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Tuesday, July 29

On Tuesday night, July 29, the 31st annual Street Stock Little Dream was held at Rice Lake Speedway. As the highest paying Street Stock race in the entire country, this race is always a highlight of the season at the track.

But, I'm angry. For the second straight year, the winner was not determined by who crossed under the checkered flag first, but hours later after the tech inspection was done. For the second straight year, the apparent winner was found to be illegal. For me this ruins the whole race, and it just burns me up!

I'm not angry with the tech guys. They are just doing their job and in both cases, both years, the determination was an engine rule violation. With a race that pays this much money, it is important that good teching take place.

The teching here is probably the most extensive of the entire season; even the big money shows at the end of the year don't do this extensive of teching, unless someone pays money to have a particular car torn down. So, am I to assume many races have been and will be won by cheaters? It's appearing to me that wholesale cheating is running rampant in this sport in this region, and not much is being done about it.

And, who exactly is doing the cheating here? Is it the car owner or driver who order up an illegal motor? Or are there a lot of teams out there who just order a motor and really don't have any idea what they have in it? Not many people build their own motors anymore. So are they just assuming that what they are running is legal?

And what of the engine builders across the industry? Those illegal parts don't just fall off the shelf and into motors being built. We know the majority of motors will never get torn down, because seeing what's in every motor is not realistic. But if everyone is going to cheat, what's the point of even having rules? You might as well throw the rule book out and “run what you brung” ... but how long will the sport last in that mode?

I'm just angry with the whole process and everyone involved in it. It spoils the racing and spoils the event. I'm most angry that the Little Dream, a really cool event based on an even cooler premise, has to be the one that gets kicked in the shins the last two years.

I was wondering earlier why the car count took a rather dramatic drop this year. Every year it has hovered right around 60 cars. However, this year, even with beautiful weather and an assumed higher than ever payoff, the car count dropped to 47. Now I think I have figured out why. There are a lot of fast and illegal race cars out there right now, with teams knowing they are running illegally.

I'm not throwing Tourville under the bus here because I don't know all of the details and have not talked to him. He may have not had a clue what was in his motor. But again, somebody had to know, as those parts didn't just mysteriously grow inside that engine block. It was the same thing with Traynor last year.

The point is, does everyone now feel you must cheat to win? If so, we have a real mess on our hands.

On the brighter side, it was one of the better Little Dreams in recent years. The quality of the cars was excellent and I thought the actual racing was some of the best ever. Sometimes everyone is so hyped up that overdriving and crashes become the storyline, but that wasn't the case at all this year.

In the 10 heat races, which are so important for points, there were only two yellows. The B features, often caution plagued, were also smoothly run and the Last Chance race went green to checkered flag. Drivers really seemed to be racing each other with respect and sometimes, with so much money on the line, that isn't always the case.

The feature race did have a few more cautions but those were mostly one-car spins or stalls. There really wasn’t a single grinding wreck all night and no one was forced to take their car home in a basket. The track was in excellent shape all night, due to the good work from Kolby Kiehl and his staff and the folks from FYE Motorsports, which runs this event for the speedway.

Sean Cimfl, the normal race director here and an experienced flag man, was waving the sticks Tuesday, with FYE’s Chris Stepan bringing in his own people for some of the important tasks. There were extra folks on hand to work the track and run the wreckers, etc. and the whole crew did an admirable job of keeping the show moving.

The final checkered waved at 11 p.m. and could have been a bit earlier, except for a few yellows in the main event. It was still an early night compared to many specials.

The crowd was gigantic and it was a beautiful night to be outdoors in Wisconsin in July. Fans are the heart and soul of this race. Without the contributions from fans and businesses, both local and elsewhere, it would not be nearly the event it is. Those of us who enjoy the race should be thankful to them for them continuing to pitch money into the purse.

On the technical side, the precision with which the track crew worked was excellent. The lineups were done quickly and the restarts were also quickly accomplished.

I want to focus on the starts, which I thought were the best I had seen all year at any track. A start zone was used by Stepan and he must have really laid it out clearly at the drivers meeting because every start all night was near perfect. The front row was side by side and no one fired until they got to that acceleration zone. I hope everyone learned a little something and those kind of starts continue when we are back to the regular season.

Jay Kesan kept his record intact as he made his first appearance of he year on Tuesday. This also made him the only driver to have raced in every Little Dream, all 30 of them, minus the one year when someone had the idea to change it to a Midwest Mod special.

Jimmy Randall, one of the most successful drivers ever in the Little Dream, but retired now for a few years, returned to the driver's seat driving the No. 69 of the Crandall racing team. This is the car that Tim Johnson has been driving in recent years. Johnson, meanwhile, was absent from the field and missed.

