Wheels Of Thunder October 2012

Vol. 3 Issue 10

OCT/NOV 2012

Page 22 Page 40

Page 18

Page 2 Find us on Facebook “Wheels of Thunder” October 2012

Special Features1949 Ford Sedan - Sean Lawrence.................4Brainerd Internation Raceway ......................14A Legendary Hill.........................................24IWA Finale .................................................30Double Header - Ricekiller ...........................32Tri State Raceway .......................................36Hering Customs ..........................................44Indian vs. Harley ........................................52

ReviewsEasy Rider Saloon.......................................54Scooters Bar & Grill ....................................62

Rally’s & ShowsCannonball Run ..........................................10Haydays ....................................................22Powercruise ................................................28Volga Truck Cruise ......................................40Sturgis Rally ...............................................56Thursday Night Dinner Cruise ......................58Anoka County Fair ......................................64

DepartmentsGarage Built.................................................8Boiling Point................................................12Next Generation - Bella Schmaltz.................18Off The Beaten Path – The Hog Rally ...........48Ask Mike....................................................50ABATE of MN .............................................51Game On!..................................................68

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EDITORIAL STAFFEDITOR/CREATIVE DIRECTOR

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Photographers/WritersBILLY BOYLE MIKE BENOY

CEAJA PHILP ERIK TORMOENJOHN JEPPESON JENNA OSTERLUND

JOSH MOEN MYLIE LAVOLDSTEVE JOHNSON DAN JACOBSON

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www.WheelsofThunder.net Page 3October 2012


1949 FORD SEDAN – Sean Lawrance

Not Once Over, and Not Done

M any young car enthusiasts have a dream

car or idea they would like to actually create

and own someday. Sean Lawrance of Maple

Grove, Minnesota started with an idea but didn't stop with just

the first round of ideas.

He had a pretty good grasp of what he was hoping to do and

had even started out by building a model car that he chopped

and painted black with flames. He was determined to find that

car and see it through til the end!


Sean was only 15 years old when him andhis Dad, Steve bought the 1949 FordSedan from a guy out of Milaca, MN in1998. They started working on the car thatwinter and were able to make it in time forthe upcoming Back to the Fifties, whichlike many cars trying to make the show,was the first time it had been on the road.It was on the road, not chopped and onlyin its black primer, but it made it to theshow which was pretty significant to sucha young builder.

In July of 1999, shortly after that event thehood opened up on Sean down the freewayand caved in the roof. Quite a scare, butSean took that as a perfect time to do somemore modifications, which in turn led to afew more...and then more.

Since he first brought the Sedan homeSean, with the help of his Dad and hisbrother Marc have design, built, andpainted it to include; chopping down thetop (twice), but extending it , shaveddoors, hood has been peeked, Frenched

headlights and taillights, window modifi-cations, custom made sliding rag top,handmade front sheet metal ,roll pan withexhaust cut outs in back, a Mustang II

front suspension, 4-link rear, and has fullair ride. It's powered by a slightly built 327SBC with a 350 turbo transmission. Theseats are from a '62 Thunder Bird in thefront, and a Dodge Dart in the back, thatmy Mom, Pam recovered in red and whitetuc-n-roll.

Now with a list like that you would thinkSean's had enough, but.... future plans areto redo the paint and body work again, andredo the door panels and headliner.

There is no doubt the Sedan gets attentioneverywhere it goes, and will continue tobring a wide variety of onlookers andgrowing number of fans. It has alreadycaught the eye of Minnesota's Holy RockaRollaz band! They were extremely pleasedwhen they were able to use the Sedan intheir new CD cover and promotional ma-terial. Their classic early rock 'n roll style ofElvis, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, andmany more seemed to fit attitude appear-ance of the '49 to create a great combina-tion. In short, Sean's 1949 Sedan is a mustsee in person, and no doubt you will beable to pick it out at this year's Franken-steiners Ball on Sunday, October 14th atthe Anoka County Fairgrounds.

Written by Ceaja Philp

Photography byJohn Krueger


Stock OriginalThis is where it all started!Stock OriginalThis is where it all started!

Sound Familiar?Do you have a story of your custom ride? [email protected] and you could be

featured with your ride in the next issue!

1927 Ford Model TQuenching my Hot Rod thirst!

Owner/Enthusiast:Troy Swan Zimmerman, MN


I have been in love with cars myentire life. I grew up on a farm innorthern Minnesota near ThiefRiver Falls. When young I re-member saving my allowance andbirthday money so I could by HotWheels.

In school I would stare out thewindow at the High School kidsand their Chevelle’s, Cuda's,Mustang’s and other cool cars. Fi-nally, at age 15 I got my first car,a 1971 Buick Skylark. That'swhen the bug really began, I puton mag wheels, hood scoop anda paint job myself.

Since then, there have beenmany cars and everytime I got acool muscle car, my brotherChad would get something bet-ter! When ever we had mechan-ical problems our father wouldjust say ‘fix it’. He had us wrench-ing on tractors, trucks and cars ata very young age. I think I waswelding by 3rd grade.

I now live in Zimmerman. My job

is seasonal so I don't work win-ters. I recently brought my farm-boy attitude to an inner citytownhome garage. I bought a1927 Ford Model T project car. Istripped it down to frame and re-built almost everything. (with alittle help from friends Eric, Den-nis, Keith and my son Korbyn) Ihad to find another body forparts and spent a lot of timewalking through swap meets. Ithas a crate 350 c.i. motor with aturbo 350 trans. An eight inchford differential. It was built tohave the old school 1970's flavorbut most of all I wanted it de-pendable.

I have driven this car to 35 carshows this summer and still going.I drive it around town and use itto run errands. It gets alot of at-tention everywhere I go.

It doesn't win too many trophy’sat shows but it gets enough at-tention and driving it quenchesmy Hotrod thirst.



One thing is for sure, this story and pho-tos will separate the men from the boys,the sane from the insane. No, let me re-word that after careful consideration. Thisstory will test man against machine,against the North American continent, be-yond most reader’s comprehension. Nowthat sounds better and I hope I have yourattention to pay tribute to this very specialmotorcycle breed.

The brave riders of the Cannonball provethat antique motorcycles can indeed beput to the ultimate test and is a traditionas old as the motorcycles themselves,. Notonly proving the capabilities of the ma-chines, but also confirming the pioneer-ing spirit this great country was builtupon.

Collectors from around the world are re-alizing their dream of using their ma-chines for the purposes they wereoriginally intended for, and they are en-

joying every minute of it. Restorationtakes on a new meaning as skilled motorbuilders put over 100 years of mechanicalknowledge into ancient iron. Motorcyclesthat lay silent for decades now have a rea-son to live. To run thru the great wideopen as they did nearly a century ago.

Like the first run, the Cannonball is fromcoast to coast. The 2012 run provided amore scenic route to the north from NewYork to San Francisco. While planning arelatively direct route, consideration wasmade to take in some of the best sceneryour country has to offer. A quick look atthe new route includes a dozen nationalparks, and forests, the great lakes, the Mis-sissippi river, the plains, the Black Hills,Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, theRockies, the high desert, Shasta, the Av-enue of the Giants, Pacific Coast Highway,and the Golden Gate Bridge to name a few.Also included on this journey were stopsto tour four nationally recognized motor-cycle museums including the National

Motorcycle Museum located in Anamosa,Iowa. Averaging around 300 miles per day,this is a true endurance run for both manand machine. Remember, we are not talk-ing about a Harley Cruiser or a Gold Winghere; this is pre 1930 motorcycles.

Competition between motorcycles andriders has been around since the very be-ginning, and the Cannonball is no differ-ent. This is a run against the clock, whereone rider and one machine will claim vic-tory. A victory that will be well earnedagainst riders from all over the worldwhich involves a two week journey acrossthe United States dealing with mechanicalfailure. Mother Nature, and most impor-tant, your mental stability. I am not quitesure I want to include this in my top tenBucket List, perhaps number eleven. Ihope you enjoy the photos as much as Ido and appreciate the true grit they sharewith each competitor.

