Red Clay Classic celebrating 50 years by following successful formula

At a time in racing when racetracks are adding more classes to their year-end invitationals, the folks at ABC Raceway south of Ashland, Wis., are happy to buck that trend.

ABC hosts the 50th annual Red Clay Classic this week, with an event-record payout slated. The Red Clay Classic is a premier event in Wissota – and a case could be made it is the top invitational in Wissotaland as it usually brings in 200 cars, or more, yearly. Oh, and the event hosts only four classes – Wissota Late Models, Wissota Modifieds, Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Wissota Super Stocks – and according to ABC Raceway president Eric Erickson, track management has little desire to add more.

“We’ve been asked many times to add classes, and our board has held tight to the four classes,” Erickson said. “We have reasons for this, but with around 200 cars it works well for time and space constraints in our pit area. We could add a class, but we also feel it may dilute the show to a point. Most of our fans are from out of town so to add a local class doesn’t give them what they want. They would not know these drivers.”

The Red Clay Classic is one of the top late season specials in the region because it sticks to what has worked for many years. It is a two-day event, with qualifying heat races – and Past Challenge Champions races – on Friday. B mains and A features are on Saturday. The event will feature a payout of $250,000 this year, a record. That includes $15,000 to the Wissota Late Model winner, $10,000 to the Wissota Modified winner, $7,000 to the Wissota Super Stock feature and $3,000 to the Wissota Midwest Modified winner.

“We just felt that with it being 50 years, we needed to reward our drivers for their support,” Erickson said. “We’ve been very lucky that this event has been successful so obtaining sponsorship has been very successful. This whole thing is just about a bunch of people in our organization loving the sport and wanting to do something for our drivers and fans.”

ABC Raceway is a non-stock for profit organization, which means that no individual can receive any profits or earnings from its operations.  That means every person who works at the track is an unpaid volunteer – the ABC board itself, flagman, concessions, tech officials, ticket takers, and everyone in between that makes the show work at the 3/8-mile red clay oval.

“We are very lucky to have dedicated group of volunteers,” Erickson said. “Many are generational friends of racing. I honestly don’t know how we have such a committed group, but we do. This is not how a business should be successful, but it has been for over 65 years here.”

The Red Clay is bigger than just a race for the Ashland area – it’s a true event with an estimated economic impact of $1,000,000 on the region, Erickson said.  In addition to the two days of racing, there is also a golf tournament, a bag tournament, a camper contest, a costume contest, and the Shitty Red Clay contest.

There are 283 campsites available on the ABC Raceway property. For the Red Clay Classic, those are sold out by Jan. 1 each year. In addition, a neighbor also sells camping spots on his property and has room for 100 campers.

“It is a huge event for our community of 7,800 people,” Erickson said.

The Red Clay Classic also has bucked the trend of using passing points to determine feature qualifying and lineups.  ABC does a draw/redraw system and has for many years. This year, in the super stocks, modified and Midwest modified classes, the heat winners will redraw for the top spots (for example, if there are six heats, the heat winners will redraw for starting spots 1-6 in the feature). Late models will qualify for the heats via hot laps and will redraw from the top two finishers in each heat.

“We just feel that the Red Clay is hugely successful, and why change success?” Erickson said. “We want people to enjoy the weekend, and after they race not have to wonder if they are in the feature. They place whatever and know right away what race they will be in for Saturday night. In today’s environment of instant satisfaction having to wait on results is not what most people want. They don’t want to listen to the announcer update after each race to hear if their favorite driver is in the feature.”

The racing is a big attraction for fans, but the whole environment of the weekend is a big part of the draw.

“When you attend this event, it just has a different feel about it than any other special around,” Erickson said. “I hear that from so many people. I believe it is because, we are not paid, we want to just enjoy the company of our racing family, enjoy racing and have some fun. We work hard at making it an event, not just a race.”

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