Randall tipped that Crandall is prepping a second Street Stock, but that car is not ready yet. Randall had some mechanical issues and failed to make the race.

Kevin Herrman put Shawn Amundson in one of his three cars for this night and Amundson made the show, eventually finishing eighth.

It was the first race of the year for Kyle Genett on dirt, but you wouldn't have known it. He ran strongly all night and after being in the top five for most of the race, slipped back one spot at the finish.

Kevin Bogdanovic has returned to racing on a part-time basis this year, but his Rice Lake luck hasn't been good so far. The other time he tried to race at Rice Lake, he wrecked the night before at Red Cedar. Tuesday night he hit the wall in hot laps and killed his car for the night.

Cody Cimfl was prodded into racing the feature race. He won the non-qualifier, which offers the opportunity to start in the back of the feature. However, you must forfeit the non-qualifier winings of $500. He started to say that he wasn't going to race the feature but the crowd started to boo and hiss so much when he started, he changed his mind and raced instead. He was the first driver out of the feature, by the way.

Fans were certainly in a giving mood on Tuesday. Not only did they contribute in a big way to set the record payoff at $30,100 dollars that went to Dykhoff, they also built the 50/50 pot to nearly $2,400, too.

The electric atmosphere of the evening was back in 2025 after it felt just a bit flat last year. It is still one of the most fun events of the year. While I fear every year is the one during which the record payoff won’t be broken, this year was not the one. Thanks to the contributors for that, with some really digging deep in their pockets.

As always, Chris Stepan and Scott Tiefs are at the center of this event and without their tireless work this race would not be the jewel that it is.

Wednesday, July 30

Hello, from the smoky Northland. The temperatures have finally abated a bit and the humidity has dropped, but northeast winds are bringing in the Canadian wild fire smoke again. And my, oh my, is it thick sometimes. It can look like fog and being near Lake Superior Wednesday, I kept thinking the wind had switched and fog was rolling in off Lake Superior. However, it had an odor like smoke and didn’t look like any fog I’ve seen before. I can't imagine what the fires and smoke are like up close and personal.

Wednesday night was the second night of racing at Gondik Law Speedway, held during the Head of the Lake Fair.

Track officials moved their usual Tuesday and Friday fair week shows to Tuesday and Wednesday. I believe, with many race fans at another race this weekend each year, the crowd count at Gondik Law suffers. I suspect some of the track officials and employees also wish to have Friday off to do a variety of things.

On Wednesday there were four WISSOTA sanctioned classes again on the schedule. While Mods raced on Tuesday, Mid Mods raced Wednesday instead. The other three classes racing — Pure Stocks, Hornets and Super Stocks — had a doubleheader’s worth of racing action during the fair.

Car counts were surprisingly modest across the board, with some drivers who raced on Tuesday not returning for a variety of reasons. Two relatively small heats and a feature race were the program for all four classes.

There were some busy teams in the pit area before the show. I heard the Super Stock program got a bit aggressive the night prior, and some were fixing their wounds on Wednesday. Matt Deragon was one of the active ones; he unloaded a car with little in the way of body work and he and his crew were very busy putting “Humpty” back together to race. They were rewarded later with a nice second-place feature run.

With Mark Fleischer still on the bend but reportedly doing much better, Nick Gima was still filling in. With the retirement of Ray Stuart from the flag perch, Jim Sauls, who also flags at Proctor, is now the starter for races on both sides of the bay.

Joey Jensen was one of the entrants on Wednesday night with two cars. He is still using his brother's SSR Midwest Mod as a replacement car for his own, which was wrecked in a pileup last weekend. According to the crew, brother Brandon wants it back after this weekend, so what they will do at that point remains unclear. In the meantime, they have a big doubleheader date upcoming at Princeton on Friday, with rained out features on the program, and Joey sitting on the outside pole. However, there will be work to be done on his brother Brandon’s car before then: during a Mid Mod heat Wednesday, the car suddenly locked up and ground to a halt, was removed by a wrecker, and was not seen again during the evening.

I noted that GLS uses the choose cone and is the only track I know of right now using that restart method. Granite City did it briefly but they junked it after a couple weeks. Gondik allows the leader to be in a row by himself, which is the version of the rules I agree with.

Despite the light car count, track officials didn't dillydally around, starting the show right at its advertised time and pushing it through quickly.

The Mid Mods rolled out first and this race produced a dominating win by James Vendela. He started on the pole and ran away from the pack. This race was stopped only once and that was for a grinding collision in turn one that eliminated three cars from an already short field.

