Ty Majeski is excited to come home and race in front of some local fans Tuesday.
The Seymour native and NASCAR truck series regular has competed in eight truck events since the COVID-19 pandemic took a grip on the country in March. This week, Majeski is coming home to defend his title in the traditional Tuesday biggie in the Gandrud Auto Group Dixieland 250 with the ARCA Midwest Tour super late models.
Majeski has wheeled trucks at places like Charlotte, Atlanta, Homestead (Florida), Texas, Pocono (Pennsylvania) and Kansas with no fans in attendance. While it’s pretty much business as usual when Majeski is behind the wheel of his truck or in the pits tending to the business at hand, things are vastly different at other times.
“Things get a little weird right before the race and right afterwards,” Majeski said. “Normally the crowd is into the race, so you don’t really have that energy and adrenaline to feed off of that you normally have. But we’re all dealing with it. When you’re racing, you don’t see the grandstands or even pay attention to it because we’re so focused. When you’re done, you put on your mask and head back to your trailer. No real big celebration or anything like that. But we’re fortunate enough to be racing right now with other sports on hold.”
Majeski has won just about everything there is to win on the national short track racing scene during the past several seasons. In addition to the Slinger Nationals, which he captured earlier this summer, Majeski also won the Rattler 250 event in Alabama.
The facility at WIR holds close to 14,000 fans. With that capacity, the Fox River Racing Club has been able to successfully and safely host races on Thursday nights this year with less than 25 percent capacity and more than enough room for fans to safely socially distance.
“Regardless of COVID-19 or not, it’s always good to come back home to do some short track racing — especially at WIR,” Majeski said. “It’s where my roots are, and I’m blessed to have some great equipment. My hometown is minutes from the racetrack. It will be great to race in front of some race fans again for sure.”
The short track car No. 91 Majeski is well known for across the Midwest is owned by Brad and Nancy Mannstedt and is located in La Crosse. Majeski readily admits he has one of the best crew chiefs in the business with Toby Nuttleman setting up his rides.
“Toby’s a crew chief and a great friend and one of the best around,” Majeski said. “We haven’t had any practice at WIR and that will be the first time we’ll be there this year. I do feel we’ve got a pretty good baseline for setups from the past years. I’d like to think our short track program remains solid yet and I’m hoping we’ve got something to keep Kyle (Busch) on his toes anyways.”
The defending NASCAR champion will be wheeling his own race car in the event. Busch won this event in 2007.
Looking at the big picture, Majeski says his short track program has to play second fiddle to NASCAR’s truck schedule, which has literally been made up on the fly with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re not sure what it holds but we’re good to the end of August yet anyways,” Majeski said. “Nothing’s been announced yet and so much of it is up in the air. We do plan on racing our short track car at Oktoberfest in La Crosse, but as far as anything else we’re pretty much on the whim of when NASCAR announces their schedule. From there we plan accordingly.”
According to Majeski, the sport of racing at the local and national levels could benefit while other sports are not able to host events.
“Whoever thought fans wouldn’t be able to go to racetracks or NASCAR wouldn’t host races for two or three months?” Majeski asked. “But luckily people are doing what they’re doing to stay healthy and safe. We’re all in this together. With no other sports going on we’ve got an opportunity here as an industry to tap into that challenging demographic of drawing that younger crowd to our sport.”
While Majeski is certain Nuttleman will be his crew chief for the Dixieland 250 on Tuesday, the rest of his pit crew remains up in the air. What is known are his two main sponsors — Ken’s Sports of Kaukauna and Green Bay and Iracing.com, a sponsor that has been with Majeski since 2015.
Joe Verdegan is a freelance columnist and motorsports author who’s penned three books on local racing history, including “Life In The Past Lane — The Next Generation.” You can reach him at [email protected].
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Dixieland preview: NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch leads the 40-car entry field of ARCA Midwest Tour super late models who’ll be battling to dethrone Majeski from his ’19 Dixieland title. Other heavy hitters include Bubba Pollard of Senoia, Georgia, and NASCAR truck racers Derek Kraus of Stratford, Natalie Decker of Eagle River and Lou Goss of Green Bay. Former NASCAR truck champion Johnny Sauter is also entered along with his nephew Travis Sauter. Former NASCAR truck racer Rich Bickle Jr. of Edgerton also will be on hand, along with former race winner Nick Murgic of Lakeville, Minnesota.
The local contingent will be strongly represented as well with a good number of the top 20 super late model drivers in Thursday night points committed to competing. Among those drivers are Neenah’s Lowell and Braison Bennett, Montello’s Bobby Kendall, Freedom’s Brent Strelka, Edgerton’s Casey Johnson, and Appleton drivers Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Brandon Reichenberger and Cory Kemkes.
The race will be 250 laps in length with controlled pit stops. Forty contestants will be jockeying to lock into the 28-car starting field through time trials and last chance qualifier events. Qualifying gets underway at 5 p.m., a fan autograph session at 6 p.m. with the first green flag flying at 7 p.m. The race pays $10,000-to-win and $1,200-to-start. Joining the ARCA MT will be the Midwest Truck Series. Advanced discount tickets for this event are $20 and can be purchased online at midwesttour.racing through Monday.
WIR Pavement Pounder: The annual “Pavement Pounder” race for the local dirt sport modifieds will take place Thursday on the paved, quarter-mile at WIR. A $500 bonus has been posted for any driver who wins in his or her first Pavement Pounder race. Neenah’s Kevin Bethke has won the last three events. Other former event winners include Appleton’s Brock Saunders and Waupun’s Jeff Steenbergen.
In addition, the annual “Stan The Man” super stock special will be run on the quarter-mile. The event honors the late Stan Gracyalny — a local racing pioneer who wheeled race cars into his late 70s. A full program of super late model and late model racing will take place, along with three other quarter-mile divisions. Racing action gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Fans can join the fun and cast votes for their favorite sportmod driver on the Facebook page titled “WIR PAVEMENT POUNDER FAN FUND.”
Luxemburg Hall of Fame night: Four inductees will be ushered into the ‘The Burg’ in Luxemburg’s Hall of Fame on Sunday. Among the inductees are former street stock racer and longtime track tow truck operator Jerry Hynek of Dyckesville, former track champions Darryl Massart of Brussels and Steve Svoboda of Green Bay, and current IMCA stock car pilot Tony Bouche of Algoma. Racing gets underway at 5 p.m. with the HOF ceremony taking place at intermission.
Joe Verdegan