Written By John Lentzkow


These machines are old and most are very rare. A lot of these early bikes would not be onthe road today were it not for new parts. In a lot of cases only the motor survived to be resur-rected into its former self. As long as the engine in your machine is original then its eligible

to run for the prize. Any reproduction chassis or parts should be as they were originally.

So here we are my fellow Americans almost4 years since the last Donnybrook (that’sIrish for close quarters fight). This monthsBoiling Point is focused on what has hap-pened, where we are going, and are youand your family any better off than youwere 4 years ago, 8 years ago, or should Iput it bluntly since September 10th, 2001?

The whole mess can go right back to theday the bastards took 4 airplanes andshowed how vulnerable we can be whennot focused on our safety and security.Which eventually led to the fall of ourstrong economy and of course, the behindthe scenes BS by Wall Street and other car-petbaggers. I wanted to focus on the cur-rent situation in the business sense and dowe have the right machine in place to getAmerica back where it once was?

For a minute reflect if you will on howmany businesses had to fold up in yourcommunity, town, city, or state because ofthe economic situation. From a personalperspective I was once an owner of a suc-cessful Motorcycle Dealership, a successfulrestaurant and bar, and dabbled well in thereal estate business. All have since beenshut down or gone away since 2010. Why?Lack of financial resources from the banksto loan money for motorcycles, lack of ex-pendable income to take a family out to alocal restaurant, and lack of ability to paythe rising interest rates on the mortgage

that leads to foreclosure. Much has to dowith the lack of employment in the UnitedStates, job cut backs, down sizing of com-panies, and trimming the wages back to1970’s standards. It’s a simple mathemati-cal equation, people lose the jobs or the in-come is cut back, something has to give. Inthis case, it’s the small business owners.

The local mom and pop restaurant, thefamily owned grocery store that has beenpart of a community for decades, the sport-ing vehicle dealerships, the maintenancesupport shops, and finally the business lo-cation that sits empty and becomes rundown and an eye sore with in the commu-nity. I get a pain in my gut every time I talkto business owner that mentions the strug-gles they are having keeping the doorsopen. I have been there and I can sympa-thize with their situation. So what do wedo America?

It’s not just the business world,go drop in on an employmentworkshop in your area. Theseare people that are actively look-ing for employment; these arethe people that would rathergive the employer a good 40hours of hard work for a decentpaycheck. These are the peoplethat are not the takers of freehandouts and sit on their assesuntil it runs out. For example,technically I am ‘unemployed’,the status is called self-em-

ployed but there is no work available. Iwent to workshop back in the spring inMinnesota, the workshop was scheduledevery hour, each session 35 seats available,each session was sold out. Here’s the kickerit runs every week, everyday, every hour tosold out participants. Now you tell me wedon’t have an unemployment problem inthe United States, despite the fabricatednumbers that are posted weekly on em-ployment statistics. I AM LIVING THISEVERYDAY.

Here’s the example: I am in a session with34 others, mostly from the high tech, in-formation services or others known ascomputer geeks. Most of these participantswere long-term employees; I am talking 30plus years, the age 50 and above. As wewent around the room with the introduc-tions the one thing that jumped out wasthis was a class of people that took the bul-let because of the age and years of service.I asked the question, “So where did yourjobs go”? The short answer, INDIA. Areyou kidding me? These were employeesthat were the heart and soul of their cor-poration, but the corporation tends to getgreedy and treats these dedicated employ-ees as a number. You know the old humanresource terminology that labels the em-ployee, a unit, or gives them a number of1.2 when they talk about work task. Heycorporate America stick your units up thebackside. The sad story was the group thatI was in workshop with; they were notlooking to get back into the industry wherethey once thrived. Why? There wasn’t anyopportunity for a 50 something that mayput a strain on the salary or health and in-surance benefits. These poor bastards werelooking to do a career change on the fly.Literally starting from scratch just to beemployable again. That’s what we do inAmerica in 2012; kick our best resources,our most knowledgeable and experiencedworker to the ground. Doesn’t that justsend your blood to the “Boiling Point”? Itsends me over the top!!!!


Written by Billy Boyle

“AMERICAN’S FOR AMERICA”

This is not about the democrats verse therepublicans verses the independents, thisis about what is the plan to get us back ontrack? Working directly with the Americanbusiness owner, American industries, andstate agency’s to get America Back to work.For many of you that are reading this arti-cle I am sure you are living this nightmare.Again from a personal perspective on Sep-tember 10th, 2001, I had a big house, acouple of nice cars, a boat, and a familythat was a close family, and a career that Ialways thought I would retire from. Today,lost the house, got divorced, the cars arenot so nice and the boat is long gone, myfamily although we tried to be close strug-gles everyday with the financial issues. Thisis what America has been reduced too.

In the world of terrorism this is what theobjective was from the start of the firstplane crashing into the World Trade Cen-ter. Hit America in the pocket and crushthe American dream, home ownership, andlavish or comfortable lifestyle. I don’t knowabout you, but as I sit here writing this ar-ticle I can’t tell you how pissed I get whenI think back at all the mistakes we made asa society. My point is this do we keep mak-ing mistakes, keep playing the waitinggame, or do we take a stand and roll the

sleeves up and figure things out? Do wehave a say on which direction the economyhead?

I am asking all of the readers to listenclosely to the politicians that are runningfor office, presidential being one. Whomare they aligned with publicly, corporately,or political support groups. I am not advo-cating one opponent over another, oneparty over another, one success story, orone contribution that the candidate standson. Weigh up the whole picture. Talk toyour friends, neighbors, co-workers, andbusiness owners, see how they have beenaffected or will be affected long term by themachine that will run America. This isabout all us having a say in shaping Amer-ica. Will we ever get back to where we werebefore the September 11th attacks? Will getto relive that American dream again? Willwe once again have that Norman Rockwellfeel to the American family? I am confidentthat each of us will have that thought inmind when we go to the polls in Novem-ber.

Over the month of October I am sure wewill all hear the mud slinging, accusations,name calling, and vicious rumors. That’swhat the political parties are all about, but

try to see through the BS, whom has ourback, our best interest, and will they get usthe shot of adrenal that we need to energizeAmerica? America, take your time decid-ing, but not too much time. Don’t push abutton because someone put the pressureon you. Don’t push a button because youlike their looks, their family, and their reli-gious affiliation. Push the button that is inYOUR best interest, the button that willsomehow give back the life that we all oncehad.

Good luck deciding, it’s a tough decision,but in America we get to do it freely.Whichever way you lean, God Bless Amer-ica.



B rainerd International Raceway’s 2012 season came to an end but racersdidn’t leave quietly. In fact, they saved some of their best racing for the veryend as championships were on the line in two different drag racing series and

the Trans-Am Series held a double-header race that was nothing short of thrilling.Here’s how the season ended at BIR.

Written by Geoff Gorvin

Dave Engler wins the final race in the Pro ET Class of the Bracket Drag Racing Series

One last chance to show off the muscle


When the 24th Annual Muscle CarShootout kicked off Labor Day weekend atBIR, one thing was certain: The father-soncombo of Mike and Dean Bauerly wouldnot be repeating as champions of the Out-law and Pro Outlaw classes, respectively.

The Bauerlys were no-shows for theShootout, which was the third and finalrace of the Muscle Car Series. Mike Bauerlywas comfortably in first place in the Out-law Class, while Dean was a slim threepoints behind Pro Outlaw leader CraigBraun, who had issues of his own. Hedinged up his car a week earlier andshowed up at BIR with his streetcar to earnas many points as he could.

That opened the door for other drivers inthe series’ two fastest classes, and RickSchmidt answered the call in Pro Outlaw.Driving his 1971 Mach 1 Mustang,Schmidt toyed with dipping below the 6-second mark by posting the class’s fastesttime, 6.079 seconds, and the top speed of212.26 mph to win the weekend’s race. Hebeat Joseph Wilczek in the finals.

