The last time I was at Fix It Forward Speedway, it was cloudy with sprinkles and a hammer-down racetrack. This time, it was the opposite on a very windy, sunny Friday evening. There were 88 cars on hand, led by 24 INEX Legends and 21 IMCA Sport Mods. There was only one caution in the heat races, which were completed in less than an hour. Both the track and drivers deserve credit for keeping the show moving. Some of the features didn’t go quite as smooth, though. The IMC

Outside of my coverage area there has been some, let’s call them interesting Facebook posts this week. I’ve seen a few drivers post they will not race at a particular track anymore after some on-track and off-track incidents. I’ve seen some fans really upset with tracks in their posts, too. Conversely, I have seen several tracks post some guidelines/rules about driver, pit crew and fan conduct, at the track, and in some cases on social media. Some of the consequences includ

Derek Wettstein has raced in the Wissota Street Stocks at Viking Speedway since 2020. And he’s chasing one thing that has eluded him – a feature victory. He does have heat race wins, but he hasn’t found victory lane yet. The 37-year-old from Little Falls is aiming to change that this year. “I want to get the monkey off my back,” Wettstein said. “My first heat win was fun; I can’t even imagine my first feature win.” It would be even sweeter for Wettstein to get a feature

Reid Randall is one of the younger drivers locally in the IMCA Hobby Stock class. He’s also proving to be one of the fastest. The 17-year-old from Park Rapids already has three feature wins this season to make his career total 10, all coming over the last three years. He’s in his fourth year of racing in the hobby stocks, racing at local tracks Norman County Raceway in Ada, Fix It Forward Speedway in West Fargo and Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon. “A lot of seat time,

The Wissota Late Model competition at River Cities Speedway, on a weekly basis, is pretty stout. Grand Forks driver John Seng doesn’t mind the tough foes he sees every week. In fact, he says the level of competition pushes him to be better. “This region, for late model racing, is some of the most competitive. Anybody can win any night if they’ve got a little bit of luck,” Seng said. “There are probably eight guys that have the opportunity to win every night. It’s tough, bu

There is something about the No. 37 car and the Structural Buildings Wissota Late Model Challenge Series at Casino Speedway over the past few years. Watertown veteran Scott Ward had won the previous two challenge series features at Casino in 2024 and 2025; he has been sidelined so far in 2026 with a shoulder issue. Wanting to have his 37 on the track at his hometown track, Ward was able to get Cody Overton of Georgia, to drive the car this weekend (which included two Tri-St

Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo hosted the Structural Buildings Wissota Late Model Challenge Series on Saturday night with a solid 32 late models on hand. Fiesta City Speedway’s Friday show was rained out, but at least they were able to get one night of their doubleheader in. I was a little worried about the late model car counts at Fiesta City; there just aren’t many local late models lef

I made it back to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on what turned into a pleasant June evening. With a High Limit sprint race scheduled (and canceled because of rain) at I-94 EMR Speedway, the NOSA Sprints had the night off. The Wissota Modifieds were in town for the first time in 2026, and there were only four classes racing. There are a couple of things I appreciate about River Cities Speedway, at least on a regular basis. They almost always start on time, sometimes

Ryan Ost has raced for several years, but this year is setting up to be something special for the 27-year-old. For the first time, he gets to race against his father, Steve. “Getting to race against my dad this year, that’s what I’ve dreamed of ever since I was a little kid is being able to run door-to-door with him,” Ost said. Ost races the No. 24x Wissota Midwest Modified at Jamestown and Sheyenne Speedways and races at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen. He’s in his f

Jerzee Rosinski got quite a gift when she turned five years old, and it was one that is still has an impact more than a decade later. “My dad bought me a go-kart for my fifth birthday,” Rosinski said. “And e just kind of ran with it.” The go-kart got her into racing, and as the years piled up behind the wheel, so did the wins. From 2017-23, racing at various levels of karts, she won 20 features, including an impressive 10 wins in 15 starts in 2023. Then, it was time to

