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Friday, May 1

After a one week delay due to the uncooperative weather, Red Cedar Speedway started its season Friday, May 1. This is the 53rd season of racing at the Dunn County Rec Park on Menomonie’s east side, located right off Highway 12.

Despite the calendar flipping over to May, it still felt like late March Friday night, even with the sun shining. Winter weather gear was the race attire of the night for the hardcore race fans on hand.

New to the speedway this year is an all-new PA system and it’s a vast improvement over the old one, which was used for many years.

In the infield, a new scale has been installed and it sits more toward the middle of the infield. This placement allows the next race to get on the track and going rather than having to wait for the cars to scale and get out of the way.

While the scale seemed to be working very well, not so for the scoreboard, which was black all night. Perhaps not everyone cares about that, but for me, I need to know laps. Scott Tiefs usually does a good job stating the number of laps completed after a yellow flag, and starter Sean Cimfl also gives the halfway signal to the drivers. However, the scoreboard is very helpful to those of us needing to track laps.

As far as the racing itself, the USRA Late Models have been added as a sixth weekly class to the race program. The Street Stocks and Hornets will now race fewer nights because of this. Trying to run a seven-division program with a curfew is just a recipe for failure. More on the time limit situation later.

Due to scheduling, the WISSOTA Late Models were off for what turned out to be the opening night. There was another Late Model race not too far away. Nowadays, I assume the reason they don't run on the same night is because they’re afraid they might be missing some fans that will travel to the larger open show in the area. It surely isn't because of drivers missing—contrary to the days of old, there was only one driver in the field who may have raced at Red Cedar that was at the other event. Red Cedar might want to rethink their position on that matter when scheduling.

One can never predict just what kind of car count will turn out at any track from week to week. The racers were late arrivals Friday, and it looked like the numbers might be a bit disappointing at first. Then the seas parted and the rigs started pouring in. They ended up with a fine field of 114 drivers in the six classes, four of which were WISSOTA sanctioned.

The open-wheeled classes were particularly impressive, and the 28-driver Modified field was absolutely stacked. I can’t imagine a tougher field, except for some of the fall specials. When they started everyone in both features, it made for some wild racing action.

The flood gates from the Canadian border into Minnesota were wide open this week as well, with an impressive number of drivers from north of the border on hand and eager to race. The racers reported spring is very slow in its entrance to their world and there is still snow in the ditches. Everything is still very wet. The prolonged cold weather hasn't helped and many are predicting the opener at Thunder City, scheduled for May 20, will likely not happen as scheduled. I counted nine Ontario teams on hand to race.

A quick tour of the pits revealed some interesting changes. Landyn Randt was on hand with a brand-new MB Midwest Mod after his car was destroyed very early this season with a wall pounding at a nearby track. Randt said he was sore for days afterward from the force of that hit, but is fine now. He was making some very early runs back and forth in the pits, as the car had never been driven before.

Unfortunately, the new car also seems attracted to the concrete outer walls just like the old one, and hard contact with the wall in the feature sent him limping to the infield.

It was great to see “Fast” Freddy Prudoehl back for another year of racing. Certainly one of the oldest drivers in WISSOTA at 84, Prudoehl has to drive up to Red Cedar to race his Streeter because no tracks near his home base—Winona, MN—race them anymore.

When he's not experiencing mechanical issues, Midwest Mod driver Brady Larson has been fast. Unfortunately, those issues have either forced him to watch races from the pits or drop out early. Again on Friday, he never made it on to the track for racing action.

The Haas family was strongly represented on Friday, with four of them racing in the Midwest Mod class, led by patriarch Steve. Derek, Craig and rookie Calin were also racing Friday.

Another Anderson is now racing in the Super Stocks. Tate is sporting the numbers and colors of the other side of his family, running the No. 22AT made famous by the Hillmans, including his grandpa Jan and uncle Ben.

