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February 2018

Open Wheel Resurrection

Team WorkMakes the Dream Work

Daytona Opportunity for OstdiekDaytona Opportunity for Ostdiek

Chili Bowl GalleryChili Bowl Gallery

IMCA Oldtimers Awards

Page 2February 2018

Page 3 February 2018

Dan Plan

February 2018

P.O. Box 22111St. Paul MN, 55122

651-451-4036www.theracingconnection.com

PublisherDan Plan

Contributing WritersDale P. DanielskiJacklyn Daniels-NuttlemanJason SearcyDean RellerCharlie Spry

PhotographersJim Ambruoso (815-623-3200)Jeff Blaser (715-498-7544)Martin DeFries (651-346-1199)TJ Harron (608-301-5258)Doug Hornickel (920-563-0993)Tom Loos (715-370-7895)Mark Melchiori (414-463-0131)Bruce Nuttleman (612-860-6622)Vince Peterson (612-419-6372)Mary Schill/Forte Design (608-792-1317)Jerry Zimmer (715-792-2174)

The Midwest Racing Connection is published six timesduring the summer racing season by The Plan Company,Inc. All material is copyrighted 2017 and may not bereprinted without permission. Subscriptions are $20 forsix issues. Call 651-451-4036.

Cover photos by: Bruce Nuttleman, Jacklyn Daniels-Nuttleman, Vince Peterson, Dan Plan and the Ostdiekfamily.

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Publisher's Note It Costs Money toHave Fun

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Lakeville, MN

Late in the 2017 season, I was sitting around betweenraces one night with a group of people discussing thepayout at a local track. The group was frustrated attheir nightly payout compared to what it had been inthe past or when compared to other tracks.

One of the people in the group (let’s just say he goesby the name of Cletis) pointed out that it always costsmoney to have fun. Cletis was sitting in a lawn chairand pointed with his cane to the bar in town near thetrack and stated; “I’ve spent a hundred bucks overthere and had fun. I’ve spent a hundred bucks hereand had fun too. It’s when you start spending $300 or$400 a night that it stops being fun.”

This statement was like a light bulb turning on for me.Cletis hit the nail on the head. No matter what you do,it’s going to cost money. Going out to a movie, going toa concert, fishing or riding a snowmobile is going tocost money.

I think everybody participating in short track racingrealizes they’re not going make money. Or, at leastthey should realize you’re not going to make money.You have to come to a conclusion of what yourcomfort level is (expense wise) for having fun. Forsome of us, $100 will be the limit. Some people mightfall into the $300-$400 range. Others are going tospend a lot more, but still consider it fun.

I started thinking about my experiences during the pastyear with the Kart racing world. There’s no prizemoney in Kart racing. I knew going into this gig, it wasall about spending money. Luckily, the group we ranwith was more about having fun, than outspendingeach other every race weekend.

When I sat down and looked at the amount of moneyspent on the season, the dollar amount was surprisinglyclose to the statement from Cletis. I factored in entryfees, “fuel for the hauler”, tires, parts, food/beveragesand other items, and it came out right around $100 pernight.

If I had sat down at the beginning of the year andknown I was going to spend this much money for eachevent, I might have given it a second thought. I’m suremy wife would have appreciated the money beingspent on an updated kitchen or bathroom, but what funwould that be? I got to spend 10 weekends with myand my kid, my good buddy Bob, won a few racesalong the way and hung out around a bonfire manynights with some really cool people. It was well worththe $100 a night for the entertainment factor. Heck,some nights the bonfire entertainment itself was worththe $100.

Page 4February 2018

Annual Swap MeetApril 28, 2018

About 10 years ago, Sprint car fans in the TwinCities area could probably count on one hand thenumber of 360 shows they could see within anhour’s drive. The number of Traditional (non-wing) Sprint shows was even fewer. With theintroduction of the Upper Midwest Sprint Series(UMSS), open wheel fans now have anopportunity to see close to see nearly 20 shows inthe area during the 2018 season, along with annualvisits from the World of Outlaws and IRA Sprints.If you’re interested in doing a little traveling, thenumber swells to over 30 shows within a 4 hourcommute of the Twin Cities. Sprint car fans doindeed have things going their way for 2018.

