Martin rising as a contender in Wissota Street Stock ranks

tombergie01
Aug 5
3 min read

Joe Martin piled up feature wins in the hornet and pure stock classes, and this year, is adding Wissota Street Stock feature wins to that last.

Since starting in the hornets in 2015, the 30-year-old from Willmar has won more than 50 feature races, including two street stock wins in 2025 (one at Redwood Speedway and one at KRA Speedway). IN a 10-year racing career, he has won six track championships, including the street stock title at Redwood Speedway in 2024.

Including the two feature wins, Martin, who works for the family business Lake Country Scale Works, has 24 top five finishes in 27 starts in his #2 Wissota Street Stock in 2025 in a remarkable show of consistency.

“it’s definitely on the upswing from last year,” Martin said. “We are racing a little less but actually doing better doing it.”

Martin’s father, Doug and brother Peter also race in the Wissota Street Stock class. All three got their starts in the hornet division. Joe Martin started out in the Wissota Hornet class at age 20 and started winning right away. In 2016, he was the Wissota national runner-up in the class. He had six wins in the class in 2017 and added three more in 2018.

“That class is a lot more luck. If you were the ones still racing at the end of the race, it seemed like you had a chance to win,” Martin said. “There’s a lot of beating and banging, and they’re rusty old cars. They aren’t the most reliable. We did a lot of maintenance on our cars, so usually they made it to the end of a race. If you are there at the end, you have a chance to win.”

He made the move to the Pure Stocks class and had immediate success, winning 10 features in 2019.

“Those were fun to get started, and a little cheaper,” Martin said. “It wasn’t a whole lot more (cost) than a hornet and then you start learning how to drive a real race car. I didn’t want to jump in the street stock and get in everyone’s way. We had a lot of success.”

Martin moved into the Wissota Street Stocks in 2023, in part because he wanted the opportunity to race at more tracks. It was an adjustment switching to that class.

“You have to be a lot more calm on the gas, and wait for the traction,” Martin said. “Traction is such a key thing. You have plenty of power. You have to be a lot more smooth with the power.”

He didn’t win any features in the streets in 2024 but did win the track title at Redwood Speedway and finished third in the points at I-94 EMR Speedway, KRA Speedway and Viking Speedway.

“I had a decent year last year,” Martin said. “We were a top five car a lot of nights. Just not enough experience and bad luck.”

This year, he’s been remarkably consistent, and could potentially win three track championships. He currently leads the points at Redwood by six over Keith Tourville of Janesville. Martin trails J.J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria by only one point in the standings at Viking Speedway in a very close points race with just two points nights left at the half-mile. He trails former national champion Justin Vogel of Brooten by just nine points at KRA.

“As long as we keep finishing races and keeping the green arrows instead of the red arrows, I’m happy,” Martin said.

The competition in the Wissota Street Stock class has risen in west-central Minnesota, and there is no better example than KRA. Six of the top 10 drivers in Wissota national points have raced at KRA this season, and former national champion Vogel leads the points there. Tourville, a top runner wherever he unloads, has raced at KRA four times – and won all four.

“Racing in Willmar, it’s the hardest competition you get,” Martin said. “It’s pretty tough field, but that’s what makes it fast.”

And it’s the competition that Martin enjoys the most about racing.

“You get kind of nervous before you go out to race, and you get some adrenaline going,” Martin said. “But it’s like calming when you are out there. I enjoy big races, full fields of cars – when you are racing with somebody constantly, that’s what I love.”