The Scoop
TODD “FELIX” DART KEEPS SAME CREW, SPONSORS FOR DECADES
Posted on: Tuesday December 29, 2020
As long as Todd “Felix” Dart has been racing, the 51-year-old from Algoma, Wisconsin still has that “fire-in-the-belly.”
Dart, a top-flight IMCA modified competitor in northeast Wisconsin going on three decades, is coming off a solid season where he unseated Johnny “Hitman” Whitman off his throne at 141 Speedway as modified champ. It was a title Whitman had held at the high-banked, quarter-mile clay oval for six straight seasons.
Dart currently sits fifth in IMCA’s all time feature winners list amongst Wisconsin drivers with 80 sanctioned feature wins. (Team insiders suspect when you include non-sanctioned modified feature wins that victory total is closer to 100). “Felix” is among some pretty stout company with guys like Brian Mullen, R.M. Van Pay, Benji La Crosse and Mike Wedelstadt ahead of him.
In addition, Dart is the all-time winningest all-time racer at “The Hill” Raceway in Sturgeon Bay with 58 career feature flags on the third-mile many affectionately refer to as “The Circle of Death.” Dart is a seven-time champion at the Door County oval. Dart also captured the IMCA modified track title in 2017 at Luxemburg Speedway as well as the 1991 street stock crown at Seymour Tri-Oval.
Things have changed immensely with the modified division since Dart first wheeled a modified for the late Wally Massart in 1991. “Wally had asked me to drive his car but he was a little hesitant because I was only 20-years-old at the time,” Dart confessed. That season Dart, wheeling a street stock he had built with his buddy Charlie Kroll, captured nine straight wins at the Seymour Tri-Oval. That win streak prompted a bounty which mushroomed to $860. That bonus prize was claimed by “The Flying Farmer” Bob Schmidt from Black Creek guest driving Kevin Ambrosius’ car.
This season the 141 title came about for Dart without him winning a feature. The Algoma veteran remained a model of consistency week in, week out. “That really made the difference,” Dart said. “We were really consistent (at 141). We did win a couple (features) at Luxemburg. But at 141 I always seemed to make it towards the front every night. Even a few nights if I’d have to start like 17th. We’d fight our way up into top five finishes most nights.”
The car Dart captured the crown with was a five-year-old Madman chassis constructed by his good friend and fellow modified competitor Brian Mullen. “The car was good to me over the years but it was time for an upgrade,” Dart said. “I sold the car to Brad Lubach.”
In late September Dart purchased a “gently used” Taylor chassis from another driver in Illinois. “I had started pricing out brand new chassis and honestly I just couldn’t justify spending $50,000 on a race ready car which is what some guys are paying for a modified nowadays,” Dart confessed. “I actually found this car on Facebook marketplace and it was in pretty good shape, didn’t have a ton of laps on it and fit into my budget. So, we went down and picked it up.”
Dart was even able to squeeze in one last race with it at the 141 Speedway Fall Classic. “I sort of went “incognito” and raced it with the car’s same decals and paint on it from this year,” Dart laughed. “In fact, the first night of practice I stuck my nose down inside of Benji (LaCrosse) a couple of times and he didn’t even know who I was. He was asking his crew guys ‘who was that?’ That was funny.”
Running a chassis that hardly anyone else runs in your area can be both a curse and a blessing at the same time. “I think the only other driver who runs a Taylor chassis around here that I’m aware of is Kyle Kudick of Mishicot,” Dart said. “So that can be challenging. But it can be like it was years ago. When you found out a speed secret you tended to keep that information to yourself. Nowadays there are so many moving parts to what makes a modified work one wrong choice with the setup and you can be out to lunch bad. I remember years ago Doug Mahlik found something really trick and some guys wanted to jump on it and that was leaf springs. There aren’t many secrets left anymore really.”
Dart readily admits today’s modified is worlds apart from the car he wheeled for Massart. “The maintenance programs these days are so much more important, and the time involved with tire prep is a lot,” Dart said. “The shock and spring technology has really evolved too. We usually pick one night a week for the crew to be out at the shop. But overall, the general maintenance that is routine I handle most of that by myself. But when I used to run three nights a week? Sometimes I think back as to how we ever pulled it off. Those days are gone for me. I ran 141 weekly and tried to make Luxemburg as many nights as I could but still missed some nights there too.”
