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Friday, July 26

Here we go again! Managed to finally recover from seeing so many races in so few days. We were able to get some rest while still attending our cardiac rehab workouts on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I thought about bumming a ride up to Grand Rapids Speedway Thursday, but decided not to bug my good friend Dennis McCauley into taking me up there.

Instead we started our weekend with another big event at Gondik Law Speedway Friday, with the KME Late Model Series. It was a regular night for the other classes as well. I didn’t think we’d see 51 Late Models as we did the previous Friday for the Twin 25s, and we didn’t, but there were a total of 32 WISSOTA Late Models crowded into our pits.

With close to usual number of cars in the other divisions we run, the total car count was a whopping 104, if my math is correct. What that car count means to me is, it’s going to be a late night. And that thought was correct. We left before the Pure Stocks and Hornets.

While I was sitting there watching heat races, a friend from the past came up and asked how I was doing. It was then that I found out for sure that Hornet driver and Superior High School football player Carson Gotelaere is Steve’s son. In other on-track action, I was also really glad to see Ronnie Malecki make it to the 30-lap feature in the Late Models.

It was 20 laps for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds first in the program. David Simpson won over Evan Checkalski. James Vendela was third, Kolby Reed was fourth, and 10th-starter Cody Carlson worked his way forward into the top five by the end.

In the 20-lap feature for the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Shane Sabraski was the winner over DJ Keeler, Kyle Copp, Andy Grymala and 14th-starter Scott Lawrence in the top five.

Officials then rolled out the 30-lap feature for the WISSOTA Late Models, with the winner taking home $5,000. The winner of that feature was Sammy Mars. He finished ahead of Jeff Provinzino. Billy Kendall III, Travis Budisalovich and Johnny Broking finished in the top five.

I believe this was the first feature win here in Superior for Sammy Mars. It was nice that it came at the same race track where his father, Jimmy Mars, won his first-ever Late Model feature.

In the WISSOTA Modified 20-lap feature, Shane Sabraski took the win ahead of Al Uotinen. Brandon Copp, Bob Broking, and Canadian Cody Wolkowski finished in the top five. Wolkowski started in the 10th spot.

I really find it interesting that Shane Sabraski won features in two divisions after sweeping all three divisions he raced in Grand Rapids on Thursday. It’s quite a feat and it must take a lot of work.

In the WISSOTA Pure Stocks the 12-lap feature was won by Eric Crosby, while Tom Treviranus finished second and Aaron Bernick was third.

In the Hornet feature Nikota Larson won out and completed the sweep ahead of Carson Gotelaere and DeJay Jarecki in the top three.

Saturday, July 27

We decided we’d head over to ABC Raceway for its weekly Saturday show. This one turned out to be the “Hall of Fame” night, during which they introduce their new inductees to the assembled fans, after celebrating them at a local establishment prior to the program. I will get to the new Hall of Fame members a bit later.

It was a full five-division program at the raceway. The car count in most classes was somewhat less than usual. In the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds there were 13 entries, down by several cars. In the WISSOTA Modifieds, there were 15 entries, about the norm for them. The number of WISSOTA Pure Stocks stood at six and the WISSOTA Super Stocks produced only 11 entries. I was surprised that officials included the Supers in the Saturday lineup, since a makeup Fastlane Northland Super Stock Series event was scheduled for Ogilvie Raceway near Ogilvie, MN. I was told that they had 37 Supers at Ogilvie for this event, a number down a bit from what the series was averaging.

We moved right along at the ABC Raceway, despite getting started about 15 minutes late due to track prep. The grader was taking quite a bit off the surface and it was a sure thing the track underneath was going to be tacky and extremely fast!

In the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Mod main event, Marcus Dunbar started in sixth and quickly moved up to take the point. From there he motored onto the feature win. Third-starter Cory Jorgensen moved to second and gave chase but there was no catching Dunbar, who dominated the event. Tanner Hicks was third, while Mike Jacques was fourth in his first race here this season.

The Super Stock main event was won by Kyle Copp, who also ran away from the rest in the later stages of the race. Stuart was second but could not track down the flying No. 26. Matt Deragon started near Stuart in seventh and battled with him, finishing third.

In the Modified main event, Mike Anderson ran away from the rest of the field for the win. Dunbar finished a distant second while Brady Uotinen ran a strong race, coming from 11th to finish third.

In the 10-lap Pure Stock feature Eric Crosby was the winner ahead of Shane Basnia and Brent Mindock in the top three.

Back to the Hall of Fame ... In the Contributors category, former Cobra Chassis owners Dave and RaeAnne Mueller were selected. They came quite a distance to attend the HoF ceremony.

In the Drivers Category, the first inductee named was James Eliason (Not to be confused with top Late Model Driver Jim Eliason from Duluth.)

James raced in the Pure Stocks and was third in points in 2004 and ’07. He was the Pure Stock track champion in 2005.

AJ Foat was another driver inducted. His career took off after he won his first feature at ABC Raceway in June of 1983 in a Street Stock. He won four more times during his championship season in 1984. In 1987 he moved to the Super Stock ranks and finished fourth in points in 1991 and scored five more wins to bring his career total in Ashland to 14 before retiring in 2000.

One of the most successful WISSOTA Super Stock racers of all time at ABC Raceway, as well as a huge fan favorite, HoF inductee Brian Mikkonen started racing in the early 1990s in the Six Cylinder class. He won his first feature almost 30 years ago in July of 1994. His 27 career feature wins in three different divisions was good for a tie for ninth-best in track history.

Three other inductees were selected under the Volunteers category. Ed Hedican, better known by the radio pseudonym of “Skip Hunter,” started voluteering in 1996, contacting the local radio stations to help increase its image and standing in the community.

Skip soon began work as the raceway infield photographer and victory lane interviewer. He served on the association board for many years and was assistant flagman for two seasons.

Brian Lucas has been active at ABC in a large variety of meaningful ways over the years. Over the past 15 years he has been a big part of the track’s tech crew.

Ed Sechen was one of the founding members of ABC Raceway, with his involvement going back to the late 1960s. One of many things Ed did was use his own wrecker for programs, and he was involved in many other projects completed during the track’s formative years.

This year’s inductees and their guests, as well as inductees from previous classes were treated to a great meal and wonderful hospitality by the presenting sponsors.

With the rainout at Proctor then on Sunday, our weekend came to an end. See you at the races next weekend!