Rice Lake Speedway Set To Begin 2017 Racing Season

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI – In September of 1952, the first sounds of racing engines were heard to roar in the former gravel pit on the North side of Rice Lake Wisconsin. Fortunately, while many things have changed since then, some traditions remain.

When the first motor is fired on Saturday night, April 15th at the Rice Lake Speedway, it will mark the sixty sixth consecutive season that racing action will have taken place at what is now a modern, third mile banked dirt track.

Track owners Dave Adams and Mitch Hansen have completed preseason preparations and after a practice session slated to have happened on April 12th is completed, the first racing action of 2017 is set to roll off at 6:30 pm on April 15th.

Racing action will take place every Saturday night through Labor Day weekend with several midweek shows also booked. Featured attractions on the weekly cards are the WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks while the Pure Stocks have added WISSOTA sanctioning for 2017 also.

Along with these classes, special events will feature the Late Models, Winged and Traditional Sprint Cars and the Mini Mods.
Other special events include the Firecracker Special on July 3rd, Aquafest trophy races on June 6th, a Super Stock special on July 1st and the Street Stock “Little Dream” race on August 1st .

The opening night special attraction is the judging of the Best Appearing Race Car in each class with the winners to receive plaques the following race night. The recent car show was a big success and the winners, as judged by Cedar Mall officials, were Denny Cutsforth-Best of Show, and class winners were: Nick Traynor-Super Stock, Jake Sandman-Pure Stock, Kevin Adams-Modified, Hunter VanGilder-Street Stock and Tim Ekdahl-Midwest Modified.

Preseason driver registrations have been brisk with a number of new drivers joining long time veterans as track officials are optimistic that strong car counts will exist in all five classes.

The pit gate will open at 4 pm on opening night with the spectator grandstands opening one hour later. The first green flag is scheduled to fly shortly after the 6:30 pm warm up sessions.

The Rice Lake Speedway is located one mile North of Rice Lake, midway between State Highway 48 and Barron County SS. The track phone number is 715-236-2002 and more information can be obtained from Adams at 715-205-2861 or Hansen at 715-205-1122. The speedway maintains an up to date website atwww.ricelakespeedway.net or check the speedway face book page also for late breaking news.