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Thursday, July 2

It’s no secret the Firecracker special at Rice Lake Speedway is one of my favorite events of the year. I love the fireworks display they put on, and with a full racing program — now including the Runkle Memorial race for Midwest Mods, at regular admission prices — it is one of the bargains of the entire season.

Due to the way the calendar fell this year, the program was scheduled for Thursday, July 2, which made me just a bit nervous. One of the fun parts of this race is watching the gigantic crowd fill the joint and I was worried it might not be quite the draw as it has been.

Part of the annual fantastic fireworks display at Rice Lake Speedway. (Chris Burback Photo)

Fortunately the weather played nice and the fans came out in droves.

When the Runkle family came to the owners of the track and wanted to move this race back to Rice Lake, it proved to be a perfect pairing to have it during the Firecracker race.

Humidity may be uncomfortable for both the fans and drivers sometimes, but humidity is a friend to the race track. Kolby Kiehl and the rest of the crew were able to provide a racy track from start to finish on Thursday, despite having a season high 104 drivers sign in to race, plus extra races and laps on the track. Multi-groove racing was there all night and the drivers responded with some fine racing action, highlighted by the three-wide finish in the Street Stocks and Kennedy Swan's elbows-up win in the Modified feature.

Speaking of Swan, Thursday night's race might have been her best driving performance ever. I know it was just a weekly show but Blake Adams wanted to pass her in the worst way. He tried every line and trick he knew to get by, but she drove a flawless race and didn't give in or make a mistake. After some pretty low points in the last year or so, this team is really on the uptick and seems fully capable of winning any night.

Jake Stai has been MIA the last couple of weeks from the track. I found out he was having some serious back problems, to the point that when he raced recently at Red Cedar, he had to sit in the car all the time from the heat to the feature because if he left the car, he’d never been able to get back in it!

Fortunately the worst seems to be over now and he is undergoing treatment to continue his recovery. He is also trying to reduce stress on his back at his job.

The rumored return of Rich Bishop to the track happened on Thursday. The Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Famer — and one of the best ever behind the wheel of a Super Stock — made his first appearance of the year. He told me he is running the same Fastlane Galloper but they made it look considerably better this year. And it didn't run bad for the first night out, either. He got second in a heat race and was battling Eric Olson for second for several laps in the feature before fading back to eighth. It still felt like a pretty good run for the opening race.

When he was racing with Olson, running side by side, it was like a blast from the past. I felt like I was seeing something that could have easily happened 20 or more years ago, too.

Speaking of a blast from the past, I was almost beside myself Thursday when I saw the yellow No. 5 Street Stock in the pits. I'm not supposed to have favorites but I have always liked yellow race cars and Chanda Fjorden-Nord's Street Stock was always one of my favorites. As the only female point champion in Rice Lake Speedway history, I have always liked the way she raced and it was always a pleasure to watch her in action.

I didn't get a chance to speak to her on Thursday but I was told that she was racing and this car was on the track for the first time in 10 years. I certainly had not seen her name in any results so I would not be surprised by this. I don't know if this was a “one-off” race or if she is getting back into the sport but I would sure welcome seeing her car on the track here. Of course, she now has a daughter, Elizabeth, racing for her first year in the Super Stocks at the age of 14.

She had bad luck on Thursday as a spinner in front of her led to a chain reaction collision that dinged up her car and she left the track on a wrecker.

Kevin Bogdanovic, now living in Wausau, also returned to the track. After being “bugged” to race by Jeff Nowak, they dug the car out of mothballs on Wednesday, fired it up, made few runs down the street and he was on hand Thursday. He reports this might he his inaugural retirement tour event, but we hope to see him back again, perhaps for The Little Dream.

The Street Stocks did not disappoint on Thursday. For the first time they produced numbers that have been the rule in recent years, and they provided a wild three-car battle to the finish among Shawn Amundson, Parker Anderson and Levi Randt, who were three wide out of the final corner.

