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As far as the racing itself, we saw some new winners and vets make trips to victory lane. Young Levi Randt was the first winner, taking the Street Stock feature. An opportunity opened up when race-long leader, Andrew Hanson, broke while in the top spot. He had seemed unbeatable to that point. Randt moved up in the last going and after the long yellow when Hanson slowed, Randt smelled blood in the water and he quickly closed in. After a good battle with Weston Ramsrud, he took the lead and the win.

Ramsrud had a good run of his own with his well-seasoned car but he simply couldn't get it to turn late in the race. The track started to develop a bit of character and Randt was able to drive under him for the win.

Hanson defied my predictions of a move up to perhaps a Super Stock for 2025. I figured he’d want to race in a class that allows him to race closer to his home area, where Streets don’t currently run. I am more than happy to welcome him to race among the Streeters yet however, since many of the track’s I visit each week offer them and he is always a top competitor and clean driver.

What a nice opening night win for Denis Czech in the Super Stock feature. While he started on the outside pole, he more than earned the win, having to hold off Shane Sabraski over the last six laps after a late race yellow packed the field. Czech, whose car looked just as it did when he loaded it last fall (the racing scuffs of 2024 are still on it), ran very well. His handling of the bumps made the difference in the win. Joey Jensen looks like he will be very fast again in 2025 in both his Super Stock and the Midwest Mod, which was the next class out on the track.

I was happy to see Tommy Bawden move up to the Super Stocks. Long one of the “King Pins” in the Mod Fours and a former WISSOTA National Champion, it was time for him to test the waters in something different. I predict he will soon be right up front in the Supers in his area, making the field of drivers in this strong class even tougher.

Speaking of Jensen, he stole a win from Jason VandeKamp in the Mid Mods after a late yellow set up a three-lap dash to the finish. I believe Vandy would have been home free without that last yellow, but sometimes that’s the way things turn out. Those two exchanged slide jobs in turn four on the last two laps and Jensen was able to nip Vandy by the narrowest of margins. In fact, from where I was sitting, I thought VandeKamp had won — it was that close. You can count of both of these drivers to be among the biggest winners when the season is completed.

There was plenty of competition for them too, as Haley Dykhoff, Ashton Schulte and David Swearingen all had their moments during this race as well. This class looks to be loaded once again.

TPO appears to be set for another big year in the Late Model class. After waiting for things to settle down early on in the Late Model feature, he then began picking off drivers one by one. Before you knew it, he was in the lead and pulling away from the pack. It was his second win of the season — third if you count Arizona, and he looks like he will be very strong once again.

What a great night for Jack Koranda. He led laps in a heat race, led his first laps in a feature race, and got a top-five finish, and it was his first laps in the Late Model class. That's a pretty impressive opening night statement. High-riding Josh Zimpel and Dave Mass also put on a good performance during the opener.

Remember how fast Landon Atkinson was at the end of 2024? Well, it appears that he will pick up right where he left off after he had another strong run at the Big O on Saturday. He didn't win, but I believe he would have if he hadn't hit a bump while leading and rolled the nose up under his car. Though he couldn’t turn well, he soldiered on for fifth at the finish; he was much faster than that, however, with his VanderBuilt chassis.

Eventual winner Jody Bellefeuille, who seems to run better at this track than any other, used the inside line, found a good groove for himself, and steadily drove past the field to get the win.

Joseph Thomas looks like he will be very fast this year as well. His father Corky and Uncle Tim have stepped back from racing, at least temporarily, and have put together the team. They have a CDR chassis, perhaps one of the first to hit this local market, which is doing very well in other parts of the country.

The Hornets wrapped up the night with their main event. They had only a dozen cars which might be a bit concerning to management; at least half of the field were cars from the Twin Ports and Hibbing. They certainly won't be there weekly, but perhaps a bunch of locals aren't quite done yet with their cars.

In any event, Anthony Jensen won a hard-fought race for the win over Nikota Larson. Larson had a great rookie season in 2024 and looks to be even faster this year.

Only one complaint from opening night: could we please finally fix those speakers in turn four so we can hear Scott Tiefs?

It was a good, solid night of racing and an excellent way to kick off 2025. Thanks as always to the Wagamon family and Nate Fischer, as they kick off a season that is plumb-full of special events.

Friday, April 25

WISSOTA Auto Racing in the Central Lakes region of Minnesota kicked off on Friday night, April 25th, as I-94 emr Speedway started their season.

When I arrived at an earlier time than normal and drove toward the pit gate, I was surprised to see a cloud of dust in the air and the sound of high-powered race cars roaring around the track. I immediately panicked, thinking the show had been moved up to be an afternoon race, although that wouldn't have made a lot of sense on a Friday.

Then I saw the practice scheduled for Thursday night was postponed by persistant light rain and was rescheduled to 3-5 p.m. on Friday. Now everything was making sense.

A considerable number of drivers had either stayed over on Thursday or arrived early on Friday; there was quite a group of drivers and teams already in the pits and they were giving the track quite the workout in the sunshine. There were a considerable number of practice sessions that continued until they shut it down later and started the process of preparing the track for racing action. It was quite a job — the sun, wind and cars had done quite the number on the track, but they have the personnel and equipment to get the job done. By the advertised race time, the track was ready.

Following the practice sessions Street Stock driver Dylan Arndt loaded up his car after presumably having some kind of serious problems and removed his name from the entries for the evening.

By race time, 129 drivers were on hand in the six WISSOTA classes, and 143 in total. Surprisingly, the Late Model field was the largest, with 28 of them signing in to race.

