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Friday, September 25

One of the longest running end-of-the-year specials, the Punky Manor Challenge of Champions, was contested at Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, Wisconsin Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26. This race was completely rained out last year and for the Red Cedar Racing Association, it’s important to them to cap off their season in a big way. Last year’s rainout was a bitter pill to swallow.

Fortunately, after some misty weather on Thursday that shut down practice early, the conditions were much better on Friday.

As is always the case for this event, the highlight division is the Late Models — as it should be. The race is named after Punky Manor, who was a budding star in that class.

Three other WISSOTA-sanctioned classes also were part of the program, along with the USRA Late Models. This year’s race was a split show, with the heats run on Friday and the B features and main features on Saturday night.

Drivers seem to flock to shows that have multiple full programs at one facility, so the two-day, one-feature event is not the most popular type of race weekend currently. I believe to some degree, it inhibits the number of entrants this race gets when it uses this format. But there doesn’t seem to be a workable way around this issue, given the city’s curfew. I suppose you could split the classes and run a full show for three of them or so, but that doesn’t seem to be anything anyone is interested in doing.

Activity in the pits before the races seemed slow at times, and some of us started to get a bit worried about car count. The end result was a solid field of drivers, however. There were 114 WISSOTA drivers on hand, plus another 28 in the suddenly booming USRA class. Thirty Late Models were on hand along with good fields in the other classes, too.

On opening night, everyone drives as hard as they can for 10 or 12 laps, especially with passing points in effect, then parks their cars and heads for the dance. That is the nature of things. Generally this also makes for a quick night of racing, something those of us who have been going to races faithfully each night of the weekend all summer long don’t necessarily frown upon. However, it is not the greatest draw for the average fan and for that reason, the stands are not generally packed for the Friday night show. High school football also takes away some fans, too, and well as a few race teams with family participating in high school ball in the surrounding communities.

A tour of the pits revealed some interesting happenings that have taken place since the last time races were held here.

One of the few northern drivers on hand was Darrell Nelson, who had both his Modified and Late Model. He is driving the CDR Modified again this week, revealing that his Modified is old and this was his best option. In an interesting note, Nelson said that Cade Dillard, the owner of CDR and a professional racer, qualified his Modified for the WISSOTA 100 and then drove the following day over to Hermantown, where he spent the entire day working with Nelson on this Modified. He then returned to Fergus and won the 100.

Adam Hensel was driving the MB Modified that Tyler Wolff from Arkansas drove last week at the WISSOTA 100. Hensel told me this was a good deal for him, so he could save his Late Model stuff and be ready to race next week at Ashland. Despite not having many Modified rides of late, he drove the car later to an easy heat race win.

Calvin Iverson was working, so Jesse Glenz — who was a star in the Modified class before moving to the Late Models — drove Iverson’s car, as well as his own Late Model. He, too, had a good night, winning a Late Model heat and finishing behind Hensel in the Mod.

Joe Swearingen, who finally seemed to be getting the hang of his Midwest Mod and finishing well, jumped ship and showed up with a USRA Late Model to race on Friday. He was a late arrival and I have yet to find out his long-term plan.

It appears that the Rivord team has had success in selling the Mod driven by Rick Rivord. Dalton Mains, a longtime competitor from the Superior area in the Midwest Mods, was behind the wheel of the car on Friday.

Alex Myers surprised me when he showed up with a Midwest Mod to drive Friday. Wheeling the car that belongs to his brother Matt Brandemuhl, the car has been sitting idle for quite some time. Myers did well despite his lack of recent appearances. He went from sixth to third in a heat race, losing at the line to Justin Bassa for second.

Brandon Jensen, a top competitor here in the Midwest Mods, had bad luck on Friday. When he came out for hot laps, the motor in his car was making some bad noises and he immediately pulled off. It must have been serious, as he failed to grid for his heat, with his weekend essentially over.

Brett Shafer also missed the start of his Late Model heat with unknown issues keeping him from racing. That pretty much ends his weekend as well. That is the downside to the split-show format.

There were four heat races for all classes, except the Modifieds; they had three. Several of the top feature winners were absent for various reasons, but it sure opened up the competition as far as who brings home the win on Saturday night.

Sometimes only having heat races can lead to a lackluster show, but there was wild action that had the crowd excited from time to time.

Without doubt, the biggest reaction by the crowd was when Avery Anderson made a last-corner pass on Ron Mahder to win a Super Stock heat. Early on, the track was pretty much dominant in the low groove and Anderson was one of the first to test the waters up near the wall. When he started passing cars, it made for an exciting race. Mahder was using the “windshield wiper” technique of starting at the bottom of the track, going right up to the wall, and then dropping back to the inside, making it tough to pass him. They had one near encounter earlier in the race that nearly caused a wreck, which fired up the crowd.

