The Scoop
SEYMOUR LEFTOVERS, STURGEON BAY OPENS & WIR “TUNDRA TIME”
Posted on: Monday May 12, 2025
Rookie James Fletcher (75) works the bottom groove with Chris Pigeon (29) and Daniel Wilcox (30) in opening night, IMCA modified action at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. (danlewisphoto.net)
Finally, Mother Nature released her grip of crummy, Friday weather and both Outagamie Speedway in Seymour and Luxy Raceway were able to get their respective, opening nights in over the weekend.
I was on the call at Seymour, and the field of cars was decent (161) and there were two grooves of racing at the third-mile, clay oval. Although many of the heat winners emerged from the front rows, it was not the case in the main events as there was plenty of passing and multiple lead changes.
The crowd was pretty solid I’d say at Seymour. Enough to pay the bills at least.
The late models were there with 17 total, and that field got decimated quickly in the heat races as a couple of cars clobbered the frontstretch retaining wall. Shawano drivers Troy Springborn and Jarrid Curtin blasted the wall. Both were retired for the night and Curtin needed a pair of wreckers to tow his disabled machine off the track.
With Shawano having only four late models in attendance Saturday, it’s no secret that the division may be in trouble in terms of overall car count. The days of teams griding it out and never missing a race are long, long gone. Multiple factors are at play, too. Life simply gets in the way. Whether its weddings, illness, lack of crew help, soaring costs, etc. A few teams chased a WISSOTA-sanctioned show in Minnesota.
Now, more than ever, the dirt late model teams are very picky as to when and where they race. Drivers vote with their haulers – and it is really magnified with the late model division.
And the problem with that is as fans, we notice it a lot more because Shawano is the only track on the eastern side of the state that hosts the class weekly. Plymouth has their Super Six Series and you’ve got Dirt Kings, too.
What’s the answer? That’s the toughest question. There needs to be some true leadership within the division, and to somehow, someway rein in the costs. And that’s never easy. Is the genie already out of the bottle? Hard to say. Nobody wants to be “The Boss” and being someone in charge of anything always comes along with some headaches. But right now, the dirt late models in eastern Wisconsin seem to be like an abandoned ship that’s just making circles out in the ocean.
In other news, Jeremy Christians scored his 111th and 112th career IMCA stock car feature wins over the weekend.
The Horicon veteran won the feature Friday night at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington. Christians followed that up with another “W” at Shawano Speedway Saturday night. At 141, second-generation racer Race Van Pay scored his first career IMCA modified feature win. Race is the son of longtime, late model and IMCA modified veteran R.M. Van Pay.
DIRT DEVIL – Veteran pilot Brian Gilles topped an impressive, 39 car grand national field to capture the Dirt Devil series race at Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds. The next series event is slated for Friday, May 16 at Gravity Park USA in Chilton. Props to Brad “JJ” Mueller for getting this deal up and running, as the division is left with just two tracks hosting the class (Plymouth and Chilton) as far as weekly racing goes.
PDTR SUPER SIX SERIES – Seymour’s Mike Mullen captured the Super Six Series late model feature at PDTR. 17 late models were in attendance. The next series race is scheduled for Plymouth on May 31.
Two Rivers’ Brett Wenzel is the defending stock car division champion at The Hill Raceway.
STURGEON BAY OPENER – The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay will kick off it’s 2025 season this Saturday, May 17 at 6 p.m. a John Miles Park.
The track’s four core, weekly divisions include non-sanctioned stock cars, sportmods, Unified Dirt street stocks and four cylinders.
The defending track champions at the third-mile, clay oval include Manitowoc’s Brett Wenzel (stock car), Brussels’ Jason Geyer (Unified Dirt street stock), Brussels’ Craig Dorner (sportmod) and Cleveland’s Scott Schlafke (four cylinder).
Among the special events on tap for the Sturgeon Bay oval in ’25 include the first ever appearance of the Dirt Kings Tour late models Thursday, August 14 and the second annual appearance of the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw sprint cars on August 31.
For additional information, please check out the track’s Facebook page.
OUTAGAMIE SPEEDWAY – All police, fire and emergency personnel will receive free grandstand admission as the track will be honoring their heroes on Police, Fire & Emergency Services night at the races. Street stocks will battle for a $600 top prize. The first green flag flies at 6:30 p.m. at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds in Seymour.
