will be held on Saturday with another full program to follow. It promises to be a long night of racing on Saturday. 

One post race note: The evening got off to a bad start as during hot laps rookie Late Model driver Onyx Johnson took a violent flip in turn one, totaling his Longhorn chassis in a violent wreck that saw his car slam into the top of the concrete wall while it was somersaulting through the air. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul where he was discovered to have four compression fractures to his back. He is currently hospitalized there, awaiting more tests to determine if surgery will be needed. Onyx is the son of long time racer, the "Millennial Farmer", Zach Johnson.  

However, before the rains hit a total of one hundred and thirteen drivers signed in to race on Friday night. There were twenty seven USRA Late Models entered plus forty three of each the USMTS drivers and the Late Models, running under Cedar Lake Speedway rules. 

The twenty seven USRA drivers is probably about as big a field in that class as will be seen at any track in the area this year even though they are only racing for six hundred dollars to win for the preliminary nights and a grand on Saturday night. 

Their format includes drawing for starting positions and then using passing points to line up their main event. Their three heats went off seamlessly with not a yellow flag to be seen with Clayton Hofteig, Cam Panitzke and Cooper Sundby the winners. Steve O'Brien, who finished a strong second in heat two was disqualified post race for some sort of violation, otherwise their portion of the program went smoothly. 

USMTS used their normal procedures to set up their races. Drivers drew for starting positions for qualifying with the forty three drivers split into two groups. And as they have been doing this year, after qualifying the drivers scramble up to the USMTS trailer to pick their starting positions for the heat races. Most folks by now know how that works and the total of passing points, finishing points in the heats plus qualifying points set the running order for the mains and also the B Features for those that don't make the top sixteen that move directly into the feature. To me the process seems much too convoluted but they are making it work and I guess if you want to run USMTS, then you get used to the format. 

New this year, the local Modified racers that run WISSOTA and in previous years had to conform to USMTS rules in order to race, were allowed to run their cars as they were as long as they were legal for WISSOTA. No mixing and matching of rules was allowed and while the WISSOTA cars are still slightly under powered vs. the USMTS cars, they are closer than they used to be. Also, the WISSOTA drivers get to run their Hoosier tires which many feel helps them vs. the American Racers that USMTS uses. It seems to be a good thing that the WISSOTA drivers were allowed to race because otherwise the total field would be somewhere between twenty five and thirty drivers, not the plus forty that were on hand. 

Cade Dillard and Tanner Mullens were the quick qualifiers in their groups with Dillard quickest overall at 14.056 seconds.  The thinking among the drivers were very mixed as they set themselves for their heat  races. Some, like Dillard and Jake Timm must have felt that passing in the heats was going to be hard as they both opted for front row starting spots while Brandon Davis and Jim Chisholm both opted to start from the tail in their heats and try to garner lots of passing points. It seems that the former were correct on this night as Dillard and Timm won heats while Davis and Chisholm were only able to pass a few cars and finished at best, mid pack in their heats. 

Heat winners included Dillard, Timm and Gary Christian while A.J. Diemel inherited a heat race win when two drivers that finished in front of him were both disqualified. Four drivers were disqualified following the heat races including apparent heat winner Clayton Wagamon and second place finisher Kaden Blaeser. All four drivers that were disqualified were part of the WISSOTA delegation on hand. Hmmm. 

Positively Racing's own Jeff Broeg was calling the action for the USMTS portion of the program on Friday and is expected to be on hand all weekend. 

A strong field of local and regional Late Model drivers were on hand plus several interlopers from distant places and for five grand to win on Friday and twelve grand on Saturday night, this is not surprising. The weekly racers at Cedar Lake are for the vast majority running WISSOTA legal cars which means they utilize a spec engine much like the SLMR and PRO Series run. However, Cedar Lake does have a provision in their rules for open motor drivers but they must run a restrictor plate, much again like the other two Iowa and Nebraska series run. 

However, a curve ball was thrown to the drivers in the week leading up to this race when an announcement was made that instead of utilizing the CLS rules, they would be using the Dirt Kings rules for the open motored cars and not coincidently, these rules allow a bigger opening in the plate which of course gives the motors more power. One might suspect that the open motor contingent must have been doing some lobbying this week, and if so, it was successful as they got what they wished for. One must wonder though, how the weekly drivers feel about this as for the racers that support the track all season, they now have been thrown a curve that makes it harder for them to be successful this weekend. And trust me, extra horsepower is always appreciated. 

