Sprint cars are a whole different kind of race

Tim Johnson, the 2004 Wissota Super Stock points champion at North Central Speedway, said piloting a Wissota Championship Sprint car is fun but a lot of work.

Johnson raced a Sprinter belonging to his father's cousin in the 13th annual Earl Kouba Memorial Sprint Special Saturday at NCS. He finished third in his heat race and eighth in the 30-lap feature. Two races before, he won the Super Stock feature.

"It's a whole different driving style." he said. "You drive with the motor. If you get a little push on the corner or hit a rut you rap on the gas a little harder. It just points and goes. You turn the wheel a little bit here and there and maybe the brake."

If you read Monday's Dispatch, you already know that the feature winner, Dustin Lindquist, raced without a rear brake caliber in the closing laps.

The 20-year old Lindquist started racing go carts and raced in the Wissota Mod Four class before Sprint Cars. When not racing, he said he works in his parent's lumberyard in Floodwood.

He also said he raced at a similar track to NCS in Little Rock, Ark.

Lowe enjoyed racing his father

Mitch Lowe of Aitkin said it was cool when he and his father, Kent, were door-to-door in Saturday's NCS Pure Stock main feature.

"I couldn't believe it," Mitch Lowe said. "I just couldn't. 'Wow,' you're going. I didn't know he had it in him."

Kent said racing against his son was a "blast."

Mitch won his first main feature in three and a half years racing. He said he has had the same Oldsmobile car body for the last two years.

He said he is leaning toward racing in the Wissota Midwest Modified class next season.

"More power," he said.

NCS to host July 19 Special

NCS will host a Wissota Super Stock, Wissota Midwest Modified and Wissota Street Stock Special July 19.

Winners in each class will each take home $1,000. Spectator gate opens at 5 p.m. followed by hot laps at 6:45 p.m. Pit fee is $25.

Defending champions are Donny Thomsen in Street Stock, Tom Feierabend in Super Stock and Dennis Jones in Midwest Modified. Thomsen is racing a Super Stocker this year, Feierabend has only raced twice at NCS this season and Jones is racing a Wissota Modified this season.

"I might go take the car out there," Feierabend said. "We'll see how things go."

Tim Johnson is the points leader in Super Stock with 385 as of July 9. The three-time feature winner at NCS is followed by Dave Mass (346), Kurt Loftis (334), Butch Butcher (326) and John Remington (322).

Troy Jordan is the Midwest Modified points leader with 324, followed by Remington (300), Mark Anderson (294), Brad Feierabend (290) and Mike Henning (279). Jordan has won two features at NCS this season.

Two-time feature winner at NCS Bobby Young leads the Street Stock points with 361. He is followed by Nathan House of Princeton (354), Wade Blumke (346), Charlie Peterson (336) and Randy Sprague (333). House and Sprague each won a feature at NCS this season.

In other speedway news, Kevin Jones, NCS flagman, said flagging the Wissota Championship Sprint Cars Saturday night during the 13th annual Earl Kouba Memorial Sprint Special was "fun."

I would concur despite getting dusted. It felt like strong gusts of wind as I stood on the flagstand when the Sprinters blazed by. I would take a few photographs of the leader racing down the front straight and immediately turn my back to the rest of the field. I can't believe my contacts stayed in place.

But I do feel privileged to have stood on the flagstand. It was a rush.

Snyder finishes sixth

Trent Snyder of Ironton raced his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a sixth place finish in the ASA Super Late Model feature Saturday at I-94 Raceway in Sauk Centre.

He placed third in his heat race.

clint wood, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at clint.wood@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5869.