By: Paul Reichert

January 25, 2025

The race teams and drivers of the LaCrosse Speedway put on one of the most exciting and competitive seasons in recent memory during 2024. All the action packed thrills and close quarters racing were nonstop all the way to the final day of the 55th Oktoberfest Race Weekend. Now it was time to celebrate and reminisce about an unforgettable season as everyone packed the banquet room of the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center for the 2024 Champions’ Banquet. After enjoying a scrumptious buffet dinner catered by the landmark Blue Moon Restaurant of Onalaska, it was time to hand out some trophy hardware for jobs well done by many throughout the season.

With Jacob Goede finally running full-time at LaCrosse, that meant everyone had to step up their game. That included defending track champion Skylar Holzhausen. Both drivers took their season-long fight all the way to the last feature of the season, where Holzhausen won that feature to lock up his second straight NASCAR Late Model title and the Chase Championship as well. The fans also voted Holzhausen the division’s Most Popular Driver and the Best Appearing Car with the throwback paint scheme of his dad Steve from back in the day. A strong drive all season netted Jimmy Bjorkman his second NASCAR Hornets title in five years. Just like Holzhausen, the fans also voted Bjorkman as the Most Popular Driver of the division and having the Best Appearing Car with a paint scheme that dad Scott ran long ago.

The entry level divisions also featured a couple drivers with memorable seasons. Former crew chief Steven Brasda captured the Street Stock crown, and received a Competition Achievement Award from PR guy Paul Reichert for joining his former driver John ‘Madman’ Eron as a champion of the same division. There was no sophomore slump for Caleb Arneson as he was crowned the High School Racing Association champion. Arneson earned a lot more hardware with his runner-up efforts in the HSRA Wisconsin State title race, runner-up in the HSRA Series final standings, plus the fans gave him the Best Appearing Car and Most Improved Driver awards.

She was a threat to win every Saturday night, and at the season-ending banquet Tina Lodermeier picked up a fist full of hardware. Taking fourth in the NASCAR Sportsmen points was just the start for Lodermeier. The fans voted her the Most Improved Driver, the Most Popular Driver, the driver of the cleanest looking Best Appearing Car, and also taking the Good Luck Award. Justin Berg also had himself a night to remember at the Champions’ Banquet. After winding up third in the final NASCAR Sportsmen standings, ‘Fur’ received the Outstanding Performance and Showmanship Awards to go along with a long overdue Chase Championship after losing out to Andy Barney the last two years. It was all topped off by Berg’s long time crew chief ‘Boo’ Bradley being named LaCrosse’s Mechanic of the Year.

Strong efforts in the season Six Shooter (seventh) and Mini-Van (fourth) point races was just the start for driver Matthew Parent. The drivers voted him the pilot of the Best Appearing Car for the Six Shooters, won the Hard Charger Award and Most Improved Driver Award for the Mini-Vans from the fans. He also accepted the Showmanship Award on behalf of the entire R.I.O.T. Motorsports team. Curtis Hellickson was named the HSRA Wisconsin champion as well as the HSRA Series champion for the season, and he helped his teammates at Royall High School to unseed Melrose-Mindoro High School as the High School champions. All that hardware goes along with his track title from another HSRA track.

Last year may have been a rumor, but this year it is really happening. Pastor Andy Buhrow is steping aside after being our track chaplain for some 20 years. Annually Pastor Andy has presented his Racing Family of the Year award to a team or racing family that has been truly dedicated to the sport of auto racing. To close out his participation in our weekly racing at LaCrosse, Pastor Andy handed out his final Racing Famiy of the Year award to Thurk Racing.

The grand finale of the night was the presentation of the Sportsman of the Year, which was handed out to Mini-Van champion Al Bartels. A bad crash a number of years ago at another track left his racing career in limbo with a hip injury. After surgery, three months of not favoring that hip and rehab, Bartels returned to competition as he closes in on 40 years of racing action on nothing but quarter-mile tracks. Bartels also earned the Most Popular Driver Award for the Mini-Vans. After a top four finish in Street Stock points, ‘Steady Al’ was voted as the division’s Most Improved Driver.

A complete gallery of award winners will be available in the coming weeks on track photographer Mary Schill’s website, fortedesignsite.com.