The Late Model drivers drew for starting positions in their heats(thankfully no time trials!) and passing points would set the rest of their lineups with the top sixteen moving directly to the main event. There is one ringer thrown into this though, as the top six in passing points will be inverted for the main event. Three of the five heats went to open motored cars, disproportionate given the number of them on hand with Terry Casey, Dillard and Timm in open motored cars while Sam Mars, believed to be driving his spec engined car and Kyle Peterlin, who hasn't raced here for a dozen years, winning a heat in his 525 crate car.  

Track and series officials did a good job getting the Modified time trials completed so that the program could still begin at its advertised 7 pm start. However, by race time the dark clouds were building in the western sky and it didn't too long for them to motor on over our heads, thus producing a quick and unsatisfying conclusion to the racing. Plenty of seats remain in the spacious facility for those that might want to head to Wisco on Saturday and catch a double header of fine racing. 

Beckendorf and Wilson Top Thrilling Finales at Indee Summer Nationals

 One hundred and sixty eight drivers signed in for the Wednesday night finale for the third annual IMCA Summer Nationals at the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence Iowa. And like any good event or presentation, they wisely saved the best for last, leaving a good impression in the minds of fans and participants alike with some thrilling, closely fought feature races, just enough controversy to leave folks' tongues a'waggin' and good memories of the racing that will carry on. 

The final night of the three night presentation saw the purse again elevated and for previously successful drivers as well as those not faring so well so far this week, it was "go" time with everyone wanted a piece of the generous pie being handed out on Wednesday. 

At various times all week, we thought we had seen the most intense racing possible, but that proved to not quite be the case as everyone amped up their game on Wednesday with some blistering racing action and plenty of body contact to go along with that. New winners emerged in three of the five divisions offered while a couple of the drivers with previous wins earlier again found their way to victory lane. In order of the events run, feature winners included Brayton Carter in the Sport Mods, Brandon Beckendorf in the Modifieds, Tyler Wilson in the Stock Cars, Wayne Gifford in the Hobby Stocks and Brad Chandler in the Sport Compacts. Both Carter and Chandler has won earlier this week, Carter on opening night and Chandler just last night. 

Track prep and racing conditions were discussed to the max over the last three nights of racing with just about everyone having an opinion. I try to stay away from what other "authorities" are voicing and keyboarding as I believe I can use my own eyes and ears to form an opinion so most of the chatter never reached me. 

There is no doubt that this track is one of the tougher ones to prepare and it hasn't been the greatest for all races all week. But it certainly isn't because of lack of effort on the part of those constantly working the track who must be exhausted almost to the breaking point by today. 

By with all that aside, I can say for sure that the track was the best it has been all week for the feature races on Wednesday and the drivers responded by giving us some great side by side battles, close finishes and plenty for the pit folks to chew on afterward, based on some of the happenings we saw on the track. 

The car count was down just a bit for Wednesday night, just as one might expect with mechanical issues, wrecks and just a lack of success sending some home. I was a bit surprised, however, that there weren't more drivers that just showed up for the one night to take a shot at the big money being offered, perhaps someone that couldn't be here for all three nights but with a whole new show each night, stood as much chance as anyone else at having success. There were actually less than a dozen drivers that were added following the opening night show on Monday. 

The basic format for the program was unchanged. However, with the smaller car count, neither the Sport Mods nor the Sport Compacts required B Features, both helping the show move along quicker and cut down on laps on the track. The running order was changed up once again with the Sport Mods, first on the track for their main event, actually running before the second planned track prep session took place.

I'm guessing that went over like a lead balloon among the Sport Mod drivers but in fact, they were presented a great track for their main event. All twenty five drivers on hand started the main event but it was Brayton Carter that jumped into the early lead from the outside of row one and he then would lead from start to finish. 

Carter quickly found the fast lane around the track, running the cushion on the South end of the track and hugging the tires on the North end and that strategy served him well as he pulled away from the pack. 

However, behind him a great race for second broke out with Caleb Woodard, Kyle Olson, Cam Reimers and Devyn Peterson exchanged positions regularly on the track. Woodard held it first, then Reimers grabbed it and finally Peterson claimed the spot. Each time the yellow waved, which it did on four occasions, the spot seemed to change hands. 

