Lucas Punkari
New cars, new drivers, and returning veterans are just some of the things district racing fans can come to expect during the 2011 season at the Emo Speedway, which officially kicks off this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (weather permitting).
Many of those drivers took advantage of an open practice session this past Saturday evening, which many used to work out the kinks in their car’s set-up and work on any mechanical gremlins that can pop up before the season began in earnest.
One of those circling the 3/8-mile dirt oval was Derek Brown of Rainy River, who was making his first laps of any sort at the track in the #24 WISSOTA Modified.
“My dad [Ed] bought this car off of Rob Anderson during the off-season and he asked me if I was interested in driving it, and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a try,” noted Brown.
“The car hooked up a lot better than I expected it to,” he added.
“And now I’ll just be trying to push the bar a little bit farther each time I go out there.”
Another noticeable change in the pits came from defending WISSOTA Midwest Modified champ Brady Caul, who debuted a brand new car for this season last Saturday.
His previous car now is in the hands of Ethan Firth.
“The switch has been pretty much perfect so far,” Caul enthused.
“So far it seems that the new car is a little bit easier to drive, so I’d have to say that the transition has been pretty smooth,” he remarked.
Some of the changes in the pits have yet to be finalized for a few cars, with Street Stock driver Tyler Wickstrom’s #88 Chevy Monte Carlo having yet to get its new paint scheme for the 2011 season—giving the car a bare bones look.
“You might want to take a before and after picture of it,” Wickstrom joked.
“We’re in the process of getting the body sanded down right now so we can get it ready for painting, so it’ll look fairly different than what it is now,” he explained.
For the most part, though, many of the drivers on hand for Saturday’s test session just were making sure everything was ready on their cars for their 2011 season plans, whether it be running the full schedule at Emo or one that takes them all over.
“We’re planning on running about 20-25 shows on the USMTS tour,” said WISSOTA Modified driver Brad Loveday.
“And if we can, we’ll be here for fair night.
“The car felt very similar to what it was at the end of last season,” he added. “And even with the small amount of changes that we made to the car, it still felt pretty good.”
One of the drivers planning to run the full season at Emo is second-year Street Stock competitor Liberty Wilson, whose car stayed glued to the bottom of the race track during her practice sessions Saturday.
“The car is handling really well, and I personally like to run the low line because it gives me time to move up high,” reasoned Wilson, who was fifth in last season’s point standings.
“My goals for this season are to try and get a top-three finish in the points, and to also get a couple of first-places finishes as I wasn’t able to get one last year,” she noted.
