Summary of first 8 events

I went to my first ice races on Feb. 11 at Cecil on Shawano Lake. I was surprised that the cars park around the outside of the track. There is no rail between the racing and the spectators. I made sure that I parked on the middle of the frontstretch. Hopefully no racer will lose it and wipe out some good cars! It was wierd to watch races inside my car with the heater on. It was my 28th track, 26th in Wisconsin.

My first races of the regular season were on April 28th at 141 Speedway near Francis Creek. Too bad that the grandstands face north and you get blinded by the setting sun. They have a fantastic giveaway promotion - envelope, box, or cash.

Next races were at my hometown of Chilton on May 4th. I used to pit crew for a guy there for 5 seasons. It was good to sit with friends - I usually sit alone.

The following day I went to Wisconsin Dells with my parents. I went alone to the races at the 1/3 mile asphalt track Dells Raceway Park. The track has new owners, which include part-time NASCAR driver Frank Kreyer. There was an excellent car count, but the stands weren't very full. Hopefully the stands will fill up later in the season. Nice track - my 29th.

I went to Luxemburg Speedway on May 11. My second time at the track. I have never eaten so much dust at races before. The dirt rolled down jacket. There was a strong wind that dried out the track all day, so it was unavoidable. It's an IMCA track - IMCA Modified, IMCA Street Stock, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Hobby Stocks, plus 4 cylinders.

The following night I went to Meadowview go-kart track near Chilton to find it closed. It must be too early in the season. I drove to Manitowoc, and got there a half hour late. The track has greatly improved. I used to attend races there most weeks during the season it raced on Wednesday nights. I also had pitted there several times when my driver raced there weekly. There was always a bump entering Turn 1. There had been a pipe buried there below the track. EWSCA had the pipe buried deeper when the sanctioning body moved to Manitowoc from Plymouth. That solved the bump problem. There was a low number of racecars. The grandstands weren't very full either, which has always a problem at the track.

On May 18th I drove 2 hours to Madison International Speedway. The long drive home is the worst part of it. The track is a 1/2 mile asphalt. It was my second time to the track. The track has a decent history with some good alumni, including Matt Kenseth. They have a driver from New Zealand who is a great dirt driver. I added a picture of his car to his Wikipedia article. I noticed on Wikipedia that he was scouted by Roush Racing, and that he is getting training on asphalt at Madison. There are no paved racetracks in New Zealand! Former Roush Racing truck driver Nathan Haseleu races there regularly too.

On May 25th I went to Green Bay to tour the Packers facilities with a group from the technical college that I just graduated from. I was there at 3:30pm, so I decided to attend races a second time at Luxemburg since it was close. The track was well-maintained this time, and there was no dirt problem. I got to see the 2006 IMCA National Modified champ Benji LaCrosse again. I was surprised to see that he wasn't leading the track points. I took decent pics of him for Wikipedia.