In addition to the plethora of shows in the area,the UMSS Traditional Sprint Car program has

added a “Dash for Cash” series at select eventsin 2018. The same format as the 2017 seasonwill see the top drivers from the heatraces redraw for their starting spot for in TheRockAuto Dash race and try their best to takehome the lion’s share of the cash. “We hadsome all out wars during these races last year,and I expect nothing less in 2018” stated RonBernhagen of the UMSS. The RockAuto Dashprovides an opportunity for drivers to earn someextra bonus money. Drivers and fans will benotified in advance which events on the 2018Traditional Sprint Car Series schedule will beRockAuto Dash Series nights.

Open Wheel ResurrectionOpen Wheel Resurrection

Vince Peterson photo

Page 5 February 2018

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Page 6February 2018

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Going inCircles

Charlie Spry

Just some random things that are on my mind duringthe off-season....

I absolutely hate it when any race track closes. Everytrack has their detractors, but why wish a track toclose? If you don’t like a certain track, go elsewhereinstead of standing around bad mouthing a place, oreven worse, going on social media to do so.

When a track closes, a great deal of its competitorsseem to vanish. I take the now closed Columbus 151Speedway as an example of this. In looking back,many of the drivers who ran weekly there have sincesold off their equipment or otherwise leave it sit. Afew raced at other tracks for a year or two and thengot out of it. A very small number are still racingelsewhere, mostly in the lower divisions. It was verysimilar when Lake Geneva closed after the 2006season. So many drivers vanished into thin air. So sadto see.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for theunderdog drivers. Even when I was a kid, I enjoyedseeing all of the driver’s race and was beside myselfwhen someone won a race that didn’t visit victory laneoften. One of my earliest underdog drivers was adriver from the late 1960’s named Eldon Bronte. Eldonraced a dented maroon something or other with ascribbled on number 23 on the rear quarter panel,racing mostly at Madison and Jefferson. Anotherdriver came up from Rockford to race with a fastbackTorino, number 28, name of Herbie Stoner. I hope mymemories are correct, because it was a long time ago.I always rooted for him at Rockford when he racedthere, too, as well as the Swartwout brothers from mythen hometown of Janesville, WI.

Speaking of Rockford, It must have been interesting in1974 when Hugh Deery surprised everyone by gettingrid of the so called super late models, and adopting hisown rules, most commonly referred to as “RockfordRules” late models. Detractors abounded, but soonother tracks adopted their own versions with muchsuccess. First champion under the new rules at

Rockford back in 1974 was Jerry Lewis. No, notTHAT Jerry Lewis.

My very first favorite driver was Tom Reffner back in1969-1970. Reasons were simple; I liked the color ofhis car, kind of a metallic light blue, with “MercuryMind Stomper” written on the quarter panel. I thoughtthat was so cool! Plus, I liked his driving style, andalways did.

I’ve always enjoyed watching Russ Grossen race.Back in the late 1960’s he raced a bright fluorescentorange 1955 Chevy hobby stock. He switched to latemodels shortly after, running with a Corvair-bodiedlate model with his now familiar number 16. Russ toldme later that this was still the ’55 Chevy frame withthe Corvair body grafted to it. You have to admire thecraftsmanship and amount of thinking and engineeringthat went on back then. Russ would go on to win the1978 championship at Jefferson Speedway, and afterall these years, he’s still racing. I think that is just sogreat!

Now, on to more modern things. One night I waswalking to the restroom at Madison InternationalSpeedway, and outside the door stood a rathersheepishly looking guy, holding onto a purse while hiswife/girlfriend was in the ladies room. The fellowwalking in front of me kind of stared at him, so he said,“It’s hers!” To which the other guy said “Suuuure itis!” While chuckling out loud. Been there and donethat!

Another story involves a sportsman team memberremoving a wheel off the racer in a grassy pit area atanother track. He dropped the lug nuts on the ground,only to have some of them roll down into a gopherhole. Trying to reach the nuts, he succeeded only inmoving them further down the hole and out of reach.Finally, he gave up and went to the parts truck to buymore wheel nuts. The moral of the story here is thatyou should always make sure to keep your nuts withinreach.

