The Scoop
A LOOK AT ‘SPECIAL’ SEASON – REGIONAL DIRT FEATURE TOTALS & MORE
Posted on: Monday September 9, 2024
Two Rivers’ Ed “Eagle’ Anschutz scored his 91st and 92nd career feature wins over the weekend at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. (@KaylaLyn)
With weekly racing all but wrapped up ‘special season’ has kicked in as drivers often venture out to tracks that may be new-to-them to test the waters.
My former (and now retired from) announcing colleague and veteran street stocker Eddie (Eagle) Anschutz scored back-to-back Unified Dirt street stock wins at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay over the weekend.
With his consecutive wins on Friday & Saturday, Eagle sits with 92 career feature wins in a career that dates back to the 1990’s. Props to Eddie for that accomplishment.
One of the coolest things as a track announcer you can experience is calling a race where a driver wins his or her first ever feature win. That occurred during the season finale at Eagle River Speedway Saturday. Forest Junction’s Jake Binash accomplished that fete in the Unified Dirt street stock feature.
A shout out to Jake and thanks for making the haul to Wisconsin’s Northwoods. And while we’re talking about the Northwoods we offer a tip of the cap to Twin Lake, Michigan’s Jesse Aho. Aho scored a pair of late model feature wins at Eagle River Saturday night as one of those victories was a makeup feature from August 31. Those wins were career victories 100 and 101 for the Upper Michigan Ace.
I first met Jesse when I went to work at ERS when I moved up north almost five years ago.
Aho was the first driver to introduce himself to me. Very classy and professional all the time. Even when things don’t necessarily go his way. He and his family are very busy as both of his boys Carter and Cooper also compete in Eagle River’s 300 micro sprint class.
Today’s younger drivers can take notes on how to carry yourself through the good times and the bad times on the track. Always keeping things positive and offering constructive criticism.
BOONE LEFTOVERS – Of the 39 Wisconsin drivers who spent the week down in Boone (IA) Speedway for IMCA’s Supernationals, six of them qualified for their respective “Big Dances” with one Beaver Dam racer qualifying in for two different classes.
Former national champion and Pulaski native Brandon Czarapata was the highest finishing IMCA stock car driver from Wisconsin. Czarapata took 11th. Beaver Dam’s Brandon Schmitt took 15th with Shawano’s Trent Nolan finishing 27th and another former national champion Jeremy Christians of Horicon finished 30th.
In the ‘Big Dance’ in the modifieds Schmitt was Wisconsin’s highest finisher with a 16th place finish. Denmark’s Cole Czarneski placed 26th with Suamico’s Johnny Whitman finishing 33rd.
FALL BRAWL – The two day, season ending Fall Brawl will close out the season Friday and Saturday September 13 and 14 at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. Yours truly will be on the mic both nights. The fun begins with a ‘test-and-tune’ Thursday, September 12 from 4 p.m. til dusk. That practice session is free for spectators to attend.
Friday’s action includes dual heat races for Unified grand nationals, Unified dirt street stocks, IMCA modifieds, northern sportmods, stock cars and sport compacts. The Midwest Legends series will also run a full show on Friday.
Saturday will feature a full Dirt Kings late model show along with B and A mains in the divisions that ran heats Friday. Racing starts at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night with action getting underway Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Fans can check outagamiespeedway.com for additional information.
WITTKOPF MEMORIAL – IMCA northern sportmods will battle for a $5,000 top prize at 141 Speedway’s Rod Wittkopf Memorial race Saturday, September 14. Joining the sportmods will be the winged, 900 horsepower IRA Outlaw sprints, Lightning sprints and the Pro Legends. Racing at the Francis Creek oval gets underway at 6 p.m.
DIRT KINGS – As part of the late model series doubleheader weekend the Dirt Kings late model tour swings into the Langlade County Fairgrounds in Antigo for the ‘King of The Northwoods’ race at the big half-mile Friday, September 13. Modifieds, stock cars and sportmods will also be a part of this special show at Antigo.