Following the last yellow, Carter again pulled away to claim the three grand top prize and Woodard again boosted his way back into second as he got past Peterson to claim the runner up slot. 

The Modified feature saw more different leaders than I believe any feature race of the week as three different drivers held the top spot at one point. 

Twenty four drivers, three wide, also started this race and it was Kollin Hibdon from the middle of the front row that took the early lead. He was challenged by Ethan Braaksma and Cody Laney in the early going. 

Braaksma closed in on Hibdon and with a slider in turn two, squeezed past Hibdon to take over the top spot. It was not well received by Hibdon, and justifiably so as they discussed the move post race but it was a pass nevertheless that sent Hibdon dropping back a few spots before he collected himself. 

However, the driver on the move was Brandon Beckendorf, one of the very few drivers that didn't participate on Monday night. He started on the inside of row two and was making good speed early as he closed in on the leaders. He showed  himself by trying both high and low until he finally got a good run at Braaksma and then he drove past to take over the lead just past the halfway point. 

After that he pulled away and with no more slowdowns in the race, he motored on for the five grand reward at the end of the twenty two laps. Braaksma finished up second with Hibdon getting past Laney for third and if there had been a few more laps, the battle for second could have gotten real spicey. 

However, not surprisingly, the closest feature race of the week was reserved for the Stock Cars with an absolute thriller that was not decided until the final few feet on the front straight on the final lap. 

Brandon Schmitt led the majority of the race, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the front row was completely comprised of Wisconsin drivers as the Cheese Heads" made themselves known to the other drivers this week. 

Schmitt led by inches, lap after lap over Tyler Wilson but they were joined at the halfway point by Kelly Shryock who had started seventh but slowly moved into contention. His smooth inside line found openings and he passed other drivers quickly and soon it was  a three car battle for the lead. 

The top three jockeyed back and forth, occasionally getting three wide after an opening lap four wide race down the front chute stopped by a yellow flag. Late in the race, Wilson found speed on the top side and with just two laps to go edged back into the lead. However, Schmitt turned a great lap on the next lap and as they raced to the white flag, Schmitt edged back in front. 

It was a great battle on the final lap as all three raced hard but did not touch each other and they came to the line side by side. For me, it was too close to call although  I did write down Wilson as the winner but not knowing exactly where the finish line loop is, it was just a guess. 

Sure enough, it was Wilson that was scored the winner with Schmitt and Shryock so close behind as to be tough to tell. I did not hear what the winning margin was, but it had to have been very small indeed. There can be only one winner but it was a great race run by all three drivers. The third Wisconsin driver, Nick Buckarma(the man with many pronunciations), came home fourth ahead of Cayden Carter who started way back in eighteenth. 

The Hobby Stock feature saw another three driver battle for the win in a race that was marked by quite a few crashes, a number of yellows and found nearly half the field in the pits by the time the checkers flew. 

Braden Gifford took the initial lead but could only hold the top spot for a few laps before he was passed by his father Wayne. They continued to battle with Braden hammering on the rear bumper of his father, just to let him know he was there probably. Meanwhile, running the low line, Monday night winner Leah Wroten stayed with the top two but each time they tried to do much racing, the yellow would fly again. 

There were several grinding crashes on the back chute and a number of drivers ended up on the wrong end of the hook which was kept busy all night. 

Finally, a single file restart was called car to try and get some racing completed. Wayne Gifford continued to hold his line and on the final lap, Braden raced hard up behind him but when he saw he would have to execute some kind of nefarious move to get the lead, he instead tucked back in behind his father and settled for the runner up spot. Wroten was there the whole time and she would race home third. 

Twenty five Sport Compacts ended up the evening racing in their fifteen lap feature race. Things started off difficult as pole sitter Adam Gates twice in a row jumped the start so badly that the start was called back an he was docked a row for attempt number three which saw Lucas Rick take the early lead. 

While the track was congested with drivers racing three and four wide, Brad Chandler was somehow able to race from ninth to second in one lap's time. He showed great speed and seemed to be vastly superior to the other competitors. However, once he got up to second, he seemed to just be waited on leader Rick to make a mistake and on lap four, Brad drove by Rick and into the lead with ease. 

