Elko Speedway Preview

By Jason D Searcy

Elko Speedway begins its 51st season with an Eve of Destruction on the Saturday night of Memorial weekend, a couple weeks later than usual.

Some new but familiar faces will be taking over race control at Elko. 

Midwest tour founder Tim Olson (above) was hired to oversee race day operations and two time former Super Late Model champion Jason Schneider has taken over the race director role.  Both men are well respected in the racing community and have been open to suggestions coming into the 2016 season.

One thing that will be highlighted at Elko will be the "gentlemen's tap out" rule.  This has been used at some Wisconsin tracks for years.  If a driver feels they are solely at fault for an accident they may pull to the bottom of the start/finish line and tap their roof, at that time only that driver will be sent to the tail of the single file line with all others deemed involved awarded their prior position.  This rule will surely provide some additional drama to every caution period, so I would advise people to plan their bathroom breaks accordingly.

Some slight format changes on race night will occur as well.  In previous years in addition to the normal show double features were run in three divisions on Eve of Destruction nights making for a very compact race schedule when you consider all of the extra entertainment that happens on those very long race nights. 

This year, in addition to the normal show, double features in four divisions will be run on the NASCAR nights, giving the die-hard traditional race fan exactly what they want, more racing.  Eve of Destruction nights will have single features in all the division except for one (either the Big 8 or Super Late Models), reducing the chance of an extra long race night, that dear sir is a win-win scenario.  

The Super Late Model and Big 8 divisions will each have four nights off this year, they rotate doing the Eve of Destruction nights, all other nights they will run double features.  Giving those drivers an opportunity to travel with the car if they wish or simply just spend more time with the family.  Having a shorter season with some off nights has been more of a priority for families in this modern age of racing.

Some season schedule notes:  The popular MN Corn Growers FREE Admission night will return on Saturday June 4th.  Elko Speedway will have fireworks on Saturday July 2nd and on the final race night Eve of Destruction October 1st.  The 8th annual Thunderstruck93 event will be a one day event on Saturday September 24th. 

Some story lines to follow coming into the 2016 season include:

**How will Chris Marek do in his first year racing with the Super Late Models? 

Marek has done things the right way, he has climbed the ladder one rung at a time.  Winning a Hornets Championship in 2005, then a Power Stock title in 2006, he then won the ASA Sportsman Championship in 2010 & 2011 before moving up to the Big 8 division and winning the Championship 3 years in a row 2013-2015.  In 2015 he won an incredible 12 features at Elko Speedway.  Next is his biggest Challenge but, if history means anything, expect Marek to challenge the Goede brothers for the Super Late Model title in the next couple of years at Elko Speedway.

**Can Grant Brown continue his rise? 

Fifteen year old Grant Brown won the NASCAR division 4 National title in the Power Stock division at Elko Speedway in 2015.  Now he moves up to the highly competitive Big 8 division and if that is not enough of a challenge, he is also recovering from a pretty serious injury.  Brown hurt in his lower leg while skiing this winter.  On a warm day Brown caught a rut and his foot jerked backwards and off to the side, when that happened his ankle folded over and smashed his leg against the side of the ski boot causing a spiral fracture that wrapped all the way around the bone.  He spent the off season rehabbing, just got the boot off his left leg and plans on being ready for the season opener at Elko Speedway.  Grant said he feels like he has "a lot to prove" this year and is motivated to do well.

***Will the Kane vs Wolff rivalry continue to grow?  

The best rivalry at Elko Speedway might be in the Thunder Car division.  Brent Kane and Jeremy Wolff had a great point battle in 2015 and they seemed to always be racing near each other.  The rivalry is also fueled by intensity, a mutual respect and a passionate fan base supporting each driver.  I'm curious if it will be the Kane-iacs vs the Wolf pack again in 2016.

***How will the KDDP help Michael Ostdiek?  

Michael Ostdiek was chosen from hundreds of applicants to be part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program in 2016.  His race team is granted a prize of $7,777 with a chance to win $54,439 at the end of the year if he is the chosen winner of the Kulwicki Cup.  Ostdiek is a former Great North Legends Champion in 2013 and he had three Big 8 division wins in 2015 at Elko Speedway.  He plans on racing in both the Super Late Model and Big 8 divisions this year on a semi-regular basis at Elko Speedway while traveling as well.

Tons of stories to follow this year, don't miss out, I hope to see you all at Elko Speedway on Saturday nights this summer.

