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This race started strangely enough when Zeb Graves, who was a likely challenger for the win, had his car quit almost before the green waved. Jacob Petrich then led for two laps until Fosso passed him and the race looked to be over.

However, as Fosso came down the frontstretch with a comfortable lead, a suspension issue in the rearend pointed his right rear wheel in an inappropriate direction and he came to a screeching halt, done for the night.

McKenna Folstad then inherited the top spot and drove on for the win over Tucker Smith and Nick Ruzich.

Unlike opening night, there were not a lot of crashes and car destruction. In fact, the heat races were completed in just 49 minutes and despite a good amount of time used for “Meet the Driver” activities, the final checkered flag of the night waved before 9:30 p.m.

Friday, May 29

A six-division program, including five WISSOTA classes, was presented on Friday, May 29 at Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, WI. The Hornets had the night off and the Street Stocks, as the rotating division, raced instead.

It was another absolutely gorgeous night to be outside and there were lots of folks commenting on just how nice it was to not have to be wearing winter apparel for a change.

After the Memorial Day weekend, we are now starting to settle into the regular weekly race programs. There are still drivers making their first appearances for the 2026 racing season, however, and one of them ended up in Late Model victory lane later Friday evening.

Last Saturday night Jake Hartung rolled out his Modified for the first time in 2026 at Rice Lake. Tonight he doubled his fun; he brought out the Late Model he raced toward the end of last year.

Racing two cars is quite an undertaking but there seems to be more multi-division racers than ever before this year. Obviously a skilled and large pit crew would be the first necessity to make this happen, along with a bunch of good sponsors.

The determination and resourcefulness of these racing teams can never be questioned and it’s quite remarkable. Ten days ago I saw Cory Crapser take a violent flip at Grand Rapids, yet here at Red Cedar tonight he was back with a Late Model, along with his Modified. He told me he was able to salvage the body off that wrecked car with just one little patch job needed on the right side door. The force of the flip broke the rear end in two, that’s how hard he flipped. He was back for more, however, and eventually finished in the top five in the Late Model. He slipped back just a bit farther in the Modified.

I ran into Shane Kisling tonight, spinning wrenches for Justin Weinberger. Kisling tells me he has been extremely busy with family activities and sports and there just hasn't been time to think much about racing. He said things should settle down a bit soon and does plan to return to the track at some point with his Super Stock.

Coach Mark Thomas, after allowing things to settle in here at the track, brought his Midwest Mod out to race for the first time in 2026. As the VP here for the Red Cedar Racing Association, it was important for him to be available as the season started. Now he has enough time to race and do what needs to be done for the weekly show.

With family matters also settling down for Chad Mahder, he’s ready to start racing and he did so in a big way. On track for the first time in his new Late Model, Mahder dominated the feature to earn his first victory of 2026. His new car is a unique, one-of-a-kind race car. It is actually an older MB that I was told belonged to Chuck Swenson at some point. They bought the car, which then went to J.R. Haley for modification in his shop. Things were done to it that other cars don't have and it is officially known as an “MB from JR Motorsports.”

However you want to label it, the car was fast. Jim Carlson took the early lead in the Late Model feature with a good jump and it took Mahder three laps to get past him. Once he made the pass for the lead, however, he was gone. The feature went nonstop and Mahder had nearly a full straightaway advantage ahead of the field. Greg Nippoldt also had a strong run, challenging Ashley Anderson for second.

Keith Tourville also won in his first appearance at the track. He took the lead on lap six and then pulled away from the field.

Layla Chaplin keeps getting better and better every week in her second year of racing. She led the opening six laps and made it tough for Tourville to get past her. Finally Tourville pulled off a winning pass and he then pulled away from Parker Anderson to take the win. Chaplin held on for third.

Probably the wildest race of the night was the nonstop Midwest Mod feature. Twenty-two drivers took the green and 21 were still on the track at the finish. Score one for the underdogs, as Jake Stai led from start to finish and held on for the win in a wild finish that had the crowd on their feet.

