It has been several months since I had last attended a dirt track, so it was nice to see some friendly faces, take in a big breath of exhaust fumes, and watch about 30 or so cars take some laps around Norman County Raceway, just one week before the Season Opener. I tried to take in as much as possible with so many drivers moving up and things changing this year. So here are a few news and notes that should get you by until race season starts.
Moving Up
-Paul Colvin and Vince Jegtvig are two pure stock drivers that will be making the plunge into a Sport Mod or B-mod car. Both are former NCR track champions by the way. By the sounds of it, Vince is choosing the WISSOTA Midwest Modified route, while Colvin is choosing an IMCA Northern Sport Modified. In his first few laps, Colvin looked solid and didn't appear to be afraid of the bigger car in any way.
-Luke Lick is moving up from a Sport/B-mod to an A-mod. Sharp car too. Definitely in my top 5 for coolest looking cars this season. By the sounds of it, he'll be running mostly WISSOTA shows, but will likely run some IMCA as well. I believe he has a goal of 50 shows this summer. Looked very comfortable in the new car.
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| Luke Lick's ride for 2016 |
-The "One Armed Bandit" Taylor Grove will be making the jump from the trophy class to an IMCA Sport Mod. By the end of test and tune, he really started to look comfortable and was turning some consistent and smooth laps. No easy task with only one hand on the wheel. I'm excited to see what he can do once he gets confident.
Shaking things up
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| Say what!!!??? |
-It's no surprise to see Austin Arneson, the King of the Dirt and former USMTS Gulf Coast Region Champion, turning a ton of laps during an NCR Test & Tune, but it was a huge surprise to see him turning those laps in an IMCA Modified...and a Crate motor nonetheless. It makes sense though when really think about it. Arneson has a booming business (Dakota Grinding) and it doesn't allow him to run the USMTS schedule that he would like. With an IMCA Mod, he can run 4 shows a week all within an hour. Sounds like his plan is to run Thursday and Fridays at NCR and RRVS on a consistent basis and also still run some of the bigger shows and USMTS appearances in the region. Cale Arneson, Austin's brother, may also make a return to racing after four (or five?) year hiatus. He put some laps in Thursday night at the end of practice in Austin's car and looked really good from where I was watching in the infield..
-Cody Skytland is back in a Modified again for the 2016 season. He has a brand new Masterbilt to compete with thanks to car owner Bryan Kakela. Cody said he still plans on running the Late Model on occasion, but his main focus is the Modifed. Sounds like the goal is to hit up as many of the nearby USMTS and bigger Mod shows as he can while he is still able to. His kids are getting older and he said wanted to take one more big crack at competing against some of the top guys in the nation.
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| Cody Sktyland's 2016 Modified |
Legendary
-There was about a half dozen or more INEX Legend cars putting some laps in at NCR before the regular season starts. The Legends will make roughly 10 appearances this year on the high banked 3/8th mile track. It's a little bit bigger than what most are probably used to so the practice was likely a big help. They looked like they were flying last night and I'm really excited to see what they can bring for racing action at NCR. It's a tight group of racers and they travel well. My hope is to see at least two heats each week.
Other
- Matt Schow, who's targeting back to back track championships at River Cities Speedway, was turning laps in Lynn Lucken's Super Truck last night.
- Danny Netland will be the new flagman this year at Norman County Raceway. Danny has been with NCR for many years and I'm excited to have him on board making the calls and waving the flag. Even he, along with assistant flagman Matt Greseth, was at test and tune getting used to his new home in the flag stand.
-Robert Bladow had the fastest time of the night in his Late Model. Bladow had an up and down rookie season last year and is looking to rebound. Honestly he surprised many of us, including myself, by how fast he was out of the shoot in 2015. Robert looked very smooth last night and could really start being a contender this summer.
-Cody Erickson's Modified was present, but Cody was not. "Retired" driver Bryce Borgen was turning laps in it last night while Cody was busy in the field. UPDATE: Turns out Bryce will be racing the 1x for the first month or so of racing while Cody focuses on field work.
