The Scoop
LUXY HALL OF FAME RECAP, UPDATED REGIONAL DIRT FEATURE TOTALS & MORE
Posted on: Monday July 1, 2024
83-year-old Jerry Muenster sports a throwback paint scheme for his son Eddie Muenster’s Hall of Fame induction in Luxemburg last Friday. (Lauren Muenster photo)
Many tracks this year have struggled with Mother Nature and this past Friday Luxy Raceway was no exception.
With wet weather canceling shows all across Wisconsin last Friday, the track in Luxemburg, one I had the privilege of working at for 11 seasons, hosted it’s annual Hall of Fame night and track promoter Tracy Thrun opted to push on with the show despite a pesky, light but steady drizzle that continued to threaten the show kept up but not until a pair of feature races were completed.
What’s more the Hall of Fame ceremony went off without a hitch and this year’s inductees were a trio of racers I had the privilege of knowing well and announcing stock car races when they were in their prime and winning a lot of races.
Green Bay’s Eddie Muenster, Kewaunee’s Eugene Gregorich and Greenleaf’s Jesse Colwell were this year’s inductees, The ceremony was hosted by my friend and colleague Tom Wagner, who in my humble opinion is the best in the business when it comes to handling the p.a. at any race track in the area. And Tom’s not an egomaniac or a chest pounder like many of us p.a. announcers are these days. Tom’s custom made for this stuff and he’s also a Hall of Famer. Tom said something during the ceremony at intermission and that being a part of that Hall of Fame is all about the people. He couldn’t have said it any better.
Despite not having raced in many years Colwell, and his brother Jamie Colwell both raced. Jamie won his heat race while Jesse took third in his heat. During the feature Jesse finished a highly respectable 4th while Jamie took an impressive 10th. Cole Czarneski scored the stock car win while the other feature that was completed in the IMCA northern sportmods was captured by Casco’s Coy Vlies. Luxemburg’s Shannon Guelette picked up the Unified Dirt street stock win while the other main events were washed out by Mother Nature.
The track was near flawless, wet and heavy. It reminded me of an early 1980’s racing surface with plenty of bite. 141 Speedway track prep guru Merle Lisowe has been helping out the team at Luxemburg with the track prep and it shows. Great racing surface. During the heat races – especially in the sportmods you could hear those crate motors hitting the chip oftentimes before the flagstand. There wasn’t much lifting at all and it was cool to see.
It was great to see so many familiar faces there. The new flagman, former racer Jarred VanLannen, is getting his feet wet in the flagstand. And a huge shoutout goes to Steve Haen, who’s taken over the reins as heading up the Hall of Fame stuff that goes on at Luxy. Well done friend! Keep up the great work!
This week Luxemburg has canceled their planned races for Friday, July 5 and switched it up to Wednesday night, July 3. Tough call and tough situation either way. The decision in part prompted by the fact that the truck/tractor pulls in nearby Sugar Bush typically draw a large number of locals. So the races at Luxemburg this week will be on WEDNESDAY NIGHT and we wish Tracy Thrun and his staff all the best with that show Wednesday night this week.
NEVER TOO OLD – When most folks get into their ’80’s they really start to slow down. Not Jerry Muenster. The Green Bay driver who’s 83-years-young scored a heat race win in his IMCA modified at Shawano Speedway Saturday night. Also at Shawano Hortonville’s Travis Van Straten captured a “Too-Tough-To-Tame” IMCA stock car series win. The victory for Van Straten was his 132nd career in IMCA stock car action. Van Straten sits third among all time Wisconsin winners behind Rod Snellenberger and Brandon Czarapata, respectively.
TOP TEN ALL TIME WISCONSIN IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE WINNERS AS OF JULY 1, 2024
Rod Snellenberger, Pulaski, 223
Brandon Czarapata, Pulaski, 137
Travis VanStraten, Horicon, 132
Jeremy Christians, Horicon, 107
John Heinz, Green Bay, 86
OUTAGAMIE DIRT KINGS – The Dirt Kings late model tour rolls into Outagamie Speedway in Seymour Friday, July 5 for the mid-summer showdown. The track’s regular divisions will also be in action and a fireworks show will cap off the night’s action. Racing at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds gets underway at 6:30 p.m. You can check outagamiespeedway.com for more information.
TERRY VAN ROY MEMORIAL – The annual Terry Van Roy Memorial race will take place at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek Saturday, July 6. The grand national class, a division of which Van Roy was one of the pioneers, will pay $1,409 to win. A huge bike giveaway will also take place. The track’s regular divisions will also be in action with racing starting at 6 p.m.
SPORTMOD BUSCH SHOOTOUT – Kroll Machine and Fab is sponsoring the Busch Shootout for sportmods Saturday, July 6 at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. In addition to the sportmods, stock cars, unified dirt street stocks and four cylinders will also be in action. A 6 p.m. start time is set for John Miles Park in Sturgeon Bay.
MSA sprint cars will make their 2nd appearance at Eagle River Speedway Saturday, July 6. (flintography.com)
EAGLE RIVER SPEEDWAY – Two nights of racing action will take place this week at Eagle River Speedway in Eagle River. Tuesday, July 2 a full night of action capped off by fireworks will take place beginning at 7 p.m. On Saturday night, July 6 the second annual Open Wheel Madness will take over the third-mile tri-oval, with an appearance of the MSA 360 sprint cars. Joining the sprinters will be the 300 and 600 micro sprints, Milwaukee Vintage racers along with B mods. For the B mod drivers to the south this is an opportunity to test the waters at Eagle River when many people won’t have to get up quite so early the next day as most will be off of work.
