We are headed to Labor Day weekend which means invitational season is here for racing. I haven’t written as many editorials this summer, but I feel like writing one this week as the “regular” racing season ends.
Like every year, I’ve seen good and bad things around racing. Here’s the good.
--Late Model numbers locally. With a lot of credit to the existence of the NLRA, late model numbers have been good at events at tracks around here, and have been at others outside the region as well. While there are a few that I frankly think don’t belong in the class (see below), there is a good base of talent in the class in this region.
--INEX Legends Boom. The INEX Legends at Red River Valley and Buffalo River Speedways have experienced a major boom in numbers this year. Many newer drivers are products of the go-karts. The class can serve as a springboard to other classes – Tim Estenson, Tye Wilke, Andrew Jochim, Brody Carlsrud are examples – and it’s also a place where you can settle in and run and be a strong competitor for a long time (Sean Johnson, Scott Richardson come to mind).
--Crowds. There were great crowds for the World of Outlaw Sprint shows at River Cities Speedway and Red River Valley Speedway last weekend. I was at Bemidji in early July with a big crowd and both trips to Casino Speedway in Watertown I saw great crowds. Have the crowds been great every night I’ve been to a race? No, of course not. But there have been other nights that are encouraging to me.
--First time feature winners. There have been a bunch this year, the most I can remember. They range from drivers in the modifieds to drivers in the INEX Legends, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks.
Sophie Anderson of Chokio followed up her first career Pure Stock feature win with three more wins. More impressively she has at least one win at all three tracks she races at – KRA Speedway, Fiesta City Speedway and Madison Speedway. Weston Clauson won his first feature at Sheyenne on Aug. 17 in the Mini Stocks has now won four features in a row. Jeff Odden of Relies Acres raced for 20 years, mostly in the modifieds, before winning his first feature at Buffalo River Speedway earlier this summer, which to me is one of the best stories of the year.
Cejay LaValley of Bemidji won the Dean Olafson Memorial at Grand Rapids in the Wissota Hornets. Andrea Jacobson of Fargo won her first career feature at Buffalo River earlier this summer and now has added two more to that total in the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes won her first career feature at Greenbush, and also her first career track championship in the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints at Buffalo River.
Guys like J.J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria and Jon Carlson of Brandon have been plugging away the past few years in search of that first win, and both got one this season at Viking.
So many young drivers under the age of 18 won their first main events – Kody Machart, Evan Hendrickson, Anderson, Zander Compson, Laela Eisenschenk, Nic Hiles, Tayten Blascyk, Jayden Pavlicek, Kate Taves, Matthew Taves and LaValley to name a few. Encouraging signs for the future.
Here is the list I’ve been able to compile:
Kody Machart, Moorhead, INEX Legends, May 21 (Buffalo River Speedway)
Evan Hendrickson, Mapleton, INEX Legends, May 26 (Red River Valley Speedway)
Andrea Jacobson, Fargo, IMCA Hobby Stock, June 11 (Buffalo River)
Laela Eisenschenk, West Fargo, IMCA RaceSaver Sprint, June 15 (Norman County Raceway)
Nic Hiles, Miltona, Short Tracker, June 17 (VIKING SPEEDWAY)
Tanner Bitzan, Brandon, Wissota Midwest Modified (Viking) June 17
John Seng, Grand Forks, Wissota Late Model, June 17 (Devils Lake Speedway)
Tayten Blascyk, Hoffman, Wissota Midwest Modified, July 1 (Viking)
Blayne Sweet, Sauk Centre, Short Tracker, July 1 (Viking)
Sophie Anderson, Chokio, Pure Stock, July 6 (KRA Speedway)
Roger Berkness, Eagle Bend, Wissota Street Stock, July 15 (Viking)
Jayden Pavlicek, Casselton, IMCA Sport Mod, July 16 (Buffalo River)
Zander Compson, Valley City, INEX Legend, July 19 (Buffalo River)
Brad Lorentz, Eagle Bend, Wissota Street Stock, July 22 (Viking)
Kate Taves, Detroit Lakes, POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint, July 22 (Official Greenbush Race Park)
