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Before the races, I had talked to Kisling, who mentioned they were having some perplexing motor issues with the car and he was uncertain when they started racing whether it would go fast or perhaps, just blow up. It seems the former turned out to be the case.

The Pure Stock feature provided the closest finish of the night. A small field of cars was shrunk even more by mechanical problems, so there were only five cars for their main event.

Trenton Holub and Eric Crosby battled it out for the win. While Holub was scored the leader of every lap, Crosby was right in this tire tracks waiting to gain the advantage. On the final lap, they were side by side down the back chute and in very unlike Pure Stock fashion, they didn't conclude the race by smashing into each other. Instead they raced side by side to the line, with Holub the winner by the small margin of .011 seconds, which isn't very much. Aaron Bernick finished third.

Thanks as usual to the staff at ABC, and also to Ray Stuart for providing us seating with some of the finest views available at the track. For a blind flagman, he does a nice job of hosting.

Friday, June 28

Following another night of trying to find a dry race track somewhere in WISSOTA Country, we headed toward Montevideo, Minnesota and Fiesta City Speedway, one of the very few tracks that was still scheduled to race on Friday night. We made it just in time to take a seat before the first heat race.

Fiesta City runs lots of classes, seven in total, with all but the Pure Stocks sanctioned by WISSOTA. There were more than 90 cars in total in the pits, which includes the infield for the open trailers and places the bigger haulers in every opening around the fairgrounds. Somehow they always make it work.

The track looked good and the first green flag dropped right at 7 p.m. The biggest class of the night, the Street Stocks, had three heats while the others had a pair.

After the heats were done, the cars all returned to the track for Kid's Night and there were plenty of people who crossed down to the front chute where they met with their favorite drivers. This is always an important and popular night and one that should be done by all tracks. However, for the lonely traveler far from home, it also guarantees the program won't be ending early.

The Mid Mods were first to the track and Shane DeJong led from the outside pole for all 16 laps to take the win in that class. He was challenged early by Onyx Johnson and Matt Everts, but later, he had to fend off his most significant challenge from Kylie Kath, who had started sixth. Everts held on for third in a race that was stopped three times for the yellow.

Seventeen cars started the Street Stock feature but a big grinding crash off turn two, plus some mechanical issues, cut the field in half by the halfway point of the race.

Cody Hatch led lap one, but two laps later he was passed by Ty Schuler, who had quickly moved up from the third row. It was fun watching Mike Jans and Kolton Brauer storm up from the fourth row and quickly move into contention. Bad luck struck Brauer on lap nine when, while battling furiously with Jans for second, the rear end of his car locked up and he spun and nearly collected Jans as well. On the restart, the big grinder occurred and suddenly the field was halved.

Jans put pressure on Schuler for the final half of the race but Jans was just as busy trying to fend off Justin Vogel. Schuler had a good line around the track and raced home the winner.

It has been a marvelous year so far for Dexton Koch and that trend continued on Friday night, as he racked up another feature win in the Super Stocks. Dustin Zieske led the opening lap with challenges from Corey Elward. Unfortunately for Elward, the only yellow of the race was for him; after two laps of racing, his car was spewing fuel and was discovered to be missing a gas cap. Without a spare handy, he was forced to park his ride and call it a night.

Zieske led for two more laps before Bailey Rosch started climbing the banking in the corners and flew by Zieske to take over the lead. As fast as Rosch looked in making that pass, Koch was that much faster and five laps later he did the same thing to Rosch; he blew past him and took over the lead. He put lots of distance on Rosch as he drove on for the win.

Thirteen Late Models were on hand to race and the front row was an Olsen family reunion, at least until the green flag dropped. Son Charlie blasted away from dad Chad to take the early lead. Chad dropped back a little as Jordan Tollakson, Matt Gilbertson and Jayson Good were all on the move toward the front.

The action up front was entertaining and there were good battles back and forth in what I rate as the best main event of the evening. Charlie continued to hold the lead past the halfway point, with Tollakson putting heat on, while Gilbertson tried to make it a three-car battle.

As they approached the back of the pack, it was tough sledding for the leader, as he tried to pick his way through the field while still keeping Tollakson behind him. He had no chance to size things up; he had to make a move to keep Tollakson behind him. But, as he tried to get under backmarker Scott Lehn going into turn one, the two cars made contact, Lehn was up on two wheels, and very nearly flipped before slamming back to earth.

