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Wednesday night is typically the longest night of the 100. However, this year may have been unprecedented in 100 history: 25 of the 38 races went green to checkered without a single yellow. The one-spin rule helps, but the drivers were the ones who made the smooth night happen on the track. There was only one race that had a couple yellows, and that was the 40-lap Late Model race. Overall, it was one of the smoothest nights I can remember for the 100.

Racing didn't start until 5:31 p.m. due to the extra time the Late Model qualifying takes, particularly with the monster field of 51 cars, and the last checkered waved at 11:15 p.m., which was great. Congrats to everyone for keeping things moving.

A word should also be mentioned about the track prep crew, who put in ridiculously long hours this week. The weather, while great for us, was not a friend for the track crew, with high temps, blazing sun and strong winds to boot. However, they did a great job, keeping the dust to a bare minimum and more importantly, providing a smooth track for racing. It was black top to bottom, but didn't take rubber that I noticed. Drivers were definitely racing all over the track, even as the Modifieds closed up the evening's events.

Wrapping up Wednesday night's action with just a few more items that slipped my attention until after the fact.

We are missing Jerry and Joanne O'Brien, who did not come down from Superior this year. They should know they are missed here and there are many folks who always connect with them at the 100 who are missing them. Hopefully they will be strong enough to travel to some of the other late-season races back in our neck of the woods, like Red Cedar or ABC, and come back to the 100 in 2025.

I forgot to mention the conclusion of the Challenge Series from Wednesday. There is no question that the guard is changing when it comes to Late Model racing in our area. There are a number of “young guns” who are rapidly changing the face of Late Model racing in our area. Two of them, Cole Searing and Tyler Peterson, battled it out for the WCS point title and with a strong run on Wednesday, Searing overcame the slight lead Peterson had going into the race. Both of them have very bright careers ahead of them, depending on what they decide to do in the future.

There are a number of fearless young lions snapping at their heels as well, who are making things increasingly difficult for the older order of drivers, more of whom seem to be on the eastern side of WISSOTA.

Almost overlooked on Wednesday was the fact that Cole Elton's feature win in the Midwest Mods was the very first of his career. What a time to achieve that honor! He has been running the former Zach Benson car now for a few shows this summer. For the first time, he had his own number and sponsors on the car for the 100 and he did a great job of controlling a strong field to get that first win. Starting on the pole for the 100 on Saturday will be quite the honor for the Dalbo, Minnesota driver.

Braedyn Fleck is a rookie driver in the Street Stock class this year, racing primarily at Princeton, Ogilvie and Granite City. On the opening night of the 100, he managed to make the feature field against a large field of cars, so congratulations should go out to him as well.

Just last weekend we were up in Grand Forks for the Seitz Memorial and they set a new record for Late Model entries, with 61 drivers signing in to race. Grand Forks is just two hours from here, yet only 22 of those drivers are on hand to race this week, despite the fact that it pays $10,000 for the win and is a healthy payout throughout. I can't explain how territorial some drivers are, but it remains a stubborn fact that promoters have to deal with. Not that 52 Late Models here is a bad number by any means, but it would be nice to have an Eldora-type event for fans where most Late Models drivers in the organization show up and race it out. That remains a dream that will never be accomplished in this lifetime.

Thursday, September 12

Now onto Thursday. It was another beautiful day, just as warm as Wednesday. There was a bit less humidity and a bit more wind, however.

An additional 18 drivers who weren't on hand for Wednesday night signed in to race on Thursday, taking advantage of the format. They have just as much chance as anyone else of racing their way into the Saturday night show, and the same holds for Friday. It will be interesting if anyone is bold enough to just show up on Friday and race their way in.

In addition to the 18 extra drivers, Chris Mensen and Dano Ostrander, who had their cars on hand for Wednesday but decided not to race, also drew numbers on Thursday. With the additional entries, the car counts for all five classes now are right at or have exceeded the numbers that 2023 produced.

Dave Mass can be added to the list of drivers running in multiple classes. After he put his Late Model in the show on Wednesday, he showed up with the Super Stock on Thursday and did the same thing with that car, running a fine second in the main. He hasn’t raced but a handful of times in a Super in 2024.

There is some whining here this weekend surrounding the running order of the events. It has been pretty consistent with the Streets running first, followed by the Mid Mods, Late Models, Supers and finally, the Modifieds. Some drivers are upset they always have to run first, when the track can still be wet and slippery, while the Late Models want to run when the track is perfect, which might be before the third class. Meanwhile, the Modifieds feel that by running last, they get a track that can sometimes be used up.

Perhaps there is some legitimacy to their complaints. I would not be opposed to rotating the order so that every class gets a crack at the wet track and everyone gets a crack at the “perfect” track. However, this will never eliminate the bellyaching from racing.

Unfortunately, no matter how much everyone tries to get on the same page when it comes to rules and their enforcement, the DQ list continues to grow this week. There were another six on Thursday for various infractions, changing the final running order of races and putting some teams behind the eight ball when it comes to Saturday night action. When there are rules, however, they need to be enforced, otherwise they are worthless—whether they breed further controversy or not.

For the second straight night, it was a remarkably smooth night of racing. There were only a few events that experienced multiple yellows, and a number of races ran green to checkered. I can't remember a year when there have been so many races without those grinding wrecks that can accompany big races. So far, so good. (But I better remember to knock on wood before they drop the green flag on Friday night.)

