Racing's Ups and Downs

Racing, like for many people is an escape from the day-to-day stresses of life. While the sport can frustrate drivers, fans and track management alike, there is really no other hobby like it.

For me, writing about racing has become as much fun as watching as a fan. I’ve met so many people, good people, through racing, and that ultimately is what the sport is about. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing a great race on the track, but the sport goes beyond the competition.

With the times as they are, and the week are country had, I decided to write a blog highlighting some of the “ups” in racing. Yes, I listed a few down things, but there has been some good things happening in the sport.

The Ups

Local Late Model numbers: 59 lates at the John Seitz Memorial at River Cities. The two-day Howie Schill Memorial at Red River Valley Speedway had car counts of 46 and 51. More than 50 late models competed at the Wissota 100. NLRA shows maintained solid numbers at most events. I-94 EMR Speedway and River Cities had consistent solid weekly numbers.

--INEX Legends numbers. Good numbers weekly at Red River Valley and Jamestown Speedways and at Buffalo River Speedway. Best part is there is a ton of young drivers in the class.  I think the hope is this class serves as a feeder for drives to move up divisions, like Andrew Jochim, Tye Wilke, Brody Carlsrud, Tim Estenson and Evan Hendrickson have done over the past few years.

Sean Johnson of Kindred, the 2025 Red River Valley Speedway track champion, is second in the INEX Legends Masters national point standings.  Wilke is second in the Pro Dirt national standings while teenager Regan Reinke of Lisbon leads the INEX Legends Young Lions national points.

--Wraps. The wraps on today’s cars are outstanding looking. So many different colors and designs that make cars stand out. Even though I kinda miss the days of the hand-lettered cars, some of combinations and designs today are terrific.

--Drivers of all ages racing. There are teenagers in many classes and drivers in their 70s and 80s racing. One driver, Ron Saurer of Dalton, at the age of 72, won two Wissota Midwest Modified features this summer and finished in the top five in 13 of 27 starts. He finished seventh at the Wissota 100. Dean Larson, age 68, shares the Wissota Mod 4 national point lead with Dustin Holtquist.

--The year Cole Greseth had. The Harwood native, who just graduated high school, has 27 wins in 54 starts this year and won four track championships and entering the Wissota 100 was in the top 10 in national points. He also had a top 10 finish (seventh) against a stacked field at the Wissota 100 on Saturday.

--Christian Kast’s season: Three track championships (KRA, Casino and Madison). Six feature wins, and a likely top 10 in Wissota Hornet national points. He has 33 top five finishes this summer in what has been the best season of his career.

--Wissota 100. It has its flaws like all invitationals, but a having an event of that caliber within an hour’s drive of Fargo-Moorhead is a pretty big deal. Many people work to make that event go.

--Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour: Despite some rainouts the racing was excellent again, and Kyle Dykhoff rose to the top to win the tour title. Good car counts at most venues, too.

--Jonny Carter and Jayden Pavlicek qualifying for the A mains at IMCA Super Nationals: The event attracted more than 1,000 cars again, and making the show there is as good as a win. Jonny Carter made the IMCA Stock Car field while Jayden Pavlicek qualified in the IMCA Sport Mod class.

--Females in racing: I have been a big advocate of getting more females behind the wheel and each year we seem to see more get into racing. I consider them drivers just like the males but I also think recognizing the impact they are making is important.

Haley Dykhoff added two more feature wins to her total in her 50H Wissota Midwest Modified and finished second in the points both at Viking Speedway and third at I-94 EMR Speedway.

Kelsi Pederson hopped from the lightning sprints to the late models and finished with three top fives and eight top 10s in 21 starts. Not a bad rookie season in a tough division.

Maria Broksieck has eight feature wins this summer in the Wissota Street Stock and as of Sept. 1 was 10^th in the national points. She won the track title at Casino and continues to be one of the most consistent street stocks in eastern South Dakota with 30 top fives in 37 starts.

MaKenna Romuld was the 2024 Wissota Midwest Modified Rookie of the Year, and followed that up with the first two feature wins over her career, one at Buffalo River and another at her home track of River Cities.  She had 11 top five finishes in 35 starts this season.

Michelle Hutt gave birth to a baby in May, the second child for her and husband Mason. She came back to race this summer in her Wissota Midwest Modified car, and finished with one top five and three top three finishes.

Ashley Boyum has moved up north but added another feature win in her 17 Wissota Midwest Modified. She had 11 top five finishes.

Ashley Wampler finished ninth in the Dirt Race Central Wissota Street Stock tour point standings this summer as she posted another top 10 finish on that tour.

McKenna Folstad of Hibbing is seventh in the Wissota Hornet national points (as of Sept. 1) with five feature wins with Canadian Selena Owen in ninth with five wins.

Unfortunately, there are some downs in racing that I can't ignore. 

The down

--Cost. The cost to race in today’s world is unreal. Buying a new chassis. Engines. Shocks. Tires. Springs, Transmissions. Oil. Race Fuel. Entry fees at some events. Higher pit fees at some tracks. Weekly purses stagnant at most places.

On the other side, the cost to run a racetrack, and fight to break even, is outrageous. Expenses keep going up. Attendance at most places is down.  Things like insurance, buying track prep equipment, fuel for track vehicles, food and beer wholesale costs are constantly rising. 

The bottom line, it sucks for everyone now financially.

--A mod numbers. Down at most tracks, not just an IMCA or Wissota or USRA problem. I may do a blog on this if I get time, and I may talk to some long-time mod drivers for their insights. Murray County Speedway in Slayton dropped the IMCA Modifieds after 2024, Chateau Raceway near Lansing dropped the USRA Modifieds after last season as well. Fiesta City dropped Wissota A mods because of car counts. I picked a track outside the area for an example: Fairmont Raceway, which runs USRA Mods, averaged 9.3 cars at its weekly shows and was in the single digits in six of nine shows. USMTS had six shows with 24 cars or less this summer; it was a series that used to regularly average 45-50 cars a night.

--Too many classes. Now the Crown Vic movement is invading racing in the Midwest. I have nothing against the class but maybe tracks and sanctioning bodies should do more to invest in the classes they currently have, not just keep adding to the pile. Most of all, maybe ask the fans what drivers they prefer to watch, that seems to be ignored.

--Weekly shows taking too long. Too many shows that could be done in 3-3 ½ hours are lasting 4 hours are more. There are legit reasons for longer nights – medical emergencies, a big wreck that takes time to attend too, a rain delay – not doing track work after every races, or taking 5 minutes between heat races, or taking forever to line up a six-car heat race. Those little things add up. One track recently got its heat races done in a little more than an hour and then took a 45-minute intermission.  Not a good way to keep fans coming back.

One thing that I will grade an "incomplete" on is the Red River Valley Fair Board taking over the racing program at Red River Valley Speedway in 2026. I have my concerns, but I am willing to keep an open mind.