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Bemidji Speedway’s 2026 Hall Of Fame inductees (Lisa Rhen Photo)

Bemidji brings in new HoF members and Sunday wins go to Mills, Carlson, Schmidt, Erickson, Leeper & Fosso

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (August 2) - It was Bemidji Speedway Hall of Fame night on Sunday, with nine new members added to the list of Hall of Fame honorees.

This year’s new members were Ted Carlson (driver and pit crew member), Jimmy Pierce (driver, crew member and fan), Mike Spaulding (driver), Loren and Jeff Tardy (drivers), Todd McClellan (driver), Dan and Al Sadek, Sr. (drivers), and Dennis Peterson (photographer, media writer). All were brought down to victory lane and presented beautiful plaques honoring their induction into the Hall of Fame during intermission, to cheering and appreciative fans.

On the racing side of the night, five clean sweeps highlighted action, with two first-time winners in 2026 in front of a near-packed grandstand.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Davey Mills, Dalton Carlson, Brennan Schmidt, Brooke Erickson, Kade Leeper and Brady Fosso.

Fourteen WISSOTA Pure Stocks powered on track with Jake Smith on the pole and Kade Leeper to his right. The race was given more incentive with the donation of $250 added to the winner’s purse by local business, The Sugar Shack.

Smith jumped to the early lead with Leeper and Mason Smith chasing him in very close competition. Following a late caution, Jake Smith was challenged by Leeper for the lead, with Leeper gaining the advantage. Mason Smith followed, and the top two battled to the end. In a final lap attempt, Smith powered up on the inside and came within a bumper of winning, but Leeper held the fast lane and picked up his first feature win of the 2026 season. Mason Smith was second with Alex Berg racing up into third.

WISSOTA Hornet National Points leader Brady Fosso held the pole for the start of the feature, with Chad Reller to his right. Fosso quickly grabbed control of the race, as Logan Delaney raced up into second followed by Bryce Mueller. In a flag-to-flag race Fosso picked up the win, adding to his national point lead. Delaney and Mueller followed to the checkered flag.

Brennan Schmidt and Skyler Smith led the pack of WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds to the green flag, waved by flagman Lynn Johnson, for the start of the race. Schmidt gained the advantage over Josh Beaulieu and Hunter Weeks. In a wild sequence of events, Dean Eggebraaten was on the move from his fourth row starting spot and challenged for a podium spot. A multi-car spin in turns one and two slowed the action for a restart.

The restart was controlled by Schmidt out front, with Beaulieu second, Weeks still third and Eggebraaten looking to advance. Schmidt has been extremely fast as of late and gained a multi-car-length lead, but the veteran racer Beaulieu kept coming back to challenge the young racer for the top spot with side-by-side racing late in the race. Schmidt won in a close finish with Beaulieu and Weeks trailing. It was Schmidt’s third feature win of the summer and a clean sweep.

In what became a highlight race of the night, Brooke Erickson and Lily Knute led the pack of WISSOTA Mod Fours down the front straight, with Erickson moving to the lead ahead of Conrad Schwinn and Shannon George. George raced inside down the back straight and passed Schwinn for second, and looked ahead to Erickson - who held a commanding three-car-length lead.

The veteran driver Schwinn quickly regained his second spot and son Ashton Schwinn also passed George for third.

Late in the race, Erickson continued to lead Schwinn and Schwinn. With just a few laps left, a series of five cautions brought the field back to Erickson’s rear bumper for the restarts; each time the young driver held her line and the advantage to garner her first-ever feature win to a roaring crowd’s approval.

Dalton Carlson and Cameron Labelle led the WISSOTA Super Stocks to the green flag, with Labelle spinning on the first lap. He went to the back of the pack and Matt Sparby left for the pits for repairs.

With the race returning to green, Carlson held the lead followed by Brandon Bahr and Nic Lewis. Carlson continued to build on his lead with Bahr and Lewis dueling for second in a close fight for the spot. The race belonged to Carlson, as he won his fourth feature of the season at Bemidji and maintained his point lead. Bahr and Lewis completed the podium.

In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Alan Olafson and Jeff Reed led the way to green; Olafson was the early leader as Davey Mills charged forward into second, followed by Adam Johnson. The Modifieds weaved and diced back and forth in grand fashion, looking for openings to advance through the field. Mills moved to Olafson’s bumper, looking inside in turns three and four and then down the front straight. He worked his way up alongside Olafson and then took the lead in turns one and two. Mills then quickly left the field behind to complete his clean sweep of the Modified class and take his second feature win of 2026. Olafson and Johnson were the top three.

