RACIN AROUND TITLETOWN by Joe Verdegan

It seems that each season most every race promoter is faced with at least one of those nights when in dealing with Mother Nature you're "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Well Luxemburg Speedway ran into one of those scenarios Friday night. It's cloudy, gloomy with drizzle much of the morning in Green Bay, at the track and surrounding areas. Rain stops around noon and clouds break up briefly, only to allow the sun to show it's face for a short period of time. The track's actually in great shape, wet, tacky and going to be (and was) fast. What do you do? You can't pull the plug when it's not raining at 3 p.m. The answering machine rings off the hook.Drivers come from as far as Illinois for your show. While the drivers will more than likely show up even when weather looks "iffy" more often than not the crowd takes a hit. And Luxemburg's did just that Friday night. But the fans that were there were treated to some of the best racing of the year.

Track staff at "The 'Burg" were able to push 123 race cars in five classes (street stocks were a "guest" class that night) in exactly two hours and 37 minutes. Those type of stats should make the Stewart Doty's and Dick Bergerren's of the world proud! "You'll get nights like this during the course of the year," said Bobby Dorner, one of the investors in Lakeshore Motorsports Promotions, the group that manages the weekly Friday night program. "You just roll with the punches, take your hit and move on to next week."

On the track, one of the most exciting finishes of the season in the new IMCA hobby stock division. This class has provided more green-to-checkered finishes in it's main events than any other division this year so far. On Friday night Illinois' Tony Schlei (aka the "Flatlander Flash") chased down "Joe Bear" Hegnet, whom had nearly a one-half lap lead, and passed him to win. The following night the nearly exact same scenario happened in Sturgeon Bay but this time Joe Bear wound up with the win.

It's no secret Brian Mullen's got Luxemburg figured out. Doesn't matter if it's dry or wet. It seems like number 72's car will rocket off the corners like no other in the IMCA modified division. And he's not been a victim in the claim area, either. Maybe his foes realize it's the chassis setup and driver skill more so than what's under the hood? At any rate we've gotta give out props to Baileys Harbor's Mike Coel. Sort of your typical low budget racer, Coel had the lead for a bulk of the race, and the slim crowd had hope for most of the contest that there might, in fact, be a different face in the winner's circle. But, it wasn't meant to be. Coel won his first feature of his career last year up in Sturgeon Bay. I think you'll see him back in victory lane again this year. So far, Mullen's won four in a row at Luxemburg. Are bountys on driver's a thing of the past, never to be ressurected again? The promotional side to me says it's something that gets the fans and drivers talking. Would a bounty on Mullen draw a few more heavy hitters in his division to Luxemburg some Friday night? Probably. Would there likely be a chance of some more equipment getting banged up due to potential rough driving? It's possible. But I think a flagman can lay down the law and if he sticks to his words and imposes some "trailer justice" I think a bounty on a driver is something that could be done.

This Friday night the WISSOTA late models make their second appearance of the year at Luxemburg for "Battle of The 'Burg II". MJ McBride will attempt to make it three feature wins in three attempts at the third-mile, clay oval. There were 16 late models at the last event held on May 2. It's safe to say there will be more late models. How many more? It's always hard to say. I've got commitments from some drivers who weren't there last time but I'm always leary to put that information out there because things change. Drivers blow motors. They crash. They change their minds. They sometimes tell you one thing and do another. So I'd like to tell you who'll be there Friday night but I can't.

Another one the locals are buzzing about is the return after an eight year absence of the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw 410 sprint cars to Luxemburg on Saturday night, June 14. Shawano Speedway is off that Saturday night and Luxemburg is attacking the Shawano market hot and heavy this week with ads attempting to lure the Shawano regulars to Luxemburg that evening. WISSOTA late models will join the IRA boys in a big doubleheader, the biggest race in the track's history. More than $27,000 in prize money will be split up between the two classes. Hopefully the weather cooperates as that one should be a dandy.

Last Saturday night with Shawano Speedway off Thunder Hill Raceway picked up a few "new cars" in the modified and stock car divisions. Non regulars in the stocks included former track champs "Hot Rod" Snellenberger and Junior Karcz, plus Jeremy Christians, Brandon and Jason Czarapata and Brian Bruechert. Mods saw Chad Wilcox, Sean Jerovetz and Eric Scribner. It was good to see Dave Zeitler get the mod feature win. Dave's one of those guys who looks much younger than he is. He looks like he's in his 20's but the truth is he's been racing for three decades now. He's one of those drivers who doesn't grab a lot of headlines but always runs up front and qualifies for feature races often.

Thunder Hill has seen an increase in car counts from last year, and it seems a few of the locals are having a hard time accepting the fact that the bar has been raised. Drivers who were given a "free pass" a season ago when no consis were run on occasion are now finding themselves on the trailer when the four abreast IMCA pace lap is underway. I had one driver (who shall remain nameless) take offense to the fact that I pointed out one night recently to the crowd that this individual failed to make the main event. What this person saw as me "singling him out" was really just myself pointing out the fact that the competition is tougher than it was last year. The way I see it, tough. Idle threats from one or two disgruntled locals about "if more out-of-towners keep coming we locals will just stay home" is pointless. When a majority of your sponsors are in the track's hometown and you threaten to "stay home" it just makes no sense whatsoever.

Good news for an Appleton driver who was seriously injured in an compact car enduro recently at 141 Speedway. Brian Fye of Appleton spent several days in a drug induced coma following a May 25 crash in which Fye was airlifted to Theda Clark Hospital in Neenah. Track promoter Matt Rowe reported this past weekend that Fye was moved out of ICU and regained consciousness this week. Good to hear.