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In late February and early March, I had the fortune of watching a couple of drivers who would race 365 days a year if they could. Jake Smith and Dan Wheeler made the long pull down to Texas from Minnesota on February 27-28 and March 1. They raced with the Limited Modifieds at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Elm Mott, which is just north of Waco.

I must admit that it was pretty sweet running around in short sleeves and watching racing at the end of February. Both Smith and Wheeler had good weekends, which meant they didn't have any damage to fix and had solid finishes. Smith took a second, a third and a fourth in three nights of racing, while Wheeler drove to a third, a fourth and a sixth-place finish in the main events. They ran against quite a variety of cars representing different sanctioning bodies.

Wheeler promised that he will be running some WISSOTA races as a part of his far-flung racing efforts in 2025. He’ll likely visit his friends at Ogilvie Raceway. Wheeler will be celebrating his 50th year of racing in 2026 and he and Teresa are already planning out what will be a wild summer of racing for them. For sure they plan on racing in Alaska next year — how many drivers around here can say that they have done that?

River Falls, Wisconsin’s Steve Lavasseur also raced that last weekend in February at Heart O’ Texas Speedway (HOT), and then moved on to another north Texas track (Rocket Raceway Park) the following weekend. He was running a familiar pairing, using an SSR chassis and Dakota power under the hood. The Modified racing was very competitive and Lavasseur made both shows the initial weekend. He also made the one show held the following weekend, before rain washed out the second. He had a 24th-place finish alongside a pair of 18th-place finishes.

It seems that where ever I go to the races, I run into some familiar faces, often in the pits. Such was the case at HOT — I barely had time to walk into the pits before I ran into Eau Claire’s Aaron Wilson, who was on hand to help some of the Modified drivers. He retired from his job at Mars Race Cars, but still helps them out. When offered the chance to travel with one of the teams and do a few open Modified races, he couldn’t say no.

Wilson said that just because he is retired, it doesn’t mean that he will cut back his racing activities. In fact, he plans on racing in two classes: he still has his WISSOTA Late Model and will also be racing a Modified that is owned by Tom Karis. Wilson says that Karis has six race cars in his shop, everything from Mods to Hornets for himself and family members to race.

Wilson wasn't the only familiar face in the pits, as Jimmy Mars was also on hand, helping out his Modified customers. For the second week at RRP, Jimmy was replaced in the pits by his brother, Chris. Jimmy also celebrated his birthday in Texas.

I came across an interesting article in the March 2025 issue of Speedway Illustrated Magazine. They were highlighting some of the most interesting and touching pictures they had shot for their mag over the last two decades. On page 80 was a picture of an 18-month-old youngster sitting in his grandfather's race car. It turns out that the youngster is now a senior in high school. Sitting in his grandfather Kevin Viebrock's Modified was Gavin Tarras, now a big, strapping basketball player whose high school is still playing in the state tournament playoffs as this is typed. Gavin is also a star pitcher on the New Richmond (Wisconsin) High School team and when time allows, also races a WISSOTA Late Model!

A new racing-related business has opened in the area and is actually less than a mile from where I live. Opened by Dan Boissy and Chad Metheny, Driven Performance and Machine will be building racing engines and engines for lots of other applications as well, doing all kinds of machining work.

One has to give props to WISSOTA tech inspector Justin Pogones for being active in keeping up with what is happening around the country. With nothing better to do the weekend of March 14, he jumped in his truck and headed to Kansas and Missouri for some of their opening weekend races and practices. He wanted to see what is happening with cars down that way and witness some of their inspections.

I ran into him at a track in Kansas and was more than surprised to see him. I declared him to be as crazy as me! (Probably not a compliment.)

He tells me that the WISSOTA tech folks will be doing seminars the next few weekends at centrally located points across WISSOTA’s sanctioning area, in an effort to make teching more uniform. They will also be making a trip out to Montana for racers and tracks in those areas.

It’s now the time of year for pre-season car shows to be held. For some reason, it doesn’t seem there are as many as there used to be, which is a shame. The car shows provide an excellent opportunity to generate interest in the upcoming season. It’s also the chance for race teams to showcase their equipment and allow lots of eyes on their sponsors, many of them from folks who might not go to the races. What a great way to promote those businesses that are supporting your team.

Rice Lake Speedway held its annual car show at Rice Lake’s Cedar Mall March 21-23. Rice Lake Speedway historian Larry James Quinn pointed out that this was the 49th consecutive year for the car show, all of which except one have been held at the mall.

They did have a very nice show this year, with all available space used. The car count was up quite a bit over last year’s event. That’s particularly impressive, given that the show was held earlier than normal to avoid conflict with Red Cedar Speedway's show scheduled for next week.

Fans got to see a wide variety of classes of cars on display. There were Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, Mid Mods, Super Stocks, Modifieds, Traditional Sprints and Limited Late Models on hand, along with Karts, Legend Cars and a Mini Mod.

It appears that Simon Wahlstrom will be busy this year, as he had identical-looking Mods and Mid Mods on hand. He will be an open-wheel-only racer in 2025. Sam Fankhauser had two identical looking Street Stocks on hand; perhaps one is his “local” car and one is for traveling events.

Super Stock regulars Clay Albrecht, Kori Richter, Mike Siewert and Kolby Kiehl had their cars present, while both the Herrman Farms Street Stocks and Brady Larson’s Mid Mod were excellent looking race cars.

Defending track champion Bob Wahlstrom had his new Pure Stock on display.

The Kart ranks continue to be the biggest supplier of new racing material, as third-generation driver Layla Chaplin, a former Kart racer, will be a rookie in the Pure Stocks.

Track co-owner Kolby Kiehl reported that they continue to sign on weekly and special event sponsors with announcements on these businesses to be made public soon.

Related, Henry Repeating Arms made the big announcement that the company is moving all their operations to Rice Lake and Ladysmith, Wisconsin and shutting down their New Jersey portion of the business. This corresponded with the news that Henry will be the sponsor for the Springtime Modified special to be held at the track on May 10.