RACIN AROUND TITLETOWN by Joe Verdegan

March 8, 2003

The man who's won the most championships in track history at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna has decided to jump ship from the powerful Mike Butz racing team to the Buco racing team. Omro's Terry Baldry, who's won a record nine Fox River Racing Club crowns on Thursday nights, will wheel the Schneider National #00 ride vacated by Illinois' Eddie Hoffman. Baldry, who's been Butz' hired gun since Matt Kenseth left Wisconsin to race full time in 1996, was without question the man to beat on any given Thursday night. With Butz' backing and knowledge as a Lefthander chassis dealer, combined with Budweiser (and formerly All Car's) backing and Baldry's exceptional driving skills the tandem was simply too tough to beat. "I just think the timing was right on this deal," said Baldry. "We had a good run. I think with me going to the double-zero car we might help put on a better show for the fans on Thursday nights." Translation: let's face it, Baldry and Butz simply stunk up the joint most nights. They were that good.

Baldry says one of the main reasons he decided this month to jump ship was with a decision Butz made to become the crew chief for Lake Geneva's Ryan Matthews. It was a fear that a bulk of Butz' time and energy would be spent maintaining Matthews ride up in Green Bay, where Butz' shops are located. Matthews has plans on running weekly Thursday nights at Kaukauna, Friday nights at Madison and Sunday nights at Slinger, including specials at several tracks. An ambitious schedule indeed. For Baldry now, he's hoping racing can be fun again. "When I was with Mike and Patti there was a lot of pressure because we were basically expected to win all the time," Baldry pointed out. "Each year it seems I'm having less fun than I did the previous year."

As this goes to print what happens with the Budweiser sponsorship is in limbo. "According to our contract with Budweiser the sponsorship was ours (Butz' racing) as long as Terry Baldry was our driver," said Patti Butz. Also, an internet website forum recently stated that Jeff Van Oudenhoven was going to pilot the Butz ride this year. "So far that is not true," said Patti Butz. "We should know something by the weekend of March 15. As of right now we do not have a driver named and continue to talk to many different drivers." Although nothing's been confirmed that scenario could actually play out considering Van Oudenhoven is slated to drive a car owned by Matt Maynard Friday nights at Madison this year.

As for the news, Patti Butz said they were "blindsided". "It caught us completely off guard. We got a call from Terry on a Friday. The timing of this wasn't real good but we'll ride things out and see what happens next." As for Baldry, you may see him on the dirt before the season ends. "My son-in-law Brandon Blashe and I are kicking around the idea of building a grand national sportsman to race on the dirt at Oshkosh on Tuesday nights," said Terry Baldry. "We'd split seat time with it. I'd run it a few times. I haven't run dirt in more than 23 years. A lot of guys I went to school with - guys I grew up with are all racing out there. I think it would be fun to do again." Baldry says the car might even be blue and carry his original number 74, along with his original sponsor and his current boss, Jerry's Speed Shop. "That project probably wouldn't get going until around mid-season or so," said Baldry.

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Luxemburg bonus money...Track manager Rick Goral will again this year bump the payout up when the car counts hit high numbers. This year the top three feature finishers will have more dough thrown into their pay envelopes when the IMCA modified car count hits 40, the IMCA stocks hit 35 and the hobby stocks hit 20. Last season the mods hit the 40-plus mark five times while the stock cars hit more than 35 on four different occasions.

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Algoma's "Chargin' Charlie" Kroll will be back in an IMCA stock car in 2003. Kroll bought back his old Ford Thunderbird from Greg Wolf. Kroll has spent the last couple of seasons racing in the street stock division. Actually the stock car class is flooded with rookies this year. More than 10 have registered to race at Luxemburg this year.

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Dave Rihm was recently voted in as vice president of NEW DIRT, the club that operates the weekly Sunday night program at Seymour Tri-Oval Raceway. A recent vote was also taken to bump the starting time on Sunday nights from 6:30 p.m. back to 6 p.m.

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Monster Hall Raceway (Unity) will apparently still run WISSOTA late models in 2003. Running on a Friday night program in central Wisconsin WISSOTA's top class drew low car counts, often in the single digits. What's puzzling is that three of their drivers who supported the weekly deal (in part mostly because of sponsor Mike Suebert) were champion Troy Kuyoth and Terry and Nick Anvelink will not compete their weekly this year. Kuyoth is gunning for rookie-of-the-year honors in the Extreme Dirt Car Series (formerly the UDTRA) while reliable sources say the Anvelink's will be back at Langlade County Speedway in Antigo on Friday nights.

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Ralph Aschenbrenner, a former partner in Luxemburg Tri-Star Speedway for many seasons, will come out of a two decade retirement as a driver, and he's coming back in a big way. The Green Bay driver has purchased a WISSOTA late model from Pete Parker and plans an all out assault on the WISSOTA national rookie-of-the-year crown in 2003. Aschenbrenner last raced regularly back in the mid-1980's in Shawano's sportsman class. It looks like he'll make up for a lot of lost time.

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Just how rich do short track promoters get in Wisconsin? Quite honestly not as rich as you think. Look at the recent examples of tracks barely surviving, or in the case of Wilmot Speedway the promoter (Marie Winkler) having to step aside.The profit margins just aren't there like they used to be. Labor expenses per night are on the raise because quite frankly, people don't volunteer for things like they used to. Insurance at most track's in Wisconsin has gone up anywhere between 15 to 30 percent. And that's even with tracks that file few if any claims. "I don't have a lot of choice but to raise pit passes," said Luxemburg track manager Rick Goral. "It's the last thing I wanted to do, but with insurance rates rising per night I really didn't have a choice. And other promoters will likely do the same."