The Scoop
EDDIE ‘THE EAGLE’ TO LAND ON TRACK & ANNOUNCER’S BOOTH IN ’21
Posted on: Tuesday March 23, 2021
Ed Anschutz enjoys a win in victory lane at ‘The Burg’ with daughter Brylee and his fiance’ Carrie. (danlewisphoto.net)
“The Eagle” Eddie Anschutz will continue to ‘land’ at area dirt tracks in 2021.
On Friday nights “Eagle” plans on landing in the announcer’s booth where he calls the action over the public address system at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour.
When Saturday night rolls around Anschutz will attempt to add more career wins to his current total of 71 feature flags battling in the ever-growing Unified Street Stock division at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek.
Now in his 24th season of climbing behind the wheel, Anschutz calls Two River, Wisconsin home. “We’ll race 141 weekly and still support the program in Luxemburg a few Sunday nights too,” Anschutz explained. “I’m friends with the folks running that track and I want to support it whenever I can.”
For Anschutz and many others, the Unified Street Stock class still provides somewhat of an ‘old-school, build-your-own-stuff” type feel that is tough to come by in this current era of short track racing. “With the rules package you can still put a street stock together fairly affordably,” Anschutz said. “If you wind up running any of the IMCA divisions chances are good you’ll wind up going down to Iowa or somewhere else and forking out some big money for a chassis. For about one-third of the cost you can put together a street stock and still be competitive with it.”
Anschutz knows this. He’s still able to put his 20-year-old race car into victory lane. “We’ve been running on a tight budget for many years now, so we’re used to getting the most out of our equipment,” Anschutz explained. “So long as the car is straight and isn’t too bent up you can still race competitively on a budget.”
It wasn’t that long ago in northeastern Wisconsin that the street stock division was on life support. “If you look back to the late ‘90s and early 2000s this division was struggling at the local level,” Anschutz said. “Luxemburg had a completely different set of street stock rules than Seymour Tri-Oval did, for example. That’s all changed now for the better. Some nights you’d have single digit car counts.”
Former racer and car builder Gregg Herrmann of Branch, Wisconsin has been the driving force behind unifying the rules packages for the street stock class. “We’re now up to nine tracks in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that are all on the same page as far as the rules go,” Anschutz said. “Last year close to 250 drivers earned points in this class at all three tracks.”
One thing the street stock class offers for the fans is true parity. “You do see more of the older body styles and that’s pretty cool,” Anschutz said. “You can watch a ’55 Chevy race against a 2010 Monte Carlo. The older stuff is allowed the way the rules are written up and it benefits the class and the fans.”
The car Anschutz will wheel in 2021 has quite a bit of history to it. “When (former racer) David Baenen passed away he willed all of his racing stuff to me,” Anschutz said. “The car is a bone stock ‘79 Pontiac Grand Prix body we gutted. It’s an old car Tim Van De Hei used to race. It was built in Dave Bouche’s shop. The car is a good piece Dave calls FAST chassis.”
When Anschutz straps on his helmet there are a number of drivers he expects to be tough. “Two-time champion Jesse Krahn will have a new Outlaw car he’ll be very fast in,” Anschutz predicted. “Adam Crapser should be tough along with Dave DeGrave and the Richards boys. I’d even throw Marcus Moede and Shannon Guelette in the mix as well. This class is so tough you’ve got over one dozen drivers that can win any feature on any given night.”
Anschutz is a former IMCA hobby stock champion where he scored an estimated 35 sanctioned victories when tracks in Luxemburg and Sturgeon Bay hosted the division weekly in the 2000s. “You do have more grip with the tires in the street stock class running on the Hoosier G 60 tire,” Anschutz said. “The same principals apply, and you just try not to spin your tires. We can grind and sipe our tires and I try to get eight to 10 nights on my tires. I wind up getting a lot of runoff tires from (IMCA stock car driver) Luke Lemmens. A lot of street stock guys buy runoff tires to keep the costs down. You can buy them for either five bucks or a piece or sometimes 20 bucks apiece.”
Like any racer Anschutz confessed he was a little wild in his early days behind the wheel. “I really didn’t figure out how to truly drive a race car until 2003,” Anschutz admitted. “My first seven years I was really driving out of control. I really didn’t know much at all about setups and stuff. Knowing what adjustments to make after a heat race before a consi or a feature has been the biggest game changer for me.”
Anschutz is blessed with a pit crew which consists of family and friends. “This year I’ve probably got the biggest number of crew members I’ve had in a long time,” Anschutz admitted. “Jason Gillis is my main crew guy who’s there every week and Joe Orsini is helping out. He’ll be racing himself this year too.”
Other crew members who assist include Anschutz’s uncle Jon Arndt along with his fiancée Carrie and daughter Brylee. “Brylee is with us every other weekend and is always a big help loading up the trailer, helping with tires and lending a hand in the shop,” Anschutz said. “It’s looking more and more like she may race herself someday. If she really wanted to spend time behind the wheel I’d step back and support her in that endeavor.”
Anschutz’s team marketing partners includes Ryan Mueller Racing. Fuelish Designs, Carter Construction, Whisky D’s, Robinson Incorporated, Vlies Electric, Jet Finishing and Woodwork, Baril Engine, Gnome Games, Sall-Mar Resort, Evan Madden Small Engine Repair and Carrie Stenzel Color Street. “We also want to thank Larry and Cheryl from Tri County Heating for being a long-time sponsor with us too over the years,” Anschutz said. “All of our sponsors are great, and we couldn’t do any of this without them.”
Announcing on Friday nights before racing himself on a weekend can serve as both a curse or a blessing for Anschutz. “You kind of get to see who the fast guys are heading into the weekend but honestly that can work against you,” Anschutz said. “That’s because you can actually psych yourself out a little bit. You know how many races they’ve won in a row. You know of their current stats because as a track announcer that’s what you do. So that information can get inside your head a little bit. Whether it’s in the stands, or the announcers tower its all the same.”