photo courtesy danlewisphoto.netArticle used with permission from Joe Verdegan
By Joe Verdegan
Adam White's racing season didn't start too well this year.
The Bay Port high school senior finished eighth in the IMCA Northern sportmod feature event on opening night at Luxemburg Speedway. Last Friday, his car's engine blew, ending his night.
With no backup engine and funding low, the future looked bleak.
Then White learned of the "Gong Show" at 141 Speedway, where car owner Bruce Conard was hosting auditions for his full-time ride on Saturday nights at the ¼-mile paved oval.
photo courtesy danlewisphoto.netWith a burning desire to try pavement racing but without a fat wallet, White, a fourth generation driver, threw his hat in the ring. When it was settled, 28 drivers submitted their resumes for the audition.
White was one of four finalists. He wound up clicking off the fastest lap, 12.43 seconds, just 3/10ths of a second off the track record.
"I was so nervous before I climbed into the cockpit," White admitted, "my hands were shaking. But I didn't want anyone to notice. I was driving someone else's car, and the last thing I wanted to do was wreck it."
When the auditions were completed, White was offered the full-time ride.
"I'm pretty jacked up about it, that's for sure," White said. "I put a lot of high expectations on myself. I don't want to just go out there and make laps. I want to win. It will take some time, but we hope to get there."
White had some coaching from Wisconsin International Raceway limited late model driver Jeff Tisler.
"I was on the phone with Jeff for quite a while the night before, and he gave me a bunch of pointers," White said. "The biggest thing he said at 141 is, you can't be afraid to swing out towards the frontstretch wall coming out of (Turn) 4. You've gotta let the momentum take you up high. That helped a lot."
White was with some fast company in the finals. Former IMCA modified national champion Benji LaCrosse, former WISSOTA late model and current IMCA modified driver Jamie Schmidt and New Franken's Brad Lautenbach, an up-and-coming IMCA sportmod driver who's a junior at Green Bay Preble, were on hand.
"I mean, Benji LaCrosse has more dirt track racing credentials than most in the Midwest, so I was intimidated, no doubt," White said. "I just feel really fortunate, and I don't want to let anyone down."
As for White's high school buddies from Bay Port?
"They all want to be on the pit crew,'' White said. " They all want to be my spotter and are fighting over that right now. But I think I'll go with somebody who's got some experience in that department."
White's background includes go-kart racing, where he won 85 features events. He won his first IMCA hobby stock feature when he was 14 and captured the Badger State Showdown last season at Luxemburg.
The other three drivers wound up winners as well. LaCrosse, Schmidt and Lautenbach will take turns this year racing Mid-American stock cars out of Conard's stable of three race cars.
"I was so impressed with Adam, Benji, Jamie and Brad," Conard said. "Those guys adapted so quickly to the pavement. They are all great drivers who represent their sponsors well, and we'll be happy to have them at 141 Speedway several different times this year."
As for White's sportmod on the dirt?
"We'll have a motor in it for Luxemburg (tonight)," White said. "Once we begin asphalt racing, we'll probably just race the sportmod Sunday nights at Seymour. We'll see how it goes."
Thunderhill opens: The season opener is Saturday night for Thunderhill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay.
Todd "Felix" Dart of Algoma will defend his IMCA modified crown and go for his seventh straight title, and Casco's Matt Junio will defend his championship in IMCA stock cars.
A pair of division titles are wide open, however. John Sternard of Sturgeon Bay, last year's street stock champion, will race at Thunderhill but not every week. The IMCA hobby stock crown also is open because last year's champion, Dave DeGrave, has moved up to IMCA stock cars.
Green Bay's Todd Everard is the defending track champion in the 4-cylinder class.
Racing at John Miles Park gets begins at 6 p.m. The track's Web site is racethunderhill.com.
Seymour opener: The final checkered flag at Seymour Speedeay flew at 9:18 p.m. Sunday, which sent most fans home in time to catch the 10 o'clock news.
"Our goal is to give the fans a fast-moving show and get them out of here that early every week,' NEW DIRT President Dave "Cosmo" Rihm said.
LaCrosse went from checkers to wreckers over the weekend.
At Luxemburg on Friday, LaCrosse got caught in a huge pileup on the frontstretch of the opening lap of the IMCA modified feature, damaging the rear end of his car. But, aided by a lengthy red flag to fix a broken gate, LaCrosse's crew thrashed to get the battered racer back on the track. LaCrosse limped across the finish line to place 11th in an ailing car.
On Sunday night, LaCrosse drew for the pole position and whisked away to the feature win.
Memorial Day salute: Shawano Speedway will host a special event on Memorial Day. The Bumper to Bumper IRA outlaw sprints will be in town, along with the Fastrak late models, which will compete for a $5,000 top prize. IMCA Northern sportmods also will race in the Monday event, which will begin at 6 p.m.
ASA notebook: Appleton's Dave Feiler, a Madison native, finished sixth in the Joe Shear Classic ASA Midwest Tour late model race at Madison International Speedway on Sunday.
Andy Monday of Appleton finished 10th, Freedom's Kyle Calmes was 15th and Escanaba's Jamie Iverson 21st. The race was won by Nathan Haseleu of Pardeville.
The next series event is the Pride of Iowa 100 at Iowa Speedway in Newton on May 16.
— Joe Verdegan is a freelance writer who covers area racing for the Press-Gazette. E-mail him at jverdegan2@new.rr.com
This article was posted to the website on May 11th, 2009 • Click to view all related content in the following categories
