Weather Woes Cancel Races for 2nd Time This Season

                                                                      But Memorial Day Weekend Should Be Huge

Chateau Speedway (Lansing, MN)    5/17/19                                                                                         Matthew Grage

                Mother Nature continues to have her way with the 2019 Racing Season at Chateau Speedway.  For the second time this season she has taken over a Friday Night and cost race fans a night of Racing Excitement at Chateau Speedway in Lansing.   This time she changed her appearance literally over night.  After two days of bright Sunshine and Temperatures in the 80’s she switched to 50’s Clouds and Rain with potentially severe weather in store for the evening.  Track officials spent all week preparing for the night and were working the Track Friday Morning when light rain started.  They kept working until the rain got a little heavier and the surface became to slick to work on.  After waiting awhile and watching it rain and looking at radar and the forecast they determined there was little likelihood of getting the show in so the decision was made to pull the plug and give everyone a chance to make other plans for the evening.

                The Track will now turn its attention to the big shows lined up for next weekend, Memorial Day weekend.  Race fans will want to plan there weekend around two great nights of action at Chateau Speedway.  On Friday Night the IMCA Stock Cars make their return to Lansing for the first time since 2013.  The Inaugural Toots Trucking IMCA Shootout will feature $1000 to win and $75 to start the Feature.  And with Contingency Sponsor Money numbers will likely be higher.  5 of the Tracks Regular Classes will be running as well on the night.  The French’s Repair USRA A Mods, The Action Builders USRA B Mods, The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, The Adams Graphix WISSOTA Street Stocks, and the Power 96 WISOTA Pure Stocks will also be on the program.  (Y Waste WISSOTA Hornets and KEVKO Outlaw Mini Mods will have the night off)  IMCA Cars will be running for National Points while the other classes will be running for Track Points as well as National Points.  Regular admission prices at the gate and the pits for the Friday Night show.  First Green Flag of the night is set for 7:15 with Draw Cutoff at 6:45 and Hot Laps at 6:30.

                Then on Sunday Night it’s the Inaugural Spirit of 83 Memorial.  The event will be the continuation of the Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial which has run since 1998, the year after Mike passed away after winning the final Feature of his career at his home track.  The renaming of the event is to include all those drivers, pit crew members and fans who have shared Mike’s Spirit or Passion for Chateau who we have lost over the years.  He was one of the most dedicated of all drivers to Lansing and often referred to his race nights at the track as “Going to Heaven”.   Sunday Nights program will carry an increased purse for all classes with the A Mods running for a minimum of $1600 to win and one of the most beautiful trophy’s you may ever see.  These days where it seems like the Trophy’s need to be six feet tall or more, this one only stands about a foot tall.  Its made of Glass and weighs over five pounds.  Two Checkered Flags and an Image of Mikes car are etched into the glass making it one of the most spectacular trophy’s you’ll see.   The Sunday Night Memorial Race will start at 6:00 with Hot Laps at 5:15 and Draw Cutoff at 5:30. 

                There will be Special Pricing for the night.  Grandstand Admission will be $15 for Adults with Junior and Kids Admission pricing the same.  Pit Passes will be $30 for the night and there will be a Combo Entry fee for the top four classes.   The A Mods will be $60 for Car and Driver, both MW Mod and B Mods will be $50 for Car and Driver, and Street Stocks will be $40 for Car and Driver.  Y Waste WISSOTA Hornets and KEVKO Outlaw Mini Mods will pay just the $30 Pit Pass Fee.  The Power 96 WISSOTA Pure Stocks will have the night off.  Drivers will be running for National Points ONLY in there respective classes on Sunday Night, no Track Points added.

                The Track will also be trying something new, for them anyway, and give fans and any sponsors at the show Sunday Night a chance to be a Contingency Sponsor.   This has been a popular thing elsewhere in the country and it works like this.   After you enter the Grandstand on Sunday there will be a table there with envelopes.  Anyone who wishes can put any amount of money they wish into the envelope and seal it.  On the face of the envelope they than put four things….1 – There Name or Business,  2 – The Amount of Money,  3 – Which Class they are adding the money to,  and 4 – Who gets it.  The WHO however is not a PERSON it’s a POSITION.  It Could be 1st Place A Mod or 7th Place, or 3rd Place in Midwest Mod or Hornet, ANY Position in ANY Class of there choosing .   In the past fans have added over $10,000 to purses around the Country at some pretty big shows.  While no one is expecting that kind of participation it should still be fun for fans to put some money in and than watch to see who wins it.   Fans can fill out envelopes up until shortly before intermission when they will be counted and the names of these Contingency Sponsors  read off at intermission.  The totals and positions will not be announced on Sunday Night but the dollar amounts and drivers who received the extra money will be announced the following week.  The Track will only announce the dollar amounts and the drivers who received the money.  Drivers will not be told who the Contingency Sponsor was, they will only see the overall list of people and businesses who Sponsored a piece of the nights Purse.

                Two Inaugural Racing events will make this Memorial Day Weekend a Thrilling one at Chateau Speedway.