Get more information at www.ElkoSpeedway.com or download their FREE app by searching Elko Racing

History of I-94 Raceway Pod-cast

Dean Reller and Jason Searcy, hosts of Speed Talk on 1360 radio, are celebrating their 25 years of covering Motorsports by doing a pod-cast centered around I-94 Raceway.

These pod-cast segments focus on different era's of the closed down but not forgotten iconic Race Track in Sauk Centre MN.

Segment one is on the DIRT YEARS 1991-1993.

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/i-94-speedway-1991-93-m4a


Segment two is about the switch from dirt to ASPHALT in 1994 and the early struggles on the new surface

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/i-94-speedway-asphalt


Segment three focuses on some of the real characters and the big events that were held at the track

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/i-94-raceway-big-events


The last segment talks about the best drivers who raced at the track before it closed in 2008.

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/best-ever-drivers-at-i94





If you would like more information about this track and its history check out this website.

www.smokejackson.blogspot.com

2006 Labor Day 200 ASA Late Model race at ELKO

Here is the broadcast of the Labor Day 200 at Elko Speedway back in 2006.  This race features great drivers including:  Jacob Goede, Jonathan Eilen, Dean Cornelius, Chad Wood, Tim Schendel, Landon Cassill and Kelly Bires.

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/2006-asalm-labor-day-200-elko

This was the very first race that Dean Reller and Jason Searcy broadcast at Elko Speedway, it also was the first event that we broadcast on KRWC radio.  It was a rainy day, which delayed the race program, but the weather cleared in time for a great race that night.


Here are the official race results
 http://thirdturn.wikia.com/wiki/2006_Labor_Day_200_presented_by_Trackside_Charities


Just before the main event we also broadcast the Great North Legends Regional Qualifier race.  Many of the big names of the era raced in this event including:  Tyler Sjoman, Jaycen Brockhouse, Dirk Henry, Patrick Brejcha, Gary Mueller, Tom Silver, Doug Petty, Todd Tracy, Scott Brandt, Robbie Carter, Mike Tuma, Jon Lewerer, Brian Miles, Mark Skjerven etc.

Here is the link to that Great North Legends race, we were not planning on broadcasting this race, but we are glad we did!

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/great-north-legends-national

Speed Talk on 1360 Radio will be back for its 8th year on KRWC radio in Buffalo MN.  We will be on LIVE from 10-11am Saturdays from now through September.  Listen at 1360 AM radio, at KRWC1360.com or on your phone by downloading the FREE Tunein app and search KRWC.

10-11am every Saturday

You can expect great weekly NASCAR knowledge from Jordan Bianchi (right) who covers the circuit better than anyone in the nation on SBNation.com/NASCAR and he is from right here in MN.

Dan Plan (left) from the Midwest Racing Connection will also join us weekly talking about Local and Regional Racing in the North.  TheRacingConnection.com

Jason Searcy, announcer at Elko Speedway and Dean Reller, announcer at Princeton Speedway will host the discussion and bring you 50+ interviews from drivers and industry pro's.

A big Thank you to our sponsors, please support them.  Without them the show would not be possible.

Elko Speedway ElkoSpeedway.com
Performance Driving School at BIR BIRPerfromance.com
Highway 55 Trailer Sale Highway55trailers.com
Lou Fegers Racing Equipment FegersRacing.com
Radio-Active Mobile Electronics  https://www.facebook.com/radioactivemobile/?fref=ts
Roadside Breakdown Service Inc  Call (952) 454-5232 serving the entire metro area


You can listen to the show on KRWC radio 1360 AM radio or go to www.KRWC1360.com and "Listen Live" or listen on you phone by downloading the FREE Tunein app and search for KRWC.

Goede named 2015 MN Driver of the Year

By Jason D Searcy

Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) has been named the 2015 Minnesota Asphalt Driver of the Year.

 

 

This is the second year in a row that Goede has won this award.  Jacob won ten feature events and his second track Championship at Elko (MN) Speedway in 2015 plus he was the fastest qualifier in every points event the entire year.  "Elko has great competition, so to do that I was pretty stoked," said Goede "going into the final night my number one goal to maintain that qualifying streak and we got it done."

Goede also was incredibly close to winning the Midwest Tour Thunderstruck93 event, leading numerous times and losing to Ty Majeski by 2 feet at the finish line.  "Thats what racing is all about, we need to put a good show on for the fans," said Goede "I don't think I've ever driven that hard the last 30 laps."

Midwest tour announcer Eric Huenefeld said it was the best Super Late Model race he had ever seen and the top 3 competitors were given lots of accolades for exciting but clean racing.  "Danny Fredrickson was right there the whole time and he got into me a little bit and then I got into him a little to take the lead," said Goede "it was all just a little rubbing, we all respect each other, it was awesome racing, if we could do that every week the stands would be packed."

