Oshkosh SpeedZone 07.27.2007

My 18th track this season was at the 1/3 mile dirt track. The main attraction in Oshkosh today is the world-famous annual Experimental Aircraft Association flyin at the airport on the south side of town. The national anthem featured military personnel from most branches of the military. No flyovers - this is not NASCAR.

One of the track owners was the substitute, and he did a good job considering. We finally got some rain, and it affected the racing action. We got over 3 inches of rain to help with our very dry conditions. The rain made the clay nice and sticky, but it caused the turns to be very bumpy and rutted. The track took a grater out and flattened the track about 1/3 way through the program, but the ruts returned and all of the features were crashfests. Two cars rolled. One 4 cylinder car rolled right in front of me, but I was not on the track's photo on their website. I heard a HUGE crash (harder than demo derby), and I saw the final roll of the car onto its roff. I saw the entire other roll: it was a street stock that did barrel rolled about 3 times. Both drivers were thankfully ok.

The top series is the Fastrack late models. This is the only track in the area to have the Fastrack banner. The announcer said that they are famous in the Southern U.S., and this is one of the only Fastrack tracks in the Northern U.S. They had an excellent car count, and the racing action was excellent.

There were modified car races, and I finally found one of the area's better IMCA modified drivers (Scott Mullen) at the track. He was not a factor in the feature. He is second in points.

The Grand National division also races at the track, competing against Chilton/Calumet County (the home track of the division). Nick Schumacher started towards the front of the field, had a solid race, and beat former Chilton top driver Jeff Richards. Richards is the points leader. Richards' brother Kenny is one of the top asphalt super late model drivers in the state. Richards' father Larry had built Grand National car chassis for over a decade. All three used to be top Grand National racers at Chilton around a decade ago.

The Street Stocks had an excellent close finish. Shawn Haydon beat Jerry Winkler by inches. Winkler leads the SS points at Oshkosh and Charter Raceway Park at Beaver Dam.