7-28 Page 32

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Issues came early and often for some entered on this night. For example, Blake Adams hit the gas for his Midwest Mod at the drop of the green in his heat race and the car just didn't go, seemingly some kind of drive train or rear end problem. He needed a push off the track and was done for the night.

Avery Anderson couldn't keep his Super Stock running and dropped out of his heat before the green flew. However, he made up for it with a stirring drive in the B feature, coming from 14th to make the show. Randy Stensgaard never made it to the track with his Mid Mod. Zach Beaulieu, just starting to get the hang of his Midwest Mod after moving up from the Street Stocks, made the feature in his first run at Red Cedar but in doing so may have blown the motor and was a DNS for the main.

With the fair, there was no curfew and track officials took advantage of the give-me. At 10:30 p.m. when they would have been shutting down action for the night, they still had four features plus the Vintage Cars left to race.

For some reason, the special attraction — the Shackleton Memorial Race — was the last race of the night. Unfortunately, with the evening's entertainment getting later and later, the Super Stock feature was run before perhaps half the audience. Many had their fun meters pegged as racing neared the witching hour.

The Super Stock A-main featured one of the most dominant performances seen in any division in recent memory. Dylan Nelson absolutely kicked “the can” of every Super driver on the track. He led all 30 laps in doing so and was never challenged in any form.

The race got off to a very shaky start though, as while it was appropriate that Noah Shackleton drew the pole, it wasn't in the plan for him to spin in front of the 26-car field in turn three, thus producing a first-lap cluster.

The second attempt went no better, with a tangle on the front chute. The third time was the charm, however, and after originally starting in the second row, Nelson was moved ahead for the restart and he took the early lead over Andrew Davis. He then proceeded to drive away from the pack, using the heavy cushion to blast around the high side of the track on a line that no one was able to duplicate.

Davis was immediately involved in a good battle for second and he and D.J. Keeler spent much of the 30 laps racing side by side for position.

At the halfway point of the race, Keeler had claimed second but that battle continued. Shawn McFadden was on the move while Rick Simpson hung out in the top five for most of the contest.

Out front Nelson disappeared into the Dunn County dusk, building up a lead that varied between a full straightaway and nearly a half lap over the pack. McFadden put on a nice drive of his own as he moved to second from the fourth row. Nelson was so dominant there were only 10 drivers on the lead lap at the finish and he had five lapped cars between himself and McFadden when he crossed the line.

Keeler was third while Kyle Copp came from 17th to fourth, finishing ahead of Davis, who completed the top five.

The Late Model feature had 20 drivers take the green and they produced their own spectacular main event. The lead changed hands five times among three different drivers.

In the early going, Chad Mahder and Dan Bargender swapped spots on nearly every lap as they raced for the lead. In the first eight laps, they traded the top spot four different times with a series of slide jobs as they danced on the cushion.

But as the race reached its halfway point, Sam Mars joined them to make it a three-car battle for the point. Mars closely tailed the leader as they worked through heavy lapped traffic. That was ultimately what decided the race, as Mahder worked through the slower cars, got just a bit too high in turn four, was hung up on the berm, and Mars was right there to drive past him and take over the lead.

Mahder did everything he could to try and regain the lead but Mars had his line and failed to flinch. He took the narrow victory, with success in working the slower traffic himself. Mahder was second while Kevin Burdick, who his not a regular here, drove his own excellent race from the fourth row to third. Bargender was fourth and Ashley Anderson was fifth.

The only thing that kept A.J. Diemel from winning the Modified feature was a Hoosier that stopped holding air. Diemel grabbed the lead on the opening lap and was running the cushion, comfortably ahead of Kennedy Swan and Blake Adams, until the yellow waved when Dylan Goettl, who started on the pole, had his own tire explode on the front chute.

Diemel continued to lead after the green came back out, with Adams getting past Swan for second. Both the front runners were dancing on the cushion and while Adams could keep Diemel within relatively close contact, there appeared to be no way Diemel could lose, except for driver error or mechanical failure.

The surprise was behind door No. 2, as in turn two he suddenly slowed, having blown a right rear tire. Diemel called it a night and Adams inherited the lead.

Despite some pressure from Ben Hillman in the last few laps, Adams hung on for the badly needed win. Swan finished a strong third, with a good run by Jake Smith bringing him home fourth.