In the Outlaw Class, Eric Wourms was insecond place going into the weekend andcouldn’t mask his excitement when heheard that Mike Bauerly was a no-show.Driving his 1971 Chevelle, Wourms wasthe No. 1 qualifier and faced Brian Car-penter in the finals. Carpenter and his ’98Firebird were too much for Wourms,though, running 7.515 seconds and 182.97mph to Wourms’ 7.560 seconds and 176.47mph.

Brian Mahnke and his 1972 Camaro havebeen dominating the King Street Classsince the series began and he will repeat aschampion again this year, despite losing inthe semifinals to Nick Strohbeen. Driving a’94 Mustang, Strohbeen beat Dale Petersonin the finals with a run of 6.972 secondsand 161.79 mph to Peterson’s 8.887 sec-onds and 150.97 mph.

Jim Ripley and Tom Jones slugged it out atthe top of the Real Street Unlimited Classduring the previous two races, earning thetop two spots in the standings. So it wasonly fitting that they’d meet in the finals ofthe Shootout to settle things once and forall. Jones beat Ripley the last two timesthey raced but Ripley beat Jones in theirthird meeting, running his ’72 Nova to a fi-nals win with a sizzling run of 8.050 sec-onds and 172.14 mph.

The Real Street Natural Class has been atwo-man battle royal between Matt Sathreand Todd Malik, who were sitting Nos. 1and 2 in the point standings, respectively.And that’s the way they’ll finish as Sathrebeat Malik and his ’68 Camaro in the finals.

The True Street finals will make for an in-teresting finish in the final point standings.No. 4 Josh Brunz beat No. 3 Nick Hively inthe finals. They advanced by beating theNos. 1 and 2 drivers in the semifinals. Only20 points separated first and fourth placed.Hively and his ’87 Mustang couldn’t keepup in the finals as Brunz won with a time of8.746 seconds and 155.44 mph.

Ave, Ruman battle for Trans AmSeries wins at BIR

Tony Ave extended his win streak at BIR tofour, only to have Amy Ruman end it forhim the very next day during a double-raceweekend for the SCCA Pro Racing’s TransAm Series, which was on BIR’s 2.5-mile

Brian Carpenter wins the final racein the Pro Outlaw Class of the

Muscle Car Series

Ave-Ruman during the 2nd race of the Trans Am Series Labor Day weekend

Photo by Chris Clark


Competition Road Course during the Mus-cle Car Shootout Labor Day weekend.

Last year, Ave clinched the series champi-onship at BIR by winning both races. Al-though he’s had car problems most of thisseason, fans couldn’t tell in the first race,when he earned the pole position and keptthe lead for the entire 40 laps.

Ave’s teammate, Doug Peterson, took sec-ond place after a lengthy battle with SimonGregg in the later half of the race. Gregg,the points leader, moved between secondand third throughout the entire race,mainly battling back and forth withRuman, who placed fourth after succumb-ing to tire wear.

Ruman came back strong the next day,however, withstanding a rigorous duel withAve in the first half of the race and a furiouschallenge from Gregg over the final twolaps to win the race. She started in fourthposition and passed both Gregg and Peter-son in the first lap. She then caught up toand followed Ave for the first 20 laps. Onthe 21st lap, Ave began to loose air in hisfront left tire and developed a flat spot onit. Ruman surged by Ave to claim the leadand set the pace for the rest of the race. Avestill set a track record in the second race bybreaking his previous record of 1:31.116with a lap time of 1:30.881.

Mickle, Line repeat as serieschamps in Bracket Series

Brad Mickle has now won back-to-back se-ries championships at BIR, both in dra-matic come-from-behind fashion. He’s oneof 10 racers in BIR’s six-race Bracket Drag

Racing Series to be crowned series cham-pions after the final series race Sept. 8-9.

Racing in the Sportsman Class, Mickle andhis 1967 Mustang, which had a back-upmotor in it, got hot in eliminations, win-ning four very close matchups includingthe finals race against Mark Pease and his1972 Chevelle. Mickle escaped with a nar-row victory, running 11.981 seconds and106.95 mph.

Mike Campbell, driving an ’82 Camaro,needed only to run the same number ofrounds as Rodney Thompson in the finalrace of the Super Pro Class to win the serieschampionship. And he did just that, asboth racers were knocked out of elimina-tions in the fourth round, leaving Thomp-son in second place.

Steve Roehrs won the Pro ET Class twoyears in a row before finishing in sixthplace last year. He returned to his champi-

onship ways this year, driving his ’82 Ca-maro to the top of the point standingsagain despite losing in the finals of the lastrace by fouling at the starting line.

Brad Harder was the man to beat all year inthe Pro Bike/Sled Class. He claimed thepoints lead during the first race and nevergave it up, earning a series championshipin the process. Riding a 1998 Kawasaki,Harder lost in the finals of the last race toRichard Tadych, who was racing a 2003Arctic Cat snowmobile.

In Stock/Super Stock, Ben Line continuedto dominate the class. He won his fifth se-ries championship in the last six years andnow has two in a row. Going into the week-end, Line was comfortably in first placeand didn’t even compete in the final race.Glen Demenge and his ’69 Camaro won theclass in the final race.

Chris Henry was in fifth place going intothe final race in the Comp Trophy Class.Points leader Mike Voss was a no-show,which was good news for Henry and his ’94Camaro. Henry earned a trip to the finalswith DJ Spiczka where it was all or noth-ing for Henry, who needed to win the finalsto win the series championship. He beatSpiczka off the starting line and at the fin-ish line to claim the series championship.

In Street Trophy, Michelle Emmans andTaylor Arneson were locked in a battleroyal all season at the top of the pointstandings. They entered last weekend withEmmans holding a slim lead in points butshe lost in the second round while Arne-son drove her 1989 Camaro to the finalswhere she beat Suzie Helberg with a run of16.933 seconds and 83.24 mph.

Ruman during the 2nd race of the Trans Am Series Labor Day weekend

Ray Fuchs and his super cool looking ‘53 Studebaker

Photo by Chris Clark



W hile preparing to meet my young athlete I was tryingto wrap my head around a 5 year old quad racer, notsure what to expect from someone so young. As I ap-

proached the family I could see a black race gear jersey with hot pinkaccents, long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and once sheturned around....the biggest blue eyes, smile and Saturday Herseytreat I had ever seen. Ok, I guess the candy treat wasn't thebiggest...but when I asked where she had gotten it, the smile as shesaid, "From Uncle Devin (or Uncle 'D' as they call him)," made itseem larger than life to her.


It's no secret how import Bella Schmaltz'uncle is to her and how important the timethey spend together on and off the track isto them both. After all, he is part of thereason this little kindergartener is tearingup the track on her very own quad.

Her Mom and Devin's sister, Cheyenne hashad young Bella around quad racing sinceshe was born. They used to put cottonballs in her ears when they first startedgoing in order to keep out the wind andnoise. She always had a natural draw tobeing at the track and around the quads.

At age 4, Bella received her first quad fromDevin for her birthday/Christmas present,and started racing that next summer. Itwas quite the family affair with everyonewearing the same shirts in support of Bella,cheering for their little girl out there for thefirst time. Even then they could see howmuch that meant and how proud she wasto be following in her uncle's footsteps.

For only being a beginner she hasn'twasted any time to show no fear on thetrack. She now runs on a stock Honda TRX90, until next year when she will be ready

to handle some modifications. Devin andCheyenne know she would have the throt-tle pegged if she could, so for now theyhave it throttle- stopped and are spendinga lot of time on technique, reaction, think-ing ahead, staying safe, and having fun!

It must be working because in her shorttime racing she has been injury free, just afew bumps and bruises, and progressedenough to find herself a 2nd place in over-all points in the 2011 season, and a 5thplace in her very first DMC race in 2012.She was also able to take part in an auto-graph signing during the infamous Mon-ster Jam held in the area.

Bella has been able to attend a couple ofPro races throughout the years and doesn'tmiss a thing when it comes to who the rac-ers are and what they are doing on thetrack. As a matter of fact it was during aPro race after watching the freestyle thatshe decided her goal is to be able to do aflip off a jump with her quad.

