J. J. Nieuwbeerta has made progress each year in the Wissota Street Stock class at Viking Speedway. Now he is aiming for consistency.
“I’ve been trying to focus on getting in the top five and being consistent,” Nieuwbeerta said. “I’ve had a lot of really good runs, and all of a sudden found a way to mess up in the last two laps and drop back six spots. The big goal this year is to try to be consistent and try to finish a race.”
Nieuwbeerta, a native of Montevideo who lives in Alexandria, has been around racing. His uncle, Lon Moen, raced in the Mod 4s in Madison while his cousins both raced in that region.
“I grew up in Montevideo, my uncle and cousins raced,” Nieuwbeerta said. “Every Friday night we were pretty much at the track.”
There’s another pull to racing – Nieuwbeerta’s wife is the former Nekecia Muzik. Nekecia’s dad, Ryan, is in the Viking Speedway Hall of Fame after a stellar modified career, and her uncle Greg is also in the Hall of Fame. Nieuwbeerta’s brother in law, Buzz Muzik, races in the Midwest modified.
“She’s always been around racing,” Nieuwbeerta said of his wife.
Nieuwbeerta got a further taste of racing by pitting for street stock driver Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria several years. He spent a few years in go-karts before getting a street stock.
“I learned some stuff, then it was the go-karts and I ended up with a car,” Nieuwbeerta said.
His first year, in 2020, he had four top 10s in 11 starts. In 2021 he made clear progress, earning three top fives and finishing fourth in the points at Viking. He made a further progression in 2022, where he had five top fives and finished third in points at Viking.
This year, he has three top fives in seven starts and is second in the points behind Nitro Jimmy Williams of De Graff.
“Getting a lot of seat time, and listening to people who know what they are doing,” Nieuwbeerta said of the progress. “You kind of learn everything you can. It’s a big learning curve, that’s for sure.”
One thing Nieuwbeerta has is a race car that stands out. He always had thoughts of having a station wagon body on the car. This year, in the offseason, it worked out as he was able to get ahold of the roof on the car, which had previously been raced in southern Minnesota.
“My wife, she was not a fan of it,” Nieuwbeerta said. “We got it all done, and now she loves it. That was a good turnaround.”
Nieuwbeerta’s still in search of his career feature win; his best finish is second. But he’s getting closer.
“The main goal is to be consistently in the top five. We’re always shooting for a championship,” Nieuwbeerta said. “That’s a big goal. I’m trying to get that first win out of the way too.”
Driver Profile
J.J. Nieuwbeerta
Wissota Street Stock #14
Age: 34
Residence: Alexandria, Minn.
Sponsors: Central Equipment Sales, Bangsund Construction, Lennes Bros. Electric, Pomp’s Tire, Pipe Detectives, TFC Poultry, Worldwide Hydraulics, M&M Daycare, Little Gabbers Daycare, Lindsay’s Daycare, CR Communications, Dolman Auto, Glow Airbrush Tan, Alexandria Iron and Metals, Josh Moen Enterprises, Brophy Bay Gas Mart, Jeremy Nieuwbeerta, Ryan Ostendorf, Crazy Gma, Connor Jantzen
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