141 SPEEDWAY – 141 Speedway in Francis Creek will host the CJ Joski Memorial race Saturday, May 17. All five of the track’s divisions will be in action. The first race is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m.
KARTING KORNER – GSR Kartway kicks off it’s 2025 season Wednesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. The Clintonville eighth-mile, clay oval plays host to both kart and lawn mower racing. GSR will also host a handful of AMA District 16 flat track motorcycle races Saturday, June 28 & Sunday, June 29.
For additional information, check out the track’s Facebook page for weather-related, raceday information or visit the track’s website at gsrkartway.com.
A reminder that Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park has switched it’s weekly, karting racing program to Sundays at 2 p.m. in Cecil. On Sunday, May 18 P & D Sales and Service and Tweet Garot Mechanical are sponsoring the day’s action.
If you’ve never caught a race at either of these facilities, make sure you do! Defintely bucket list stuff, and you can catch the future stars of stock car racing at both tracks.
PAVEMENT PONDERINGS – It’s “TUNDRA TIME” with the pavement, super late model series kicking off it’s 2025 season this Saturday, May 17 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna.
The TUNDRA opener caps off a three day, Spring Classic weekend of action at the WIR. It all starts out Thursday, May 15 with the annual pre-season pit party. That event is FREE to the public and provides a great chance for fans young and old to head down into the pit area and mingle with the teams who will compete during WIR’s action.
On Friday night, May 16, The WIR ¼ late models will take center stage. Also in action on Saturday will be the Wisconsin sport trucks, super stocks & four cylinders.
On Saturday, The “Bear 96” will be run with super late models tackling the D-shaped, half-mile, paved oval. The “Bear 96” race will dole out a $6,000 top prize to the winner.
Pro late models will scrap in the “Albuertor 28” for a $1,000-to-win race. Camping is permitted on the grounds. Check the track’s Facebook page and also tundrasuperlates.com for additional information.
Neenah’s Braison Bennett won the super late model feature at Marshfield Motor Speedway Saturday. (Braison Bennett photo)
Neenah’s Braison Bennett, wheeling the Coleman Racing Products #119 super late model, captured that division’s feature at Marshfield Motor Speedway Saturday.
Remember to get out and support your local race track IN PERSON whenever possible. Because a promoter cannot sell concession items to someone who’s sitting at home on their couch.
2025 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 5/11/25)
(Tracks included, but not limited to: Outagamie Speedway, Gravity Park USA, Luxy Raceway, 141 Speedway, The Hill Raceway, Plymouth Dirt Track & Shawano Speedway. We’ll also include feature wins by N.E. Wisconsin drivers scored at other tracks, including out-of-state and series victories. These include both IMCA sanctioned & non-sanctioned wins)
LATE MODELS
Nick Anvelink 1
Troy Springborn 1
Taylor Scheffler 1
Mike Mullen 1
Andy Karl 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Johnny Whitman 2
Benji LaCrosse 1
Todd Dart 1
Marcus Hoeppner 1
Cole Czarneski 1
Joel Seegert 1
Tony Wedelstadt 1
Geoff Jeche 1
Race Van Pay 1
Tanner Janke 1
IMCA STOCK CARS
Cole Czarneski 4
Tyler Wilson 4
Jeremy Christians 2
Benji LaCrosse 1
Nick Buckarma 1
Trent Nolan 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Phil Mott 1
Trentin Bell 1
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 2
Cory Kemkes 1
Dustin White 1
Cole Thomas 1
Ryan Schmidt 1
Jordan Jahnke 1
Jim Zdroik 1
Jeffery Teske 1
Brady Harshbarger 1
Tim Warner 1
Jake Carpenter 1
Spencer Long 1
AJ Springborn 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Paul Diefenthaler 2
Trey Van Straten 1
Cory Romenesko 1
Shannon Guelette 1
Austin Steinke 1
Derek Moede 1
Jeff Richards 1
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 1
Jeff Muehlbauer 1
Jake Richards 1
Brian Gilles 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
Adam Broehm 2
James Reese 2
Seth Collar 1
Brian Watzka Jr. 1
Ben Schulte 1
Thomas Schulte 1
Dalton Nelson 1
Cody Booth 1
Clint Malueg 1