By: Paul Reichert
June 15, 2024
We have witnessed some great racing action in our seven different divisions over the first four weeks of the season. Tonight it was time for a little break before we get into the long stretch of racing during the 2024 season. A packed house gathered at the LaCrosse Speedway for a night of good clean, hard hitting fun at the annual Smash-O-Rama event. Cars were going to be crashed, smashed and trashed as the fans cheered and gasped over the smashing good times. There would also be some thrilling racing action on the ‘action track’ quarter-mile.
Jay Raines made a power move underneath A.J. Finnigan in turns one and two on lap seven of the Six Shooter feature. Raines pulled away from John Huebner and the rest of the field down the stretch to capture another checkered flag victory.
First year racer Fletcher Milene led from the start of the Mini-Van feature and was on his way to his first ever feature win. Milene was mere feet away when he suffered a flat tire on his race vehicle. That allowed Al Bartels to shoot past Milene for another victory to add to his 38 year quarter-mile racing career.
John Huebner was out to destroy a boat that did not qualify for the Shipwreck Boat Race in the Boat T-Bone Crash. Huebner center punched the boat but went too deep as he got stuck in the boat and could not back out of it. The fans cheered wildly for Huebner’s attempt to obliterate the boat into a million pieces.
It was the classic car vs. pickup truck battle in the finals of the Spectacular Spectator Drags. A souped up Firebird outran the custom pickup truck of Alex Liebsch, then started on the outside a truck length behind for race two. It did not matter as Liebsch was overtaken by the Firebird down the back straight to win race two and sweep the final.
Tonight’s novelty event was a close contact competition. In the Double Flagpole Novelty Race, the drivers had to negotiate around the flagpoles on the front straight and the back straight in the five lap race. John Clausen tried to snooker John Huebner after rounding the last tire on the last lap. Clausen ran wide in turns three and four, which allowed Heubner power by the Reckless one for the victory.
The vehicle that started the monster truck phenomenon some 50 years ago made its first ever appearance at LaCrosse. The legendary Bigfoot piloted by Josh Baumgartner from Litchfield, MN put on a spectacular show of crunching cars and wheelie stands for the fans. Also putting on an amazing aerial show for the fans was Mark Andrew from Saint Louis and his Wicked Sickness monster truck. The specialty built Hillbilly Hauler even gave the fans a ride in a monster truck throughout the night.
The Burn Out Contest gave the competitors one minute to pull off the smokiest burnout that was able to take care of the bug population. John Clauson in a ‘grocery getter’ mini-van got the better of a custom pickup truck to win the event.
It was a classic GM vs. Ford battle in the Go ‘Til They Blow event. With the essential fluids drained out of the cars, fans were on the edge of their seats to see who would last the longest. Despite being on fire, the Pontiac Grand Prix outlasted the Ford Escort after nearly five minutes to win the event.
John Clauson took our announcer Connor Pelch for a wet ride in the Pool Splashtacular. Clauson hit the pool full of water and beach balls head on to leave our announcer wetter than he was in last year’s Splashtacular.
Rain was threatening the track, but it would not stop the Shipwreck Boat Race of Destruction from bringing the night to a smashing conclusion. The object was to smash your competitor’s boat or whatever boats were loose on the track. After the crunching and destruction of the boats, it was up to the fans to settle who did the best job of destroying the water vehicles. The fans cheered loudly and wildly for Taylynn Herber as she outdid the master of destruction, John Clauson, to win the event.
The Magdatude Jet Car made some fireworks of its own before the biggest aerial fireworks show in western Wisconsin took place. Josh Baumgartner needed just two minutes to bring his jet engine to life, then needed only two more minutes to barbecue an old SUV from the early 2000s Only the metal frame was left as the rest of the SUV carcass began to smolder from the fiery jet flames..
Next Saturday, June 22 we return to our traditional closely competitive oval track racing. The Late Models have their first big race night this season with their first pair of 20 lap features. The Sportsmen, Hornets, Six Shooters, High School Racing Association and the Spin to Win Novelty Race will all be a part of the action. If that was not enough, the Midwest Dash Series makes their first ever regular season visit to LaCrosse. Bring yourself and the kids out to the track early for the next round of Kids’ Rides taking place after qualifying. Gates open at 5:30, qualifying goes green shortly after that and thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing revs to life at 7.
For more information about the LaCrosse Speedway or the 2024 schedule of events, call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our website at lacrossespeedway.com. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
Auto Value Six Shooters
Feature (15 laps): 1. Jay Raines, 2. John Huenber, 3. Marshall Rinartz, 4. John Clausen, 5. A.J. Finnigan, 6. Carlie Rinartz, 7. Kyle Cottone, 8. Bryon Olson, 9. Matthew Miller, 10. Matthew Parent
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Jay Raines, 2. Carlie Rinartz, 3. John Huenber, 4. Marshall Rinartz, 5. Matthew Parent, 6. Joey Miller
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Matthew Miller, 2. John Clausen, 3. A.J. Finnigan, 4. Kyle Cottone, 5. Bryon Olson
Qualifying: 1. Jay Raines 16.507, 2 John Huebner 16.850, 3. Marshall Rinartz 16.902, 4. Carlie Rinartz 17.092, 5. Matthew Parent 17.102, 6. Joey Miller 17.182, 7. Matthew Miller 17.530, 8. Kyle Cottone 17.800, 9. A.J. Finnigan 18.348, 10. Bryon Olson 18.357, 11. John Clausen 18.410
Auto Value Mini-Vans
Feature (15 laps): 1. Al Bartels, 2. Fletcher Milene, 3. John Huebner, 4. Kevin Laufenberg, 5. Matthew Parent, 6. Marshall Rinartz, 7. Sydney Hawkins, 8. Matthew Miller
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Marshall Rinartz, 2. John Huebner, 3. Al Bartels, 4. Matthew Miller, 5. Fletcher Milene, 6. Kevin Laufenberg, 7. Matthew Parent, 8. Sydney Hawkins
Qualifying: 1. Kevin Laufenberg 17.197, 2. John Huebner 17.414, 3. Al Bartels 17.651, 4. Matthew Miller 17.745, 5. Fletcher Milene 17.748, 6. Marshall Rinartz 17.832, 7. Syndey Hawkins 20.322
Novelty
Double Flagpole Race (6 laps): 1. John Huebner, 2. John Clausen, 3. Kyle Cottone, 4. Jay Raines
Shipwreck Boat Race of Destruction (Fan Vote): 1. Taylynn Herber, 2. John Clauson, 3. John Huebner