It was nice to see young Alexander Gilhart doing someflagging at Madison International Speedway this pastyear. Alexander might be a rookie, but he has beenpracticing his craft in the stands practically since hewas old enough to stand. I know the family well, andhave watched him grow up around the tracks,attending countless races each year with his Dad,Kurt. How it all came about, was one night GreggMcKarns saw young Alexander flagging from thestands several years ago, and told him that if he everowned a track, he wanted him to work there flagging.Well, lo and behold, Gregg now operates MadisonInternational Speedway, and made good on thatpromise. In 2017, Alexander did pretty much all of theflagging for all of the divisions except late models, andhe assisted with that, too.

Here is hoping for an early spring!

Page 7 February 2018

IMCA Old Timers Awards

The IMCA Old Timers handed out some awards andfeatured a guest speaker as part of their January 2018club meeting. The guest speaker, Mike Heffron (rightphoto) was part of the racing program at the MinnesotaState Fair during their IMCA days in the 1950’s and1960’s. Mike told some great stories of the events at thefair, including an interesting tidbit about a young AJFoyt and another driver at the state fair payoff windowone year. Needless to say, “Super Tex” wasn’t the onethat ended up on the ground at the end of theconversation.

The awards handed out this year were; The ChetHeruvin Sportsman award presented by Roger Waid toRoger Blomquist (below left) and Skip Pollak presentedThe Gale Frost award to Gary Stein (below right) for his35 years of involvement with the IMCA Old Timers.Annual Honorary Membership awards went to RogerWaid and John Ellingson.

Page 8February 2018

Page 9 February 2018

Racing Nuggets

Jacklyn Daniels-Nuttleman

If you’re like me, you may be a bit biased about thelevel of competition in auto racing in the Midwest. I’vewitnessed the “alleged” best-of-the-best at majorevents across the country, but I still feel like if onewants to see the true cream of the crop in autoracing—all you need to do is take a quick drive to anyof the short tracks right here in the Midwest.

It’s not just the racers who make the show fantastic.It’s the people behind the scenes who put in countlesshours as part of the entire orchestra of moving parts.And it’s the conductor of said orchestra who stickstheir neck out financially to set the stage for thosesummer shows of speed that we all enjoy. People likeGregg McKarns, who owns and runs MadisonInternational Speedway as well as the ARCAMidwest Tour with his wife, Angie are an excellentexample of this.

McKarns recently won the Auto Racing Promoter ofthe Year for the North Region, which puts him in therunning now for the national Auto Racing Promoter ofthe Year (ARPY) overall. The recipient of that awardwill be announced during Speedweeks as part of theRacing Promotion Monthly Workshop in Daytona.

This is the first time that McKarns has been up for thehonor—and he’s in pretty stout company for thatnational award. Five other promoters from across thecountry are vying for the honor, including from theEastern Region—Lyle Devore from Albany-SaratogaSpeedway (NY), the Southeastern Region—PaulPurvis from Swainsboro Raceway (GA), the CentralRegion—Ron Flinn from Crystal Motor Speedway(MI), the Great Plains Region—John McCoy fromKnoxville Raceway (IA), the Southwest and WesternRegion—Steve Beitler from Skagit Speedway andGrays Harbor Raceway (WA).

While many are pulling for McKarns to win the overallARPY award, he seems to think the honors will go toBeitler. But being the sole paved track promoter in therunning is what sets McKarns apart from the others ina big way. Regardless of how it ends up—it’sdefinitely a major achievement to have the recognitionfor the hard work that he, his family, and staff haveput in over the past year.

A challenge for all track promoters is continuing tomaintain and grow the following for auto racing. It’stricky. McKarns says one of the challenges that pavedtracks have is that the national spotlight on that type ofracing is on the big leagues, but the hardcore talentpool is probably much stronger at the regional levels.

Part of the recipe for success is diversifying theshows. Once again this season, in addition to regularrace nights at MIS, the Triple Crown Series willhappen—featuring some of the most competitiveSuper Late Model race teams in the Midwest for athree-pronged event. The Friday dates for the seriesare June 1, July 6, and “The Howie Lettow 50” towrap the championship for it all on August 24.