The cushion was heavy and that was a Nick Koehler kind of track. The pole position didn't hurt either but the combination was more than the competition could handle. Koehler led all 15 laps for the Midwest Mod feature win. During the first lap there was a spinner in turn four that drew quite a few drivers together and while most drove away, front bumper sales on Saturday morning were likely good as there were several bent hopelessly out of shape.

Koehler took the lead on the restart with Brady Larson and Joe Swearingen running close behind him. David Baxter was on the move immediately, driving forward from his third row starting spot. By the time the second yellow waved just past halfway, Baxter was up to third with Shadow Kitchner and Derek Haas next in line.

Baxter continued to pressure Koehler, running within a few car lengths as he looked for his first win of the year. However, Koehler hit his marks and held off Baxter to take the win. Larson and Kitchner had a good battle for third before Larson prevailed. Brandon Jensen completed the top five.

It was certainly good to see such a big crowd in the stands on Friday and feel the pulse that only a fair race can bring. The only down side was the late hour when things got done.

Saturday, July 25

The Fast Lane Series moved north one hour on Saturday night, July 25 from Red Cedar Speedway to Rice Lake Speedway. Along with the Fast Lane Series, a full program was held in the other four classes that race at the track weekly.

The Fast Lane Series was represented by 32 drivers. The feature race was very good on Saturday and could have been a classic if a few of the yellows could have been avoided. Yellows breed yellows; after 18 laps of nonstop racing, I hated to see that first yellow wave because sure enough, it was followed by several more.

Things were getting very interesting up front, with Tim Johnson and Dylan Nelson really going at it for the lead. Even so, the winning pass was a time to hold your breath as both Johnson and Nelson came out of turn four sliding each other and inches away from the outside wall. Nelson found a way by as he must have sucked in his breath to squeeze past; it sure didn't look like there was enough room.

It was great to see Tim Johnson back out racing, as he isn't seen much in our area anymore. He has cut back on his racing and has been staying closer to home. Is there anyone in WISSOTA who drives any harder than he does but still doesn't rough people up? He is the poster child for getting every thing possible out of his ride.

Nelson certainly has his Dirt Dueller figured out right now. After impressive wins back-to-back against quality fields, he is flying high right now. Not only does his car have speed, it also seems maneuverable; he can run anywhere on the track. It is not often that a Super Stock driver can go home after a weekend’s racing with just about $5,000 in the pocket, plus the point lead in the series with just two races to go.

A couple other drivers efforts should also be highlighted. Shane Kisling, after a crash on a restart on Friday at Red Cedar, told me he had parts scattered all over the lawn of his folks home on Saturday. He has a lot of laps around Rice Lake Speedway in a variety of race cars and if anyone can make their stuff go around this track, he's one of the very few. He led seven laps and finished a strong third.

Jeff Eisner, Jr. is also another driver very close to victory. He started up front and stayed with the leaders for 30 laps on Saturday, finishing a strong fourth. His home is about the most eastern of WISSOTA drivers there is, but he weekly makes the pull over to western Wisconsin tracks to race.

Being the fourth race of the series, 14 of the top 15 in series points were racing on Saturday, missing only Shawn McFadden — who went home to Ashland to protect his point lead at that track.

If this track has a determination award at seasons end, it should go to Steve Karshbaum. Along with his daughter Alyson, who is a rookie driver in the Pure Stocks, they have had so much bad luck, no one would have blamed them for throwing in the towel weeks ago. Not so, as Steve debuted a new Pure Stock he finished up to race out the season. The car ran well for its opener, giving him a decent feature race finish.

Unfortunately, Alyson had motor problems with her car and took the green in the feature just to get start money. I'm willing to bet that when the Pure Stocks next race at the track in 10 days, both cars will be on hand with a powerplant under the hood of her No. 89A. They just refuse to give up.

The heartbreak of the night went to Modified driver Aiden Hoffman who was within two laps of winning his first-ever Modified feature. He took off like a shot at the start of the race, pulling away from Mike Anderson, Matt Leer and Blake Adams. The race ran green for 18 laps and while he lost a bit of ground to those three, I believe he had enough distance over them to take the win.

However, when that yellow waved, as is often the case, the leader seems helpless against those behind him. Hoffman had a slow start — I believe he might have spun the tires — and immediately had both Adams and Leer alongside him in a wild three-wide race into turn one. Experience paid off here, as Adams slid him and still turned back down the hill to cut off Leer, thus allowing him to drive on for the win.

