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Saturday, Art Golden from Dirt Track Specialties celebrated a birthday. Art tells me that he has been running the tire and parts trailer at Red Cedar for 32 years now. I can remember sitting with him in the stands one night at Red Cedar when he told me that he had bought the business from Steve Hollingsworth, but it sure doesn't feel like it was that long ago. He worked another track on Saturdays for a number of years before he switched to Rice Lake on Saturdays. Art is one of the really nice guys in the pits, treating all the drivers right. There is no one I know of who doesn't get along with him. The way he flies around the pits, tossing tires here and there, you would never guess that Saturday night he turned 82 years old. He says he's going to keep doing the tires until he drops.

Point champions were decided in all five classes with the last track point show on Saturday. Earning titles were Bob Wahlstrom in the Pure Stocks, Danny Richards in the Street Stocks, Mike Schnider in the MidMods, Curt Myers in the Supers and Joe Chaplin, Jr. in the Modifieds. It was the first ever titles for Wahlstrom and Chaplin, Jr., while Richards and Schnider were both repeat winners. Things got tense for both Wahlstrom and Chaplin, Jr. when they went out early in their respective main events, but both had a big enough lead they could endure an off night.

Sharp-eyed fans might have noticed that the corner four “fire zone” to start a race was moved slightly this week. Track owner Kolby Kiehl moved the two cones about 30 feet closer to turn three as he was working the track pre-race.

It was great to see Nick Wojcik back and racing on Saturday night. He debuted his Modified for the first time this season after having gotten about a 100 practice laps in last Sunday at the track, according to his father Jerry. Nick and Doug have been so busy with their booming Factory 43 business that the season is now nearly over before they have had the time to get their own car on the track.

I was happy but a bit surprised to see Parker Anderson racing the Street Stock again, as I thought that the car had probably been returned to Scott Bintz. Perhaps Parker is going to race if for a longer period than he had indicated earlier.

Kevin Adams debuted a new basic black MB Mod on Saturday night for the first time. The timing was good, as his current car was very badly torn up in a wreck at Red Cedar on Friday night. Without the new car to fall back on, he probably would have been a “race coach” on Saturday. While it probably wasn't the greatest of nights to shake down a new car, he still got a strong second-place finish to the high-flying Mark Hanson.

Along with Wojcik, Modified drivers Tony Schill, Cory Mahder and Jason Fall all made their first appearances of the season on Saturday.

Excitement seems to be building for the first-ever Dairyland Dash doubleheader program during Labor Day weekend, with a number of drivers talking about taking in this event who have not been at Rice Lake is some time. It seems like it will be a nice alternative choice for drivers, particularly from this region, over Labor Day weekend. With Red Cedar also being a part of this event, with the track holding its first race during Labor Day weekend in many years, it provided a nice opportunity for racers from this area without having to resort to a lot of travel. Details on the purse structure should be released shortly and I think everyone will be pleased with what they see.

Sunday, August 18

The skies finally cleared over the upper Midwest, providing a beautiful night for dirt track racing Sunday. It was the final night of the regular season for Proctor Speedway and they were crowning track champions.

For four of the classes, the points battles were pretty much sewn up. In the Midwest Modifieds and Modifieds, however, it came right down to the last race of their season to determine the champion.

There were several developments in the pits. Cade Nelson had been driving his dad, Darrell, nuts. Cade wants to race eight nights a week and the rainouts of this weekend had the boy at his near wits end. So Darrell relented and they brought both Late Models to Proctor for the Sunday show. He drove the car just as it was when racing Limited Late Models, they just put Hoosier tires on it and the proper sponsorship stickers.

If is going to be anywhere near the superstar in this sport that many are predicting, then we can all say we saw Cade race his first-ever WISSOTA Late Model event, which happened Sunday. It was the first time for Darrell to race against Cade in a Late Model as well.

Darrell felt he would do fine, but that his car was just seriously underpowered. However, the track was quite dry and slick and that probably was a help.

I’d say Cade exceeded everyone's expectations, finishing a solid fourth in his heat race. He redrew the pole for the race, and ran in the top five for nearly the first half of the feature race. He ended up finishing ninth with several longtime veterans of the sport chasing him.

One of the more memorable moments was Nelson, the teenager, racing wheel to wheel for several laps with 70-year-old Harry Hanson, before Harry threw a slide job and passed Cade.

I hope that for 2025, the resources can be mustered for him to move up full time to a WISSOTA Late Model. He certainly seems more than ready for such an advance.

Cade was not the only new Late Model driver on hand. Former Mid Mod driver Taylor Madrinich made his debut with a Rocket chassis, as he begins a new adventure. His opening night was a success; he took it easy but didn't cause any issues. He finished both races he entered and likely learned a great deal.

It was pointed out to me that it was a good thing there were Super Stocks from the Ashland area on hand, or they had barely enough local cars for one heat. There were some interesting developments among those Supers from Ashland, too.

I believe a couple of drivers were making their first-ever Super Stock runs on Sunday night. Dalton Truchon, who was still running in the Six Cylinder class at ABC on Saturday night, appeared with a Super Stock at Proctor. It was clearly a car that had been driven by Terran Spacek, as it still had all his sponsor names on it but with a big No. 62 now plastered on it.

Along with Truchon, Jakob Bond had a Super. Bond was also running in the Six Cylinder class at ABC. If both of these drivers are truly making the move to Supers, that will be a good thing for the ABC delegation. While both finished toward the back in the Supers Sunday, they also got valuable laps under their belts.

