The Scoop
CEDAR LAKE SPEEDWAY – WHY IT SHOULD BE ON EVERY RACE FANS BUCKET LIST
Posted on: Thursday August 11, 2022
When I retired from my “real job” in 2020 there were still a handful of Wisconsin ovals (both dirt and asphalt) that I had not yet gotten to either as a fan or in a working capacity.
In recent years most of you who know me know most of my time at race tracks in recent years has been in a “working capacity” of some sort. If I wasn’t announcing I might be conducting book interviews or driver interviews for material you enjoy on this website.
The last time I had attended any race as strictly a “fan” without any working capacity at all was the first ever NASCAR Truck Series event in the dirt at Eldora Speedway back in 2013.
Cedar Lake was one of those tracks over the years I never seemed to be able to get to for many reasons. For decades Saturday night announcing for me since my high school days had often been working at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek (both dirt and asphalt), Shawano Speedway and even a couple of years behind the mic at Thunder Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay.
The wife and I booked tickets for the 36th annual USA Nationals back in September and the event is a three day race Thursday through Saturday August 4-6. This was a rare occurrence where I did not request any media credentials nor did I conduct any driver interviews.
Still after a very enjoyable weekend there I decided to write about our Cedar Lake experience.
We were close to the track (row 5, section M) and we were close enough to the action at the three-eighths mile, high banked clay oval.
We did not attend the Thursday night show which included the USRA late models. Friday nights show consisted of a pair of heats for the roughly 50 World of Outlaw late models and a full program of what they called the “Cedar Lake” type late models which were essentially WISSOTA rules late models.
It was a near capacity crowd for the 36th running of the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway August 4-6.
For starters there were plenty of staff at the facility. And it seemed everywhere you turned whether it was the ticket takers or any of the multiple concession workers you were greeted with a smiling face. The place was jam packed with fans with very few empty seats upon our arrival Friday night.
Food and drink was affordable and the track surface was real good with two grooves pretty much both days. For me it was a chance to see many racers compete I haven’t seen since I was announcing some of the special events at Shawano when it was WISSOTA sanctioned in the late 90’s/early 2000’s era.
Guys like Pat Doar, Darrell Nelson and John Kaanta. Doar’s performance was beyond impressive Saturday night when he rode the high side and sliced his way from 17th to first to win the Cedar Lake late model feature.
There was a vendor’s row in which many of the traveling WoO teams had their own apparel for sale in their trailers. I’ve always made this very obvious comparison when it comes to dirt race fans versus pavement race fans and short tracks.
Fans had plenty of options to snag some apparel of their favorite driver(s) by visiting vendor’s row at CLS.
The dirt racing community is very willing to sport the apparel of his or her favorite racer. You had to look pretty hard to find someone NOT wearing a Jonathan Davenport or a Jimmy Mars t shirt or hat. Darn near everyone in attendance had a dirt track racing shirt or hat of some sort. You just do not see that kind of thing as much with the pavement fans.
When it came to hearing the action WoO announcer Rick Eshelman tag teamed with longtime announcer/promoter Chris Stepan. The p.a. was crystal clear and in the stands you could hear pretty much everything those two said loud and clear. Both did a stout job behind the mic.
When Saturday rolled around for the big show there was a threat of rain lingering all day long. So bad in fact some fans loaded up their campers and skipped town, assuming there was no way there was a chance there would be racing.
Give WoO and Cedar Lake staff credit – despite a few minor sprinkles and dark clouds pretty much all afternoon, the show went on as planned. There were a few more open seats on Saturday compared to Friday but we were entertained both nights.
Folks trust me if you’ve never been to Cedar Lake Speedway it truly is a track to knock off your bucket list. You won’t regret it. Especially if you’re a fan of dirt late models.