She currently does most of her racing atBuffalo River Race Park (BRRP) in Glyn-don, MN. As she advances and gets oldershe will have more options for competi-

Bella RoseSchmaltz #7

(Don't Let Those Big Blue Eyes Fool You)



tion, and assured me she will continue torace right alongside her Uncle D;)

The family greatly appreciates the sponsorswho believe in Bella and back her racing:Kustom Koncepts, who designed the decalsfor her quad and their race rig, GM Doctorin West Fargo, and Joe Rents & Contrac-tors Supply, along with her family andfriends.

Bella considers herself a normal 5 year oldgirl, coloring, playing outside, shopping,and going to school, but watch out for allof that young innocence...she is still a racer

and gunning to hit the track against UncleD one day.


Hay Days 2012

Snowmobile enthusiasts were once againtreated to a stellar event at the 46th an-nual Sno-Barons Haydays World Champi-onships. This is one event that continuesto grow and provide fantastic entertain-ment and interactive displays year afteryear.

The Wheels of Thunder booth was lo-cated at the bottom of the Freestyle Expocourse where the Mystik® Lubricants Ter-raCross Championship races made theirdebut at Haydays this year. Along with thefreestyle action of bikes, quads and sledsin this rugged terrain, the new TerraCrossChampionship race provided an excitingpeek at the world of side-by-side racingfor those who had never seen TerraCrossbefore. Many sled racers and riders arepassionate about this fickle sport, whichonly offers a short season, at best. How-ever, the ATV/UTV sport offers a similar

experience and is becoming versatileenough to provide year-round access.New York state raised the bar this year byopening up the snowmobile trail systemsfor summer ATV/UTV riding and thus en-couraging a whole new experience for rid-ers.

Once again, the swap meet provided anendless supply of items ranging from therare antique sleds to hard-to-find partsand accessories to just about anythingever invented. Entering the swap area is adaunting task; however those on a mis-sion were likely to find what they werelooking for if they searched every corner.For those seeking the latest in snowmo-biling equipment, fashion and acces-sories, the vendor booths were filled withnew items for sale, including unveilingthe latest in snowmobiles and all the gearto go with them.

Other event features included the ATVand UTV demo track, RC track, autographsessions, manufacturer freebies, food

courts and beer gardens. This is truly anevent that offers just about anything andeverything you could want, all startingfrom the original reason the whole she-bang got started; grass drag racing.

The weather on Saturday was a factor asthe changes in temperature, wind speedand barometric pressure made it chal-lenging to get the sleds dialed in for theraces. The recent dry weather also playeda role as the newly added sprinkler sys-tems worked hard to keep the track mois-ture up and dust down. A small problemwith the new sprinklers on Saturday wasquickly located and corrected by Sundaymorning.

Luckily, the weather stabilized somewhatfor the finals on Sunday and provided abeautiful day for racers, swappers andspectators alike. Racing fans were treatedto a great series of grass drags this yearranging from the smallest 120cc KittyCat

Written by Kim “KimmyCat” Niles


to the popular Lake Racers and up to thebig Outlaw Power Adder class, producingpower in excess of 600-horsepower withtheir heavily modified snowmobiles.

Throughout the weekend, grass drag racefans were treated to exciting heats. As theracers began to reach the finals for themyriad of classes, a few names becamemore and more familiar as they advancedin their classes and took the wins. Nameslike Walter Joy, Matt LaMire, Randy Priceand Kyle Shilts, to name just a few. Here’show some of their places stacked up:

#723 Randy Price- 1st Place Lake Racer

#3x Walter Joy- 1st place Outlaw Power Adder- 1st Place Pro Stock 800

#31 Matt LaMire- 2nd Place Improved Stock 440 Pro- 2nd Place Heavy Mod 440 Pro- 2nd Place Stock 500 Pro- 1st Place Pro-Stock 700 Pro- 1st Place Pro-Mod 700 Pro- 2nd Place Improved Stock 700 Pro- 1st Place Stock 800 Pro- 1st Place Stock 1000 Pro

#112 Kyle Shilts- 2nd Place Open Mod 700 Pro- 1st Place Heavy Mod 800 Pro- 1st Place Open Mod 1000 Pro- 2nd Place Heavy Mod 1000 Pro- 1st Place Factory Mod 2 Pro- 1st Place Improved Stock Factory

Turbo

But one name came up more often thanthe others when it came to taking 1stplace. Dean Schroeder from Shawano,Wisconsin has been racing at Haydaysfor about 35 years. His unique style ofmodified snowmobiles with the box-stylechassis’ are still built the same way asthey all were ‘back in the day’. There wasno mistake when Dean pulled his #5 sledup to the starting line, he’s the only oneleft at Haydays with the truly ‘modified’racing sleds.

These custom built sleds are a majorsource of pride for the Schroeder family.Dean’s son Scott was given credit formaking them all go so fast. Dean wasquick to point out that their family busi-ness, Schroeder Performance, builds(and sells) the chassis for all of the sledsthat he races.

All in all, Dean competed in 10 classes,took 1st in 7 of the classes, 2nd place inone, and was the only competitor in an-other.

#5 Dean Schroeder- 1st Place Heavy Mod 440 Pro- 1st Place Open Mod 500 Pro- 1st Place Heavy Mod 500 Pro- 1st Place Open Mod 600 Pro- 1st Place Heavy Mod 600 Pro- 1st Place Open Mod 700 Pro- 1st Place Heavy Mod 700 Pro- 2nd Place Open Mod 800 Pro

In addition, Dean broke world records forspeed in two of the classes he competedin. The first world record was in the 500Open, which Dean completed in 5.051seconds with a record setting speed of94.26 mph. The second record was in the700 Open, completed in 4.651 secondsand with a new world record speed of108.64 mph. To top it all off, two of hisgrandchildren entered the 120cc class,both completing their runs, but “Not asfast as Grandpa”. It was a good day forthe Schroeder family.

Dean and his family traveled to Haydaysfrom Shawano, Wisconsin, which is nearGreen Bay. They all joke that it was acruel trick he played on his mom growingup so close to Green Bay and Packercountry. But, they were all quick to reas-sure everyone at Haydays that they areVikings fans, through and through!

Dean would like to thank his sponsors, in-cluding Schroeder Performance Center,Wiseco Pistons, Midwest Crankshaft, V-Force, NGK Spark Plugs, Stud Boy, U.S.Chrome, PowerMadd, Auto Haus, WalkerForge Inc. and a special thanks to MarkHill.


It’s not hard to imagine the long history of hill climbing

at Valley Springs Elk Farm, especially while peering up

at a 500 foot, rut-filled, vertical climb with memory

laden stones jutting out throughout the course. The stones

of this hill compare to “fishing tales”, like the big one that

got away. Every rider has faced the inevitable bumps and

jolts as one by one the stones have become jarred loose,

only to roll down the hill and join countless others at the

bottom. It is a legendary hill.

A LEGENDARY HILL


For the last 20 years the hill has been hometo a herd of Elk, quietly waiting for anotherwhiff of high octane, the rev of a motor,and the grip of wheels digging into the dirtand grass that has slowly settled in andaround the stones. It was the stones, andthe stories that surround them, that lead tothe idea of reopening the hill. In 2010, theValley Springs Motorcycle Club of Bay City,Wisconsin convinced the current land-owner to once again hold a Hillclimbevent. By the summer of 2011, the clubheld their first event in two decades.

The club members, many of whom had rid-den the hill in the past, joined forces withthe ever-supportive community and awhole new generation of riders to helpmake the event happen. Even the specta-

tors who came to watch that first year werereturning visitors from days gone by. A bitrugged around the edges themselves, theycame in droves to see their old friend, thehill. Shortly after their successful re-open-ing event, the club was asked to host thenext AMA Amateur Hillclimb Champi-onships, which was to be held in August,2012.