For Hoffman, it was a bitter pill to swallow, having led the whole race to that point. He has had some rough spots this year, totaling a car in a wild flip earlier that required him to sit out with a concussion, and they then bought a new car and switched builders, also. He’s a “gasser” though, and one of these nights, things will click for him.

Track officials had the track in excellent shape for racing on Saturday. It was fast, smooth and wide. It didn't hurt that it was mostly cloudy all day, with little breeze and extraordinarily humid, all factors that help a dirt track.

A big field of 23 Street Stocks was on hand Saturday, in prep for the Little Dream no doubt, including several first-timers. Kennedy Swan made her first-ever runs in a Street Stock, driving Kolby Kiehl's car which was recently put together. Jimmy Randall, a former multi-time winner at the Dream, made his first appearance of the year. First-time drivers also included Kent Harmon, Kyle Genett and Tyson Waller. Chanda Fjorden-Nord was on hand but had car trouble and didn't race. Danny Richards was back at the track and brother Tommy was also racing one of the many cars the Richards have available. Nick Traynor finally debuted his own car and Cody Cimfl was in the No. 19J car previously driven by both Traynor and Jenna Herrman.

Parker Anderson stole the show and got his third feature win of the season. And most impressive was the way that he won. Not messing around racing the low side, he went to the cushion and blew past the leaders and then ran away from the pack. That kind of speed that allows outside passes is what wins big races and makes him a threat come next Tuesday. Parker seemed rather confident following the race in his interview, but let's not count our chickens too fast quite yet.

David Baxter seems on the cusp of winning his first Midwest Mod feature of the year, having several strong runs lately. He finally has had enough time to race, with the family motor business keeping them super busy. Saturday I thought he might have had that chance with a good starting position, but a bad start set him back and by the time he got going, Blake Adams had grabbed the lead. Once in front, he is tough to beat so Baxter settled for yet another second-place finish. Joe Swearingen also had a good run with a third-place finish after he had a lot to repair following a bad MidMod wreck on Friday at Red Cedar. Travis Anderson and Jake Stai also had to fix a lot of damage to their cars but both made it to Rice Lake. These guys don't know the meaning of quit.

I know it was a fast track on Saturday, but the Pure Stocks seem like they are getting faster every week? The top eight to 10 were running so fast they easily could have been mistaken for Street Stocks, which is its own double-edged sword.

Sunday, July 26

It has been an eventful week for those fans, participants, club members and officials of the Duluth Auto Racing Association, the group who runs Proctor Speedway. At last week's drivers’ meeting it was announced that if last Sunday's program did not at least break even, July 26 would be cancelled because money was needed to put on the club's Mid-Summer Night of Mayhem in August.

The suggestion was also made that if drivers and race teams felt so inclined to return their winnings to the track, it would be appreciated but certainly not expected.

You just never know about racers. About this time of year I'm thinking that many are a bunch of whiners and complainers and we are getting our fill of them. And then, they surprise us by doing something nice and for the benefit of all, not just themselves. Many returned their winnings after last week’s show, concerned that the racing at Proctor might end for good.

A number of great sponsors and concerned businesses also stepped up to buy tickets, which they distributed to folks to try and bring some new faces to the track. All the collective support was enough to declare that racing would and could indeed be held Sunday. The Mid-Summer Night of Mayhem, always a big crowd favorite, should provide the club enough to get to the season-ending Silver 1000, and that event, in turn, should help get the club through the winter.

Of course, none of this solves their long-term issues and is just a temporary stop gap measure. But it would be a shame for racing to end in Proctor — the Silver 1000 is among the longest running special events in the country. Losing that permanently would be criminal. There will have to be some tough meetings and decisions made before the 2027 racing season by the club and some serious changes will have to happen.

Unfortunately, two of the most glaring issues are things that the club has no control over. Firstly, Sunday night racing is a tough sell everywhere these days. Times have changed from when Sunday night racing was both popular for the fans and important to the racers. Now, Sunday nights are difficult, both in attracting fans and getting participants.

Proctor Speedway also has the worst weather of any track in WISSOTA, with cold temperatures, fog, high winds off Lake Superior, etc. affecting race nights. Those are both very hard things to overcome.

But for the time being, the track is week to week and with the help of the drivers and sponsors, another week of racing was bought.

And what a steamy night it was for racing! The “feels like” temperature at race time was 92 degrees and even when the final checkered flew about two and a half hours later, it was still 89 with humidity you could practically cut with a knife.