Vendela then pulled away and the field was pretty strung out. He picked up the easy win ahead of Paul Ripley and Ryan Savoy with only six cars finishing.

Kyle Copp led the first five laps of the Super Stock feature, with Scott Lawrence briefly challenging until the “handle” went away from his car, he faded and eventually pulled off. Jensen started fourth and quickly then moved in to challenge Copp. With Jensen seemingly able to run anywhere on the track, he searched until he found the open lane and then drove past Copp for the lead.

One brief spin early in the race slowed things down, but then they ran off the last 17 laps without a stoppage.

Jensen ran away from everyone but there were some good battles behind him. Deragon came from the third row to finish second and Tom Hauert, the rookie driver who seems to be racing everywhere, showed some speed and maneuvers as he drove up from the fourth row to finish a fine third.

It was Tom Treviranus from start to finish to win the Pure Stock feature. He started on the outside pole, beat his son to corner one, and then was gone. Eric Crosby pushed as hard as he could to keep up with Tom T. but Crosby's car couldn't match the handling on the slick racing surface that Tom T. could and that was the difference. Shane Basina moved up from row four to finish third.

The nonstop Hornet feature, which closed out the racing events for the night, was by far the best of the four feature races. Tony Jenson led the opening three laps in a tight formation with about a half dozen cars. Carson Gotelaere worked his way up from the third row and making some nifty moves, took over the lead from Jensen on lap four.

Randy Jacoboski was also on the move, and by the halfway point of the race he took second, with Nikota Larson close behind. The last half of the race saw these three running in tight formation and Jacoboski finally took over second and then worked his way up alongside Gotelaere. They then ran side by side, before Jacoboski was able to slowly edge past Carson and took the lead with just two laps to go.

Gotelaere wasn't done yet, as he pulled right to Jacoboski’s rear bumper and you could tell that something was about to happen. In turn three on the final lap, Gotelaere threw a front wheel drive slider at Jacoboski, and he cleared him; in classic style, however, Jacoboski crossed over Gotelaere, who was fighting to maintain control, and Jacoboski then drove home for the win.

Gotelaere was able to straighten himself out and managed to salvage second with Larson a close third. Everyone that started this race also saw the checkers.

With the limited number of cars on hand, the limited number of heats, some smooth races and officials that kept the action moving, the final checkers waved at 8:50 p.m. They tried to get the whole show done without turning on the track lights but the hazy smoky conditions just didn't allow that to happen.

Thanks to Joe Stariha, Nick “the hot dog thief” Gima, John Kimmes and everyone else on the staff at Gondik Wednesday.

Friday, August 1

It is hard to believe, but August has begun. It’s typically the last full month of the regular racing season for tracks in WISSOTA country, and many tracks will be wrapping up their regular season before this month even ends. I know that there are many people who are happy to see August come. For me, who hates winter more and more each year, August is just a sign that we are trending toward cooler weather and what follows that. And while many celebrate the “specials” season as the best part of the racing year, I'm not so strong on that belief.

There is still a full month ahead, however, so let’s not wish away our lives, but instead try to slow down a bit and enjoy what's coming up.

It was Meet the Driver night at Princeton Speedway and there were also two feature races to make up from a July rainout.

I always forget that Friday night racing provides a slightly different atmosphere than other race nights. The pits seem like a bleak place early and the spectator grandstands empty. Then, at the last minute, the line to get into the pits grows long and poof, suddenly at race time the grandstand is full.

As we move into August and the specials start to loom ahead, some teams take this time to update their equipment, some of which has taken quite the beating to this point. Max Nelson showed with a new look for his Super Stock, with an unusual sort of tan color that was quite different but looked very nice. Ryan Gierke had new doors, with handmade numbers until a wrap can be installed.

Friday was also my first chance to see Doug Wojcik race his Modified this year. As half of the Factory 43 Motorsports team, Wojcik has only been out a couple times so far this year. He’s far too busy with work to race. Since he now lives in Osceola, his racing tends to lean toward this side of the Mississippi River rather than back toward his old haunts in Wisconsin.

The car count was satisfactory in all six WISSOTA-sanctioned classes that raced, with a top count of 23 in the Mid Mods.

The first makeup feature on the agenda was for the Midwest Mods, and with a big field, the green was dropped and a big, seven-car collision took place before one lap could be completed. It took a couple of drivers out for the rest of the night, and what a bummer that must have been. Joey Jensen started on the pole and cruised to an easy victory in the makeup feature. It was one of two feature races Jensen won Friday, as he scored the victory in the Super Stock feature later as well.