After that, Anderson spent several laps catching back up and after pressuring Mahder once again, he made a bold move off the last corner, managed to squeeze past Mahder on the high side, and Anderson took the win as the crowd was on their feet.

A close second on the fan meter was the wild happenings between Chad Mahder and Sam Mars during a Late Model heat. Mahder was leading when Mars caught him and threw an ill-advised slider that ended with him planting his car on the front of Mahder’s. Mahder spun in turn four as the crowd roared, either in approval of the bold move or in protest of the action, depending on just who you were rooting for.

Mahder restarted the race but his front fender was torn off and his car didn’t handle nearly as well the rest of the race. It ultimately caused him to drop back considerably.

Mars, on the other hand, went to the tail. He then fought his way back to the front, aided by a red flag. Then, on the last corner, he slid Kevin Burdick to take the win. Burdick, fighting for a national title, didn’t want to give up that point but was forced to.

The red flag in that heat race was the result of a scary accident involving Steve Laursen and Cory Crapser. Laursen slid off the front chute after contact between himself and Crapser. Laursen, under full power, flew into the infield, knocking over a jersey barricade and then crashing through a fence holding sponsor boards. He finally ended up near the back of the infield, just short of a water truck. With lots of workers and media in the infield, it could have been a very bad deal.

Laursen then hustled back on to the track where the cars were parked and threw some 70-year-old pokes at Crapser before everyone was separated.

Why is it there are so many officials in the infield of every track, but when they should be there to stop a driver from walking back onto the track, it seems like they all disappear? It is maddening. I’m not picking on Laursen. However, he was listed as a DNF Friday night after the action, and not a DQ. Don’t they tell the drivers at every driver’s meeting that if they get out of their car and try to go after another driver, they will be DQ’d? It does nothing to threaten this punishment if a track doesn’t follow up on it.

The first night of the Punky was filled with action, be it good or bad. The fans had plenty to talk about and had to have felt more than entertained.

The action continued on Saturday night with B features and main events for all five classes, where Punky champions for 2026 will be crowned.

Saturday, September 26

The 46th annual Punky Manor Challenge of Champions concluded on Saturday, September 26 at Red Cedar Speedway. On the schedule for Saturday were B features in four of the five divisions as well as the championship features; the Modified numbers didn’t necessitate a B feature.

Most drivers returned for the Saturday night show. A notable exception was Nick Anvelink, scheduled to start in the seventh row of the Late Model feature. Anvelink discovered motor issues following Friday night’s action and they headed home.

Interestingly, three drivers were added to the field on Saturday, after they did not race on Friday night. A couple raced elsewhere Friday and had their Saturday shows rained out, while one was racing at Red Cedar in another class and had mechanical issues, so he rolled out another car in a different class.

All three made the feature events and were allowed to race. Several tracks that run split show programs don’t allow drivers to race on the second day if they weren’t in attendance for the opening night of the program, but apparently Red Cedar doesn’t have that rule.

Red Cedar caught a break from the rain, which plagued many events in the Midwest this weekend. While it remained cloudy most of the day, no more than a few sprinkles fell in Menomonie.

An update to Friday night’s action for clarity purposes. Steve Laursen’s wild wreck did end with contact between his car and the water truck, parked near the back of the pits. I could not see that last night but I was told that a pipe on the side of the track had to be fixed on Saturday from the contact. Needless to say, Laursen and his race car were not in at the track on Saturday, as they headed back to Cumberland for Laursen to rest up from the wild incident and assess the damage to their race car. I imagine Laursen had plans to race yet in some of the late fall special events upcoming.

I had the chance to talk to Kevin Burdick briefly as he prepared his car for the Late Model feature race. He still has a reasonable chance to win the national title in that division, considering the upcoming races on his schedule. His original plan was to go to Hibbing this weekend, but the weather changed all that. While he said Red Cedar is not a track where he typically does well, he had a good night on Friday, which set him up with a chance of scoring a big point night on Saturday.

What I did not know about Burdick is that while he has Adams Automotive in Cameron machine the parts for his motors, he does all the assembly of his own racing engines. He builds his own bodies and the only thing he doesn’t do or prepare for his cars are the chassis itself and his racing shocks. Everything else he does himself, which makes his solid year and Structural Buildings Challenges Series Championship — in addition to his national points standing — even more impressive. You would probably be hard pressed to find many other Late Model drivers who contribute in the same way to their program.

