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There is not much to report in the first installment of this week’s column. We were cancelled Friday at Gondik Law Speedway, due to the days of rain the track surface received throughout the week. Had they tried to do any track preparation, it would have turned the track surface into a rutted mess and stopped any racing for the rest of the season and probably well into the next.

That sounds like a “doomsday” statement, but I’ve seen it turn out that way before. Once that Lake Superior clay gets rutted up, it takes a lot of warm, dry weather to get it hard enough to use heavy equipment on it. Believe me, I have been around this speedway for over 50 years and I have seen how bad it can get.

Be that as it may, we did have something going on in conjunction with the track and it was still held at Village Lanes, on Superior’s south end. It was our annual Hall of Fame night with a dinner and get-together. We had a good turnout to celebrate the induction of the 2024 members.

The 2024 inductees include: Dave Bjorklund, in the 1962-1985 category; Marshall Andrews and Glen Hall in the 1986/Present category; Jody Bellefeuille in the Active Driver category; and the Pioneer inductee is Rick Milinkovich.

This was the 22nd season of the Hall of Fame. According to the HoF director Jeff Christman we have one of the oldest Halls of Fame in the state.

There was bad news over the weekend. We learned dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist was apparently killed in a small plane crash on family property near Mooresville, TN.

According to the FFA “a single engine Piper 13 crashed into a barn near Moorseville, TN at 7:50 a.m. Bloomquist was the only occupant of the plane.”

Officials from the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame released a statement, considering him one of the most charismatic and talented to ever drive a dirt Late Model.

On another subject, Joanne must have made an impression while we were working at Cedar Lake Speedway back in the day. St. Paul residents and race fans Larry and Linda Helgerson never fail to send her a birthday card, and even sent us a card for our 51st wedding anniversary this summer. We see them at the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie each summer. It makes us feel good!