Tuesday night, July 13th, the World of Outlaws Late Models made an appearance at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior Wisconsin as a part of their swing through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. With these name drivers seldom making an appearance at this part of the world, this race is always a highly anticipated event for race fans from the Twin Ports area of Superior Wisconsin and Duluth Minnesota and area. Along with the Late Models on this night, the WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds and Hornets would also be racing.
It was a warm and humid night in the Twin Ports which is generally a pretty rare thing although it has happened more this warm Summer than so for probably a number of years. And in fact, the track dodged a bullet on Tuesday as some big storms developed just South of Superior but it appeared that for once Lake Superior helped them out as it seemed that the relatively cool air near the lake steered the storms away from the city which it can do on occasion. All the speedway saw was one large clap of thunder and about two drops of rain.
Gondik Law Speedway is a bit tricky to find the entrance into unless you're familiar with the facility and the Outlaw rigs were trolling the neighborhood as they drove back and forth before finally finding the proper entrance gate and eventually into the pit area.
For those not aware, Gondik Law Speedway is a bit of an unwieldy name for a racetrack but the management team at this fairgrounds facility found a corporate sponsor in attorney Rick Gondik and part of his sponsorship included naming rights to the facility which used to be known at Superior Speedway and before that, Tri State Speedway. The four tenth mile red clay oval features long straightaway and banked sweeping corners and is generally prepared to slick up and be a handling rather than brute horsepower track and that was the way it would be on this night.
The Outlaws showed up with about nine or ten(depending on who you count as an Outlaw) of their own cars and then depend on local and regional talent to fill out the field. Fortunately for them, the area Late Model drivers, running under the WISSOTA sanction, are generally ready to give it their best and show up to try and run against the open motors. While giving away lots of horsepower to the open cars, the area drivers generally show well as despite running spec engines, these teams are no slouches and have plenty of talented drivers in their midst. In fact, two of the WISSOTA drivers, Steve Laursen and John Kaanta, would make the redraw and Laursen would be lucky enough to draw the pole for the forty lap main event.
There was considerable talk as one of the Outlaws best, Cade Dillard, was not on hand due to illness and was resting in Menomonie Wisconsin. He apparently became ill while at Mars' shop and was briefly hospitalized and was currently resting, hoping that he would be healthy enough to run the upcoming weekend races. Jimmy Mars taped a yellow #97 on his car so Dillard could receive owner's points for the night. What specifically was bothering Dillard was not revealed by the tight lipped crew of Mars and Outlaw officials and I suppose, it really is none of our business but hopefully he will be back behind the wheel soon.
Qualifying heats and a B Feature would only leave three cars not making the feature for forty laps. Dennis Erb Jr, hoping to continue his recent success, would take the lead from the outside pole and hold the top spot for well over twenty laps until Brandon Sheppard would start to build up momentum on the high side of the track and gradually cut into the lead. He would make a big sweep off turn four and blast past Erb on the high side for the lead.
Sheppard would be comfortably out front as Chris Madden moved into second and he would be able to cut into that lead slightly. However, with only two laps to go, a yellow for a slowing car would bunch the field and Madden would make a strong push in the final two laps. He would draw even with Sheppard down the back chute on the final lap but would race Brandon clean on the final corner, staying in his lane and allowing Sheppard room to maneuver on the top side, rather than try and crowd him into the wall or run him out of room. Sheppard would use the high side momentum to squeeze past Madden off turn four and score a narrow victory with Erb Jr hanging on for third. It would have been a shame for Sheppard to lose the race on that late yellow which was a manufactured one that didn't need to be called but as they say in the business, made for great theatre with a near photo finish.
Laursen and Kaanta would hang with the big motors for quite some time but a couple of late cautions would hurt their efforts as "nitro" James Giossi would be the highest finishing spec engine car in fifth but finishing ahead of some pretty big names such as Gustin, Mars and Weiss.
Earlier in the evening Weiss had told me that he had a new car in the upper berth of his trailer that he would be testing on Wednesday at the Norman County Speedway in Ada Minnesota as they were looking for a slick track to work on setups and this track was on the way to Grand Forks.
The Modified feature got off to a rocky start with two yellows before a lap could be completed. After that, however, they ran off nonstop in their twenty lapper and it was local driver and legend Darrell Nelson who would come from the second row, lead lap one and then run off and hide on the field. He spanked the field to a level not often seen as he had a full straightaway on the pack at the finish as he had his MB cooking on this night. Shane Sabraski would eventually work his way into second but would have no chance of catching Nelson unless a yellow appeared and that did not happen. Sketter Estey would finish third.
The Hornets wrapped up the night as many headed for the gates with Mac Johnston leading this race, which went nonstop, from start to finish and winning by a big margin over Casey Fitzpatrick and Tyler Schramm.
A big crowd, which paid forty bucks a pop, grandstands or pits, was on hand for the show and they all seemed pleased to have seen what they did which likely means that the Outlaws will be back in town come July of 2022. Thanks to the Outlaw officials and the help at Gondik Law Speedway, a track I get to quite often during the year and only seventy five minutes from my back door.
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