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.

Looking back 10 years, The last race at the MN State Fair

By Dean Reller

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 10 years since the last race was held at the Minnesota State Fair.  Looking back to Monday September 2, 2002, the one thing that nobody really knew was that the race would be the last one on the historic half-mile race track.  Like many people, I was one of many who looked forward to watching the stars of the ASA Racing Series in their annual visit to Minnesota.

Ross Kenseth being talked about at Gibbs racing

The future of 19 yr old racer Ross Kenseth was talked about this week during the announcement of his father Matt moving over to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series with Joe Gibbs racing in 2013.

Ave and Ruman win at BIR

Tony Ave (above) won his fourth straight Trans-Am race Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway with a dominating performance, won his 13th straight pole award, lead all forty laps and won by an impressive 29 seconds.

Trans-Am returns to BIR

 The Trans-Am series returns to the 13 turn 2.5 mile competition road course at Brainerd International Raceway with races on both Saturday and Sunday September 1st and 2nd.  Jason and Dean from Speedtalk on 1360 radio will be broadcasting LIVE at the track and interviewing drivers from 10-11am, listen on KRWC 1360am radio http://www.krwc1360.com/

Sadler wins at Iowa Speedway

#2 Elliott Sadler passed Justin Allgaier with 58 laps remaining and held on to win the U.S. Cellular 250 NASCAR Nationwide race in front of 50,000 fans at Iowa Speedway.  This is his fourth win of 2012, he extended his point lead to 18 points over Austin Dillon who finished a lap down in 15th place.

Iowa Drivers Meeting

Here is a Transcript from the Iowa Speedway Nationwide series drivings meeting.  Lots of discussion about restarts due to the situation at Indianapolis last week. 

Raceday at Iowa Speedway

After a morning rain shower race fans are flowing in to Iowa Speedway for the NASCAR Nationwide race.

 First practice on Friday saw #3 Austin Dillon with an average speed of 131.343 mph and #18 Michael McDowell at 130.917 mph top the speed charts on the 7/8th mile high banked oval.

Nationwide series at Iowa Speedway

 The NASCAR Nationwide series returns to Iowa Speedway for the second time in 2012 on Saturday Aug 4th.

Qualifying for the U.S. Cellular 250 begins at 3:35pm with the race at 7pm (Central).  The race will be broadcast on ESPN 2.

Some interesting entries for the race include: Michael McDowell in the Gibbs #18 after a good 3rd place run at Iowa earlier this year and Darrell Wallace Jr in the other Gibbs car finished 9th at Iowa this May.  Ryan Blaney will be running for Penske in the #22, Kurt Busch is driving the #54 for his brother Kyle and Kenny Wallace will be back in the #99 car for RAB.  Danica will try to break her bad luck streak in the #7 car after having contact and finishing 30th at Iowa in May.

Earlier this year on May 20th, Roush/Fenway driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr continued his dominance by winning his third Nationwide race in a row at Iowa Speedway, Elliott Sadler finished a distant second place.

Stenhouse must be happy to see Iowa on the schedule because he could use a win, he has fallen to third in NASCAR Nationwide points, 1 behind Austin Dillon and 13 behind point leader Elliott Sadler.

One year ago Stenhouse won by the smallest of margains when he and Carl Edwards crashed at the finish line.  Stenhouse had a motor blowing up and he blocked the track to get the win.  Here is the video courtesy of ESPN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUEjTd5CXGI

 We will cover all the action from Iowa Speedway Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC 1360am and updates throughout the day on www.speedtalkon1360.com.  We will have interviews with numerous Nationwide drivers to be broadcast on Speedtalk radio Saturday Aug 11th.

Corey Lajoie won the NASCAR K&N Pro series race on Friday night.  http://www.iowaspeedway.com/aspx/AboutSpeedway/news.aspx?id=1250&cat=4


We will update with photos and video on our facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/groups/101840716792/  and Twitter with Jason https://twitter.com/speedtalkon1360 or Dean  https://twitter.com/DeanReller

A day in pictures at Princeton Speedway

Speedtalk on 1360 co-host Jason Searcy attended a night of racing at Princeton (MN) Speedway on Friday July 27th.  It was a great race night with a smooth, tacky track all night long and lots of side by side racing.  Here are a few images of that event.

After starting the Wissota Modified race fourth row outside Dave Cain scoured the track from top to bottom to find the grip and scored an impressive win.

Lexi Kastner won a wild race in the Hornets in which Lexi Gallagher rolled her car in corner #1 but was unhurt in the crash.

Matt Staab won in the Mod-4 division.

Dave Read picked up his 20th feature in the Street Stocks in 2012.

Shane Sabraski ran the cushion all the way around this high banked 1/4 mile to win in the Super Stocks.

Here are full results from the racing http://speednetdirect.com/results.php?track_id=6071

Bud Martini won the Midwest Modified feature and we will broadcast an interview with him Saturday on Speedtalk on 1360 radio.  Saturday 10-11am on KRWC 1360am and http://www.krwc1360.com/

A day in pictures at Raceway Park

Speedtalk on 1360 photographer Scott Searcy spent Sunday July 22nd at Raceway Park in Shakopee (MN) and captured these photo's from the track.