The very first hill climbing events at thehill happened much the same way. Theidea began in early 1976 and by that fall thehill was ready and hosted its 1st event, fol-lowed by Nationals the following year in1977 and again in 1981 and 1986. The hillhosted events for over a decade, with riderscoming from near and far to have their turnat breaking the hill and the records heldthere.

It was in 1982 that Dean Gerdes set the lasthill record of 10.261 seconds on a 1982Suzuki RM465. That record stood for 30years. Throughout the first day of the 2012AMA Championships, the crowd watchedas hundreds of riders tried and failed atbeating the hill record. Even the 10 secondmark was tough to break until MitchKoester topped the hill with a time of10.993 seconds on his second run in the750cc class, the winning time for that classfor the weekend.

Just when everyone thought the hill recordmight just hold for another year, LoganCipala topped the hill at an astonishing10.249 seconds in the Open Class and anew hill record was set. The rest of the day,the riders struggled to get out of the ruts

Written by Kim“KimmyCat” Niles

Photography byMike Nelson

Page 26 Find us on Facebook October 2012

and deep dust as stones became un-earthed and the hill took its toll on theremaining riders.

An unexpected and soaking rain beganto fall around 10:45pm that evening.The remaining crowd, enjoying the livemusic at the bottom of the hill, wasforced to run for cover. By morning, therain had changed over to drizzles as thefirst riders began to take their final turnsat conquering the hill. It was easy to rec-ognize that the hill had transformedovernight, especially when youngKaden Funk actually cleared the hillwith 32.166 seconds in the 65cc class.This was the first time one of the ‘littleguys’ had ever made it to the top! Imag-

ine the excitement when Brock Riffe fol-lowed with an astonishing 25.381seconds in the same class.

By this time, everyone was confidentthat records would fall throughout theday. The hill felt good. You could almostfeel it pulling the riders up and over andquite a few 10 second runs got loggedin the books early in the day. But, as theday progressed, the hill once again be-came difficult to navigate. Just when itseemed that the new hill record wouldgo unchallenged, Zach Degross took theOpen Class lead with a 10.194 secondrun on his Kawasaki, followed shortlyafter by Todd Cipala with a crowd pleas-ing 10.106 seconds on his Harley in theSenior (+40) Class.

To top the weekend off, the King of theHill competition was on deck. The top10 riders from each lane, regardless ofclass, competed for the ultimate title ofKing of the Hill, a six foot trophy, andall of the bragging rights that go with it.The crowd watched anxiously as thefirst riders got in good times, but the hillwas now boasting severe ruts at the foot,massive stones in its mid-section, and

deep dirt near its crest. The list of com-petitors was waning and a few of the

hopefuls had trouble even getting to thetop. And, just as the crowd began towonder again if they had seen the last ofthe record breaking runs, Kirk Muellerflew to the top with his big bore Suzukiand shattered the hill record with amind-blowing 9.465 seconds, takingboth the King of the Hill and the FastTime records! By the end of the week-end, the American Motorcycle Associa-tion crowned 23 different class GrandChampions.

And so ends another year for the hill, asit remains unsure what the future holds.Just when it has begun to come aliveagain, its fate once again lies in thehands of others. The current land-owner has placed the property on themarket, and uncertainty looms as every-one wonders if the new owners will em-

brace the pride of the community.Future events are dependent on it, andwe can only hope that the hill mightonce again give and take, as it has somany times before.

The Valley Springs Motorcycle Clubwould like to thank the more than 200volunteers who helped make this years’event a success, including the EllsworthFootball Booster Club, the local BoyScouts, Eidsvold Lutheran Church, Val-ley Springs Elk Farm, countless othersand, of course, the hill.



Powercruise 2012Powercruise 2012

P owerskids, Hour of Power,

Cruising Car Show, Sound Off,

Burnouts, Off-Street Drags, Miss

Powercruise, Drifting, Dyno Shootout,

Show and Shine......this year BIR (Brain-

erd International Raceway) hosted round

two of the Australian originated Power-

cruise! This year's show brought just shy

of triple the cars from year one...if that

isn't proof of how much it has to offer I

don't know what is! Once again, all at the

same track, on the same weekend!

Round Two From Down Under


The event brought hi-tech imports, classicand old school muscle cars, nitrous andblown injected show stoppers, and more.There was a little something for all agesand all kinds of car enthusiasts to enjoy.BIR also provided plenty of room for camp-ing right on sight so you didn't have tomiss a minute of action. Between eventswe had Authority Stunts riders putting ona show with rolling endos, spreaders, highchairs, flips, and much more. Sponsors andvendors were there to display and providethe latest on their products, and music washappening on the outside stage to helpwith the nights activities.

Michael Gilbert ('Gup' as he is betterknown as), of Brisbane, Australia, the cre-ator of the Powercruise concept was acrowd favorite again showing what his

green Holden HQ '(Elvis' as we were intro-duced to it) was made to do. He was happyto see he had some people who had putsome time and effort into coming after his

famous PowerSkid record (still a ways togo, but they are working on it)!

I heard more positive talk about spreadingthe word and plans to make year three even

larger! Keep up on what will be in store byfinding them at www.powercruise.com oron Facebook Powercruise USA



I The International Watercross Association held the final eventof the 2012 IWA World Series of Watercross on Sept. 15-16 atBrainerd International Raceway. In a weekend marked by

beautiful weather and great racing, the IWA faithful sent the 2012 racingseason out with a bang!

The final race of the season is always an exciting event as racers are notonly vying for the win of the event, but also battling for World Seriespoints totals as well. This year’s event was no exception!

Written by Mike Benoy

Photos provided bySadie Simonsen

IWA Finale – Brainerd InternationalRaceway, Sept 15-16, 2012


Young David Fischer of Eagan, Minnesotacompleted a rare feat in high-level snow-mobile racing by completing a “perfect”season in the high-speed Mod Drag class.Fischer, aboard the Motorsports Plus pow-ered Yamaha, won every single race he en-tered during the season en route to 5 wins,a World Championship, and a SeasonPoints title. Fischer also took his secondtitle in the Stock 800 Drag class in the past3 years, icing the competition with an im-pressive final event win aboard a differentmachine than he raced the rest of the sea-son with.

The Stock 600 class champion for 2012was Krystle Kulenkamp of Mora, MN.

Krystle ended the season at BIR with a bigwin in the final and propelled herself to aseries championship in the process. Krys-tle was eager to thank her father, Mark andher Boyfriend Joey for helping her this sea-son as well as Bikeman Performance, andBoyesen Reeds who sponsor her.

The Semi-Pro Stock oval division was dom-inated in 2012 by David Fischer. He wasable to seal his 3rd Season Points Champi-

onship of the year with a 2nd place finishin the final. Trevor Fjosne of Willow River,MN took the win and ended the season in2nd place in points behind Fischer.

In Semi-Pro Open action, Nick Gustafsoncapped off a championship season with asolid 3rd place finish in the final. Nick willbe moving into the Pro Open class for nextseason and I look forward to seeing himcompete at that level. Joe Schellbach , rac-ing in his first event of the 2012 season,went undefeated for the weekend and tookthe win aboard his Speedwerx PerformanceArctic Cat. Schellbach will be a force nextyear if he races the entire schedule!

Dale Lindbeck captured his second con-secutive title in the Pro Stock division thisyear, finishing 3rd at BIR behind winner

Chad Maki, and 2nd place finisher HowieSteenberg in the final. Lindbeck’s TeamArctic machine was flawless all year longas was its pilot. Dale continues to amazeme as a racer year after year, he is truly age-less on the racetrack. Chad Maki was veryimpressive all year in the class as well, butunable to overcome Lindbeck’s consistency.

The Pro Open class in 2012 was dominatedby Chad Maki. Going into the final at BIRMaki was in lane one on the inside. Head-ing down the front straightaway, he wasabout a sled length behind Lindbeck inlane 2 and Kyle Carpenter in lane 3. Chadcut it over hard in the first turn, but just abit too tight, putting him on the bottom ofthe pond. Lindbeck took the lead andnever looked back. Maki, however, had aninsurmountable lead in the series pointsand at the young age of 21 years, capturedhis second Pro Open points title. Lindbeckfinished the season in 2nd place, Kyle Car-penter finished in 3rd.

