Roger Van Daalwyk tells me that when his father built what is now WIR in 1964, it began with a tiny quarter-mile dirt track with a pond in the center, then the half-mile dirt track was sculpted and the drag strip was added.    Horses were raced here as well, and then the surface was paved.   Van Daalwyk recalls was a boy when the USAC show packed the place for the first asphalt show, and had the never-ending task of making burgers for the sellout crowd.  In the field was WIR veteran J. J. Smith, for this was the heyday of USAC late models.  Another former USAC racer, Ted Dolhun, proudly showed me the old program he found with his picture from decades ago.   Dolhun no longer races his dirt late model, but came to watch youngest son, Jacob, in the ASL field. 

  The MARS field ran a 44-lap contest in honor of the late dirt-track racer Wally Jors, who was instrumental in the formation of today's racing at this oval.  I was at Hales Corners when Jors passed away at the young age of 33 following a top late model feature finish.  Jeff  Van Oudenhoven, son of  long-time Fox River Race Club member Milo, recalled, "My dad, Wally Jors, Roger Regeth" , and others throughout the decades who have helped the club run the races at WIR.  Van Oudenhoven's trophy was presented by Bill Prietzel, who won the Jors Cup at Hales Corners three times, and remembers the late driver very well.  The race was slowed by only one caution, and WIR regular Jim Duchow amazed many by passing Steve Carlson on the outside.  Terry Baldry reportedly had early engine problems, barely making it onto the track as the field was taking the green flag.  Watching him climb from last to third was quite a sight.  

  Two contests were run with the Mid-Am cars and trucks together, setting the starting lineup for their Royal Rumble.  Contested at 30 laps, the pace was slowed three times for minor incidents.  Prietzel had taken over the lead from the outside pole, but Brett Piontek got tired of  following and made his move with eight laps remaining.  "I can't say enough about racing Bill", replied Piontek of the door-to-door duel.  "For three years now", Piontek recalled racing against the veteran, adding, "I hope we got some tire marks".

    Stephen Leicht just turned 18 this year, yet has been racing for a dozen seasons.  The third generation of racers in his family, Leicht came from North Carolina to the North instead of the other way around.  Leicht was paired with WalTom Racing's crew chief, Howie Lettow, to learn the ropes the right way.   Lettow entered the American Speed Association (ASA) with his friend Pat Schauer in 1981, the same year Schauer lost his life in a race.  Now Lettow's total of top ASA rookies stands at seven, and Leicht told your scribe earlier, "Yes, I'm still having fun".   Taking a commanding lead of the 150-lap ASL race to the end, Leicht was having much more fun on his first visit to WIR Tuesday. 

  Leicht was one of several coming to WIR for Monday's practice, and the announcer likened him to Mark Martin.  Martin also won on his first visit to WIR, and we all know his progress after a little help from Wisconsin teams.   Other newcomers came from Texas, Georgia, Michigan, and Minnesota, as well as series regulars from Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio.  Ten years ago the big race was ARTGO's Dixieland Challenge, won by second-generation racer Bryan Reffner.  Reffner was reminded of this after his second-place finish Tuesday evening.  "I dedicated that race to Brian Back", recalled Reffner,  "I lost my good friend".    Reffner recalled having, "good memories with bad ones", when racing's "Jumping" Jimmy Back lost his son.  We still think of Reffner as a kid, yet he's now older than Leicht and 21-year old Andrew Morrissey, who finished third.  

    This week we saw the Saturday races on Friday, and some of Friday's divisions on Saturday.  Confusing as this sounds, Lake Geneva Raceway's regular program was moved up one day due to Saturday's special event.  Four of Friday's five fields raced through their features without a caution in order to finish before 10:00.   Not all made it to the oval in time to qualify, and we found a couple drivers racing two divisions.
  Vincent Merry ran a sport truck along with his late model, and Ken Johnson (Doctor 2th, the racing dentist) was aboard his mini mod and late model.  Merry would have his merry way by sweeping the truck class, but brought out the first caution in the late model feature.   

    Mike Van Houten was quickest of the mini mods, but he was runner-up the rest of the night.  Chris Thomazin won the heat before father Curt took the feature win.  The sportsman field was down in numbers, but still Erik Pierce was strong enough to fend off Kenny Joosten to the end of the 25-lap feature.

  The late model field began with all 20 cars, the roll of the die setting the inversion at eleven.  Josh Bauer was practicing for the next night, but wasn't counted as he trailed the field.  Of the three leaders, the third was the charm.   Eddie May wrested the point away from Kent Burkoth with a handful of laps remaining.  Notable was Landry Potter's progress from tenth to third.

  The Basic International Cars (BIC) had "only" around forty entries, running two semis to fill their feature field.   At the end it was the first win for Matt Booker, who came from the fourth row early in the going in the nonstop contest.      Behind him, Bob Koch had made up even more ground from his eleventh-place start on the grid.  No time for post-race interviews, the Lake Geneva crew got an early start on preparing for the next day.  Others had plenty of time to enjoy their Friday night.