Still, even with the less-than-nice conditions, everyone seemed to be walking with a bit of a bounce in their step, happy just to be at the track. The total car count was up over previous weeks and even the feature winners in their victory lane comments remarked how good it was to see such a nice crowd on hand for the races. The free tickets probably helped but I think that some folks just came because they heard of the track’s problems and wanted to support them as they could. Seventy-six teams signed in to race, with good numbers in the Late Models, Hornets and Pure Stocks.

Proctor has been doing an excellent job in 2026 of getting the program started right at the advertised time. They also have been doing an excellent job of moving the show along because after all, isn't it the point of starting early to get done early? They accomplished another quick show on Sunday with the final checkered waving at just about 7:20 p.m., which also allowed them time to beat the thunderstorms which were rocking the Iron Range and headed toward the Twin Ports. Three of the six divisions on hand had the national point leader among the entrants — but later circumstances might have put a damper on that stat. The Pure Stocks also had eight of the top 10 in national points among those racing on Sunday.

The Pure Stocks were the first class up for their main event. Tom Treviranus started on the outside pole and was the leader for all 15 laps to take the win. He built up a big lead early, as a gaggle of about a half dozen drivers fought for second. Eventually Simon Wahlstrom broke free and took that position, but he found himself a full straightaway behind Treviranus —until Austin Fencl was dumped and that triggered the yellow flag.

It was then a battle between Treviranus and Wahlstrom for the win. Several times Wahlstrom got to the inside of Treviranus, but Treviranus kept his line and with the high side carrying more momentum, he fought off Wahlstrom. At the finish, a last-lap rush by Wahlstrom came up a half-length short and Treviranus was the winner.

It was later reported that runner-up Wahlstrom was disqualified for a fuel issue but no more information was available. Austin Carlson, on leave from Bemidji Speedway this week, finished second with Fencl scored third.

Dylan Nelson's bid to race to a perfect weekend came up short. The small field of Supers was given just a 12-lap feature race and when you start in the third row, it is tough to advance that many spots in that short of a time period.

However, Shawn McFadden, who won the race with a lap two slider on Scott Lawrence, ran strongly. He seems at his best here in Proctor and Nelson might have raced all night and still not caught him. Lawrence settled for third.

Kyle Peterlin led from start to finish to win the Late Model feature. He got a good jump from the outside pole and led the rest of the way. The track was getting very tricky by this time of the evening, with the fast lane moving to the extreme top of the track where one small error could spell disaster. It was entertaining watching Skeeter Estey and Kevin Burdick battle for second, as they went back and forth. Burdick probably had as much success as anyone using the low side of the track.

Ditto for the Modifieds with Nick Oreskovich getting the jump on Brandon Copp and Jody Bellefeuille in that feature. He then held on for 15 laps in a race that went green to checkered. All three of the cars up front had moments where they teetered on the brink, but each showed skill as they saved themselves and didn't slide off the banking.

The Midwest Mods provided a “feel good” moment when Justin Bassa took the win, his first at the track since the 2022 racing season. He started on the pole of the race and wisely got away from the goings-on behind him, where quite the scrambled situation was taking place. A whole flock of drivers were battling for position on the tricky track and there was plenty of back and forth with a few fenders and slide jobs thrown in for fun.

All this wasn't total fun for Bassa though, as following a lap 13 spin when Paul Ripley got dumped, Bassa was himself the victim of a turn one scramble. Adam Shinn tried to slide him and slipped past but before Bassa could take off again, he was dumped from behind by another competitor.

Bassa was restored to the point and was able to escape any other hijinks on the last two laps for the win. With all the wild action, Sam Blevins was able to avoid it all and came from the fourth row to finish second, with Shinn holding on for third.

The Hornets rounded out the night and after Nathan Penney led the opening three laps, Nikota Larson used a real power move to drive around Penney on the high side of the track to take over the lead. While Penney was able to stay within a couple car lengths of Larson, he was never able to provide any kind of challenge as Larson drove on for the win. Nick Ruzich managed to finish third.

While there was plenty of good feeling over the evening, which went well and was enjoyed by all, there was also some sadness among the race-goers Sunday. Duane Caywood, a former president of the Duluth Auto Racing Assn. and longtime benefactor of the track, passed away this week. There was a nice memorial set up for him at the spectator entrance and certainly a lot of pleasant remembrances and a few tears were part of the night.