Sawyer Effertz plans to include a page from his 2012 racing season book.
Fast forward eight years later, and Effertz is in a genuine war with Bobby Kendall of Montello in Thursday night’s super-late-style theme race where he has seven Kendall themes. This week, there will be even more at stake, as Effertz is also at war with Kendall for the name of the Red, White and Blue State Championship before the blue race.
“We got good grades, even in 2012,” Effertz said. “To win a title, you must have consistency and repeatability when you run in the car. This preventive maintenance is huge, and luck plays an important role in the failure of the parts. Keeping the car in one piece at the end of the night is the biggest goal. In this way, his time in the workshop is not spent repairing what he has destroyed, but it is about adjusting things to speed up the process ».
Effertz works Thursday nights at WIR. I wouldn’t think running one night a week would be that long.
“Nothing can be simply extra than the truth, ” said Effertz. “We spent all week before Thursday night checking everything in the car. There is so much maintenance in the workshop that the average fans of the stands do not realize. The stand team and I have full-time jobs. Sometimes, if we destroy anything and struggle with the car late on Wednesday or Thursday morning early, we don’t have the ability to check everything in the car. Things like shock maneuvers and adjusting the tip for configurations. It even takes a long time to run only one night a week”.
Effertz’s No. 2 racing car sits on a 2018 Pathfinder chassis with an Ace Specialist engine on the hood.
“We had (the car) new in 2018 and it was the first car we had to ask for ourselves so we wouldn’t have to drive someone else’s older equipment,” Effertz said. “When we bought this car, we had to get rid of all our old notes because we were actually starting from scratch. But Joe Wood and his team at Pathfinder Chassis have been really wonderful helping us move faster over the past 3 years. With upgrades to our front geometry, you can make sure the car is straight. It’s a learning curve, because the brand new race car doesn’t win. I was satisfied because I was able to decide the color of the car.
While Effertz says he would like to continue to see weekly ratings and focus on winning each and every night, he admits it’s almost impossible.
“We’ve been chasing Bobby (Kendall) and I’d like to have three performance victories as he has so far,” Effertz said. “But we ended up in the five most sensible almost every week and won a lot of heat and speed races, which helped us stay close to the most sensitive battle of the problems. We’ve flown under the radar so far, but I’d like to earn this name for my entire team. They’ve worked hard and deserve it as much as anyone.”
In addition to Kendall, Effertz said he also had an eye on some other competitions that could play a role in the last 4 nights: Appleton drivers Jeff Van Oudenhoven and Andy Monday, respectively third and fourth in the weekly ranking.
“Andy is very fast and the JVO (Van Oudenhoven) has been consistent and you also have to watch out for those two,” Effertz said.
Thursday night’s display will throw a wrinkle at the team’s game plan, a journey Effertz appreciates. It will run 74 long laps with a pause on lap 40.
“I like longer runs because it’s hard to be patient in a normal 35-lap function,” Effertz said. “I would say the strategy will be to be patient and keep your gadgets and tires early. In the 96-lap White Race, we made some minimal adjustments, if any. Unless this car is ungodly, we can load spring rubber or Tire Tension Adjustment. Personally, I like the pause in action. I’d like to think I’ve done well in reboots when they happen.”
Effertz has no hesitation in giving credit to members of his stand team for his ability to run close to the front during the season.
“The team is a five-star group, A-plus boys, many of whom have been with me for a while,” Effertz said.
Effertz’s team consists of his parents, Jack and Mary Effertz, his friend Cody Deering, Jim Warning, Jerry Warning, Geoff Edwards and Sawyer’s wife, Kristy.
The team’s sponsors include Dental Associates of Northeast Wisconsin, Hipke Electric of Little Chute and Prestige Auto of Forest Junction.
“I give a lot of credit to all the groups we fight against every week because we are in a very long and dear pastime,” Effertz said. “We can toss a coin and see if we need to organize the TUNDRA series race on WIR in September after the end of the weekly race. We’ll see how the car is.”
Honored Baldry: Terry Baldry of Omro, the most winning latest model driving force in Fox River Racing Club history, will be honored in the “Blue Race” on Thursday.
Baldry has won 12 unprecedented past style championships and has 79 WIR victories in 4 decades. Of Baldry’s 79 WIR victories, 58 of the victories won here in weekly Thursday night action, opposed to some of the toughest competitions in the Midwest. Omro’s driver will be taken to the Track Circle of Fame in a pre-race ceremony.
A full program of super late model, late model, super stock, sport truck, Sizzlin’ 4, V6 Rockin’ Rovals and Figure 8 are on tap. On-track ceremonies are slated to start at 6:20 p.m.
TuNDRA Remains: Appleton’s Jordan Thiel featured in TUNDRA’s super-past style series at State Park Speedway in Wausau on Saturday. Former WIR track champion Casey Johnson of Edgerton was third. The race was won through Gleason’s Justin Mondeik, who also earned the last style name the night before at Norway, Michigan Speedway. In the sports vans of elegance, it was a sweep of Vanderloop because the 4 most sensible in the service were Vanderloops. Cody Vanderloop won, followed by Kasey, J.J. and Jerry Vanderloop, respectively.
Norwegian book: Andy Monday and Alex Seidl are among the expected competition in Norway Speedway’s 50-round Auto Value special, paying $1,000 to win on Friday. Pound Pavementer’s ground sportsmods will also make their annual appearance on the 3rd mile paved oval. The rating is set at 5:30 p.m., with the first flag waving at 7:00 p.m.