Ryan Gierke was a surprise visitor on Friday, pulling all the way from Villard, MN to race. Red Cedar was probably the closest track for him now that Fiesta City Speedway—which was also running its opener—doesn’t race Modifieds. It’s also close to the SSR headquarters in Spring Valley, where his car was built.

David Simpson plans to race more Modified events this year, although he still has his Midwest Mod. He only brought the Modified along this go-round. The team bought a new stacker just this week so they can haul both cars, but it wasn't quite ready to be used just yet. Simpson would complete the night with a solid top-five finish later.

Chippewa Falls car owner Dale White is back in the game, full force. Long a supporter of A.J. Diemel’s efforts in running an open Modified, with periodic WISSOTA performances, White had the Mod out for Friday night's opener. They will also have a new Late Model that Diemel will run. Those who have been around awhile remember that White was once a Rick Hendrick-type of Late Model owner, with up to three cars running at the same time before he scaled back.

Certainly the race of the night was the Midwest Mod feature. Twenty-seven drivers started the event and it had just one lone yellow flag early in the race. As you can imagine the traffic on the track and the goings-on were wild, to say the least.

It was worth the price of admission alone to watch Blake Adams and Nick Koehler come tearing through the field. Many of the drivers were hugging the inside line, while both Adams and Koehler moved up to right where the berm was building up and they flew to the front.

The race ended up providing one of the wildest finishes so far this year. Adams caught race-long leader Paul Ripley and second-place runner Travis Anderson, as the trio came for the white flag. Adams made a bold move to the top side, passed both Ripley and the slower car in the middle, and then drove onto victory. It was a dandy race. Adams came from 13th for the win and Koehler from 17th to fifth. Just as amazingly, only two drivers failed to finish.

Lots of times, you can go weeks at a time and not see a flip. So tonight, not only was there a flip in the Super Stock feature but on the restart, another driver flipped on back-to-back laps! The unlucky participants were Sean Geiger and Cole Chernosky. With the clock ticking and curfew on the doorstep, this race was checkered with only two laps completed, no doubt pleasing winner Steve Stuart—but upsetting every other driver in the field.

The Modified feature was squeezed in just as the curfew was set to “gong” the night of racing. Kaden Blaeser started up front and led the entire distance, taking the win in his new car. I was not expecting Calvin Iverson to be on hand and not in a new car, but there he was and he ran strongly, getting past Matt Leer and taking the runner-up spot.

Leer, by the way, has shown some good speed early this season, despite the fact that he is running a Skyrocket, one that he has had for a couple years. This race also was shorted due to time constraints. The Late Model, Modified and Super Stock features all had to be shortened, plus the Hornets never saw the track for their main event. That feature will be added to some other night this season.

With six classes racing every night and all likely to have full fields of cars, the time issue will continue to be the No. 1 problem for Red Cedar officials, as it has been for years. Sometimes in the past they have been guilty of spending too much time on track prep at intermissions, but I felt they kept it to just a few minutes on Friday. For the most part, it was a combination of too many wrecks taking too long to clean up and the clean-up crew didn't have their best night ever.

In any event, hopefully the fans will cut them just a bit of slack, along with the racers, for an opening night that definitely wasn't what track officials hoped for.

Hopefully, things will run much more smoothly next week which, by the way, is an absolutely free night to all spectators and will include WISSOTA Late Models as a part of the show. That is quite the deal.

Saturday, May 2

The second night of the 2026 racing at Rice Lake Speedway was held Saturday, May 2. It was a nice night for racing and warmer than it has been for most shows so far this year. The regular five divisions of racing were on tap, along with the first visit of 2026 for the USRA Late Models.

With 100 cars on hand the car count was quite adequate, but quite a few local drivers who were regulars last year have yet to show up. I'm left to wonder what is going on with that. If they aren't racing in 2026, things might look a little sparse in the pits when the northern tracks begin to open up. There were about a half dozen teams from Canada on hand, along with three teams from Michigan. Thanks to them for coming.