 

You can see all 99 photo's at Cricket Prints facebook page http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.451504258203382.100614.114819991871812&type=3

Listen for interviews with Mark Lamoreaux and Rick Martin on Speedtalk radio Saturday 10-11am on KRWC and  http://www.krwc1360.com/

Monster Trucks in St Cloud

 The 2nd Annual Monster Truck Summer Meltdown is Friday and Saturday July 13 & 14, 2012 in Sauk Rapids at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

Gates open at 5pm, Pit party from 6-7pm and the show begins at 7:30.

The Trucks competing this year include: Stinger, Heart Breaker, Xtreme Eagle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN0ggFrYLYo , Barbarian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5514HifkitY and Jim Burns in Mechanical Mischief. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn2FGXGSSKY

Kaila Savage in Heart breaker is from Delano (MN) and is a real talent with more guts than any female driver in the country, she is known for being one of the few crazy enough to attempt the back flip in a Monster Truck, and has done it numerous times during shows put on in Mexico.

Results from 2011 Monster Truck Summer Melt down:
Friday Jimmy Cretin in Bounty Hunter won all three events.
Saturday Barbarian won the Wheelie contest, Bounty Hunter won racing and Kaila Savage in Heart Breaker won Freestyle!

Here is a highlight video of the 2011 show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68-e4RJgZw4

The Friday night July 13th 2012 show saw Barbarian truck (above) win racing and the wheelie contest, he also tied Heart Breaker for best in Freestyle.

For an awesome photo gallery of this event go to http://www.facebook.com/cricketprints

Speedtalk on 1360 radio is having an interview with Friday night winner Devan Jones from Barbarian Saturday July 14th.  Listen to Speedtalk 10-11am on KRWC radio 1360am or www.krwc1360.com

Speedtalk extra interviews

Mark Bronstad and Todd Wilson from Big Kidz racing are sponsoring weekly "Speedtalk Extra" interviews with drivers from Raceway Park in Shakopee (MN).

Broadcast times are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:35am and rebroadcast at 5:25pm (unless a local sports conflict).   Listen to KRWC radio in Buffalo MN at 1360am or www.krwc1360.com

Here is the updated driver interview schedule for the remainder of 2012.

Mike Dimmick    July 5 and 6.
Molly Rhoads   July 12 and 13.
Bryan Syer-Keske  July 19 and 20.
Rylee Michaelson    July 26 and 27.
Ryan Varner    Aug 2 and 3.
Drew Skaja     Aug 9 and 10.
Chad Walen     Aug 16 and 17.
Jeremy Roche    Aug 23 and 24.
Tom Quade      Aug 30 and 31.
Matt Scharr       Sep 6 and 7.
Robby Carter   Sep 13 and 14.
Tim Olson      Sep 20 and 21.

Thank you to Big Kidz racing sponsors:
Discout Taxi
Dayna's Darlings Daycare
Turtles Bar
AMSOIL Chester and Penny Gustafson

Ashley Judd at Iowa Speedway

Her job as a Hollywood actress makes her rich and famous, but Ashley Judd has a very different job on IndyCar race weekends, tending to her husband Dario Franchitti.  I caught up with her at Iowa Speedway on pit lane on qualifying day Friday June 22nd 2012, it seems she was very happy to talk racing instead of Hollywood gossip.

Jason:  What do you think of Iowa Speedway?

Ashley: I love this track, fun track, great racing, nice speeds, the drivers have a lot to do with braking and shifting and acceleration.  Hopefully like last year there will be some nice overtaking and spectacular stuff for the fans to enjoy.

Jason: Dario has done well here.

Ashley:  Dario has always done well on short tracks, I'm slightly prejudiced but short tracks are really technical and quite difficult and I think they bring out his expertise.

Jason:  You must have a very busy schedule but, I see you at many of these races, you must really enjoy being at the track.

Ashley:  I LOVE coming racing, last year I missed all but two races while I was filming "Missing," and was based in Europe for four and a half months.  I had to keep up through timing and scoring in the middle of the night through crazy time differences so, its really nice this season to be back in a normal routine following my HOT husband around.

Jason:  What is your job on race day?

Ashley:  Well, hand around and give my husband love and support and that is different things on different weekends.  I think its a privilege to be with and athlete when they are in their preparation time.  He has taught me to be a very safe person around him and taught me what he needs and I've been able to adapt to that.  Every driver is different and every family is different and we have really found a routine that works well for us.  I just do silly things, I make sure he has his hydration drinks and make sure we both stay fed.  We ate so well at this Mexican place in town and tonight I'm the lady that ordered four pies from Newton Family Restaurant (laugh).. So I do stuff like that.  I always look after the dogs and he needs his back wrapped and I do that, its fun.

Jason:  Good luck.

Ashley:  Thank you so much. 

*Dario did won his qualifying heat race on Friday but had bad luck on Saturday, blowing a motor on the first lap and finished 25th place.