With several others in the field running strong, the Dream looks like it might be a wide-open event this year. And everyone should be paying attention to Braedyn Fleck, who has turned into a really competent driver this year. His smooth, not flashy style of driving is getting him to the front with much more consistency this year. If they show up, there are so many drivers capable on winning that race this year and it could be one of the best Little Dreams ever.

The fans were in a generous mode on Thursday with the 50/50 pot a season high of nearly $1,700.

Of the 104 racers on hand, 26 of them made their first starts of the year at the track.

Les Duellman’s Dirt Dueller team had a strong presence at the track on Thursday. Of course Les drives the Runkle tribute car and has had two solid runs at the track earlier his year. Things kind of got messed up when he broke a right front suspension piece and missed qualifying out of his heat race. Instead, he had to qualify out of the B. In fact, that race was one of the best of the night as he battled with one of his customers, Scott Oeltjen, for the win. Along with Oeltjen, three Hedtke cars — all Dirt Dueller Super Stocks — came from western Minnesota to race for the first time.

Charlie Wilson came all the way from Crandon to race his Pure Stock. He was in the top five in the feature race when he inadvertently hit one of the infield ute tires, which broke his steering and took him out of the race.

Tim Carlson also made his first appearance, down from Superior with his Pure Stock. He was running decently when he blew a radiator hose and pulled off. Many cars were running hot with the heat and humidity of the night.

The Runkle event did attract some good out-of-town competitors, particularly in the Midwest Mods like Oeltjen, David Swearingen, Jake Molitor and Jason VandeKamp.

It was a great night for Joey Jensen. Winning in both the Super and the Runkle Mid Mod program earned him just under $3,000 for his night's work, plus the honors of winning the Runkle race. The Runkle family does a great job in working to make it better every year.

It was the first night out in a while for Jensen’s Mid Mod, as it has been down with motor problems. Jensen made special mention of the help provided by Tim's Automotive in Bloomer to get him back on track. Between the two races, he led for 34 laps.

It was also the first visit by “The Iceman” Don Eischens in 2026. He ran a strong third in the Mod feature and perhaps was scoping things out for a Labor Day weekend visit.

On the whole, the drivers did a great job of racing very hard but also avoiding a yellow-flag plagued night. Granted, there were a few yellows over the course of the night but not an excessive number given as hard as everyone was racing.

The speedway is now off until July 11th when the DRC Street Stock Tour makes its second annual visit. That should be very interesting as we get a preview of just who is going to be fast in the Streets, leading up to The Little Dream.

Saturday, July 4

Following Friday night’s unfortunate rainout at Gondik Law Speedway, the Big Lake did its job on Saturday, pushing the storms away from the Twin Ports area. The Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Series was on tap as part of the 10th annual Border Battle and the quality of the field was hard to deny.

Our complaints about the weather were mild in retrospect, compared to some of the issues some in our racing family are going through. WCS announcer Scott Tiefs had a very scary issue go on with one of his daughters, who became violently ill and ended up in the hospital in Rochester, MN, a normal, healthy adult that suddenly couldn’t stand or speak. Fortunately, she is now on the road to recovery but the scary part is that doctors never could diagnose what befell her.

I'm told Jamie Thomas will be in the hospital for perhaps a couple of weeks further before he is discharged. Thomas has been through many health issues in recent years but always keeps fighting back. He could use visits, cards and calls, so if you're from the Twin Ports area and can help out, please do. Contact Tammy Lofdahl for more details.

Twin Ports Super Stock legend Scott Lawrence is still out of action after his recent accident in the pits following a race program at Proctor. It seems the winch on his trailer broke and Lawrence was pinned by his race car and also suffered injury from the cable on the winch. He tried to tough it out but got worse and eventually developed sepsis and needed surgery.

