THE TUESDAY NIGHT TRADITION CONTINUES

2009 Wisconsin International Raceway Crowd at the Dixieland 150 - (Doug Hornickel Photo fastlapphoto.com)29TH ANNUAL DIXIELAND 150, THE “SUPER BOWL” OF THE ASAMT

by Kari Shear-Carlson
NASCAR has the Daytona 500, the NFL has the Super Bowl, MLB has the World Series, and the American Speed Association® Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment and grandstay.net has the Dixieland 150. This coming Tuesday, August 3rd marks the 29th annual running of the event.

The ASAMT competes on a variety of tracks throughout the Midwest, but the D-shaped 1/2 mile of WIR is probably the most challenging and unique track on the circuit. The traditional Dixieland event has always been held on the first Tuesday in August. Many would ask, “Why would you schedule an event at the beginning of the week?” Well, there are a few reasons why this event has been successful as a Tuesday night event. There are no other paved tracks in the area that compete on a Tuesday night. The event does not conflict with any other WIR events, and last, but not least, NASCAR stars are available to compete.

In the past 28 runnings of the event, 13 different drivers have visited victory lane. Mark Martin (1981, 84), Jim Sauter (1982), Dick Trickle (1983, 87, 90, 91), Butch Miller (1985, 86, 88), Rich Bickle (1989), Steve Holzhausen (1992), Scott Hansen (1993, 99), Joe Shear (1994, 96), Bryan Reffner (1995), Steve Carlson (1997, 98, 2001, 03, 04, 08, 09), Brian Hoppe (2000, 2002), Stephen Leicht (2005), and Kyle Busch (2007).

Since its inception the event has been held every year since 1981 except for 2006. In 2007 the ASAMT brought back the Tuesday night tradition. One of NASCAR’s hottest drivers, Kyle Busch won the event in 2007 and Midwest legend, Steve Carlson has won the event for the past two years.

This year, the ASAMT is proud to have NASCAR stars Scott Wimmer and Johnny Sauter join the event. Nationwide Series driver, Scott Wimmer will make his first 2010 event start in the state of Wisconsin in this Tuesday’s Dixieland 150. Sauter is joining the ASAMT for the second time this year. He competed in the Elmer Musgrave Memorial event at Illiana Motor Speedway earlier this year. Sauter also raced in the Dixieland event last year, but due to mechanical problems was unable to finish. Both Wimmer and Sauter will participate in the on-track autograph session.

Some of the biggest names in the world of auto racing have competed in the Dixieland event. They include: Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Terry Baldry, Lowell Bennett, Rich Bickle, Bobby Blount, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Steve Carlson, Landon Cassill, Kevin Cywinski, Erik Darnell, Justin Diercks, Bobby Dotter, Dale Earnhardt, Mike Garvey, David Green, Scott Hansen, Nathan Haseleu, Steve Holzhausen, Brian Hoppe, Ron Hornaday, Bobby Iverson, Matt Kenseth, Joe Shear, Alan Kulwicki, Travis Kvapil, Stephen Leicht, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Butch Miller, Ted Musgrave, Adam Petty, Tony Raines, Bryan Reffner, Tom Reffner, Robbie Reiser, Jay Sauter, Jim Sauter, Tim Sauter, Johnny Sauter, Tim Schendel, Larry Schuler, Al Schill, Al Schill Jr., Ken Schrader, Bob Senneker, Jimmy Spencer, Tony Stewart, Dick Trickle, Kenny Wallace, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, Dave Watson, Jim Weber, and Scott Wimmer.

The American Speed Association Dixieland 150 will take place on Tuesday, August 3rd at Wisconsin International Raceway located on Hwy KK just east of Hwy 55 in Kaukauna, WI. Joining the ASAMT will be the ASA OREGON Midwest Truck Tour.