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Friday, May 17

Spring has certainly not been great for racing in west-central Minnesota, with several tracks just having one or two nights completed of their 2026 seasons.

I kicked off my local season with a trip up to I-94 emr Speedway on May 17 for the first night of the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series. The wind and sun didn’t make it easy for Don Shaw and the track prep crew, who worked extremely hard to keep the track as racy as possible.

The big news out of the Fergus Falls area is that James Trantina is now the proud owner of the facility. Coupled with the news that he purchased North Central Speedway in Brainerd as well, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of his three-track stable in 2027, as it sounds like things will be status quo for 2026.

The car count in the WISSOTA Street Stock class was very alarming, with only eight cars checking in for the night. The car count in this class has been struggling in various regions of WISSOTA so far, so here’s to hoping more drivers are ready in the next couple of weeks. The Streeters typically put on some of the best racing of the night.

Friday night Kyle Dykhoff continued his fast start to the year with another win. Although I can’t confirm, I would assume he is shooting for another national title this year and is certainly off to a great start. Levi Randt, who looks to be a factor in the national title hunt, finished second.

Over in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods, Tanner Bitzan raced to the win and held off Jake Smith, who is one of the fastest Midwest Mods in WISSOTA so far in 2026. It was fun to see Dusty Peterson back behind the wheel of a race car. I don’t believe he has run much over the past several years and he will be a great addition to the field, if he plans to run I-94 weekly.

Jeff Rohner picked up right where he left off in 2025 and raced to a WISSOTA Hornet win. Rohner looks to be hunting the national title after finishing as runner-up in national points last year. His biggest competitor so far this year season was also in attendance at I-94 —Brady Fosso made the long tow from Hibbing and ended up fourth. I’m not sure how much more Fosso will be down this way this season, but it’ll be interesting to see how the two match up when they race.

It seems that Kevin Burdick has taken a liking to I-94 Speedway, as he held off Tyler Peterson for the win in what was a very entertaining feature event.

It was awesome to see Lance Matthees in attendance. I remember the days when Matthees, Pat Doar, and John Kaanta were the big dogs of the Challenge Series, so to see him in action brought a good dose of nostalgia to this fan.

I felt bad for Todd Frank. Frank, who tows a long way to compete in the Challenge Series races, ended up turned around and wedged on the victory lane blocks after some contact in a heat race. He did not compete on Saturday night at Viking due to the incident.

It was very encouraging to see 32 Late Models in attendance for opening night, with a nice field of drivers currently signed on to run the whole tour. One can only hope that most of the drivers hang on and run at each stop, as it is a nice mix of drivers from all regions of the area.

Saturday, May 16

Saturday night took us to my home track, Viking Speedway. The night was the season opener but also served as the Jeff Hinkemeyer Memorial, featuring the Challenge Series.

Hinkemeyer was a staple at Viking throughout my childhood, and I have very found memories of the No. 4F circling the half mile and getting many racing cards from Jeff over the years. He was also a family favorite with my grandparents, who used to make the trip over from Elbow Lake weekly to attend the races with the family.

There was a definite buzz around the track, and the race was one of the better attended races that Viking has had in recent memory. The outside pit area was full of the large rigs and you could tell that a special night was in store, just by driving in the parking lot.

In talking to track promoter Jeff Crouse over the past week, he stated the night was great for the speedway in many ways, which is great way to start the season.

When I drove in, I noticed a car that was wrapped to match Hinkemeyer’s familiar No. 4F car and I learned that the car belonged to Donnie Lofdahl. It was reported that Lofdahl and his family were close with the Hinkemeyer family and the tribute car looked awesome.

The Street Stocks rebounded in car counts on Saturday with 17 cars checking in, mainly due to the local flair that Viking has. They have several drivers who race exclusively at Viking, and when you sprinkle in the travelers, it makes for a great car count.

