Speed Talk 5 of 2025

ELKO Speedway announcers Jason and Dean recap the exciting Thunderstruck93 ASA Midwest tour series race also talk about the drama with the Jacob Goede National Championship in the NASAR weekly series that took place at Elko Speedway.

They also talk about the Championship Night and what to expect plus reaction about the first season with new Owners at ELKO.

Watch HERE 

or listen to the audio only version for your car HERE

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/speedtalk-5-of-2025

Here is an interview with now two-time NASCAR weekly series Div I National Champion Jacob Goede done at Elko Speedway by Dean Reller 

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jacobgoede2025

Here is the audio of the Race Call of the big Goede win at ELKO on the last night of NASCAR points

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/goede2025-lm-win-at-elko

Here is the Audio of the full race broadcast with Jason and Dean of the Thunderstruck93 ASA Midwest tour race including interviews at the break and after the race.  

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/thunderstruck93-2025-full-race

Thanks for listening in 2025 race fans.  See you for some exciting news in 2026!

Jason and Dean.

Max Reaves wins ARCA at ELKO

 

15 year old Joe Gibbs driver #18 Max Reaves won for the first time in the ARCA Menards National series at Elko Speedway during the Shore Lunch 250.

Max Reaves took the lead during the final segment of the race by passing Lavar Scott and he ended up winning by 3.786 seconds.

Brenden "butter bean" Queen #28 was the fast qualifier and finished in second place, it was obvious he had many fans in the Elko Speedway stands.

The weather was unseasonably hot with temperatures in the mid 90's and high humidity.  Numerous cars and some drivers had trouble completing the race due to the heat.

16 year old Ty Fredrickson from Webster MN made his ARCA debut at ELKO and finished a very strong 4th place.  He gave away 200 kids shirts to fans in attendance. 

Here is a video of Elko Speedway announcers Jason and Dean recapping the Shore Lunch 250 at Elko Speedway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tCE97Jrlk

 

The on-track driver autograph session was a big success and the crowd was large considering the unusually hot weather.

24 cars entered the race, the largest field in over a decade at Elko Speedway.  Drivers from 19 different states raced at ELKO for the Shore Lunch 250, 13 of them were rookies.

Here is the full race replay from announcers Jason Searcy and Dean Reller as heard on the track Public address speakers.  Post-race interviews also included.

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/arca2025-elko-race-call 

Click here for full field results ARCA Shore Lunch 250 2025

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

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

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

Mike Morgan wins Bandit series race at ELKO

June 5, 2021 - Elko, MN

By Jason D Searcy

The Bandit Big Rig series arrived in town just in time for a heatwave as a new Minnesota state record high temperature of 99 degrees was set on Saturday June 5th, not ideal race conditions at Elko (MN) Speedway a 3/8th mile banked asphalt oval, the smallest track on the circuit.  The conditions were so hot in fact, that the track maintenance crew sprayed water in the corners to keep them cool three different times during the race night for fear that the 12,000 lb Iron Giants would damage the asphalt surface of the track.   Truck drivers as a whole are known for their toughness and willingness to get things done no matter the obstacles.  The same can be said for Bandit Big Rig series drivers and their fans who carried on as per normal with no changes to their regular race day schedule including a 90 minute on-track meet and greet where fans took sweat filled selfies with their favorite driver.  Fans in the crowd were also soaked by water cannons during breaks in the racing action.

When the main event 30 lap feature began #88 Mike Morgan from Wartrace (TN) was coming off a thrilling victory in the Bandit Shootout one-on-one grudge match competition where he outgunned Salem Speedway winner #99 Brian Bayer, that win gave Morgan the opportunity to start the race outside of row number two.  Video of Bandit Shootout final

As it turned out, that was the perfect location to witness some three wide craziness on the 3/8th mile oval at Elko Speedway.  At the green flag #9 Jordan Cantrell took the lead after running #51 Luke Whitmire up the track on the first lap, then #66 Austin Hoppe dove down low to challenge for the top spot on lap two but on lap three Whitmire gathered up some momentum and passed both Hoppe and Cantrell making it three wide just inches apart coming out of turn two, not easy to do when each of these trucks are 8 1/2 foot wide so that is over 25 foot of wingspan squeezing out of the corner on the narrowest track on the circuit.  After the pass Whitmire had the lead, but something was about to go wrong.  

