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It was so busy that I didn't get to make the rounds like normal but I did notice a couple things. Chris Edmunds from Larimore, North Dakota was on hand to race the Firecracker for the second straight year. He raced in Grand Forks on Tuesday night and made the six-and-a-half hour pull in holiday traffic with his big semi to be on hand. Unfortunately he was involved in a Mid Mod feature race dust-up and was not a finisher of the race. He had planned on running at another local track on Thursday, but that race was rained out and the rest of his week was scheduled with family activities. He essentially made a long drive for one night of racing. But thanks to him for doing so.

Nick Koehler debuted a new Mid Mod on Wednesday night. Actually, the car is already one weekend old, having carried Cory Crapser to a $10,000 win in Sheridan, Wyoming last weekend. The car has a new number but still carried Crapser's sponsors on it along with his number on the roof. It was a good debut for Nick, as he finished a strong second in the Mid Mod feature.

It was amazing to see Al Cleveland, who tries to never miss one of Dennis McCauley's races, make the pull all the way from Breckenridge, Minnesota for one night of racing. This reminds me of the old days when drivers would think nothing of racing anywhere and everywhere and all-night pulls were just a part of the game. That doesn't happen near so much any more for a variety of reasons.

Dexton Koch is at the mid point of having a great season with his Super Stock and the national championship is certainly on his radar. His feature race battle with Matthew Larson was a dandy and the win wasn't settled until just four laps remained in the race. I did not realize until he said so, but this was the first time Larson had ever raced at Rice Lake and wow, he sure did look good for most of the race.

And speaking of drivers having a good season, what a rebound season this has been for Joey Jensen. Having secured good car owners and good equipment, he has been a force this year with both the MidMod and Super Stock he is driving. And while he hasn't stated as much, I think the plan is to try and get a national title with the Mid Mod. He has been racing that car at nearly every available race and winning a number of features so far.

Wednesday night he nearly pulled off a rare double win at a special event, as he dominated the Mid Mod feature, leading from start to finish. He also led the first 13 laps of the Super Stock feature and seemed in good shape in that race until, under yellow, he suddenly disappeared from the track and headed to the pits. The word was that a motor issue was the problem. In any event, he is doing a good impersonation of Shane Sabraski this year, jumping from car to car and then pulling into victory lane.

One of the things at Rice Lake this year, which has been a work in progress, is the track itself. Having bought the track too late to put clay on the surface this year, they have been reshaping and working with what they have to make it as good as possible.

It has been showing much progress in recent weeks when it doesn't rain all week, which hasn't been too often. The last two races the track has pretty much been eliminated from any bumps or such and using the new tool from Heavy Hitch that they bought this spring, they are getting the surface better each week. They have been challenged the last two races with the big car counts and many laps on it, but it is definitely getting better each week. This is Kolby Kiehl's project and he will stay after it until he is satisfied that they have it right. Along with many others who have remarked as such, I continue to be impressed with how things move along the upswing with this track. The future for racing in Rice Lake is looking bright.

Friday, July 5

Friday night, July 5, I made my second visit of 2024 to Princeton Speedway in Princeton, MN.

It was the annual Bill Siercks Memorial Race, with members of his family who still race driving the track during the National Anthem in addition to racing later in the program. This was a Midwest Modified special and with additions to the purse, and the feature race paid $850 to win along with extra money for other positions. A full program was held in the other five classes that race at Princeton and there was also a bonus Super Stock feature to be contested, based on a May 17 rainout.

Speaking of the rain, even on a night when it seemed that all the rain had been washed from the forecast following a dismal July 4, the rains came very close to the speedway on a couple of occasions. It is just one of those years I guess where rain is in the forecast nearly every day.

Princeton Speedway, racing since 1956, is one of the longer running tracks in Minnesota and with the Wagamon family in charge starting this year, six classes of WISSOTA racing are held every Friday night.

Back at the track to call the action for the fans was R.J. (Salstrom). He retired from announcing full time three years ago after stints at both Granite City and Ogilvie, but when they asked him back this year to do Princeton for the Wagamon family, he couldn't say no. He will also work a few nights at the Big O. Joining him in the booth was Chris Kolstad, who has been at Princeton for about nine years now and has worked with several administrations and sanctioning bodies at the track. Brian Riedemann, in his white flag tour, was waving the sticks in the tower on this night.

The Hornets and Street Stocks were a little light on numbers Friday, but the other classes had solid fields of cars that required three heats in most cases. As I would expect at any Wagamon-run track, the program started right on time (actually one minute early for those keeping track) and all the heat races plus the makeup feature took just 73 minutes to run.