Madison will also play host for the ARCA RacingSeries again this year with the date for that 200-lapevent slated for Friday, June 15. Additionally, theUSAC Silver Crown will also be making anappearance for the first time at Wisconsin’s fastesthalf-mile on Friday, June 29. Both national tour eventswill be broadcast on MAV-TV.

Consistently putting a solid program together thatmoves along quickly each race night is key tocapturing the waning attention spans of the youngergeneration. McKarns is following in his father John’sfootsteps with continuous improvement techniques—

whether it’s taking note of even the smallest details ofhis own events, or exploring things other tracks aredoing successfully and then implementing similar thingsinto his own programs, McKarns is emulating themethodology that he learned from watching his fatherhone the craft of promoting and executing race events.

I asked Gregg if he sometimes finds himself asking,“What would dad do?” This question brought a lot ofemotion to the surface for the son who still has hisfather’s number programmed into his cell phone.February will mark eight years since the elderMcKarns passed from this earth. It was somethingthat Gregg hadn’t thought about until we talked. Therewas a hitch in his voice, followed by a brief silencewhile he took a moment to wrap his head around thatfact. Time flies but the lessons learned are etched instone.

McKarns continues that common sense approach hisfather taught him that takes into account what is in thebest interest of everyone as a whole. He applies thatto every series or track that he’s involved in, whetherit’s the Midwest Tour, Oktoberfest, Madison, or LaCrosse.

Case in point; last season they had a rainy night atMIS. All of the drivers were there, but the standswere pretty sparse, when the sky finally cleared. Theydecided to dry the track and run the evening’s events,despite losing money. It was the right thing to do—andin the long run it will pay off by continuing to do rightby the drivers and teams.

Racing Nuggetscontinued on page 10

Team Work Makes the Dream Work

Jacklyn Daniels-Nuttleman photo

Page 10February 2018

His parents, John and Sue—have set the example andlike them, it’s not just Gregg that is grinding out thepromotion and execution for events. Team McKarns2.0 continues to run the family business, as they headinto their fourth year making it happen together. Asmentioned earlier, his wife Angie is in the trencheswith him—as well as their two children, Al and Evie.You can see the kids working at every event, whetherit’s renting seat cushions at the gate, or hawking to thecrowd selling programs. They’re cutting their teeth inthe industry, just like their father did so many yearsago.

Make no mistake; McKarns started out doing thegrunt work. I can attest to this. I recall seeing himtrundling around La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedwaywith Dave Noelke emptying garbage cans and doing alot of other dirty jobs that Mike Rowe of Discoveryfame could have featured on his long-runningtelevision series.

One of the most memorable was back in the late 90s,as they were preparing for a nationally televisedAmerican Speed Association event at La CrosseFairgrounds Speedway. As luck would have it, therewas an accident the night before that took out threebillboards just outside of the retaining wall in turnsthree and four.

McKarns and Noelke were right there after thatnight’s program ended to dig up the posts and get it all

repaired in time for the big event the next day.McKarns was out of clothes for the weekend andrather than wear dirty jeans, he opted to throw onclean sweat pants for race day.

Sweat pants and work boots. I remember poking funat his fashion sense that day. He took it in stride, andended up getting a nifty photo of himself with MissWynn, who was the trophy girl, sponsored by Wynn’sfor the series. That photo has been a nice reminder forMcKarns over the years of just how important a solidwork ethic is and how far he’s come in the industry.

The photo is just one of many that are enshrined in theMcKarns family collection of auto racing history. Thestory continues, with the next generation proving tohave successfully taken the reins. And like his father,there are always more things in the hopper for futureevents that are rolling around in McKarns’ head, buttiming is always the key for putting them together andmaking them come to fruition.

Rest assured there will never be a shortage of excitingthings to be on the race schedule each season—norwill there ever be a shortage of passionate people topromote and execute them, if the McKarns family hasanything to say about it. Team work makes the dreamwork.