For full results of the event and the 2012IWA World Series of Watercross seasonpoints, you can visit the IWA website atwww.iwaracing.com.



Written and photographed byJohn Krueger for Ricekiller.com


Life is all about compromise. This is espe-cially true when you enter the married life.You see, when you're married you're nolonger making decisions for yourself. Youhave a “better-half” that needs to put in her(or his) two-cents. Andy Kusske andMitch Patterson know how to compromisewith their better-halves because with a bitof compromising they own these two blackbeauties.

Andy's 1998 Nissan 240sx- The story ofAndy's pristine '98 240sx starts back in2003. Him and his wife, Jessica, had justsold their first home and were shopping fora new place to live. Andy wanted to moveout to California, but his wife wanted tostay in Minnesota. The two agreed on acompromise; they would stay in Min-nesota if she buys Andy a new project car.So, with the agreement, Andy begansearching, but a problem came up; hecouldn't find anything he liked for the dol-

lar amount they agreed upon. When thismint, 240sx popped up, Andy started thenegotiations again. “The car was doubleour agreed price, but I explained that it wasa better deal. It would cost more up front,but very little would money would have tobe put into it.” Needless to say, Jessicaagreed and bought the car.

Over the years, the car has sported manydifferent guises; ranging from a built KA toa built SR20DET motor, but it's currentsetup is probably my personal favorite. Atthe end of 2011, I wondered how Andy wasgoing to step the car up from it's built SR,and when I saw the car again in 2012 Ineedn't have worried. The heart of this caris no longer anything built by Nissan, butfrom competitor Toyota with engine baynow housing a 1JZGTTE twin-turbo motorfrom a Japanese Toyota Soarer. The swap isdone and finished to a factory-fresh specwith all of the wiring done by Andy's goodfriend Jamie Johnson. The twin-turbomotor is spruced up with custom intakeand intercooler piping ensuring the com-pressed air from the JDM c12b turbosreaches the intake manifold where it meetsfuel supplied by the JDM 440cc injectors.A custom down-pipe and 3” exhaust pro-vide the super-sweet tone that is expectedfrom Toyota's straight-six cylinder motor,and everything is kept in check with anAEM V2 engine management system tunedby MAP Performance. To mate the Toyotamotor to the Nissan's engine bay, custommotor mounts and transmission mountsneeded to be fabbed up along with a cus-tom drive-shaft. The custom drive-shaftconnects the 240's rear-end to a ToyotaR154 five-speed manual transmission withan ACT stage 4 clutch. Other under-hood

accessories and goodies include a TRD 160degree t-stat, new timing belt, all new Toy-ota gaskets and seals, and a custom paintedvalve-cover.

The rest of the car is as spotless as themotor and engine bay. The factory '98 ex-terior is aggressive and stylish, and mostdon't believe Andy when he says the paintis factory. However, to spruce up the out-side a bit, he added an Origin rear lip, VIShood, and F1-style mirrors all made inlightweight carbon-fiber. Suspension hasbeen upgraded with Tein Super-Driftcoilovers with stiffer Eibach springs and acatalog Cusco and Tanabe braces. Brakeshave been upgraded with larger, 300ZXbrake calipers and Endless rotors. Thewheels (Andy's sixth set mind you) are hisfavorite yet; 17x9.5 Enkei RPF-1s. Aggres-sive, and lightweight these wheels are pop-ular with many tuners and Andy's 240wears them well. The interior of the carfeatures a pair of Kirket racing seats withRCI harnesses to keep driver and passen-

ger buckled down while a 6-point cage pro-vide added safety. A Sparco steering wheelon a NRG quick-release hub provide thesteering input while a custom dash andgauge setup provide engine vitals to Andy.All in all, Andy has built a very well-rounded car, and that was his goal from thebeginning. From the show-field to therace-track, his 240 excels wherever it is,and Andy thoroughly enjoys the car. I haveseen it at many local shows and events, andit's great to see an enthusiast be so sup-portive of the local community. It's a greatcar with a great owner, and it doesn't getmuch better than that.


Mitch Patterson's 1994 Toyota Supra- Thesecond car featured is a friend of Andy's,and an equally cool enthusiast. Anothertale of compromise with the wife whichlead to another stunning car. Mitch has al-ways been a fan of the MK4 Toyota Supra,a true icon in the automotive world. Aftermany years of hard work, he was in the po-sition to buy one, but of course his wifeneeded a bit of coercing to allow him topull the trigger. The price for allowingMitch to buy his dream car? Sell one of hiscurrent toys. His 510hp, supercharged300C SRT-8 got the elbow and his searchbegan. Surprising to some, Mitch foundhis car on eBay. “I had a few options; buya completely stock one and leave it thatway because these cars appreciate in value,buy a NA model and build from there, orbuy one that is already built.” Option onedidn't work because Mitch wanted to buildone for big power, and option two wasdeemed too expensive, which left him withoption three. Now, buying a built Supra isnot at all a bad idea considering the mas-sive cost to build these cars, so buying onewith good parts and all the work done is agreat way to save time, money, and theheadache associated with building a high-caliber car.

Much to a lot of peoples' surprise, Mitchfound his car on eBay. “I ended up con-tacting the seller directly and negotiated aprice over the phone. I then had the carshipped directly from Scottsdale, AZ backto Minnesota. I don't think I slept for the4 days the car was in transit,” explainedMitch. With the car finally in his posses-sion, he had his entrusted shop, Full BlownMotorsports in Apple Valley, MN, give thecar the once over. Now, with any used carpurchase, there will always be a few grem-lins to sort and it applies to already-built

cars too. Mitch has been sorting issuessince the cars purchase but as of now thecar is running healthy and he's been get-ting used to the big-power potential thatthis car has. In its current trim with the

boost turned down, the Supra produces818whp through the GM TH400 transmis-sion meaning that the motor is producingan easy 1,000hp. Not bad for a 6cyl. Thefully-built 3.0L Toyota motor is given someheavy, assisted breathing via a massive Gar-rett gt47-80 turbo-charger. The basketball-sized turbo sits atop a Sound Performance

T6 turbo manifold. Boost is fed through 3”intercooler piping to a Titan Motorsports5” intercooler, then through 4” piping to aSound Performance race-style intake man-ifold. Ethanol fuel is fed to the motor viatwo 340lph fuel pumps to a Sound Per-formance fuel rail and six, 1600cc fuel in-jectors. Everything is kept in check withan AEM engine management system tunedby LJ at Full Blown Motorsports. Theaforementioned GM TH400 transmissionputs the power to the rear wheels whichcan be one of two sets; 19x10 and 19x11CCW SP500s for street duty, or 16x4 and16x10.5 CCW Classics for when it's timeto get down at the drag strip.

Now, it would take me many more pages towrite about the motor and build of this car.That's the nature with big-power Suprabuilds; there is literally a laundry list ofparts into this car, and this one follows suitwith a repertoire of trade-mark Suprastyling cues. The factory body lines arewell enough left alone save for a carbon-

fiber Wings West lip and carbon-fiberRMM spoiler. A carbon-fiber TS-style hoodhelps vent excess heat from the massiveturbo as well as shed a few pounds fromthe Supra's rather heavy body. Other Suprastyling cues include 98 head lights, taillights, and turn signals which round off aclassic look. Inside, the car remains largelyuntouched. New leather seats front andrear, new carpet, and a carbon-fiber dashkit spruce things up while a traditionalarray of various gauges give the driver thedesired engine read-outs. Mitch has a fewplans to make this Supra his own, startingthe with engine management system as hewants to switch from the AEM to Haltech'sPlatinum series EMS. Other plannedchanges include a new exhaust, larger in-jectors and a bigger fuel rail to fully realizethe 2JZ's power-potential on e85 fuel.