The Super Stock makeup feature came early in the program so they could have time to get ready for their heats, as not all the cars in the field on Friday qualified for that makeup feature.

They were six laps into that feature on May 17 when the rains hit and they restarted the event at that point. The leader at that point failed to return for tonight's show, so Joey Jensen inherited the lead. With the roll he has been on, that was bad news for the rest of the field. The last 14 laps ran off nonstop and despite pressure from Dexton Koch, Jensen did not yield and drove home for the win with Dustin Nelson finishing third. All 11 drivers who returned finished the race and got ready for another full show for their class.

Only a short break was taken and then, with the weather threatening once again, the features began with the Streets on deck. The track was starting to get just a bit dry by this point and I was surprised that they didn't take a few minutes to spritz it up, but I guess the weather was causing them angst.

Sure enough then, the inside line was the way to go in their feature with everyone climbing on top of each other to get to the bottom lane. Tommy Pogones took the early lead with three yellows in the first five laps that sent Kyle Howland, Jimmy Gullikson and Hunter VanGilder to the tail for spins after being in early contention.

However, the small field of cars and frequent early yellows allowed all three to work their way back into the mix with much scrambling of position. A late yellow with just four laps left packed the field once more and after leading from the start, Pogones got too wide on the start and that allowed Howland, who had come from the back, to squeeze past on the inside for the lead. Pogones then went to the cushion to try and drive back in front but there was nothing to be had up there, and Howland drove on for the win over Jeff Ekdahl and Pogones.

Not liking what they were seeing, the track prep crew then brought out the water truck to wet the cushion and the results were immediately measureable. The outside sped up and suddenly we has some great, two-wide and more racing with two distinct grooves available. Just that little bit of water made all the difference and saved the program.

Surprisingly, the Mod Fours had the largest field of the night with 21 of them and on the small track here at Princeton, this track is just the right size for them.

This race proved to be a heartbreaker for Bob Holtquist. He was the class of the division and after starting on the outside pole, he was running away from the pack. Despite yellows that slowed the action four times, on each occasion he again pulled away from the pack. Following the last yellow, in just six laps he had put nearly a full chute on the pack when the unthinkable happened as he rolled a right rear tire off the rim, nearly spun, but was able to get to the infield with the race continuing under the green.

Josh Litzau inherited the lead at this point and he held off Gerry Nohner for the win, with Dustin Holtquist, who spun on lap seven and went tailback, coming all the way back to third. It was Litzau's second feature win ever and both have come at Princeton.

A very small field of Hornets was led initially by Colton Trembath. He held that spot for six laps until he was passed by Brandon Nyberg. Nyberg then held off Jenna Hagemann and Anthony Jenson to claim the win.

I suppose the headline of this column should certainly mention Shane Sabraski, who achieved an almost unbelieveable mark with his two wins on Friday. Winning both the regularly scheduled Super Stock feature along with the Modified feature, Shane recorded his 900th win.

Tim Patchen led the first three laps of the Modified feature as Sabraski moved up from the third row and once in front, he checked out on the pack. There was only one yellow and that was before Sabraski took the lead, so he had nothing but green flag racing and he opened up nearly a half lap advantage over the pack, which is hard to do on such a small track. Zach Benson made a nice drive up from the fourth row to take second with J.T. Johnson third.

The Super Stock feature was much tougher, as he had a good battle with Dylan Nelson before he claimed the lead and then held off all challenges by Nelsons, Dylan and Dustin.

Nelson was leading and working the cushion as Sabraski gradually worked his way forward after starting in the third row. Sabraski was making time right on the bottom on the two lane track and Dylan opted to switch lines to the inside. So Sabraski jumped up to the cushion (you can't pass if you just follow) and was able to edge past Nelson to take over the lead.

Sabraski held the top spot in the second half of the race, but both Nelsons were tight behind him, with Dylan on top and Dustin working the inside. One slip by Sabraski and he would have been passed by one or the other but that never happened and No. 900 was his.

The Siercks race for the Midwest Modifieds was another excellent race with a surprise ending.

Adam Bohlman started on the pole and led the first 10 laps of the 25-lapper. He was setting a hot pace but eventually he started to lose ground on the inside and Joey Jensen, on a tear these days, drove past him to take over the point. Bohlman hung on through the halfway point in second but soon both Jason VandeKamp and Ben Lewis drove past him. All night the track seemed to change and occasionally trick the drivers; Jensen passed on the outside but then opted to go back to the inside line where he was caught by both Lewis and VandeKamp. Lewis was running great up on the cushion and on lap 17, he passed Jensen to take over the point.

A late yellow with just three laps to go set up a wild finish but Lewis continued to work the cushion and held off both Jensen and VandeKamp for a great and slightly surprising win.

