By Alex and David Kwitek
August 31, 1997; Manitowoc, WI.
Late Models made their first appearance of the year at the new "one-of-a-kind" Manitowoc County Expo Raceway as the 1997 racing season came to a close. Mother Nature's rain Saturday night helped make the track gamey with a 6 inch deep pond on the side of the corners to ward off care running inside the tires.
Russ Scheffler held off the field of competitors as he led all 15-laps to claim his first Manty feature race.
Caution arose off the initial start as George Scheffler spun his car in turn three. He was able to continued the event when the race officially began. Off the restart, Russ Scheffler bolted away from the field, as he quickly mounted a five car length lead over second position drive Dan Taffilski.
The leader began to engaged lapped traffic when the second caution was waved on lap eight due to a stalled car in turn four. Russ Scheffler led another four laps until the race was again plagued by a caution on lap 12 when Mike Conn spun in turn two.
Russ Scheffler led the pack off the restart with three laps to go. However, this time the top five contenders held a tight pace with the leader, pressuring him to the finish. In the end, Russ Scheffler went uncontested for the win, with Tafflski, Jim Watson, Lee Sohns, and George Scheffler rounding out the top five.
The new 1997 track champion Jesse Brey clinched the Outlaw Modified division as he won his second consecutive feature.
Only once caution during the race occurred when Dan Church spun his modified in turn three off the start.
Brey outran polesitter Randy Lemieux for the lead going into turn one, while Brad Anderegg moved into second place. Shawn Jaeger snuck his way up to fourth place as he moved through the pack from his ninth place starting position. Brey continued to dominate the feature as he worked through traffic to tack the checkered.
Chad Rathke of Fredonia overtook pole-sitter Jesse Cullen to win the caution prone Super Stock feature.
Five cautions occurred in between laps one and four, forcing officials to shorten the feature event. Rathke did prevail through each restart and was able to capture his first Manty feature win of the season. The top five included Rathke, Rick Mahlberg, Todd Krause, Eddie LeMay Jr. and Bill Rezutek.
Rick Otte finished seventh allowing him to win the Super Stock championship for 1997.
Cruisers finished their season with Woody & Buzz winning their second consecutive feature of the season. Team Melvin won the Cruiser point standings for the year.
The race night was stopped at 10:00 P.M. to honor the city's curfew. Super Wing Modified driver won his heat. While Street Stock heats were claimed by Tom Leonard and Jim Pritzel. Driver Johnny Safro won the lone Legend heat race of the evening.
Next Sunday, September 7th, will be a practice day for those who would like to run a few laps around the newly constructed 1/3 mile banked clay oval. The track will open at 1:00 P.M. for those wishing to attend.