2023 Driver Interviews

Listing of Driver Interviews 2023 Elko Speedway by Jason Searcy

Tommy Sorem Thunder Car winner Interview  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/tommysorem2023

Baiden Heskett interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/baiden-heskett-interview

Taylor Goldman Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/taylor-goldman-win-tc-2023-m4a

Brent Kane interview after being awarded with the Jeremy Johnson "tire guy" Sportsmanship award https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/brent-kane-interview

Owin Giles interview after winning the Dwain Behrens memorial Late Model race at Elko Speedway https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/owin-giles-interview

Julie Jorgenson Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/julie-jorgenson-interview-8-4

Jake Ryan Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jake-ryan-interview-2023

Jackson Kottschade First win Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jacksonkottschade

Tristan Swanson Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/tristan-swanson-interview

Jackson Lewis First Late Model win Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jackson-lewis-interview

Colin Stocker Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/colin-stocker-interview

Brent Kane Interview https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/brent-kane-interview-opener

For More information go to ElkoSpeedway.com

William Sawalich Interview on KRWC

 

16 year old Eden Prairie MN ARCA series driver William Sawalich did a 20 min interview on KRWC with Jason Searcy from Speed Talk on 1360 Radio.

Here is a link to that interview Sawalich Interview HERE

William Sawalich finished 2nd place in the 2023 Elko Speedway ARCA Menards 250 race, he was the star of the show and the crowd favorite.

Jason also did a feature article on William Sawalich and his MN racing roots in the Midwest Racing Connection starting on Page 6 Sawalich Article MRC

Here is the article on William Sawalich that appeared in the Midwest Racing Connection July edition on pages 7 & 8.  July Sawalich article

2022 MN Asphalt Driver of the year

By Jason D Searcy

A 16-year-old driver from Eden Prairie (MN) William Sawalich has been named the 2022 Speed Talk on 1360 Minnesota Asphalt Driver of the year. Sawalich grew up and raced in Minnesota but his success in 2022 came from racing and winning at some of the most prestigious race tracks in all of America in some of their biggest races. He raced a total of 50 times and scored 13 wins racing for Setzer Racing and Development or Wilson Motorsports. He scored wins in the Late Model stock, Pro Late Model and Super Late Model divisions. He won at historic tracks like: Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway, Five Flags (FL) Speedway, Winchester (IN) Speedway, Motor Mile (VA) Speedway, Ace (NC) Speedway, Tri-County (NC) Motor Speedway, Montgomery (AL) Motor Speedway and Toledo (OH) Speedway. “I am honored to win this award, we had a great season last year and have raced in Minnesota in the past, looking forward to the 2023 race season,” said Sawalich.

Previous winners: 2022- William Sawalich 2021- Jacob Goede 2020- Tim Brockhouse 2019- Jacob Goede 2018- Baiden Heskett 2017- Conrad Jorgenson 2016- Tim Brockhouse 2015- Jacob Goede 2014- Jacob Goede 2013- Ricky Martin 2012- Jonathan Eilen 2011- Chad Walen 2010- Brent Kane 2009- Adam Royle 2004- Dan Fredrickson

For entire article about William Sawalich go to TheRacingConnection.com Feb 2023 Click this link MRC FEB 2023

ELKO 2022 Interviews

 By Jason D Searcy

We did not have a radio show in 2022 but Speed Talk on 1360 continued with interviews from Elko Speedway (MN) drivers.  Here is the list with photos and links.

Now 9 time ELKO Champion #72 Jacob Goede he is now tied with Donny Reuvers and just 1 behind Jeff Martin for the most Premier Divison Championships in track history.  Click Here for interview

Now 6 time ELKO Thunder Car Champion #3 Conrad Jorgenson, he has won a Championship in the 90's, 2000's, 2010's and now the 2020's.  This is a fun interview where he reveals his 2023 plans Conrad Jorgenson interview

Former Thunder Car Champion and crowd favorite #32 Jeremy Wolff got his first Late Model win in a long time, here is his interview Click here for Wolff interview

Legendary Late Model driver #52 Chad Walen finished 2nd in the points in 2022, Here is his interview where he talks racing and his other love, restoring classic cars.

