Trans-Am Brainerd weekend

The SCCA Trans-Am series returns to Brainerd International Raceway for a Labor day weekend double header on Saturday and Sunday Sep 3rd and 4th.

In 2010 Minnesota native #4 Tony Ave (photo below with Jason) won by 65 seconds over Tomi Drissi and Simon Gregg.  These cars are awesome, with speeds topping 170mph and over 800 horsepower.

MN racing legend Jim Derhaag (photo below with Dean) made his 151st and final start of his long Trans-Am career, he finished one lap down in fifth place in the eight car field.

This year Tony Ave driving a Corvette is once again leading the point standings, in the six races thus far, he has four wins.  Simon Gregg in a Corvette is second in points, followed by David Jans who races a Ford Mustang.

Expect a somewhat larger field of cars this year, a new divison called the TA-2's will be racing on the 13 turn 2.5 mile competition road course with the Trans-Am series cars.  Bob Stretch is the point leader and Gregg Rogers are the top two in points, both driving Chevy Camaro's, Bill Prietzel from Wisconsin is third in the standings, he drives a Chevy Monte Carlo.

Its a unique race event in Brainerd this weekend, for the price of one $20 ticket you can watch the action at both the road course and the Muscle Car shootout drag racing. 

Racing both Saturday and Sunday with the 100 mile Trans-Am race taking place at 3:30pm on Saturday and again at 2:30pm on Sunday.  Double points and double money for these drivers making for a very important event for these drivers.

The Playboy Mazda MX-5, SCCA Pro Spec racers & SCCA Pro Formula Enterprise division will also be racing.

Jason and Dean will be doing "Speedtalk on 1360" LIVE from the race track Saturday 10-11am and then interviewing the Trans-Am winners to be broadcast on next Saturdays show. 

Listen live on KRWC 1360am radio or www.krwc1360.com

Get more information at www.trans-amracing.com or www.brainerdraceway.com

Haseleu wins again at Raceway Park

For the second year in a row Nathan Haseleu (#87) scored a win in the ASA Midwest tour Shakopee 125 at Raceway Park.  Nathan started the race in the second row, but the outside lane got shuffled back on the start and he ended up in 8th position just 10 laps into the race.  Haseleu was one of the first cars to start using the top groove on this tough 1/4 mile track and he passed Steve Carlson and Jeff Storm on the outside to scratch his way tword the front of the pack.

Defending Raceway Park champion Adam Royle (#89) lead for most of the first 74 laps of the race and was pulling away when he had mechanical problems and pulled off the track.  Hawkey Downs winner Jonathan Eilen (#77) had charged up to third place when he had mechanical problems and spun out in corner #3 causing another caution.

 
The new ASA Midwest tour "double file" restarts helped as Haseleu chose the outside lane and moved up numerous positions mid-race.  With Royle and Eilen both having problems, that left Haseleu to battle with Chris Wimmer and Jacob Goede for the top stop.

Nick Panitzke (#22) was fast-timer in qualifying and seemed to be the fastest car on the track the final portion of the race, with the invert he started 7th row outside and finished a strong 3rd place, battling Chris Wimmer for the runner up spot.

Andrew Morrissey (#39) lengthened his ASA Midwest tour point lead because Ross Kenseth did not attend the race, he was at his college orientation at Clemson University.  Morrissey now leads Nathan Haseleu by 70pts, Jacob Goede in third 81pts back then Tim Schendel fourth 93pts behind.

Unoffical results:
1- Nathan Haseleu
2-Chris Wimmer
3-Nick Panitzke
4-Andrew Morrissey
5-Michael Bilderback
6-Jacob Goede
7-Steve Carlson
8-Skylar Holzhausen
9-Griffin McGrath
10-Nick Murgic

*notables
12-Tim Schendel
17-Jonathan Eilen
19-Adam Royle
23-Molly Rhoads

Listen for interviews with all the top three finishers on "Speedtalk on 1360" radio with Jason and Dean Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC 1360am or at www.krwc1360.com

Here is a youtube video link of the beginning of the race, #89 Adam Royle passes #78 Skylar Holtzhausen. http://www.youtube.com/user/Speedtalkon1360?feature=mhee

Here is a youtube video link of the last few laps of the race, #22 Nick Panitzke trys to pass #52 Wimmer with #87 Haseleu out front.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esiRPuCHMCM

ASA Midwest tour at Raceway Park

The ASA Midwest tour is back in Minnesota and racing at the famed 1/4 mile at Raceway Park in Shakopee.