One of those Michigan drivers is George Dalbeck. He was pretty proud to report that in his long racing career, the car he drove Saturday was the first-ever new race car he has ever had. He bought himself a new MB Customs and has also gone away from the crate motors that he used in the past.

He continues to sponsor a number of other drivers in addition to racing his own. He will be continuing his Dalbeck Sales Bonus in 2026 at every track he races at. He never takes money from the track. Instead, his pay gets set aside and then a number is picked. Whoever finishes in that position gets whatever Dalbeck made. He told me he’s in the sport for the win stickers only, and the money is irrelevant. For not having had any previous laps on his new car, he ran pretty well and drove to a top-five finish.

Cole Chernosky had a pretty good night with a pair of third-place finishes in the Modified and Super Stock class. What was probably more impressive was that the Super Stock was on its lid on Friday at Red Cedar and they were still finishing up the fixing process on that car on Saturday after they arrived.

The Canadian drivers are looking more stout than ever. Rick Simpson showed up to make his first run of the year and then finished a solid second after battling it out with Chernosky. For the second straight night, David Simpson had a top-five finish in the Mods.

Perhaps the best driving performance of the night was carried out by Hunter VanGilder in the Street Stocks. He was behind the wheel of Courtney Rose’s Street Stock in a last-minute decision. Not only did he lead laps in the feature, he finished in a solid second place. I don’t believe he has ever driven that car before and he didn't make a mistake all night. Except for the speed Shawn Amundson showed in driving past him on the outside, he might have won the feature.

Steve Hallquist provided the surprise of the night. After racing his black car last week and on Friday night, he showed up with a brightly painted blue and yellow car. I didn't make connections with him before the night was over, so I will have to get more info on this for next week.

My favorite tow vehicle of the year so far showed up Saturday. Using a ramp truck that probably is used for hauling cars, the Treviranus Racing Team had three Pure Stocks lined up end to end, which made for quite a sight. They also had a second trailer to haul their Street Stock.

Their night’s results were decidedly mixed. After leading the Pure Stock feature for 14 of 15 laps, a wild three-car battle became ugly when Treviranus was sent spinning, was sent to the tail and could only manage an 11th-place finish. It as a tough call, with the leaders three wide down the front chute, and one that I was glad I didn't have to make. But I know Chris Stepan, who was acting as race director, gave it his consideration before a ruling was made.

On the positive side, Trevor Treviranus did end up fourth in that same race.

It has been great to see two dozen or more Pure Stocks on hand for both nights of racing so far this year. This class seems to bounce up and down in numbers from year to year. That said, the driving so far has been somewhat questionable several times, and I feel it's about time the drivers in this class get a little chat from track officials. The black flag should be used, as some of the driving has been “over the top” and largely unpunished to this point.

While there have been various victims so far, I feel like Jake Smith has been one who has been harmed the most. He pulls all the way down from the West Range of Minnesota. During opening night he was used up to the point that he lost the lead in the feature race, and Saturday he was bounced and bungled up enough that he got a flat tire and didn't finish after having a promising run.

The Best Appearing Car awards were presented to all five class winners on Saturday and they were Sean Duffy in the Pure Stocks, Cole Richards in the Street Stocks, Travis Anderson in the Midwest Mods, “the other” Travis Anderson in the Super Stocks and Joe Chaplin, Jr. in the Mods. Congrats to all!

Blake Adams is off to another hot start in 2026. A tough win over Nick Koehler earned him his second Midwest Mod feature win of the weekend, and then he overcame a bad draw to also win the Modified feature. Starting eighth is not easy but he used great strategy and filled the holes when they became available to get to the front quickly. It actually took him only five laps to get to the lead.

It was really something that with a good-sized and quality field of drivers on hand, four of the five divisions crowned repeat winners from opening night. Steve Stuart led all the way to win the Super Stock feature, his second of the weekend. He appears to be on a mission this year. Amundson won his second straight in the Streeters and Simon Wahlstrom did the same in the Pure Stocks. That just doesn't happen very often.

