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Friday, September 26

Ever since the particulars for the 50th anniversary of the Red Clay Classic at ABC Raceway were announced, there has been a buzz in the racing community and a lot of excitement. The anticipation of the event continued to grow throughout this 2025 season.

This race has always had great support from drivers and fans and for many teams, this was the grand finale to the racing season. In recent years, more races have been added to extend the racing season into October, but the Red Clay Classic is still the wrap-up to the racing season for many.

The somewhat isolated nature of Ashland and the race track also seems to have helped form a bond between the community and the track. The support from businesses has always been strong for this race, with that reaching new heights also this year. With a total purse of more than a quarter million dollars on the line, it’s an amount not likely to be seen again anywhere in this region. I believe it was likely a once-in-a lifetime event and the spectacular weather made it even more memorable.

I was able to talk to ABC Raceway president Eric Erickson for a few minutes, just as I arrived. We talked mostly in general terms but he did confirm there is a strong chance he may be stepping down from his post this year, citing some health issues and scares that have given him pause. Thirty-seven years I believe he said he has devoted to ABC and that's a long time to be doing anything. But the same old problem that continues to plague club-run tracks — and has caused many to fold — is lack of folks interested in stepping up to take over key jobs. Honestly, who can blame them? Rewards are small and criticism considerable, no matter what or how good the job is done. But there is no job worth risking your health over, especially one that pays so poorly.

Most folks were expecting record turnouts in competitors and fans, and they were spot on. The grandstand was packed for the opening night of racing, even though the local high school was playing football at home.

The number of campers has continued to rise at most of the year-end events, as more and more folks go that route. It could be because the local motel and hotel owners have unrealistic price demands, and Ashland has always been difficult in that regard. But there were campers everywhere this year, jammed into any nook and cranny available. The pits were also overflowing.

Extra space was made available in neighboring fields, though a few were dicey due to conditions. There were plenty of pit spots where the track couldn't even be seen! I heard no reports of any driver missing their heat, but there were a few times when extra laps had to be taken to allow everyone to get on the track after they caught a red light on Highway 2 and were delayed getting to the racing surface.

The old car count records were smashed, but I will leave it to Nick Gima to report the particulars. There were 75 more drivers on hand for this year’s race than last year. That is a remarkable increase.

It will probably be a very long time until 260 drivers are seen at an event in just four classes, and likely a long, long time until you see more than 60 Modifieds and Late Models at one race. A huge purse, generous start money for the features and nonqualifiers, and great weather all mixed together to produce this outpouring of support.

On top of the regular racing action, a past champions’ race was part of the show on Friday and that brought in a few more teams and drivers who might not be racing otherwise. This added four more races at the end of the night for Friday, making a total of 28 races for Friday alone.

Here are a few of the changes and updates I observed, and perhaps in some cases, a preview of what 2026 will look like.

Steve Laursen recently purchased a Late Model from Jake Redetzke and it was his first outing with the MB car. In fact, they were just replacing the No. 27 graphics with No. 19 graphics in the pits before the races. Laursen was one of those in the past champions’ race, which provided a nice guaranteed check for the weekend. He also made the feature for Saturday through his heat race run, something a whole lot of drivers didn't accomplish.

Shawano’s Troy Springborn debuted a brand-new Longhorn Late Model for this event, with his MB staying in the shop this weekend. With eastern Wisconsin Late Model racing seemingly in a state of uncertainty and flux, I was somewhat surprised to see a veteran like Springborn make such an investment in his future. The car was fast and he later won a heat race, but the story ended in disappointment when he was then DQ'd for not having a muffler.

As he usually does for the Red Clay, Kevin Eder was running a Modified for the Wagamon team here, as teammate to Clayton. On Saturday he passed up a nice starting spot in a Modified B feature to instead focus on the Late Model — but that later turned out well for him.

Jesse Glenz, with a guaranteed spot in the past champions’ Modified event, raced Calvin Iverson's Modified as well as his own Late Model.

Rich Bishop had a guaranteed spot in the Super Stock race, so even though he has raced just once this year in a Street Stock, he and Rob Gresk put together a Super Stock with the help of Fast Lane so he could race this weekend.

Mitch Kieber returned to the racing wars this weekend in the Mid Mod class, after not racing at all this year. This was always a big race for his late father, however, and an appropriate time for him to get back on the track.

