By:  Paul Reichert
September 12, 2020
A great turn out for the biggest event of the racing season at the La Crosse Speedway, the 29th annual Night of Destruction presented by Western Technical College.  Fans cheered for the smashing, crashing and destruction that took place.  Several vehicles pulled off some fantastic leaps that left the crowd amazed that race vehicles could do things like that.   Along with the destruction would be thrilling race action with the Street Stocks.

Dan Frye and Joshua Zacharias battled side-by-side for the first couple of laps of the Street Stock feature. Frye broke away from their battle to take over the lead on lap three.  Frye began to slowly pull away as the field tried to sort itself out.  Zacharais tried to use lapped traffic late in the going to catch Frye, but there would be no stopping Frye this night as he drove off with a comfortable victory.

The 3rd Over the Line Race was the final Novelty event of the season.  The drivers have to be a lot more patient and time their move just right to be the winner of the race.  Pete Thompson waited for the right opportunity to make his move and ended up in victory lane with the checkered flag.  Coming in third helped John Heubner wrap up a second championship in two weeks as he scored the Novelty crown.

Street Stock teammates John Huebner and Rob Stanfield competed in the Steel Wall Crash event.  Huebner center punched the hood of the standing car as it flipped in the air and landed on the inside wall.  Stanfield made thunderous contact with the standing car as parts and pieces flew off the car.  Stanfield kept his hazard lights on, saying he wanted to ‘create a hazard’.

After a wildly successful debut at Smash-O-Rama, the ATV Big Air Tour from Minnesota made their return to the La Crosse Speedway.  Veteran ATV competitor John Langaas and newcomer Nick Rogers thrilled the crowd with their high flying freestyle acrobatics.   Langaas and Rogers pulled off some incredible tricks that left the crowd screaming and cheering for more.

The monster trucks returned to crush cars and catch some huge air that left the crowd in awe of their power.  Josh Baumgartner from Litchfield, MN brought his Mechanical Mischief monster truck back to wow the crowd.  Joining him to thrill and excite the crowd was Venom, driven by Denver Echternkamp from Quincy, IL.

A lot of burning rubber filled the air as the Burn Out Contest took place.  Creating amazing burnouts before one of his rear tires blew apart, Rob Stanfield got the loudest applause to win the fan vote.

Brad Anderson brought out his souped up four wheeler to destroy a trailer in the T-Bone Crash.  Anderson nailed the trailer right in the middle making parts and pieces fly, but he was not satisfied with the job.  Anderson gave it another go as he moved a little to the left and made even more pieces of the trailer fly. 

Les Stanfield pulled off a perfect performance for 5 points in the Rollover Contest.  Jonathan Burbach was only able to muster 2 points in each of his 2 attempts as Stanfield’s only attempt at a rollover was good enough to capture the victory.

A new, interesting and different stunt came to the Night of Destruction.   Wisconsin Dells native Hunter Howell brought his 50 inch wide Monowheel to thrill and excite the crowd.  Howell even performed a death defying feat by crashing the Monowheel through a flaming wooden box and came out of the stunt unharmed.

Capping off the night of mayhem would be the running of the Trailer Race of Destruction.  The competitors had their sights set on destroying the boats, campers and huge motor homes and creating more mayhem.  Buzz Perez got caught up in a pileup in turn one and ended up flipping his vehicle, but Perez managed to walk away.  Some competitors even rode piggy back on other’s trailers causing even more excitement.  While the dust and debris settled, it was time for the fans to decide the winner.  First time competitor Toby Ravnum got the loudest fan support as captured the prestigious Gargoyle Trophy.

Action continues with the 51st Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend on October 8th through 11th.  New to this year’s event will be back to back nights of double features for the La Crosse Late Models to decide the season championship and how our locals fare in the national standings.  The CWRA Late Models will race at Oktoberfest for the first time in nearly 30 years and decide their champion as well.  You will also witness different traveling series and divisions in action competing for series crowns and coveted Oktoberfest championships.  Be sure to keep up to date on what’s happening at Oktoberfest by visiting the event web site at oktoberfestraceweekend.com. 

For more information about the LaCrosse Speedway or the 2020 schedule of events, please call the 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

Auto Value Street Stocks
Feature (15 Laps):  1. Dan Frye, 2. Joshua Zacharias, 3. Keith Larson, 4. Austin Powers, 5. Matt Moore, 6. Chris Larson, 7. Tim Murphy, Sr., 8. Pete Thompson, 9. John Clauson, 10. Dustin McCracken, 11. Al Bartels, 12. Alex Liebsch, 13. Jonahtan Burbach, 14. Traton Winecke, 15. Jestin DeLap, Sr., 16. John Huebner, 17. Brian Larson, 18. Adam Kerley, 19. Katie Wolfe, 20. Bernie Lucey, 21. Zach Liebsch, 22. Spencer Nevinger, 23. Steve Brasda, 24. Mark Larson, 25. Brian Glass, 26. Rob Stanfield, 27. Thomas Farra

Heat #1 (8 Laps):  1. Rob Stanfield, 2. John Clauson, 3. Adam Kerley, 4. John Huebner, 5. Spencer Nevinger, 6. Bernie Lucey, 7. Mark Larson, 8. Katie Wolfe, 9. Thomas Farra, 10. Clayton Haessig

Heat #2 (8 Laps):  1. Al Bartels, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Keith Larson, 4. Brian Larson, 5. Joshua Zacharias, 6. Pete Thompson, 7. Austin Powers, 8. Zach Liebsch, 9. Tim Murphy, Sr.

Heat #3 (8 Laps):  1. Matt Moore, 2. Jonathan Burbach, 3. Alex Liebsch, 4. Chris Larson, 5. Dustin McCracken, 6. Traton Winecke, 7. Jsetin DeLap, Sr., 8. Devin Glass, 9. Steve Brasda

Qualifying: 1. Steve Brasda, 2. Chris Larson, 3. Alex Liebsch, 4. Dustin McCracken, 5. Matt Moore, 6. Jestin DeLap, Sr., 7. Traton Winecke, 8. Jonathan Burbach, 9. Tim Murphy, Sr., 10. Pete Thompson, 11. Zach Liebsch, 12. Keith Larson, 13. Austin Powers, 14. Dan Frye, 15. Joshua Zacaharias, 16. Al Bartels, 17. Brian Larson, 18. Rob Stanfield, 19. Spencer Nevinger, 20. Thomas Farra, 21. John Huebner, 22. Bernie Lucey, 23. Adam Kerley, 24. John Clauson, 25. Katie Wolfe, 26. Mark Larson, 27. Clayton Haessig

Novelty
3rd Over the Line Wins:  1. Pete Thompson, 2. Zach Liebsch, 3. John Huebner, 4. Keith Larson, 5. Al Bartels, 6. Chris Larson, 7. Adam Kerley, 8. Steve Brasda, 9. Bernie Lucey, 10. Brian Larson, 11. Jonathan Burbach, 12. Spencer Nevinger, 13. Mark Larson, 14. Dan Frye, 15. John Clauson, 16. Rob Stanfield, 17. Alex Liebsch, 18. Matt Moore

Trailer Race of Destruction (Fan Vote):  1. Toby Ravnum, 2. Zach Liebsch, 3. Buzz Perez