The Vault
2019 – VERDEGAN’S VIEWS – FULL THROTTLE MAGAZINE
Posted on: Thursday January 22, 2026
A huge opening day crowd greeted enjoyed the opening night at racing at Shawano Speedway.
VERDEGAN’S VIEWS FOR JUNE, 2019
(reprinted from Full Throttle magazine)
As we pen this second edition of “Verdegan’s Views” for 2019 the local dirt tracks continue to be plagued by Mother Nature.
In April and May Mother Nature captured the checkered flag many nights at the local dirt tracks – with as much as 2 to 3 inches of rain falling in one storm. Teams have had to deal with choppy race tracks in some cases but if you’ve lived in Wisconsin for any amount of time we know that track promoters are always rolling the dice when they schedule races in the month of April and as of late – even early May for that matter.
This weather we’ve been experiencing is a far cry from March 17, 2011. I’ll never forget that day as we held a “Shamrock Shakedown” practice at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. 80 some cars showed up for a practice as corned beef and cabbage was served. Again that just goes to show you one truly never does know what Wisconsin weather will bring from month to month.
We were able to catch the opening night races at both Shawano Speedway and Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. We had book signings with legends Roger “The Bear” Regeth and “The Tweety Bird” J.J. Smith for my book “The Bird & The Bear.” Both events were well attended but the average demographic of the customer buying the books is somewhere between 50 to 55 years old. Just more evidence that our base of hardcore race fans continues to shrink each year.
The people that used to attend races religiously two to three nights a week are no more. They are either dead, or have moved up north. Some chase their kids and grandkids soccer and baseball tournaments in the summer. In short, everyone’s lives are so much busier than they were 20 to 25 years ago. Couple that with the fact that the entertainment opportunities available are more than quadruple than they were decades ago. Track promoters and track operators (there is a difference between the two) have to work two or three times as hard to put fewer butts in the stands. It’s a tough racket now.
Anyways, off the soapbox for a bit. Shawano’s opening night shows are always packed with an air of extra energy and excitement. This year was no exception. Among the new, younger drivers who stood out was Pulaski’s Aaron Karcz. The second-generation IMCA stock car driver more than held his own in the class dubbed “too-tough-to-tame.”
Karcz and his black and green number 40 are certainly a car in the division to keep an eye on. Luxemburg’s Benji LaCrosse – perhaps one of the smoothest dirt track drivers this scribe has ever seen race, put a licking on the field in the IMCA modifieds. With opening night always being a draw-redraw, and the 54 drawing the pole, Shawano Speedway could have already written LaCrosse the winners check. I’ve always said I’d like to have seen Benji make a serious effort on the pavement ranks and see how far his talents could have taken him.
And it’s not just Benji either. There are likely 12 to 15 drivers on dirt and asphalt locally who I’m totally confident could get the job done at the NASCAR level. Without hesitation.
All in all a huge thanks to Brad Luepke and the Shawano Speedway staff for hitting another opening night home run. It was cold but normally the opening night crowds at any local race tracks are packed with the diehard fans. And they were out.
Seymour’s opener, like Shawano’s, was pushed back by Mother Nature. The controversial move to Friday nights has been well documented. At the time the folks at Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car (EWSC) announced the move to Fridays, I questioned their decision myself. I had worked at Seymour myself a few different time and never thought that Sunday nights were a problem.
There were many Sundays we’d have a boatload of race cars and a grandstand full of fans. And we’d get done at a decent hour.
At any rate when EWSC made the switch the program at Luxemburg Speedway was truly up in the air. The track had no promoter and the status of the show at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds was very much uncertain.
After EWSC had made the move to Fridays Luxemburg did get a promoter – Ashley Stevens and “Sky High Promotions.”
People forget not that long ago when Oshkosh Speedway was open they were a Friday night show. Manitowoc County Expo was Fridays as was Luxemburg. Everyone survived just fine. Maybe everyone’s undies are in a bundle because both Luxemburg and Seymour are both running a Friday night show against each other on the same night.
If you take a look at local history in 1975 the brash promoter from Seymour Paul Kaczrowski switched his Wednesday night program at Seymour to run Sundays head up against his brother-in-law Jack Peters.
I’m not sure who really “won” that battle per se because two years later Seymour would close and after 1979 De Pere would close, never to reopen again.
Will this same thing occur after the 2019 season? It’s tough to say. The Luxemburg promoters are new and very green to this race promoting deal. Will they be able to survive the balance of the 2019 season? Time will tell. To me to see Luxemburg’s Benji LaCrosse drive past his home track to race at the opener at Seymour was odd and says a lot to me. Hopefully there are enough cars and fans to go around.
On to other stuff – Eagle River Speedway has been forced to push their opening night race to Tuesday night, June 18. Promoters Pat and Patti Zdroik have been working night and day, widening the D-shaped third-mile, clay oval. One note of interest is that Pulaski veteran and former IMCA national stock car champion “Hot Rod” Snellenberger plans to compete at Eagle River’s Tuesday night show weekly. He’s bringing along Mike Carter who’ll battle with his street stock. Zdroik’s are allowing IMCA stock cars to run with the local street stocks. It will truly be a “mixed bag” at Eagle River on Tuesday nights as there will be no sanctioning whatsoever. The track’s “B Mod Shootout” will take place Tuesday July 2 and is expected to draw the top drivers from WISSOTA, IMCA and USRA sanctioning. That night should be a dandy.
At Norway Speedway in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula a familiar face will return to the late model ranks. Former champion Mark Schroeder will make the tow from Green Bay to compete on Friday nights. Schroeder, who was also the track champion at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, has downsized his hauler and will tow his racer to Norway with an open trailer. Something that is refreshing to see in these times when most everyone feels the need to “keep up with the Jones’” so to speak.
Make an effort to bring someone new to the races this year. It’s vital to keep our sport alive. I’m always looking for feedback. Shoot me an email at jverdegan2@gmail.com if you’ve got any input or story ideas for any of my racing columns.