The Dirt Show Photo Gallery

In Remembrance: Modified Driver Mike Hernke

It is with great sadness we must report the passing of modified driver Mike Hernke. Mike was on the show with us in May 2017 (link) to talk about his #37 touring modified he used to promote cancer awareness. Indeed, many of you probably saw this awesome looking car parked at an area race track in the last year.

Excerpt from Mike's obituary:

"Mike was born on January 30, 1958 in Zumbrota, MN, the son of Owen and Gladys (Swelland) Hernke. He graduated from Cannon Falls High School in 1976. He was a lifelong member of Urland Lutheran Church, where he was baptized, confirmed and married to Brenda D. Quittem on July 15, 1978. He was a praise and worship team member for over 10 years.

Mike worked for 23 years at Hernke’s, Inc. and was also an owner/operator as a truck driver for 15 years. He loved music, especially singing and playing drums. He enjoyed family vacations, hunting, and pontoon rides. He was in to dirt track racing for many years, and car #37 was one to watch! His latest car was a cancer awareness race car that exhibited at local dirt tracks, where he also sang the national anthem and spoke about cancer awareness. He loved spending time with his family, and especially loved making big breakfasts, where the chocolate chip pancakes were a hit!"

You can read Mike's full obituary here & listen to his May 2017 Dirt Show interview here

Pure Stock driver #83 Dan Guttormson

IMCA Sport Mod driver #90 George Nordman

Modified driver #95x Shaun Walski (Images courtesy of Brian Minter)

Retired Sprint Car driver & co-founder of the Upper Midwest Sprint series #55 Joe Kouba

Driver and car builder #0 Les Duellman

IMCA Stock Car driver #14z Ned Kalis

Retired Race Car Driver Elmer Duellman

USRA A Mod driver #23 Darwyn Karau (Thanks to Brian Minter for the pictures!)

Modified driver #4 Jeremy Nelson

USRA Late Model driver #11 Lance Hofer

Retired race car driver Lyle Hinrichs

Race car builder Steve Wise

Street Stock driver #84 Hunter Van Gilder (Rice Lake, WI)

Modified Driver #12k Casey Knutson (Spring Grove, MN)

Modified Driver #13x McKenzie Gerdes

Late Model and Modified driver Blonde Bomber Mitchell

The Dirt Show is Proud to Help Sponsor Voth Racing in 2017

Pictured below are The Dirt Show sponsored Street Stocks driven by Parker and Troy Voth. Go get 'em this season guys! Check out Voth racing on Facebook for more pictures & videos.

IMCA Hobby Stock driver #75c Cory Probst

Retired Modified Driver Mike Hernke and his Touring Car for Cancer Awareness

Modified driver #9 Roger Nielsen

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver #10 Jennifer Jo Cobb

Late Model and Modified driver #10 Mike Balcaen from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Street Stock driver #34jr Bobby Blowers from Waseca, MN

Retired Indycar Driver and Team Owner Sarah Fisher with her Father and Uncle

Retired NASCAR& ASA driver Dave Marcis (Thanks to author Bill Haglund for the pics!)

IMCA Stock Car driver #50 Heath Tulp

Late Model driver brothers #51 Nate Beyenhof and #1 Nick Beyenhof

4th Annual Old-Timer's Racing Reunion at Steve Yaggy's Home Shop in Rochester, MN

Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame inductee Daryl Arend

Sports Park Raceway Re-Opens in Fort Dodge, Iowa

The track formerly known as Frontier Sports Park, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, will reopen under new management for the 2017 race season and be renamed Sports Park Raceway. The track will be run by racing veterans Jason Vansickel, Marty Pringle, & Dave Doughty. For more info vist their website here.

Visiting Denny Garber

In January, the Dirt Show crew took a trip down to Denny Garber's house in Fairmont, MN. We had a great afternoon looking at old racing pictures and talking about racing. The Garbers were wonderful hosts. The yellow sprint car pictured below is Denny's, along with the old Nova race car pictured next, which had a 454 V8 in it and was raced by Denny back in the day.

