The Scoop
A STORY OF A TRUE NORTHWOODS “SPECIAL” – UPDATED DIRT FEATURE TOTALS & MORE
Posted on: Tuesday September 6, 2022
Sometimes in the short track industry you need to bring in something “different” from time to time to spice things up a bit.
But depending upon where a track is located bringing in anything “special” or “different” doesn’t come without it’s risk.
At Eagle River Speedway’s season finale September 3 a risk turned into a reward of sorts and the “risk” was prompted by a pair of friends chatting in the shop one night.
Track promoter Pat Zdroik had a conversation with long time friend Putch Bentley. Putch lives in Iron River, Michigan but races in a division that doesn’t race anywhere north. In fact Bentley’s “home track” essentially is 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wisconsin which is 20 minutes south of Green Bay.
Bentley had an idea to bring the grand national class to Eagle River one night for a special event. Talk about risk – the only drivers close to “local” in this division were Bentley and Rick Gustavson who lives a couple of hours away in Norway, Michigan.
Admittedly, this scribe (who also works at Eagle River as the track announcer) had his doubts Bentley would be able to pull more than a dozen cars at most to tow north on a Labor day weekend.
Well, Bentley proved me and everyone else wrong. 28 cars showed up in full force for a $2,200 payday at Eagle River. Most of those drivers came from eastern Wisconsin. They came from Sheboygan. Caledonia. St. Nazianz.
They came with large pit crews – some teams with four or five crew members. The class was well received by race fans who were treated to a different looking division that battled well on the tricky, third-mile, clay oval.
Much credit needs to be given to Putch – who essentially is a “one man band.” He’s a diehard racer to the core, who’s been doing it for decades. He beat the bushes, rounded up sponsors and served as a true “recruiter” to draw more than two dozen teams to a gem of a dirt track nestled in Wisconsin’s northwoods.
The grand nationals appearance at Eagle River was a shining example of a risk worth taking from a promotional standpoint. Big thanks to all the teams who towed north and took a chance on something new. We had a few hiccups along the way but we’ll tighten the show up for 2023 and we look forward to the return of the grand nationals again next year.
With the weekly racing pretty much over with it’s special season on both the dirt and the tar. This weekend we’ll be heading up north to a new race track – Kinross Speedpark in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This is a quarter-mile, paved oval located near the Canadian border. We’ll host a “Racing In The 906” book signing of the 2019 book I penned covering the racing history in Michigan’s U.P. and Canada.
We’ve got updated dirt feature totals from the region. Best of luck to all of the regional teams headed down to Boone (IA) Speedway for the IMCA Supernationals. Get out and support those post-season specials IN PERSON in the next several weeks while you still can in 2022.
2022 NORTHEAST WISCONSIN DIRT TRACK WIN TOTALS (after Saturday Sept. 3, 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 including Dirt Kings series winners).
MODIFIEDS
Mike Mullen 7 (BDR)
