The last racing event of the 2024 season in the state of Minnesota began on Friday night, October 18th at the Wagamon family owned Ogilvie Raceway near Ogilvie Minnesota.
The fourteenth annual Topless Nationals began on a whim years ago, with the racing season completed in this area but nice weather still in the offing, It was suggested to have a fun weekend at Ogilvie with one more race, non sanctioned with drivers from the three major bodies that have a presence in Minnesota all allowed to race, and for fun, let's take the roofs off the cars.
What began as a small event for fun has grown over the years until the present when it is looked upon eagerly by both drivers and fans as a great way to wrap up the racing season. This race now produces probably the eclectic field of cars all year as WISSOTA competitors mix it up with USRA and IMCA drivers plus with it being non sanctioned and no driver's license to purchase, drivers race in classes they normally wouldn't plus a number of drivers make debuts in different classes and a few newly purchased or brand new race cars make their debuts at this race.
This race has also turned into a gigantic promotion for Breast Cancer awareness month which is in October. A local group runs the 50/50 drawing for this weekend and also has other means of raising both awareness and money for this group. The track goes along with this theme, painting all the walls that surround the race track in pink plus all the infield ute tires and everything else that can be painted, is pink for this weekend.
Halloween is the other theme for this weekend with Trick or Treating in the pits before the show on Saturday a gigantic attraction. There are also costume contests for kids and adults and prizes for best decorated race cars. You would not believe just how many racers decorate the roll cages(now visible because there are no roofs) and other parts of the race cars with lights, skulls, skeletons and other things that really give the cars and show a once a year type of theme. There are now so many that do this that judging is a monumental task. There is also a live band after the races on Friday night in the pits.
But let's not forget, there is also plenty of hard racing going on with seven classes in action. The heat races are contested on Friday night with the B Features and main events on Saturday. The reason there is only one show over the two days is the large car count on hand. This year two hundred and sixty seven drivers from four states and two Canadian provinces signed in to race. While that is a huge number, it actually was twenty cars smaller than last year's turnout, a bit surprising given the fantastic racing weather that he have been receiving here in the upper Midwest.
Basic rules are run this weekend so as to allow drivers from different sanctioning bodies the chance to also race at this WISSOTA sanctioned track. Late Model run under WISSOTA rules, Modifieds under whatever rules the driver declares with Modifieds from all three bodies on hand. The Limited Mod class is a combination of Midwest Mods, B Mods and IMCA Sport Mods, all running together under their home rules. The Super Stocks and Mod Fours run under WISSOTA rules while the Hornets run under home body rules. They, by the way, are the only class required to keep their roofs on due to the structural effect roofs have on the small cars. All other classes are required to remove their roofs for this race.
The Street Stocks are probably the class that has the most integration of all seven. Street Stocks run under WISSOTA rules but the Stock Cars of IMCA and USRA are also allowed to race. This year the Stock Cars are required to run a two barrel carb and are maxed out at 6400 rpm on their chip box as it has been found that the Stock Cars are just a bit more powerful than the Streets and it isn't really fair to handicap the class that runs weekly at your track and put the drivers that support you all year at a disadvantage. There were seven Stock Cars that ran with the Street Stocks with three making the show during heat races and one, Kaden Woodie, winning a heat race. Woodie, by the way, has both IMCA and WISSOTA cars that he races at various events.
The most impressive thing to me about opening night of this event was the huge turnout of Canadian drivers that were in attendance, far more than were ever seen for this event previously. In total, there were twenty seven drivers on hand from the province of Ontario plus another nine from the province of Manitoba.
Most of the Ontario drivers were from the Thunder Bay area and it is twenty hundred and ninety two miles, mostly on two lane highways, from Thunder Bay to Ogilvie. The fact that many drivers made that trek this weekend is unbelievable. They had drivers all the way from Late Models to Hornets on hand to race this weekend and they took up a large segment of the pit area.
It is even farther to Winnipeg Manitoba where most of the Manitoba drivers were from, four hundred and three three miles to be exact, yet there were also nine racers from there that pulled down to race. I've always said that Canadian racers and fans were among the most passionate for their sport of any I've ever known and this is just another example of that. Visit Thunder City Speedway in Thunder Bay some time to find the most rapid fans in the sport.
One odd factor about his program this weekend was that they reverted to using the old draw/redraw form of lining up the races. This is the first draw/redraw program I have been to since Labor Day weekend with passing points being used for all the specials that have been run, a much fairer way of determining who makes the features than using a draw when there are so many race cars on hand.
Back in the flag stand to work his last weekend was Brian Reidemann. Brian is a veteran flag man in this area, having worked at a number of tracks over the years. He has also worked as a Race Director and done more than his share of track prep over the years. Ogilvie has been breaking in a new flag man over the course of this Summer but since Brian is retiring, he was in the stand for his last weekend. He is retiring from both tracks he works at and he told be that he will joining the WISSOTA organization is some capacity next year.
The program on Friday night would consist of heat races, set up by the draw, in all seven classes. Twenty nine heat races would be held, with a certain number, depending on class, qualifying for the main events on Saturday night. A number of B Features will then set the rest of the running order for the seven features.
Racing began just after 7 pm on Friday night with all qualifying complete before 11 pm at which point the music fired up until the wee hours, I would guess since I wasn't there to turn out the lights. For the first time in nearly a month, there was one light shower that blew over the track just as the Street Stocks were ready to begin, but with all cars called to the track to help roll it in when the light rain/mist quit, the delay was no more than fifteen minutes.
A good crowd was on hand Friday night, despite high school football in the area and the number of campers was large indeed with folks coming from far and near for their last racing adventure of 2024.
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