Elmer's Auto & Toy Museum (Fountain City, WI)

Elmer's Auto & Toy Museum in Fountain City, WI, is one of the largest museums of its kind in the country and a fantastic attraction every family member will enjoy! Elmer's has hundreds of muscle, antique, and classic cars and trucks as well as pedal cars and thousands of antique toys, tools, and dolls. Check them out on your next trip over to Mississippi Thunder Speedway.

Owatonna driver Glen Anderson featured at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum at Knoxville Speedway in Iowa recently featured an exhibit for Glen Anderson, legendary driver from Owatonna, Minnesota. Glen's famous #9 car is there, along with a bunch of cool pictures of some of his racing adventures.

Miner's Outdoor Celebrates Opening of MOR Golf & Utility Store in Lakeville

Hall of Fame Sprint Car driver #1A Bobby Allen and his Shark Racing Team cars

USRA Limited Late Model driver #24 Justin Sass

Modified driver #94jr John Doelle

Kansas Speedway Contest Winners

Big thanks goes out to Kansas Speedway for sponsoring our contest and sending these lucky winners to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Hollywood Casino 400 race weekend!

2016 Twin Cities Takedown at ERX Motor Park in Elk River, MN

7th Annual Topless Nationals at Ogilvie Raceway

$250,000 Rock N Roll Gold Cup at Badlands Motor Speedway

Your Dirt Show host made the trip out to the Sioux Falls, SD area for the Rock n Roll Gold Cup at Badlands Motor Speedway in August. This amazing event brings together the best winged and non-winged 410 sprint cars in the country for a gigantic $250,000 purse. If you make the trip yourself, be sure to check out Badlands Pawn, which is the biggest, coolest pawn shop in the Upper Midwest. Check out the pics below.

Midwest Modified driver #35jr Garitt Wytaske

Modified, Late Model and Sprint Car driver #95 Keith Foss

Modified driver #14W Clayton Wagamon

Sprint Car driver #91 John Sernett

IMCA Stock Car driver #5 Luke Sathoff

Street Stock driver #12 Cody Kummer

Midwest Modified driver #16 Jason Vandekamp

IMCA Old Timers at the 2016 Dakota County Fair

Retired Modified, Sprint Car and Midget driver Jim Edgington

Tribute to four-time USAC champion, Indycar, and NASCAR driver Bryan Clauson

UMSS Sprints at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, MN

Thanks to Brian Minter who took most of these great pictures of the Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series event at Chateau Raceway. It was a great night all around, and surely one of the largest crowds on-hand at Chateau in a long time. A special Dirt Show thank you to Mike & Kathy Madsen and Mark Daniels for sponsoring this event and helping to put it together.

Pure Stock driver #23 Ross Spitzer

Retired Hall of Fame Sprint Car driver Lynn Paxton

Late Model and Modified driver #75 Cody Skytland

WISSOTA Street Stock driver #01 Justin Pogones

World of Outlaw Late Models at Ogilvie Raceway

Super Stock and Modified driver out of Sartell, MN #19x James Trantina

Super Stock and Street Stock driver #3R Danny Richards

IMCA Modified Driver #30 Josh Ruby out of Lakota, Iowa

Dirt Sprint Car & asphalt Late Model driver out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Amber Balcaen

IMCA Sport Compact driver #8K Kaytee Devries

Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify & race in both the Indy 500 and Daytona 500

Harli White (Lindsay, OK) and her #17w Sprint Car

Jonathan Olmscheid and his ethanol powered dirt Modified and asphalt Late Model

Midwest Modified driver #23 Mitch Wiese

Retired Late Model driver #33 Richy Olson

Kansas Speedway NASCAR weekend

Congratuations to our Kansas Speedway contest winners and special thanks to Kansas Speedway for their support of The Dirt Show! Here are a few pics from the Go Bowling 400 NASCAR weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Four-time WISSOTA Late Model national champion Ricky Weiss

