Golden Sands Speedway 08.03.2007

My first time at the fairly high banked 1/3 mile asphalt track. My 33rd speedway overall (or 40th track as trackchaser counts them), and my 19th track of 2007. The track looks like a 1/4 mile track to me. I never went to the track before because I thought it was outside of my 2 hour self-imposed time limit. U.S. Highway 10 was expanded to 4 lane and 65 miles per hour for much of the route around 5 years ago. Many of the announcements make me believe that the track has a lot of non-regular fans. It was worth the drive!

The track has the best food setup that I saw all season! They have everything wrapped up individually in a wrapper, and keep it warm in Nesco heaters. You just grab what you want and pay for it at a cashier at the end of the line. VERY EFFICIENT!

The track features late models. They raced like Super Late Models, and one of the drivers used his car as a super late at Slinger Super Speedway. The driver, Eugene Gregorich, Jr., http://www.flickr.com/photos/56091178@N00/1004955002/ won the street stock championship last year at Thunderhill Raceway, as you can see on my photostream from last year http://www.flickr.com/photos/56091178@N00/234138254/ He moved half way across the state. He ended up winning the feature from the 12th place starting position over another hard charger Jason Weinkauf, the points leader and a top Wisconsin Challenge Series driver. Gregorich's hauler also won for being the ugliest truck at a contest during intermission.

In the super stock division, brothers Greg and Brian Back are dominating. Brian won qualifying by < 0.05 seconds over his brother for his 13th fast time of the season. They have been the only fast qualifiers all season. They got together early in the race, and restarted in the rear with 17 laps to go. Galen Manternach won on a last lap pass, with Brian rebounding to 5th place. Greg went out with 4 laps left.

The 4 cylinder class is being completely dominated by 13 year old Colin Reffner. Reffner is a member of the Reffner family, as in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Flyin' Bryan Reffner and ASA driver Tom Reffner. He is doing his family proud. He was the fast qualifier by a wide margin. He passed the field for a win in his heat race. He started deep in the field in the feature, and patiently waited for an opening at times. Reffner easily passed cars, but top driver Adam Eckes had pulled out a 2/3 lap lead on the field. By the time Reffner cleared most of the field, he was a 1/2 lap behind Eckes with around 5 to go. Reffner was about a 1/5 lap behind Eckes at the checkered flag. I was VERY impressed by Reffner.

The event ended with 2 heats in 2 man cruisers. One driver has the gas and brake, and the other has the steering wheel. Entry level racing at its finest!