Jonathan Eilen (#77) is coming off a big win last weekend at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids IA.  It was a sweet win for Jonathan because one year ago he had a terrible wreck at that track and spent most of 2010 recovering from his injuries.

Eilen has had mixed sucess with the ASA Midwest tour at Raceway Park, he finished second place in 2008 but has struggled the last couple years.

Donny Reuvers (#41) has won the Shakopee race twice, 2008 & 2009.  He is not racing the full schedule with the ASA Midwest tour this year and has not dominated at Raceway Park like in the past, but he has more laps at this track than anyone in the field.  Dan Fredrickson won the 2007 race, muscling his way past Adam Royle with just a few laps to go.

Last year (#87) Nathan Haseleu won the 125 lap race at Shakopee, he thrilled the crowd by taking the lead by passing Steve Carlson on the high side at lap 118.  Iowa native Thor Anderson finished 3rd.  Ross Kenseth (photo below) tangled with Michael Bilderback on lap 70 and both went to the tail end of the field, Kenseth made a furious charge through the field to finish 4th.

The top Minnesota finisher in 2010 was Ryan Johnson, Dan Fredrickson and Chris Wimmer both were hampered with brake problems.

Steve Carlson is having a tough 2011 season and Raceway Park might be the remedy.  Carlson has been great in Shakopee over the years, he finished 3rd in 2007 and 2008 and 2nd in both 2009 and 2010.

Andrew Morrissey is the current point leader in the ASA Midwest tour, he leads Ross Kenseth by 47 points with Tim Schendel and MN driver Jacob Goede tied for third 68 points back, Nathan Haseleu is fifth and Jonathan Eilen sixth place in points.

Hobby Stocks and the "Wild and Crazy" figure 8's will also be racing Sunday night.

Qualifying begins at 4pm, Driver Autographs at 5pm and racing begins at 6pm Sunday night Aug 21st.  Jason and Dean will be interviewing all the top drivers for Speedtalk on 1360 radio Saturdays 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/  also full race coverage on http://www.speedtalkon1360.com/


For more information go to http://www.goracewaypark.com/ or http://www.asamidwesttour.com/

Carl Edwards to join ESPN?

After the Iowa Speedway race in the press conference I asked car owner Jack Roush (photo above) if he would prefer Carl Edwards to race the entire season in the NASCAR Nationwide series in 2012.

Roush said he the Cup/Nationwide companion races are beneficial to run both, but in the stand alone races (like Iowa Speedway) the benefit that Edwards would get today is not what a younger driver would get.

Roush said "I think he's made his decision, I think he will become a sportscaster for ESPN for the Nationwide races, so I'm not sure if he will be doing just the companion races or all the races."

ESPN said Monday that they do not have anything to announce about Edwards at this time.

Edwards has joined the broadcast booth twice this year and is very comfortable behind the camera.  Many think he would do a great job as a part-time Nationwide broadcaster and maybe move full-time to the booth sometime much later in his career.

Here is the link to the LIVE post-race press conference at Iowa Speedway.  Fast forward to the 9:00 mark to hear the Jack Roush comments http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16485080

Listen to "Speedtalk on 1360" radio with Jason Searcy and Dean Reller.  Saturday mornings 10-11am on KRWC 1360 am or http://www.krwc1360.com/

Stenhouse Jr wins again at Iowa

Ricky Stenhouse Jr won at Iowa Speedway in front of 48,271 fans on their feet, sliding across the finish line as he blocked his team mate Carl Edwards just before the finish line.

Stenhouse said his car was having ignition or motor problems and "cutting in and out," the last few laps of the race.  He was driving with his mirror down the front stretch to make sure Edwards couldn't get around him. *video below

Stenhouse and Edwards both drove hard and had some contact earlier in the race, on lap 169 they swapped paint and Ricky wasn't happy with his team mate.  Stenhouse said that incident is what made him mad, and thats why "I didn't cut him any slack going for the lead."

Edwards finish second and then quickly hopped a jet plane back to Pocono for the NASCAR Cup race taking place on Sunday.  Elliott Sadler finished third, Josh Wise fourth and Aric Almirola fifth.

Here is the youtube video of the press conference at Iowa Speedway with Carl Edwards.

Some big names had a tough day including Trevor Bayne who had to pit for a loose wheel twice, he finished 25th.  Sam Hornish Jr filling in for Brad Keselowski in the #22 spent time on pit lane with his hood up, Justin Allgair had nothing but problems, tagging the wall and spending time in the garage, he finished 29th.  The KHI car #33 driven by David Mayhew was in the top 5 most of the day but faded back to 10th after the final restart.