Kyle Dykhoff continued his winning ways in the feature event, but the highlight of the evening for me in the class was the return of “Nitro” Jimmy Williams. Williams has been a staple at the speedway for many years and returned to racing after suffering a major medical emergency at the track last season. Here’s to continued health for Jimmy and I hope to see him in attendance weekly throughout the summer.

The run of the night in the class belonged to Eric Riley. Riley lost a muffler and was DQd in the heat race. After starting 17th on the grid, he raced up to second at the checkered flag.

I thought it was setting up an interesting race for the following weekend, to see how Dykhoff, Riley, and the Viking cars stack up when the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour rolled into town over the Memorial Day weekend for its doubleheader.

I was very encouraged to see a full field of 25 Midwest Mods in attendance for a regular night of racing. Again, Viking benefits from having several local drivers and always seems to get a couple of travelers in this class as well.

Landyn Randt, who spent his winter playing hockey across the parking lot for the Alexandria Blizzard, made a late-race pass to steal the opening night win over Travis Engebretson and Canadian Memphis Klassen.

The WISSOTA Super Stock number was down a bit with only nine cars in attendance. The hope is some of the local guys get ready and back to the track over the next couple weeks, as three of the nine drivers were not local drivers and will most likely be at their Saturday home tracks in the coming weeks. Dexton Koch picked up the win ahead of Shane Sabraski.

Speaking of Crouse, he debuted a new Turbine chassis on Saturday night. He had just picked up the car a few days prior. The car had some issues, and he ended up pulling in right after taking the green in the feature. Crouse reported that his team had the car ready to go for Memorial Day weekend.

Dusty Bitzan used a front-row starting spot over in the WISSOTA Modifieds to pick up his first win of the 2026 campaign. I anticipate Bitzan and Brady Gerdes will continue to be the class of the field at Viking in 2026, with Gerdes taking second.

Missing from the field was Jason Thoennes. I did see on Facebook that Thoennes had a family medical situation that caused him to miss the opener. Here’s hoping for the best for Thoennes and his family and hopefully he is back in action soon.

I’m very interested to see how the Viking locals fare with the Northern Lights USRA Mod Tour when they roll into Viking on May 30.

McKenzie Mikkelson made her return to racing action on Saturday night after a couple year hiatus from the driver’s seat. It sounds like the plan is for McKenzie to wheel her No. 13x weekly at Viking, unless husband Ryan is out Challenge Series racing.

Anyone who came to watch Late Models at the half mile did not leave disappointed. The tribute race to Jeff Hinkemeyer featured the missing man formation, and the entire crowd was on their feet holding up four fingers on lap four, which was a sight to see.

Chris Mensen picked up a great heat race win earlier in the night in the Late Models. Mensen was behind the wheel of his familiar No. 53 machine, while Josh Thoennes was in his second car that was adorned with Josh’s No. 51. I’m not sure how much either plan to race this year, but having a couple more local Late Models is always a good thing.

On the track Ryan Mikkelson used a great restart to race past Shane Sabraski and claim his first career Challenge Series win after being snakebitten several times over the past few seasons. Mikkelson reported that his SSR is where it needs to be right now and he was bad fast both nights over the weekend.

Congratulations to Ryan, McKenzie, and the entire 15* team on a job well done. I’ve known the family for a long time, with Ryan an employee of mine for several years at Viking Coca-Cola and McKenzie providing daycare for my daughters. I’m truly happy we were there to see the win.

Over in the Hornets, Rohner and Fosso locked horns again and Rohner came out with another win. Rohner is almost unbeatable at Viking, especially with Kreg Anderson moving up to Street Stocks. He should be able to pile up some wins at Viking in 2026.

A tip of the hat to the track prep crew at Viking. After the track got away from them in the heat races, they went to work at intermission, and the track did a 180 and produced some great feature races. With the curfew at Viking, taking a big swing at the track at intermission can be a very daunting task and they pulled it off and ended the night right at curfew.

Memorial Day Weekend

It’s crazy to believe that Memorial Day weekend is now behind us, as it feels like spring has forgotten to come this year. We were planning on our normal three-day weekend of I-94 Friday and then Viking’s annual doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday, but Mother Nature had other plans.