Chad Walen interview link

We also started a new series called "6 questions" where we interview top drivers and ask them some racing questions and other questions that have nothing to do with racing.  The answers proved to be very interesting!

Two time Thunder Car Champion and Rookie Late Model driver #37 Bryce Blohm Click HERE for the Blohm interview 

7 time Elko Speedway Power Stock winner in 2022 #08 Mike Stoer did a very entertaining interview and Photo! 

 

Click Here for Stoer interview

Former ELKO Legends division Champion #13 Tim Brockhouse is an interesting Character and he was in a great mood when doing this 6 questions interview 

Brockhouse Interview link

Long time Power Stock driver #66 Joe Prusak announced his retirement after the 2022 season and after over 200 wins in his career.

Joe Prusak Interview link

Former Power Stock Champion, current Thunder Car driver and crowd favorite Taylor Goldman known as "Roller Girl" did a great 6 questions interview.

Taylor Goldman interview link

We also interviewed ELKO superfan Konnor Koski

Konnor interview link

Jacob Goede also did a very well recieved "6 questions" interview

Jacob Goede Interview

We also posted many Jason Searcy race calls from numerous races at Elko Speedway in 2022.  Click on this link to listen to some of the race calls.  Audio of 2022 ELKO Race Calls

Jimmie Jorgenson 1st win

Mike Stoer 5th win of 2022

Tristan Swanson win

Jesse Fischer 6th win

Mark Anderson Jr win

Jacob Goede 7th Behrens memorial race win

Jacob Goede interview after the Behrens memorial win

Mark Anderson Jr vs Danny Mann race call

Tom Doten 2nd win of 2022

Jeremy Wolff 1st ELKO LM win race call

Tyler Ledbetter 1st win race call

Matt Wiebusch win race call

Danny Mann 6th win of 2022

Jesse Fischer vs Nick Oxborough great race

Baiden Heskett 3rd win of 2022

Mark Anderson Jr Bando win

Danny Mann 5th win of 2022

Owin Giles 3rd win of 2022

Julie Jorgenson first win of 2022

Colin Stocker clean sweep

Hunter Paine 1st LM win

Dillon Sellner clean sweep

Danny Mann 4th win

Ayrton Brockhouse 1st Legends win

Leighton Rose 2nd Bando win

Tim Brockhouse win #241

Tom Doten Power Stock win

Brent Kane 2nd win of 2022

Matt Frye win

Jake Ryan win race call

Jon Lemke 2nd win of 2022

Dusty Mann 1st Late Model win

Here are some photos from an exciting 2022 season that included Sammy Smith #18 winning the ARCA event, 4 years earlier he won 4 races at ELKO in a Legends Car.  A first career Late Model win for #10 Dusty Mann, numerous wins from 12 year old Ayrton Brockhouse in the Legends division, #7 Jacob Tiegen winning a national title in the INEX division and #36 Ty Fredrickson racing at ELKO for the first time.  Elko hosted its first annual Monster Truck Mania event and 7K racing won the Jeremy Johnson memorial "Tire Guy" Sportsmanship award.

2021 MN asphalt driver of the year

 

By Jason D Searcy

Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) has been named the 2021 Minnesota asphalt driver of the year by Speed Talk on 1360 Radio, this is the fourth time Goede has won this award.

Jacob Goede #72 is a Late Model and Super Late Model driver who added to his long list of racing accomplishments in 2021.  Most notably he won his 8th consecutive premier division Championship at Elko (MN) Speedway in the Late Model division.  He scored four wins, seventeen Top 5 finishes and showed amazing consistency by never finishing out of the Top 10 in any of the 24 feature events at ELKO.  He also had success traveling to Wisconsin where he raced at Madison International Speedway and LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway where he won four features including the Big 8 series win during Oktoberfest.  Goede also had a nice showing at New Smyrna (FL) Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt, scoring four Top 5 finishes against the best national competition.  Goede was the 2021 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts weekly series Midwest division Champion and finishes second in National points, a series in which he was the National Champion in 2019.

