Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Trans-Am returns to BIR


For the first time since 1989, the SCCA Trans-Am series will make a stop in Minnesota at the Brainerd International Raceway.


The race will be this Sunday (Sep 5th) on the new 13 turn 2.5 mile competition road course, they will race 36 laps which is 90 miles.


The pre-race driver autograph session begins at 12 noon and the race itself begins at 2:45pm.


The Trans-Am series has a long and storied history that goes back 42 years, and BIR hosted some big events with some big name drivers competing. Paul Newman won his first race during a Trans-Am event at BIR back in 1982.


Admission prices are $20 per day for adults and $10 for kids ages 6-12. One ticket gets you into both the road course race and the racing at the Muscle Car shootout at the drag strip as well.


We will have Gary Curtis lead instructor and director of the Performance driving school at Brainerd International Raceway on "Speedtalk on 1360" with Jason and Dean Saturday (Sep 4) from 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/


*Photo by Mark Weber/SCCA

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wreck at Raceway Park

A big wreck on Sunday night (Aug 29) at Raceway Park in Shakopee. In the Super Late Model feature #63 Gary Petrash and #53 Tom Quade got together in corner #1.

Here is a link to the youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb2F-n-3_4k&feature=player_embedded

Nick Murgic ended up winning the race.

Here is a link to the Figure 8 wreck the same night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZadNMGnl_Qk

Danny Fredrickson won the Super Late Model race at Elko on Saturday night (Aug 28). You can hear a recorded interview with Danny from victory lane on "Speedtalk on 1360" with Jason and Dean Saturday (Sep 4th) from 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/

We also will play an interview with ASA Midwest Sportsman series winner Chris "cruiser" Marek.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

ASA Midwest Sportsman at Elko




An absolutely unforgettable finish of the ASA Midwest Sportsman tour feature event at Elko (MN) Speedway on Saturday night (Aug 28).




Tour point leader Chris Marek slipped past on the high side and won by mere inches at the stripe in a three way battle with Brent Kane and Jack Paulson. "It sure wasn't much, I had to look at the board to see if I actually won," said Marek.




Brent Kane took the lead on lap 18 and held on until the last couple feet of the race. His momentum was slowed coming to the finish by Jay Kalbus who was about to be lapped on the track. Kalbus cut a tire and tagged the wall earlier in the race.




Marek could've taken the conservative route and done some points racing after Kalbus had the early trouble, but instead he went for the win at the end. "Everyone was gunning for the win, I had to stay in it and ride the wall for it," said Marek "I've kind of struggled out here this year, so to come out and win this race is very special to me."



Chris Marek was the winner with Brent Kane second and Jack Paulson third, Jay Kalbus finished 13th.







You can hear the entire interview with "Cruiser" Chris Marek along with Super Late Model feature winner Danny Fredrickson on "Speedtalk on 1360" with Jason and Dean Saturday (Sep 4th) from 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/




Friday, August 27, 2010

ASA Midwest returns to Iowa Speedway in 2011


The ASA Midwest tour has just announced that they will be racing at Iowa Speedway in 2011.


The ASA Midwest tour race will be Friday night (Aug 5th), the day before the second NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway.


The Tim Shendel won the ASA Midwest tour race at Iowa back in 2008 and Chris Wimmer won at Iowa Speedway back in 2009.


This will be a great event for both the racers and the fans. This new 7/8th mile track is one of the best racing facilities in the United States and the ASA Midwest tour is known as a quality support series with the strongest field of drivers from top to bottom.


Dont be surprised if some NASCAR series regulars also compete in the Friday night ASA Midwest tour race. Matt Kenseth might want to race against his son Ross, Kyle Busch has run numerous ASA Midwest tour races in the past (including the 2008 Iowa Speedway race).


With our favorite track and favorite series working together, you know "Speedtalk on 1360" will be covering this race in more detail than anyone else.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

ASA Midwest Sportsman back in MN


Elko Speedway will be the site of the the ASA Midwest Sportsman tour race on Saturday night (Aug 28).


This is a make-up race for the rain out event on June 26th. It will be a complete do-over for the 28 cars who entered in June, only 22 cars will qualify into the main event on Saturday night.


Former "Speedtalk on 1360" guest Chris "cruiser" Marek (pictured above) is the leader by just two points over Jay Kalbus in the race for the inagural point championship.



