Spring Dirt Weekend at Elko Speedway

By Jason D. Searcy

The weather shortened the amount of spring dirt racing to just one weekend, but it was an action packed two day event at Elko Speedway.  A near capacity crowd was thrilled by the awesome speed of the World of Outlaws sprint cars on Friday night.

32 Sprint cars raced and Sam Hafertepe set a fast time in qualifying at 12.507.  #83 Tim Kaeding worked his way from his 13th starting position to win the $10,000  main event, passing Kerry Madsen right up by the wall for the victory.  "Live or die on the high side, that is my motto," said Kaeding.  The race was shortened because of a brief rain shower that forced officials to end the race at lap 34 of a scheduled 40.  Local Minnesota driver #7 Craig Dollansky finished 3rd after leading many laps.

Raceway Park Season Opener 2013

Sunday May 5th marked the "beginning of the end" of the final season racing at 1 Checkered Flag Blvd in Shakopee MN.

Recovery Technology Solutions has proposed a 20 Million dollar asphalt recycling to be built on the 10 acre site that is the 50+ year home of Raceway Park. 

Raceway Park owner John Hellendrung has vowed to keep the 2013 race season intact as scheduled.  www.goracewaypark.com

#61 Mark Bronstad won the first Figure-8 feature.  The second feature honors went to #33 Rick Martin

Dirt or Asphalt? Elko Speedway has both.

 By Jason D Searcy

Recently Elko Speedway named me, along with Pete Hackett, as the announcers for this upcoming season.  This excites me on many levels including the fact that Elko is one of the very few tracks in America that deliver both asphalt and dirt races at the same exact location, and has since 2010.  Bristol Motor Speedway experimented with it about a decade ago with mixed success and Berlin (MI) Raceway ran a dirt race last October and will try again this autumn.

I have come to learn that a lot goes into switching the race surface back and forth.  Here is a thumb nail sketch of this labor intensive process:

Hutchinson Race Car show 2013

18 race cars and lots of race fans attended the Levi Schwanz memorial Race Car show on Saturday March 23rd at the Hutchinson (MN) Mall.

Levi (photo above) was a big race fan and the son of organizer Derik Schwanz.  He died as a child with heart problems at the age of six back in 2007, the car show is in memory of him. 

Here are some photo's of cars on display:

Local MN racer competes at Daytona

Adam Royle from Farmington (MN) will be racing at Daytona International Speedway as part of the UNOH battle at the beach Monday Feb 18th.

SPEED TV and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the feature races on Monday, Feb. 18 and Tuesday, Feb. 19 from “The World Center of Racing,” beginning at 6 p.m. Central time each night. The MRN broadcast will also be streamed live at www.motorracingnetwork.com and carried by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Many benefits to Motorsports sponsorship

By Jason Dale Searcy

Just by clicking on this link you should feel good about yourself.  As a matter of fact, you now can call auto racing "your sport" even if you don't race.  Just by following along you are the most important part of "our sport," the fan.

It's a proven fact that race fans are second to only hunting dogs when it comes to loyalty, and dogs don't spend any money so, I move race fans up to number one in my book. 

If you have ever considered putting your name on a race car or sponsoring Motorsports in any way, think of this

Eilen named 2012 MN Asphalt driver of the year

By Jason D Searcy

In June of 2010 after a bad wreck at Hawkeye Downs it was suggested to Jonathan Eilen that he might want to consider giving up racing cars and do something different, like basketball.  A perfectly reasonable thought considering he was lying in a hospital bed with a broken L3 vertebra in his lower back and four broken ribs.

Eilen did not give up on his chosen sport, as a matter of fact, that suggestion made him more determined than ever to push forward, do the physical therapy and come back better than ever.

Jonathan Eilen from Hampton (MN) has been named the Speed Talk on 1360 2012 Minnesota Asphalt driver of the year.  He is the first MN driver to win the ASA Midwest tour Championship since Dan Fredrickson won in 2008.  Eilen scored a win and seven "top 5" finishes during the 12 race Super Late Model touring schedule. 

Tim Olson interview

ARCA Midwest tour president Tim Olson talked with Dean and Jason on "Speedtalk on 1360" radio on November 17th 2012.  We talked about many things including the sanctioning switch from ASA to ARCA for the Midwest tour.  Click Read More and Listen through the podcast player below to hear both parts of the two part interview.