Stai started on the pole and made off with a good-sized lead early in the race. He was setting a fast pace and soon had built up a half straightaway lead. Meanwhile, Brady Larson battled through the pack to race into second, along with Blake Adams and Nick Koehler—who were working their way forward from the fourth and fifth rows, respectively.

Larson started to close on the leader and as the laps ran off, the lead margin became less and less, with lapped traffic also playing a part in the action. Larson caught Stai with just a few laps left and as they continued to fight traffic, this gave Adams the chance to catch up and make it a three-car race.

Larson was alongside Stai down the back chute and they jockeyed through the corner, with Stai still slightly in front as the white flag waved. Stai still held the point but both Larson and Adams decided to go to the cushion in turn one at the same time and they tangled. As a result, the progress of both was slowed.

Stai marched on for the win with Larson close behind. Adams recovered from his detour and ended up third.

The “Angry Farmer” surprised me, as I expected a wild victory lane celebration with a roof dance and a lot of yelling and screaming. However, he was a rather subdued winner. He was enjoying the fruits of victory after the race though, taking pictures with fans congratulating him, signing autographs and soaking in the moment. I must also say this was the first time ever that I got a victory hug from a feature winning driver! It was different, but kind of sweaty!

Tate Anderson is making rapid improvements every week and on Friday he led the first five laps of the Super Stock feature. He was then passed by eventual winner Jesse Redetzke. Redetzke has been strong here all year and after taking the lead, he managed to pull away from the field and open up a big advantage. Alex Myers took second, Anderson was fourth, and Jeff Eisner, Jr. completed the top five.

On a night when the yellow flag got a rest, the Modifieds also ran their feature race from green to checkered flag. And Kaden Blaeser, who has been one of the hottest drivers to date so far this season in the Modifieds, took another feature win. He had plenty of competition in the early going, however. After he took the initial lead, he was passed by Weinberger for the top spot, something that hasn't happened often so far this year.

Those two had a good battle for the lead for several laps before Blaeser again claimed the top spot and then he gradually moved away from the pack. Weinberger had set a blazing pace and it may have cost him a bit at the end, as he started to fade some. Adams drove past him for second in the late going.

Overcast skies and a lot of humidity are a great combination for a race track and that was the case on Friday. It is remarkable how on a night when the track is good, the drivers show some restraint and there aren't a lot of crashes, moving the program along. Despite spending some time after the heats to massage the track and interviewing all six feature winners, the whole show was done before 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 30

This is the “the spam hits the fan” week; with every track now open, we have a clearer picture of car counts for 2026.

I took a survey from Saturday night from the five tracks closest to where I park my butt every Saturday night. Between those five tracks, they ran a total of 24 classes of WISSOTA racing, with some offering as few as four sanctioned classes and some as many as six. Of those 24 classes, a total of seven had less than 10 cars in a class. That figures out to be about 30 percent of the track’s classes offering just a single heat race for a class.

This is troubling, especially since this is only the end of May. The typical “down” months for weekly racing are still ahead.

I think we all know the biggest reasons for the lower car counts are largely out of our control. Regardless, in the coming months, tracks are going to have to tighten their belts and find other creative ways of getting fans to the track. These may not yet be panic times for local weekly racing, but they definitely aren't the best of times either.

A five-class program was the highlight of the weekly Saturday night racing this week at Rice Lake Speedway. It was another beautiful night to be racing, with this week's weather certainly the highlight of the racing season to date. The St. Croix Casino was the track sponsor this week and it was good to welcome them on board to join the other existing weekly sponsors. Rumors persist that they night become involved with the track on a bigger promotion in the future.

Aiden Hoffman, who flipped violently last weekend, wasn’t part of the field on Saturday but the good news is that while the car was destroyed in that bad wreck, the Hoffman Henry Team has already picked up another car. It will be shaken down this week at the Mars shop, with a scheduled return to the track as soon as Aiden is ready.

Another driver who has been having a really bad stretch of luck is rookie Pure Stock driver Alyson Karshbaum. Several weeks ago she was involved in a grinding crash that totaled out both her car and her father's car in the same wreck. Undaunted, they picked up another car for her to race, starting last week, and this week they had the car ready to get a wrap.

