Wisconsin Sport Truck Association
Enhancing the “Fun Factor”!
By Jeffrey Sachse

During the weekly Thursday Night racing program at Wisconsin International Raceway the Wisconsin Sport Trucks provide fans with wheel to wheel racing that goes four and five wide in the turns. Their small size and maneuverability sometime lead fans to believe these vehicles are "toys" in comparison to the other race vehicles that run during the program.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In the pit area you'll find a hard working group of dedicated racers who take the weekly racing on the quarter-mile, paved oval as seriously as any of the full size divisions during the evening.

The organization behind the scenes is the Wisconsin Sport Truck Racing Association. It is a club which has promoted and shaped the class over the years into the popular truck bodied racers we see today. The roots of the division can be traced back to a club known as JKJ Mini-Champs, which first fielded a group of open-wheeled, snowmobile powered racers at 141 Speedway back as far as 1977. Known as Mini-Champs at the time, the core of dedicated racers kept the group alive even after the closing of 141 Speedway, which was their hometrack, back in the mid-1980s.

In 1988 the division moved to Wisconsin International Raceway still competing as a open-wheeled racer. The open wheels, coupled with the lack of any suspension cause a lot of wheel to wheel contact which resulted in a high number of flips during the programs. In an effort to make the division safer and more appealing the current mini-truck bodies were added for the start of the 1995 racing season, when then Fox River Racing Club officer Jerry Quella worked with the Wisconsin Sport Truck Association to develop a body for the car. The appeal of truck racing made the club decide on the mini-truck bodies.

With the bodies covering the wheels, it allowed for closer contact racing without the risk of the airborne theatrics which plagued the open wheeled mini-champs. Since the 1995 season the class has grown to an average of 25 entries per program.

The club also recently began making appearances at other area asphalt tracks including the re-opened 141 Speedway, Dells Motor Speedway and Norway Speedway.

Veteran racer Hank Calmes, who won a mini-champ title in 1994 and is one of the longer standing members of the club, reflected on some of the changes over the years. "I started racing in 1982, driving the mini-champs at 141 Speedway. The bodies on mini-champs were all basically homemade. We ran exclusively at 141 Speedway. Now we are starting to go to different tracks,” Calmes stated about his initial years behind the wheel of a mini-champ.

Calmes remembers the reasoning behind adding the truck bodies to their cars. "We wanted to be more uniform and it was something the people in the stands could identify with," added Calmes.

For the most part the powerplants of the cars have been transplanted from snowmobiles but Calmes noted their was a brief time when motorcycle power came into play. "For short time we did have a few motorcycle engines that we experimented with. A couple guys ran four cycle bike motors, but we went away from that again back to the snowmobiles. The majority of the engines are 500 c.c. fan cooled snowmobile engines. We allow and engine up to 500 c.c. that's fan cooled or air cooled, no liquid cooled are allowed. They have to have a single exhaust pipe. Your carbs and everything else is open," added Calmes.

The main reason the racing has become as competitive as it has was the addition of the fiberglass truck bodies. "I think the racing is more intense, there is more close racing. With the open wheels we had to give a little more room, now there's a little bumping going on and the fans like that. We also don't flip as hard as we used to when the tires got tangled up, so it's safer for us too," stated Calmes.

Calmes also noted the low initial cost to get involved with the mini-trucks and the level of competition as two of the main reasons for the recent growth of the series. "You’re looking at around $5,000 to get a good competitive feature truck and you'll need to maintain it from there, but to basically start out it takes around $5,000. I think the competition is great. I think our class has been extremely competitive all the time, they're fun to work with.

You'll learn a lot about setup and chassis stuff."

Weekly maintenance is minimal and the vehicles are very durable. While tires expenses can add up with other divisions of racing it's not been the case with the mini-trucks. "The right setup will make your tires last the entire season. The tires should last the whole season, if they are not, your chassis is not setup right with one corner working much harder then the other," Calmes concluded.

John Meidam is another track racer who enjoys the mini-trucks but indicated that the future for the division is looking bright as the club is currently in the process of building an experimental prototype for competition next season to test the "spec" chassis. It will mark the first time in club history that the group has allowed a suspended chassis to compete. The driver of the experimental race car will not accumulate points but will fine tune the chassis for possible introduction the following season in 2001.

Meidam who also served as club President hinted at the future of the class. "What we are currently running now is just a standard rigid suspension chassis. The suspension you have now is just the flex in the frame and the tires. What we are looking at is going with a spec chassis that Jim Randerson ( RanderCar ) has agreed to build for us. It's going to be a suspended chassis with a shock absorber, so there will be some chassis adjustment to work with to make us closer to a standard race car."

Meidam also noted some other refinements in making the division more appealing to future races. "We're also looking at some type of race tire. We want to go with a ten inch wheel and a race tire for a couple of reasons. Appearance and then also the handling ability,” stated Meidam.

Another benefit of going to a pre-built spec chassis will be the ease at which a potential racer can purchase and maintain the cars. "I think it's going to help a great deal, a couple different reasons for that one reason is, not everyone has the facilities to build a chassis to get going in this. The way we have it setup now you almost have to be able to do that to get into this racing. If somebody had the ability to go to RanderCar and buy a chassis for a set amount of money it's going to make it easier for a person who doesn't have all the facilities to build something to get into it," claimed Meidam enthusiastically.