As I packed up my photo gear from theshoot and watched both cars drive off, Icouldn't help but think that a little com-promising resulted in those two machines.Usually the toys are the first things to gofor a married man, so this is proof thatthere is hope! Seriously though, both own-ers would like to thank their wives for al-lowing them to enjoy their hobby. So guys(and gals) don't give up! With a little com-promising, there's no telling what you cando.

Drag Racing in Iowa does not get anybetter than the event I attended lo-cated just south of Earlville, Iowa

along the east bound lane of Hwy 20. This isgrass roots racing at its finest, where racerswithout the aid of major sponsorships rely ontheir own innovations to get them to the fin-ish line first. Don’t get me wrong, someclasses require deep pockets, but I admire thecraftsmanship and sacrifices these racersmake to enjoy a passion they love.


Reid and Jane Kuhlman started groundbreaking for this drag strip in the fall of1996 and opened for business in June1998. What began as common farmground, has been transformed into one ofthe Midwest's premier motorsports facili-ties. The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Se-ries held September 7th thru the 9thattracted a total of 482 entries throughoutthe country and Canada. Ideal weather of-fered the opportunity for setting many newNHRA class records.

Camping sites and pits were filled withMotorhomes with race haulers. Spectatorswere able to roam the area and get up frontand personal with the race teams. This

track was built by racers……for racers,and the people I visited with had nothingbut praise for the facilities. Following arehighlights of class events which took place:

Gord Gingles stomped the Top AlcoholDragster field to strengthen his hold on theCentral Region points lead, and KirkWilliams won Top Alcohol Funny Car totie Kris Hool for the top spot in the region.

In the Top Alcohol Dragster final, Ginglesleft within a hundredth of Chase Copeland,.080 to .089, and made his strongest run ofthe weekend, 5.48, for his second regionalvictory in his last three outings. He alsoscored at Cordova. Copeland, who usuallydoes his best at the end of the season,dropped cylinders a few hundred feet offthe starting line and slowed to a 7.43 at 126mph.

Gingles ran back-to-back 5.57s in the earlyrounds to eliminate past national eventchampions John Finke and Randy Meyer.Finke, racing far from his upstate NewYork base on back-to-back weekends in anattempt to win the East Region champi-onship, got off the mark first with a .048reaction time but lost with a 5.66 in thefirst round. Meyer, who surprisingly is win-less this season, fell to Gingles in the semiswith a tire-smoking, backpedaling 5.77.

Copeland topped Christine Chambless inthe first round with a 5.44 and newcomerDean Dubbin in the semi's with a 5.48,leaving first both times. Back-to-back run-ner-ups, including one at the Brainerd na-tional event three weeks ago, have himback to 10th in the national standings,where he's finished in each of the past twoseasons.

Written by John Lentzkow



In the Top Alcohol Funny Car final,Williams beat Cordova runner-up DaleBrand on a holeshot, 5.79 to 5.75. Williamshad his best reaction time of the race, .041,against Brand's .090 to hold off the fastercar by 11-thousandths of a second.

"Dale was running a couple hundredthsquicker than us, so I figured I'd better getafter it on the Tree because there was noth-ing to lose," said Williams, who's woncountless races on holeshots during his ca-reer. "I knew I was going to have to short-shift because the right lane here can bereally tricky to get down, and I hit the but-ton at 8,500."

Brand, who has two-runner-ups and asemifinal showing in his only three startsthis season, won the first round with asolid 5.76 after Wayne Butler red-lighted.Williams defeated Mike Bell in that roundwith a 5.750, which, at the time, was lowe.t.

Brand reclaimed low e.t. for good in thesemifinals with a 5.73 against Lance VanHauen, who ended the weekend with a pairof semifinals finishes, including one fromthe rescheduled Topeka event that wascompleted at Earlville. Williams survivedthat round with a 5.79 win over No. 1 qual-ifier Scott McVey.

"This whole weekend was chaotic,"Williams said. "On the first qualifying run,the car just died and rolled down the track.The next morning, it wouldn't start. Weborrowed a mag from Dean Dubbin, who

didn't even know me, and a main cap fromLance Van Hauen, who had to take hisspare motor out from under the bench toget one we could use. If it wasn't for thoseguys, we never would have made it."

Williams' victory ties him with Hool atopthe Central standings. Both have 266points. For Williams, who won five racesand the Division 5 championship in 2010,and Hool, who's parking his car at the endof this season, it all comes down to thepenultimate regional event of the seasonthis weekend in Noble, Okla.

Comp Eliminator saw Pat Nahan take thewin and jump to the No. 2 spot in divi-sional points as he beat Shaun Vincent in7.323 seconds at 167 mph. The win is

Nahan's second in three final rounds thisyear as he won at S.R.C.A. Dragstrip toopen the season.

Phil Unruh continued his winning waystaking yet another trophy in the division'sFineline/Madcap Top Dragster class.Unruh, who leads the points battle, randown Matt Driskell for the trophy at 212mph in 6.437 seconds. The McPherson,Kan., racer won both the Top Dragster andSuper Stock classes last Thursday at theconclusion of the Lucas Oil event fromHeartland Park Topeka which was com-pleted here at Tri-State Raceway.

Mike Lund and Tyler Wudarczyk eachscored victories as Lund beat Fred BartoliSr. in Super Stock and Wudarczyk wonover Michael Brand in Stock. Lund, Bet-tendorf, Iowa, went 10.086 at 115 mph inhis '88 Camaro while Wudarczyk jumpedto the No. 3 position in Stock points be-hind Brand.

Other winners this weekend were ChrisBrown, Wichita, Kan., in Super Comp;Ricky Hill, Gretna, Neb., in Super Gas; BobFuller, Rogers, Ark., in Super Street; TomSchmidt, Lindstrom, Minn., in the JerryHaas Race Cars Top Sportsman class; andDerek Dorey, Kingswood, Texas, in Sports-man Motorcycle presented by HarleyDavidson.

The following are Sunday's final resultsfrom the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Se-ries, West Central Division event at Tri-State Raceway:


TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER:ROUND ONE

6) Dean Dubbin, Royalton, Minn., 5.662, 241.24 def.

3) Edwin Schmeeckle, Gothenburg, Neb., 8.311,127.17;

4) Gord Gingles, Winnipeg, Manit., 5.579, 258.12 def.

5) John Finke, Selkirk, N.Y., 5.662, 263.98;

2) Ryan Copeland, Gainesville, Tex., 5.445, 269.29 def.

7) Christine Chambless, Scott City, Kan., 6.761,146.42;

1) Randy Meyer, Spring Hill, Kan., 11.063, 105.44 def.

8) Jared Dreher, Clinton, Ind., broke;

SEMI-FINALSGingles, 5.574, 259.66 def. Meyer, 5.777, 250.74;Copeland, 5.483, 269.13 def. Dubbin, 5.567, 253.90;

FINALSGingles, 5.489, 262.44 def. Copeland, 7.437, 126.79.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR:ROUND ONE

2) Dale Brand, Sully, Iowa, '06 Monte Carlo, 5.769,251.16 def.

7) Wayne Butler, Forest City, Ill., '02 Firebird, foul;

1) Scott McVey, Winnipeg, Manit., '06 Monte Carlo,33.434, no speed def.

8) Bruce Carlson, Prior Lake, Minn., '97 Firebird,broke;

3) Lance Van Hauen, Reinbeck, Iowa, '12 Camaro,5.790, 247.61 def.

6) Kris Hool, Casper, Wyo., '06 Monte Carlo, no-show;

4) Kirk Williams, Glenwood, Iowa, '02 Camaro, 5.750,251.44 def.

5) Mike Bell, Fulton, Mo., '11 Mustang, 7.637, 127.57;

SEMI-FINALSBrand, 5.731, 253.37 def. Van Hauen, 5.855, 245.54;

Williams, 5.794, 249.07 def. McVey, 7.104, 171.99;

FINALSWilliams, 5.791, 249.03 def. Brand, 5.753, 251.77.

COMPETITION ELIMINATORPat Nahan, Sartell, Minn., dragster, E/D, 7.323, 167.28 def.

Shaun Vincent, Omaha, Neb., '02 S-10, C/TA, 8.525,157.30.

