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

Poole rises to the top at Elko Speedway

Jason D Searcy (Speedtalkon1360.com)

The first ever ARCA race in the state of Minnesota was a big hit for racefans who came out in force on this beautiful day in early June.

The Akona 200 started with Alex Bowman on the pole, he quickly surrendered the lead to Matt Lofton and then #25 Brennan Poole (photo above) took over the top spot on lap 12.  Poole seemed to be the quickest car on the track the entire race.  Lofton, Frank Kimmel and Buescher took the opportunity to pit during an early caution on lap 66.  Poole stayed out and only lost the lead during a pit sequence when on lap 90 MN native Joey Miller spun and his Venturini team serviced the car, he returned to the track in the 8th position behind cars who had pitted on an earlier caution.

On lap 117 crowd favorite #66 Steve Arpin (photo above) spun bringing out a caution and Poole had worked his way to fourth and all the cars in front of him had tires 24 laps older than his, giving him a slight advantage.

Poole then worked the high side through lapped traffic to take back the lead on lap 133, a lead he would never let go of.  Matt Lofton had an impressive run, getting past Buescher and Kimmel in the last 25 laps to score a second place finish.

It was a dogfight for the next few positions, drivers went three wide numerous times with a bit of contact to thrill the crowd at the finish line.

Chris Buescher got third, followed by Frank Kimmel who had the oldest tires at the end and a hard charging Tom Hessert in fifth and hometown boy Joey Miller fighting back for sixth place.

Eleven cars finished on the lead lap with long-time Minnesota dirt track star Steve Arpin the first car one lap down.  Mason Mingus who drives for MN race team Win-Tron racing finished in 9th position.

For complete results go to www.arcaracing.com

"Speedtalk on 1360" will broadcast interviews with Brennan Poole, Matt Lofton, Frank Kimmel and Steve Arpin on Saturday June 9th 10-11am (Central) on KRWC 1360am or listen live web-cast at www.krwc1360.com