March 31st, 2003

Luxemburg Speedway will have a F.I.B. racing weekly at the track this year. That's right, a F.I.B. You know, a fine Illinois boy?! Well I'll admit my attempt at humor leaves much to be desired it's true that Zion, Illinois' Tony Schlei will make the four hour tow every Friday night to compete at Luxemburg Speedway, some 15 miles east of Green Bay. While it's not uncommon for drivers to travel to other states to partake in a track's weekly program that fact that Schlei will be competing in the track's entry level class, the IMCA hobby stocks, makes this a particularly interesting tale. "We've got our pit stall purchased and we've got a new Terminator chassis we bought from Brian Bruechert and we're ready to go," said Schlei. "I work for a printing company in northern Illinois and I've got it worked out so I shouldn't have a problem getting up there in time to race."

While Schlei may be what many term to be a "flatlander" truth is he's done most of his racing in the Badger state. After starting the season in the IMCA hobby stocks at Wilmot he switched and went to Dodge County Fairgrounds on Saturday nights. He was the co-champion at "Big Beaver" and was Wisconsin's state champion in the class in 2000 and 2001. He also was awarded the sportsmanship award at Big Beaver last year as well, an honor he relishes because it was voted on by his peers. "Don't tell the guys in Luxemburg I'm a champion or I'll be a marked man," Schlei joked. "I liked running Wilmot 'cause it was close to home. But I had to go to the dentist each week because they had some problems early in the year with track prep. So I switched to Beaver Dam. Towards the end of the year we were up to ten cars some nights. The class is slowly starting to grow."

A veteran of the Midwest Enduro Series, Schlei likes racing under IMCA's rulebook. "It's a good rulebook. The claim rule, while some folks may not like it, keeps everyone on an even playing field. With the rulebook there's no gray area. It's pretty much cut and dried, when the track's follow it. Plus, they do a pretty good job of giving you some recognition when you accomplish something. I enjoy seeing my mug in the papers every now and then." As far as the cars themselves, Schlei sees many similarities between the IMCA hobby stock and the IMCA stock car. "I eventually want to move up to a stock car so I'm running a Terminator chassis. The biggest different is we're on a much cheaper tire. But the shock location and all that is the same as a stock car, so they're real similiar." While Schlei was used to the IMCA hobby stock car counts hover between 8-12 at Wilmot and Big Beaver, Schlei will be in for a surprise with more than 30 drivers signed up to race the class between Luxemburg and Thunder Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. "They're letting alot of those bomber guys convert their cars with few changes and that's good," said Schlei. "Plus, it sounds like some street stock guys will be converting their cars, too. The more cars the merrier. It sounds like it'll be a lot of fun up there this year. We might even run up at Sturgeon Bay some Saturday nights, too. I don't have any sponsors up that way yet, but it might help us stay overnight up there and run two nights before we head home Sunday." Schlei's racer will sport the number 75.

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It appears the Fox River Racing Club has an opening or two in the flagstand. It looks like Bud Collar and Dave Deprey have decided to hang it up on Thursday nights. Collar will be servicing race teams radio needs on Thursday nights while Deprey has decided to take Thursday nights off. This after an ambitious schedule flagging four nights a week in 2002. "I'll be sticking with Luxemburg and Sturgeon Bay this year," said Deprey.

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It can now be confirmed that Jeff Van Oudenhoven will drive Mike Butz' no. 8 late model at WIR Thursday nights this season. But the Budweiser sponsorship will not be coming back to Butz' team. In fact, the car has been painted black, unlike the Budweiser red for the past several seasons. As this goes to press the Budweiser sponsorship is still up for grabs. Many names rumored to be in the running for that, including a late model driver who used to carry another beer brand on his car a couple of years ago. That remains to be seen.

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It's hard to believe with the crazy weather we've been having but Shawano Speedway is slated to have a practice session this Saturday (April 5). Again, as this goes to print we've heard nothing either way if this practice will go on as planned. I do know that one of the investors at Luxemburg Speedway attempted to dig some post holes at Luxemburg Speedway and he indicated the frost was still in the ground. This was late March.

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Word has it Dean Maurer of De Pere's got a brand new WISSOTA late model to play with this year while Mike Babino Jr. will take off from racing WISSOTA late models this year. A lack of dough is the reason. Babino's a good driver who despite a limited budget, could run with the best of them on any given night. I won't forget his first career feature win at Seymour. It was a big one for him.

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Car show cancellations....Two traditional Green Bay car shows will not take place as planned this year. The traditional Boy's and Girl's West Side car show in Green Bay will not take place because of remodeling at that facilities. Also, the traditional shows at Shaboom's in April will also not be taking place this year.

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It looks like the Wilmot Speedway will remain open afterall in 2003. A couple of months ago it was announced that Marie Winkler would not operate the track this year. But a new promotional group called Local Motion Enterprises led by IMCA modified driver Nick Simons will operate the track. According to a track news release the season opener will be Saturday night, May 3. Sprint cars, IMCA modifieds and hobby stocks will compete weekly.

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We've got our hotel room reserved for the Xtreme DirtCar Series event at Superior Speedway on Monday, May 12. I've never been to a race at Superior but I've always heard good things about the track up there. It is slated to be their season opener, and series p.r. man Roby Helm says he expects a few WISSOTA-legal cars to partake in the event. We'll bring our long johns for the six hour plus ride from Green Bay!

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Appleton Auto Wrecking has stepped up to be the title sponsor of the new four cylinder class at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna called the "Sizzlin' 4's." The new division will race each Thursday nights at WIR on the quarter mile.