Tim McMann reported that his car had just come back from a visit to MB in Menomonie for some work, and that Jody Bellefeuille was very helpful in getting this done. Tim also reported that his grandson Blake Adams had just gotten a new front clip put on his Mid Mod and they believe he might have been racing with a bent clip that resulted from a hit way back in January from racing in Arizona.

Darrell Nelson also said his car had just come back from a visit to MB, as many drivers are getting their equipment in top shape with invitational season is just around the corner.

The Pure Stocks may have hit a high water mark for the season, as 13 of them signed in to race on Sunday, with Proctor often having only enough cars for one heat.

In the Midwest Mods class, Paul Ripley led Jimmy Latvala by just three points. A last-lap heat race pass allowed Latvala to join the invert, while Ripley had to start in the fifth row. During the feature there were five yellows, with four of them in the first four laps.

Evan Checkalski set sail early and led the whole 15 laps to win the race, but it was the action behind him that drew the attention and some of the slowdowns as well. Latvala was fighting to maintain his spot, with pressure from Joey Jensen. Ripley made a big charge early to gain several positions, and Wyatt Boyum was a factor, too.

Jensen threw slider after slider at Checkalski but Checkalski refused to flinch, fighting off all the threats posed by Jensen. Near the end, Boyum started to challenge Jensen and Jensen had all he could do to address this issue. Checkalski drove home for the win, while late in the race Latvala and Ripley raced side by side; in the end, Latvala held on and that one spot produced a tie for the championship honors between the two.

Austin Blom led from start to finish to win his first Super Stock feature in quite some time. It was a real struggle, however, and one slip and he would have been passed. Matt Deragon dropped low in each corner and try to slide under Blom and take over the lead, but lap after lap, Blom fought him off.

They went at it for many laps until there was a fly in the ointment – and that was Curt Myers. Myers had started eighth, and cut the margin as the top two battled one another. Suddenly it was a three-car battle for the win with a lot of jockeying between Deragon and Myers for position, while Blom hung on for dear life.

With only three laps to go, Myers went flying off the first turn and ended up at the base of the scoreboard. Depending on your point of view or what you saw, he either drove too deep into the corner and slipped over the end, or he took a shoulder block that sent him flying.

Myers chose to retire to the pits after expressing his feelings and the race resumed. Blom fought off all challenges in those last few laps and took the win over Deragon, while Shawn McFadden was crowned the champion.

Danny Vang led from start to finish to win the Late Model race and pocket the $2500 for the win. He started on the pole and pulled away immediately. Only one yellow on lap eight slowed the action, so Vang was able to stretch his lead to nearly a full straightaway.

Kevin Burdick made a nice charge up from seventh to second, as he drove around the inside line exclusively and made that lane work. Darrell Nelson took third.

I believe this was a KME race but it was never confirmed or mentioned by anyone all night. In fact, most of the drivers in the pits didn't know there was extra money on the line. The assumption was that it was a KME-sponsored race when Pat Kapella appeared in victory lane and they drew two numbers for the random winners, like this series does. Jeff Massingill was near victory lane on his scooter, looking for someone to complain to about the call that sent him to the back on the only yellow. As he returned to the pits, unfulfilled, it was announced that he had won $2,500 on the random draw, which must have settled him down somewhat. Derek Vesel also won $750 on the other draw.

Perhaps if a few more racers had known, the Late Model field might have been a big bigger?

Vang was also the track champion in the Late Models.

Brandon Copp was just as dominating, as he led from start to finish to take the Modified feature. This event went nonstop and he maintained a comfortable edge over Nelson and Jody Bellefeuille to claim the win. Things were tight for the track title however, and Nick Oreskovich finished right where he needed to and claimed the track title.

There were three different leaders in the Pure Stock feature. Dylan Shelton led the first three laps, as Devin Fries tried to navigate past the world's widest El Camino, or so it seemed. Wherever Fries went, he had that race car to deal with. Eric Crosby got up on the wheel and rode the cushion from his second row starting spot past Shelton, while Fries was still trying to get past him to take over the lead.

However, Chaston Finckbone, who has been strong here all year, moved up after starting eighth and with just four laps to go, he drove past the sliding Crosby, who's car was getting looser and looser.

Crosby kept pushing though as he tried to get the lead back. He was on Finckbone's rear bumper on the final lap and went for broke but the maneuver backfired and he spun wildly across the track. However, despite the fact that all cars had taken the white flag and Crosby's spin was in turn four, instead of seeing the checkered flag, the field saw the yellow. They restacked them and ran one of those white flag, one lap races to the finish.

While Finckbone held on for the win, there was some shuffling of positions and some lost because of that one lap race after the race, so to speak. Fries did finish second but Tom Treviranus gained some spots and finished third. Finckbone was also the track champion.

For one night at least, Justin Schelitzche met his match. Generally when Schelitzche is in the house, the question is who will finish second in the Hornet main. However, DeJay Jarecki and Carson Gotelaere both got the best of Schelitzche Sunday, as they ran first and second throughout the 12-lap race. While Schelitzche pushed hard, he was never in a position to seriously challenge either.

Jarecki's win cemented his title as track champion in the Hornets.

All racing was complete at around 8:30 p.m. and the track will now prepare for one of the most famous events on the Northland racing schedule – the annual Silver 1000, featuring the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series for Late Models and the Modifieds.