Jayden Schmidt 6
Tyler Wilson 5
Marcus Hoeppner 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Marcus Yarie 4 (Antigo)
Shawn Kilgore 3
Lucas Lamberies 3 (2 Iowa)
Todd Dart 3
Steve Schneider 3
Johnny Whitman 2
Konnor Wilinski 2
Jeremie Hedrick 2
Brian Mullen 2
Jared Siefert 2
Brad Lubach 2
Adam Crapser 2
John Schultz 2
Hunter Parsons 1
J.J. Anderson 1
Cody Schroeder 1
Wyatt Block 1
Dan Roedl 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Dave Zeitler 1
Brandon Schmidt 1 (Sun Prairie)
Jeremy Jacobs 1
Matt Klenz 1
Andy Karl 1
Hunter Parsons 1
Don Scheffler 1
STOCK CARS
Mitch Meier 9 (Texas)
Luke Lemmens 6
Trent Nolan 5
Kyle Frederick 5
Chase Parker 4
Benji LaCrosse 4
Mike Mullen 4
Tyler Wilson 3
Jeff Steenbergen 2 (Iowa)
Travis Van Straten 2
Nick Buckarma 2
Eric Mahlik 2
Brett Wenzel 2
Brandon Czarapata 2
Dean Maurer 1
Tom Brumlic 1 (Eagle River)
Kenny Richards 1
Dave Bouche 1
Dan Sell 1
Logan Rhode 1
Cole Czarneski 1
Vern Stedjee 1
Nathan Lauscher 1
Caden LeMieux 1
Tim Mueller 1
Kerry Douglas 1
Robert Waechter Jr. 1
Shawn Havel 1
Tim Warner 1
Mitch Stankowski 1 (Antigo)
Jeff Kropp 1
Justin Jacobsen 1
Billy LeMieux 1
Ryan Mueller 1
Dusty Loberger 1
Eric Arneson 1
Dylan Stedjee 1
LATE MODEL
Nick Anvelink 7
Troy Springborn 4
Brett Swedberg 3
Justin Ritchie 3
Joel Bennett 2
Brad Mueller 1
Jim Schmidt 1
AJ Diemel 1 (Dirt Kings, Red Cedar)
Joe Bongiorno 1
Paul Ninzik 1
Taylor Scheffler 1
Todd Frank 1
Turk Letizia 1
NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Jeffrey Teske 7
Cole Czarneski 6
Jesse Cullen 6
Craig Dorner 4
Tyler Sobiesczyk 3
Zack Raab 3
Jake Carpenter 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Travis Schmidt 3
Tom Schneider 3
Cody Rass 3
Jeff Schmuhl 3 (BDR)
Will Garceau 3
Ryan Schmidt 3
Jon Hitzman 2
Tim Warner 2
Zack Raab 2
Logan Fleischmann 2 (Antigo)
Chris Budzban 2
Elijah Koenig 2
Randy LeMieux Jr. 2
Eric Craine 1
Andy Welter 1
Ryan Besaw 1
Gabe Zellner 1
Travis Rhoades 1
Dylon Waldvogel 1
Mark Hoeppner 1
Tim Sheppard 1
Jeff Vlies 1
Shane Long 1
Bruce Belland 1
Colton See 1
Brad Lubach 1
JJ Vanderloop 1
Jeff Steenbergen 1
Jacob Zellner 1
STREET STOCK
Paul Diefenthaler 13
Jason Eisel 7 (Gravity Park, Eagle River)
Ed Anschutz 6
James Fletcher 6 (Beaver Dam)
Presley Harrington 4
Jason Behnke 4
Trey Van Straten 3
Parker Derks 3
Jesse Krahn 3
Shaun Bangart 2
Mike Zitzer 2
Dave DeGrave 2
Shannon Guelette 1
Tim McCormick 1
Kenny Richards 1
Brook Diefenthaler 1
Jason Eisel 1
Cody Potter 1
Corey Romensko 1
Nick Wunrow 1
Jason Brandes 1
Justin Jacobsen 1
Brian Krejcarek 1
Dan Van Pay 1
Travis Zirbel 1
4 CYLINDER
Nathan Lisowe 10
Brian Watzka Jr. 7
Tanner Westphal 5
Scott Schlafke 5
Lucas Hacker 4
Adam Broehm 3
James Riske 3
Thomas Schulte 3
Calvin Stueck 2
Brad Wedde 2
Matt Kaye 2
Matt Brehmer 2
Shaun Bangart 2
Kegan Van Ooyen 2
Roman Blank 2
Justin Finlan 2
Jake Peters 1
Austin Pingel 1
Jeremy Czarapata 1
James Reese 1
Cody Booth 1
Ben Schulte 1
Matthew Mann 1
Bailey Tate 1
Jay Orr 1
Nathan Michonski 1
GRAND NATIONALS
T.J. Smith 7
Nick Strobbe 4
Matt Loehr 3
Jeff Muehlbauer 3
Dustin Weiss 3
Derek Schrauth 2
Luke Scholten 2
Tyler Kulow 1
Brian Schrauth 1
Taylor Rahn 1
Rick Gustavson 1
Ryan Minster 1
J.J. Pagel 1
Jonathon Otte 1
Tyler Kulow 1
Josh Pierce 1
Derek Kaat 1
Aaron Streblow 1
Brad Weiss 1
Shawn Schmitt 1
Chase Solomon 1