Ricky Stenhouse has quickly become a crowd favorite at Iowa Speedway after sweeping both races at Iowa this year.  He extended his lead in NASCAR Nationwide point standing to 12pts over Reed Sorenson who finished 6th.

Listen Saturday 10-11am to "Speedtalk on 1360" on KRWC for press conference sound bites with Ricky, Carl and Jack Rousch.  Also interviews with Steve Wallace who finished 8th and Josh Wise who came across the line in fourth.  Listen LIVE at http://www.krwc1360.com/

U.S. Cellular 250 Qualifying times

On a hot sunny day in Newton IA, Elliott Sadler won fast time in the U.S. Cellular 250 Nationwide qualifying at Iowa Speedway, its his third pole of 2011.  His time was 23.794 (132 mph), slower than the track record pole time of 23.31 set by Ricky Stenhouse in 2009.

#16 Trevor Bayne starts outside of the front row, Sam Hornish Jr (filling in for an injured Brad Keselowski) and May Iowa winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr fill the second row. 

#60 Carl Edwards had a poor qualifying run, he will start in the 9th row inside.  Edwards flew into Iowa from a rainy Pocono after qualifying his Cup series car.  Reed Sorenson also had a rocky start to his race day, he qualified in the 8th row, he is currently only 3pts behind Elliott Sadler in the season point standings.

Minimum race speed in tonights race will be 26.98, 116mph. 

The command to start engines will be given at 6:39pm tonight, the race is televised on ESPN2.


The race begins at

Nationwide Race at Iowa Speedway

Its NASCAR Nationwide race day at Iowa Speedway.

May winner #6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr was fastest in Saturday practice with a lap speed of 131.722mph.  Stenhouse is the current NASCAR Nationwide point leader.

Second place in points is #32 Reed Sorenson who was 8th quickest in practice, he finished in the fourth in the May Iowa Speedway race.

#60 Carl Edwards has 5 wins in the Nationwide series this year, he is the only driver racing both Nationwide and Sprint Cup series this weekend.

#33 David Mayhew is racing the KHI car, he was 9th quick in practice and is a previous winner at Iowa Speedway in the K&N series.

Qualifying begins at 3:30pm this afternoon and racing starts at 6:30pm and will be broadcast on ESPN 2.

We will update any race day information as it happens, keep checking back to http://www.speedtalkon1360.com/

Speedtalk radio LIVE at Iowa

"Speedtalk on 1360" radio is LIVE at Iowa Speedway Saturday 10-11am.  Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will be on the show with us (photo below).

We will be broadcasting interviews with Joe Gibbs racing NASCAR Nationwide series drivers Drew Herring (#20) pictured with Jason above, and Dean is talking with Michael McDowell (#18), photo below.

Nationwide series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb will also be on the show.

We also have interviews with all the top finishers of the ASA Midwest tour race from Iowa Speedway.  Jeff Choquette, Ross Kenseth and Tim Schendel.

Listen LIVE on KRWC radio 1360am 10-11am, listen on the web at http://www.krwc1360.com/

Choquette wins at Iowa

Jeff Choquette (photo above) from South Beach Florida wins the ASA Midwest tour 150 lap race at Iowa Speedway in front of a large crowd  of over 12,000 fans.  Choquette started the race on the fourth row outside, he worked his way up to second place by mid-race.  He had a great battle with Ross Kenseth (photo below) working his way through lapped traffic, finally passing him for the lead at about lap 110.

Tim Schendel (photo below) took the lead early but had a flat tire early in the race and had to make an early unscheduled pit stop.  He came from the back of the pack and ended up finishing a tight third place.

*Press conference VIDEO link with Tim Schendel and Dean Reller http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16461976

ASA Midwest tour point leader Andrew Morrissey had an off night and that should put second place finisher Ross Kenseth back within 14pts of the point lead. 

