RaceChaser editorial: Seitz Memorial preview and social media disputes

The John Seitz Memorial is the premier late model event in Wissota, in my opinion, and is at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks this weekend. The best part for me as a fan – only four classes!  The trend at these invitationals is the opposite (for example, the Fall Classic will run 10 classes this year, which is ridiculous). But I’ll get into my thoughts on invitational racing later.

The Prelude to the Johnny is on Thursday, which is the NLRA finale that pays $2,092 to win. Wissota Mod, Mid Mods and Streets will run complete shows that night as well. 

The Seitz Memorial is Friday and Saturday. This year, on the 20^th anniversary of the event, the 92-lap Wissota Late Model main event pays $9,292 to the winner, $9,200 for second AND $9,200 for third. The stakes have clearly been raised.

While I think many late model drivers want to win the Wissota 100, or events like the Red Clay Classic and other specials, this is the one many drivers covet. It’s circled on the calendar from the minute it is scheduled.  There is an intensity in the racing at the Seitz for the late models that does not exist at most invitationals.  Last year, only 11 of the 26 starters finish as attrition became an issue.

The event has taken on a life of its own, and for many in this region, is the big racing weekend of the year.  The atmosphere is as fun as the racing, which is the case at many late-season invitationals.  But since this is a racing blog, let’s talk about the racing and this is 100 percent my own opinion.

Late Models

Note: this

Favorites: Tyler Peterson, Dustin Strand, Shane Edginton, A.J. Diemel, James Giossi, Jesse Glenz, Cole Searing

Keep an eye on:  Mike Greseth, Cole Schill, Aaron Turnbull

All you have to do is watch the closing moments of the 2025 race to know Tyler Peterson will be motivated as hell to win this race this year. He was close last year, but was charged with the yellow after some contact with Cole Schill as both were racing hard for the lead. He then went out and crushed the field in the Wissota Mod feature later in the night. It’s a race he wants bad at a track that he is excellent at.

Strand has piled up feature wins at River Cities over the years, but the Seitz Memorial, as he told me last year, has been his kryptonite. He did finish second to Cole Searing two years ago, and last year was in the hunt on the final restart but slid off making a run at the lead. Much like TPO, he covets this race.

Edginton is  the NLRA point leader and like TPO and Strand, knows the Famous World Bullring very well. Plus, he is a former champion of the event.  Edginton had a nasty crash at Dead Horse Creek earlier this year but has returned with a new car and for the season overall, has six feature wins.

Diemel is the only three-time champion of the Seitz, with his last win coming in 2021. He is almost always near the front of this event and gets around River Cities very, very well.

Giossi and Glenz, two Wisconsin drivers, have both stated on their Facebook pages they will be at the Seitz this weekend. Giossi has five wins in 24 starts this season, including a win at the challenge series race at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior last week.  

Glenz was second a year ago to Schill, and gets better and better each year at River Cities. He has five wins this year, including Challenge Series wins at Red Cedar and Rice Lake.  He also won the first night of the Cedar Lake Late Model portion of the USA Nationals. If you are looking for a non-local driver to watch, he is the guy.

Searing is the 2024 Seitz champion and is a former national champion. He has 10 wins in 34 starts this year. In addition to winning in 2024, Searing  was third in 2023, 2022, and 2021. He’s always near the front in the feature.

Some drivers to watch: Mike Greseth of Harwood hasn’t raced much this year but finished fourth at the Seitz in 2024. He went from 24^th to 2^nd at a special at Brown County in Aberdeen earlier his year. If the track slicks off, he can be a real factor. Schill is the defending champion and also finished fourth in 2023, and while he has just one win this year, usually steps up during the month of September.  I have seen Turnbull plans to be here; he is a two-time winner in two of the best Seitz feature I’ve seen. Never count out a two-time winner of this race.

Wissota Modifieds/Midwest Modifieds/Street Stocks

I won’t go into as many details on the other classes since the late models are the highlights, but you do have the Al Delaine Memorial for the mods on Friday that pays $3,092 to the winner. Bryce Sward of Nelson, driving Corey Svor’s 6x, won that race last year, while TPO won the finale on Saturday.