One of those drivers on hand, Hendricks, Minnesota’s Charlie Olsen, was not able to race Saturday — he had the school prom on his dance card. A rainout for his track-and-field team allowed him to come race at I-94 on Friday night. He tells me that he is among the top 24 in the state of South Dakota in his featured event, which allows him entrance to the upcoming state meet in Sioux Falls. He runs the mile, an event that I also participated in several light years ago. The difference in that they time Charlie in minutes, and they used to clock me with a sun dial! Olsen later had an excellent run in the Late Model feature, coming from 12th to finish in the top five.

It was good to see Travis Saurer back in a Late Model, and there were several other new faces in this class. Certainly, it seems to be healthy in this region. It was also good to see that Travis' dad Ron did not retire, as had been rumored last fall. He was back racing in the Mid Mods.

It was a busy night of racing, with 27 events on the card, including seven feature races. They did an excellent job getting the track redone and ready for racing action at 7 p.m.

Considering the big track that I-94 is, I was surprised they divided the heat races up into such small numbers, like six or seven cars in a heat, when Fergus can easily handle 10 cars for a heat, with no problem. It was pointed out to me that perhaps this was done because now there are heat race points again, and smaller heats may give as many drivers as possible the opportunity to earn maximum points. I will have to check on that.

While the heats went relatively smoothly, there were a few significant developments. Ryan Satter clobbered the wall with his Super Stock, ending his run early. Trevor Nelson also found the back wall in his Super Stock heat, while Brent Pulskamp — back in WISSOTA racing after an absence — met the frontstretch wall just after getting the green flag for his Modified heat. Dylan Zabel also found the wall in a Modified heat. All cars were able to return for main events and the way the field was distributed, no B-features were necessary.

They redid the track for the main events. This took a bit of time but was well worth the effort, as they provided a good track for all seven main events. There were a few humps that developed in turn three, and they spent just a few minutes on that area. After that, there were no problems. The track provided good racing action and drivers raced multiple lines.

The Street Stocks had the fastest track, as it was freshly prepped when they ran their main event. They responded with a nonstop, 20-lap main. Kolton Brauer started on the outside pole and jumped to a big lead early; it looked like this race was going to be a runaway. Cole Greseth and Levi Randt gradually worked their way forward, and heavy traffic began to hold up Brauer. As a result, things got mighty exciting in the last few laps. Greseth caught the leader and the last laps were wild as they fought side by side as they also continued weaving through heavy traffic. They split a slower car on the last corner and Brauer edged out Greseth by the slimmest of margins in what turned out to be a dandy race. Randt finished third, which is another strong finish by him early on this season. Kyle Dykhoff and Jeff Ekdahl completed the top five.

With Lucas Rodin on the pole, the Midwest Mod feature might have seemed like it was going to be a battle for second, but not so Friday. Nate Reinke is one of the few drivers who runs as well here as Rodin, and as the defending champion here, likely has a lot of confidence about what he can produce here.

Jamie Norman is a longtime racer here and still yearns for the first feature win. Friday night he almost got it, leading a number of laps before Rodin was finally able to get past him. However, Reinke was very strong as he raced forward from the third row and after a good battle, Reinke prevailed. This race as the only feature of the night to get bogged down, as six one-car spins slowed the action.

All 28 Late Models drivers started the feature and that made for quite the traffic jam, with lapped traffic a real challenge. These drivers should have taken a pill to settle them down before the start of this race, as many were driving like it was $100,000 to win. There were some wild moves and some less-than-stellar actions taking place on the track.

After a first-lap spin slowed the action, the last 24 laps went green to checkered. It was hair-raising, as there was a marked difference in the level of speed between some of the fast and slower cars. Somehow, they managed to avoid a huge wreck, which I was fully expecting.

Tyler Peterson got out front early and managed to avoid much of the wild action, as he drove on to a feature win at his fourth different track already this year. He had a healthy margin on Josh Zimpel, who also drove a very fine race. The battle for third was great, with about a half dozen drivers in the fray. Jayson Good, Cole Searing and Olsen eventually taking those spots. Zach Johnson had been in the mix until he hammered the wall and Chad Becker in that same fight.

I'm not allowed to feel sorry for a driver but if I could, it would be William Lund. He took off in the Super Stock feature and had built up a big lead. Shane Sabraski started sixth and while he might have been the fastest car on the track, it took him until the halfway point to move into second. The way the two leaders were running, I don't believe Sabraski would have caught Lund for the lead. But the yellow flew when it really didn't have to, and on the restart Sabraski made short work of Lund. Lund held on for second with Dylan Nelson third. Bailey Rosch had a fine run in fourth, and Trevor Nelson came from 14th to complete the top five.

Rodin is always one to beat in the Mid Mods, but his Modified program has struggled just a bit over the last couple years. He has raced that car under various sanctions, but when he tried to run WISSOTA, he just didn't quite have what it took. That was, until last year, when he decided that the Mod would be a WISSOTA car only.

Tonight he prevailed for the Mod win after a great battle with Landon Atkinson, Brady Gerdes and Tyler Peterson. Most of this race was very entertaining, with the leaders swapping lines.

Gerdes and then Atkinson both took the lead at various times, with Rodin still right with them. After Atkinson took the lead with only seven laps to go, it seemed like Rodin just got up on the wheel a bit harder and flat out drove the wheels off his car, racing around Atkinson and then holding off every challenge for the win. With Atkinson, Gerdes, Sabraski and Joseph Thomas next in line, that is a pretty healthy field of challengers.

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