The Scoop
LANCE FASSBENDER – WISCONSIN SPRINT CAR VETERAN PUSHES ON IN ’24
Posted on: Thursday March 7, 2024
Lance Fassbender got an early start to his 2024 season by competing at East Bay Raceway in Tampa, Florida in February.
Despite suffering an injury in a crash last August, Lance Fassbender still has the proverbial ‘fire-in-the-belly’ to keep on racing in 2024.
The 47-year-old second-generation sprint car driver and Beaver Dam native has already kicked off his 2024 racing season with a trip to Florida’s East Bay Raceway Park in February. The winter trip to the warmer weather helped Fassbender snap out of a ‘funk’ of sorts since his late season wreck in ’23 at Wilmot Raceway. “I landed really hard in that crash at Wilmot and suffered a compression fracture,” Fassbender explained. “It was the second time as I had the same injury back in 2013. The doctors were telling me I might want to reconsider (racing).” Fassbender confessed he actually got a bit depressed and thought seriously about selling his equipment. Fassbender was wondering if the time and money spent to go racing was even worth it any longer.
But something clicked with Fassbender towards the end of December. “We geared up and went down to Florida to race,” Fassender exclaimed. “And now I’m more gung ho about racing than I was ten years ago. We plan on running the full MSA (Midwest Sprint Association) schedule in 2024.”
Lance Fassbender has been wheeling winged sprint cars since 1998. (Donald Taft photo)
The trip to Florida didn’t come without some challenges for the 31-year racing veteran. Fassbender normally races with the MSA under their rules package. The show at East Bay ran under the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) rules package which differed slightly in some areas. “The engines they run are still 360 cubic inches like MSA but there is no compression rule like MSA and they can run aluminum heads,” Fassbender said. “You can run a dry sump system and the rules are more open than they are with MSA. But it was just good to get some seat time in.”
“The racing surface down there is a little sandy and different with what we have at many Wisconsin tracks,” Fassbender pointed out. “I ran down in Florida back in 2007. We have gone down to Florida to watch a lot over the winter in recent years. Some guys practice but I’m just the opposite. I’d rather find a race where I can get paid and at least get some money back. There have been a few times over the years we’ll make a last minute decision on a Sunday morning for example, to go run against the 410 guys in the IRA (Interstate Racing Association) so we’re used to doing that stuff, too. The older I get I feel that seat time is more important now than ever. I’m not in good shape like I used to be and you rely upon muscle memory a little more often.”
Another factor that prompted the Fassbender family to take their race car along on a Florida vacation was the fact that 2024 is East Bay’s last year it will be in operation. “We’ve gone there to watch a few times with the kids and so that place has sort of a special spot to us you could say,” Fassbender said. “We made it to race at East Bay one more time before it ends.”
Lance poses with his dad Fuzzy. (Mike Weber photo)
Lance grew up the son of a racing legend. Ernest “Fuzzy” Fassbender was a stout competitor in the heyday of the modified era in southeastern Wisconsin in the 1960’s and into the early 1980’s. After racking up numerous wins and track titles Fassbender was inducted into the Southeastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame in 2007. Fuzzy passed away in 2019. “Dad never pushed me into racing,” Fassbender said. “In fact if anything he probably preferred I didn’t race at all. Simply because he knew full well of the time and financial commitment it took. I’m not sure if he thought I’d stick with it. But I have.”
As a teenager Lance buzzed around the house on a dirt bike purchased with his own money he saved up since he was 10 years old. “When I was 16 or 17 Dad asked me why I didn’t do some of the things that other ‘normal’ kids my age did back then,” Lance recalled. “I told him simply I wanted to race. If I asked him for help, he helped. But Dad never worked on the car without me being there. He made sure of that. He didn’t stick his nose in. Deep down I think he knew the sacrifices and the challenges that came with racing. You’ll miss weddings. Birthday parties. Other important things. Racing can be an ‘all in’ sport and he knew what lied ahead for me.”