With Fergus raining out on Friday night, we took some time to get some extra business stuff done so we could enjoy the weekend. We ended up stopping at a local bar and grill and I had a chance to catch up with Bailey Rosch and his dad Shane, who were also trying to fill the time after Montevideo rained out as well.

Rosch has really come into his own over the past couple of seasons and has won a couple track titles and a handful of features. They haven’t raced much this season yet but do have one in at Fiesta City on the season.

I woke up Saturday morning to a deary and misty morning, which really got me wondering if Viking would be able to get the show in on Saturday after the heavier rain that came through the area on Friday night. A quick check of Facebook stated that the track would decide around noon, which allowed us some time to run some errands around town. Slightly before noon, the rainout message came in, but the show for Sunday was on as scheduled.

Sunday proved to be a very nice day with sunny skies and our first summer like temperatures that we’ve seen so far. This allowed Viking to get the second night of the scheduled doubleheader in.

The night was also a special one for the speedway as they honored Colin Nelson, the longtime track photographer who passed away in the off-season. A large contingent of Colin’s friends and family were in attendance and from social media posts I’ve seen, the event meant a lot to them.

The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour took center stage with a lot of WISSOTA’s heavy hitters in attendance. Eric Riley was able to work his way to the front to draw first blood on the tour.

A couple of the early race favorites found some tough luck. Kyle Dykhoff, who has been dominant all year, pulled off with what looked to be a parts failure on the front end of his machine. Jeff Ekdahl also had tough luck as he rolled his car in turn two, causing heavy damage, but by the looks of things as they were on Monday night, the car is being put back together at this shop.

Josh Muzik won a hotly contested Midwest Mod feature. It’s always cool to see the yellow No. 23, as I spent my childhood cheering on Josh’s dad, Ryan, who also used the same color and number combo.

The question in the Hornets this year is going to be whether or not anyone stop Jeff Rohner. Rohner looked poised to pick up another win on Sunday, but his night ended with a tire issue in turn three. Rohner was fast last year, but has showing a whole different level of speed to start 2026.

I was encouraged to see that there were 16 Supers on hand after the single digits last week. It appeared the several drivers are now ready for the season, but the count may suffer over the coming weeks with a couple of local drivers having issues.

Bailey Rosch took a tumble in his heat race, ending his night. Rosch was uninjured in the accident, but it sounds as the team may be in the market for a new car after all the damage.

Ryan Satter made his 2026 Viking debut and won his heat race. It was reported before the feature that Satter would be a scratch in main event, however, due to a blown powerplant.

It’s always nice to see Jordan Henkemeyer roll into town, as he adds another very competitive car to the field. The Affordable boys have always run well in Alex. Henkemeyer drove a flawless race and won in his first Viking appearance of the year.

I mentioned Jason Thoennes missing the opener earlier in the column and also wondered if anyone other than Brady Gerdes or Dusty Bitzan will be able to win a Modified feature in Alex this year. Well, Thoennes turned back the clock and was able to hold Bitzan at bay to pick up the win, one that was very popular with the home crowd. Congrats to Jason and the No. 52 team, who haven’t had the best of luck over the past couple seasons. It was great to see him back in victory lane.

An interesting tidbit, racing at Viking truly in a family affair. There are five Thoennes drivers in the field, including Jason, brother Josh, Josh’s son Talan, and cousin Matt in the Modifieds. Matt’s son Mason is also in the Midwest Mod class this season. Dusty Bitzan is joined by Taylor in the Mods and Taylor, Tanner, and Tyler all race in the Midwest Mods.

That’ll do it for this time. Over the next couple of weeks I won’t likely see a lot of in-person racing. My oldest daughter Rylen has an 18th birthday, graduation, a graduation party, and Miss Minnesota Outstanding Teen Pageant over the next three weeks, but we will try to hit a race here and there as time allows.