White the old guard modified racers like Brian Mullen, Benji La Crosse, Mike Wedelstadt, Shawn Kilgore, R.M. Van Pay and Eddie Muenster are always a threat to win on any given night Dart readily acknowledges the “new breed” of young guns who have quickly made a name for themselves in the fender-less division. “I don’t race against these two guys much but guys like Marcus Yarie or Lucas Lamberies will be fast wherever they go,” Dart said. “Mike Mullen whenever he runs has good stuff and is a real good driver too. Truth is most nights anybody can win in the IMCA modifieds locally. That’s why track position is so important these days. The cars are that equal on most nights.”
The pit crew members who assist Dart with his racing efforts both at his shop and at the track include Bryan Braun, Jeff Villers, Marty and Sherry LaFond and soon-to-be son-in-law Alec Wery. “That is the main core group and I’ve been lucky to have them around for the last 20 years or so,” Dart explained. “Gene Mertens will still pop in on occasion along with Dan Karnitz. I couldn’t keep racing without them that’s for sure.”
Just like his pit crew Dart has been fortunate to maintain a bulk of his same sponsors for the past two decades. Those sponsors include Coors Light (Kay Distributing), Vlies Custom Bodies, Lavine Ice, Auto Tech, Concrete Finishers, Woody’s Signs, Ebert Enterprises, Stoneman Schopf Insurance, Lakeside Painting, GAT Supply, The Bull Pen, Donny’s Glidden Lodge, K & J Holdings, Algoma Pizza Bowl and Daubner Masonry.
Dart also has his family fully backing him in his efforts 100 percent, including his wife Stacey and his daughters Corrina and Cassie. “My wife and I joke a lot of hanging it up,” Dart said. “But the truth is Stacey and my daughters really back me racing. And as long as I’ve still got a loyal pit crew we’ll likely keep racing. I’m not a ‘win-at-all-costs’ guy anymore either. I mean I still race hard, but I won’t put my car in a spot where the odds of wrecking it are good. A top five finish is something I’m satisfied with and a car that goes in the trailer in one piece. It’s just so hard to get those feature wins these days.
“I don’t think I’ll race into my ‘70s like Jerry Muenster is. That’s amazing what he’s doing but I’m pretty sure I’ll hang up my helmet by then.”
CHILL CHASER – Tomah-Sparta Speedway will host the official first race of the season in Wisconsin New Year’s Day with the annual Impact Survival Series (ISS) Chill Chaser 200 lap contest on the paved oval. The contest pays $5,000-to-win (based upon a 100-car field) and it gives race fans a chance to don their warm gear and catch some racing. It’s a popular race that draws drivers from as far as away as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Illinois to battle. Check out iRACEiss.com for more information.
BENNETT TO SPEEDWEEKS – Third-generation racer and former Wisconsin International Raceway late model champion Braison Bennett of Neenah has declared he will throw his hat in the ring and compete in the Pro Late Model class during Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. His family has a history of success at the half-mile, paved oval as his Dad Lowell Bennett won that World Series of Asphalt a couple of decades ago.
SCHEDULE’S ARE OUT – It was a most positive sign to see many area racetracks have already posted at least a tentative 2021 racing schedule as early as November of this year. It seems to be the sentiment of many in the racing community that we all want to put 2020 in our collective rear view mirrors and move forward.
One track that didn’t host a race at all in ’20 was “The Hill” Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. Plans are underway for a 2021 season with a car show and practice Saturday May 8 and an opener Saturday May 15. The modifieds will make a return on Sunday, May 23 for the Nathan Bouche Memorial race at John Miles Park.
LUXEMBURG RACING SHOW ON – Event organizer Derek Moede continues to seek vendors for the 6th annual Luxemburg Racing Show scheduled for Saturday, January 30, 2021 at the Exposition Building at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds in Luxemburg.
You can contact Moede at (920) 639 4455 for more information or check out the event’s “Luxemburg Racing Show” through Facebook as well.