The Scoop
“HAMMER” DEGRAVE, SCHLAFKE SET FOR LUXEMBURG TITLE DEFENSES
Posted on: Thursday May 12, 2022
Hometown driver Dave “The Hammer” DeGrave has a brand new car at his disposal in his title defense at The ‘Burg Speedway Unified Dirt Street Stock 2021 track title. (photo courtesy of DeGrave Racing FB page)
When the first green flag flies at The ‘Burg Speedway in 2022 on Sunday, May 15 the championship chase for three of the track’s five weekly divisions are guaranteed to boast new track champions when the curtain closes on the season in September.
Two drivers plan on defending their respective 2021 track titles at the third-mile, clay oval located at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds. One of them is hometown racer Dave “The Hammer” DeGrave. The Luxemburg racer, who has 71 feature flags under his belt, has a brand-new car at his disposal in his title defense this year in the Unified Dirt Street Stock division.
Cleveland’s Scott Schlafke will use this car in his Murder Hornet title defense at The ‘Burg Speedway in 2022. (photo courtesy of Nismo Scott FB page)
One other track champion who plans a title defense is Cleveland’s Scott Schlafke. Schlafke earned the track’s Murder Hornets crown a year ago and has intentions to battle weekly in his four-cylinder division’s title defense.
The same cannot be said for the track’s other three IMCA sanctioned classes. Hometown native and ’21 modified track champ Benji LaCrosse, who recently scored his 129th career IMCA modified feature win, does plan on racing most Sunday nights. However LaCrosse, who also wheels an IMCA stock car on occasion in high dollar specials for Jim and Joe White, says he’ll likely miss a race or two at Luxemburg along the way which makes his odds tough to repeat as champion.
The IMCA northern sportmod division will see a new champion as the ’21 titlist, Jayden Schmidt of Seymour, has moved up to the IMCA modified division.
The same goes for the rough-and-tumble IMCA stock car division. In 2021 after three decades of coming up shy Pulaski’s “Hot Rod” Snellenberger scored the elusive Luxemburg crown. But this year Snellenberger is taking some time away from the racetracks as he’s finishing building a garage that he says has been put off “way too long.” Thus, the class dubbed ‘too-tough-to-tame’ will boast a new champion at the end of the 2022 season.
The new season kicks off Sunday, May 15 at 5 p.m. with gates opening at 3 p.m. Grandstand admission remains at just $10 for adults 14 and over. 13 and under are free with adult admission. You can follow the latest information with the track at their Facebook page.