Mitch Calvert
It takes a special type of teenager to strap themselves into a race car and commit every summer weekend to burning rubber on a track.
But there are plenty with that mentality here in the Rainy River District—including 10 drivers on the Borderland Racing Association circuit who wheel around the Emo Speedway oval every Saturday night.
Matt Mutz was chosen as rookie-of-the-year during the bumper crop year of 2007, which also was the inaugural season for Christopher Leek, Brady Caul, and Matt DePiero.
“Ever since I can remember, I grew up going to the races on Saturday nights,” DePiero recalled. “I had a cousin, Dwayne Pihulak, who still races and we’d go watch him.
“I was always into cars, and when I turned 13 or 14, I started helping my cousins, the Gamsbys, in the pits and that really helped me figure out what it was all about,” he added.
“I figured at that point if I was going to be working on the stupid cars, I might as well get one of my own.
“Now I’m racing with Dwayne, and we’re kind of teammates now, so it’s kind of neat how it came full circle like that,” DePiero enthused.
Mike Wilson, meanwhile, comes by the sport honestly. He’s a third generation race car driver.
Wilson’s dad, Gary, first took up the sport when his father got him into it in 1970.
For his part, Leek, 19, said growing up in Emo meant being around the track and it was just a natural fit to make the transition from spectator to driver.
“I pitted for Ron Korpi the first year I was there [2006], and he was getting rid of his car so I just bought that from him and built a Midwest Modified,” Leek explained.
“I just enjoy going fast,” he said bluntly. “It isn’t the ’70s anymore, so the rack track is about the only place you can really go that fast anymore.”
Leek said his family has a keen interest in the sport, but he’s the first to really take to the circuit full-time as a driver.
“My dad [Albert] originally pitted for Tom Jackson, and he raced a little bit, but not a whole season or anything,” Leek noted. “He’s mostly interested in the mechanical stuff.
“My brother [Borderland Racing Association president Anthony Leek] likes that I’m out there and he likes racing and stuff, but he’s not into the mechanics of it.”
So what keeps the young guns, who also include Lindsay Bourre, Tyler Wickstrom (International Falls), Libby Wilson, Andrew Trimble, and Jeff Davis, committed to countless hours working on their cars over the summer with so many distractions out there?
“It’s hard to explain,” DePiero said. “My dad [Jim] was always pitting with Dwayne and would help him with that, and even my mom had brothers who raced a long time ago, so I guess it’s kind of in my blood.”
“Those hours working on the car can be the difference, too,” stressed Leek. “You have to make sure it’s maintained because there’s nothing worse than being on the track and having the thing just quit on you without being hit.
“That can be very frustrating having to get pushed off the track when there’s nothing really physically wrong with your car but the mechanical part is off,” he added.
Good results have been hard to come by for DePiero so far this season as he works in a new race car—sitting 160 points behind leader Tridell Champlin in the Midwest Mods division going into this past Saturday night’s races.
“It’s been a rough year,” he conceded. “When the car works, it’s fast, but we’ve had motor and other problems throughout the year, but we think we might have it fixed now.
“It’s just a matter of getting some breaks and turning some of that bad luck into good luck,” he reasoned.
DePiero finished seventh overall in the Midwest Mods points standings a year ago—but the highlight came on the opening weekend last May.
“The first race last year when I got my first feature win stands out,” he said. “I won the heat race and the feature that night, so that would right now be the highlight so far.”
Leek has yet to win a feature race but has put up consistent finishes so far this season to sit in eighth in the Midwest Mods prior to last weekend’s action.
Caul, from Devlin, has been the most successful of the young drivers of late. He finished third in the Midwest Mods overall standings a year ago, and was fourth through five events this season while also sitting fourth in the Modifieds division.
He won the Midwest Mods feature back on June 13.
“There’s good talent for a young group,” DePiero enthused. “You need those young guys to keep the track going, and it’s good to see a lot of us out there.”
The pastime doesn’t come without its risks, however, and DePiero certainly can attest to that. The recent Fort High grad was involved in a wreck during the last week of races and was one of four drivers “rewarded” with plaques a year ago to remember their respective rollovers by.
Despite the inherent danger that seems to come with the territory, DePiero said he finds the sport safer than a lot of other motorized activities.
“I’d rather be in the driver’s seat of a race car than on a dirt bike or snowmobile,” he remarked. “You’ve got a seat belt and are pretty well-protected in there.”