Mason Musel had his own Midwest Modified to race this weekend after sharing a car with his sister Mia for most of the season. They raced previously at Gondik Law and Proctor in 2025.

Les Duellman was on hand with the Kyle Runkle tribute car, having passed up racing a B-Mod at another event in southern Minnesota this weekend, instead preferring to run the Runkle car here.

Arkansas’ Jeff Taylor was on hand to race in both the Midwest Mod and Modified classes this weekend. Taylor, a noted car builder and driver from the Razorback state, often flies in to random locations to drive local cars. I assume someone from this area hired him to come run their cars and perhaps offer tips, but I was never able to find where they were pitted so that's all I can tell you on that subject.

Joe Swearingen focused on his Super Stock this weekend, leaving the Midwest Mod back in the shop in Eau Claire. He has found that running two cars is a chore, particularly with a small pit crew.

With no Street Stock races to run in the area, Parker Anderson raced a Super Stock for what may have been his first time, driving a second car for the Terran Spacek team.

Another stranger back on the track this weekend was Robby Bunkelman. He drove a Modified with his familiar No. 00 on it. I believe he has raced one time previously this year, but this was the first time I had seen him in action.

The Ayotte team had two Modifieds racing this weekend, and Andy Jones was behind the wheel of a second car for them.

Derek Vesel had his throwback tribute scheme still on his Late Model to honor his father Steve, and it was my first chance to see that.

It was 13 years since Mike Goodremote was behind the wheel of a race car, but there he was, driving the No. 1 Late Model for Jerry Brummond. It wasn’t just in the past champions’ race, but Goodremote also attempted to qualify for the Saturday night feature. Goodremote was offered the ride for more races this fall but he bowed out. I believe that if someone offered him a Friday night ride next year at Red Cedar, however, he just might bite on that.

In upsetting news, Jason Swan — father of Kennedy and one-man army for the racing team — suffered a heart attack the previous Monday and had surgery on Tuesday. He did miss this weekend's racing, but Kennedy arrived in tow with Will Moelter to race. She made the show for Saturday.

According to Kennedy, Jason was scheduled to get out of the hospital on Sunday but will likely have a considerable recovery time before he gets back to work.

A scary moment occurred during the racing program on Friday when flagman George Bowers was dropped by some flying debris. He received immediate care, and eventually he was able to stand up and walk down the stairs to the ground and into an ambulance. Since I sit in a booth at ABC with an ex-flagman of note, it is always interesting to get his take on a subject like this. While he said there are some limitations, I sure think every flagman should wear a helmet when they’re working.

George was able to return to the flagstand on Saturday. Jumping in as a quick replacement for the rest of the program on Friday was the “Wild Animal” John Kallas, who did a fine job.

Man, with all the grief he gave flagmen over the years when he raced, it seems so ironic for him to be flagging. Strange days indeed!

The program got off on a tough note when, during the first hot lap session for Midwest Mods, Bobby Carpenter pounded the frontstretch wall, nearly tearing the fuel cell out of his car and ending his weekend before he could even take a green flag.

Fuel was also an issue for Super Stock contender Tim Johnson; his fuel cap was not attached to his car when he went to start his heat race. He had to leave the track, which put him in the back of a B feature, a near death sentence this weekend, given the numbers of cars and strength of the B features.

It was decided the Late Models would time trial for their starting spots in the heat races, instead of just drawing numbers. This is something that was never done before here at ABC. The idea was likely broached because the Challenge Series qualifies through time trials, and that method seems to be in vogue these days. They also decided to invert three drivers for each heat, then took the top three out of the heats for the feature, which I thought made the invert more a punishment for the quickest driver in each heat, rather than rewarding them for being fastest in their group. I have to admit I didn’t understand that process.

Ashley Anderson was the quickest timer at 14.708 seconds on a hammer-down track.

The other three classes used the draw/redraw method of setting the line ups for Saturday night's feature races. We can have the discussion all night of the relative merits of passing points vs. draw/redraw, but here they prefer draw/redraw no matter how many drivers they have. It’s something they have always done and prefer to continue. This makes the draw incredibly important. Every driver in the pits will likely tell you that the draw makes up a large part of the weekend and your fate can be predicted by what you drew for your heat. Twelve or 13-car heat races, when only three move on, can be brutal.

The fact is, with the level of competition and volume of cars on hand, good drivers are going to be left in the pits come feature time, no matter what system is used.