A Season of change for Midwest Tour

By Jason D Searcy

The ASA Midwest Tour will now be sanctioned by ARCA.

It appears that ARCA will take the Midwest tour under its umbrella in much the same way they did the CRA Super series.  These touring series are made up of similar asphalt Super Late Model cars and will even race some joint events on the 2013 schedule.

Turnout light at WISSOTA Expo

By Dean Reller

November 10, 2012

(ST. CLOUD, MN) The racing is over for the year and all that’s left is to crown some Champions and set the stage for the upcoming season.  That was the main focus of a weekend full of events for the WISSOTA Promoters Association.  The event showcased the WISSOTA National Championship winning drivers and the National Awards Ceremony handed out the trophies and checks to those who had a successful year racing in all of the WISSOTA sanctioned classes in 2012.  The WISSOTA Promoter’s Association Annual Meetings, also a part of the weekend, always seems to produce some rules changes and those changes weren’t officially announced at this event.  The exact details of any changes will be announced at a later date.

The Winter Motorsports Mecca of MN

By Jason D Searcy

The activity at our local short tracks has cooled down with the onset of the winter season so, many race fans attention shifts to the Metrodome where tens of thousands of  fans stream inside to witness the awesome power, agility and aggression on display.  Once every year the finest rivalry in all of sports is renewed under the Teflon roof at the Metrodome...... no, no not the Vikings and Packers.

2012 MN race season recap

The 2012 race season was an eventful one for Minnesota race fans.

The ASA Midwest tour raced twice at Elko Speedway, in the August Governors Cup race Travis Sauter won followed by Haseleu and Holtzhausen.  They came back again in September for the Thunderstruck 93 race.  It was an epic battle which saw Dan Fredrickson run Jacob Goede up the track in the last corner for the win, eventual ASA Midwest tour Champion Jonathan Eilen finished third.  They also raced at Iowa Speedway and Brent Kirchner won over Wimmer and Chris Weinkauf.  We interviewed 8 drivers and ASA Midwest tour president Tim Olson on Speed Talk on 1360.

Jonathan Eilen wins ASA Midwest tour championship

By Jason D Searcy

Hampton Minnesota driver Jonathan Eilen has won the 2012 ASA Midwest tour championship.

Eilen wrapped up the title after finishing 5th place in the season ending Oktoberfest race in La Crosse Wisconsin.

Fredrickson and Goede battle for Thunderstruck

By Jason D Searcy

The fourth annual Thunderstruck 93 ASA Midwest tour race at Elko Speedway had a wild finish with #36 Danny Fredrickson finishing just ahead of Jacob Goede for his third consecutive Thunderstruck win.

Thunderstruck 93 at Elko Speedway

By Dean Reller

September 19, 2012 – Dan Ryan was a racer and someone who enjoyed big events and so it’s only fitting that the race honoring him is rapidly becoming one of the big events of the region as the ASA Midwest Tour Presented By SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings joins the fold this year for the Thunderstruck 93 at Elko Speedway on Sept. 21^st and 22^nd.

Iowa Speedway Truck wrap up notes

A very entertaining weekend of racing at Iowa Speedway with the NASCAR Camping World Trucks racing on Saturday night in front of an estimated 20,000 fans.  The race was broadcast to a national audience on SPEED, with prerace host and Iowa native Krista Voda (below).

Ryan Blaney becomes youngest ever Truck winner

With his win at the American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway, Eighteen year old Ryan Blaney has become the youngest ever winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series and the 7th first time winner of the 2012 season.

Kirchner wins at Iowa Speedway

Brent Kirchner won a heavyweight battle with Chris Wimmer to take home the trophy at Iowa Speedway in the 3M 150.

ASA Midwest tour back at Iowa Speedway

The ASA Midwest tour is back at Iowa Speedway for their annual stop on the 7/8th mile high banked oval in Newton IA on Friday Sep 14th.  Its the fourth time the ASA Midwest tour has raced here.

Classics by the lake car show 2012

The fourth annual Classics by the lake Car show in Buffalo was again a success in 2012.  Due to construction in downtown Buffalo the event was moved to Sturgis Park on the shores of Buffalo Lake.  The car turnout was again impressive at over 600 vehicles on display and thousands of spectators wandering through the maze of cars.