Pillager, Baxter racers star at Wissota
Sye Anderson of Pillager and Gary Walton of Baxter swept the top two spots in the Wissota Sprint Car August Heat Series.
Anderson and Walton battled back and forth for third place for over 10 laps in the series finale Tuesday night at Grove Creek Speedway. Anderson finished third en route to winning the series by one point.
Roger Rager of Pequot Lakes won the race and became the only racer to win two races in the series. It also was his second consecutive win in the series where 35 racers from four states competed.
Anderson also won a random drawing among the top 10 finishers, for a trip for two to the Bahamas during Daytona Speedweek.
Thiesse tours CBIR
Nate Thiesse, a former standout racer at North Central Motor Speedway and current member of the American Speed Association's LaFavre Racing Team, said he was overwhelmed being in the pits of the Colonel's Brainerd International Raceway during the 20th-annual Colonel's Truck Accessories NHRA Nationals last weekend.
The trip to the raceway capped off Thiesse's tour of his farm to TNN's Bob Dilner. Included in this tour was Thiesse's father Wayne's farm south of Brainerd on County Road 45. Naturally, Dilner saw Wayne's dairy herd and also he and Nate rode four-wheelers on the roads around the farm.
At the raceway, Nate said he and Dilner weren't in the pits but a few minutes before they were able to talk with Kenny Bernstein.
He said about 20 feet from Bernstein's trailer they bumped into a short man wearing a Skoal racing suit. Come to find out this was Ron Capps, a Funny Car racer who won the final.
"He was a super down to earth guy," Nate said.
He added that Bernstein also was very hospitable.
Nate also was able to hear the 6,000 horsepower motors, when they were started in the pits, and of course smell the nitromethane fuel these engines burn.
But since he was in Capps pits, he got a "double dose." The cars of Capps and his teammate, Tommy Johnson, Jr., were very close in their trailer area.
He said with all the shaking caused by these motors both in the pits and on the starting line, he felt like he did 100 sit ups.
"Everybody should experience that at least one time," he said.
For now, Thiesse is on his way to Jennerstown Speedway in Jennerstown, Penn., with his team for a race Aug. 26 and his team also will race at the State Fair race on Sept. 3.
Force on "The Life"
A behind-the-scenes segment on John Force and his Castrol-backed Funny Car team shot during the Prolong Super Lubricants Nationals at Seattle International Raceway, July 28-29, will air for the first time this Saturday during ESPN's weekly series, "The Life," at 11:30 a.m. Force is the first drag racer to do this.
Force also had the quickest run in testing, 4.819 seconds, on Tuesday at Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals Aug. 29 - Sept. 3)
His time also was quicker than a track-record 4.885 set by Tommy Johnson, Jr., in 1999.
Brainerd winner Larry Dixon led the testing in Top Fuel with a shut-off run of 4.714 at 259.21 mph. Kenny Bernstein, who lost in the first round at Brainerd, clicked his dragster off at 1,000 feet and posted a 5.024 at 205.05.
Tony Schumacher, who has been struggling all season (losing in the first round at Brainerd) also struggled. His best result was an 1/8-mile pass at 3.208 in 218.39 mph.
Smith breaks leg
For drag racing fans and maybe even not fans (just the people who become interested in racing because of crashes), ESPN's RPM Tonight reported that Top Fueler John Smith suffered three breaks in his left leg and a broken arm and wrist in the accident at Brainerd on Sunday.
Bazemore kept tune up
Funny Car pilot Whit Bazemore who lost in the final round at Brainerd last Sunday after losing traction did not change his tune up.
At the testing in Indianapolis, he clicked off a pass in 4.998 seconds at 300.50 mph, the eighth quickest run.
NASCAR taking crew
I learned from two NHRA drag racing team public relations personnel that NASCAR likes to hire NHRA team crew members because of their work ethic.
The salary of these NHRA crew members begins at $500 a week and naturally increases over time.