Unfortunately, she had a tangle in her heat race which ended with her piled head-on into the concrete wall right in front of the crowd. It was a violent hit and it took her some time to get out of the car, as she was understandably shaken. This car looked totaled, too. I don't know what the team plan will be moving forward for the rest of the year. Two back-to-back occurences like she suffered could certainly put a damper on one’s enthusiasm to try it for a third time.

A little humidity in the air always helps a race track and they had an excellent one to race on Saturday, with two distinct lanes to run.

There were three new feature winners in racing action including Matt Leer, Ryan Olson and Parker Anderson.

It was Leer’s 10th Modified feature win of his career at Rice Lake, but the first since the 2017 racing season. To be fair, he has been racing a lot of different places in recent years and his return to the track as a regular this year has been one of the best things to happen, as he is a good, solid runner.

It’s Olson’s third year racing in the Super Stocks and while he has been close—and particularly so this year where his speed has picked up—he had yet to visit victory lane as a feature winner.

That is, until Saturday night.

Olson was happy to get there but won't be totally happy until he wins one on the track, not at the tech shed like he did on Saturday. Alex Myers had the field covered but failed post-race inspection and that elevated Olson to the win.

For those who were paying attention, the battle for second between Olson and Jeff Eisner, Jr. was a great one; they raced side by side for 20 laps. Olson ended up with a winning margin of .019 seconds over Eisner Jr. following Myers’ DQ.

Anderson felt he gave away a win in the Street Stocks last week and made sure that didn't happen again on Saturday. He kept the field at bay from start to finish to grab his first win of 2026 at the track.

Simon Wahlstrom remains the winningest driver at the track so far this year, as he won his fourth Pure Stock feature race despite intense pressure from George Richards.

Nick Koehler and Blake Adams have been dominating the Midwest Mod action at Rice Lake so far this year. It seems that starting position dictates just which one will be in victory lane, as both are so fast and make no mistakes. Saturday night Koehler drew the outside pole, rode the rim for 20 laps and took the victory. Adams managed to work his way up to second and made things interesting with a couple of sporty slide jobs in the closing laps, but Koehler calmly crossed over on every one of them and drove on for the win.

It was finally good to see the Mike Anderson of old back at it on Saturday. He has been plagued with a whole series of bad draws and just plain back luck so far this year. He shined this past weekend, as he often does on a slick track. He dropped a groove lower than the field and moved into late contention, making life miserable for Leer. A couple more laps and he might have had his first win of 2026, finishing just .195 seconds behind.

With a good track to race on plus the driver's cooperation, it was a remarkably speedy program on Saturday. The final checkered of the night flew at 8:48 p.m., perhaps the quickest full show of racing at the track in many years. And you know what, I didn't hear a single person complain that they got done too early!

Congratulations to Rice Lake’s Dave Greschner. The 2018 member of the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame was announced as the winner of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni for UW-Eau Claire-Barron County Foundation. Greschner served as a reporter, photographer and an outdoor and sports editor of the Rice Lake Chronotype for 45 years. He was also named to the Rice Lake Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. He authored a book, “Soul of the Outdoors,” in 2024 and in retirement continues a weekly outdoor journal for area newspapers.

Sunday, May 31

Proctor Speedway opened for the 2026 season on Sunday night, May 31. It’s one of the oldest, continuously running dirt tracks in the state of Minnesota. Weather delays pushed the opener back a few weeks, but the sun was shining in Proctor on Sunday, though there was a cool breeze blowing off Lake Superior. It was a decent crowd for the opener. It is the end of May and race fans have not seen a lot of racing here in the Northland, so they are starved for action.

Proctor hosted five divisions of WISSOTA racing Sunday (the Mods had the night off), and there were 51 drivers who signed in to race. Three of the five divisions featured just one heat race, and the Late Model count was actually the highest of all, with 14 of them signing in to race.