Racing Nuggetscontinued from page 9

The McKarns family in victory lane with Casey Johnson during the 2017Dixieland 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway

The Late John McKarns and Steve Carlson chat during the Dixieland atWisconsin International Raceway in 2009

Bruce Nuttleman photo

Jacklyn Daniels-Nuttleman photo

Page 11 February 2018

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Page 12February 2018

Dale P. Danielski

Auto Racing Facts,Auto Racing Facts,Auto Racing Facts,Auto Racing Facts,Auto Racing Facts,

Observances andObservances andObservances andObservances andObservances and

OpinionsOpinionsOpinionsOpinionsOpinions

Some folks are probably gearing up for Speedweeksactivity, and that was pretty common for this scribe formany years, but as the calendar will have it we will beforced to suffer through a non-racing winter and lookforward to some springtime racing.

In looking through some of my old photo scrap booksfrom Florida racing past, I’m still amazed how wild,and cool to me, some of the body work was on the dirtrace cars during Speedweeks back in 1985. The“Wedge Late Models” were king at the time and asyou’ll see in the photos here some pretty creative rulesinterpretation was taking place. The Modified racecars that ventured down to Florida had a similar lookabout them. So who drew from whom to come up withall this creative thinking? Getting through the air was

obviously becoming a big dealand these cars, (Photos shown,#112 Kevin Collins, #47, DougIngalls) certainly show that. Ourvisits to Jax Raceway,Jacksonville, FL., and VolusiaCounty Speedway, Barberville,FL., is where we got a chanceto see these guys race.

Looking at the other side of theledger, asphalt racers atSpeedweeks 1985, and it’sabout as boring looking as youcan get. Apparently after goingthrough some of the craziness interms of radical body styles ofthe early 1980s, Ala, Balough,Hanley, Harvey etc., (Also seeJim Derhaag photo) it was timefor the more fan perceived,identifiable, off the street stocktype looking race cars. Case inpoint at New Smyrna Beach Fl.,Speedway the Late Model racecars of #7, Derrick Cope and#31, Steve Grissom.

And then when we look at 1985Late Model action here in theMidwest we see a combinationof both looks in race car. A bitmore open as in the TomReffner #88 race car, anddefinitely the more stockappearing #53 Scott Hansencar. Both are Chevy Camaros! Same deal with the#93 John Ziegler Ford Thunderbird and the Jim Weber#28 Chevy Camaro. Racing against each other samedivision, same year. Of course I’ve always been morepartial to cars that to me look like race cars. I don’tneed to identify that car racing as being a Ford, Chevy,Pontiac, or whatever to appreciate it. But, that’s old

school me and what evolution through the years hasdictated isn’t exactly what I always like to see.

Kevin Collins #112 North Eastern United StatesModified hotshoe. Doug Ingalls, Texas Modified

racer and his version of Wedge from 1985.

Racing Observances continuedon page 13

Definitely a Chevy Camaro being driven by #31 Steve Grissom.

The very stock appearing Derrike Cope Ford Thunderbird #7.

Page 13 February 2018

Closer to home, tracks and sanctioning groups aregetting close to finalizing their schedules for the yearand that includes the Central Wisconsin RacingAssociation, as it’s “Stars To Legends Tour” willcontest at least 10 events this year. That would be twomore than in 2017 as steady growth has many,including fans and drivers alike, taking more notice ofthe group once again.

The track of choice in this area, La CrosseFairgrounds Speedway, West Salem, WI., hasreleased their schedule for 2018 and it looks like thingswill kick off with the Frostbuster race on Sundayafternoon, April 22nd. The regular, weekly season atLax. gets underway on Saturday, May 12th. Lastyear’s NASCAR Late Model Champion, NickPanitzke has indicated he will be back to defend histitle. Will Mr. Steve Carlson choose to return? We’llprobably have to wait until Spring to find that out.

Jerry Auby has been working hard at gettingeverything organized with racing at Dells RacewayPark, Wis. Dells, WI. as well as the UMA promotersgroup events which he heads up. ARCA MidwestTour action will find that Series with a 10 eventschedule, while tracks in Wausau, Marshfield, andPlover are also showing tentative 2018 schedules.Greg Oliver having gotten a late start after obtainingthe lease to run the paved track in Tomah, WI., is alsoready to release a full schedule of racing for 2018.That slate is to include what is certain to be a veryexciting event, The CWRA “Stars to Legends Tour”Super Late Models on September 16th. In what isbeing billed as a throwback to older days of racing theevent will take place on a Sunday afternoon when noother Super Late Model events are taking place. Bestcase scenario, with most tracks finished with theirregular seasons by then, maybe even a “Challenge”type event matching CWRA vs NASCAR drivers plusany others wanting to throw their hat in the ring to seeif they can take the top prize could take place. A veryinteresting thought and/or concept to say the least!