About half the heat races were won from the front row, proving the point that starting up front is important. It also showed that with some luck and a really fast car, sometimes a poor draw can be overcome.

As you might expect, the heat races in all classes were more than intense. The combination of big heats, a lot of money on the line, and in some cases, over-zealous driving, led to a number of crashes and there was a lot of damaged equipment by the end of the night.

There were also five DQs, four of which took drivers out of the feature races and ended their weekends. Ride height, mufflers etc. were all part of the issues.

For the past champions races, poor Nick Gima (the track announcer) didn't have about half the names and was trying to guess who was driving what; Nick’s one of the best in the business, so he did all he could with the information available.

A personal issue for me is smoking in the grandstands and although they did make an attempt to curb it, announcing that vaping and smoking in the grandstands was not allowed and those people needed to exit the grandstands to do so, many people ignored that.

Smoking is not allowed at other sporting and public events and folks seem to have adapted okay to the change. I wish people would have been more respectful and followed the rule.

For the 87 percent of us who don't smoke, and for the kids on hand who have to breath that fouled air, this is an important topic. We’d love it if tracks enforced this type of rule so people learn to abide by it.

Minor issues aside, the opener of the Red Clay on Friday was spectacular. A great crowd and a packed pit area made this night a hit and surely memorable, setting up Saturday's finale.

Saturday, September 27

The 50th annual Red Clay Classic at ABC Raceway concluded on Saturday, September 27. It was another glorious fall day with perfect weather to conclude this huge event. Every seat was taken and extra seats were created.

It was a night full of pageantry, drama and a lot of money was exchanged. The number of bonuses for various deeds and misdeeds was tremendous and I gave up trying to figure out who won what. All I know is that a lot of racers went home with a fine check for their efforts.

About 30 drivers did not return for Saturday night's festivities, even though the start money for the B features was very generous. Some had mechanical issues and wrecks that kept them out, some had disappointing efforts or results they felt they couldn't overcome, and a couple high-tailed it to other races that were offering double shows. Trevor Nelson was one of those drivers; he barrelled all the way back to Aberdeen to race on Saturday.

Among the notable drivers who did not return, the group included Kaden Blaeser, Neil Balduc, A.J. Diemel, Travis Budisalovich, all three Corbetts, and the aforementioned Nelson.

The B features were like mini features with only two drivers advancing to the main event in each class. Twelve to 18 drivers started them, depending on scratches. They actually went smoother than I envisioned. Most had less than two yellows per event, with only one Super Stock race that was caution-happy.

There were two DQs in the B mains; Mikey Blevins, the only roll over victim of the weekend, also returned Saturday after his tumble Friday.

After the B features were completed, there was a lengthy break before the feature races hit the track. The track was almost completely redone for the four feature races. This was, however, completely needed and a good call. Then they put together a “parade” of the feature qualifiers in the first three classes and conducted out-of-car introductions. That can be a nice touch, but it does consume a lot of time.

There were plans to parade the Late Model drivers and introduce them as well, but that was eventually nixed because it was getting too late; they just lined them up and dropped the green flag.

The four feature races were not necessarily instant classics and will probably be best remembered by those directly involved, but they were by no means bad races, either.

All four ran off smoothly with few yellow flags and plenty of long, green flag stretches of racing. Particularly impressive was the Modified feature: they only had a single yellow flag, with the last 34 laps going green.

It’s not often when a single driver dominates a race of length but in three of the four classes, there was one driver who was head and shoulders above the rest of the field. That can make the races less than memorable sometimes, except for the fans of that winning team, of course.

The local race fans were beside themselves in excitement when two of the four winners were weekly regulars; a third no longer lives in town but still bleeds Ashland purple!

The Midwest Mod feature got off to a very strange start when Michael Blevins, Sr., scheduled to start on the outside pole, pulled off during pace laps after he lost the driveshaft from his car. The race then took a bit of a shaky turn; the top surface of the track dried out during the driver introductions, so when the green flag flew, a huge cloud of dust was kicked up and hung low to the ground. Drivers had difficulty seeing the track and many slowed rapidly. Somehow they avoided a huge pileup. The race was stopped to water the track and then they blew it clean with some hot laps.

Racing then settled down, with Tyler Vernon coming off the pole and quickly pulling away from the pack; it seemed no one could keep up with him. Nick Koehler ran second for a while, but was eventually passed by Michael Truscott. He ran well but a sudden mechanical issue put him into the infield and he was finished.

