Wissota will hold the inaugural MPH Invitational this Sunday at Bemidji Speedway. This is the big event for the Wissota Mod 4s, Pure Stocks and Hornets, kind of their version of the Wissota 100. There is a practice night on Saturday with racing beginning at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
I think this event has the potential to be a good deal for these three classes and I'm hoping for good car counts in all three divisions.
In the past the Mod 4s had been at the Wissota 100, but only raced Friday (qualifiers) and Saturday (feature). A few years ago, the Pure Stocks and Hornets got a chance to race during the Wissota 100 week, but it was on the practice night for other classes (Tuesday). Car counts were, in simple terms, weak.
I did some figuring. If you include drivers listed in the national points who’ve raced at least two features, and this would assume they’ve all bought a license, Wissota has collected more than $25,000 in license fees from drivers in the three classes. This alone makes the case for giving these three classes a night to shine and a good payout.
Having the Pures/Hornets on a practice night of the Wissota 100, where there is little or no crowd, and is held on a Tuesday, is not a good recipe to attract cars, in my opinion. Not to mention there are no tracks in the Fergus vicinity that sanction the classes; you’d have to go 100 miles to find those. The Wissota Mod 4s did run as part of the 100, but ran their qualifiers on Friday. Last year they didn’t have enough cars for a B main. My feeling is based on perception, those classes didn’t feel valued.
I’m hoping this weekend at Bemidji changes that for those drivers. The purse for the Mod 4s is really good, thanks to some boosting from sponsors -- $2,000 to win and $225 to start, with a total A feature purse of more than $15,000. The Pure Stocks and Hornets will race for $750 to win – I can speak confidently that will increase a little – and $75 to start. Little things like signage and banners, driver introductions if there is time, will help the event feel like a bigger deal to the drivers.
This will be a Wissota-run event, from track prep to scoring and officiating, etc., and not run by Bemidji Speedway. According to a Bemidji Speedway Facebook post, "WISSOTA will be handling all aspects of the event including marketing, track prep, staffing, race directing, flagging, announcing etc."
All those factors are good starts in getting this event a starting point to build on for future years.
I think having this at Bemidji is a good idea comes down to three things. 1. There are a good number of pure stocks and hornets in the Bemidji/Grand Rapids areas, which should ensure good car counts and a decent fan turnout just from locals alone; 2. A smaller track makes more sense for the hornets and mod 4s; 3. Bemidji is a nice area, and if you come for the weekend, there are things to do. Plus, having it on a weekend to me is more sensible.
There will be hiccups with a new event at a new venue, but I hope it’s a chance for the drivers in three classes to have their day in the spotlight.
Shifting gears, I decided to travel more this summer. I made it to my goal of 15 different tracks this year after going to Grand Rapids on Friday.
One of the reasons I wanted to travel is the variety. Covering weekly shows locally is fun to a point but many of the same people keep winning each week, so it gets a little old. Plus after doing this for seven years I feel like I’ve written some of the race recaps dozens of times before.
The Hibbing Labor Day Shootout doesn’t draw the 200-plus cars it once did, but it had 179 in five classes on Saturday. The crowd was terrific, and the tailgate area off turn one was packed. I can’t tell you how many campers I saw in the parking lot but there were well over 100. As I walked through the pits, which were jam packed, I thought of this -- for many drivers in that region, this is their big event. Now does it match up with other major Wissota events? Probably night. But it’s a big deal on the Iron Range, as the fan and car turnout indicated.
One thing about traveling is you see the differences in fans and drivers at each track. Some tracks just feel different when you walk in. That doesn’t mean the fans and drivers don’t like racing, it’s just a personality thing. Different isn’t bad when in the end, everybody loves racing.
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