Matthew Taves, Detroit Lakes, POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint, July 23 (Buffalo River)
JJ Nieuwbeerta, Alexandria, Wissota Street Stock, July 29 (Viking)
Jon Carlson, Brandon, Wissota Midwest Modified, July 29 (Viking)
Jeff Odden, Reiles Acres, IMCA Modified, July 30 (Buffalo River)
Braiden Mund, Milnor, Short Tracker, Aug. 6 (Buffalo River)
Cejay LaValley, Bemidji, Wissota Hornet, Aug. 17 (Grand Rapids Speedway)
Weston Clauson, Kathryn, Mini Stock, Aug. 17 (Sheyenne)
Andrew Tysdal, Fergus Falls, Gen X Late Model, Aug. 18 (I-94 EMR Speedway)
Big Events. Within 100 miles of Fargo, we’ve had three World of Outlaw Sprint Shows and three World of Outlaw Late Model shows this summer. Upcoming is the John Seitz Memorial at River Cities Speedway which usually draws around 200 cars, and the Wissota 100 at I-94 EMR Speedway is a couple of weeks away. I-94 has also added the Gopher State Nationals, a two-day special at the end of September.
DRC Street Stock Tour. This tour continues to grow, with more than 160 drivers competing in at least one race this summer. There were 12 different winners in 21 races, and the average was around 30 cars per show. The racing again was top notch with good race cars coming from four states to battle.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen some of the negatives from my view.
Track Surfaces. I’ve seen some good racing surfaces this season, but I’ve also seen some that have not been good. Tracks that rubber up after one lap, some hammer down tracks with some character that have led to tore up equipment. One-lane 20-lap features don’t appeal to this fan at all.
Weather. It’s hard to grade the Moonshine Mod Tour and Rebel Midwest Mod Tour completely accurately because there were rainouts. Average night Numbers for the Moonshine Tour weren’t spectacular, but I didn’t expect them to be in its first year. The Rebel Tour was really disrupted by rainouts, so it’s hard to grade what kind of year it had.
Lack of Promoting. This is a trend I’ve seen in recent years, and I don’t like it. I think some tracks, and this is a general comment on racing, rely on a Facebook/Instagram post to promote an event and leave it at that. A lot of times I see a special event promoted with very few details (for example, the full payout of a special). In the glory days promoters not only advertised events but they also talked to drivers about coming to their shows – in person or via phone call. I don’t think that happens enough anymore.
Social Media. Social media has a lot of benefits for racing, but it has a big downside. A lot of people post views/opinions on Facebook without having full knowledge of a situation, or by ignoring facts, and it leads to a trail of misinformation. Frankly some posts are just utter bullshit about racing. There’s also disputes between drivers that seem to rear their ugly head, or disputes between drivers and tracks/sanctioning bodies that seem to turn into back and forths on social media – and it’s not productive. An in-person conversation would be a better avenue. For the record, we all have a right to have an opinion on racing, no matter what our involvement, but there is a difference between constructive criticism and spouting total inaccurate crap.
Too Long Shows. My pet peeve in racing, besides not starting on time. I can understand if there are huge car counts that a show can run long, or if there is a delay for a red flag or weather, or for a big crash or something. I don’t understand regular racing shows that last 4-4 1/2 hours with little or no urgency to keep the show moving. IF you want to drive away fans, keep running shows that take forever.
Foolish driving. I can’t think of another term for this. We have a few racers that drive like they own the track and create wrecks that tear up a lot of equipment. We have some that have raced for many years that can’t keep their cars straight to save their lives. Look, all drivers make mistakes, but there is a difference between that and just driving miles over their head. If you are a young driver new to racing, or a driver new to a new class, I understand mistakes happen. It's the long-time habitual offenders that bug me.
That's a wrap for now. I’m hoping for a good invitational season.
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