TPO Is incredibly tough in his mod at RCS so expect him to be near the front. Sward will be there as well. Other drivers to watch in the modifieds include former national champion Ward Imrie; Joe Thomas of Glyndon, who won the Gierke Memorial at II-94 and the Clash at Casino; Superman Mike Stearns of Aberdeen is always tough at the Bullring and loves this event, and he picked up his first career USMTS win at Casino earlier this summer.  Blake Adams was in attendance last year and finished second to TPO on Saturday, and he instantly climbs into the contender list if he is there.

Beyond that, it all depends on who shows up. Gondik Law is running the Northern Nationals on Friday and Saturday which will likely bring in some strong runners, like Shane Sabraski (who I’d love to see at the Seitz). 

I think the Wissota Midwest Modified field is wide, wide open. Jake Smith won it a year ago with an impressive race, and he’s a good runner at big events. Landyn Randt of Siren was second and is near the top of the national point standings again. Then there’s Jory Berg, who is fifth in the national points and Austin Hunter, the 2026 River Cities champion. Reise Stenberg is usually in the hunt at this race, and watch Aaron Blacklance, too. Honestly there are about 20 drivers who could win that race.

National point leader Levi Randt is expected to be in attendance in the Wissota Street Stocks; he, Keith Tourville and Cole Greseth are liked in a fierce three-way battle for the national title. I don’t know if Tourville will bet here but Randt and Greseth will be, putting the national points race at the forefront. Those two are at the top of my list of favorites. Parker Anderson won last year, and if he is here this year, will contend. He won the Little Dream earlier this summer. The Wolverine Justin Vogel will be there and you know he’ll race his ass off to contend.  The only driver to beat Greseth at River Cities this year is Greg Jose, so he’s worth watching as well.

After that, again it depends on who else will be there. There’s usually a few surprises in every class.

Social media disputes: owners/promoters vs. drivers/fans

There has been a Facebook dispute – I would call it ugly and entertaining at the same time – between a driver and track owner that has gained a ton of attention this week. I talked about that deal on my Facebook live on Monday and won’t get into it further on here as frankly I’m pretty much done with that one. Go to the Joe Chisholm Racing page and draw your own conclusion.

But this deal isn’t the first such dispute and won’t be the last. Idsfdst does beg the question, how should promoters/owners handle disputes with drivers? Do tracks have the right to ban a driver or fan for a social media comment?

First, if I driver posts an opinion on Facebook or whatever social media and is not personally attacking an individual, or making sexist, racist or offensive comments – I would tend to say, as a patron of the particular track, they have the right to do so. Comments about the track surface, or an officiating call, or the payout, as long as it is constructive in nature, I will tend to side with the driver on that. The better way to handle it is to go up and talk to the promoter directly or give them a call, though…

However, after my live on Monday night, someone involved in running a racetrack messaged me, and talked about the impact constant negative posts can have, not only on the bottom line, but on the morale of the folks working at the track.

Most tracks are run by people who do it because they love racing (there are very few tracks I believe make big money in racing in the Midwest, I think most struggle to break even honeslty) and have a passion to keep the sport alive.  They put in many long hours at the track, whether it’s cleaning, track prep, checking the lights, making sure everything works, making sure the flagstand lights work…you get the picture.  And to get ripped on Facebook, which does impact car counts and attendance after a while but also hits a person mental health wise – is discougaging as hell.

We must remember that race tracks are run by human beings, too, who do screw up, like we all do.

My thought is that if a driver or fan posts something about a track, for example: “the track was rough tonight,” or “there was a bad call in the feature” or the concession prices or too high – as a promoter, you let it sit there and move on.  If the post is false (which some of them are, frankly), then you respond with the evidence that states the contrary – and don’t engage further. You make a statement and move on.

The back-and-forth in these Facebook disputes in my opinion makes the whole situation worse, and it eventually becomes a complete spectacle and to be frank, embarrassing for both sides. Some folks need to act like adults on social media when there is disagreement and many do not.

Are there social media posts where if I were an owner or promoter, where I would ban a fan or driver?  Yes. If they physically threaten people. If they were harassing track workers. If they were spreading constant misinformation and lies on Facebook about the track.  Context is important, and I think there is a line not to cross.  The goal should be for both sides to make things better.