The Scoop
NICK ANVELINK – CLOSING IN ON SHAWANO SPEEDWAY’S RECORD BOOKS
Posted on: Friday July 30, 2021
Second generation late model racer Nick Anvelink of Navarino, Wisconsin sits second in all time Shawano Speedway feature wins at 84 as of July, 2021.
Nick Anvelink is closing in on a big piece of Shawano Speedway racing history.
With his pair of late model feature wins at Shawano’s Mid-Summer Classic July 23 and 24, the second-generation racer moved to second in all-time feature wins at the fabled half-mile. As of July 30, 2021 Anvelink sits tied with Shawano legend M.J. McBride at 84 total feature wins.
Both are sitting behind national dirt late model hall of famer Pete Parker of Kaukauna. Parker amassed 92 total feature wins at Shawano during his storied career. While it won’t happen in ’21 odds are strong that in 2022 Nick Anvelink could very well match and top those numbers. “The total win deal honestly hasn’t really crossed my mind much,” the 42-year-old Anvelink admitted. “Obviously Pete is one of the best ever as he’s a national hall of famer. Same thing with M.J. Over the years we’ve just wanted to race as much as we can and win as much as you can. If stuff like all time winning thing comes up that’s just a bonus I guess.”
A season ago Anvelink surpassed his own dad Terry Anvelink in total feature wins. Terry Anvelink sits fourth with 75 feature wins but hasn’t raced himself for a few years now. IMCA stock car racer Travis Van Straten of Hortonville sits fifth with 69 total victories.
Anvelink’s own racing career began in the IMCA modified class as a teenager, driving a car for Larry Kallies of nearby Cecil. “Me and A.J. (Diemel) took this modified back to his dad’s shop when we were teenagers and starting hacking and cutting away at that chassis,” Anvelink recalled. “If we thought we could make it go faster with what we were doing we did it. Whether or not we actually knew what we were doing was a whole other story. We did all sorts of crazy stuff like that when we were starting out. In our minds I guess we thought we were right. We had a lot to learn.”
Some of Anvelink’s feature wins at Shawano came in the IMCA modified division. Anvelink battled in the modifieds for four seasons. (Dan Lewis photo)
Before his own racing career started Nick took a keen interest in his dad’s racing setups when he was a teenager. “I paid real close attention to what he did with the entire deal,” Anvelink said. “I had more interest in the setup part of things than anything. Dad did pretty much everything with his cars including building his own engines. That kept both himself and me going throughout the years.”
Nick was 21 the first time he climbed behind the wheel of a late model and raced against his dad, and legends Parker and McBride. “Truth be told I probably had a little bigger head when I started out in late models than I should have,” Anvelink admitted. “But I really wasn’t intimidated by those guys. But Dad, Pete and M.J. were the big dogs to beat every week. Those three for a long time seemed to always finish one, two and three whether it was at Antigo or Shawano and even Seymour too sometimes. Those three guys were who we were all chasing for a long time it seemed.”
Nick quickly learned the different personalities and driving styles of the trio often dubbed ‘the big three.’ “Looking back on it, Dad and Pete probably raced me the toughest but always very clean,” Anvelink admitted. “Dad would squeeze me up against the wall a few times to make me nervous. Dad always was good at getting under my skin and rattling me a little bit. As far as M.J. goes I used to buy his used runoff tires when I was starting out. We always had fun running over at the end of the year at the Punky Manor Challenge of Champions and we’d all party together afterwards. We had a lot of good times racing with those guys over the years.”
As the years have rolled on Nick has relied primarily on dad Terry and brother Tyler as his main crew members. “When I started out, I had a couple of guys who always helped me at the shop and at the track,” Anvelink said. “But they grow older, have families and they’re out going to baseball games and stuff. They’ve got lives to live too and things like working a race car get put on the back burner. I totally get it as my kids are teenagers and into sports themselves. I don’t have much time to work on my car much in the winter at all anymore either.”
Terry Anvelink still handles all of the motor and differential work on Nick’s cars while Tyler manages everything with the car’s tires and hauler. “I handle the chassis and setup stuff and it all seems to work pretty well,” Anvelink said.
“The twins will be 14 next month and they play baseball and softball. I coach them and also with basketball in the winter. Life gets hectic and sometimes when you get home after a game or practice there just isn’t much time to devote to working on a race car.”
When it comes to building his racecars, Nick relies on A.J. Diemel to lend a hand. “I’ll head over to Mars shop (MB Custom) with a bunch of parts I can gather in the winter,” Anvelink said. “A.J. and I can slam a race car together in a couple of days. He’s been a really big help in that regard.”
Nick’s mom Julie and wife Trina continue to be among his biggest cheerleaders. “Yeah, mom probably does a little more hollering in the stands than she should at times,” Anvelink joked. “Overall, we’re still a pretty competitive family.”
With his kid’s busy sports schedules Anvelink doesn’t get too hung up on a long-term racing schedule and takes the races literally week by week. “Obviously I’d love to run some more open motor stuff against the guys who do it for a living like World of Outlaws or Lucas Oils just to see where we stack up,” Anvelink explained. “We try to hit most of the Dirt Kings shows if they are a reasonable driving distance. We try to make a big show if it’s within a four or five hour driving distance for us. If it makes sense for us to be there and we’ve got the time to do it we try to anyways. But we are trying to run local shows probably 70 percent of the time and that includes Shawano most Saturday nights.”
Anvelink’s team of marketing partners includes Unique Health Care, Gehm’s Club 117, Dan Nolan Livestock, Seubert Calf Ranches, DTR Concrete, Precision Construction Services, Wayne Roffers Trucking, Schaeffer’s Oil, Wehrs Machine, Peppermint Josie’s, Krull Service, Frank Wallace Flooring, Competition Engines, Hank and Karen’s Pub and Grill, Menn Law Firm and MB Custom Race Cars.
SHAWANO SPEEDWAY ALL TIME WINNERS TOP TEN AS OF JULY 30, 2021
Pete Parker 92
Nick Anvelink 84
M.J. McBride 84
Terry Anvelink 75
Travis Van Straten 69
Troy Springborn 65
Rod Snellenberger 59
Ron Berna 47
A.J. Diemel 46
J.J. Smith 44
Roger Regeth 44