As far as our travels for 2018, it’s hard to pass up anyof the racing here locally at La Crosse Fairgrounds,but handling publicity and marketing for CWRA willfind us at those events in 2018 as well. Throw in somedirt racing at places like Mississippi ThunderSpeedway, Fountain City, WI., and it will be aneventful season of racing.

Here and there...It will be an interesting season ofNASCAR Cup racing without Jr., Earnhardtcompeting. What in the World are the folks downSouth going to do as most don’t even know themajority of the rest of the field without Jr., in it...

And, looking back on April 24th, 1985 at Yellow RiverSpeedway, Marshfield, WI., (Which later wouldbecome Marshfield Super Speedway and now

Marshfield Motor Speedway) it was Kerry Hansenwinning the Late Model feature race over Leon Plank,M.J. Mc Bride, and Jerry Redetzke. The track havingbeen carved out of an old gravel pit was a 1/2 mileclay oval. On April 28th, 1985 it was the Capital SuperSpeedway, (Now Madison International Speedway)Oregon, WI., opener which found Rich Bickle, Jr.,winning the 25 lap Late Model feature over Jim Back,Terry Baldry, Steve Holzhausen and Ted Musgrave.Back set fast time around the 1/2 mile paved oval at18:854 seconds with the dash win going to Holzhausen,and heat race victories to Jerry Davidson, TomReffner and Holzhausen. The semi-main winner wasDavidson over Ken Reiser and Spike Lindly. Midgetracing was also on the card with Dan Boorse takingthe feature win. Looking back to May 2nd, 1985 it wasRick Haase winning the feature event at Wausau’sState Park Speedway. Following Haase were LyleNowak, Tom Reffner, Perry Redeker and Jim Back.Semi-feature winner was Bryan Reffner, with heatrace victories going to Brian Shimkus, Larry Lepakand Tom Reffner. Dash winner was Greg Holzhausenwith fast time set by Back at 14:543 seconds aroundthe 1/4 mile paved oval. Looking back at action atCentral State Speedway, Colby, WI., on June 7th,1985 it was M.J. Mc Bride winning the 30 lap feature.Following in order were Bill Lindner, Bill Herr, ChuckBuckbee, and Rory Tabor. Heat race winners wereRory Melbinger, Lindner and Pete Parker. Dashwinner was Kerry Hanson while Clarence Oertel setfast time around the 1/3 mile banked clay oval whichthese days finds Highway 29 running right throughwhere the track used to be. As of this date in 1985,this scribe had gone to 35 race events. Wish I had thatkind of energy these days!

In the quote of the column, it comes from long timeracer in Central Wisconsin, Ed Colby, who washelping his son Dave, who was racing at an event in1985 at Lax Speedway. “We had lots of fun and thendrank tons of beer!’ Dave did manage to win the firstheat on the night before the partying began.

Questions, comments, opinions and other informationwelcome at Starmaker Multimedia 967 10th Ave N SteA, Onalaska, WI 54650 608-783-5827 or atdale@starmakermultimedia.com

Dale’s Pics from past...#43 Wedge Late Model racerCecil Eunice. #40 Jim Derhaag, 1980. ASA officialshere at Queen City Speedway, Westchester, OH.,weren’t too keen on early ’80s Spoiler Madness, sospoiler which was dragging on ground is being trimmedhere as photo was being taken. Tom Reffner #88 andScott Hansen #53 do battle at Wisconsin InternationalRaceway, Kaukauna, WI., in 1985. The #93 JohnZiegler 1985 Oktoberfest racing weekend main eventwinning Ford Thunderbird. The ‘Stock” Camaro of#28 Jim Weber racing in 1985.

