By: Ron Burt
The 47th Annual Wieland Winter Nationals took place last week at East Bay Raceway in Tampa. The six nights of racing is part of the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series. One of Oakshade and Attica Late Model top drivers Rusty Schlenk made the trip down. On his first night Rusty let his fans and Facebook followers know he qualified 14th out of the 29 other drivers in his group. He started 5th in his heat race, and as he made a pass for 3rd, got ran over, which bent the bumper and he couldn’t steer. He finished 7th. In the B-main, he started 10th and worked his way up to 6th place but only the top two cars transferred to the A-main. Next week I will update how the rest of his week went.
Getting to Tampa was an adventure if you follow his Facebook page. Before they arrived at East Bay Raceway, they found out the merchandise trailer lights weren’t working, no generator in the motor home along with no heat for 6 hours. The merchandise trailer came unhooked and the racecar came unhooked inside the hauler. The icing on the cake, they were pulled over for using the cell phone as a map. We’re happy they made it safe and sound. Now it’s time to get into victory lane!
Plymouth Motor Speedway, in Plymouth Indiana, will hold an Aprils Fools 200 lap Enduro, on Saturday April 1st. It will pay $2000.00 to win. Pits will open at 11AM and the grandstand at 2PM and racing at 4PM. Plymouth Motor Speedway is a 3/8th mile asphalt track, twenty miles west of Fort Wayne. Saturday April 29th will be the first night of racing for 2023. Six classes of cars will compete on opening night. Outlaw Late Models, UMP Mods, Street Stocks, Front Wheel Drives, Hornets, and the new class, Crown Vic’s.
Kokomo Speedway just released their 2023 schedule and it’s a good one! All 15 dates will be action packed for race fans. The season starts April 21st and 22nd with USAC Midgets and Non-winged sprints. The USAC Midgets will see action 3 times in 2023. The USAC Non-winged Sprints will visit 4 times. Other classes visiting this historic track this summer will be Kokomo Sprints, The High Limit Sprint Series, Thunder Cars, XR Super Series Late Models, Late Models, UMP Modifieds, USAC Thunder Midgets and a few other classes on special nights. June 11th will be Indiana Midget Week and July 22nd is Indiana Sprint Week. August 24-26 is the Annual Sprint Car Smack Down and this year’s winner will take home $30,000.00 The Kokomo Klash XVII, will wrap up the season October 13th and 14th.
I’m still waiting on track schedules from Montpelier, Gas City I-69, and Oakshade Raceway. Until next week, keep your wheels down, Ron Out!