Thanks to Speed Talk on 1360 radio and Midwest Racing Connection for the recognition and the 2021 MN asphalt driver of the year.  Minnesota does have a lot of talent on asphalt, even though we are a small crowd compared to other parts of the country, so I appreciate this award.  We had a great season overall, consistency was definitely our strong suit, but I couldn't do it without a fast car, hard work, some luck and of course our sponsors and crew - Jacob Goede

Previous winners

2021- Jacob Goede

2020- Tim Brockhouse

2019- Jacob Goede

2018- Baiden Heskett

2017- Conrad Jorgenson

2016- Tim Brockhouse

2015- Jacob Goede

2014- Jacob Goede

2013- Ricky Martin

2012- Jonathan Eilen

2011- Chad Walen

2010- Brent Kane

2009- Adam Royle

2004- Dan Fredrickson

500th Post

We just completed our 500th post here on Speed Talk on 1360. Jason and Dean are very appreciative of the Motorsports fans who have helped keep this website viable. We have had over 318,000 original views since we started this back in 2009. Here is a listing of some of our most interesting or most viewed posts over the years: 

The Final race at Raceway Park  Click Here

Driver Interviews from Raceway Park 2012 Click Here

Raceway Park final race audio recap Click Here

History of I-94 Raceway Podcast Click Here

I-94 Raceway Obit Click Here

I-94 Raceway history web site Click Here

Local drivers Steal the Show at Monster Jam 2018 Click Here

Camden Murphy dominates Monster Jam 2019 Click Here

Ryan Anderson ushers in new era of Monster Jam Click Here

BIR

New Trans Am era ends Click Here

2017 TA Click Here

2017 TA2 Click Here

2016 TA Click Here

2016 TA2 Click Here

2015  Click Here

2014 Click Here

Shane Stewart wins World of Outlaws STC 2016 Click Here

Tim Kaeding wins WoO at ELKO 2013 Click Here

How fast is an WoO car versus an ARCA car at ELKO Click here

Schatz wins at Granite City 2017 Click Here

How Elko Speedway changes from Asphalt to Dirt Click Here

Dylan Moore wins title in Dramatic fashion at ELKO 2016 Click Here

2006 Labor Day 200 at Elko Speedway Click Here

50th Anniversary night at Elko Speedway Click Here

ARCA at ELKO

2017 race Click Here

2018 race Click Here

Willie Mullins ARCA story Click Here

2014 race Click Here

Iowa Speedway

Buescher wins Xfinity 2015 click here

Oktoberfest 

2010

2011

2013

2015

Thunderstruck93

2016

2015 Final

2015

2014

2013

2012

2010

Indy Car at Iowa Speedway

2018

2017

2016

2014

ARCA at Iowa Speedway 

2018

2016

Xfinity at Iowa Speedway

2018

2017

2016

Spring 2016

2015

2014

2014 Spring

Trucks at Iowa Speedway

2017

Minnesota Asphalt Driver of the Year

2017 Conrad Jorgenson

2015 Jacob Goede

2014 Jacob Goede

2013 Ricky Martin

A Night at Princeton Speedway

Click Here

Scott Speed edges Travis Pastrana at ERX

By Jason D Searcy

A huge crowd of Minnesota Motorsports fans watched racing legend Scott Speed edge iconic action athlete Travis Pastrana in the Supercar Final of the Nitro Rallycross at ERX motor park in Elk River (MN). Teammates Speed and Pastrana were celebrating together in a large group of fans after the race, the joy and excitement was obvious on their smiling faces.

"I don't do it for the trophy, it's a challenge for me, for personal growth and to work for such an amazing team, that's what I do it for" said Speed. "This place is mind blowing, the Carlsons work so hard, I'm so glad the racing was so amazing because of all the effort they put into it."