A nice show is being planned for the Modifieds next week. This is an early season chance to run for extra money before a number of the tracks are open. It isn’t a huge purse but it does pay $1,200 dollars to win and $100 to start. There is no draw or entry fee. Regular prices to get into both the stands and pits will prevail and track officials are hoping for somewhere in the neighborhood of two dozen entrants or so. This weekend was picked as one with the fewest conflicts. There is no way that all conflicts can be avoided, unless the race is booked for a Monday afternoon.

Sunday, May 3

Granite City Motor Park, located in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, had to postpone its season opener several times already this season due to wet grounds, cold temps and other bad weather. Things finally came together for them Sunday, May 3, and they started their 2026 racing season.

For me, this was the first weekend of 2026 where I attended three nights of WISSOTA racing in a row, and I did not have to drive all the way to Truth or Consequences to do so. Perhaps the racing season has now seriously begun for drivers and fans in the upper Midwest, and the rest of our tracks will open on time in the next few weeks.

Late Models made one of their infrequent appearances of the year Sunday. The track wanted Late Model racers to have at least one show before the Challenge Series stop later this month. That, along with the earlier postponements, led to an eight-division opener, with every WISSOTA class except the Pure Stocks on the card. The track’s Crown Vics have also been added to the program full time for 2026.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a lot to bite off on any night—even more so on opening night, when unforseen things can and do occur from time to time. Just hot lapping eight classes of cars can wreck the planned schedule of events if a promoter isn’t careful. James Trantina III and crew took on a lot for their opener.

Just about every division had between 12 and 16 drivers entered, with 104 total on hand. A pair of heat races, plus a feature for each class, meant a big 24-event program.

The track was like it has been for a number of opening night events across WISSOTA. It was not perfect by any means, but also not that bad either. It was especially difficult to have the first race without the benefit of a practice night to help pound in the racing surface and smooth out the humps. I believe that to be the case for GCMP, anyway.

One of the first things I noted was the opening on the back chute, where drivers enter the track for their races. It now has a big strong gate to keep people and/or race cars from accidently pulling onto the track when they shouldn't. This was obviously a reaction to horrible events from last year. They are also making an extra effort to keep people from crossing over the track into the infield during the evening, with some success in that regard.

I noted several changes among race teams as I walked the pits. I ran into Tony Proell, who reported 2026 is his 40th year of racing and there is no sign he plans to slow down. He plans to race both Princeton and Granite City weekly and spent some cash last fall to get his car updated at SSR. Tonight was not his kind of track though; it was way too “elbows up” for him and he mostly just shook the car down, hoping for better things come next Friday.

At first I did not recognize the No. 91 Super Stock and then I put things together. Jordan Henkemeyer is running a tribute car this year to the late Trevor Stewart, utilizing his number and colors that he ran with on his last ASA Late Model. Jordan, John, Joe and the whole Affordable crew have done a great job, and what a nice thing to do on their part. The car was really sharp and ran well also, getting a runner-up finish in the feature race.

As the sands run through the hour glass and the times change, a new generation slips behind the wheel of many of our racing teams. The latest to make the change is the No. 511 Super Stock team, as longtime driver Zach Schultz has now made way for Colsten, who will be the full time driver. Colsten started out in the KRA Pure Stocks and is now ready to make the move up to WISSOTA racing.

Nick Shumansky, who started out in the Pure Stocks and then moved up to Street Stocks for several years, has again made a step up. He has now moved to the Midwest Mods.

Cole Schill now has three racing machines to fret over in 2026. Not only does he have his own Late Model to work on, but in 2026 he added two Karts for his kids, who will be racing on Monday nights in Fargo. If you’re in the area, come out and watch the kids race on the track just next to the big fairgrounds speedway.