Now the hard work, sweat and late nights the race teams will put in to prepare for the 2025 racing season can commerce. The annual Open Practice and Media Day on May 10 will see how well prepared the race teams are. After that they have seven days to fine tune things before the season opener takes place on May 17. The first on-track action of the new year will feature the Late Models, Sportsmen, Hornets, Six Shooters, Mini-Vans and the first Novelty race of the season. Gates open at 12:15, the first race against the clock starts at 12:30, and the first fender rubbing action of the year goes green at 2.

For more information about the LaCrosse Speedway and the upcoming 2025 schedule of events, please call the track office at 608-786-1525 or you can visit our website at lacrossespeedway.com. Be sure to ‘Like” our Facebook page to stay informed and updated on what will be happening throughout the 2025 racing campaign. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

RESULTS

LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway 2024 Champions’ Banquet Winners

Kwik TrIp NASCAR Late Models–Skylar Holzhausen

NASCAR Sportsmen–Bob Fort

Skyline Fireworks NASCAR Hornets–Jimmy Bjorkman

Auto Value Street Stocks–Steven Brasda

Auto Value Six Shooters–Jay Raines, Jr.

Auto Value Mini-Vans–Al Bartels

Finish Line Towing High School Racing Association–Caleb Arneson

     Wisconsin State Championship–Curtis Hellickson
     Illinois State Championship–Zach Ziegler
     Series Championship–Curtis Hellickson
     High School Championship–Royall High School

Novelty–John Huebner

Rookies of the Year–Andy Barney (Late Models), Zach Oliver (Sportsmen), Shane Kohlmeier (Hornets), Peyton Payne (LaCrosse HSRA), Gracie Flanagan (Series HSRA)

Budweiser Dash Champions–Adam Degenhardt (Late Models), Bill Schott (Sportsmen), Thomas Farra (Hornets)

Chase Champions–Skylar Holzhausen (Late Models), Justin Berg (Sportsmen), Carter Horstman (Hornets)

Best Appearing Car (Fan Vote)–Skylar Holzhausen (Late Models), Tina Lodermeier (Sportsmen), Jimmy Bjorkman (Hornets), Landon Lockington (Street Stocks), John Huebner (Six Shooters), Fletcher Milene (Mini-Vans), Caleb Arneson (HSRA)

Best Appearing Car (Driver Vote)–Nick Clements (Late Models), Bill Schott (Sportsmen), Carter Horstman (Hornets), Ryan Stanfield (Street Stocks), Matthew Parent (Six Shooters), Matthew Miller (Mini-Vans), Kennedy Krueger (HSRA)

Hard Charger Award–Steve Bachman (Late Models), Jason Bolster (Sportsmen), Tom Farra (Hornets), Kyle Cottone (Street Stocks), Carlie Rinartz (Six Shooters), Matthew Parent (Mini-Vans)

Outstanding Performance Award–Adam Degenhardt (Late Models), Justin Berg (Sportsmen), Shane Kohlmeier (Hornets)

Showmanship Award–Adam Bendzick, Justin Berg, R.I.O.T. Motorsports and Noah Waughtal

Competition Achievement Awards–Peyton Payne (presented by Jonathan Eckelberg), John Clauson (presented by Ray Loughan), Mary Schill (presented by Jim Compton), Andy Muller (presented by Barry Folgate), Bryan Wrolstad (presented by Andy Jandt), Steven Brasda (presented by Paul Reichert), Adam Bendzick (presented by Sharon Johnson)

Most Improved Driver–Tom Luethe (Late Models), Tina Lodermeier (Sportsmen), NIck Hadler (Hornets), Al Bartels (Street Stocks), Marshall Rinartz (Six Shooters), Matthew Parent (Mini-Vans), Caleb Arneson (HSRA)

Community Award–Travis Gordon

Mechanic of the Year–Robert ‘Boo’ Bradley

Social Media Award–Zach Oliver

Special Recognition–John Huebner, Andy Barney and James Tobias

Dedication to Motorsports Award–Bob Wagner

Good Luck Award–Nick Clements (Late Models), Tina Lodermeier (Sportsmen), Abigail Knaack (Hornets)

Racing Family of the Year Award (presented by Pastor Andy Buhrow)–Thurk Racing

Most Popular Driver–Skylar Holzhausen (Late Models), Tina Lodermeier (Sportsmen), Jimmy Bjorkman (Hornets), Landon Lockington (Street Stocks), John Clauson (Six Shooters), Al Bartels (Mini-Vans)

Sharing Award–Mike Carlson and Steven Brasda

Sportsmen of the Year–Al Bartels