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Tuesday, September 15

The 2026 WISSOTA 100 began on Tuesday, September 15 at I-94 emr Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The day brought sunny skies with cool but manageable temperatures. The facility had to endure a batch of rain on Monday, which made track prep a bit more challenging for the opening night of racing. It also made for a few wet spots throughout the expansive grounds of the facility.

With the vast amount of space needed to pit all the race cars and all the campers, parts of the facility that probably aren’t used all year are in service this week. While I didn’t see anyone get stuck, a few extra runs up some of the hills in the far western part of the pit area were needed, and a few of the big haulers were leaving some good-sized ruts behind them.

What used to be just a practice night now features the first of the last two rounds of the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series. It actually fits together very well, as the Late Models run a full program in addition to the numerous practice sessions for the other classes. Everyone gets all the practice they want and for that reason, lots of rigs were arriving early, going through tech inspection, and getting ready to get on the track.

One of the tech inspectors, Gene Kockelman, told me that at the time, more than 100 drivers went through inspection already. While they had not sent anyone home yet, there were quite a few cars that were seen returning to the tech building multiple times before they got everything straightened out, so to speak. At least five tech inspectors from various parts of WISSOTA are on hand for this event to make it work as smoothly and quickly as possible.

By evening’s end, somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 teams were already on the grounds, with the flow of traffic of new arrivals still occurring. There were some surprises and quite a few long-distance travelers were already on hand.

As a fan, I always worry that bad things will happen during a practice night, and some driver from hundreds of miles away won’t be able to race the real races that start on Wednesday. There were a few minor yellows, mostly for one-car spins and a couple of tangles that seemed pretty minor. Danny Vang seemed to suffer a pretty major issue with the Midwest Mod he was planning to race later this week for the first time, so I will have to check back on that problem. Canada’s Keenan Glasser also went off on the hook after suffering front end issues with his Midwest Mod.

By far the worst crash of opening night involved Late Model driver Aaron Johnson. During the fourth heat race he got up on the homestretch wall and did a series of wild rollovers right under the flagstand. Fortunately he was okay, but his rookie season behind the wheel of a Late Model appeared to have met its conclusion, as the car looked to be quite the mess. That was one of only two slowdowns during the entire Late Model portion of the program, however. They ran a fast but clean program, with the other yellow coming during the feature race.

Forty Late Models signed in to race the Challenge Series show on Tuesday, with several others on the grounds but choosing not to race. Sam Mars was quickest overall at 16.447 in time trials, with the track slowing down quickly during the various following sessions. Cole Searing, Thomas Weisgram and Tyler Peterson were also quickest in their groups.

Track prep was extensively done just before the Late Models ran their main and much of the choppy condition from the prior day’s rain was eliminated. Don Shaw and his big crew gave the Late Model drivers a fast track to run their main event on.

And the Late Model feature was indeed a good one, with two different leaders, plenty of battling among those drivers running near the front and plenty of drivers who made impressive charges, especially given that they didn’t have yellow flags to bunch he field and aid them.

Dave Mass took the early lead from the pole, under pressure from Searing, Cody Overton and Peterson for the top spot. Overton was impressive the way he drove the Scott Ward-owned car so hard into the corners but Searing was just as aggressive; lap after lap they pressed Mass for the lead.

Finally, on lap 13, Searing was able to drive past Mass on the top side of the track to take over the lead, with Overton following him. Mass went quickly from first to third.

Searing and Overton then engaged in a spectacular duel for the lead, throwing slide jobs at each other on virtually every corner — and just as many crossover moves to counteract those attempts. Searing continued to be scored as the leader the whole time but Overton was in front just as much, just not at the right point of the track. Many times he was just inches behind Searing when they crossed the finish line.

Their battle, however, seemed to slow up both of them and Mass and Peterson then reeled them in. With about 10 laps to go there was a legitimate four-car battle for the lead. One should never sleep on Mass, as he gradually closed up on the battling pair up front and on lap 36 drove under both of them to regain the top spot.

For the last five laps Mass had the point and wasn’t giving in and he drove across the line as the winner, with both Searing and Overton close behind. TPO ran fourth and Jordan Tollakson completed an impressive run with a fifth-place finish.

A couple drivers who made up a lot of ground during the feature included Mars, who came from 13th to sixth, and at one point was up to fourth. Johnny Broking also charged from 14th to seventh.

Every single driver who started the 40-lapper was on the track at the finish, which is a rarity and also a good way to start the week. No one had any significant damage to fix following the initial race.

The Late Models were done by 9:30 p.m., which gave the other classes just a little more time for more practice.