A couple of odd occurences happened during the course of the night. Scott Lehn lost a left-front wheel off his Late Model, as the field circled getting into their alignment order for their race. It was lucky that it happened before the field fired off or the damage could have been much worse. As it was, he was able to tail the field for the feature race.

Mod Four driver Josh Madson hit the backstretch wall during his heat race and flipped over onto his roof. But with some hard work by his crew, he was able to return for the feature race where he worked his way up to eighth at the finish.

With eight classes racing, giving a blow-by-blow account of the feature racing might be a bit too much but I'll try to highlight the feature action in the WISSOTA classes.

Dexton Koch, pulling double duty with cars in both the Late Models and Super Stocks, started on the pole for their main event and led all the way for the win. Three yellows slowed the action but each restart he pulled away from the pack once again. Henkemeyer ran second, passing Shane Sabraski for the position. Dylan Kromschroeder, another driver running Super Stock and Late Models, was next in line.

The first five laps of the Midwest Mod feature were wild. Devin Fouquette—another driver running in two classes (MWM and Late Model)—and Blake Adams exchanged slide jobs for the lead. All the sliders were clean but exciting before Adams finally had the upper hand. In the late going Landyn Randt took second from Fouquette and while Randt ran closely behind, he couldn’t put on a serious charge to get Adams. Adams has been on a strong roll so far this year; Sunday was his third feature win of the weekend so far in the Midwest Mods and fourth overall.

It wouldn't be a complete night unless Sabraski won at least one feature race. Sunday it was the Late Model that took home the trophy. He started on the pole and led all 15 laps to take the win, and was never seriously challenged. Dave Mass moved up from the third row into the runner-up slot and drove to within a few car lengths of Sabraski before time ran out on him.

The Modified feature was one of only two that went nonstop and a first-lap move brought Joseph Thomas the victory. He started in fourth, but on the opening lap down the back chute he somehow found room to split Sabraski and Zach Benson and drive into the lead. The seas had parted for him and after that, he was in control of the contest.

Benson drove hard to try and catch him but was not able to cut into Thomas's lead and settled for second ahead of J.T. Johnson.

The Street Stock feature was a full-contact affair that left some ruffled feathers. Tommy Pogones and Levi Randt squared off in a 15-lap slugfest that left one driver in victory lane and the other stewing in the infield. Pogones led early, Randt caught him and the contact-filled battle then ensued. There was plenty of give and take but Randt got the upper hand with a series of body blows that moved Pogones over and allowed Levi to take the lead. Pogones tried to get him back but he overdrove his car and instead spun out and then called it a night. I don't think this is the way that Randt wants to win and perhaps an asterisk should be placed behind this win sticker.

Tyler Larson and Connor Bruss battled early for the lead in the Mod Four feature until Dustin Holtquist came flying to the front. Using the top side, he showed lots of speed as he drove around the leaders in an impressive display and threatened to run away with the race.

However, his car began to trail heavy smoke and suddenly he lost power as the powerplant went south. Larson inherited the lead and then held off Bruss for the win.

The Hornet feature, the final of seven WISSOTA mains, was the other nonstop main event and perhaps as good of a race as we saw all night. Brady Fosso, down from the Iron Range, led the race from start to finish but he had other drivers nipping at his tail throughout the feature. In fact, there was a pack of four drivers wildly exchanging positions and lanes on the track on a lap-by-lap basis. It seemed like every turn of the track there was a different driver challenging Fosso.

At the finish, he held off Christian Kast and Adam VanDerostyne for the win, with the top five still in a bunch.

Racing started at about 6:15 p.m. and ended shortly after 10:30 p.m. Given the number of races and the fact that several track prep sessions were necessary, that really wasn't that bad. Of course, a Sunday night track can not run that late on a weekly basis or they risk losing their spectators. For an opener, fans generally cut management a break, especially when they have a huge show like this. Overall it was a solid opener and will only get better as the track settles in and the class number becomes just a bit more manageable.