The Hornets made up a feature race as well, and Brady Fosso made his trip down from Hibbing worthwhile, edging out Tony Jensen by .150 seconds or less than a car length to get the win. It was a great night for Fosso; he also won the regularly scheduled Hornet feature.

There were a number of dominating performances by feature winners Friday.

Russell Kiker, Jr. was one of the drivers who broke in the makeup feature for the Hornets, but he really wanted to be a part of the Meet the Drivers. He had his car pushed onto the track for that event and then pushed back to the pits.

The Super Stock main was dominated by Jensen. He started on the pole and no one could keep up with him. Behind him, there was a good battle for positioning among Dustin Nelson, Dexton Koch, Dylan Kromschroeder and Doug Koski, the latter of whom was shuffled back a couple spots right at the end.

Tom Worth led the first half of the Street Stock feature and for a time, it looked like he might win it all. However, Jim Gullikson was very fast and while he took his time working his way forward from seventh, he caught Worth quickly after he was clear of traffic. Gullikson drove by him on the outside at the halfway point and then ran away from the field. Tommy Pogones nipped Worth for second late in the race.

The track changed considerably during the Modified feature, which was run near that halfway point of the feature race schedule. Gierke did lead this race from start to finish but things got considerably challenging near the end. Gierke was running the low side on the track, as was most of the pack. Fourth-starter Dave Cain, who knows this track just about as well as anyone, moved to the cushion and the speed he was carrying was noticeably more than anyone else.

After a two-car collision just near the halfway point of the race, things changed as Gierke also moved to the cushion; it was probably the only thing that saved him from being passed. Cain moved into second but with his fast lane now blocked, he had to try and find another route to pass Gierke.

Gierke struggled on the cushion, with his line not near as smooth as that of Cain’s. However, he was able to keep his car pointed in the right direction and maintain enough speed that Cain couldn't make a low side pass work.

Adam Bohlman then started to make the low side work, one of few with success there. He gradually eased his way up to third and when a late yellow set up a two-lap sprint to the finish, he was suddenly a contender in the fight for the lead among Cain and Gierke. In fact, as Gierke hung on to get the win, Bohlman was able to pass Cain with a low side move. If the race had just a couple more laps left, he might have also put Gierke in his rearview mirror.

Tyler Larson led from start to finish to win the Mod Four feature. Rowan Tramm came up from the fourth row and pushed hard for the lead, getting inside Larson several times. He wasn’t quite able to make the pass for the win, however, and settled for second.

I'm guessing that Fosso, in his short career of racing to this point, had never won a pair of features on the same night before. He can now mark that off the “wish list.” Again, for the second time during the evening, Jenson was all over him for the lead. Lap after lap, Jenson drove hard to the inside of Fosso, going for the top spot, but each time Fosso had just enough speed down the chutes to ease away. Bobie Arnes came from the back of the pack to finish third.

In a long and grueling Midwest Mod feature, Mitch Weiss held off a lot of pressure to take the win. While he started on the pole and led all laps, he was under constant pressure from both Jensen and Ben Lewis, with those drivers coming from the third and fourth rows, respectively.

This race had six caution flags and after each one, Weiss had to put up with pressure from the other two drivers, who swapped second back and forth. Lewis liked the cushion and worked that line, while Jensen kept trying to get a nose under Weiss in the corners.

And while both tried and tried, neither was quite able to get the job done and Weiss was a happy winner in victory lane.

Between the time spent for the intermission, on-track activities and the longer than normal Mid Mod feature, the program ran just a bit longer than most do here at Princeton. The final checkered flag waved at just about 11 p.m. Still, a lot of racing and other activities were crammed into that time and other than a few delays there was action from start to finish.

Thanks to Nate Fischer and the rest of the staff. “R.J. at the Speedway” was a solo Friday on the. mic, with Chris Kolstad off, but he entertained and informed as usual.

Saturday, August 2

For the first time in 2025, I headed north to ABC Raceway in Ashland. The track was presenting its regular five division program, four of the classes under WISSOTA sanctioning.

I had a quick chat with Pure Stock driver George Richards, who was making one of his rare starts here at ABC. It’s quite a pull from his home in Mondovi, but he’s trying to race a bit more this year after only getting to run perhaps a half dozen shows last year. He still works every other weekend at his job in Mondovi, so it makes racing on the weekends kind of tough sometimes. He tells me he usually tries to make it to Rice Lake and if he leaves right at quitting time, he makes it just in time for his heat race. He has one of his family members, two of whom race weekly there in the Street Stocks, register for him, so it all works out. Richards later got fourth in the Pure Stock feature after redrawing the dreaded eighth position.