While the possible change to the new "active suspension" chassis in the future is appealing Meidam was also quick to note it would not mean starting from scratch for racers who already have a competitive car. "Everything that we are currently using now is going to be fitted to this new chassis so we're not going to have to spend a lot of extra money to make this chassis work. The only extra money will be the chassis itself, the shocks and the different tires that we're going to use. The engines, axles, clutches and everything else can come from the parts we are already using," stated Meidam.

While Meidam has displayed a great deal of talent behind the wheel of a sport truck setting numerous quick times and feature wins this season, he also pointed out he is happy with his current driving situation. "Right now this really fits well with my lifestyle. I don't have to work so many hours a week to have fun at it. It's still a hobby though it's very competitive, you don't have the amount of labor you would with a full size car. It's a little more economical to race. You don't have the high dollar maintenance and even if you do bend something up a little bit it's not going to cost you as much to fix it as a full size car."

Meidam also stated that the fun factor is one of the main reasons for staying involved with the club and the trucks. "I think we can maintain the fun factor. There is a great deal of comroradery in the pits. If someone has a problem, the guy next to him will lend a hand. There's not a whole lot of secrets down in our pits. When it really comes down to it everyone helps each other out. That's what makes it fun to race."

While some drivers enjoy staying with the series several others over the years have ventured into larger cars. Kevin Servais and Mike Springstroh were two drivers that had a good deal of success after moving from the mini-trucks. Servais went on to Late Models while Springstroh who won a mini-champ title has been very successful in Limited Late Model action. Two-time champion Mike Schneider would eventually like to follow in their footsteps.

“I actually started out with the Mini-Champs ten years ago. With the trucks I did much better than the open-wheels," stated Schneider, who dominated the 1997 season en route to his first championship

which he followed up in 1998.

Schneider's decision to begin his racing career was one of simple economics. "Basically I looked at it and it was affordable and I knew I could do it. So I decided to try the mini-champs and it was affordable so that's what I did. I was getting pretty good at the end before they put the bodies on,” Schneider said of his early years in the sport.

Schneiders biggest success came after the addition of the bodies in 1995, and told of how the change came about. "The Fox River Racing Club wanted us to spice things up and look more like race cars. They wanted us to put bodies on the things and close the wheels off. We kind of got together and started talking about it. We originally were going to put car bodies on, and one night we were sitting around talking and came up with the idea to put truck bodies on,” noted Schneider.

The appearance of the small trucks has proven to be popular with fans and drivers when the club tours to different tracks. When it comes to making appearances at new tracks the trucks have proved to be a very popular item. "I tell you, the other tracks we go to, even the other drivers, they all like them. I think we made a great improvement going to the truck bodies," stated Schneider.

Though Schneider plans to continue in the class for some time to come he left no doubt he would move up if given the opportunity. "I'd love to climb in a late model if I can get someone to let me do that. I'll definitely be back in the number seven truck next year. I might run some dirt yet next year. I've been tossing it up in the air, maybe a modified or Grand National. I've been thinking about that too, it seemed pretty economical," concluded Schneider.

Even if some of the drivers do eventually move on to full sized racers, rookies like John Prusynski will always be there to take their place. "I had been sitting up in the stands for a couple of years and it looked like something I could do. I had been watching racing for a long time and figured man I just have got to do something," claimed Prusynski for his reason to climb behind the wheel.

Like other drivers who chose the sport trucks to get their feet wet in racing, cost was the major factor. "Cost wise, I bought a truck that was complete and everything. It cost about $4,000 and is affordable to race," noted Prusynski who never raced competitively before purchasing his truck. "I never raced anything whatsoever, not a snowmobile, four-wheeler or anything at all. So this was a new experience."

In addition to the low cost, Prusynski noted the fun factor and speed of the miniature machines are very appealing. “The first thing that I noticed when I put it all together and everything, is when I took it out on the road at home that there is a whole lot more power than what people think there is. When you see them up in the stands going around the track it may look like they are going slow but I was really surprised how much power there is. They feel like a race car to me,” Prusynski noted.

The fun factor is also keeping these new drivers in the sport and making for a very competitive field. "I think right now this is where I'm going to stay for a while. Most other forms of racing seem to be quite a bit more expensive. Maybe you can get in a hobby stock for less, but to me for the money that your paying it's a really good form of racing because of the good racing out there," said Prusynski who closed noting he's happy with the success he's had and hopes to continue in the class for a few years to come.

"My biggest success was I won a heat race at Kaukauna and also won a heat race at 141, for being a rookie it's pretty good. I went to a couple away tracks and that was fun. It's something new and it's something I'm working towards next year going to a few more away races."

In closing Prusynski pretty much summed up the reason why the class has become so successful and appealing over the past couple season stating..." It's a lot of fun."

Fun is the key ingredient of the Wisconsin Sport Truck Racing Association. It's a flavor that has made it successful and appealing to those looking for a place to begin their racing careers.