By: Paul Reichert
September 10, 2022
In less that one month the great racing get together takes place at the LaCrosse Speedway. Before the last big racing weekend takes place, the race fans packed the grandstands to witness some good clean hard hitting fun. The 31st Annual Night of Destruction presented by Western Technical College gave the fans a chance to go “OOOHH” and “AAAHH” as we smashed various vehicles, set things on fire and see vehicles flying through the air. In addiion to all that crunching and shattering, there was some competitive racing on the ‘action track’ quarter mile that decided another champion for the 2022 racing season.
In the Mini-Van feature, John Heubner powered around Mitchell Rinartz on lap three to lead the pack. Jay Raines did not make things easy for Huebner for much of the race, but Huebner would not be stopped as he claimed another feature win and locked up the 2022 season championship for the division.
With the High School Racing Association season completed, the racers came out to run an exhibition feature. Landin Frye and Ashton Kinsey, this year’s LaCrosse and State Champion, battled side by side for a few laps around the halfway mark of the race. Frye would power around Kinsey with five laps to go to cross the finish line in first.
In the Steel Wall Crash, Rob Stanfield made contact with the corner of his car to be decimated but still made the car fly through the air. John Huebner center punched his car to be trashed so hard that the front tires came off the car.
After a seven year absence, Joey Beaver of Fort Atkinson returned with his Harley Davidson motorcycle to perform some amazing tricks. Beaver did some burnouts, some wheelies, stood up on his motorcycle like it was a surfboard and even jumped a line of fire that left the crowd speechless.
It was an interesting show for the Monster Trucks as Josh Baumgartner’s Mechanical Mischief ride suffered a flat tire late in the freestyle round. He was not going to disappoint the crowd as he was able to fix his tire and put on an exciting show of big air jumps over the wrecked cars. The Carolina Crusher monster truck, piloted by Cameron Tweedy from Jonesboro, IL, put on a very impressive showing in his first ever visit to LaCrosse.
The Burnout Contest started off slow with John Huebner struggling to make a ton of smoke. The smoke show grew bigger and longer until Nick from the Wise Guys Car Club put on an epic burnout that lasted over 90 seconds and finally blew out one of his rear tires.
Dan Osthoff was looking to take out a hot tub that has seen better days in the T-Bone Crash. Osthoff nailed the hot tub and smashed it into a million pieces. The perfect hit even took out the beach balls that were in it.
Joel LeMeyer, Jake Anderson, Jesse Ramos and Chris Schafer gave the fans a thrilling exhibition of drifting. Popularized by The Fast and the Furious movie franchise, they gave a terrific performance of ‘on the edge’ racing on both the big track and the ‘action track’ quarter mile.
Jake Adams gave a perfect performance in the Rollover Contest, while Matthew Miller was not able to rollover in his first attempt and Dan Osthoff speared the ramp on his second try to roll. That one shot was good enough to give Adams the win in the event.
John Huebner decided to get rid of Chuck Deery’s pool problems in the Pool Jump. Huebner nailed the pool as he disintegrated it into a million pieces and even busted the beach balls in the pool.
24 different competitors brought out various trailers, boats and campers for the Trailer Race of Destruction. There were a lot of hard hits that destroyed and smashed a lot of campers and boats. Turn two once again got congested with traffic but the logjam got broken up and let the destruction continue. The fans got the opportunity to decide the winner by their loudest screams for the driver that did the most destruction. John Clauson got the loudest cheers from the fans as he was declared the ‘King of Destruction’.
The Magdatude Jet Car made its annual appearance at LaCrosse to burn down a vehicle to its frame. Unlike the older vehicles in the past, this time a newer BMW was the unfortunate victim. In less than five minutes the powerful engines of Magdatude burned down the BMW to its frame when it first was going through the assembly line.
Now the preparations begin for the grand finale at the LaCrosse Speedway as we inch closer to the 53rd edition of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend. You will witness 17 different divisions competing in over 600 laps of feature racing over the course of the four days. It is also the last big ‘get together’ with our racing family for the year before winter eventually sets it. We kick the action off on Thursday, October 6 with the Super Late Model ‘Futures’ and the ‘Knights of Oktoberfest’. Championships will be decided for the LaCrosse Sportsmen, Hornet and Six Shooter divisions. The LaCrosse Late Models will run their first pair of 20 laps features. The night will be wrapped up by the always thrilling Double-O Race. Gates open at 2:30, qualifying for the first ‘Faster Than a Speeding Bullet’ awards begins at 2:45 and the ‘fast and furious’ Oktoberfest racing action fires up at 6. Visit oktoberfestraceweekend.com for the latest news and information on ‘one great racing weekend’.
For more information about LaCrosse Speedway or the 2022 schedule of events, please call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
Mountain Dew Mini-Vans
Feature (15 laps): 1. John Huebner, 2. Jay Raines, 3. Kaleb Hardy, 4. Kevin Laufenberg, 5. Al Bartels, 6. Ryan Stanfield, 7. Jake Lisowski, 8. Mitchell Rinartz, 9. Marshall Rinartz, 10. Kreg Miller, 11. Matt Parent
Qualifying: 1. John Huebner, 2. Kaleb Hardy, 3. Jay Raines, 4. Kevin Laufenberg, 5. Kreg Miller, 6. Al Bartels, 7. Ryan Stanfield, 8. Jake Lisowski, 9. Marshall Rinartz, 10. Mitchell Rinartz, 11. Matt Parent
High School Racing Association
Feature (15 laps): 1. Landin Frye, 2. Ashton Kinsey, 3. Charlie Thompson, 4. Hunter Sarver
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Ashton Kinsey, 2. Landin Frye, 3. Charlie Thompson, 4. Hunter Sarver
Qualifying: 1. Hunter Sarver, 2. Ashton Kinsey, 3. Landin Frye, 4. Charlie Thompson
Trailer Race of Destruction (Fan Vote)
1. John Clauson, 2. Dakota Miller, 3. Phil Pyka