It was decision time for the track officials. These are always very tough calls to make as to how many liberties the leaders get and who should be labeled at fault and sent to the tail. On this night, they made the call that the yellow belonged to Charlie Olsen, and he was sent to the rear. Forced to make a call myself, I would have gone the same way the track officials did.

Charlie called it a night, while Tollakson then inherited the lead with six laps to go. Then, after having a good battle with Gilbertson, he claimed the win at his hometown track.

The Modified feature went nonstop for 16 laps and another driver who showed dominating speed was Zach Johnson. He started fifth on the grid and showed good patience as he worked his way toward the front. Ryan Flaten led from the drop of the green after Wade Skindelien was set back a row for jumping the initial start. Nate Heinrich challenged him while Johnson was up to third by the halfway point of the race. He suddenly found a fast line around the track and blew by the lead pair in one big move, taking the lead on lap 12 and then driving away from those two to take the win.

A small swarm of Hornets then concluded the evening. It looked like Dalton Haag was going to get the win as he led the opening eight laps of the race. Suddenly, Kole Kampsen picked up the pace like he was just waiting for the right moment, but whatever the case, he blew past Haag on lap nine and took over the lead. He extended it on the final tour, easily winning the contest over Haag and Adam VanDerostyne.

The final checkered waved at about 11:15 pm and I was surprised to see how many people stuck around to watch the final race. Of course, there were many who wanted to walk into the infield. It is always nice to have the chance to see racing at another track I don't always get many opportunities to visit and watch drivers I don’t often have the chance to see weekly.

Thanks in particular to that nice lady at the ticket window who believed my tall tale of rained-out racing trials from Friday afternoon and didn't make me walk all the way around the facility in order to sign in, or I might have missed the majority of the heat races!

Saturday, June 29

After 28 days of no activity at Rice Lake due to weather, they finally returned to racing on Saturday night, June 29. With most tracks raining out on Friday, and some other tracks not racing on Saturday, the conditions were ripe for a nice driver turnout and that proved to be the case.

After such a long break, in many ways it almost felt like opening night again. There were many new drivers on hand, a number whom I hadn't seen race anywhere yet. It was also Hall of Fame night at the track and Tony Bahr, Paul Gilberts, the late Dick Hessler, and Tammy Sirek were honored.

New winners emerged in all five classes and in the Street Stocks and MidMods, there hasn’t been a repeat winner in 2024 in six nights of racing.

It is fun just to pull into the track at Rice Lake to see the continual improvements. This week the viewing platform in the pits was a new sight, hopefully to be finished in time for July 3.

The track itself does remain a work in progress. I know Kolby Kiehl, who has taken on much of the load of preparing the track, was not happy that it took some rubber for the Modified feature. He is continuing to learn how to prep the track while battling the wild weather swings we have seen in June. He won't settle for less than spectacular however, and will keep working to get the track just right if everyone will just cut him a bit of slack.

All cars were sent to feature races. There were back-to-back fields of 28 and 29 cars for the Street Stock and Super Stock features. I don't remember a time when that many cars or more started a feature, since perhaps the glory days of the 1960s when they used to start 33 cars three wide in the mains. And to the drivers’ credit, they did a great job.

Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Famer Larry Quinn, from Bruce, passed away recently and his grandson Tucker as well as the racing Olsons had their Super Stocks on the track to honor Quinn in a ceremony during the National Anthem. There was also a moment of silence.

Jeff Eisner Jr. made his return for the first time to the track after his serious flip here earlier this year. Jeff Sr. told me that the car had the center of the wheel break, which caused the violent flip in turn three. While it was a hard tumble, it could have been worse.

Since they have returned to racing following the fix of the car, they have had two solid finishes. They are calling the $5,000 they spent to get the car going again an update, and not a repair.

It was good to see Mark Hanson back at the track with his Modified Saturday. He is a dear friend of Tony Bahr and Bahr gave him an ultimatum that he had better have his car on the track for Hall of Fame night, with Tony inducted, so Hanson made it happen.

