2 minute read
La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway
BY KEITH WALTZ
La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, Wisconsin,
has been entertaining race fans in the upper Midwest since 1957 when officials began hosting auto races in conjunction with the annual fair.
Today, the five-eighths-mile paved oval, which hosts weekly Saturday night racing under the NASCAR banner, is one of the nation’s premier short tracks.
“Our shows are designed for race fans,” said Chuck Deery, who has managed and promoted the facility since 1987. “I’m a race fan, my race director – who I rely heavily on, Jeff Garbers, – is a race fan, and we put on races the way a race fan would want to see the races run. Sometimes it makes us less than popular with some race teams in how we do things, but, ultimately, it turns into a fun event to watch, a fun event to attend and it raises the bar on a competitive level for the race teams.”
NASCAR HISTORY
LA CROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY
was the first Wisconsin short track to compete under NASCAR sanction when it joined what is now the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly
Series in 1989. “Typically, our weekly shows feature four divisions – a late model stock, a sportsman, a hobby stock and an entry level four- or six-cylinder car,” Deery said about the track’s
NASCAR schedule that starts in late April.
La Crosse regular Steve Carlson earned the 2007 NASCAR National Championship.
IN ADDITION TO AN ACTION-PACKED
slate of NASCAR racing, Deery likes to spice things up. “Your hard-core race fans want to see the
Late Models and the Sportsman cars, but the occasional fans want to see something different,” he said. “Having races that are novelty events adds an element to help us market the track – plus their fun.”
Events such as trailer races, demolition derbies and mini-van races often leave the fans cheering for more.
OKTOBERFEST
HIGHLIGHTED BY A 200-LAP ARCA
Midwest Tour feature, the season-ending Oktoberfest weekend has been the track’s marquee event since 1970. “It is a family reunion for race fans and competitors,” Deery said. “For Joe Race Fan in the upper Midwest, or across the nation for that matter, it’s an excellent destination to get a good dose of different racing – excellent racing – socialize, have some fun, and just enjoy life and the sport of auto racing.”