Racing Observances from page 12

Page 14February 2018

Michael Ostdiek wrapped up a successful 2017racing season by capturing the ARCA MidwestTour Rookie of the Year title and a runner-upfinish in the Kulwicki Driver DevelopmentProgram. As part of his Midwest Tour Rookie ofthe Year award, Ostdiek had the opportunity to testan ARCA Racing Series car at DaytonaInternational Speedway. We recently caught upwith Ostdiek after returning home to Minnesotafollowing the Daytona test session.

When you were driving a quarter midget aroundLittle Elko all those years ago, did you everimagine being able to take laps at Daytona?No, certainly not. You don’t really expect things to beorganized like that with winning something like therookie of the year. It’s pretty cool that Gregg(McKarns) and all the people that are able to put it on.I definitely got the full blown experience of what itwould be like to go and do an ARCA race.

Was it as cool as you imagined?Yeah, definitely. I mean as far as how easy it was toget around there. It was fun getting the wholeexperience of what it’s like in a full blown ARCA carand going 180 miles per hour, or whatever we weregoing for speed. It was definitely pretty spectacular.

What was the most difficult adjustment to runningon a track of that size and at that speed?I don’t really know. I was just making sure I wasstaying in my lane. Really the biggest thing I noticedwas coming out of the corner; you’re really notstraight until you are truly straight. You’ve got to keepthe wheel under it even if it feels the car might gowhere it needs to be like it does in a short track car.

Did you have the opportunity to run in the draft?On the last run of the day, I was going to. I let this onecar go by, but it didn’t work out ideally for what wewere thinking would happen. I guess I never got thefull blown draft experience. I feel like going into a

potential test in the future, Ican get in there and testwith the draft.

Which ARCA team wereyou working with at thetest session?We worked with Fast TrackRacing and AndyHillenburg. Andy was ableto show me the ropes on theradio.

Will this lead to anyopportunities driving in theARCA racing series whenthey make visits toMadison or Elko?Probably not this year, butwe we’re definitely thinkingwe want to do somethinglike that. We would need tofind additional sponsorshipmoney. If I were to get in anARCA car, it would be

Daytona Opportunity for Ostdiek

around here at one of the local tracks. For now, weare just going to focus on what’s in the present.

How awesome was it to see Les Ferrisparticipating in the same test session?Les is a long time friend of ours. We didn’t reallyknow exactly if he was going. He found an opportunityto drive one of Mullins Racing Team cars. A lot of the

Ostdiek at speed through the tri-oval atDaytona International Speedway in Andy

Hillenburg's car.

Ostdiek and Fast Track Racing team ownerAndy Hillenburg

continued on page 15

Page 15 February 2018

team is out of the Minnesota area. We were able toconnect with them, so it was pretty cool.

Any chance we can talk Les into coming out ofretirement and running for rookie of the year onthe ARCA circuit?I don’t think so. I don’t think he would like to deal withall of that, but I’m sure he liked the test session.

Do you still plan on having your driverdevelopment program in 2018?I’ll definitely be engaged with the quarter midget track,regardless of what’s on our plate this year. It’ssomething that will always be near and dear to myheart.

What are your plans for the 2018 season (Superand Big 8)?I think we are going to run the ARCA Midwest Tourfull-time again and then pick and choose whatever elsewe want to do or go.

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Page 16February 2018

Dave Argabright interviews the retiring Dave Despain (left photo), a classic battle between Kyle Larsen andChristopher Bell was about to ensue before Larsen blew up (right photo)

Any event with Elvis on hand (left photo), and Hooters girls (right photo) on the track is a must see event

Christopher Bell takes the double checkered flags uncontested (left photo), and prouldly hoists the covetedGolden Driller for the second year in a row (right photo)

Chili Bowl GalleryBruce Nuttleman made his maiden voyage to Tulsa, OK for the annual Chili Bowl in January of 2018. For more photos from the event,

make sure to check out www.ultimatelapphoto.com

Page 17 February 2018

Works Like Adding Two or More Rows of Tubes to your Radiator• Increases horse power

• Smooths gear changing

• Saves fuel consumption

• Runs quieter, cooler and smoother

• Reduces cavitation and electrolysis

JUSTICE BROTHERSCar Care Products Toll Free: 800-533-7492 | www.justicebrothers.com

Page 18February 2018