*photo courtesy of Redline Graphics

Monday, August 23, 2010

Wimmer takes the ASA Midwest tour lead



*Shelly Parsells photo


Chris Wimmer lead all 100 laps of the ASA Midwest tour event at Marshfield (WI) Speedway on Saturday night (Aug 21).


Chris also took over the point lead. Wimmer now has a two point advantage over veteran driver Steve Carlson.


Two events remain in the ASA Midwest tour season. Sunday (Sep 5) in Norway Michigan and Sunday (Oct 10) at Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in Wisconsin. www.asamidwesttour.com


Chris Wimmer will join Jason and Dean between 10-11am on Saturday (Aug 28) on KRWC radio 1360am "Speedtalk on 1360" and http://www.krwc1360.com/



Weekend Roundup: Mark Lamoreaux won the Super Late Model feature at Raceway Park in Shakopee on Sunday night and Donny Reuvers won the Super Late Model main event at Elko Speedway on Saturday.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Kyle Busch wins (almost) everything

*Getty images picture

Kyle Busch wins at Bristol. Yes, three NASCAR sanctioned events in one week. This first time this ever has been done.




Friday night he wrecked Brad Keselowski for the win in the Nationwide series.http://nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/2010/news/headlines/bg/08/20/kybusch.nationwide.win.bristol.2/


Saturday night he came up through the field to win the Cup race.http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/cup/08/21/kybusch.cup.bristol.2.win/index.html


Now only if he had entered the NASCAR Whelen Modified race on Wednesday night. Ryan Newman won that race with our local MN sponsor "Agressive Hydraulics" on the side of his car.http://www.aggressivehydraulicsracing.com/AHR_frontpage.html
Dean Reller chose Kyle Busch to win the Cup race, so he now has picked the winner twice, Jason Searcy has three wins and Jordan Bianchi is the leader with five correct picks so far in 2010.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

2011 NASCAR Schedule




The 2011 NASCAR dates have been announced for Iowa Speedway. The 2010 race was a complete sell-out of 56,000 fans.




The Nationwide series will race at Iowa Speedway two times in 2011. The first race will be on Sunday afternoon (May 22nd), this is the day after the Cup All-Star race in Charlotte. I would think that some cup drivers would make the trip up to Iowa for this race.




The second race will be on Pocono weekend, Saturday (Aug 6th). This will most likely be a Saturday evening race with drivers flying back and forth to Pocono.




The NASCAR truck series will also return to Iowa Speedway again in 2011. This race will be during the New Hampshire weekend, Saturday (July 16th). I would think this would be an evening race at Iowa Speedway.




"Speedtalk on 1360" whole-heartedly endorses this wonderful Midwestern racetrack and we plan on broadcasting LIVE from Iowa Speedway again in 2011.




Monday, August 16, 2010

Weekend Wrap-up

A very busy weekend for race fans in the upper mid-west.

Tim Schendel wins the ASA Midwest tour Wisconsin Dells 100, its his first win of the year in that series.
1-Schendel
2-Chris Weinkauf
3-Griffin McGrath
4-Steve Carlson
5-Andrew Morrissey
6-Chris Wimmer
http://www.asamidwesttour.com/

Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd MN
Top Fuel- Larry Dixon
Funny Car- Bob Bode
Pro Stock- Jeg Coughlin
Motorcycle- Andrew Hines
http://www.nhra.com/

50th Knoxville Nationals 410 Sprint-car finals
1-Tim Shaffer $150,000
2-Donny Schatz (Fargo ND)
3-Shane Stewart
4-Craig Dollansky (Elk River MN)
http://www.knoxvilleraceway.com/

NASCAR Sprint Cup at Michigan
1-Kevin Harvick
2-Denny Hamlin
3-Carl Edwards
4-Greg Biffle
5-Matt Kenseth

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Iowa Speedway


Reports are that Iowa Speedway will get TWO NASCAR Nationwide races in 2011.


The tenative dates are May 22nd and July 23rd. The May 22nd date possibily could be a Sunday afternoon race the day after the NASCAR All-star race in Charlotte. I would assume the July 23rd race would be a Saturday evening race. This is a wild-card weekend as of right now. That could be a Pocono race weekend OR possibly an off weekend for the NASCAR cup guys. The official 2011 schedule will be announced soon.


