Fair Week at NCR!

"5 days of family fun!" or it "5 days of beer drinking, deep fried foods, and high octane motorsports." I prefer the later, but either way you look at it the 2013 Norman County Fair is setting up to be one for the ages. It's just too bad Buck Zumhofe is in jail and there won't be any midget wrestling. I'm personally most excited for the racing with late models, school bus racing , demo derby, and everything else scheduled for this week. So fill up those beer mugs, sit back, and enjoy a little preview of the racing this week.

Wednesday June 19th: NLRA Late Models - B-mod Blitz
The 1st of the 4 scheduled late model shows at NCR is set to kick off this year's fair. All the big boys should be there including Mike Balcaen, Ricky Weiss, Brad Seng, and even 5x World of Outlaw champion Donny Schatz. Along with late models will be the Lightning Sprints, B-mods, Pure Stocks and Street Stocks. This is part 1 of the B-mod blitz. Winner of each feature gets $675 and I believe the driver with the most points from Wednesday and Thursday will win some extra cash or a free ride on the ferris wheel. The 2nd place driver gets a date with a carnie. 7pm start. The race will be broadcast on 106.5 KRJB and krjbradio.com. Hillsboro Napa prerace show starts at 6:45.

Thursday June 20th: Regular Thursday Night Thunder - B-mod Blitz
Along with it being a B-Mod special, NCR will have the mods, pure stocks, mod 4's, and trophy cars. I'm actually excited to see the pure stocks again because the numbers are up this year. It's also my birthday. I was hoping they would have switched the name of the race to the "Mark Askelson Birthday B-mod blitz" but I guess the title was too long or something. The race will be broadcast on 106.5 KRJB and krjbradio.com. Hillsboro Napa prerace show starts at 6:45.

Friday June 21st: 6 pack 1000 Enduro Series
This is race #2 of 6 for the series. The 1st one took place in Mahnomen this past week. Jacob Nelson was the winner. Its 150 laps, usually with an intermission at lap 75. Last year the race came down to the last lap, with the winner only nudging out the 2nd place car as they dodged around traffic. I'll be announcing again this year. Dennis Riepe is the trophy girl.

Saturday, June 22nd: SUPER MOTORSPORTS SATURDAY
This whole day is basically a mixing bowl of all things motorsports. The Valley Cruiser's are hosting a car show in the morning through afternoon. The Mudslingers ATV Mud Run starts at 2pm on the south side of the fairgrounds. Free to watch. Once that's over head on over to grandstands for the BAJA/school bus/ go-kart racing. I even hear there's going to be model T racing like there used to be in the old days at the track! Look for some celebrities to be driving the school buses including Mitch Johnson, Blake Borgen, and fairboard president Don Merkens will be driving the "Angora Goat Coach. Jake Bitker and myself will be having some fun announcing this one.

Sunday June 23rd: Demo Derby
Let's be honest...we all love to see stuff get destroyed. Plus this is the longest running Demo Derby in the state. One major upside this year is they're bringing in the Northern Outlaw Demo Series. These cars are the big boys of demo cars. Good chance cars will come from all over the state. Numbers were down in previous years so this should cure that.

Don't be afraid to stick around after the races and events this week. Should be music and fun times down in the beer garden every night. I may even stick around and have a beer with you.


PHOTO OF THE DAY: Move over Danica Patrick, that's Amber Balcaen, daughter of Late Model champion Mike Balcaen. She's hot, she's Canadian, and she just made her debut in a NOSA 360 sprint car this last weekend.

6-13-13 ROTR News and Notes

Greetings! Its good to be back in good ol' Minnesota! Sounds like I missed some stellar racing last week, but I'm back now and ready for some action!

Tonight is "Meet and Greet" Night at Norman County Raceway. Fans will get a chance during intermission to get up close and personal with the drivers and their cars. Which more than likely means an extended intermission as well. Green flag is at 7pm. We'll have radio coverage as usual. Prerace show starts at 6:45. We will be covering next Wednesday's NLRA special as well.

This Saturday at 6pm marks the season opener for the Six Pack 1000 Enduro series at the Mahnomen Fair Grounds. I think I'm announcing it? Nobody has talked to me yet....so I can not confirm that. Next Friday the Enduro series continues at NCR.

Donny Schatz announced he will be appearing in a late model at NCR next Wednesday as part of the NLRA series. He will also be appearing at River Cities Speedway next Friday in both a late model AND a NOSA Sprint Car.  Schatz will appear at NCR in a Sprint Car on the 27th of June and then in late model a few more times after.

For those listening to the radio broadcast tonight, you may notice a difference in the quality of the commercials. Previously we have played ads out of my laptop at the track, but tonight we'll be using smart touch, which allows me to play the ads from the studio while being at the race track. Please feel free to tweet me (@MCAskelson) or message me if the levels between me and the ads are way off.

Thanks to those that have been reading my newspaper articles in the Norman County Index!

And lastly, thoughts and prayer go out to the family of Jason Leffler, a NASCAR driver who died last night while racing sprint cars in Bridgeport, NJ. Sometimes we forget how dangerous of a sport this really is even with all the advancements in safety.

That's all for now! I'll see ya at the track!
PS...next Thursday is my birthday, somebody buy me a race car.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Ol' School pic of Mitch Johnson's 00 Late Model, thanks to Corey Litton for the pic.

6-3 Racing on the Radio News and Notes

A couple of tidbits I feel you should all be aware of.

First, Mother Nature is a being a prick. This is the 6th week of racing at NCR and we've gotten in just one race. I typically don't make it to many other tracks just because of scheduling conflicts and what not, but I think I'm gonna have to head on over to BRRP sometime soon. It's only a 30 minute trip from Ada and press gets in free....right? And free nachos? Beer? Right....


I will not be hosting the Thursday night Racing on the Radio broadcast at NCR this week. I will be in Detroit, headbanging and mosh pitting to the soothing sounds of Metallica. I realize you are now saddened beyond belief, but when your significant other asks you to go to Metallica with her...you go to Metallica with her. Kevin Kochmann will be running the broadcast along with Mike Spieker and Birk too like usual. Prerace is at 6:45pm.

My 1st "Racing on the Radio" column will appear in the Norman County Index this week. I may post it online at a later date, but I'd rather you buy the damn paper. This week I feature Andy Wagner and his "Race for a Cure" car. I won't tell you what next week's article is about, but I'll give you a hint. It'll be titled "No Stranger to Racing." I am pretty honored at the chance to write for the paper. I can officially say I've worked in TV, radio, and now print media.

Photo of the day: This was the 1x Midwest Mod of Scott Bintz before he took a last lap tumble in Huron a few weeks ago. He still finished 2nd however and was ok.