Here is a link to the radio show where we broadcast the interview with Ashley http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IUTJW5aTXhs

Listen for Speed Talk on 1360 with Jason and Dean Saturdays 10-11 (central) on KRWC 1360am or www.krwc1360.com

Ryan Hunter-Reay wins at Iowa

Two wins in a row for Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (photo above) with a win in front of a big crowd (photo below) at Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 250.

The race did not begin until 9:40pm (cental) due to a series of thunder storms passing through Newton IA.  A very unusual start to the race as pole sitter and two time Iowa Speedway winner Dario Franchitti did not complete a lap as mechanical problems forced him out and Alex Tagliani spun before the green flag flew.

Helio Castroneves lead a lot of laps and was the fast car for much of the race but faded during the last fuel run.  Will Power and E.J. Viso had contact in a tricky corner number two taking both drivers to the garage.  JR Hildebrand and James Hinchcliff hit the wall hard in seperate incidents ending their nights early.  Hinchcliff had a good run going, being very aggressive and taking the lead on lap 50.

Ryan Briscoe and Josef Newgarden also dropped from the race due to contact in front of a near capacity crowd.

Scott Dixon had the lead during a caution with 60 laps to go followed by Marco Andretti, Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay.  The Dixon and Castroneves cars both struggled after the restart with team mates Andretti taking the lead and then quickly passed by Hunter-Reay for the top spot with 13 laps to go.  Tony Kanann snuck onto the podium after spending most of the day recovering from a poor qualifying effort.

28- Ryan Hunter-Reay
26- Marco Andretti
11- Tony Kanaan
9- Scott Dixon

The Firestone Indy Lights race scheduled for a 6:40pm start was pushed back until after the Indy Car race.  Pole sitter Tristan Vautier lead much of the race but was penalized for blocking and lost the lead. His teammate Esteban Guerrieri then held off Gustavo Yacaman for the win.

The Star Mazda race was won by Sage Karam (photo above) as he scored his first win of the year, followed by Martin Scuncio and Conner De Phillippi.  Front runner Jack Hawksworth crashed in turn four and did not finish.

Check our Twitter feed (right side of this page) and search "Speedtalk on 1360 fans" on Facebook for full photo galleries of this event.

Listen for motorsports coverage Saturdays 10-11AM (central) on Speedtalkon1360.. listen live on www.krwc1360.com

Indy Car weekend at Iowa Speedway

The Indy Cars are at Iowa Speedway in Newton IA.

A very unique qualifying format saw Dario Franchitti win his heat race and putting his #10 Target car on the pole for the Saturday night race.

The other two heat races were won by Graham Rahal and Tony Kannan (above).

Friday night saw Bobby Santos win in the USAC Midget division and Bobby East (above) win in the USAC Silver Crown cars.

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is set to take the green flag at 9 PM (Central).  The race will be shown LIVE on the NBC Sports network.

Steve Arpin would be good for NASCAR

By Jason D Searcy (speedtalkon1360.com)

Steve Arpin has had great success in every form of racing, from being the Modified  WISSOTA 100 champ at the age of 18, to scoring three wins in the ARCA series.  He is now competing against some of the best drivers in the world in the upper levels of NASCAR.  Competing on the track and for a limited number of good rides.  In this economy being an exceptional driver is not good enough, you need a little extra something to stand out in the crowd.  Maybe his advantage will be the fabled Minnesota nice.  Steve is not exactly from MN, his hometown is Fort Frances Ontario Canada, just across the border from International Falls but he is the perfect example of Minnesota nice.  Arpin's personality and attitude that is hard to miss, he is great with fans and has a smile that seems impossible to fake.  Just think of the exact opposite to Kurt Busch. 

Steve finished one lap down in 12th place at the ARCA race in front of a real good crowd at Elko Speedway (photo above) on Saturday night June 2nd.  He jumped from the car laughed and said "I have never been so busy in a car as I was tonight, the car was swearing at me the last 60 laps, I don't know where I finished but that was a blast!"

Arpin had nothing but good things to say about ARCA.  "This series is like a big happy family, every driver who is here has aspirations to move to the next level, this was the first type of asphalt racing I did back in 2009," said Arpin "I have had so many opportunities and been able to live a big part of my dreams due to what I learned in ARCA."

In the last couple years Steve has raced in 14 events in either NASCAR Nationwide or Trucks scoring two "top 10" finishes and a pole in Chicago.  He signed autographs at Iowa Speedway (photo below) when driving for JR motorsports.

That big opportunity has yet to emerge but Arpin is optimistic that it will happen.  "We have some great things in the works," said Arpin "I know we will be racing both the dirt ARCA races this year, I think we will be down in Daytona in July and other stuff we can't talk about yet."

Arpin loves this area, lived in Rochester, and has raced many of our local dirt tracks.  In fact, they plan on racing the Gopher 50 at Deer Creek on Saturday July 7th   "You will never get me out of a dirt car, its way too much fun!"

I think NASCAR could use a driver with a good dose of Minnesota nice.

Listen for Speedtalk on 1360 radio Saturdays 10-11am on KRWC 1360am or www.krwc1360.com