In the Bemidji Mini Stocks, Hayden Engen held off the hard-charging Nick McCann for his second feature win and a clean sweep. McCann and Weston Ramsrud followed in second and third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 22-Davey Mills[3]; 2. 77-Alan Olafson[1]; 3. 72-Adam Johnson[4]; 4. 2R-Jeff Reed[2]; 5. 43-Lance Schilling[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Davey Mills[2]; 2. 2R-Jeff Reed[3]; 3. 77-Alan Olafson[4]; 4. 72-Adam Johnson[1]; 5. (DNF) 43-Lance Schilling[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Carlson[1]; 2. 29-Brandon Bahr[3]; 3. T26-Nic Lewis[5]; 4. 27C-Cameron Labelle[2]; 5. (DNF) 72-Mike Johnson[6]; 6. (DNF) 81X-Matt Sparby[4]; 7. (DNS) 47J-Justin Barsness

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Brandon Bahr[2]; 2. 81X-Matt Sparby[3]; 3. T26-Nic Lewis[4]; 4. 27C-Cameron Labelle[7]; 5. 57-Dalton Carlson[6]; 6. 72-Mike Johnson[5]; 7. (DNF) 47J-Justin Barsness[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[1]; 2. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[4]; 3. 9W-Hunter Weeks[3]; 4. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[5]; 5. 07-Carter Matthews[6]; 6. 92-Nick Seitz[7]; 7. 21W-Bruce Hislaw[10]; 8. (DNF) 6K-Noah Bitz[8]; 9. (DNF) 33L-Cejay LaValley[9]; 10. (DQ) 16-Skyler Smith[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9W-Hunter Weeks[1]; 2. 92-Nick Seitz[2]; 3. 6K-Noah Bitz[4]; 4. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[5]; 5. 33L-Cejay LaValley[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[1]; 2. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 3. 07-Carter Matthews[4]; 4. 16-Skyler Smith[2]; 5. (DNS) 21W-Bruce Hislaw

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 99E-Brooke Erickson[1]; 2. 18-Ashton Schwinn[9]; 3. 6-Conrad Schwinn[4]; 4. 10-Dexyn Habraken[8]; 5. 87-Shannon George[5]; 6. 29J-Jayden Bahr[6]; 7. (DNF) 26L-Lily Knute[2]; 8. (DNF) 11C-Cody Bush[3]; 9. (DNS) 25-Jordan Thayer

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[1]; 2. 87-Shannon George[3]; 3. 99E-Brooke Erickson[4]; 4. 11C-Cody Bush[7]; 5. 26L-Lily Knute[8]; 6. (DNF) 29J-Jayden Bahr[5]; 7. (DNF) 25-Jordan Thayer[2]; 8. (DNF) 10-Dexyn Habraken[9]; 9. (DNF) 18-Ashton Schwinn[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 3-Kade Leeper[2]; 2. 21-Mason Smith[3]; 3. 18B-Alex Berg[4]; 4. 57-Austin Carlson[7]; 5. 86J-Jake Smith[1]; 6. 55-Aaron Bitker[6]; 7. 7-Jenny Smith[5]; 8. 38-Nate Zanter[9]; 9. 62-Joshua Bitker[8]; 10. 9L-Landon Weeks[12]; 11. 25-Billy Binkley[13]; 12. 7K-Quintyn Karl[10]; 13. 15-Caylyn Binkley[14]; 14. (DNS) 11C-Chris Smeby

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Mason Smith[1]; 2. 57-Austin Carlson[6]; 3. 62-Joshua Bitker[2]; 4. 7-Jenny Smith[4]; 5. 38-Nate Zanter[5]; 6. 11C-Chris Smeby[7]; 7. (BF) 25-Billy Binkley[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kade Leeper[1]; 2. 55-Aaron Bitker[2]; 3. 86J-Jake Smith[6]; 4. 18B-Alex Berg[5]; 5. 7K-Quintyn Karl[7]; 6. 9L-Landon Weeks[4]; 7. 15-Caylyn Binkley[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 27-Brady Fosso[1]; 2. 28-Logan Delaney[4]; 3. 11-Bryce Mueller[6]; 4. 28R-Chad Reller[2]; 5. 72-Aiden Kessler[8]; 6. 30X-Chase Golliet[5]; 7. 701-Cassidy Hamre[7]; 8. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[9]; 9. (DNF) 8X-Adam Kessler[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Brady Fosso[2]; 2. 30X-Chase Golliet[1]; 3. 28-Logan Delaney[5]; 4. 8X-Adam Kessler[4]; 5. 28R-Chad Reller[3]; 6. 11-Bryce Mueller[7]; 7. 701-Cassidy Hamre[6]; 8. 72-Aiden Kessler[8]; 9. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[9]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 77-Hayden Engen[1]; 2. 50-Nick McCann[4]; 3. 75-Weston Ramsrud[3]; 4. 6-Conrad Schwinn[8]; 5. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[2]; 6. 72-Evan Hepsak[9]; 7. 3E-Easton Derby[6]; 8. 5-Cody Meyers[10]; 9. 94-Cameron Schwinn[5]; 10. 7G-Jayme Gordon[7]; 11. 26-Brooke McCann[12]; 12. 18-Danny Schwinn[11]; 13. (DNF) 7-Brandon Hunter[13]; 14. (DQ) 87-Kurt Derby[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Hayden Engen[6]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 3. 75-Weston Ramsrud[7]; 4. 50-Nick McCann[3]; 5. 72-Evan Hepsak[1]; 6. 18-Danny Schwinn[8]; 7. 26-Brooke McCann[2]; 8. 7-Brandon Hunter[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Cameron Schwinn[4]; 2. 3E-Easton Derby[6]; 3. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[2]; 4. 7G-Jayme Gordon[3]; 5. 5-Cody Meyers[1]; 6. (DNF) 87-Kurt Derby[5]