Travis Pastrana and Scott Speed both won their heat races and started in the front row for the main event, Timmy Hansen and local MN dirt track star Steve Arpin won the semi-final races, Steve Arpin is from Fort Frances Ontario Canada, just across the border of Minnesota. The drivers had nothing but good things to say about the ERX facility, the weather was a perfect 75 degrees,the pits were accessible for fans and numerous food trucks were available providing food and drink. Here are the Final results: 1- Scott Speed 2- Travis Pastrana 0.367 3- Kevin Hansen 4- Timmy Hansen 5- Fraser McConnell 6- Robin Larsson 7- Andreas Bakkerud 8- Tanner Foust 9- Steve Arpin 10-Oliver Eriksson Here is my full interview with Scott Speed  Click Here

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/scott-speed-erx-winner

Sage Karam won the NRX Next Final, Karam had a problem on the first lap and dropped back to 7th position, Karam then put down some incredible lap times and raced his way through the field, eventully passing the leader and winning by an incredible 9 seconds over George Megennis Here is the full interview with Jason Searcy from Speed Talk on 1360 and Sage Karam  Click Here https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/sage-karam-erx-winner-2021

Karam said his team has been snake bit to start the season with lots of bad luck, it looked like that bad luck would continue when he was stuck in a three-wide situation and spun on the first lap, after the incident Karam started laying down some incredible fast laps "I saw the leaders getting bigger and bigger because they were getting closer to me and I kept pushing," said Karam "I saw a couple of them have some issues and I was praying that they would keep running into each other, it's Rally racing and anything could happen and we didn't quit, that's the big thing never give up and don't quit." Karam was so focused on laptime that he didn't even know that he was the winner "I came across the finish line, got the checkers and I asked my spotter where we finished and he said You Just Won and I was like No Way, I had no idea" said an ecstatic Karam post-race. Karam was a big fan of the ERX Motor Park race facility, "this is an amazing place," said Karam "one of the most rad tracks I've ever driven in a Rally Car, it's definitely designed for cars like this, I LOVE this track, as of today this is the favorite track I've ever gone to."

Tanner Faust won the side by side main event Get more information at NitroRallycross.com Get more information at ERXMotorpark.com *Photos courtesy of Dean Reller and Jason Searcy

Reports are that NASCAR driver Kyle Busch will join Nitro Rallycross at the next event in Mid November.
 

Jeremy Johnson memorial award

The Jeremy Johnson Memorial Sportsmanship award is given annually at Elko Speedway. Jeremy was a crew member at I-94 Raceway in Sauk Centre MN, he was known as "The Tire Guy" he helped numerous drivers in the pits not just one crew, he was known for his good attitude. He was killed by a drunk driver in 2003, a memorial race was held at I-94 Raceway for many years and later a Sportsmanship award was put together in his name. The inagural winner of this award in 2011 was Mark Bronstad a figure 8 driver at Raceway Park (MN).

Mark is pictured here with the parents of Jeremy Johnson. Other winners of this award are: Molly Rhoads, Richard Timm, Adam Brachle, Joe Valento, Faith Olson, Natalie Swedin-Bartyzal, Taylor Goldman, Ellen Wolff. We all miss Jeremy and it is a reminder that driving drunk could have long lasting consenquences

Heim wins ARCA at Elko Speedway

July 10, 2021- Elko, MN

By Jason D Searcy

*Corey Heim and Charles Krall

Excitement has never been lacking at Elko (MN) Speedway, the smallest racetrack on the ARCA Menards series always seems to pack the biggest punch when it comes to exciting finishes and 2021 was no exception.

*Ty Gibbs

NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs was in attendance to watch his grandson #18 Ty Gibbs from Huntersville (NC) dominate a majority of the Menards 250, Ty Gibbs won the General Tire Pole award and he led 236 of the 250 laps.  Corey Heim #20 from Marietta (GA) snuck past Gibbs for a few laps after an early restart on lap 53 but then the two cars had a little contact on lap 62 and Gibbs took back the lead on lap 65.  Heim was not happy with the contact and he had the opportunity for payback late in the race.  

It looked like Gibbs was going to win the Menards 250 by a sizeable margain until #66 Ron Vandermeir Jr spun on lap 243, setting up a restart with just a handful of laps remaining.  Corey Heim lined in the second row directly behind Gibbs and when the green flag was displayed Heim bumped Gibbs and sent him up the track and leaving the door open for Heim to take the lead and then hold back both the #17 of Taylor Gray and #15 of Jesse Love as the cars went three-wide coming out of turn number two.  Heim then shot to the front and ended up winning by 0.593 seconds a couple laps later.  Jesse Love from Redwood City (GA) finished second, crowd favorite #25 Gracie Trotter from Denver (NC) was third and Ty Gibbs finished a disappointing fourth, Taylor Gray from Denver (NC) rounded out the top five finishers.