Kevin Herrman is the force behind the four-car team of Herrman Farms racing. They have three Street Stocks and a Mid Mod in their stable. However, Kevin has not been racing lately, so I asked him if he had retired. However, he told me he is dealing with some strange health issues. Last summer he suffered heat stroke while racing, which caused him to pass out. Now, while he can work just fine and has no other problems, every time he races the same symptoms reappear with the same result and he passes out. The doctors tell him that he will get over it eventually. In the meantime, he has Cody Cimfl driving his Mid Mod for him and Cimfl had another solid run, finishing third.

Landyn Randt made a return to the racing seat far ahead of schedule after his recent shoulder surgery. The original timetable had him returning to his Mid Mod by Labor Day. He was out of the sling after two days and riding four-wheelers, so Dad said it was his decision whether or not to start racing again and when.

Parker Anderson was back to his roots, debuting a No. 127 Street Stock here Saturday. I believe Anderson is running a car owned by Bintz. He got a top-10 finish and with so many strong cars in this class, it's tough to advance too many spots — everyone is just so darn good. This class remains by far the strongest at the track and it seems, just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

An interesting addition to the class on Saturday was a new car debuted by Tom Treviranus from Hawthorne. Tom, who is the senior member of the three-car Trev Trev Pure Stock team, surprised me by pulling a Street Stock out of the trailer. It’s been rumored that a Street Stock class may be embraced in the Northland, and this seems to indicate Treviranus is confident enough this will happen. In the meantime, if he races regularly at Rice Lake, he will be a good addition with his always clean equipment.

Another surprise on Saturday was the debut of Jason Melton, of Rhinelander, with a Super Stock. Since there are no tracks in that area that race Super Stocks, it was surprising. I would guess his closest Super Stock track to be ABC, but that is still quite a pull for him.

There were at least a half dozen Pure Stocks, Street Stocks and Super Stocks from the Rhinelander, Merrill and Tomahawk areas at the track on Saturday. There have always been some good cars from that area, and they are always welcome here. With the new starting time, the races have been getting done earlier, thus allowing them to get on the road sooner if they so desire.

“Hot” Karl Leavenworth, aka Jon Frolik, made his first Rice Lake run of the year. His race car was seen earlier in the day over by the Kart track and I believe he had a “Hot Karl Jr.” racing over there before they transitioned over to the bigger track.

Related, I remain completely sold on the idea that the kart track addition was one of the best and longest-lasting positive decisions Adams-Hansen made in their years as owners of the track. That is where the next generation of racers will come from and if we don't get them interested early in the sport, they will find other things to do with their time.

There has been an increasing push to certify the legality of both the Pure Stock and Hornet classes at tracks throughout the sanctioning body and they have really been checking out the Pure Stocks here. Traveling inspector Justin Pogones was on hand to help the local tech folks. They had the Pure Stocks all jacked up in tech after their feature on Saturday and axles were pulled among other things. The good news was that everyone passed.

Unfortunately, three drivers didn't pass muster with two of the top five in the Mid Mod feature not making the grade. They were all drivers I was happy to see back at the track after long absences from here. Hopefully this will not sour them too much to keep them from returning, but rules are rules and must be enforced, with the alternative being chaos.

I know that Austin Ellis has been getting frustrated with his Modified effort, coming close to victory lane on several occasions but then having something happen. Saturday he drove away from the field for a resounding win, followed by bear hugs in victory lane from his folks. I believe he is still commuting home on weekends to race as he now lives back in Madison, having moved there to take a great job opportunity.

Tommy Pogones has raced at Rice Lake just a small handful of times, yet he dominated the big 28-car field on Saturday for his first-ever win at the track. It was reported to me after the race that he accomplished this feat without the use of brakes, which left the car shortly after the green flag dropped.

A big shout out to Alex Myers, who won his first feature race ever at the track on Saturday and had to hold off his dad to do so. Racing in the shadow of Curt Myers can't be an easy thing, but his improvement over the course of the last year has been considerable. I know Rice Lake is not his favorite track but a nice win like this might boost the track on his rating scale.

It was good to see C.J. Wagner back on the track driving one of the Holub Pure Stocks and he responded to the opportunity by getting a top-five finish. C.J. could always wheel a race car, but the right combination of finances and opportunity never seems have been fallen his way.