Mass' rookie sprint car success no surprise to Rager
One racer who won't be surprised if Dave Mass, a former Wissota Street Stock National points champion and the Wissota Super Stock points champion at Princeton Speedway this season, wins the 2002 Wissota Championship Sprint Series Rookie of the Year honor will be Roger Rager of Pequot Lakes.
In fact Rager, who sold one of his several "race ready" sprint cars to Mass recently, is expecting it.
"I'm kind of looking forward to him being Wissota Rookie of the Year," he said in a telephone interview from his resort near Pequot Lakes last week. "He's aggressive but he's smart."
Mass wasn't the only local racer to purchase a sprint car from Rager.
John Franzen of Baxter also bought one without a motor, the one that won a Sprint Special at North Central Motor Speedway last June and 11 other features.
Rager also sold a sprint car to a Twin Cities racer and has one more to sell.
"The problem is I don't trash them so we don't need all these race cars," Rager said.
Rager's racing days are far from over. He will race two sprint cars, one with a 360 cubic inch motor and one with a 410 cubic inch motor, plus a United States Auto Club Coors Silver Bullet Series racer (similar to a sprint car with no wings).
He said he will attempt to race his 360 racer in every race on the circuit. With his 410 car, he will concentrate on a circuit in Wisconsin but also race in the Knoxville World of Outlaws series in Knoxville, Iowa.
Unlike the World Of Outlaws racers, his 410 car does have a weight limit, 1,200 pounds.
"It's absolutely foolish in this area with a 410 to race with the Outlaws," he said.
In the Silver Bullet Series, Rager said he only will race on the five dirt track races in the 20-race series. The races are 100 lappers.
The winner's purse in the series is from $9,000 to $12,000, Rager said.
For this reason, he said he will race at every one of these races. But when not racing for USAC, he said he will race his other sprint cars, including at the five NCMS Sprint Car Specials in 2002.
He commented that having five sprint specials at NCMS in 2002 instead of the two last season is "absolutely wonderful."
Rager's stint in USAC also could mean a chance to return to the Indianapolis 500 Speedway. The sponsor of his USAC racer, Tom Loucks of Loucks and Associates of the Twin Cities, was with him in 1979, 1980 and 1981 when he raced in the Indianapolis 500.
Rager, who led the 1980 Indianapolis 500, said Loucks has "established himself and has found some extra cash to play with."
"He is trying to find a Indy deal," Rager said.
Rager noted that he has the same motor in his USAC racer as he had in his 1980 Indy 500 racer.
Schultz achieves goal
Mike Schultz of Fort Ripley achieved his ultimate snocross racing goal at a World Snowmobile Association Minnesota Regional Championship Series race at Thief River Falls Dec. 22.
He qualified for the ESPN X Games Snocross at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo., Jan 16-18, aboard his Polaris Pro-X 800.
Schultz, 20, qualified by placing fifth in the final X Games qualifier at the Seven Clans Casino Snocross. The top five racers advanced. He also was only the third other Semi-Pro racer to qualify for the X Games.
Schultz will see plenty of snow dust this season. He intends to race every WSA Snocross Worldwide Championship venue, the next one at Deadwood, S.D., on Jan. 5-6.
Another one of his goals is to race in the professional classes next season.
For now, his goal is to qualify for the X Games Snocross final. The actual television coverage of the X Games will air in early February.
Radar run postponed
The Baxter Snowmobile Club's time trials on Gull Lake scheduled for Dec. 29 has been postponed until Jan. 13 because of the lack of ice, said club member Dave Johnson.