Brandon Nielsen and his #8T IMCA Hobby Stock

Retired Super Mod driver Les Wildin (Algona, IA)

Winged and Non-winged Sprint, Midget and Indy 500 driver Bryan Clauson

Greg Lammers' #99 Pure Stock sporting the Dirt Show logo

2nd Annual Old Timers Racing Reunion

We had a great time at the Old Timers Racing Reunion in Rochester in late February. Truly amazing to see so many of our childhood heroes all in one spot on a winter day in Minnesota. These racing reunion events are always incredible, and we at The Dirt Show strongly encourage you to get out there and check one out sometime. Pic #1-Racers sitting in a group at the event. Pic #2-Gerhard Wollenburg (#96) in the tan hat. Pic #3-Lance Mathees talking to Bill Haglund about winning the Yankee Dirt Classic at Hawkeye Downs in Iowa. Pic #4-Mert Williams' late model station wagon from the early 1980's.

Midwest Mod drivers Bonnie Jablonske #17B and Ron Jablonske

Racing legend Red Mullican passed away on March 21, 2016. Click here to read his obit.

Huber Welding Supply's Support for Dirt Racing Goes Way Back

Here's a picture of a 1948 sprint car dropped off by a customer at Huber Supply in Owatonna. Thanks to the guys at Huber who digitized the pic and shared it with us.

Hall of Fame Late Model and Modified driver #10 Dennis Hovinga

Ernie Tuff's record-setting 1961 Ford Starliner, powered by a Chrysler 426 Hemi engine

World of Outlaw Late Model driver #77 Jordan Yaggy

Tony Shaner's #23 Pure Stock in victory lane at Dodge County Speedway (10/04/15)

Nate Coopman and his #9 IMCA Sport Compact car

Modified driver #74c Clint Hatlestad

Daniel Eckblad's #10E Stock Car

Mod Four driver Keith Thell and his #00t car

Sprint Car driver #1s Logan Schucart

Modified driver #74c Clint Hatlestad

Late Model and Modified driver #50 Jeff Wildung

IMCA Stock Car driver #1M Jeff McCollum (Thanks to Sarah Moriarty for the pictures!)

Street Stock, Super Stock, and Modified driver Tim Johnson

Street Stock driver #11 Sam Fankhauser

Dodge County Speedway Roars Back to Life in Kasson, MN

There hadn't been a race run at Dodge County Speedway in Kasson since 2012, but that changed on Saturday, August 1st, as the track came back to life in front of a big crowd eager to see the dirt flyin' once again.

10th Annual Racing Reunion in Otho, IA

We attended Marty Pringle's Racing Reunion in Otho, Iowa, again this year and had an awesome time, as we always do. This event just keeps getting better and better every summer. Here are a few pictures of the event. If you ever have the chance, be sure to go and check it out, you'll be amazed at the number of old race cars and amount of history there.

Wissota Super Stock driver #7R Tommy Richards

IMCA Sport Compact driver Megan Sandvig and her #33 car

Caley Weese and her #77 Late Model

Troy and Jacob Dahle parade the American Flag at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, MN

Driver McKenna Haase and her #55M Sprint Car

Late Model driver #32 Chris Simpson from Oxford, IA

The #07 Late Model driven by Don Swearingen

Dirt Show Trip to Indiana and the Indy 500

The Dirt Show crew (thirteen members strong for this trip), made the 10-hour drive from Southern Minnesota to Indianapolis, Indiana, on Memorial Day weekend for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing: the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500. Of course, being the huge dirt racing fans we are, also meant we had to make a couple stops at the local short tracks in that part of the country. We made our way to Bloomington Speedway on Friday night for the Josh Burton Memorial, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday afternoon, Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville on Saturday night for a non-winged sprint special, and then topped it all off with the 99th Indy 500 on Sunday. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one we'll never forget. Special thanks to all the Casey's General Stores from Owatonna to Waterloo to Peoria to Indianapolis that kept us fueled up and fed along the way!