Here is the Race Call of that exciting finish ARCA 2021 ELKO finish

*Top Jesse Love Bottom Gracie Trotter

Nick Sanchez #2 from Miami (FL) was sixth, Daniel Dye #21 from Deland (FL) seventh, #10 Willie Mullins from Fredricksburg (VA) finished last car on the lead lap in 8th pleasing his many Minnesota relatives that were in attendance.  Richard Petty's grandson #46 Thad Moffitt from Trinity (NC) spun early in the race but raced hard to finish 9th and #30 Adam Lemke from Holister (CA) was 10th of the 17 cars in attendance.  The race had 7 caution periods and took 1 hour and 20 minutes.

*Willie Mullins at driver autograph session 

The Local NASCAR divisions at Elko Speedway also raced one feature event each for the ARCA crowd in attendance.  The Late Models sponsored by The Car Lot in New Prague had an impressive field of 26 cars start the 40 lap feature event.  

Chris Marek #3 and Andrew Schultz #29 went side by side to start the race, Marek finally established himself as the leader on lap three.  Four-time Elko Speedway Champion Marek was then challenged by another veteran driver #52 Chad Walen who worked his way up from the sixth starting position to get alongside Marek on lap 10 and then passed him two laps later.  Chad Walen from Prior lake (MN) weaved through lapped traffic and held on to win by 1.565 seconds during this cautionless race and win for the first time this season at ELKO.  Andrew Schultz finished second, #13 Bryan Wrolstad third, Chris Marek was fourth and #21 Adam Bendzick was fifth.  Owin Giles #6 was 6th, 7-time Champion #72 Jacob Goede started 14th and finished 7th, #8 Billy Mohn 8th, #11 Buddy Kofoid the USAC National Midgets current point leader from Penn Grove (CA) started 23rd and finished 9th and #40 Michael Beamish was 10th.  Fast-qualifier #54 Dylan Moore had mechanical problems and did not finish.  Chad Walen no leads Jacob Goede by 1 point in the Late Model division point standings.

The Genz-Ryan Thunder Car 30 lap feature at ELKO had #75 Keith Paulsrud take the early lead until a caution happened on lap 9 for #25 Eric Campbell who tagged the wall.  After the restart #8 Taylor Goldman fought hard with Paulsrud and took the lead on lap 12, another caution happened on lap 20 when six-time ELKO Champ #3 Conrad Jorgenson had mechanical problems and dropped out.  Dillon Sellner #07 of Randolf (MN) who finished second in qualifying to Jorgenson by 0.001 seconds moved his way up the field from his 10th starting position and challenged Goldman side by side for a few laps and then took the lead just before the white flag flew.  Sellner ended up winning by 0.369 seconds, it was his first win of the season at ELKO.  Taylor Goldman was second, #92 Norm Grabinger finished third, #9 Adam Wiebusch fourth and #14 Tony Holm fifth of the 11 cars competing.  Dillon Sellner is now tied with Conrad Jorgenson for the lead in the season point standings at Elko Speedway.  

The Pepsi Powerstock 30 lap feature event had #19 James Tich take the early lead until #25 Jason Michaud grabbed the top spot with an outside pass coming to lap 2 of 30.  A yellow flag flew slowing the field on lap seven, after the restart on lap 9 #83 Julie Jorgenson (photo above) from Lakeville (MN) drove up from her 6th starting position and took over the lead with an outside pass, Jorgenson then extended her advantage to a full straight away lead.  Fast-qualifier #88 Nick Oxborough, who started 9th, finally made his way up to the front and was close enough to give Jorgenson a couple bumps in the closing laps.  Jorgenson held strong and won by 0.211 seconds at the finish line, it was her first win of the season, Oxborough was second, #62 Tom Doten finished third, #08 Mike Stoer was fourth and #13 Matt Frye fifth of the 13 cars entered.   Oxborough now leads Matt Frye by 29 points in the season point standings at Elko Speedway.

All results and points are unofficial at this time.

Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile asphalt oval race track with

stadium seating located 30 minutes South of the Twin Cities in Elko-New Market

MN.  Get More information at ElkoSpeedway.com