 

 

Jacob gives a lot of the credit for his great success to his crew and teammate.  "Matt had a great season too, as a team we had a great season," said Jacob "our cars are very similar so we can bounce things off each other and work together to make the best set-ups we can."  Jacob's brother Matt had three feature wins even though he raced part of the season with a broken wrist on one hand and a broken forearm on the other hard from a motocross accident.

Goede not only won the Elko Super Late Model track championship but also won the NASCAR Whelen All American series Minnesota State Championship and he placed 6th in the National point standings for division I.  "It goes to show that hard work and having a fast car pays off," said Jacob.  Goede plans on racing for his third consecutive championship at Elko Speedway in 2016.

Previous winners of MN Asphalt Driver of the Year.

2004 Dan Fredrickson

2009 Adam Royle

2010 Brent Kane

2011 Chad Walen

2012 Jonathan Eilen

2013 Ricky Martin

2014 Jacob Goede

2015 Jacob Goede

Most popular interviews of 2015

Jason and Dean interviewed drivers and motor sports personalities every week on Speed Talk on 1360 radio a total of 60 different drivers.

These interviews are broadcast live Saturday mornings 10-11am on KRWC 1360am radio and KRWC1360.com but they are also pod-casted on Soundcloud.

Here is the listing of our TOP 10 most downloaded interviews of 2016.

JASON interviews:

1-Matt Allen (Elko Legends driver)
2-Grant Brown (Elko Power stock Champion)
3-Adam Brachle (Youth Impact Racing)
4-Michael Ostdiek (Elko Big 8 and Legends driver)
5-Tom Doten (Elko Power stock driver)
6-Ted Reuvers (Elko Thunder Car driver)
7-Jon Lemke (Elko Big 8 driver)
8-Matt Peterson (World Racing League)
9-Tina Davis (Elko Thunder Car driver)
10-Darrin Giles (Elko Super Late Model driver)

DEAN interviews:
1-Chris Buescher (NASCAR Xfinity Champion)
2-Matt Panure (TUNDRA Announcer)
3-Dan Fredrickson (Oktoberfest winner)
4-Mitchell Hribar (Princeton driver)
5-Amy Ruman (Trans-Am Champion)
6-Lexi Kastner (Princeton driver)
7-Michael Stien (Princeton driver)
8-Ted Hough (Legends driver & road racer)
9-Dillon Machavern (Trans-Am 2 winner)
10-Tim Olson (ARCA Midwest Tour)

Thank you to everyone who listened to the show LIVE on the radio and those of you who listen to our interviews via pod-cast.  Click the links below and check out what you might have missed in 2015.  Be sure and follow us on Soundcloud and you will never miss and interview and if you want to download and save an interview please do so now, we will be erasing many old interviews as we begin the 2016 racing season.

https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360

https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller

When you see our interviews on Social Media please share then and promote racing in MN!

https://twitter.com/elkojason

https://twitter.com/DeanReller

Elko driver sign-up News and Notes

Dec 5, 2015

By Jason D Searcy

The first Elko Driver sign up was held on Saturday at Turtles bar in Shakopee (MN).

The star of the show was clearly #55 Hornet driver Brandon Plekkenpol's one year old daughter (photo above).

The 2016 schedule was released, the season begins a little later than last year.  The season opener begins on Saturday night May 28th as one of the eight Eve of Destruction shows.  Thunderstruck93 will be on September 24th and the season will end on October 1st.

Here is a link to the season schedule http://www.elkospeedway.com/schedule/

The Super Late Models and Big 8 divisions will both have 4 OFF nights during the season, they alternate being OFF during Eve of Destruction events.   Every time the Super Late Models and Big 8 cars race, they will be racing double features, so barring rain-outs they would get 26 races for NASCAR points (NASCAR only counts features).  So, if the car counts are as good as last year, drivers would have an opportunity to race for a National point title.

The points were changed slightly for 2016.... Last year it payed 10 points to win qualifying, down one point per position to 10th getting 1 point.   In 2016 its 15 points to win down to 1 point for 15th in group qualifying.

The Heat race winners still score 21 points, the point structure changes slightly after that, but very similar to last year.

The Feature event winner gets 51 points, then it drops to 48 points for 2nd, then down by two points per position until 10th place, then down by one after that until 18th.  Last year it was 51 for the winner and 49 for second and then down by one point per position.

This puts more importance on doing well in the the Feature events.

