Rice Lake Speedway Announces 2018 Hall of Fame Nominees

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI – The Hall of Fame Committee for the Rice Lake Speedway met recently and selected four new candidates that will be the 2018 class for the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame.

Named in the driver category were Todd Madsen and Tom Nesbitt while in the “Friends of the Speedway” category the nominees are Rod Hensel and Dave Greschner.

Madsen, from Rice Lake, was a twenty time feature winner during his career driving both Super Stocks and Modifieds and becomes the second multi generational member of the Hall of Fame.

Nesbitt, now living in Rosslyn Ontario Canada, was a fourteen time feature winner at Rice Lake, all in the Late Model class with his first Rice Lake win coming in 1969 and his final victory during the 2002 campaign. Nesbitt is also a Hall of Fame member at tracks in Superior and Menomonie Wisconsin along with the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in Florence Kentucky.

Hensel was selected to the Hall of Fame based on his varied involvement at the speedway. He was a multi time Board Member of the Indianhead Stock Car Racing Association and was the President of the association when the historic transfer of the track was made to Smith-Bisonette Inc, who purchased the track when the club dissolved. He was also the track's flagman for eight seasons and he also won nineteen feature races at Rice Lake, driving both Super Stocks and Modifieds with wins coming between 1977 and 1985. He currently resides in Hammond Wisconsin.

Greschner, from Rice Lake, has been the Sports Editor of the Rice Lake Chronotype for forty two years and during that time the race track has received unprecedented coverage of their racing events, the quality and depth of which few local, weekly papers across the country can compare to.

These four individuals will be formally inducted in the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the track as a part of the August 11th, Saturday night racing program. A reception will be held at the track before the racing program begins and the four will be inducted in a ceremony at intermission that night.