Lucas Punkari
For the drivers at the Emo Speedway, it doesn’t get any bigger than this weekend.
On Friday and Saturday nights, all three divisions will be running wheel-to-wheel around the 3/8-mile oval as they compete for the Rea Memorial Trophy as part of the annual Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society’s fall fair.
“The fair is always huge for me,” enthused Street Stock driver Jeff Wickstrom.
“I don’t run at the track every week, so I’m not running for the points championship at all, but I’ve always set my focus specifically on the fair weekend,” he noted.
“We try to get the car set up as much as we can so that it’s working good by the fair weekend, and I’m feeling really good about right now as the car is starting to come together,” added Wickstrom, who has won two features so far this season at the Emo Speedway.
Along with the regular drivers who run at the track week in and week out, this weekend’s races also will see out-of-town drivers make their way to the Speedway, in addition to those who have run part-time during the season.
“The main thing that I like about the fair is that you get a few more drivers from Thunder Bay and elsewhere that come here to race,” reasoned defending WISSOTA Midwest Modified champ Brady Caul.
“You get to see a few different cars that you might not get to race against on a regular basis, and as a result you have some stiffer competition,” he noted.
“[During] the fair, our car counts come up from the usual 30 cars that we have in the pits to around 65 cars,” said track promoter Anthony Leek.
“It’s twice the show and the fans are packed on both nights, which makes the racing very competitive,” he remarked.
With the packed audiences, tight competition, and a shiny trophy on the line, the drivers usually tend to run right on the ragged edge during both nights of racing, which is something WISSOTA Midwest Modified driver Christopher Leek has noticed in his five years at the Emo Speedway.
“The fair is just a different animal than a regular race night,” he said.
“It just seems like the guys all go nuts and want to be in the lead going into Turn 1 in the feature, so you just hope that you can start either up front with a chance for the lead or in the back where you can let everything sort out early on.”
However, there are those drivers who enjoy the wild and woolly atmosphere the fair nights bring such as former Rea Memorial Trophy winner and current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Steve Arpin.
“Dirt racing is always kind of like that as you only have 20 laps to get things done, so you have to take your opportunities on a start or a restart when you can have them,” he explained.
“That’s the one thing that I miss so much about dirt racing,” he added. “When you see the green flag drop, you just have to put your elbows up and give it your all.
“It’s not like here in NASCAR where you have a 300-lap race,” Arpin stressed. “On the dirt, you only have 20 laps to make it all count.”
One of the biggest issues the race teams face during the fair weekend is the amount of time between events—with less than 24 hours separating both nights of competition instead of the usual week between races.
As a result, drivers and mechanics have to make sure their cars are in tip-top mechanical shape for the fair.
“After Friday night, we will probably spend at least five or six hours on the car, and we are usually up until about three in the morning,” explained WISSOTA Modified driver Gavin Paull.
“We will also do some preparation work on the car during the day, as well, as you don’t want anything to break on the car during the fair,” he remarked.
With everything that surrounds both nights of racing, it is easy to see why the drivers at the track are looking forward to the event, especially if they are able to come away with a victory.
“The races are so competitive that even winning just one race during the weekend can make all the difference in feeling on top, and it can totally make a driver’s year,” Anthony Leek noted.
“Last year, [WISSOTA Midwest Modified driver] Chuck Lambert won after beating 23 other cars, and that’s one thing that he’s never going to forget for the rest of his career,” Leek added.