KARTING KORNER – Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park has announced that in 2025 they will move from Fridays to hosting races at their Cecil oval beginning on Sundays with racing starting at 2 p.m. Showcase Kitchens is sponsoring the karting action Friday, September 13 with racing getting underway at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile at GSR Kartway will host the Badger 50 Saturday, September 21 for it’s final event of 2024. Qualifying is slated for 5 p.m. with racing to follow. Local karters paired up with their favorite full-sized racers on both dirt and asphalt ovals for the second annual Hero Program. Among the contingency prize sponsors for this gig included K & E Sales and Service and Ken’s Sports. A big shoutout goes to Brandon Blashe, Kari Ambrosius and Brad Luepke for their work in getting this deal up and running.
PAVEMENT PONDERINGS – Late last week Gleason’s Justin Mondeik announced he will make his NASCAR truck series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway September 19 with Young’s Motorsports. Mondeik is also slated to wheel a truck for the team at Kansas September 27.
We wish Mondeik all the best. I got to know this multi-track and series champion when he was dominating action at Norway (MI) Speedway. He carries himself with class and wish this pavement short track ace all the best in his new venture.
Former Wisconsin International Raceway Fox River Racing Club (FRRC) super late model champion Jeff Van Oudenhoven recently announced he’ll miss roughly the first half of the 2025 season of ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ action at WIR in 2025. JVO will undergo a two part ankle repair surgery which dates back to a violent wreck at WIR back in 2015. We wish JVO all the best in his recovery and rest assured that Scott Vandenheuvel and JVO will be back when the time is right in 2025.
A shoutout is in order for Freedom’s Craig Vandewettering. The Figure 8 racer placed 13th in the 3 hour World Figure 8 championship this past weekend at Indianapolis Speedrome.
The Midwest Truck Series next event is set for Jefferson Speedway for the Wisconsin state championships Friday, September 20 while the Midwest Tour’s next event will take place at Elko (MN) Speedway for the Thunderstruck 93 Saturday, September 21.
Remember to get out to these local short tracks in person while you still can in the Upper Midwest. The weeks remaining where we can still go racing are rapidly dwindling. NOTHING beats being there in person.
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WIN TOTALS 2024 (as of 9-08-24)
(Tracks included, but not limited to, include Outagamie Speedway, 141 Speedway, Shawano Speedway, Plymouth Dirt Track, Gravity Park, The Hill Raceway, Beaver Dam Raceway, The ‘Burg & Plymouth Dirt Track. These totals will also reflect any driver feature wins that occur out-of-state or at other ovals in Wisconsin)
LATE MODEL
Troy Springborn 4
Taylor Scheffler 4
Brett Swedberg 4
Nick Anvelink 4
Mike Mullen 3
Justin Ritchie 3
Ron Berna 2
Jayden Schmidt 2
Brad Mueller 2
Mitch McGrath 1
Tom Naeyaert 1
Andy Karl 1
MODIFIED
Cole Czarneski 10 (UMP mod win)
Marcus Yarie 7
Benji LaCrosse 6
Steve Mueller 6
Skylar Woods 4 (Dodge County Fair)