Codii Young, the veteran who races in the Super Stock class this year, had a rough start to his night when he hammered the guard rail in hot laps and he missed his heat race while fixing the issue. He did make it back out for the Super Stock feature, though.

The drivers were facing a drier than normal track on Saturday, with the track crew doing a quick mist after nearly every race as they worked to widen out the groove. By feature time the track was black from top to bottom and super slick, but there were drivers using multiple grooves. Two of the features ended up being very close races so those who could adapt to the conditions and not be quite the “throttle smashers” were most successful.

It was backpack giveaway night so all the kids got a fully supplied backpack for showing up. However, I'm sure the kids don't want to talk too much about it yet, because if you're talking backpacks, you're also talking about the return of the school year. None of us want to give up summer quite yet. In fact, I went through a personal crisis just turning the calendar over to August!

The Midwest Mod feature was up first and visitor David Baxter started on the outside pole, leading the first two laps. Tyler Vernon, continuing what is becoming an historic year for him, was just too fast for Baxter. He drove around him during the third lap and then was gone. No one challenged him the rest of the race, even as the event was stopped four times, all for one-car spins. At the finish, Vernon had 1.8 seconds on the field.

There was a good battle for second though, as Marcus Dunbar used the second lane to challenge Baxter after every restart and while he nearly got past several times, each time Baxter managed to fight him off and he came home second.

Jimmy Latvala made a late charge following the final yellow flag and drove up from ninth at the start to finish fourth. Jason Vokovan, who shared a transporter with Baxter in their trip up from Eau Claire, had perhaps his best run of the year to date to complete the top five.

The Super Stock feature was perhaps the most interesting event of the night. I enjoyed the strategy employed by various drivers as they made some big decisions on where to race and what lane to chose at various times during the race.

I am personally not a big track point guy, feeling that at a lot of tracks the points reflect who races every week, rather than who is the most successful. And, it seems like a lot of drivers don't pay attention to track points like they once did. However, there still are plenty who do and the points race here at ABC, with only two weekly races left in the season, is very much in play. In the Mid Mods, point leader James Vendela was absent so there will be a new point leader come next week.

And here in the Super Stocks, with a close point chase underway, leader Terran Spacek suffered some catastrophic issues to his car while leading a heat race, and was done for the night. That opened the door to several other drivers.

Steve Stuart made a great move on the opening lap of the Super Stock race, as he went to the freshly watered cushion and drove around the first row of cars to take the early lead. This race quickly became a three-car battle, as Shawn McFadden chased him on the low side while Patrick Beeksma started sixth and was quickly up to third and challenging.

Five yellow flags in the first seven laps slowed this contest, with Stuart continuing to lead. Stuart was under heavy pressure on the restarts, with McFadden trying to nose under him in each corner. Finally, the last 13 laps ran off nonstop.

By the halfway point, Stuart was still on top but McFadden was starting to creep past him on the low side. At that point Stuart opted to come off the cushion and drop to the low side to block McFadden's charge. But this opened the door for Beeksma, who had been lurking close behind. He then used the cushion and eased up on Stuart as McFadden started to fade.

Beeksma was good on the top to middle part of the track and he edged past Stuart on lap 11. During the latter part of the race Stuart tried to regain the lead but Beeksma was just a little faster one lane higher. He gradually pulled away and then drove on for the win, his first at the track in three years. In fact, the new victory lane built last year proved a conundrum, as Beeksma tried to figure out how to get there. McFadden settled for third.

The nonstop Modified feature was led by Neil Balduc from start to finish, but it was not an easy win. He jumped into the lead from the outside pole but quickly had Vernon challenge him.

Just like in the Super Stocks, Balduc used the middle lane of the track to gain the advantage in the Modifieds, while Vernon tried to race off the bottom and get under the leader. For nearly the whole race, this scenario played out, with Balduc just having enough to beat Vernon off the corners and hold on. They did this for many laps but Balduc never faltered and he came home for the win, with .3 seconds over Vernon at the finish. Nick Oreskovich came across the line third.

Shane Basina led from start to finish in the 10-lap Pure Stock feature but he had Eric Crosby right behind him the whole way. After Jake Smith made a slider into the infield with three laps completed, the rest of the race ran off nonstop. Basina continued to hold off the field with the top four running close together and drove on for the win over Crosby and Smith.

It was a smooth run show on Saturday night with the final checkered flag waving at just about 10 p.m. Thanks to Ray Stuart for allowing me a seat in his booth, which offers a commanding view of the entire facility.