Racing Reality & Rumors

[ostermann]

I can remember playing in my last football game like it was yesterday. It was in a driving rain in Davis, California. I always loved football because the weather could always add a challenge or enhance a great moment or memory. Unless he’s some wimpy quarterback every good football player loves to play in the snow and the rain and the cold. Even though we had a great quarterback (Tom Bertoldi) the team that we played had a quarterback by the name of Ken O’Brien, who played for many years in the NFL, and they beat us. We were happy because it was raining so hard; we thought it would affect their passing game. It didn’t and we lost.
One thing rain does affect is stock car racing. For the first time in track history, the last three regular season nights were cancelled because of rain. It was disappointing to say the least. But weather is just something that you just can’t control. However, it was still a great season at Norway Speedway. I say that every year for the same reason, we all raced hard and we all stayed safe. That makes for a great racing season regardless of anything else.
During those last three weeks some of us started to withdraw and late model stock car driver Tom Gee, Jr., from Sobieski Wisconsin, organized a road trip for all of us to WIR. Several of us late model drivers made the trip down there, including Tony Wells, Brandon and Mike Reichenberger, Scott Degnan, Jay Baumler, Bruce White, Kenny Bower, and Dan Lindsley . . . and one street stock driver, Mike Higgins. All of the late models from Norway were extremely impressive for not racing on the track on a regular basis. Bruce White stole the show by racing to an exciting finish in the heat race. We (Miller/Ostermann) started on the poll and my goal was to lead just a few laps before we got run over by the big dogs, but those are really big laps on a half-mile track, and I did not reach my goal. Mike Reichenberger finished a few cars in front of us in the B-Feature and transferred to the A, where he had a great run going from last to eighth. Mike’s son Brandon, who had a spectacular rookie season in the Pepsi Late Model Division at Norway Speedway, looked extremely comfortable at WIR for being 16 years old. Kenny Bower, of Bark River, also looked at home on the big track with a strong run, finishing third in the heat. Jay Baumler, of Stephenson, got bit by the wall coming out of turn four and went home with a little bit of damage that he has all winter to repair. Dan Lindsley, of Vulcan, also finished fourth in his feature and represented the Norway Speedway drivers well. It was great to go down there. We all traveled in groups and we were all on the same team instead of competing against one another at Norway.
Before the rains came at Norway Speedway, Troy Nelson,his dad, and Gene Coleman collected another track championship in the Pepsi Late Model division edging out Mike Reichenberger of Appleton by 9 points. In the Auto Value Super Stock division, it seems like the Boettcher family, then the Windell family, and now the Jenshak families have all put together mini dynasties winning multiple track championships. Ron Jenshak and his family won their third track championship in a row edging out Bill Delfosse. Marcus Bubloni also finished a strong third in the division for a young driver. As for this year’s championship, Ron will have bragging rights at the family Christmas party, as he beat out his brother Mark, who has also become a strong competitor in the Auto Value Super Stock Division. In the Norway Slammer Division, I am still not sure who won, if it was defending champion John Mattia Jr., or Neil Varda. It was an extremely close race. As an outsider looking in, they are both great people with great families and teams behind them. I guess I’ll find out tonight at the banquet. In the four- cylinder division, the father and son team of Mark Moraska stayed out of trouble and had a good maintenance program as they finished every race and won their first track championship beating out John Martin.
Tonight is our annual racing awards banquet in Norway and tickets are available at the door. The public is welcome to attend. Everybody from Norway Speedway would like to thank all of our fans, sponsors, employees, volunteers, and competitors for making this great season possible. We are looking forward to a great 2010.