By Bert Lehman

For the first time ever 141 Speedway will host the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series, Friday, May 18.

This will be the fourth straight year the Lucas Oil stars and cars venture to Wisconsin, but it will be the third different track in three years. The first two appearances were at Oshkosh Speedzone in 2015 and 2016. The race was moved to Luxemburg Speedway in 2017.

This year 141 Speedway takes center stage.

Tony Izzo Jr. of Sixteens Race Promotions, who is promoting the Lucas Oil appearance at 141 Speedway said he is comfortable making the change to 141 Speedway. It is his goal to establish this race as a must see show that race fans mark on their calendar every year.

“That’s when we become very successful, when we get a following like that,” Izzo said.

Izzo said it was never a consideration to not continue promoting a Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series race in Wisconsin. He owns LaSalle Speedway in Illinois and he said the support he receives in LaSalle from Wisconsin race fans has been “phenomenal.”

“It’s a no brainer to bring a race to them (Wisconsin fans) the way they come down to me,” Izzo said. “The other thing is this area is not saturated with Late Models and its not saturated with Late Model big events. That’s something that makes a successful show. It makes it exciting to bring something that you don’t normally get.”

He added, “I believe the facility will produce a much more exciting, close, rubbing-is-racing type of event that fans can really enjoy. The race was really good in both places in the past but everybody still likes to have tight racing.”

Izzo said another plus for moving the race to 141 Speedway is the track’s location, which makes it easier for spectators from northern and southern Wisconsin to make the trip to the race.

141 Speedway is a tight and small track, that has hosted only a handful of Late Model events since it was converted to a dirt track in 2010. It has hosted big paying IMCA Modified races in the past.

At each of those IMCA Modified events out-of-state drivers have always indicated it takes some laps on the track to get the hang of racing on it because corners one and two are different than corners three and four. This could open the door for local Late Model drivers to be more competitive against the Lucas stars.

“I believe they can be more competitive,” Izzo said.

He added, “I think they (Lucas Oil drivers) will be scratching their heads a little right off the bat, but if anybody is going to adapt to it, these guys are the best in the world.”

The top 10 drivers in the Lucas Oil point standings is filled with the best drivers from across the country, led by Jonathan Davenport of Georgia. The rest of the top 10 includes Josh Richards (West Virginia), Scott Bloomquist (Tennessee), Earl Pearson Jr. (Florida), Tim McCreadie (New York), Bobby Pierce (Illinois), Don O’Neal (Indiana), Jimmy Owens (Tennessee), Hudson O’Neal (Indiana), and Kyle Bronson (Florida).

In addition to the Lucas Oil regulars, fans can expect to see some of the top regional and local Late Model drivers attempt to make the feature.

The Lucas Oil 50-lap feature will pay $12,000-to-win.

“I’m looking forward to it being a full house of people that get to see a really, really good show,” Izzo said.

Support divisions for the evening include the local SportMod and Street Stock divisions. SportMod drivers will be racing for $500-to-win, while Street Stocks will race for $400-to-win. Each of those features will be $50 to start.

Ticket information and the event schedule is listed below:
Advanced Adult General Admission (purchased by midnight, May 17): $35 includes a pit pass
Advanced Kids (11 & Under): $10 includes a pit pass
Day of Race General Admission: $35
Day of Race Kids (11 and under): FREE
Day of Race kids pit pass (11 and under) $20
Times:
Pit Gates Open 1:00 PM
Advanced G/A 2:00 PM
General Admission Open 3:00 PM
Drivers Meeting 6:00 PM
Hot Laps 6:30 PM
Time Trials 7:00 PM