Whitmire qualified mid-pack and did not finish in the top 2 in his heat race, so he had to win the Bandit Challenge Race to earn his great starting position, with all those extra laps and the extra hot weather conditions his truck was starting to overheat and spewing water out the overflow, this was not unexpected, the same thing happened earlier in the night, his crew just barely had enough time to cool down his rig before the main event.

Meanwhile #88 Mike Morgan watched the three-wide chaos through his front windshield, let it all sort out and then he set his sites on the leader, Whitmire had trouble navigating some lapped traffic near the halfway mark of the race and Morgan got aggressive and seized the opportunity, the #88 truck driven by Morgan jumped up to the high side, used the slower trucks as a blocker and rocketed to the lead on lap 17 of 30.  Morgan never looked back and took the checkers for his first win of the year in the Bandit series.  "We got out there in front and kept pushing this thing as hard as I could go, I let this dog eat as much fuel as it wanted to eat!" said an enthusiastic Morgan after the race.

The race was cautionless, it went green the entire 30 laps, Whitmire held on for second place with his truck overheating, he just edged the 2021 winner from Five Flags Speedway #4 Scott Treadway who has now finished on the podium at all three races held this year. 

Here is my victory lane interview with 88 Mike Morgan driving the truck they call MACK Vader 

MIKE MORGAN INTERVIEW

Unofficial Results

1- 88 Mike Morgan Wartrance TN

2- 51 Luke Whitmire  Arden NC

3-  4 Scott Treadway  Marshal NC

4-  3 Alan Boles  Weaverville NC

5- 66 Austin Hoppe   Fond du Lac WI

6- 99 Brian Bayer  Birdseye IN

7- 16 Randy Briggs  Kansas City KS

8- 63 Trevor Kruckeberg  Blooming Prairie MN

9- 41 Marshal Davis  Mars Hill NC

10-13 Bob Mitchell  Waupun WI

This was the fourth time Elko Speedway has hosted the Bandit Big Rig series, the previous winners were: Ricky Rude Proffitt 8/25/2018, Mark Noble 10/13/2018, Darren Proffitt 7/27/2019 and now Mike Morgan on 5/6/2021.

It was a pleasure to work my first ever Bandit Big Rig series race as the PA Announcer, PT, Diesel and Little D were fun to work with and props to all the die-hard fans who suffered through a scorcher of a day with not a negative word to be heard.

For more information on the Bandit Big Rig series follow them on Facebook or YouTube.

For more information on Elko Speedway, go to ElkoSpeedway.com or follow them on social media. 

2018 MN Asphalt Driver of the Year

Baiden Heskett, 27, from Farmington (MN) has been named by Speed Talk on 1360 radio the 2018 MN Asphalt Driver of the year.  The hometown for Heskett is Alvarado (TX) but has lived in Minnesota the last two years. Heskett had an incredible year of racing in the Great North Legends division at Elko Speedway.  He won his first Championship by a whopping 288 points, won 11 feature events, scored an incredible 163 passing points, (never finishing worse than his starting position) and he had a TOP 5 finish in all 24 feature events he raced in at ELKO.  “Racing in Minnesota has helped me become a better driver,” said Heskett “there is a bunch of talent up here and ELKO is the best track to race at in the nation, it’s racy and you can go side by side.”

In 2018 Heskett won a massive total of 30 feature races at an impressive list of tracks including: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (TX), Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids (IA), Jefferson Speedway in Cambridge (WI), Slinger Speedway in Slinger (WI), Elko Speedway in Elko (MN) and Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells (WI).   

Heskett also excelled at the National level, he was awarded the most prestigious title in all of Legends Car racing.  The 2018 INEX Asphalt Pro division points title becoming the first ever Minnesota based driver to do so.

In fact, racers from this area did well as a whole with Ryan Braseth from Ulen (MN) winning the Young Lions overall title on dirt and Great North Legends owner Tim Brockhouse from Shakopee (MN) winning the overall asphalt Masters title.  Brockhouse, who won the MN Asphalt Driver of the Year award in 2016, is proud of his successful protege “I taught him everything I know, almost.”

Baiden Heskett plans on staying in Minnesota for the 2019 season and is setting even higher goals, he is gunning for both the Asphalt and Dirt Pro Division INEX titles.  “Texas will always be my home, but I think I can call Minnesota my home now too.” said Heskett.

Past winners of the MN Asphalt Driver of the Year:

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

Schatz wins at Granite City Speedway

At Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids (MN) Donny Schatz #15 won his 11th World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car series race of the year and he extended his point lead.  Schatz has now won two of the three events held at Granite City Speedway.

