by Fay Hendricks
10/9/2011

The third day of La Crosse Speedway's Oktoberfest celebration had over 130 more entries on Saturday, with more to follow on Sunday's finale. The Big 8 limited late model field opened qualifying with 55 cars crossing the stripe. Midway through the line Zach Riddle posted the fastest lap and Dale Nottestad was the last of the 14 to transfer to the feature. The rest had to race for the next twelve spots. The scariest moment came in the final heat when Dan Jung's car slid over the infield wall and flipped in the air before landing on its wheels inside the infield. The car did not make it, but happily the driver did. Just a few events later Jung took out his second mount for the Run All Your Stuff (RAYS) Outlawz heat and won, much to the delight of the crowd.

A couple of last chance races added the final six to the 68-lap Big 8 finale, with Bobby Wilberg and Nick Clements added as provisional starters. The 26 cars rolled around the oval four abreast to the waves of the audience, and the race began. Thanks to the random draw, Jon Lemke and Nottestad started in the front row. At the green flag it was Lemke taking the lead, beginning to lap the back markers before two dozen circuits were complete. The rest had to fend for themselves, some fading while others made up ground. The most noticeable was Skylar Holzhausen, who was working his way up from his sixteenth starting spot to the top ten, and suddenly he was in the top five.

The crowd was entranced as Holzhausen cut his way through to the front, then challenged for the lead and finally got it with eight laps to spare. Behind him Riddle kept close, and also got past Lemke in the closing laps. The checkered flag waved over the top trio, followed by several lapped cars before Kyle Shear and Jon Reynolds Jr. crossed the stripe. Lemke was heard to say afterwards, "It was a great Oktoberfest." Riddle claimed, "I couldn't beat Skylar. He was fast," adding the comment that he would be back to race one more event on Sunday.

Holzhausen began with, "Thank the good Lord, my Dad, and crew," the soft-spoken racer knowing how important this win was. A week earlier, the winner was telling me how bad his car was at Rockford, adding the fact that his La Crosse car was good. As it turned out, it was very good. Missing on the season finale was previous point leader Jeremy Miller, who stayed home for his father's heart surgery. At the end the championship went to another Illinois racer, Steve Rubeck, who spun donuts to celebrate. Rubeck's final standing was 54 points ahead of Nottestad and Miller faded to third for the year. There's always another year, but you only get one father.

The RAYS Outlawz feature started with Dan Jung's late model one lap down to the rest on the quarter-mile track. One car pitted with a flat as the 20-lap contest received the green flag. Josh Inglett led the first four laps, then a spun car forced a caution. John Olson took the lead the next time around, Jung made it to the front just after the halfway point. With slower traffic running two abreast in front of the leaders, Olson managed to get ahead with four laps remaining. One of the slower mounts spun in front of Jung a lap later to bring out the yellow with three laps remaining.

As the white flag waved Jung took the lead and won the race. Spinning donuts on the frontstretch, Jung ended his Oktoberfest visit on a good note after his other car was wrecked, posting a new track record in the Outlawz and scoring a clean sweep. Olson was right behind at the finish line, and Roger Burrows finished third. Jung told the crowd, "I just watched these two guys (Olson and Burrows) and followed them through." Olson's second place earned him the Outlawz championship for this year, stating, "We got wide on that last restart, but we'll take second."

There were over two dozen Mid-American Stock Cars for their 40-lap feature, Brian Back's quick time back in the seventh row. Claire Decker led from the front row as the field sped past the halfway point. Former champion Bill Prietzel suddenly had his car go up in smoke, ending his season badly. The restart gave a fresh chance to the others, and the next lap saw James Swan take the point. The next lap ended with Decker and Travis Rodewald sliding on a trail of fluid, ending both their runs with seventeen laps remaining. Jeremy Spoonmore got past when the green flag waved again, looking to repeat as the spoiler for Swan's perfect day.

Swan's efforts to get the lead back finally paid off with nine laps left, winning the race and earning his fifth championship. This is the second time Swan did the double feat at Oktoberfest, but just as sweet. "I can't believe we did it," exclaimed Swan, adding, "We had a really good car. I started to get vnervous towards the end. It took me nine years to win a feature here. This is totally awesome." Asked about the end of the race, Swan replied, "I was really nervous. There was a lot of oil dry. I went in the corner and stated to slide." Giving thanks to his car owner and crew, Swan capped off his perfect finish with winning photos. Spoonmore had to settle for second, claiming, "I tried everything. The cautions made a difference." Dan Gilster had a fun experience in this division, the weekly warrior asked how different these cars are from his weekly rules. "One thing is the power," explained Gilster, "It's a driver's car."

Saturday's program was complete just after ten o'clock, leaving way too much time for the celebrating. We found a lot of happy campers and racers everywhere, enjoying reunions wherever we went. The wisest choice we made was to head out before midnight, for we had to return the next morning for another full day. We found Steve Holzhausen limping a bit, his injured ankle still hurting after two surgeries and many months of healing. He was done racing for the weekend, concentrating on son Skylar's car for the final day. Dick Trickle enjoyed seeing his old racing friends here, posing for pictures and telling stories. Leaving a lot of happy faces, we remember that what happens at Fest stays at Fest.







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