If NASCAR Sprint Cup series is off, that would be good news for the possibility that more NASCAR cup drivers could enter the July Iowa Speedway Nationwide race in 2011. I would also think some cup drivers would enter the May race considering their All-Star commitments would be over with.


Stay tuned! Speedtalk on 1360 will keep you up to date on all the NASCAR action at Iowa, and we plan on doing LIVE broadcasts at both the Nationwide series races in 2011.
Remember the NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway in 2010 has been the only sold-out event so far this year in the series. If Iowa could sell out BOTH events in 2011, the next step for NASCAR would be to add Iowa to the Sprint Cup schedule in the future.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Speedtalk Aug 14th

Legendary dirt track announcer Ron Krog will join Jason and Dean on "Speedtalk on 1360" Saturday (Aug 14) from 10-11am on KRWC and www.krwc1360.com

We will catch up on all the NASCAR silly season news with Jordan Bianchi from www.theracinggeek.com

Dan Plan from www.theracingconnection.com will join us with the local racing scoop.

We also will have a nice quick interview with Dale Altringer, who won the Wright County Fair demo on Sunday night.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Craig Hartman memorial race






The Atwater Karting Speedway will be hosting a Craig Hartman memorial race on Friday (Aug 20th) at 7pm.




Craig was killed in a tragic car accident last January, he was a founding board member of the Atwater Karting Speedway. Both Dean and Jason knew Craig and his son Paul very well. Paul raced for years at I-94 Raceway in the Legends division, he now races a mod-4 car at KRA in Willmar.




Paul Hartman's Mod-4 race car will be on display at the memorial race for his dad. Free Admission for all fans. The Atwater Karting Speedway is located just off of Hwy 12 in Atwater. Get more information at http://www.atwaterkarting.com/




Sunday, August 8, 2010

Wright Co fair Demo Derby




Here are the results from the 42nd annual Wright County Fair Demo derby.




Dale Altringer (pictured above) won the Main Event and took home $1,100 in prize money, his god-son Scott finished second. George Karels Jr was taken off in an ambulance after being extracted from the demo-car with the "jaws of life."




Joey Karels won in the Mid-size cars, Danny Kahout in the Mini-vans, George Karls Jr won the compact truck division and Jim Riebe took home the trophy in the full-size truck class. On Friday night Holly Karels won the main event with Jason Uecker winning the compact class and Dale Altringer victorious in the Mid-size division.




Jason was the announcer at the packed Sunday evening event that draws a large crowd every year. We interviewed the champion driver Dale Alltringer and that will be played back during "Speedtalk on 1360" Saturday (Aug 14th) between 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/










Saturday, August 7, 2010

Rainy radio show


"Speedtalk on 1360" was LIVE at the Wright County fair in Howard Lake (MN) on Saturday August 7th.


Even though it rained most of the morning, Erik Cleasby brought out his awesome Hornet racecar that he races at Princeton Speedway on Friday nights.


We played back our interviews from the Nationwide race Iowa Speedway last weekend. Trevor Bayne, Reed Sorenson and Kyle Busch all gave us their thoughts.


We were happy to have local race historian Tim Sebo join us for the local segement of the show.


Thanks to everyone who braved the rain to see us at the fair. See you next year!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Speedtalk at the fair!


*photo courtesy of www.pitwallphotos.com

"Speedtalk on 1360" will be broadcasting LIVE from the Wright County Fair in Howard Lake (MN) on Saturday Aug 7th from 10-11am.




Jason and Dean will be joined by Erik Cleasby (pictured above) from Buffalo and his car will be on display. Erik is currently in second place in the 4cyl divison at Princeton Speedway.




We also will talk about the highly popular Demo Derby with organizer Gary Fieldseth.




Last weekend Jason interviewed NASCAR Nationwide series stars Trevor Bayne and Reed Sorenson, we will replay those interviews from Iowa Speedway. Along with some comments from Iowa winner Kyle Busch.




Everyone is invited to stop by and register for RACEWAY PARK tickets to be given away at 11am, you must register at the fair to win! Look for the big blue KRWC "roadshow bus," we are near the middle of the fairgrounds, near the fair office.


If you can't make it to the fair, listen on the radio or on-line from 10-11am http://www.krwc1360.com/





Monday, August 2, 2010

Iowa Speedway "garage plan"



Jason D Searcy (http://www.speedtalkon1360.com/)

I had a great time covering the Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night (July 31st). The staff is top-notch and very helpful for the media members. Since this is our only trip to a NASCAR event in 2010, I wanted to have as much contact with the drivers as possible.