This was a very good night of racing and a very good program. It started right on time and the final checkers waved at 10:04 p.m. This was one of the better weekly shows that I have seen so far this year. Congratulations to the track management, track prep team and to the drivers for a darn good night of racing. Also, congratulations to Sabraski for a monumental achievement.

Saturday, July 6

Saturday, July 6 I made the decision to head north toward the “Big Lake” and to ABC Raceway in Ashland.

However, it was more than disconcerting when I pulled into the spectator parking lot and lowered my window, hearing thunder rumbling. Though the storms missed the track, the effect of bad weather in the area likely hurt the crowd, especially in a day and age when you can choose to watch most races from home.

So, though the crowd was not terrible, it wasn't up to the standards of this track. Neither was the pit crowd, where the car count was down.

There has been a lot of racing this week and the post holiday malaise likely has hit.

There was a high humidity, so we had a very fast race track. Near records were set during heat race action. The track was also smooth and dust free, while the high speeds and generous cushion made passing just a big challenging.

As per usual, there were four WISSOTA classes racing on Saturday, with a double feature special, The Six Cylinder Slam for the nonsanctioned class of Six Cylinders. There were a few travelers on hand with Rice Lake not racing. Of course the road warriors of the David Simpson team, who show up wherever they think they have the best chance of racing, were also present.

Cory Jorgensen was again in his orange car that he debuted at Proctor last week, having sent his primary car back to the builder for some adjustments after he just hasn't been able to make the car handle.

Deven VanHouse made the long tour of the North Shore and South Shore to race his Mid Mod here on Saturday and Hunter McDougall, after promising to bring out his Mid Mod since the middle of last year, finally hit the track with it for the first time on Saturday.

With blazing-fast conditions, Justin Weinberger and Jake Hiatt were involved in a grinding Modified heat race crash up against the frontstretch wall and both cars looked bad. However, with some hard work they both were surprisingly able to return to the track for the feature race.

Mid Mods were the first class to take to the track for feature race action and the Simpson team made their pull pay off with a wire-to-wire win in the feature. David was the only winner to not ride the cushion; he raced low on the track and had enough bite down low to hold off some stiff competition to get the win.

Paul Suzik challenged him in the early going and then Tyler Vernon moved up from the fourth row to also challenge. Vernon and Suzik had an excellent battle for second. Then when there were two yellows, back to back with just three laps to go, it was a three-car battle for the win with Simpson getting just enough run off the low line to hold off Vernon, who was pounding the cushion. Suzik wold finish third.

Steve Stuart has been working to get the bugs out of his new Dirt Dueller Super Stock and things came together well on Saturday. The big berm was perfect for Stuart, who likes that kind of track where he can pound the cushion, and he started in a favorable position. It took him only two laps to get pass Matt Deragon to take over the lead and once he made the pass, he was gone.

This race had only a single, lap-two yellow and that made it even tougher for the competition to keep up with Stuart, who had his momentum rolling on the cushion. He lapped several cars during this race and there were only eight drivers who finished on the lead lap. Deragon finished second while Shane Kisling passed the most cars, moving from eighth to third.

The Modified feature supplied quite a surprise when rookie driver Andrew Mackey led from start to finish and was never seriously challenged during the race. Mackey was a Super Stock driver until this year when he moved to the Modified class. His early season has produced plenty of frustration, with motor issues and bad draws and some just plain back luck.

However, a good starting spot, plenty of power and a big cushion were just what he needed as he used that outside row one starting spot to blast into a lead that was never be challenged in 20 laps. Two yellows, one very early in the race, slowed the action but each time Mackey again blasted away from the pack and drove away from the field.

Tyler Vernon had to settle for his second runner-up finish of the night, as he moved up from the third two but could not cut into Mackey's large lead. Marcus Dunbar completed the top three with all but one driver finishing the race. It was the first-ever Modified feature win for Mackey.

It was an adventurous journey for Brent Mindock to victory lane in the Pure Stock feature. He got crowded into the guardrail on the back chute on the opening lap of the main, with the yellow being waved. He got his spot back, then took the lead on the opening lap and raced away from the field to take the win. He had a nice lead the rest of the way, with the last eight laps of the race going nonstop.

Eric Crosby, making his first ABC appearance in his orange car, raced from seventh to finish second despite a badly over heating engine. R.J. Holly came up from ninth to complete the top three.

The Six Cylinders completed the evening and the final checkered flag waved at 10:04 p.m., which was great during what has been a very long week.

Thanks as always to the folks from ABC and special thanks to Ray Stuart and his crew for allowing me to have one of the finest seats in the house. They, of course, were more than pleased to see Steve get his new car squared away and take the Super Stock win.