Among the more interesting entrants spotted was Jimmy Mars’ personal Modified, which he had on the track for the first time this year with Arkansas’ Tyler Wolff slated to drive the car. Tim Thomas was at the track with a new Modified, with Cade Dillard wheeling that car.

The battle for the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series championship became more narrow Tuesday following feature action.

Kevin Burdick built up a fairly comfortable lead going into the last weekend of the year, but he had trouble on Tuesday, triggering the only yellow of the race when he got into the wall on the back chute with 15 laps complete. He made a quick pit stop and returned to the tail of the field but was only able to make it up to 20th at the finish.

His once comfortable lead was cut by about one third and he found himself around 19 points ahead of Mass and 20 ahead of Shane Sabraski going into Wednesday night’s finale.

Wednesday, September 16

On Wednesday, the second day of the WISSOTA 100 was the first day all five classes had qualifying. The inside row for the 33-car WISSOTA 100 Championship Feature fields on Saturday were set on Wednesday. Passing points were used, with the highest 24 drivers starting the Qualifying Feature, and the top eight finishers locked in spots for the Championship Feature if they wished.

As has been the case in recent years, the qualified drivers have the choice to either accept their starting spots or give them back and try to qualify again on either Thursday or Friday night. Some do it to try and improve their starting positions, while others are fighting for national points and want the opportunity to race another full point show or two this weekend. It is a gamble and it has gone both ways in the past.

Comparing last year’s car count to the opening full night this year, all five classes were down, but not significantly.

In the five classes, 269 drivers is certainly nothing to sneeze at and with an all-new draw and qualifying both on Thursday and Friday, it is more than possible the final number of total entrants for the whole week might be right at last year’s numbers.

Considering the car count issues facing the entire industry in 2026, even being as close as they were to 2025 numbers reflects a strong desire for drivers to compete in this race. Drivers from Montana, Wyoming and three Canadian provinces show that they’re willing to make long, expensive drives to compete in this race.

Wednesday was also the final night of the Structural Buildings Challenge Series season, with the official crowning of the new champion coming on Saturday night after things are sorted out on Wednesday.

It appeared that crowning that champion would come right down to the final feature race for the series this year, with Burdick having a slight point advantage.

A slightly different track than normal greeted the racers on Wednesday, as the track held moisture and was very fast. It was also a bit choppy in the corners. It was reminding many fans of River Cities Speedway last week, but with a lot more straightaway speed.

The day started out nicely but gradually became cloudy as the afternoon wore on. For those of us who weren’t paying attention, we didn’t realize a chance of rain developed and by the scheduled start of the program, it was very cloudy with just a few sprinkles falling. They only lasted a few minutes and didn’t delay the start of racing.

The heat races took off and there were some very fine heats with good side-by-side racing and some dramatic moments as well. The Late Model heats were especially on point, with some great three-wide racing while showing blinding speed. Southerners Ty Giles and Cody Overton were both successful and area favorite Dan Ebert made an appearance after his major race scheduled for the weekend was rained out. He and Cole Searing had a breathtaking race before Searing pulled it out. Things were setting up for some exciting feature race competition until the weather stepped in again.

Sprinkles started to fall during the Modified heats and eventually it got too slick and the action was halted for what was hoped to be a short break. However, the rain built in coverage and intensity and after trying to ride it out, WISSOTA officials were forced to concede and the show was scheduled to pick back up at 11 a.m. on Thursday, which I figured would be a hoot; it’s been a long time since I was last at a dirt race in the daytime hours, much less morning racing.

Items to note on Wednesday’s show include the news that Brock Gronwold was debuting a new Modified for himself, a Vanderbilt chassis that he just picked up last week from the Atkinson racing team. The timing was probably good, since he wrecked his former car badly last weekend at Grand Forks.

I don’t recall ever seeing Denis Czech driving a Midwest Mod before, but he was in both his Super and a Midwest Mod Wednesday. He also had a near doppelganger in the Supers, which I presume was his old car and is now driven by Dustin Zieske. It still bears all Czech’s sponsors and even his name on the car.

Matt Schow wanted an area Late Model driver with success to drive his Late Model once and give him feedback on the car. On Wednesday Mike Greseth was behind the wheel of the No. 2s.

There is a contest for best wrap this weekend and Blake Adams was hoping to grab that prize. He changed the look on his Modified to reflect the 2011 look on his father Kevin’s Modified, which Blake said was his favorite-looking Mod that Buzzy ever drove.

The only Late Model that didn’t return from Tuesday night’s show was Aaron Johnson, after his violent flip. He was driving his Modified. There were also seven Late Models on hand that didn’t race on Tuesday.

It was good to see Watertown’s Arne Anderson back racing in the Mods. He used to be a regular at the South Dakota tracks but has been away from the sport for a number of years now.

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