That doesn’t mean they couldn't and wouldn't put on a good show, no matter how many racers were on hand. In fact, one spectator told me he thought the races on Sunday were better than any of the other area racing he had seen so far.

What it does follow is the concerning trend I saw earlier in the weekend regarding low car counts.

A couple of drivers were late arrivals, after they were likely on their way to Granite City before they rained out or were waiting until the last second before making a decision. For Dylan Nelson, by the time he arrived at the track, he missed his heat race. He was able to tag the back of the pack for the Super Stock feature. By the luck of the running order, Blake Adams was indeed able to make his heat race and he made the most of his alternative plans in taking the Midwest Mod victory later in the program.

Due to some unfortunate timing, the opening race of the season here at Proctor was held on the same night as graduation for Proctor High School. It was even a problem for the track employees, with a couple having to leave early for the ceremony. The track was scrambling to make sure that they had all their employee positions covered. You would not have known there was an issue, though, as the program flowed along smoothly. The only glitch of the night was a balky PA system, which made it hard to hear the winners’ interviews.

Simon Wahlstrom, who seems a likely contender for the national title in the Pure Stock class, has been making the rounds. He’s trying to race three nights a week in his quest to gather national points early. He was involved in a great three-car battle in the main event tonight, with Jake Smith and Tim Carlson. After running three wide for nearly a full lap, Wahlstrom shot between the other two as he drove into turn three and he came out the leader as he split the others.

After that he pulled away and only Smith was able to keep him fairly close. He was never in a position to challenge, however, as Wahlstrom drove on for the win.

Two of the heavyweights in the Super Stock class went at it in their feature race. Scott Lawrence took the initial lead with Shawn McFadden and Steve Stuart pulling in to challenge. They were running in a tight pack when the yellow waved. Unfortunately, Lawrence was then docked for an earlier jump start and moved back to third. This gave McFadden the upper hand.

It was then a battle between McFadden and Stuart during the final 14 laps. They both raced hard but the margin between them never seemed to change. McFadden held the lead by a few car lengths and no matter how hard Stuart pushed, he just couldn't catch McFadden. As the defending champion here, McFadden really knows how to get around this track. Kyle Copp eventually claimed third.

Skeeter Estey showed a lot of speed as he led from start to finish to win the Late Model 25-lapper. He used the outside pole to grab the early lead and then rode the cushion the rest of the way to take the win. Kyle Peterlin and Cade Nelson battled for second, with Peterlin eventually taking the spot. He tried to gain ground on Estey but that was tough to do on Sunday. A late yellow shuffled things; Nelson got the jump and took second from Peterlin, a position held the rest of the race. Kevin Carlson was having a solid top five run until that late yellow, and after that he was shuffled back into the pack under some unfortunate circumstances.

Adams made his trip pay off when he won the Midwest Mod feature race. After he drew the pole, he made things more exciting by getting called for a jump start, and he was shuffled back a row. Paul Ripley then grabbed the lead.

Adams was on his horse though, as he quickly got past the Blevins brothers to move back into second and on lap three, he used a successful slider to take over the point from Ripley. It was then match over.

Adams led the rest of the way, as Ripley continued to run second. Despite a pair of late yellows, Ripley really never challenged Adams. Mason Musel finished third in a solid run, while Adam Shinn started 13th and drove to fourth.

Things got exciting in the Hornet feature which completed the evening's entertainment. Nikota Larson grabbed the initial lead but only held it for one lap before he was passed by Nathan Penney.

The leaders were still battling hard for the top spot when Penney went full bore off the fourth turn, going through and then climbing the ditch bordering the drive in parking. The car nearly climbed the banking. It was a wild wreck but fortunately no one was injured and the wrecker crew was able to push the car back to the pits.

Larson retook the lead but started pushing through the corners and on lap eight, Nick Ruzich drove into the lead and he then he held off repeated challenges from Larson, who tried to get back to the front. Kyle LeDoux was third.

It was a well run and smoothly executed race program. All racing was completed a little after 8 p.m., perfect for a Sunday night. I thought the track was in fine condition for the first race of the year and overall it was just a good program.