The Scoop
KYLE CALMES – “I HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS AT WIR”
Posted on: Tuesday February 23, 2021
Freedom native Kyle Calmes will race his Ken’s Sports-sponsored Lefthander/Toby Car during WIR’s “Thursday Night Thunder” action in ’21. (JS Designs photo)
Kyle Calmes readily admits he’s got some unfinished business to tend to at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin in 2021.
The 35-year-old Freedom native walked away from his super late model racing program a season ago at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna – opting instead to attend his son’s little league baseball games on Thursday nights.
After baseball was done on Thursday nights Calmes would often hustle to WIR to catch the balance of the racing program.
The difference was in ’20 he was in the grandstands as a spectator, watching. He wasn’t in the pit area with his number 9 racer and the team. Instead, he was watching Darboy racer Mickey Schallie wheel the car Calmes had battled with the season prior. “WIR has been a part of my life on Thursday nights forever but I hadn’t been a spectator in the stands since I was 13 years old,” Calmes admitted. “I’ll admit it was tough.”
The decision to walk away after the ’19 season was due to destroying two cars which wiped out his chances for a track championship. The carnage all occurred within the final three weeks of the season. “The last three weeks of the ’19 season were rough,” Calmes recalled. “We were third in points with three nights left and those wrecks occurred. The second one left me with a pretty good concussion.”
With a head injury and the team financially ruined from wrecking two cars, Calmes opted to walk away. “We had put 100 percent into that 2019 season and after those wrecks it just took the wind out of my sails,” Calmes said. “After last year I decided I didn’t want to finish my racing career on a note like that.”
Hank Calmes and Schallie mutually parted ways last summer after some wrecks occurred. “They had a budget planned and after some crashes it wasn’t going as well for them as they were both hoping,” Calmes said. “More money was needed to put into the car to keep things afloat.”
With two nights remaining on the Fox River Racing Club (FRRC) season Calmes decided to climb back behind the wheel to help Dad finish out the year. While the second to last night was washed out Calmes qualified the final night of racing seventh and finished seventh in the feature. “It was sort of like riding a bike,” Calmes confessed. “I felt good during hot laps. But when August rolls around you quickly realize how much better everyone gets during the course of the season.”
Evidence of that was Calmes admittedly got caught “snoozing” on restarts and racing in traffic. “You can practice all you want but you can’t practice the actual racing conditions and especially on restarts,” Calmes admitted. “I was a little bit off the mark in that department. After a few laps we felt fine.”
While Calmes’ stress level had greatly subsided while watching from the stands he admitted he would rather have been down in the pit area in the thick of things. “Up on the hill sure it’s easier to enjoy the night but at the same time you want to be down where the action is. I’m coming back because I truly have unfinished business because I didn’t want to end my racing career the way it wound up in 2019.”
With that said 2021 will be Calmes final hurrah at weekly racing. “We’re chasing the points title for sure this year,” Calmes said. “Dad wants to always have a race car so down the road we may still race Red, White and Blue and some other specials. But as far as me racing weekly at WIR this year is it.”
Hank Calmes owns the cars and remains the driving force behind the race team. Like Kyle, Hank was a mini champ and sport truck racer for many years. “Between my Dad and our sponsors they are the ones who keep this whole deal alive financially,” Calmes admitted. “I just put in some time and work on the cars. (Racing) is just as much his passion as it is mine. We both need the closure so to speak. That’s why we’re going for one more track championship chase.”
The car the team will utilize will be the same Lefthander/Toby Car that Schallie drove in 2020. As far as who Calmes expects to be his toughest competition on Thursday nights, the cast of characters remains the same.
“You’ve got at least eight drivers or more who have what it takes to win the Thursday night title at WIR,” Calmes said. “To start with Bobby Kendall plans on defending his track title. He’s always strong along with Brent Strelka and Sawyer Effertz who also had some good runs last year.”
According to Calmes a couple of veteran drivers and past champions also still have what it takes to win it all. “You can never count out Jeff Van Oudenhoven or Lowell Bennett every year,” Calmes said. “When those guys get their cars figured out they’re as tough as anybody. Same thing with Andy Monday. And Taylor Vandermoss is another young gun who’s shown improvement and will be a challenger weekly this year. And the Chase Motorsports 47 car with Braison Bennett this year will turn some heads. It will be a challenging year all season long for us.”
According to Calmes a good portion of the team’s crew members plan on coming back in ’21. “I’ve also got a few phone calls to make to get some of our team members from way back too,” Team members who are returning include Hank Calmes, Tom Schlimm, Dave Ring, Randy Conrad, Nathan Hofacker, Eric Bombinski, Calmes’ sisters Dana Calmes and Emily Pfrang and Calmes’ son Mason Calmes will be helping this year.
Team marketing partners who’ll be back on board include Ken’s Sports, Verkuilen-Van Deurzen Funeral Home, Calmes-Verkuilen Construction, Brew Pub Pizza, Sign Country and Bougie Roofing. “We’re excited for the weather to break so we can get out on the track and practice,” Calmes said. “We’re ready to give it our all to get the track championship.”