Franzen prepares for Sprint Car Special
When John Franzen races his 630-horsepower sprint car around North Central Motor Speedway's clay oval Tuesday in the Heartland Tire Wissota Championship Sprints Special, he will have as much confidence as Dale Earnhardt Jr., had after winning his first NASCAR Winston Cup race earlier this season.
Like Earnhardt Jr., Franzen of Brainerd also collected his first career win this season on May 26 at Kopellah Speedway in St. Croix Falls, Wis.
"Everything went so smooth, it was easy," said Franzen of the win.
Tuesday's Special, one of two this summer at NCMS where the winner pockets $1,200, will start at 7:30 p.m. NCMS Pure Stocks and Wissota Super Stocks also will race. There also will be a W.W. Thompson Concrete Dash for Cash.
Franzen, whose only experience is in sprint car racing, thinks the special should "have a good car count."
He added that the speedway has a "nice track."
"When you're hooked up you can almost flat-foot it around except for turn one," he said. "It's a real nice track."
Franzen saw nothing ahead of him but Kopellah Speedway when he won. The race was the second stop on the 2000 Midwest Sprintcar Series Tour.
"I thought we were going