Start time for Saturday’s show will be 6 p.m. Check the track’s Facebook page for race day information and weather updates.
KARTING KORNER – A fireworks display will cap off the night of racing Wednesday, July 3 at GSR Kartway in Clintonville. The karting and lawn mower racing program gets underway with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. Check gsrkartway.com or the track’s Facebook page for race day, weather updates.
Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park in Cecil will be quiet this weekend as there is no racing this Friday. Weekly Friday night racing is scheduled to resume Friday, July 12 for Raddant Electric night.
PAVEMENT PONDERINGS – A stout field of 40 entries is set for Round 3 of the All Star Challenge Series for Pro late models at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna for the “White Race” Thursday, July 4. NASCAR truck series regular Ty Majeski from Seymour will be in action wheeling the Chase Motorsports 47 car. Majeski won the Red race back in June. A 6:30 p.m. start time is set for the “Thursday Night Thunder” program which will be capped off with a massive fireworks display.
TUNDRA TIME – The TUNDRA super late model series swings into Dells Raceway Park Saturday, July 6 for the North American Cup race. Joining the TUNDRA super lates will be the 602 outlaw late models, sportsman, Bandits, Sixer Nation street stocks and HSRA. Qualifying is set to commence at 4:30 p.m. with the first race taking the green at 6 p.m.
Remember to get out and support your local short track IN PERSON whenever possible. Streaming online is fine if you can’t make it. But NOTHING can replace being there in person.
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WIN TOTALS 2024 (as of 6/30)
(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 3
Brett Swedberg 2
Mike Mullen 1
Nick Anvelink 1
Brad Mueller 1
Mitch McGrath 1
Ron Berna 1
Justin Ritchie 1
Tom Naeyaert 1
Taylor Scheffler 1
MODIFIED
Benji LaCrosse 5
Cole Czarneski 4 (UMP mod win)
Marcus Yarie 3
Konnor Wilinski 2
Johnny Whitman 2
Marcus Hoeppner 2
Skylar Woods 2
Jayden Schmidt 1
Shawn Kilgore 1
Lucas Lamberies 1
Dan Roedel 1
Will Garceau 1
Cody Afelbeck 1
Jason Czarapata 1
Steve Mueller 1
Derek Janke 1
Greg Gretz 1
Steve Schneider 1
Joel Crowbridge 1 (Wilmot)
Chris Pigeon 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Scott Barnharst 1
Jeff Schmuhl 1
Cody Schroeder 1
Geoff Jeche 1
Kyle Strickler 1 (BDR)
Tim Ward 1 (141)
Jordan Bartz 1
Kewaunee native Luke Lemmens picked up the $1,000 top prize in IMCA stock car action at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek Saturday. (danlewisphoto.net)
STOCK CAR
Mitch Meier 5
Trent Nolan 3
Benji LaCrosse 3
Rod Snellenberger 3
Cole Czarneski 2
Tyler Wilson 2
Travis Welch 2 (Eagle River)
Josh Mroczkowski 2
Tim Warner 2
Nick Buckarma 2
Kenny Richards 2
Jeremy Christians 2
Travis Van Straten 2
Luke Lemmens 2
Brandon Czarapata 1
Kyle Frederick 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Dave Bouche 1
Shawn Havel 1
Brett Wenzel 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
SPORTMOD
Cory Kemkes 5
Elijah Koenig 4
Alec Wery 3
Jeffery Teske 3
Matthew Radtke 3
Coy Vlies 3
Colton See 2
Travis Schmidt 2
Cole Thomas 2
Frank Gasperini 2 (ERS, TNT)
Jay Schaalma 2
Robert Wittkopf 2
Craig Dorner 2
Dustin White 1
AJ Springborn 1
Nick Kresbach 1
Tommy Rindt 1
Tony Gates 1
Dylon Waldvogel 1
Colton Van Hierden 1
Jake Carpenter 1
Cole Magnin 1
Max Oreskovich 1
Spencer Long 1
Zach Raab 1
Barrett Hummelmeier 1
STREET STOCK
James Fletcher 6
Mark Hoeppner 5
Paul Diefenthaler 5
Travis Zirbel 3
Jason Geyer 3
Kenny Richards 3
Cory Romenesko 2
Courtney Atkinson 1
Nick Wunrow 1
Brooke Diefenthaler 1
Ed Anschutz 1
Phillip Wuesthoff 1
Shannon Guelette 1
GRAND NATIONAL
Dustin Weiss 3
Josh Pierce 3
Greg Haese 2
Brad Weiss 2
Maverick Ruh 2
Daniel Schumacher 1
TJ Smith 1
Aaron Streblow 1
Nick Schumacher 1
Jeff Richards 1
Will Schumacher 1
Todd Ascherien 1
Steven Weber 1
Mike King 1
FOUR CYLINDER
James Reese 5
James Riske 3
Brian Watzka 3
Scott Schlafke 3
Dalton Nelson 2
Lucas Hacker 2
Shaun Bangart 2
Brett Deprez 2
Kenneth Becker 2
Trevor Cronick 1
Adam Broehm 1
Taylor Junk 1
Carl King 1
Tanner Pari 1
Tanner Westphal 1
Roland Van De Hei III 1
Brad Wedde 1