Continuing his superiority, he seemed after this to run just fast enough to stay in front of the field but not draw too much attention to himself, if you know what I mean. His car seemed so superior to everyone else, I'm guessing he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. 

While he cruised up front, Gates was busy as he tried to get back into contention after his early spanking. He was battling with Mitch Bielenberg for third when they got together and sailed off turn two. Bielenberg was restored to his position while Gates headed for the pits. 

At this point, with the race long on wrecks and yellows and short on racing, a single file restart was also called for in this class. Chandler continued to cruise, clearly the class of the field as he drove on for the one thousand dollar win. Bielenberg made a late pass on Rick to take second with just over half the starting field still racing at the end. After a very smoothly run program the last two features were quite the contrary and pushed the final finishing time well past 11 pm. 

Thanks go out to MVG, Trent Chinn and Dana Benning for producing this event, one that I hope continues again next year whether it be here or perhaps back in Spencer. The amount of work involved in operating such an event is staggering and so many moving pieces must fall together to make it a success that it is mind blowing . I am just thankful that there are folks willing to attempt such events and race fans and participants must continue to support them for these kind of races to continue. Sure, not everything is perfect, but what is in life? A few positive thoughts and actions to all the working folks here would be a good start. 

 

Tony Olson and Rust Drive Forward For Summer Natonals Wins

 Tuesday night, June 2nd was night number two for the third annual IMCA Summer Nationals held this year at the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence Iowa. It was another beautiful early Summer day in Iowa and one hundred and seventy nine drivers signed in to race in the five IMCA divisions offered. 

There were five new winners on Tuesday night with no repeaters from Monday and in the two top paying events, both Stock Car winner Tony Olson and Modified victor Joel Rust drove from behind to make passes on the leaders and take home the biggest checks. Other Tuesday night winners included Cam Reimers, Karter Miles and Mitch Bielenberg. 

As in often the case for multi day shows such as this one, night number two goes much smoother than the opening night as drivers figure out the track, officials spot things that need to be changed and make the necessary improvements and things overall just flow better. 

Among the changes made for the Tuesday night show were less laps for some of the feature races, the running order for the races was changed and the track prep crew learned better when to freshen the track and when to leave it alone. The drivers meeting was moved up so that everyone was more prepared to start the show at its advertised time and while it seemed to me that the drivers raced even harder than they did on Monday night, there were many less yellow flags and not the serious incidents that occurred on Monday night. The snafu with the redraw for the feature races was ironed out thus eliminating the delays between main events which helped also while cutting down on some of the rising tempers in the pits. 

The vast majority of the drivers that raced on Monday returned with the crews for the teams doing their usual amazing job of fixing what looked to be unfixable equipment. Kyler Hefty, the roll over victim right in front of the crowd on Monday was back on the track after some extensive repairs over night and even raced to a top ten finish in the Hobby Stock feature.

The other roll over victim, Devin Coghlan, was taken in for treatment last night after he wasn't feeling well at his pit area and while the car was in the pits again on Tuesday, it was not entered in competition. 

Other than the running order being changed, the program used the same format as on Monday with heats using the draw/redraw format and B Features for all divisions except the Sport Compacts where all drivers that were running started the feature race. In a show such as this with so many competitors and so many fast teams, the draw is critical and many of the drivers that ran up front on Monday struggled to get through the heats on Tuesday. 

For the second straight night, all feature races were started three abreast and while that does pose some challenges, the drivers have done a good job navigating the heavy traffic early on in the main events. And impressively during the Tuesday night show, three of the five main events would go green to checkers with not a single yellow flag in them with the other two having just two and three slowdowns during them. However, as we have seen time and time again, one of the yellows during the Modified feature made the difference in who sat in victory lane. 

The Stock Cars started off the main events on Tuesday with this class starting twenty seven drivers in their twenty lap main, the largest field for the largest class assembled here this week. 

The track was a challenge to the drivers on this night with a big berm during the heat races that really caused some difficulty for many drivers. However, that berm was bladed off after the heats and after that, the issue was the changing fast lane which switched so many times it was hard to keep up based on track prep and some of the classes that seemed to run better on different parts of the track. It was a "heads up" time for the drivers and trying to pick the fast lane, either by planning or just "seat of the pants" racing was key. And sometimes that fast line changed during the race, leaving some potential winners high and dry by checkers time. 