The field was all running pretty competitively; even though the last 18 laps ran green, there was not a single lapped car for Vernon to deal with, as he raced comfortably in front. Ryan Savoy and David Swearingen dueled for second, sliding for that position back and forth. Farther back Jake Smith, who wasn't even in the top five at the mid point of the race, slipped into second late, as those two continued to battle each other. Savoy eventually grabbed third ahead of Swearingen, with Paul Ripley nipping Koehler for fifth.

Vernon improved his chances for a national title with the win and took home $4,550 for the win, with bonuses calculated.

The Super Stock feature was by far the most competitive, with three different leaders. Adding to the excitement, the winning pass was executed with just five laps to go. It also saw some stunning developments that opened the door for Steve Stuart, who started way back in the eighth row.

Tristan LaBarge was the early leader and held the point for four laps before Shane Sabraski, who started right behind him, was able to drive by for the lead. Dexton Koch was on the move, too; he took second shortly after and began challenging Sabraski for the lead.

Meanwhile, Shane Kisling and Stuart, who both like to pound the cushion, found that line to be fast and gradually worked their way forward. By the halfway point of the race, those two were up to third and fourth.

Traffic started getting heavy, with both Sabraski and Koch having to do some fancy driving to get through the slower cars. Sabraski was stuck on the bottom and when he realized he needed to be up the track, he made contact with a slower car and spun entering turn one.

He went to the tail and that gave the lead to Koch. A pileup on the restart stopped the action again and in a key move back under green, Stuart squeezed past Kisling and that gave him a clear run at Koch.

Koch still held the lead when the last yellow waved with just six laps to go. Under the green, Koch didn't push hard enough entering turn one and he let Stuart slide him for the top spot without a challenge. Koch tried to get back under Stuart, but Steve was too strong on the cushion and took the win — or so it appeared Saturday night. Curt Myers made a late charge after starting 20th and he was able to work his way up to third at the finish. Joey Jensen came from 18th to finish fourth with Terran Spacek completing the top five. Unfortunately for Stuart, his engine was protested and it was announced in the following days he did not pass tech inspection.

Koch earned $7,500 for his win.

Darrell Nelson dominated the Modified field, a rarity for a big event like the Red Clay. This hasn't been his best year in the open wheel cars, but he certainly had his car perfect on Saturday.

He started on the pole and led the entire race. There was never a time during the 40 laps where he didn't seem to be in complete control. Even when he got into lapped traffic, he made all the right moves and never let runner-up Jody Bellefeuille close up at all on him. In fact, Nelson seemed to get even stronger as the race progressed and built his lead to nearly the full length of the track. Tyler Vernon ran second early but Bellefeuille quickly overtook him and then chased Nelson the rest of the way.

There was only a single yellow and the last 34 laps ran off green, but that didn't hinder Nelson. The slower cars actually helped him pull away.

Brady Uotinen made a fine run, starting 10th and working his way up to third after he got past Vernon. Jesse Glenz also made a determined charge in the second half of the race and ended up fourth. There was quite the celebration in victory lane for Nelson, with many family members on hand and his crew. The win was very popular with the fans, also.

Nelson is a living legend in the Twin Ports and every win now is extra special for him, given the health issues he continues to fight successfully. It seems to have made him much more introspective and he doesn’t seem to take so much for granted, which we all are guilty of doing.

Nelson took home $11,050 for his win.

Kevin Eder has been a driver on fire for the last month or so, winning big races week after week and inserting himself into conversation as one of the best Late Model drivers in the area. That continued on Saturday as he dominated the Late Model 50-lap main event. He drove a smart race and was aggressive when he needed to be. He also knew when to back off, when the track surface provided additional challenges.

Gunner Frank jumped ahead of Ashley Anderson to take the early lead, with Anderson and then Eder closing back in to challenge. The drivers, having a sense the track might lock down, were trying to make their move early. Eder, after challenging hard for several laps, finally got past Frank on lap nine to take over the lead.

After that, despite three yellows that bunched the field, Eder drove an excellent race to take the win. By about lap 15 or so, the track started to rubber up and the drivers quickly headed for the low groove. Still, there were lots of laps left and Eder drove smartly, not using his car up and making the right moves when needed. There was still action taking place throughout the field.

When Adam Ayotte got steered into the wall with just four laps to go, track officials wisely called for a single file restart, the only fair thing to do.

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