The Scoop
IT’S “TUNDRA TIME” AT WIR SATURDAY MAY 13
Posted on: Friday May 12, 2023
Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna will host it’s first oval track race in 2023 with the annual appearance of the TUNDRA super late model series Saturday, May 13.
The ’23 edition will not only pit the WIR weekly locals against the TUNDRA travelers but for the first time since 2014 the Mid-American stock car series will return to the D-shaped, half-mile, paved oval.
The Saturday event will serve as the season opening event for TUNDRA in ’23 and many familiar names will be in attendance Saturday.
Heading up the contingent of weekly, local pilots are Sawyer Effertz (Darboy), Lowell Bennett (Neenah), Chad Butz (Green Bay), Andy Monday (Appleton), Grant Griesbach (Pewaukee), Jeff Van Oudenhoven (Appleton), Maxwell Schultz (Reedsville), Greenville’s Nick Van, Freedom’s Tim Springstroh and Mickey Schallie (Darboy).
Verona’s Dalton Zehr, one of the winningest driver in TUNDRA history, leads the way among the TUNDRA regulars. Others expected include Appleton’s Jordan Thiel, Wisconsin Rapids Colin Reffner, Wausau drivers Brock Heinrich, Jermey Lepak and Kole Guralski, Richfield’s Jerry Mueller, Barrett Polhemus of Wimberly, Texas, defending TUNDRA champ Justin Mondeik of Merrill, West Bend’s Mitchell Hover, Appleton’s Joshua Butler, Seymour’s Isaac Therrien, and Waterford veteran Jeff Storm.
The super late models will scrap for 66 laps in “The Bear” honoring longtime, local racing legend Roger “The Bear” Regeth.
The Mid-American portion of the show will be dubbed “The Vercauteren Memorial 44” in honor of series founder and long tenured Fox River Racing Club public relations man Gary Vercauteren.
The Wisconsin sport trucks and WIR 1/4 mile late models will round out the card of afternoon racing.
Qualifying gets underway at 12:30 p.m. with the first green flag flying at 2 p.m.