Wednesday night July 3rd will feature a rare midweek appearance by the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) 410 winged sprint cars as they head to the “Horsepower Halfmile”, the Dodge County Fairgrounds. As the cars and stars of the IRA roll onto the always thrilling half-mile track in Beaver Dam, they do so in honor of Harry Neitzel, father of IRA stalwart driver Scotty Neitzel and longtime supporter of area racing.
Scotty Neitzel is definitely one to watch, the veteran driver has won at the fairgrounds before and in front of his hometown crowd is sure to be looking for his first win of 2019.
Defending champion Jake Blackhurst is another driver to keep an eye on, the Father and Son team of Jake and Paul Blackhurst are the defending winners of the Harry Neitzel tribute and have shown for a couple of guys who cut their teeth on Illinois bullrings, they know how to get the job done on big half-mile tracks.
Jeremy Schultz will come into Dodge County behind the wheel of the potent Bob Hood owned 10w this season, the pair teamed up over the offseason and have already proven they can find victory lane, and on a track, Schultz has won at, you can expect the red and yellow 10w to be at the front.
Scotty Thiel will come into Dodge riding a wave of momentum, the young Sheboygan Wisconsin native ended his May by claiming his first top 10 finish with the World of Outlaws sprint cars, then in June picked up his first IRA win of the season at Wilmot Raceway. He also claimed an MSA victory in June. The driver who has finished 2nd in IRA season points the last 3 years has never won at the Dodge County Fairgrounds but on Wednesday, July 3rd that could change.
Any list of drivers to watch would be incomplete without the Northpole Alaska Native Bill Balog. The driver who now calls Heartland Wisconsin home has claimed 8 IRA championships and as of June 22, 106 career IRA feature wins. Not to mention he is the only IRA regular to ever beat the World of Outlaws and he did it in Beaver Dam Wisconsin. All of this is to say, if Bill Balog unloads at a track, he is a contender to win and July 3rd will be no different.
Steve Meyer and Mike Reinke have both won at the Horsepower Halfmile before and will bring that experience with them as they try for their first win of 2019, while Russel Borland keeps inching closer to his first ever win in a sprint car, could Dodge County be where he finally gets to victory lane?
The IRA Sprints will be joined in action by the MSA Sprint Cars and Modifieds. The grandstands will open at 4:30 pm with hot laps scheduled for 6 pm.
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