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WISSOTA Modified racing and Jay McDonald have been synonymous for as long as WISSOTA has been an organization. Think of all the great Modified drivers who have used J-Car chassis over the years — and all the notable races drivers using his chassis have won. McDonald’s recent announcement that he is retiring from building race cars marks the end of a long era of success for the chassis builder from North Dakota.

And even in recent years, during which some of the mass-producing builders have taken over much of the market, McDonald still had a few cars out there with top-notch wheelmen racing them to victories. I wish him good luck in retirement, but I suspect he will still be seen around the track from time to time.

I’m sad to report the news that Tony Johanneck passed away this fall. When he and his son Brady were racing the Late Model circuit, I used to enjoy stopping by their rig and chatting. Tony always seemed to have some good stories to tell. Condolences to the family.

With the WISSOTA banquet in the rearview mirror, this time of year marks one of the slower times of the racing season. Unless, of course, you are buying or selling race cars, getting new motors built, rounding up existing sponsors for 2026 or securing new ones for next year, building your track’s 2026 schedule, or a wide variety of other racing-related things.

Come to think of it, there really isn't much off an offseason anymore, even at the local track level.

As far as actual racing competition goes, racing is mostly limited to the Gateway Dirt Nationals, held at the Dome at America's Center the first week of December, to officially close out the 2025 season.

As this race increases in popularity, there are some WISSOTA drivers who enter the competition and a whole host of drivers and crews who attend this race as spectators. It's crazy that you travel all those hours down to Missouri and run into all kinds of familiar faces either racing or roaming the pits and grandstands.

Both open Late Models and open Modifieds race in this event inside the Dome and drivers from the WISSOTA region raced in both classes. Some ran their cars just as they raced them this past summer, while others made some changes, mostly having to do with bigger motors for this event, even though it is raced on a tiny, fifth-mile oval.

It is an honor to race in this event, as competitors in both classes are selected to attend. They have so many drivers who want to satisfy that once-in-a-lifetime chance to race at the dome, the number of entries would be staggering if they left entry open. As it is now, they have the Late Model drivers submit their name if they want to race, and then a “draft” is done by race promoters where they select the drivers who will be allowed to race. This limits the total numbers to around 130, with more than 600 applying.

Because this is primarily a Late Model event, the number of Modifieds is limited even more, with a total of about 60 selected from those who apply.

This year, the WISSOTA Late Model drivers participating included Tyler Peterson, James Giossi, Jeff Provinzino, Layla and Amelia Eisenschenk, Dan Ebert, James Trantina III and Parker Gilbertson.

Peterson was also one of the few drivers running both classes. Ryan Gierke, Blake Adams and Aaron Johnson were other WISSOTA Modified drivers on hand.

Despite the fact that this race is renowned for being a car killer with accidents and mechanical issues flaring up often, many of the drivers on hand put new wraps on their cars. Many of them had a special theme either for the holidays or in tribute to a previous race car driver.

Peterson had a throwback Rocket chassis-themed wrap for his car that was highly praised, and Ebert's Dick Trickle tribute car was also popular. When Trickle raced, Ebert's father Russ was a key part of his crew.

Provinzino had an interesting theme to his car, with the Eisenschenks and Gilbertson celebrating the holidays on their cars. The Best Appearing Car by vote in each class received $1,000, and Tyler Carpenter won the Late Model class with a strong online vote by West Virginia cronies gaining him the winning edge.

The racing at this event is highly competitive and also very physical. Many crashes and incidents of door banging take place over the course of three nights of racing, and often it takes just a lap or two to turn the finest looking car into a pile of junk. It is high stakes racing and a lot of luck is involved to avoid the crashes and the crazies to just finish — let alone win.

The field is split in half during the two qualifying nights, and then everyone gets one last chance on Saturday to make the big show. Only 21 drivers in each class get to run the final feature, so just making the main is a reason to celebrate for many. Lots of money is on the line, with the Late Model winner taking home $70,000 and the Modified winner $20,000. However, it is high risk, high reward kind of racing.

This year Ebert was the only WISSOTA Late Model driver to make the Saturday night feature, while both Peterson and Adams made the show in the Modifieds. Ebert was racing near the top 10 in the feature when a flat tire ended his night, and he was scored 16th.

Peterson, a former winner of this event in the Modifieds, always seems to be the best from our area at getting around the tiny bullring. During this year’s Dome event, he was one of the top gainers of the night once again, coming from 10th in the 30-lap Modified feature to finish a strong fourth. He was still moving up when the checkered flag flew.

Adams completed a remarkable rookie season in the Modified class by finishing 10th in the feature. He had to have been one of the very few drivers all weekend who wasn't backward on the track at some point, and he also had next to nothing in terms of damage to his car. For a teenager, he drives with a remarkably clear head.

