RACIN AROUND TITLETOWN by Joe Verdegan

Mike Rahn decided to get a jump on the competition. The Green Bay driver knows that defending his Mid-Am Sportsman title at 141 Speedway won't be easy this year. Rahn was one of nearly 50 drivers who on a sun-soaked, windy day attacked the quarter-mile, paved bullring at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek for an afternoon test-and-tune session. Rahn figures he'll need the practice because one of the winningest drivers in the division since Matt Rowe reopened the track in 1998 will be back on a weekly basis: Greg Haese. The Two Rivers shoe was shuffled out of a two car team owned by Jim Seidl when their sponsor Go Wireless cut back their support. Then Haese hooked up with local Mid-Am car owner MJ Bey, for whom Haese will drive weekly. "We averaged 17 Mid-Ams last year and this year I think we could hit 20 most nights. There's a couple of new guys in the mix and a couple of guys coming back, too. It should be competitive this year." Rahn has pretty much stuck with 141 Speedway for his Mid-Am racing. This year, he pledges to branch out further. "We've got maybe six nights off here so I'm going to try Lake Geneva a couple of times," said Rahn.

One of the drivers Rahn talked about is returning after a two year hiatus: Bob Schultz of Reedsville. "I sold my two Mid-Am cars two years ago but I kept my trailer," said Schultz. "I really missed it big time. My son is 14 and he races karts. In a couple of years he'll step into this deal." Schultz is coming back in a big way. He purchased Rod Brewe's Mid-American Series championship car from last year. "I also have a limited late model I'm going to race Thursday nights at WIR," said Schultz.

Other Mid-Am drivers on hand for the practice included Luxemburg's Rod "Pee Wee" Dart, Green Bay's Ben Kroll in a beautiful hand-painted car (something you don't see much anymore) and Manitowoc's Travis Groelle.

By June the Mid-Ams will switch to a harder compound tire. They'll be required to run the Hoosier F-75's all the way around. Last year drivers could run F-53's on the left side and the F-75's on the right. Some predict it'll be harder to pass while others are happy, claiming it will save them money and force them to simply work a little harder to make the cars stick. There were also plenty of super stocks, mini stocks and hobby stocks on hand as well. One driver, Jimbo Schleis, is making the big move up from a mini stock, which he's run the past five years. "I bought Errol Berry's car and am getting the feel of it," said Schleis. "The track doesn't have a lot of bite out there. There is some dirt on the track from an enduro here a couple of weeks ago. Times are pretty show today in all the divisions."

Defending super stock champ Andy Casavante was on hand as was mini stock titleist Matt Van Elzen. Both plan on defending their crowns in their respective divisions. Last year's hobby stock champion, Crystal Koenig, the state's only female track champ, was getting the hang of her new ride. She'll wheel a real rocket, a former Gator Trudell built and driven super stock. She'll sport the number 10 this year. As for the hobby stocks this season there's been a big change in that qualifying has been scrapped. The class will feature progressive racing, much like the area dirt tracks.

"Drivers aren't real thrilled about it by and large but we're going to give it a whirl and see what happens," said Rowe. Expect a field of anywhere between 20 and 30 hobby stocks on any given night.

I was able to talk to driver/141 tech inspector Terry Van Roy. He'll be busy this year. In addition to teching cars at 141 he'll continue his Thursday night tradition of competing in both the Figure 8 and street stock classes. On Fridays it'll be Chilton with the Grand National Sportsman. He'll be able to race the Grand National Sportsman at Oshkosh Tuesday nights as well. And, he'll run what he calls a "limited schedule" for Six Crew Racing in a late model. "I'll be running seven shows," said Van Roy.

I was also able to meet 15-year-old Kyle Bauknecht, son of former driver Dave Bauknecht. At 14, Kyle claimed rookie-of-the-year honors in the hobby stock class. This year he'll do the same. "We also bought a super truck and plan on running a few of Gary Vercauteren's series shows," said Dave Bauknecht.

Mother Nature cast her fury over any racing attempts in eastern Wisconsin this past weekend. Shawano Speedway was forced to call off their planned Saturday opener as early as Wednesday. With piles of frozen clay scattered about the track, it was pretty obvious to even the casual observer that there was no way they would be able to pull off their opener. "There's too much frost in the ground yet," said Shawano Speedway's Leo Dillenburg. "We need a few days of warm rain to draw that frost out followed by some sunshine to dry things out." Right after Shawano's planned opener was called off, many WISSOTA late model driver's plan B was also cancelled. The Raceway at Powercom Park in Beaver Dam also called off the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw sprint car opener. The show was to feature a doubleheader with the combined UMP/WISSOTA late models.

"They've still got a lot of snow up in turns one and two and we would have been fighting an uphill battle if we would even have attempted it," said IRA president Steve Sinclair. "It's tough because we had to cancel our show at Dubuque, Iowa on April 13th, too. The weather is not on our side early on here." Sinclair says all of his series sponsors are back. And, he says the pool of drivers for the upcoming season remains strong, despite a few teams losing sponsors amid a shaky economy.

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It looks like Doug Mahlik will dabble in a bit of truck racing. According to a news release the former dirt track modified champion and ASA competitor will wheel a Chevy Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman truck series event at the Milwaukee Mile on June 28. Mahlik will also run a handful of other truck series events around the country this season, before embarking upon a full assault for the NCTS rookie-of-the-year title in 2004.

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You can expect a number of WISSOTA late models to be on hand for the open practice session at Luxemburg Speedway this Saturday, April 19. Like they did at Oshkosh two years ago, most guys shook their cars down at Oshkosh, changed to their half-mile setups in the pits at Oshkosh and then led a caravan down highway 47 to 29 into Shawano for their opener. It's the first time in recent years that a practice session has been held at the third-mile, clay oval. "We've got the time to prepare this year," said Rick Goral. "Plus, we've got a new clay surface. Bobby (Marquis) is chomping at the bit to get out there and work the track. He's had the water truck, the pack vehicles and everything all tuned up and gassed up, ready to go. He's so anxious he's been testing different sizes of piping on the back of the water truck, driving back and forth behind the grandstand to see which spraying and mist combination works the best. He's one of the most dedicated employees we've got out here, no doubt."

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Bryan "Woody" Wodack has been thrown into the world of promoting stock car races. The new promoter of the renamed Thunder Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay along with partner Brian Duquaine, Woody has been juggling his car lettering business with the business of the race track. "I've been ordering wrist bands, purchasing equipment, lining help, you name it," said Wodack. "We'll be ready. We've got a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully the pieces of the puzzle will fit nicely." Thunder Hill Raceway has it's opener scheduled for Saturday night, May 3 at 6 p.m. An open practice session is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. A portion of the practice will be under the lights, in part to showcase the new state-of-the-art Musco lighting at the third-mile, clay oval at the Door County Fairgrounds.