Such was the case in the Stock Cars were Zach VanderBeek started on the pole and jumped into the immediate lead. he began to pull away from the pack quickly as the low line seemed to serve him well. However, Tony Olson, who started next to Zach, decided after losing some ground to the leader to move up to the cushion and that made him faster immediately. Lap after lap, Olson began to eat into the margin he was trailing by and with no yellows to slow the action, VanderBeek saw his lead get smaller and smaller. 

Finally, Olson blew past him to take over the top spot with VanderBeek defenseless to stop him. Olson then continued his charge as he drove away for the win. VanderBeek did hold off a late rush from Braden Richards to salvage the runner up slot however. Richards has been the most consistent driver in the field so far with two top three finishes. Kaden Reynolds and Kodey Miles completed the top five. 

Twenty four Modifieds were set to go for twenty two laps in their main event, racing as the Stock Cars had for three grand on Tuesday. Jed Freiburger blasted out from the middle of row one to take the early lead in the feature. Not many laps were completed before a wild scrum on the back chute saw several drivers turned in the wrong direction and last night's winner Cayden Carter slide off the track with several calling it a night at this point. 

Freiburger continued to lead back on green and began to extend his advantage while a good battle for second saw Brennan Chipp fighting to hold off Spencer Diercks and Joel Rust who had started fourth. 

They were battling for the runner up slot but Freiburger was motoring away from the pack and eventually would have the better part of a straightaway lead over the field as his lead seemed to be solid. However, this would all change with the blinking on of the yellow light when Ethan Braaksma slipped over the banking and stalled. 

When the green reappeared, the race had changed complexion considerably. How often have we seen the whole character of a race change caused by a yellow? Well, Rust, who was running the top side of the track suddenly found that he had speed to burn and he blew past Freiburger, who just a few laps earlier seemed to be untouchable, and took over the lead. That's how quickly things change sometimes following yellow flags. 

Tripp Gaylord, who started sixth, also drove by Freiburger in the last laps to finish second while Freiburger must have been asking himself why that yellow had to have happened while winner Rust certainly celebrated that late yellow, that saw him make the winning pass with just four laps remaining in the race. 

The Sport Mod feature went green to checkers with twenty quick laps spun off by the twenty four drivers that started this race. This race bore a similar look to the Modified feature with one big exception, that late yellow that might have changed things never appeared. It was a Cam Reimers show on Tuesday as he started on the pole and led all laps. He pulled away to a big lead and without any slowdowns, his only problem was lapped traffic that one the rubbered up track, made getting by some of the slower cars dicey. 

However, he had a big enough advantage that he was able to show patience and most of the slower drivers did a good job yielding so he was never in any danger. There was a good battle for second with Keegan Nordquist holding off a persistent Zach Davis to take that spot. Caleb Woodard and Dylan VanWyk completed the top five in this race. 

Carson Butt took the initial lead in the Hobby Stock feature but could only hold off Karter Miles for a single lap before Miles drove past him to take over the lead. And once in front, Miles would lead for the rest of the sixteen laps of the contest although Butt remained close enough to be a challenger. A couple collisions slowed this race and on every green Butt gave it a shot, but Miles was just a bit stronger and held off every challenge. 

Miles drove home with a few car lengths to spare over Butt while Brent Vanous recorded a second top five finish,  and on Tuesday he still had both doors on the car as managed to avoid any skirmishes on the track. Only two drivers failed to complete this race and everyone was still on the lead lap at the finish. 

Twenty five Sport Compact drivers took the green for their fifteen lap finale to the night and in a field of like looking cars, the three very different looking Fords would dominate, going one, two and three at the finish. 

Jay Orr started on the pole and led the opening laps but it wasn't long before he was challenged and then, shortly after passed for the lead by Mitch Bielenberg. Bielenberg, Orr and Monday night's winner Brad Chandler then engaged in their own little battle for position, far in front of the rest of the field. 

In the third and final nonstop feature of the night, these three continued to battle but while they raced close, they never did exchange positions and would finish in that same order. The second group was led by fourth place finisher Devin Jones and Michael Gardner but they were far back from the top three. 

The third annual IMCA Summer Nationals concludes on Wednesday night and the winnings jumping  back up to the Monday night levels with $1000, $2000, $3000 and $5000 and $5000 going to five lucky and skillful drivers. Race time is again at 6 pm.