Doctors have put his return on hold for a couple more weeks. I know everyone is anxious to see the No. 77 back on the track. He is as much of a legend on the track in this area as Thomas is off the track.

One of the more interesting developments of the weekend was Dan Bargender back behind the wheel of a Late Model. Bargender, who started his own business this year and owns Kaden Blaeser’s Modified, got the ride in the car that is Dustin Sorensen’s. Lance Matthees’ main wrench, Lucas — who also works for Sorensen — was in charge of the operation this weekend. It may be seen in action again at a couple of the big races upcoming for the Late Models over the course of the next month. Sorensen told them to put the ugliest wrap possible on the car and they succeeded, using the “Herbie The Love Bug” theme on it.

It was a Hedtke family reunion in the pits at Gondik as five of them raced in the Super Stock class. Hopefully they had an enjoyable time, as the racing didn't work out for the best for them. Three did not finish the Super Stock feature, including Jay, who was one of two drivers to flip in a big feature race tangle. The best finisher was Andrew, in 12th.

It was good to see Eric Anderson back in the pits with his Mid Mod. He reported they had a lot of work to do after a big crash at Grand Rapids on Wednesday night that tore the whole rear end out of the car. He thanked his crew for their help.

It was the normal format for the Challenge Series and the track quickly slicked off and became almost icy slick from top to bottom. The Late Models were about 3 seconds off the track record; Skeeter Estey was the quickest at 18.413 seconds.

During the B feature, fans witnessed a compelling moment when Steve Laursen, who had a miserable heat race, came from 15th to secure one of the feature qualifying spots in a dramatic drive. He nipped Andy Jones for the last spot in the field.

As for the Late Model feature itself, it came as no surprise that the event was dominated by the legend from Hermantown, Darrell Nelson. Owning more feature wins at Gondik than any driver, he started on the front row, followed Kevin Burdick for seven laps and then passed him and led the rest of the way.

Burdick and Travis Budisalovich had a good race for second as they traded that spot back and forth; Burdick finally secured the position late in the race.

Tyler Peterson, who finished fifth, continues to hold the WCS point lead.

The Modified drivers were racing for just as much money as the Late Model drivers and the check was made out to another of the local Gondik Law racers, Jody Bellefeuille. He led from start to finish and was not challenged during the 30-lap finale.

Only one yellow slowed the race but it was a big one when Shane Sabraski hit the wall in turn four and Johnny Broking clipped Sabraski when he ran out of room. Both were eliminated.

Jake Smith also led from start to finish in the Midwest Mod feature. He earned the most passing points to sit on the pole and he used that advantage to pull to an immediate lead.

David Simpson and Joey Jensen had a good battle for second, with which Jensen eventually prevailed.

Sabraski may not have won in the other two features, but his Super Stock was spot on. He drove past Dexton Koch on lap two and led the rest of the way to win the 20-lap finale. Once in front, he pulled away from the field and cruised to the win ahead of Koch and Dylan Nelson, who made a nice run forward after starting in the fifth row.

This race had the only “grinder,” with a rare double flip part of the big turn-one tangle that ended with Tom Smart and Hedtke flipping. No injuries were reported.

It seemed only appropriate that the driver who towed the farthest to get to the track, Austin Fencl, grabbed the win in the Pure Stock feature. Tom Treviranus was the early leader but when his car started to push up the track, Fencl patiently closed in on him, making the pass for the lead just at the halfway point of the race and then he pulled away.

Treviranus had plenty of speed but his car kept slipping up the banking on the icy-slick track. Rob Christman and Dylan Helget passed him before the checkers waved.

For Fencl, it was his first feature race win of 2026 as he has been putting on the miles, chasing racing hard so far this year.

Gondik Law returns to action on July 17 with one of their biggest races of the year, the Twin Ports Twin 25s. The Structural Buildings Challenge Series is a part of this race, and they will be in action just one night earlier at ABC Raceway for the annual 444 race in honor of Tanner Byholm.