For example;  in 2015 10th place earned 41 points.... now in 2016 10th place only earns 32 points.  It also means a driver can make up points faster if the point leader has a bad night.

Here is the line-up and point explanations http://www.elkospeedway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2016-Race-Line-Up-Procedures.pdf


Some interesting driver news...

NASCAR Division 4 National Champion and Elko Speedway Power Stock Champion Grant Brown will be travelling with his family to the NASCAR Home Tracks banquet in Charlotte NC next weekend, he said he has thought about his speech but has not practiced yet.

Don't be surprised to see Grant racing against his dad Doug Brown next year in a Big 8 car at Elko Speedway.  He will join other father/son duo's racing each other on the track including Jon and Derek Lemke in the SLM's and Bruce and Matt Allen and Tim and Jaycen Brockhouse in the Legends also look for a father/daughter pairing of Don Whitebear and Tina Davis in the Thundercars in 2016.

Hornets driver Brandon "positivity" Olson plans on continuing racing in the Hornets division in 2016 but also he has made the first payment to purchase the Power Stock driven by Grant Brown last year.  He will be a great addition to the already strong field of Power Stock cars at Elko.

Super Late Model Champion Jacob Goede and his brother Matt will be racing their snowmobiles again this winter, they are looking forward to the Eagle River (WI) event in early January and also the Viking Speedway event in Alexandria (MN) in late January.  http://alexwinterspectacular.com/

It was also really nice to see one of our great sponsors HIWAY Federal Credit Union in attendance, they are very supportive of Elko Speedway and love the loyalty that race fans have to sponsors.

Great North Legends owner Tim Brockhouse, the only driver to win both the Asphalt and Dirt Nationals events for Legends cars, is attempting to race a Midget car at the Chili Bowl... many Elko Speedway drivers and fans have contributed to the effort.  Here is his GoFundMe page, it appears he is very close to making his goal!  https://www.gofundme.com/9jbhsfbg

The next Driver Sign up event will be held at the Endzone bar in Elko on Saturday February 27th 1-3pm.

For more information go to www.ElkoSpeedway.com 

Fredrickson HOT at Oktoberfest

By Jason D Searcy - Speed Talk on 1360

On a sunny and 80 degree day #36 Danny Fredrickson from Lakeville (MN) won his fourth ARCA Midwest tour event at the 46th annual Oktoberfest 200 at La Crosse (WI) Fairgrounds Speedway.

After spinning in qualifying Fredrickson started the 200 lap race 19th on the grid, he worked his way though the field but had to pit during a caution period because of overheating.  Fredrickson cooled his car enough to make a run at the lead, he took the top spot from Ty Majeski after a wild restart with 10 laps remaining. "

"Everybody's car was real hot, its a common problem on these Sunday afternoon races" said Fredrickson.   "I think the fuel was boiling in the carb because it was so hot, Ty's car started missing down the straight away and I shot under him, actually I got a good run off underneath him then my car started missing and then (Jacob) Goede got along side of me, so we came into number one three-wide.  I think the fans liked it, but I'm glad we came out on top on the other end."

"My motor was running really hot" said #91 Majeski.   "I had a bunch of leaves stuck on the grill, I tried to suck-up on the pace truck but it just wasn't enough, the motor vapor locked on me coming down the front stretch and out of turn two so I didn't have any power and they got around me."  Ty Majeski from Seymore (WI) finished third in the race and won his second ARCA Midwest tour Championship.

"It was one heck of a season, we set the record for the most ARCA Midwest tour wins in a season (5) and had a really good back half, we won 4 of the last 5 races and the sixth one come up just a little bit short" said Majeski who will now return to college in UW Madison studying Mechanical Engineering.  His future racing plans are undecided as of now, but he hopes to come back and win Oktoberfest next year, "we are working on a few things, hopefully something good will come through," said Majeski.

#72 Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) had a great run and finished second to Majeski just as he did a few weeks earlier at #Thunderstruck93 at his home track Elko (MN) Speedway where he had 10 wins and a Championship this year.  Minnesota drivers took three of the top 4 spots with Nick Murgic from Rosemount (MN) finishing 4th and Skyler Holzhausen 5th, Tim Sauter 6th, Natalie Decker 7th.

Here is an audio interview with winner Dan Fredrickson
https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/dan-fredrickson-wins

Here is an audio interview with ARCA Midwest tour Champion Ty Majeski
https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/ty-majeski-midwest-tour-champ

Here is the YouTube Highlight Video of the Oktoberfest 200
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmnbsMd91lk


Here is the YouTube Video of the starting line-up just before green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuFMfjdljZo

NASCAR Star Johnny Sauter accepted the $5000 Ultimate Challenge to start at the back of the 28 car field.  He advanced up to second by lap 58 but faded back and had mechanical problems resulting in a DNF.