Howie Briss didn’t have a racing background in the go-karts or anything, but a prompting from a pair of area veteran drivers got him to give driving a car. He’s been hooked ever since. “You can thank Joseph Thomas and Corky Thomas for helping me get into it,” Briss said. “Joe spit-balled the idea to me, and pretty much said why don’t you get a Legend. Tony Brockhouse had Elzetta Bitker’s old car, it was for sale and I bought it from him. I haven’t left, that’s a good sign

I made it to opening night for Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon. Once again the weather threw a curveball with some sprinkles, much like Fix It Forward faced on Friday, but for an opening night I thought it was good show. It is clear to me that BRS officials are working to speed up their show and Sunday was a good step forward. They moved their heats along nicely – when one heat was exiting the next was coming on the track. Intermission wasn’t overly long, either. I hav

The USRA Northern Lights Modified series is making a trek through central Minnesota and on Saturday night was at Viking Speedway in Alexandria. The series allowed the local Wissota cars to run their rules against their USRA foes. Dusty Bitzan of Evansville wiped out any drama in the $2,000 to win feature, dominating the 25-lap main event. He has been fast all year and was the fastest qualifier during time trials on Saturday. Joe Chisholm won at I-94 EMR Speedway on Friday.

Fix it Forward Speedway in West Fargo, formerly Red River Valley Speedway, kicked off the 2026 season on Friday night with 94 cars on hand. The track is under the direction of Kevin Nathe and Duane Peterson, who folks in the Red Rivar Valley known from running Glyndon for several years. Talk about getting dealt a crappy hand weather-wise – Fix it Forward sure was on Friday. There was a shot of rain shortly before race time that delayed the start, and sprinkles off and on du

Norman County Raceway in Ada hosted the NLRA Late Models on Thursday night. It was a good field overall with 86 cars on hand on a hot May evening. I will lead with the NLRA Late Models with 27 cars on hand and 26 taking the green. NLRA shows at NCR usually are at 20 cars or more as the series provides a reliable car count when it comes to town. Which shows how effective the NLRA has been in keeping late model racing viable in this region. Unfortunately this was a caution-

The racing bug bit Curt Kranz of Watertown when he started attending Casino Speedway as a kid. And he’s pretty much been at the 1/4-mile oval ever since. “My dad worked for the racetrack for several years when I grew up,” Kranz said. “I’ve been coming to races since before I remember.” Attending the races as a kid sparked his interest in driving someday. The 47-year-old’s driving career is nearing two decades, and he currently pilots two cars – a Wissota Late Model and a

It had always been a dream for Alex Truscinski to get behind the wheel of a 410 sprint car. Before the 2024 season, after spending 10 years in the lightning sprint division, the Greenbush resident finally got that chance. “We had an opportunity to buy out a guy for a reasonable price,” Truscinski said. “Dad decided he wanted to let me try it out because it had always been a dream of ours, and luckily here we are.” Truscinski is in his third year in the NOSA 410 Sprints a

One of the backbones of weekly racing has always been the budget racer. The one who is limited on what they spend in racing, who is a blown motor or wrecked chassis away from being done for the season, or perhaps for a couple of years. Those drivers are in the pits every week. Winning and contending isn’t important to some of them, knowing others may have better equipment and more money invested in their race cars. Yet they are the ones many of us watched growing up. John

Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon kicked off 2026 with its annual Memorial Day race. A solid crowd was on hand with 95 cars signed in to compete. Dusty Mund and his team are in their first year of promoting Sheyenne. It is the fourth different promoter in four years at the 1/4-mile oval. Several locals asked Mund – who owns the successful Job Erection and Engineering Business in Lisbon – to take the leadership role of running the track. It is an all-volunteer run track, and there

After a pair of rainouts, the Dirt Race Central Wissota Street Stock Tour kicked off with 27 cars on hand Sunday night at Viking Speedway. The first night of Viking’s doubleheader was canceled but much better weather, around 80 degrees, was in place on Sunday night. It was also the Collin Nelson Memorial, in honor of the long-time Viking photographer who passed away in the offseason. Krystal Ostenson, a long-time friend, gave a great speech in honor of her friend. I will ad