Later, Burdick’s chance went away quickly, when he either got sideways or perhaps broke something on his car, as he slid into the infield very early in the feature race and was done.

Burdick is also using his back-up motor, as his top line motor is in need of maintenance at this point. He said he feels lucky it carried him through the WISSOTA 100 week. He’s also been battling illness, likely due to lack of sleep trying to work, maintain the car, and race with the long weeks of the 100 and other events.

Preliminary events started right at the scheduled time of 6 p.m. and it didn’t take long for the B features to be completed, so the main events started early and unlike some years, the track crew was not stressed fighting the curfew.

What a night it was for Jesse Glenz! Winning both the Late Model and Modified feature races at the Punky has to be one of the highlights of his career. He did so in style, topping off the night with a last-lap pass on Ashley Anderson to claim the Late Model win.

Glenz has had a stellar year, winning main events in several different sanctioning groups. While he isn’t seen at many weekly shows, when the money is on the line he is generally up front.

The Late Model feature started out with a great battle with Sam Mars for the lead. Mars started on the pole with Glenz in row three, but by lap five Glenz had grabbed the top spot. Mars didn’t want to relinquish it, however, and during the next five laps, they swapped the top spot four times. It was great racing as they went back and forth. Eventually Glenz began to pull away and Mars had to focus on holding onto second.

Early happenings took out the rest of the front two rows as A.J. Diemel, Rick Hanestad and Burdick all had various problems, which left it to Glenz and Mars to battle for the first half of the race. Cory Crapser had a solid run going in third and eventually eighth-starter Ashley Anderson became a key player.

The race had long green flag run for 28 laps, which meant that lapped traffic was key. Glenz worked his way through that issue, but his lead was getting small as Mars started to catch him.

A yellow with nine laps to go fell for a slowing driver. As we have seen all year this can completely change the course of the race. In this case, Anderson used the restart to drive around both Mars and Glenz and he took over the lead as he used the top side of the track to do so.

The race became a short chase as Glenz then tried to get the lead back after holding it for so long. Anderson continued to fight him off until the final lap when Glenz, who had been trying to get by on the low side of the track, went to the wall and found a great run. They were side by side down the back chute but Glenz really got speed through the final set of corners and drove around Anderson on the top side, winning by several car lengths. Mars settled for third, while 16th-starter Chad Mahder had a great run to fourth. Crapser was fifth. Only a half dozen drivers didn’t finish the race.

Earlier, Glenz put an absolute spanking on the Modified field in one of the most dominating performances of the year. Diemel was able to lead the opening two laps of the Modified race but then Glenz drove past Diemel and disappeared into the Dunn County darkness. Many will remember that Glenz was on outstanding Modified driver before he moved up to the Late Models; his pairing with Calvin Iverson’s Longhorn was quite the combo.

It was a most unusual Modified race, as the 30-lapper ran green to checkered and only one driver in the 25-driver field failed to finish. Lapped traffic was significant for the frontrunners. Pair that with a very fast leader for Glenz, it was likely like rush hour traffic.

At the conclusion of the race, there were only 10 drivers on the lead lap and he had half a dozen lapped cars between himself and Diemel when he crossed the finish line.

Jake Smith doesn’t race much anymore due to work and family commitments but he had perhaps his best run in years on Saturday. He started ninth in the Modified main, gradually worked his way forward, and with a pass on Adam Hensel near the end, finished in third. Brady Uotinen also did well, coming from the sixth row to complete the top five.

A yellow flag completely changed the course of the Super Stock feature race and opened the door for Tommy Richards to come from behind. He took the win ahead of Jesse Redetzke, who had dominated most of the race.

Eric Olson led the opening three laps before Redetzke moved to the cushion and was able to drive by Olson and take over the lead. Once in front, he was able to pull away from the field, as he worked the top side of the track, much as he does night after night here at Red Cedar.

Richards then passed Olson and Marcus Simonson for second, but he was nearly a full straightaway behind the leader. Things looked good for Redetzke as he cruised past the halfway point of the race with a considerable lead, before the yellow flew with 18 laps complete for a slowing driver.

Suddenly the high groove wasn’t so good for Redetzke and on the green, Richards drove under him to take over out front. Redetzke pushed hard, trying to gain the lead back, but he made contact with the concrete and knocked off his rear spoiler, which didn’t help matters. No matter how much Redetzke pushed, he just couldn’t catch Richards. After the yellow a whole new set of characters became race challengers, including Shawn McFadden and Terran Spacek.

McFadden was able to move into second and pushed Richards for a few laps, but Richards pulled away at the end to claim the win over McFadden and Redetzke. Spacek and Joey Jensen finished in the top five.

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