Kallmann: Here are some great options for Wisconsin auto racing fans making plans for 2023
If you have already purchased your Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix Million Dollar All-Access Experience, you might as well stop reading right here.
Luxury access to F1 on the strip is one thing.
A full spring, summer and fall of racing around Wisconsin – from IndyCar at Road America though NASCAR trucks at the Milwaukee Mile to weekly shows and special at dozens of short tracks – is entirely another.
We’ll concentrate on the latter.
Really, the racing year – if not the traditional season – already has started in the state. The World Championship Snowmobile Derby, held last weekend in Eagle River, is one of those offbeat events that's worth a visit at least once in a race fan’s lifetime. I’d say the same of the off-road racing at Crandon, particularly on Labor Day weekend. Both are on the extreme ends of a broad spectrum of motorsports offerings around the state.
Wisconsin has about 40 racetracks and a number of traveling series that put on special events around the state from April into October.
Here is a look at some options.
More:Key dates Wisconsin racing fans should know for 2023
These are the biggest auto races in Wisconsin this season
The NTT IndyCar Series weekend at Road America will feature the country’s top open-wheel series racing at blistering speeds on fresh asphalt June 16-18.
If you’ve never been to the 4-mile track just outside Elkhart Lake, make it a point, whether it’s for this race or one of the others, and see why it’s nicknamed “America’s National Park of Speed.” Bring a cooler. Wear comfortable shoes. Wander.
While the NASCAR Cup Series won’t race there this year, the second-tier Xfinity Series will July 28-29.
It’ll be intriguing to see what sort of racing that new surface provides. Hopefully it’ll be conducive to teams trying different strategies so some drivers are fast early in a run but find themselves struggling to hang on as their tires wear. Also, the sight and sound of the field coming to the green flag or rumbling into Turn 5 is impressive.
More:Kallmann: Who said the Milwaukee Mile was dead? A bullish promoter has given the old track new life.
Finally, the Milwaukee Mile gets one more chance to prove itself worthy of national-level events with the return of the rebranded NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after 13 years.
This version of the series is a lot different from the first version, with the average age of the drivers closer to 20 than 40, but the track and vehicles are still conducive to close-quarters racing. Plus, as we’ve been saying for about a half-dozen last chances now, this might be the last chance to see high-level racing at State Fair Park, so if fans want that they need to support it.
Here’s what else is new on the Wisconsin racing scene for 2023
The coming season will be a pivot point for asphalt super late models, with the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour, a series that will bring more national-level attention to 10 events that are already big within their region.
Three of those on the schedule are in Wisconsin: the May 7 Joe Shear Classic at Madison International Speedway, the July 11 Slinger Nationals at Slinger Speedway and the Aug. 1 Gandrud 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna.
With a point fund and guaranteed money for a certain number of full-time participants, the series should draw more top drivers and teams from other parts of the country. The series includes two to three races from each of the Midwest Tour, the CRA Super Series and the Southern Super Series. The Madison and Kaukauna races are part of the Midwest Tour, as they have been, whereas the Slinger Nationals is a standalone.
Father’s Day is overbooked
If you’re looking to spend time with Dad on his special weekend, you’ll have choices: IndyCar at Road America or the Midwest Tour’s Father’s Day race at the Mile on June 18, and/or the two nights of World of Outlaws sprint-car racing at Beaver Dam Raceway on June 16 and 17.
To catch them all, you could do the sprint cars on Friday, IndyCar qualifying Saturday and finish with stock cars at the Mile on Sunday. But that would mean about 130 miles of travel from track to track to track, which is longer than Sunday’s main event.
If money matters, these are the races that pay the most
IndyCar and NASCAR don’t announce prize money, but the big dirt races have the splashiest published paydays.
The Saturday night features for multiple-day World of Outlaws late model series events at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City (May 4-6) and Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond (Aug. 3-5) both pay $50,000 to win.
The Rayce Rudeen Foundation All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car race June 3 at the Plymouth Dirt Track has a $26,000 top prize.
The Slinger Nationals went to $20,000 last year, a number that doesn’t include fan-posted lap-leader bonuses that can add thousands. How the STARS Tour programs might affect that total isn’t clear yet.
One curiosity that could be worth the drive
World of Outlaws late models at Mississippi Thunder is an intriguing option.
Three-night shows are intimidating. Events that pay $50,000 are few and far between. The track sits between La Crosse and the Twin Cities, is still fairly young – reconfigured and renovated for 2009 – and is not as widely known as, say, Cedar Lake. The series can put on some good races.
In all those regards – not to mention the Outlaws’ good racing – May 4-6 has a lot going for it.
Don’t forget the weekly shows
Grassroots racing seems to be shifting toward special events and mini-series and regional racing groups, but passion is easily nurtured where the first driver-fan connections are often made, on regular nights at a track close to home.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: NASCAR, IndyCar and more auto racing events for Wisconsin fans in 2023