Most of the other drivers on hand had issues or damage inflicted by others to report for their efforts. The Eisenschenks kept having folks spin in front of them and knock off their noses; Cody Skytland reported they had come prepared with three of everything as replacements in the pits. The Eisenschenks will be racing in Arizona in January with their Late Models, while both will also have 410 Sprints available for next summer.

Peterson reported that he had his success with the Mod using his WISSOTA motor, with no big cannon under the hood. He is also going to be racing in Arizona next month.

Giossi, Provinzino, Trantina and Gilbertson all experienced issues as the week progressed. Provinzino nearly went over after getting shoved up into the wall by another competitor, while Giossi was thrashing even before racing began on Thursday with some surprise rear end issues. Gilbertson got by pretty clean on qualifying night, but had his share of issues on Saturday.

I discovered the car Gilbertson was racing was actually Rusty Kollman's car, with substitute tin on it. Kollman was hoping that nothing too bad happened, as he hopes to race that car in 2026!

Trantina told me he is hoping to race his Late Model much more in 2026. He has been so busy there was no news to report about Granite City Motor Park at this point.

Gierke looked good early during both programs, but he was crashed out of the action on Thursday, while on Saturday he was moving up before he had a tire speared from behind on a jumbled-up restart. As I said, luck is just as important as skill at this event, particularly when it comes to the qualifying order. All cars time and being out early before the track wears out is important.

Kevin Adams reported they have changed their mind and instead of racing in Arizona, they will be going to Florida where UMP races have been announced. This also allows them to fulfill their promise to Blake to race in Florida if he won three features in 2025.

Aaron Johnson produced a lot of attention to his car in the pits with a sign on the nose of it, that later was borrowed by Adams for his introduction on Saturday night.

Chad Fouquette tipped they have purchased the Longhorn Late Model that Harry Hanson raced last year, and with a new motor ordered they plan to have two cars available for 2026. However, any decisions on racing the full Challenge Series schedule will be made after the schedule is revealed. Harry, meanwhile, will have a pair of new Infinity Late Models for next year with 525 crates.

I saw many WISSOTA racers and families on hand, including Don Eischens, Ron and Trevor Anderson, Mike Greseth, Tommy Richards, Scott Bintz, Ryan Olson, Jake Smith, Josh and Mike Johnson, Sam Fankhauser and Paul Suzik. And I'm sure there were many, many more, as it’s really difficult moving around too much among the thousands on hand. According to reports, there were more than 30,000 in the stands on Saturday alone.

Information about the area racing scene for 2026 has been slowly trickling out, with still many more questions than answers at this point. Several tracks had their season-ending banquets already this fall, but schedules have been slow to appear.

I do know Rice Lake has scheduled their banquet for February 21 and with venues for such events hard to come by, they have moved to a different location for 2026. The St. Croix Casino in Turtle Lake will be hosting the event this time around. This should actually be rather exciting, and certainly the folks at the casino know how to put on a banquet correctly.

Rice Lake has also scheduled their car show for March 27-29 at Rice Lake's Cedar Mall, where I assume the Rice Lake Speed Pit Kart track racers will also be a part of the proceedings. They are very fortunate to have this venue available and have maintained a long-standing tradition with this car and kart show. It is nothing but free advertising for the track, the race teams and all the sponsors who appear on race cars. I can't believe more tracks don’t try to offer something like this to drum up early season interest in their facilities.

A schedule for Rice Lake hasn’t been released yet, although a few special events involving traveling series have been publicized.

I am told Simon Wahlstrom is parking his Modified until it sells, and while I haven't heard yet if or what class he might be racing in 2026, I do know he is building a new Pure Stock for whatever that is worth.

I have concerns about the Modified class and its numbers, as I have heard a few drivers who may not race in that class in 2026, while the number of new drivers moving up is, so far, at zero as far as I know.

This column marks the end of another racing season. Many thanks go out to all the drivers, teams, track owners, promoters, workers, sponsors and fans who have helped to make this another good season, even though it did have some rocky moments.

The good Lord willing, the plan is to start off 2026 by heading to Arizona for some racing and then on to Florida. I'm not sure just how many familiar teams will be in action. There have never been many local Late Model teams who travel to Florida, especially in recent years, and now with Arizona racing also featuring open-motored race cars, there may not be many WISSOTA guys in Arizona, either. Sometimes a few Modified teams switch over with different tires and motors, but in recent years that region’s X-Mod rules put the WISSOTA racers at such a disadvantage that the numbers in that class, which used to be spectacular, have now dwindled to very few.

Despite another early season snowfall just wrapping up outside, if I can cultivate some motivation, next month's report will also include some numbers on what the 2025 racing season looked like for me.

Happy holidays to all.