Flickinger continues rise in Wissota Street Stock division

In western Minnesota, there is a strong case that the Wissota Street Stock class is the toughest division to race in weekly, based on the depth of competition.

Fifth-year driver Zach Flickinger of Madison sees that firsthand.

“It’s the most competitive. On an average night there are two heat races, and 10 to 25 cars,” Flickinger said. “A lot of guys have been racing in the class for 15-20 years. You have to be good to beat them or at least hang with them. It definitely makes you fast, you’re always trying to get the car to the next step.”

Flickinger races the #15F Wissota Street Stock at Madison Speedway, KRA Speedway in Willmar and Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo.  He has become a consistent top five car at those tracks and has nine feature wins since beginning racing in 2021.  Flickinger, the 2025 Madison Speedway track champion, will be one of the cars competing at the two-day Mad Town Showdown, which starts on Friday at Madison.

The 32-year-old Flickinger grew up watching his dad, Mike, race, and that sparked the interest. In 2021, the plan was to share a Wissota Street Stock ride, but eventually they decided to buy Zach his own car. He purchased car that Justin Vogel of Brooten won the 2018 Wissota National Championship with.

Years later, Zach gets the chance to race against his dad, who drives the 5F Wissota Street.

“Usually, we are a bit faster. I’m a bit more aggressive,” Flickinger said. “It’s pretty cool, just the fact he and I are out on the racetrack at the same time and can bond that way.”

In fact, Zach Flickinger’s uncle, Merlyn and cousin, Melvin, also race.  Zack, Mike and Merlyn have raced in the same heat race before, in fact.

It didn’t take Zach Flickinger long to find victory lane in his first season. In his 10^th night in the car, he led until late in the race before Maria Broksieck made a late pass for the win.  In his 17th night in the car, on Aug. 14, 2021, Flickinger won the feature at Madison.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Flickinger said. “Even 10 nights in, we almost won a race. It makes a guy feel good.”

Flickinger has progressed each year, and had a career-best three victories in 2024.  Over the past two years, he has 78 feature starts, and has finished in the top five 49 times, or in 68 percent of his starts.

“Our maintenance program is pretty darn good,” Flickinger said of the consistency. “Doing the little things, that’s what makes the difference. Being fast has a lot to do with the time that is put in in the shop.”

This year, he won his first career track championship at Madison and has two feature wins. He qualified for the Wissota 100 feature, finishing fifth in the Friday qualifying feature. There were more than 60 street stocks competing. But even with those accomplishments, t hasn’t been the smoothest year for Flickinger, as he blew a motor early in the year (and had to borrow his dad’s car to run for points), and has battled transmission issues as well.

“We’ve been pretty consistent. If luck could go our way, we’d have a few more wins,” Flickinger said.

Flickinger sells crop insurance and farms with Brian Fernholz in the Madison area, and he also owns his own side farm equipment repair business.  He’s also a member of the Madison fire department. And, he is getting married in a manner of weeks.

Not only is Flickinger from a racing family, he is also marrying into one: he is engaged to Wissota Midwest Modified driver Kailey VanEps, whose brother, Justin races a Wissota Modified. The couple gets married in November.

“It makes things a lot easier – she understands the time that needs to be put into it and the drive of how much we want to race,” Flickinger said. “It’s just going to the track, and having a whole other family.”

Driver profile

Zach Flickinger

Wissota Street Stock  #15F

Age: 32

Residence:  Madison, Minn.

Sponsors: Fernholz Crop  Insurance, Heinrich Excavating and Trucking, Smith Seeds and Trucking, Haas Seeds, Croatts Concrete, Channel Seed, Midwest Machinery Co., Brooten Auto, Clark Farms, TBD Bin Construction, Ludvigson Tiling, Lanes Electric, Dove Ag Service, Moen Seeds, Stamp Seeds, Old National Bank, BFE Bellingham Farmers Elevator, Madison Bottling Co., J and S Small Engine, Mortenson Cattle Farms, Dean’s Plumbing, Ward MotorSports, Halvorson Farms, Western Guard, Fragodt Auction, Appleton Oil Co., Flick’s Service Center, TintX, New World Salvage, Belgrade Coop, Madison VFW, The Sticks Bar and Grill, Wildung Performance Tranmissions, Matt Adams Farms, Madison Tire and Repair, Luke Peterson Farms.