  Saturday arrived with temps near 90 for NASCAR's AutoZone Elite Series, Midwest Division annual running of the Al Schill Jr. Memorial 150.  It was disappointing that Al Schill Sr. didn't race in the event, but he and wife Gwenn arrived in their Corvette convertible to serve as grand marshals.  It was quite an emotional time when they greeted the starting field, for Lake Geneva regular Jamie Wallace was aboard the number 67 entry from the Gerry Gundermann stable, the car once piloted by the young Schill before his accidental death.   "It's kind of hard to come here and not see my boy in the race", stated the father of his only son.

  The mounts for Randy Rodgers, Biff George, and David Tomczak also did not solidify, but Larry Schuler showed up for this one.  Over a dozen tour regulars are seriously chasing points in hopes of making the top ten for the all-star showdown in California.  This includes California's Nick Joanides and Colorado's Greg Fowler among the more local racers from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.

  Saturday's Vintage class provided some anxious moments when a few engines may have worn out prior to their feature, then two cars got together, leaving a historic nose piece laying on the track.  It was only fitting that Vaughn Gerke took charge the whole way, for he's a vintage racer in years.

  The weekly super stock field ran without Josh Wallace, whose car had to be pushed off during qualifying.  The feature saw four different leaders in the opening laps, Adam Regnier keeping the point to the end.   Two cautions, one for a wide swath of engine fluids from Willy Peterson's car, slowed the event, which ended with one car spun in the final corner.

  The Millennium late model feature also had four leaders, the last only in charge of the final feet.  Sonny Schoffen wrangled his way past Keith Tolf for the victory, doing a splendid burnout in celebration.  It never gets old for this racer, having competed in nearly every field of cars at Lake Geneva.

  Saturday's finale was the Al Schill Jr. Memorial 150.  The random inversion set third-generation Erik Darnell in the fifth row, series point leader Justin Diercks at the point.  In between were the many-time champion Steve Carlson, hot shoe Eddie Hoffman, and Nathan Haseleu among others.  If you were a betting person, who would you choose?  Some burned themselves out early, others saved their tires for the end.   The laps under caution counted until the final five circuits, which actually extended the race by one lap when the eighth mishap restarted the field on lap 146.   Darnell had the field well covered, jumping ahead at every restart.   "This is a real special race for me", declared Darnell, "Al and Gwenn are friends of ours, and this race means a lot".  The humble third-generation racer never spoke about his latest tryout for Jack Roush's "Gong Show", in which he made the cut for the final dozen.     

  Behind Darnell, Haseleu kept Hoffman's challenges at bay, and Carlson hung on to trail them.  Haseleu actually apologized for unintentionally closing the lane on Hoffman at one point, and Hoffman commented on how hard it was, "Everybody's racing hard, beating and banging".  Tim Schendel survived all that and came from fifteenth to fifth for the top run of the race.  Shortly after 10:00 it was all over, fans lining up at the front fence to get a chance to visit with their heroes.        

  Sunday was another summer night at Slinger Speedway.   It was not too hot this week for the kids to ride in race cars, and by the end of the show we were wearing jackets.  Twenty visiting limited late models swelled the pits with over 130 cars in seven divisions.  Among them were Slinger veterans Jerry Eckhardt, Chris Ratajczyk, Andy Wendt, and Mike Held.  Wendt told your scribe that all his race cars would be put up for sale at the end of this season after 29 years in the sport.    Son Nick may be taking on a job in NASCAR's hub, and both can claim they had a good run.  Eckhardt replaced last week's super late model engine with one that's a dozen years old, telling me it's already been run three years.  In the limited group, both he and Wendt ended up with trophies from the dash and feature, respectively. 

  The late model field saw Donavan Morgan drive father Conrad's car to the semi win, with Freddy Winn on his heels to transfer to the feature.  It was after the second of three cautions that Al Schill's mount seemed to come to life, taking charge to the end.  "It's a h--- of a difference from last week", said Schill of being caught in a wreck.  "One of my crew guys is 67, one is 62", declared the 60-year old winner, adding, "I didn't want to be a wimp and wear a cool suit.   Maybe next year when I'm 61".   After 40 years, Schill is still having fun.  Schill claims a miscommunication was the reason he didn't race in his son's memorial event Saturday, and felt even worse when discovering that there were three cars available to him.

  The mod field had a different driver top every run, topping off their feature with two cars spun just short of the finish line.  The 8-car invert ended with both Dale Prunty and Steven Schultz coming from the fourth row to the front. 

  The sportsman feature went caution-free, the early duel between Dave Thomas and Mike Graczkowski over after the latter dropped out.  Collin Bamke began racing at Slinger in the entry-level, and proved practice makes perfect by taking his second sportsman win of this season.  The fourth-row start of James Swan and Gary Lamonte ended up with top four finishes.

  The thunder stock class ran nonstop as well, Joe DeStefano Jr. returning in top form.  The Slinger Bees fielded two 16-car contests, the learners showing much progress in their driving skills.  To think some of them are not yet old enough to legally drive a car.

  The figure 8 finale ended with only three of five running when the clock neared 10:30.  Late by Slinger standards, but a very full program.