Lance’s racing career began on the ‘Horsepower Half Mile’ at the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam. “I cut my teeth in what was basically a pretty primitive pure stock,” Fassbender said. “I had bought the car with money I saved by selling Checkered Flag Racing News at Beaver Dam and Slinger. We had a roll bar and minimal safety stuff. No racing shocks or springs and most everything was stock. Before I left for that first race Dad stopped me and asked me ‘are you SURE this is what you want to do?’ I just looked at him and said ‘yup I want to race.’”
Lance points to a night at the Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam where Fuzzy came out of a retirement of sorts: “I got suspended one week for speeding through the pit area. So Dad came out of retirement to race my car. He started out dead last in his heat race. He won but was disqualified because the window net wouldn’t stay up. But Dad put on a clinic that night. He hadn’t been behind the wheel for something like 12 years. He still had it.”
Third-generation racer Lilly Fassbender.
There is one important factor that down the road will determine just how much Lance will race. That’s his 16-year-old daughter Lilly Fassbender. Lilly wheels a Legends car at Beaver Dam Raceway and other shows both in and outside of Wisconsin.
Much like Fuzzy didn’t push Lance to go racing, Lance isn’t prodding his daughter to race one way or another. “Lilly will be 17 in June,” said Lance. “She approached myself and my wife Nicky years ago and wanted to race. There is zero pressure from us as her racing is all her choice. She started out in the karts. And I don’t know much if anything about kart racing.”
The natural question would be will Lilly ever jump up to race with a sprint car someday? “That subject has been discussed,” Lance confessed. “(Lilly) doesn’t want to look bad and will need some practice time. I know Gravity Park USA in Chilton has some practice nights during the week. We’ll figure something out down the road.”
Outside of the family name there is another common denominator with the Fassbender racing family. All three have sported the color purple on their race cars. “That is a story in itself,” Fassbender explained. “Dad had already been racing for about 10 years. He got really good. One year Dad drove for Wally Seiler and he bought a car from Billy Johnson. When they bought it from him they kept the paint scheme same as Billy’s ride – they just changed the number. The scorers back then scored everything by hand and they were having trouble differentiating Dad from Billy. The cars looked alike. So Dad told Wally ‘paint the damn thing purple.’ Ironically the color purple wasn’t really a popular color choice in the ’60’s and ’70’s. But it sort of stuck.”
Since then both Lance and Lilly have also sported the color purple on their racing machines. And another common factor is the same business – a longtime family sponsor Falbe Auto – has been decking out the Fassbender family rides with the color purple going on a total of 60 years.
In addition to his time behind the cockpit, Lance has served as a former MSA board member and president. So he’s been on the business end of the sport from the promoting aspect. He’s been a fixture on the Wisconsin sprint car scene going on several decades. Does he have thoughts of hanging up his helmet anytime soon? “Dad told me a long time ago to stop (racing) when you’re not having fun,” Fassbender recalled. “I don’t have a retirement date of any kind. I do want to remain competitive. Overall it’s still fun. I also have a lot less of an operation. I don’t have logistics and funding that some teams have. I am the guy who races tonight so he can race the next night.”
Fassbender has a pair of fun events coming up in the next couple of months which serve as a fundraiser for the racing operation. The 4th annual Fassbender Brat Fry is scheduled to take place at Skip’er Inn at 808 Broadway Avenue in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. That fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. To 6 p.m. on Saturday March 9. Brats and burgers will be served. Mini bowling will be available as a 50/50 drawing and raffle baskets will also be available.
Then April 13th 3nd annual Fassbender Racing Season kick off party will take place at The Hill Tavern in Beaver Dam.
When he’s not busy racing or working on race cars Fassbender works at a tool and die shop as a journeyman tool maker/manufacturing specialist.
Pit crew members who’ve lent a hand over the years include James Jensen and Jim Schickert. Fassbender’s stepson Kristian Wagner has been chipping in as well for the past several seasons.
The Fassbender team sponsors include Doug’s Skip’er Inn, Falbe Auto, Jensen Sales & Service, R & H Racing Equpment, The Hill Tavern, Be Beautiful Salon and RC Custom Design, Joe Wood, Welch Farms, Jim’s Countyline, Liquid 4 Play, BRS Radiator, Machine and Fab and Pathfinder Chassis.