Nuttleman Tops 30th Season With Wisconsin State Championship

By Paul Schaefer, NASCAR
A Wisconsin dairy, crop and livestock farmer stands tall as one of the all-time greatest drivers in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

Kevin Nuttleman, 48, of Bangor, Wis., capped his 30th year of racing by winning the Wisconsin NASCAR state championship in 2009. He’s been racing at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway for two decades. He’s amassed an enviable record that includes 10 NASCAR track championships, and under different series formats, a NASCAR regional championship, divisional championship and a state championship. He placed 23rd in the 2009 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national top 500 ranking.

Nuttleman drives for a three-car NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model team owned by Tim Jacobs’ DMT Motorsports. Teammates included 2007 series national champion Steve Carlson, 52, of West Salem, Wis., and 2009 NASCAR Drive for Diversity member Emily Sue Steck, 22, of Holmen, Wisc. Steck led the team with three Late Model feature wins. Nuttleman and Carlson each won twice.

To put Nuttleman’s career in perspective, he’s gotten to compete over the years at LaCrosse with some of the all-time greats in pavement Late Model racing. In addition to teammate and Carlson, some of Nuttleman’s on track peers over the decades have included Dick Trickle, Joe Shear, Tom Reffner and Tim and Johnny Sauter. Even Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Johnson and Adam Petty made stops at LaCrosse’s fast, wide .545-mile paved oval.

“I’m glad I was part of that,” Nuttleman said. “They raised the competitive bar for many years. We learned a lot from them and that helped our team.

“Sometimes I think maybe time is catching up to me, but I love racing. I love the fans and all the people from NASCAR. They’ve been great to us. When we head to the track, we still have to put on a show, and that’s part of what keeps us coming back.”

A young Nuttleman first competed in snowmobile racing. When the LaCrosse track was originally paved in 1970, he and some school friends gravitated toward the track. When he graduated from high school in 1979, Nuttleman bought his first race car.

Nuttleman paid particular attention to Trickle, who barnstormed all the big Late Model short track races. Nuttleman’s uncle, Neil Jacobs, a pilot, flew Trickle to a lot of races, and usually flew out with a trophy and the winner’s share of the purse. Jacobs was lost when his empty plane went down in 1986.

Tim Jacobs founded Dutch Mill Trucking (DMT) Motorsports in 2005 and quickly won its first championship at LaCrosse with Nuttleman. The team expanded to two cars with the addition of Carlson in 2006. Steck made it a three-car team in 2009.

Nuttleman’s RanderCar Frames/Tom Thurk Tomcat-powered Chevrolet Monte Carlo is sponsored by Nuttleman Farms, CC106.3, Miller Lite, Lloyd’s Speed Shop and Dutch Mill Trucking. The driver’s brother, Toby, works full-time in the DMT Motorsports shop. Among his 14-member crew are Mike Schmitz, Andy Lochen and Dustin Pfaff.

Nuttleman and his wife, Lottie, got engaged at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in 1982. They have two daughters Amanda, 22, and Rebecca, 18.

The widespread youth movement in motorsports abounds across the nation. Nuttleman thinks the youngsters arriving at LaCrosse are a little better prepared than most.

“The kids we’ve got coming up at LaCrosse, I’m not used to working that hard to race them,” Nuttleman said.

Nuttleman credits the LaCrosse County Agricultural Society for constructing a .200-mile paved go-kart track known as Coulee Raceway that features compound banking. The track is located outside turn four of the big fairgrounds oval, and is sanctioned by the International Kart Federation.

“The biggest thing here is the kids coming up from the go-kart track. We’ve got some 16-year-olds with a great seat-of-the-pants feel for their cars. They get in a Late Model and their all-out. I give a lot of credit for their abilities to that track. Jay Sauter’s son Michael won their Nationals, and he is so smooth.” Nuttleman said. Young Sauter won the 2009 track championship in the Junior 2 division.

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Royle Steps Up To 2009 Minnesota NASCAR State Championship

By Paul Schaefer, NASCAR
A fourth-generation driver won the 2009 Minnesota State NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship.

Adam Royle, 28, of Northfield, Minn., won the state title as well as the NASCAR Late Model track championship at Raceway Park in Shakopee, Minn. He also finished third in points at nearby Elko (Minn.) Speedway.

Royle’s great grandfather started racing in 1921, and his grandfather owned three-quarter Midgets. His dad, Jerry, drove cars for a time and then switched to a car ownership role when his son was born. Interestingly, Jerry Royle’s driver, Brian Johnson, is now a crewman for Adam’s team.

Royle has attended racing since he was a baby, so it was natural for him as a 15-year-old to ask if he could drive a race car. Royle teamed with driver Dean Johnson, who owned and drove a Sportsman car at Elko Speedway. Their deal was Johnson would drive the first half of the season, and Royle the second half. In exchange, Jerry Royle would use his experience to improve the race car’s performance. Adam benefited by working on the car, too.

“We worked on the car, dad and I, and improved its performance. We did okay racing. It was a good way for me to get my feet wet and learn. The next season we built our own Sportsman car and won the Rookie of the Year Award and the division championship.”

After racing in the Sportsman division for three years, Royle moved up to the Late Models, teaming with Ron Touche. He scored his first Late Model feature win in his first season in the division.

In recent years, Royle spent time as a traveling racer, hitting the big races and Midwestern series events. The experience proved beneficial.

In 2008, he won the track championship at Raceway Park and placed third in points at Elko. This year, he repeated the Raceway Park title, fourth at Elko, but consistent performances brought him the addition of the Minnesota state championship.

Donnie Reuvers, a popular young lion in Minneapolis area Late Model racing, has won track, regional and state NASCAR championships. He became the promoter of Raceway Park this year and decided to take himself off his own speedway. He did race at Elko full time and won the 2009 track title there. Reuvers is pleased that Royle and his family stepped up to the state championship in 2009.

“Adam carried his 2008 championship very well in 2009,” Reuvers said. ”We’re excited that he not only repeated the track championship, but won the state title as well. Adam and his dad are dedicated competitors and they’ve worked hard to get great results.”

Royle said Reuvers has turned into a great track operator.

“Donnie is a great racer from a great family,” Royle said. “He’s done an excellent job in his first year as a promoter. He applied VHT (a sticky substance applied to asphalt most commonly at drag-racing facilities for improved starting line traction) to the track, and I’ll have to admit I was skeptical. The stuff did wonders for our racing. We have a two-groove race track now, and the tire life is the same … three to four weeks.”

Royle is quick to credit his crew for their success. His dad, Jerry, is crew chief and team members include Johnson, Craig Howe and Mike Heinzerling.

Their race car is based on a home-built Royco Chassis powered by a B&B Racing Engine. Sponsors include Impact Printing, Anchor Bank, Simply Suspension, Cihka Farms and the Royle family business, Independent Black Dirt Company, which hauls landscaping material.

Royle and his wife, Joy, have three sons: Davis, 6, who already has an interest in Quarter Midgets and represents a fifth racing generation in the family, Allen, 5 and Henry, 1