2nd Annual Josh Burton Memorial at Bloomington Speedway (Bloomington, IN)

MSCS Non Winged Sprint Car show at Lincoln Park Speedway (Putnamville, IN)

99th running of the Indianapolis 500 (Speedway, IN)

Jim Gullikson's #21 Wissota Street Stock

Adam Godeke's #3G Pure Stock

Adam Godeke carries the Stars and Stripes in the Dushek Racing/Dirt Show #3G Pure Stock during the national anthem May 15th at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, MN.

Pure Stock driver Greg Lammers' #99 car sporting the Dirt Show logo in 2015

Knoxville Raceway Hall of Famer #61 Stacey Redmond

Dirt Show guest Derek Green's #32 IMCA Stock Car and his new IMCA Modified

Ted Smallwood's American Flag Sprint Car

Larry Portis and his #59 IMCA Stock Car

Remembering Glen Anderson

It is with great sadness The Dirt Show notes the passing of a Minnesota racing legend, Mr. Glen Anderson. He will be missed greatly by his friends and family. Glen was born April 15, 1930 in Owatonna and died Sunday, March 29, 2015 in his hometown. What an extraordinary life he led both on and off the track. We will miss you Glen.

“Tribute to Trostle” and Open Wheel Swap Meet in Knoxville

On a snowy Saturday in late January, we made the trip down to Knoxville Speedway for the annual Open Wheel Swap Meet, which, on this occassion, included a benefit to celebrate the career of National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee Bob Trostle. Pictured below: Dirt Show host Klane Dushek and Hall of Famer Shane Carson, Bob Trostle checking out some the cars he built and owned, and Shane Carson's red #20 sprint car.

Dirt Show guest Brady Gerdes and his #2x Modified

Sprint Car 101 at the Kossuth County Agriculture & Motorsports Museum

Pictures: 1) 100+ fans in attendence, 2) Jim Edgington (left) and Norm Wiemers (right), 3) Norm Wiemers next to his car, 4) Terry McCarl (left) with the car he won Rookie of the Year at Knoxville with and Daryl Arend (right) who owned and worked on the car for McCarl’s first three wins.

Jesse Glenz in the #7x Modified

Brad Doty's #75 sprint car

Doug Wolfgang, the Sweetest Man in Racing?

Why did we take a pic of this candy bar wrapper? Because it has an incredible story behind it. Late this past fall, your host dropped in to visit Doug Wolfgang at his shop called Wolfweld in South Dakota. We decided to go get some lunch, and when Doug reached into his pocket to get his keys, this wrapper fell out. He handed it to over and said, "Babe Ruth has a candy bar, this one's mine!" Back when Doug was winning everything in sight in the mid 1980's, he was working on his sprint car at the shop one day when the phone rang. The caller said, "Is this the famous sprint car driver from Sioux Falls, South Dakota?" And Doug replied, "Yes sir! It sure is!" What Doug soon found out was that the mystery caller on the phone was none other than the owner of the D. L. Wolfgang candy company. The man complained to Doug that he was receiving ten to fifteen calls a day to speak to the sprint car driver Doug Wolfgang and he was just plain sick of it! He and Doug have stayed in touch ever since, and in fact, this past October, when Doug's son Robby was married, the family passed out Wolfgang candy bars to all the wedding guests.

USMTS Modified driver Kelly Shyrock at the Kossuth Co. Museum

Nine-time USMTS Champion Kelly Shyrock being interviewed by Chad Meyer at the Kossuth County Museum on Sunday, January 18th, at the Dirt Modified 101 event.

Vintage Racing Images From a Few of Our Sponsors

Many of the businesses and people who sponsor The Dirt Show used to race themselves, and here are two examples for you. In the top two pictures you'll see Minnesota racing legend Barry Ketterings old car from 1974. The car was sold to Bill Collin of Interstate Truck Driving School, who drove it about a dozen times at Princeton and Northstar Raceway in 1975. The bottom two pictures are of Gary Wolff and his 1965 Chevelle Street Stock. Notice the intact windshield and wipers, they used them in the back then!