Steve French, the media relations specialist at Iowa Speedway asked me what driver we wanted to interview on our live broadcast Saturday morning and he would set it up. The double duty drivers were off-limits because of their travel schedule back and forth from Pocono PA. I requested #99 Trevor Bayne (who had won two straight pole awards).

Dean Reller, Jordan Bianchi and I had full access to the garage area and media center but, I quickly found out that the drivers spend very little time in the garage area, they are in their motor coaches most of the time and not available to the media. Since the practice was rained out on Friday, the one and only practice on Saturday morning was during the broadcast of our radio show, so we were not able to interview Trevor as previously scheduled. We just discussed all things NASCAR for most of the show and it went well.

The only driver contact I was able to have during the race was when they crashed and drove to the garage area. So, I developed the "garage plan," also known as, "hanging around the pits."

I spoke to Reed Sorenson (pictured above) and he said the crash was "a problem with the brakes and not debris," he was bummed because its their first DNF of the season and they are running hard for owners points. He also mentioned that he is "race to race" driving the Red Bull car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

Here is a you-tube video link to Reed's hard crash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJgkOdpZ-G8

Paul Menard declined an interview request after having a wreck filled night, but he said he does remember the days he raced at I-94 Raceway in Sauk Centre (MN) in the Legends cars.

After the race was over ESPN took over pit lane and grabbed the top 3 finishers, I knew they would do a media press conference later but the drivers would not be available for one-on-one interviews. So, my game plan was to wait in the garage area after the checkered flag to interveiw the drivers.

Unfortunately for me, all the drivers got out of their cars on pit lane and proceeded immediately to their motor coaches on the other end of pit lane! They compeletely avoided the pits and the rest of the media. I even missed ASA Midwest tour driver Tim Schendel, who made the race but was a "start and park" driver.

It didn't take me long to realize the only guys in drivers suits were the crew members cleaning up the pit lane. I really blew it, my plan was flawed from the start.

Just then, as I was cursing myself for the bone-headed mistake of the year... strutting down pit lane was a good looking kid with a big smile in a blue driving suit, walking past his Aarons dream machine, it was Trevor Bayne, the driver of Michael Waltrip racing #99.

None of the other media was around, here's my chance, it was sheer luck! He stopped on pit lane for an interview. He talked about how he was proud of his guys and really excited about winning his third straight pole award. He said the car was "strong all night, it just got a little tight near the end." He thought the crowd was "unbelieveable, they do a great job promoting this place, we dont get half this crowd at some places" said Bayne.

The interview turned out great, despite my "garage plan" miscalculation.

You can hear both the Reed Sorenson and Trevor Bayne interviews this Saturday (Aug 7th) 10-11am during "Speedtalk on 1360" on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/ We also have audio from the press conference with winner Kyle Busch.

We will be LIVE at the Wright county fair. We will also interview demo derby organizer Gary Fieldseth and Raceway Park driver Josh Vieau from Buffalo, who will also have his car on display.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Iowa Speedway report



Jason, Dean and Jordan from "Speedtalk on 1360" did the radio show from Iowa Speedway and spent a very hot and sunny day at the race track.




Kyle Busch won the U.S. Cellular 250 NASCAR Nationwide race in front of a sold-out crowd of 55,988 fans at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night (July 31st). Its his ninth win in just seventeen Nationwide series starts in 2010.




Despite having no practice in his car Busch qualified second quick behind Trevor Bayne and lead much of the race. When a caution came out with 46 laps remaining, Busch took four tires and came out of the pits seventh. On the restart he worked the high side and took back the top spot with twenty four laps to go and extended his lead at the finish.




Reed Sorenson had a bad wreck early in the race as he blew a tire and smacked the wall hard. Jason got an interview with Reed that will be broadcast on "Speedtalk on 1360" next Saturday.




Jason also had the opportunity to interview Trevor Bayne after the race, Trevor won the pole and lead many laps during the race, eventully finishing fifth at Iowa.




You can hear both those interviews along with comments from Kyle Busch Saturday (Aug 7th) between 10-11am on KRWC radio 1360am and streamed live on http://www.krwc1360.com/