There was one yellow triggered for the most oddball wreck I’ve seen in some time. Racing in a Mid Mod heat, Ryan Nash somehow managed to climb the wall in turn three and rode the wall all the way around into turn four, bouncing along on top of the wall. He came to rest in turn four with his left side tires dangling down toward the track, with the rest of his car propped up on top of the wall. It was the darndest looking thing ever. The wrecker was very careful to get him back down onto the track and low and behold, he was even able to drive the car back to the pits. The damage seemed to be minor in nature. After two days there have been no rollovers—again, knock on wood this continues.

One highlight of the feature race action was the win by Late Model driver Lee Grosz. It was his first-ever feature win while driving a Late Model and again, what a time he picked to get that first victory. Grosz was a top-notch Sprint Car driver for a number of years, driving the famous Howells car until he moved to South Dakota, got married and transitioned into the Ward racing clan. First he ran a Modified and now has moved up to the Late Models. He drives a Late Model with the style of a Sprint Car driver, and that always makes for excitement. Thursday night he led from start to finish to take the feature win, with a couple of pretty tough customers in TPO and Chad Becker chasing him.

Perhaps the most shocking moment of the night occurred in the final event of the evening. Shane Sabraski, who was locked in yet in his Modified, was to start on the pole for the main event. However, as the field was circling the track before the green, he stopped in turn two to have the car examined by a track worker. And then, the signal was he needed a wrecker. Something was broke in the left front of the car and he wasn’t able to race, much less steer the car. This was very surprising; Sabraski very seldom breaks down and certainly not before the green flag. To make matters worse, the wrecker picked up the car and then pulled the front bumper off of it, dropping the car back to the ground, minus the bumper!

Another very large midweek crowd was on hand and they again dug deep in their pockets. The 50/50 was more than $4,000. The folks selling the 50/50 are doing a great job of pushing their product this year, and it is for a worthy local nonprofit. This makes it even better.

With the lack of big delays for wrecks and with a desire to keep the show moving while still giving the winners their share of air time, the final checkered waved somewhere in the neighborhood of 10:30 p.m., which I think is great.

However, in the spirit of whining, I then heard they were in such a hurry to get done early that they weren't doing the proper amount of track prep. I must confess that is a new one for me. I have never before heard folks complaining because they didn't get to see enough of the water trucks and farming equipment on track!

Friday, September 13

In leftover info from Thursday, I had mentioned earlier in this column that a couple of Pure Stock drivers from central Minnesota were racing with the Street Stocks this week. Well, one of them, Coltyn Schuler, made it into the 100 Thursday following his Qualifying Feature. With a different intake, wheels and tires, he is in the big show on Saturday night.

When was the last time that three members of the same racing family managed to qualify for the Saturday night finale of the 100 by making it through the same qualifying feature? Probably never, right? It happened on Thursday when Taylor Bitzan, Tanner Bitzan and Tyler Bitzan qualified in the Midwest Mods. And let's not forget that the Modified-racing Bitzan, Dusty, has already locked his way into the 100. What an accomplishment for that racing family.

Now, onto Friday. Regardless of its ominous place in pop culture, Friday the 13th was the best night so far. The racing was good with great battles for race leads and throughout the pack. All the whining about the track should have been quelled; I thought the track prep folks delivered a good racing surface that supported lots of side-by-side racing. There were also drives from deep in the field and not a lot of wrecks. The racing program was tightly orchestrated, we could hear the interviews with the new microphone they purchased, and they still got the whole show done before 10 p.m.—beating the incoming rain to boot. So smile folks, and enjoy.

The Friday the 13th jinx may have bitten the track equipment though, as I understand one of the big tractors used to prep the track went down for the count. Due to some great help from an area business, a replacement was found in short order. However, that tractor also had an issue and the start of the program was delayed for a few moments while they removed that tractor from the track. They still had plenty of equipment on hand to handle the night’s needs though.

Seven more additional entries signed in to race for the final qualifying night, including three Supers, two Late Models, a Mod and a Mid Mod. The final totals for the 2024 installment of the WISSOTA 100 included 295 different race teams, broken down to 74 Mid Mods, 65 Street Stocks, 57 Super Stocks, 54 Late Models and 45 Modifieds.

Comparing this year's event to the previous year, there were three more Supers in 2024, one more Mid Mod, one more Modified and two more Late Models. There was also the exact number of Street Stocks, so this year's race had seven more drivers in action than in 2023.

Drivers who enter for just the final night of racing face quite a crapshoot ahead of them. They have one chance and once chance only of making the big show, since they don’t qualify for the Saturday night Last Chance race due to lack of points. They also don’t qualify for the lucky drawing for three drivers in each class, which is based on participation for all three nights of qualifying.

It was remarkable when three of those drivers who just showed up on Friday night ended up making the 100. And even more remarkable, one driver qualified for the front row on Saturday night!

Mike Greseth made the drive of the night and quite possibly the drive of the week so far with his Late Model. He drew the pole for his heat race but lost one spot when edged out for the win by Kollin Hibdon. This cost him valuable points, so he started 11th in the 15-lap feature. By passing cars at a rate that we haven't seen all week, he quickly moved into contention and continued his drive to the front.

This race ran off nonstop, so he didn't get the benefit of any yellows. What an accomplishment it was when he drove past Kevin Burdick coming out of the final corner to take the win. He reported he was watching his son play high school football on Thursday, so that left only Friday night to race. He made the most of that opportunity, however. He also reported it was his first-ever feature win at I-94, and he picked a dandy time to do so.

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