#91 Ty Majeski won the BIG 8 Style JMcK overall title, he tied the record for the best score ever with two wins and a second place finsh (4 points).  Cole Anderson from Northfield (MN) scored the other win.  Michael Beamish from Eagan (MN) finished second in the first segment of the race.

Two Elko Speedway drivers finished out the podium with #3 Chris Marek finishing second and #5 Ryan Kamish coming in third.

Many vintage cars raced, Woody Poole was the winner in the finals.

Season Finale at Elko Speedway

October 3, 2015 - Elko, MN

The 50th season of racing ended with a bang at Elko Speedway on Saturday night with a Rock n Roll fireworks show after the final Eve of Destruction event presented by Leo's South.

It was a night where the Hornets, Bandos and Great North Legends divisions get to shine and take center stage.  #13 Tim Brockhouse from Webster (MN) beat out 20 other drivers to win his second feature of the year at Elko Speedway, it is his 137th career win and he had to hold off the Track Champion by .177 seconds to do it.  

#71 Derek Lemke from Shakopee (MN) finished second in the race and that won him his second consecutive Great North Legends title.  Lemke celebrated with his Father Jon with both drivers doing a burnout near the flagstand.

Derek thanked his family, sponsors and crew for the incredible support they have shown him this season.  He had four feature wins and he finished 24 points ahead of 2009 Champion Jaycen Brockhouse for the title, Robby Carter got third in points, Matt Allen fourth and Brady Fox-Rhode had mechanical problems on Championship night causing him to drop to 5th in points even though he had six feature wins.

#36 Alex Vincent from Owatonna (MN) won his 5th Hornets main event of 2015, he won by only .145 seconds and had a great battle with Thunderstruck93 winner Matt Suhl for the top spot.  Vincent had more wins than any other driver in the Hornets division this year.

#14 Justin Schelitzche from Lester Prairie (MN) finished 5th in the feature and he secured his first Hornets Championship at Elko Speedway.  He finished just ahead of his two teammates in the point standings.  Ashley Bell was 53 points behind and Brandon Plekkenpol was 79 points back.  Alex Vincent finished 4th in points and Michael Wachs Jr was fifth.

Here is an audio interview with Justin Schelitzche https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/justin-schlitzche-hornets

Schelitzche said that consistency was the key to his success this year, he had 18 "top 5" finishes in his 19 starts at Elko Speedway.  He also did well in the NASCAR Home tracks standings, he finished 2nd in the Nation in Division 5.  This is the seventh title in less than 5 years for Schelitzche who races at numerous different tracks during the season, but on Saturday nights he and his crew are always at Elko Speedway.  "There are 10+ cars who could win on any given night at Elko Speedway, and that is one of the most fun parts of this class, it is so competitive" said Schelitzche. 

#3 Luke Allen from Chanhassen (MN) won an exciting Bandoleros main event, it was his 7th win of the season, the most of any Bando driver this year at Elko Speedway.  Allen finished just ahead of his rival #6 Owin Giles from New Market who won his first Bando Championship.  Giles finished with 6 wins and 20 points ahead of Allen in the race for the points Title.  These two young men showed great sportsmanship battling each other for race wins and the Championship during the year.  Lennon Watkins ended up third in points, Coy Wulf won a race and finished fourth in points and Tristan Swanson fifth.

Bob Heine won the crowd favorite spectator drags portion of the race program.  The big crowd also liked the burnout contest, vertical mischief and Figure 8 bus races.

Brandon Olson from Minneapolis showed his off his merging and shifting skills by winning the Flag Pole race and Justin Schelitzche was declared the winner during the World Famous Figure 8 trailer race.  A race in which the object is to knock the trailer off your competitors vehicle, debris was scattered all around the 3/8th mile track at Elko Speedway.

Doug Rose in his 12 time National Champion Jet Car named the Green Mamba melted a Jeep as the on-track finale for the 2015 season.

For full results and final point standings go to www.ElkoSpeedway.com/results

Up next is the season ending Championship Banquet on Saturday evening October 17th in Champions Event Center at Elko Speedway, Johnny Holm will entertain after the ceremony.

Elko Speedway wants to say a big THANK YOU to all it's fans, drivers and sponsors for an entertaining and successful 2015 season.  During the off season check www.ElkoSpeedway.com or follow Elko Speedway on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for updates.