UNOFFICIAL Results:

1- Jeff Choquette

2- Ross Kenseth

3-Tim Schendel

4-Nathan Haseleu

5-Jeff Storm

6-Dean Cornelius (Bloomington MN)

7-Nick Panitzke (Sauk Centre MN)

8-Skyler Holtzhausen

9-Jacob Goede (Carver MN)

10-Jonathan Eilen (Hampton MN)

11-Steve Carlson

Listen for SPEEDTALK on 1360 radio Saturday morning 10-11am for interviews with the top 3 ASA Midwest tour finishers.  Listen LIVE at http://www.krwc1360.com/

U.S. Cellular 250 Iowa Weekend

ASA Midwest tour Qualifying results:

1- 87 Nathan Haseleu  23.813 (photo above)

2-25S Jeff Storm  23.821
3- 29C Jeff Choquette  23.85
4- 77E Jonathan Eilen  Hampton, MN 23.882
5- 21 Tim Schendel  23.919
6- 80 Bryan Reffner  23.966
7- 4 Thor Anderson  23.977
8- 25k Ross Kenseth  24.014
9- 72 Jacob Goede  Carver, MN 24.045
10- 52 Chris Wimmer  24.059
11- 2 Michael Bilderback  24.069
12- 78 Skylar Holzhausen  24.112
13- 9DC Dean Cornelius Bloomington, MN 24.146
14- 39 Andrew Morrissey  24.168
15- 22P Nick Panitzke Sauk Centre, MN 24.169
16- 12 Nick Murgic  Rosemount, MN 24.182
17- 66 Steve Carlson 24.225
18- 51K Becca Kasten Mecq 24.285
19- 9K Mark Kraus 24.302
20- 75W Chris Weinkauf  24.306
21- 0B Brad Osborn  24.419
22- 22E Chris Eggleston  24.453
23- 63 Gary LaMonte  24.528
24- 75T Joel Theisen Maple Grove, MN 24.564
25- 55M Mason Mitchell  24.626
26- 8M Tom Muhr  24.815
27- 140 Curt Tillman  24.968
28- 64 Griffin McGrath  NO TIME

Iowa Speedway weekend

Iowa Speedway in Newton IA is the host of two race events this weekend.  The NASCAR Nationwide series returns for the second time in 2011 on Saturday evening and the ASA Midwest tour will race on Friday night.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr won at Iowa Speedway in the Nationwide race in May, he passed Roush/Fenway team mate Carl Edwards and held him off for the win.  Not many wrecks but lots of passing in that race with 17 lead changes among 7 different drivers.  Bad Brad Keselowski finished third and Reed Sorenson fourth after leading for a good part of the race.

This was Kenny Wallace's 500th career Nationwide series start (photo above) and he was very happy to hold on to finish 6th after using pit strategy to stay up front on the final pit stop.

Trevor Bayne will be returning to Iowa Speedway for the first time since his big Daytona 500 win, he was recovering from an illness in May and missed the Iowa race.  He finished 5th place at Iowa in 2010 and was the pole sitter.

Brad Keselowski said he wanted to race this weekend at Iowa Speedway, but with a badly sprained ankle (photo above) from a practice crash at Road Atlanta on Wednesday, he will be replaced by Sam Hornish Jr.

The Nationwide point standings are as close as can be with 13 races left in the 2011 season, Ricky Stenhouse leads Reed Sorenson by only 3pts and Elliott Sadler is 24pts behind in third.

The ASA Midwest tour Super Late Model cars have raced at Iowa Speedway twice before.  The 2008 race helped Iowa Speedway prove to NASCAR that they can host a big event, it drew over 14,000 spectators for the Twin 75 lap race.  Matt Kenseth finished 3rd and Kyle Busch drove through the field and lead some laps before motor problems.  Tim Schendel won the race followed by MN driver Jonathan Eilen.

In 2009 Chris Wimmer won when Tim Schendel had a tire going down with a couple laps to go, Schendel finished 2nd and Jonathan Eilen finished third.

The ASA Midwest tour cars really go on this track, they will be just as fast or faster than the Nationwide series cars.  Even though the 7/8th mile track is bigger than the usual short tracks they race on, they easily can go two or three wide in the corners.  Tim Schendel should be the favorite going into the Iowa race, he is doing "double duty" racing both Nationwide and the Super Late Models.  He has lots of big track experience and he loves this place.  Chris Wimmer and Ross Kenseth should also be right up front, but dont count out MN driver Nick Murgic, he has lead laps at this place and is a good sneak pick.

Speedtalk on 1360 radio will be LIVE at Iowa Speedway Saturday morning 10-11am and we will have interviews with all the top finishers of the ASA Midwest tour event, along with some NASCAR Nationwide drivers.  Listen live at http://www.krwc1360.com/ and check back to http://www.speedtalkon1360.com/ for more race details as they happen.

*injury photo courtesy of Brad Keselowski on Twitter.