Jason Johnson #41 might have had the fastest car, he won time trials with a time of 11.572 around the .284 mile dirt oval at Granite City Speedway, not even close to the track record time of 10.720.  Johnson also won his heat race and the fast dash and he led the first 13 laps of the Main Event until a caution slowed the field and Schatz passed Johnson just after the restart.  Schatz held back a few darting moves from both Johnson and #49 Brad Sweet to score the win and the $6000 first place check and the cool Granite trophy.

Brad Sweet had a terrible time in qualifying, he was only the 16th fastest qualifier out of the 22 cars competing.  Sweet was a half second slower than Johnson in qualifying but his car was awesome in the main event.  Sweet started the race 10th and moved up to the fourth position when the caution was displayed on lap 13, Sweet was able to charge up one more position and finished third, he also was the hard charger of the race.

Here are our exclusive interviews with the TOP 3 finishers at Granite City Speedway.  Click on the link for audio.

Donny Schatz 1st Place
Jason Johnson 2nd Place
Brad Sweet 3rd Place
4th- Kerry Madsen
5th- David Gravel
6th- Sheldon Haudenschild
7th Jason Sides
8th Shane Stewart (2016 winner)
9th Logan Schuchart
10th Joey Saldana #17

The extreme speed from the 900 horse power World of Outlaws Sprint Cars was amazing to see and the pass for the lead was very exciting.  The track was tacky and multiple grooves were available, small clumps of mud were flying into the stands and the nearly packed crowd seemed very pleased with the show.  The four wide salute at the beginning of the Main Event was a highlight

The only wreck of the night occurred during time-trials when #9 Jared Goerges flipped his car between turns three and four.  His crew worked feverishly in the pits to try and return the car to the track.  He did start the main event but ended up getting scored last place in the feature (22nd) after completing only one lap.

For More information go to WooSprint.com

Here is our Segment on Speed Talk on 1360 radio where Jason and Dean recap the WoO race at Granite City and hear interviews with the TOP 3 drivers.  https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/speed-talk-6-24-17-outlaws-trucks

For Full Race Highlights on Youtube Click HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFWhdR0yOwk

Incredible finish of Elko Speedway ARCA race

The finish of the Shore Lunch 250 ARCA series race at Elko Speedway was amazing.  It ended with #52 Austin Theriault edging #15 Christian Eckes by just a couple feet at the finish line a margin of .029.

Here is the audio of the final 5 laps from ELKO announcer Jason Searcy https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/final-5-laps-at-elko-arca-race

Here is the TV coverage of the final few laps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8u-s6eE8-Y

Here is an audio recap including interviews of the Shore Lunch 250 at ELKO https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/speed-talk-6-10-17-arca-shore-lunch-250-recap

Here is the post-race winner interview of Austin Theriault as heard only on Speed Talk on 1360 radio https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/austin-theriault-wins-arca-at

Second Place finisher #15 Christian Eckes drove an incredible race but came up just short, here is our interview with him post-race.  https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/christian-eckes

Third place finisher #18 Riley Herbst was the General tire pole award winner with a time of 14.362, he had contact with #55 Zane Smith (photo below) in the final corner of the last lap, Smith was transferred to the hospital and was later released.  Here is our interview with Herbst https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/riley-herbst-p3

Bret Holmes #23 finished 4th, he started the race in second with a time of 14.364, only .002 behind Herbst for the pole.  He is a student at Auburn and proudly displays their logo on his helmet.

Local Minnesota racer #78 Cole Anderson (below) of Northfield drove for Mason Mitchell Motorsports, he had a very strong race and was in the "top 5" much of the night.  He was involved in the last lap wreck though and finished 10th.

Here is our interview with Cole Anderson https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/cole-anderson-p5

Here is the race story from ARCA https://www.arcaracing.com/articles/2006584-theriault-wins-shore-lunch-250-at-elko

Another local racer Natalie Decker from Eagle River (WI) raced the #25 for Venturini Motorsports and finished a lap down in 13th after a pass-through penalty under green, she spent most of the race on the lead lap.  Decker did pose in a Victory Lane photo with Great North Legends winner Derek Lemke.

What an incredible night of racing and a good crowd at Elko Speedway for the #ShoreLunch250.  For more coverage of this event and all MN racing listen to Speed Talk on 1360 Radio Saturdays 10-11am on KRWC1360.com or search KRWC on the free Tunein app for your mobile device.

Here are the official results from ARCA.  https://www.arcaracing.com/events/1986120-elko-arca-200#session_1988552