Dirt Show trip to Granite City Speedway

The Dirt Show crew took in some late season races at Granite City Speedway in St. Cloud recently. You might remember this track by its former name, Golden Spike Speedway. It was our first trip up there and we had a great time. It's a wonderful facility and they put on some great Wissota racing.

Retired Late Model driver and 2014 Dirt Show guest Em Fretheim

Dirt Show guest retired driver Norm Weimers

USRA Modified driver #20 Mark Motl

The Tragic Death of Robert W. Frame

This head stone located in Forest Hill Cemetery here in Owatonna is the final resting place of race car drive Bob Frame. Bob was the son of 1932 Indianapolis 500 winner Fred Frame. Bob came to Owatonna in 1947 with his sprint car never to leave again. He was killed in a race at the Steele County fairgrounds. The story goes, he showed up with a broken left wrist from a tow rope accident at his last race. The official told him he could not race with a cast on because it was too dangerous. Bob assured the official he would be just fine and persuaded him to let him race. Sometime during that day's race, disaster struck when two cars collided in front of him. He instinctively grabbed for the hand brake lever located on the left hand side of the car, but with his hand in a cast he was unable to stop in time. His car launched into the air and the resulting crash ended his life. We discuss this story on the October 25th, 2014 episode of The Dirt Show during the Owatonna Granite and Monument segment, be sure to listen!

Late summer trip to the Sprint Car Capital of the World

Knoxville Speedway and the Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum are a couple of our favorite places on earth and we always try to make the trip down at least a couple times every year. Here are some pictures we took on our latest trip: a view of the track from the 4th floor suit at the Knoxville Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Erin Crocker Evernham's WoO feature winning car, your host and his brother's brick at the Hall of Fame, and Klane with #24 Terry McCarl.

9th Annual Racers' Reunion in Otho, Iowa

We had the honor of attending the Racers' Reunion in Otho, Iowa, just outside of Fort Dodge, in late June and snapped a couple of pictures while we were there. Special thanks to the event's organizer Marty Pringle for a wonderful day and for keeping it going for nine straight years!

USMTS Modified driver #33z Zack Vanderbeek

Super Stock driver #21R Dave Read

Robbie Franklin's #1 Midwest Modified

Pure Stock driver Krysta Swearingen

UMSS Sprint Car driver #5 Anna Kouba

Bud Martini in his #42 Midwest Modified

Doug Wojcik's #3D Street Stock

Adam Godeke's Pure Stock at the 2014 Château Raceway season opener

Dirt Show guest Late Model driver Zack Johnson

Dirt Show guest Modified driver Josh Bazey

Dirt Show guest Steve Sorenson

Dirt Show guest Modified driver #40 Kevin Adams

Dirt Show guest Sprint Car driver #11A Bruce Anderson

Sprint Car 101 at the Kossuth County Museum in Algona, IA

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum recently held a free "Sprint Car 101" educational program at the Kossuth County Agriculture & Motorsports Museum in Algona, Iowa, and the Dirt Show crew was lucky enough to be there. The Kossuth County museum honors and remembers the history and heritage of agriculture and motorsports in northern Iowa, be sure to check it out sometime.The Sprint Car 101 program highlighted Iowa racing veterans Jim Edgington, Dick Forbrook and Stacy Redmond, who were in attendence. It was a fun and educational afternoon for all who attended, and we were sure glad to get the chance to go!

Vintage Racing Images

Louise Smith, NASCAR pioneer, with her wrecked car. Johnny Parsons, in his first USAC champ car at Riverside, CA. Dick Trimble, founder of Trimbles Honda in Austin, in 1955 on his Triumph 250 Cub. Monk Sorenson in his IMCA Big Car. And a driver lettering his car the old fashioned way, with a brush & paint can!