Marcus Hoeppner 4
Johnny Whitman 3
Jordan Bartz 3
Konnor Wilinski 2
Jayden Schmidt 2
Cody Schroeder 2
Greg Gretz 2
Brandon Schmitt 2
Kevin Feck 2
Shawn Kilgore 2
Jeff Schmuhl 2
Geoff Jeche 2
Brian Mullen 2
Dan Ratajczak 2
Lucas Lamberies 1
Dan Roedel 1
Will Garceau 1
Cody Afelbeck 1
Jason Czarapata 1
Derek Janke 1
Steve Schneider 1
Joel Crowbridge 1 (Wilmot)
Chris Pigeon 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Scott Barnharst 1
Kyle Strickler 1 (BDR)
Tim Ward 1 (141)
Russ Reinwald 1
Daniel Wilcox 1
Matt Klenz 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
STOCK CAR
Mitch Meier 9
Rod Snellenberger 8
Tyler Wilson 5
Travis Van Straten 5
Luke Lemmens 5
Trent Nolan 5
Jeremy Christians 5
Brett Wenzel 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Kenny Richards 3
Cole Czarneski 3
Tim Warner 3
Kyle Frederick 3
Caden LeMieux 3
Travis Welch 2 (Eagle River)
Josh Mroczkowski 2
Nick Buckarma 2
Brandon Schmitt 2
Dave Bouche 2
Brandon Czarapata 1
Shawn Havel 1
Jesse Krahn 1
Brekken Kleinschmidt 1
John Heinz 1
David Blackberg 1 (ERS)
Eric Mahlik 1
Mike Carter 1
Scott Reinhardt 1
Jeff Steenbergen 1
Mike Mullen 1
Dan Sell Sr. 1
Dan Sell Jr. 1
John Rothmund 1
Jeremy Johnson 1
Chase Parker 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Nate Michonski 1
Dean Maurer 1
Austin Jansen 1
Devin Snellenberger 1
SPORTMOD
Cory Kemkes 8
Coy Vlies 7
Jeffery Teske 5
Elijah Koenig 5
Craig Dorner 5
Alec Wery 4
Colton See 4
Matthew Radtke 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Travis Schmidt 3
Tommy Rindt 3
Cole Thomas 3
Frank Gasperini 3 (ERS, TNT)
Jay Schaalma 2
Robert Wittkopf 2
Cole Magnin 2
Jordan Jahnke 2
Nick Kresbach 2
Zach Raab 2
Tony Gates 2
Max Oreskovich 2
Tom Schneider 2
Cole Slezewski 1
Dustin White 1
AJ Springborn 1
Dylon Waldvogel 1
Colton Van Hierden 1
Jake Carpenter 1
Spencer Long 1
Barrett Hummelmeier 1
Derek Fehling 1
Nick Schultz 1
Rory Welch 1
Mike Plate 1
Matt Avila 1 (Captain of Creek)
Logan Brass 1
Shane Bahr 1
Tim Jorgenson 1
Dustin Wudstruck 1 (Escanaba)
Brian Konitzer 1
Brian Ankerson 1
Bret Widdis 1
STREET STOCK
Paul Diefenthaler 10
Mark Hoepper 10
James Fletcher 6
Shannon Guelette 6
Travis Zirbel 5
Ed Anschutz 5
Jason Geyer 3
Kenny Richards 3
Cory Romenesko 2
Phillip Wuesthoff 2
Mike Meier 2
Nick Wunrow 2
Trey Van Straten 2
Derek Moede 2
Courtney Atkinson 1
Brooke Diefenthaler 1
Jerry Winkler 1
Kyle Gennett 1
Tyler Fox 1
Austin Steinke 1
Brian Besaw 1
Dan Van Pay 1
Russ Davison 1
Jake Binash 1
GRAND NATIONAL
Jeff Richards 7
Josh Pierce 5
Dustin Weiss 3
Taylor Rahn 3
Greg Haese 2
Brad Weiss 2
Maverick Ruh 2
Daniel Schumacher 2
Nick Schumacher 2
Mike King 2
Jake Richards 2
TJ Smith 1
Aaron Streblow 1
Will Schumacher 1
Todd Ascherien 1
Steven Weber 1
Kenny Richards 1
Will Sorce 1
Scott Kafka 1
Chase Solomon 1 (Eagle River)
Jeff Muehlbauer 1
FOUR CYLINDER
James Reese 11
Brian Watzka 9
Scott Schlafke 5
James Riske 4
Cody Booth 4
Adam Broehm 4
Kenneth Becker 3
Brad Wedde 3
Lucas Hacker 3
Dalton Nelson 2
Shaun Bangart 2
Brett Deprez 2
Tanner Westphal 2
Tanner Pari 2
Thomas Schulte 2
Trevor Cronick 1
Taylor Junk 1
Carl King 1
Roland Van De Hei III 1
Justin Finlan 1
Dalton Nelson 1
TJ Everard 1
Nick Everard 1
Al Cottrell 1
Bennett Glidden 1
Ben Schulte 1