The Wissota Street Stock class is a good fit for veteran driver Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria.
He’s spent a majority of his racing career, which started in 2006, in the division. He’s won four track championships (three at Viking Speedway and one at I-94 Sure Step Speedway) and has more than 20 career feature wins.
“It’s everybody that races in it,” Bangsund said. “Most cars are clean. You look around and nobody is beating the heck out of everybody. Everyone’s clean. That’s the biggest thing.”
Bangsund has six top five finishes in 10 starts this year in the #70 car. He’s second in the points at Viking.
Like many Viking Speedway racers, Bangsund is a product of go-karts, and grew up going to the half-mile dirt oval.
“We started racing go-karts when I was six or seven,” Bangsund said. “We’d come out here every Saturday night and watch. Jimmy Williams, Mark Blom and guys that like, are guys I looked up to.”
Bangsund got into the Wissota Street Stock class in 2006. He ran in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds from 2013-15 before returning to the street stocks in 2016.
In addition, he’s raced a Wissota Super Stock for Chris Winter and also drove Brock Gronwold’s Wissota Modified one year at the Fall Classic. But it’s the street stock class that has provided the best fit.
“It’s still a lot of work, but it’s a lot less work than the B mod,” Bangsund said. “The B mod, we had that on scales four hours a week. I haven’t scaled this one in like three years.”
His most memorable win came in 2019 when he won the Florian Sprinzel Memorial at Viking Speedway.
“That would have been our biggest win,” Bangsund said.
He doesn’t run for points anymore. He recently started a new job with Pipe Detectives that requires travel during the week, plus he takes a few weeks off for some vacations in the summer (he says someone else will drive the car when he’s not at Viking).
“We’re racing here whenever we can,” Bangsund said. “I started a new job with Pipe Detectives so we’re on the road a lot. When I get home Thursday nights, you hang out with the family and Friday is basically working on the car getting ready for (Saturdays).”
Driver Profile
Andrew Bangsund
Wissota Street Stock #70
Residence: Alexandria, Minn.
Age: 31
Sponsors: Pipe Detectives, Central Equipment Sales, Bangsund Construction, Alex Iron and Metals, Extreme Auto & Gas, Edina Realty — Nicole and Mitch Doering, Fat Daddy’s, Naomi’s Day Care, Midwest Cleaners, Centra Sota Electric, Minnewaska Marine, Greeley Plumbing and Heating, Fast Global Solutions
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