The Scoop
CZARNESKI DOUBLES, BENJI GETS #129, 197 CARS @ 141 & MUCH MORE!
Posted on: Sunday May 8, 2022
Second-generation racer Cole Czarneski doubled down on sportmod feature wins over the weekend – copping victories at Gravity Park USA in Chilton and 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. (photo courtesy of Cole Czarneski FB page)
For the first time all year three area dirt tracks got completed shows in on a weekend in 2022.
Here is a recap of sorts from the past weekend including an overall total of dirt track feature wins amongst northeast Wisconsin racers.
Also by the end of the week we’ll have a story on a former Shawano Speedway champion who will be returning to racing after a two-decade long hiatus. Happy Mother’s day to all the Mother’s out there!
BENJI TAKES THE LEAD – Luxemburg native Benji LaCrosse scored his 129th career IMCA modified win at 141 Speedway Saturday night. In doing so Lacrosse wrestled the lead away from Green Bay native R.M. “Buck” Van Pay. The pair were tied at 128 races apiece heading into the season among all time Wisconsin winners.
CZARNESKI DOUBLES – Second-generation racer Cole Czarneski doubled down on sportmod feature wins over the weekend. Czarneski scored the win Friday night at Gravity Park USA in Chilton and followed that up with a feature win against a stacked field at 141 Speedway Saturday night.
Second-generation racer Troy Springborn remains unbeaten in late model action at his home track Shawano Speedway in 2022. (Andy Springborn photo)
SPRINGBORN, WILSON 2-FOR-2 – Shawano’s Troy Springborn and Sobieski’s Tyler Wilson both remain unbeaten in their respective divisions. Wilson won for the second straight time in a modified at Chilton while Springborn has won both late model features held so far this year at his home track Shawano Speedway.
CAR COUNTS – 141 Speedway continues to kill it in terms of weekly car counts. A total of 197 cars in six classes filled the pit area. What’s more impressive the show was wrapped up in a total of 4 hours and 15 minutes. Hats off to the track crews for keeping the show rolling. The days of running a show til close to midnight or longer (at least in Wisconsin) are long over with.
The division with the highest car count at 141 were the IMCA stock cars with 45 entries.
Gravity Park USA in Chilton’s show on a Friday night had 114 cars in their six-division show. The highest car count was 31 four cylinders.
Shawano Speedway’s Saturday night show had a total of 86 cars in five classes. The highest division was the IMCA northern sportmods with 22 cars.
I’m not huge on car counts making or breaking a show but the fact it’s still early May is a bit concerning. Without a lot of new blood entering the dirt late model class at Shawano in recent years one has to wonder what the future of that division holds? There aren’t many tracks with that current rules package that run weekly on the eastern side of the state with Plymouth Dirt Track running essentially the same type of car is the USRA/Eagle River rules type late model?
On the western side of Wisconsin that division, which features a crate motor, spec shocks and tire, has grown the past few years with more drivers able to afford to jump into a late model.
50 YEARS – When Appleton’s Paul Parker unloaded at hit the track at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City this weekend it signaled the start of the 50th year of racing for Parker Motorsports. Paul’s dad Pete Parker is a national dirt late model Hall of Famer who started his racing career in 1972. Parker came up just shy of cracking a very stacked World of Outlaw late model field and it’s expected Parker will pick and choose regional special events to battle in with his familiar number 10 throughout the 2022 season.
THREE MORE OPENERS – A trio of northeastern Wisconsin dirt ovals will host their respective openers in the coming weeks of May. The season opener at Outagamie Speedway powered by EWSC (Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car) is set for Friday, May 13. It’s been an exceptionally tough spring as crews were unable to get on the track and the frost was very late getting out of the ground. A 6:30 start time is set at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds in Seymour.
The ‘Burg Speedway in Luxemburg has their first race scheduled for Sunday, May 15. Same story there as crews were unable to get out and work the surface. A 5 p.m. start is on tap at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds in Luxemburg.
The last track to open is The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. The planned car show and awards that was canceled will be part of the opening night Nathan Bouche Memorial race on Sunday, May 29. The action gets underway at 5 p.m. at John Miles Park in Sturgeon Bay.
BOOK SIGNING SEASON – This coming weekend we plan on kicking off our own racetrack book signing season with an appearance at Seymour Friday the 13th from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday the 14th at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna for the TUNDRA super late model series opener from noon to 2 p.m. We’ll have many of our motorsports books on sale at discounted prices, along with some goodies like joeverdegan.com window decals and race tickets with the purchase of any book.
Come on our and support the local tracks! Remember NOTHING beats being there.
Also we’re planning on keeping tabs of local drivers on the dirt and their overall feature win totals at area tracks. If anyone ever sees any issues with it feel free to email me @ jverdegan2@gmail.com.
See you soon!
2022 NORTHEAST WISCONSIN DIRT TRACK WIN TOTALS (AS OF 5/8/2022)
(Tracks covered and included: 141, Shawano, Seymour, Luxemburg, Sturgeon Bay, Gravity Park USA & Plymouth. When a northeastern Wisconsin driver wins out of town we’ll also include those totals as well).
MODIFIEDS
Tyler Wilson 2
Lucas Lamberies 1 (Iowa)
Konnor Wilinski 1
Benji LaCrosse 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
STOCK CARS
Mitch Meier 2 (Texas)
Kyle Frederick 1
Dave Bouche 1
Eric Mahlik 1
Trent Nolan 1
LATE MODEL
Troy Springborn 2
Jim Schmidt 1
NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Cole Czarneski 2
Ryan Besaw 1
Travis Schmidt 1
Tyler Sobiesczyk 1
Jon Hitzman 1
STREET STOCK
Shaun Bangart 2
Parker Derks 1
4 CYLINDER
Adam Broehm 1
Tanner Westphal 1
Brian Watzka Jr. 1
Nathan Lisowe 1
Austin Pingel 1
GRAND NATIONALS
Taylor Rahn 1
Dustin Weiss 1
Rick Gustavson 1
Luke Scholten 1