SUPER STOCKMike Lund, Bettendorf, Iowa, '88 Camaro, GT/EA,10.086, 115.46 def.

Fred Bartoli Sr., Elk Grove, Ill., '98 Firebird, SS/IA,11.421, 88.11.

STOCK ELIMINATORTyler Wudarczyk, Topeka, Kan., '69 Nova, G/SA,11.412, 99.26 def.

Michael Brand, Thornton, Colo., '73 Formula, F/SA,11.068, 107.67.

SUPER COMPChris Brown, Wichita, Kan., dragster, 8.889, 168.56 def.

Dave Dahlem, Tremont, Ill., dragster, 8.882, 171.21.

SUPER GASRicky Hill, Gretna, Neb., '93 Olds, 9.930, 145.88 def.

Kurt Potach, Austin, Minn., '97 Beretta, 9.936, 143.38.

SUPER STREETBob Fuller, Rogers, Ark., '69 Firebird, 10.858, 145.94 def.

Steve Domingues, Derby, Kan., '67 Camaro, 10.855,146.64.

TOP SPORTSMANTom Schmidt, Lindstrom, Minn., '63 Corvette, 6.897,201.82 def.

Rick Wilson, Independence, Kan., '69 Camaro, 6.983,191.05.

TOP DRAGSTERPhil Unruh, McPherson, Kan., dragster, 6.437, 212.93 def.Matt Driskell, Wellsville, Kan., dragster, 6.889, 194.83.

SPORTSMAN MOTORCYCLEDerek Dorey, Kingswood, Texas, '03 Razor, 8.760,150.70 def.

David Primrose, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, '96 Kawasaki,8.769, 147.50.

SUPER COMP SHOOTOUTJarod Bowman, Marion, Iowa, dragster, 8.907, 168.66def.

Don Nichols, Lincoln, Neb., dragster, 8.896, 160.02.

SUPER GAS SHOOTOUTDavid Nelson, Randall, Minn., '99 Camaro, 15.693,89.57 def.

Al Gavlovsky, Bemidji, Minn., '63 Corvette, broke.

SUPER STREET SHOOTOUTJames Wilson, Milan, Ill., '64 Nova, 10.998, 122.37 def.

Roger Hayward, Ankeny, Iowa, '67 Fairlane, 10.908,135.62.


It's unusual to see morethan a single truck at atime in Volga City, Iowa

(population 208) until the lastweekend in August, that is.This year more than 500trucks and a couple of thou-sand people descended on thestreets of Volga City for whatis billed as Iowa's LargestTruck Event.


In the early afternoon, Tom Lott, the 34-

year old organizer, took the stage and ex-

plained the rules. Then all of the drivers

hopped in their trucks with friends, girl-

friends and kids, and started the long roll

out of town, most hitting the gas pretty

hard just past the sheriff deputy stopping

cross traffic, and heading up the hill right

past Tom's farm. Just imagine a 500 plus

truck cruise through several towns includ-

ing Wadena, Iowa before the final swing

through the rolling hills and dairy farms

back into Volga City.

That's when the real noise got underway.

Crowds filled both sides of the staging and

paved area protected by guard rails. Truck

after truck showed their stuff with engines

screaming and tires smoking. This was the

burnout contest, a preview to the next

event, tug-a-truck. That's when two com-

petitors would back up to one another,

hook onto a steel bar on each end, and

then try to pull the other across a line.

That's when a truck's real power shows

through, and each competitor had three

chances to prove his horsepower was

greater than the truck at the other end of

the bar. This went on until a mid-evenind

Tschiggfrie from Dubuque, Iowa showed

up with his unbelievable Supercharged

Twin Turbo Chevy Duramax Dieselg rain

chased off most people, and ended the

evening's festivities.

Sunday morning the rain was all gone, and

crowds came back, in numbers higher than

Tom had even expected, lining the banks

of the Volga River. Across the river, Tom

had poured a cement pad, and had a first-

year expedition tryout practice on his new

figure 8 pad. Screaming and skidding were

the order of the day, as drivers sought to


Rod Tschiggfrie from Dubuque, Iowa showed up with his unbelievable SuperchargedTwin Turbo Chevy Duramax Diesel.


navigate donuts and figure 8s, weaving

around cones with precision. Crowds

cheered loudly for the best of the drivers.

Then, for a cool down, Todd Larson rolled

into gear with his monster trucks, Big Guns

and Mud Pimp, chasing water up river. In

the afternoon, more tests of truck integrity

kicked in with locals repeating the tryouts

from earlier in the weekend. The festival

wrapped up with the firing off of spectacu-

lar rounds of fireworks, courtesy of Todd's

Specialized Rigging. Calls came in from

towns far and wide that the fireworks could

be seen and enjoyed by all those who had

gone on home, and then little Volga City

went back to sleep for another year.

Todd Larson, a major sponsor of the event, from Oelwein, Iowa, brought his MonsterTruck to woo the spectators.

The event benefits renovation of the Volga CityOpera House for a truck-themed steak house -

http://www.vctcinc.com/

Brown’s Sales –Leasing and RV’s, also a major sponsor of the event, provided new trucks on display


Don Hering – The Da Vinci ofClassic and Custom Paint

Iam finding out that many of our talented Custom Buildersand Painters started out their craft as a youngster with in-terest in models, cars, planes, characters. I remember as a

kid building those really cool muscle cars from scratch, pieceby piece, painting them up, and adding those killer logos andgraphics. If you look at the phase that we went through askids, is there any difference with the custom builders andpainters as they took the craft to several levels up?

Meet Don Hering extremely well know inthe custom bike and hot rod communityfor his craftsmanship and quality work.Don like many of the talented builders andpainters started out withthe model phase, but in1974 took that experienceto real cars, hot rods, andbikes as a hobby, but 1976saw the opportunity to ex-pand that talent to a fullfledged business.

Hering Kustoms is a cus-tom paint and body shopin Northfield, MN. Theyhave won many presti-gious awards such as Easy

Rider/V Twin Bike of the Yearand Rats Hole Show held inSturgis (bike was built by JerryBurrow from Road Hawgs).Hering Kustoms also paintedthe bike that was at the MillionDollar Bike Build-Off at theHeritage Rally held inCharleston, SC.

Hering Kustoms has been inbusiness since 1974. Don Her-ing and Judd Holmberg areprime examples of men that aretrue Masters of their trade. Her-ing Kustoms always providestop quality work and amazingpaint jobs. They are currentlyworking with, and have worked withHamel Power, Extreme Custom Cycles,Doc's Chops and Shocks Harley in Penn-sylvania, Phill Borriello's Chopper Shop inDelaware, Road Hawgs, MC Iron Works,and Divinchi Performance out of Texas.

Don Hering’s business is located on his per-sonal farm located in the Northfield, Min-nesota area. Don transformed a nice shoparea to focus on classic cars, hot rods,bikes, and snowmobiles. As Don talksabout his accomplishments you can’t helpto see how he treats every project as theone and only. Winning the prestigious EasyRider Bike of the Year awards in 2005 and2006, "The 2005 entry was done by JuddHolmberg of Hering Kustom Paint; Juddwas named Painter of the Year for his verytalented effort on this bike." This is lookedupon in the paint community as the acad-emy award of custom painters.

Don estimates he does about 10 classy andunique paint jobs per year and one bikebuild. The customer has some unique re-quirements for their machine. Don canguide them in the right direction for classand cost. Don’s projects are not exclusive

to bikes only, the paint canvas has been avariety of machines, and he has also wonsome high end Hot Rod awards. Don hasalso won the Reno Hot August Nights,Bloomington Gold for Corvettes in Indianaand countless classic car shows whereDon’s customer’s entries have won repeatedawards for paint jobs by Don Hering. I per-sonally attended a classic car show where a1951 Mercury that won best body andpaint was a project Don took on 20 yearsago and the classic still takes the prizetoday even after the Mercury was sold sev-eral times. How’s that for quality crafts-manship? If you not convinced that Don isthe real deal, Kevin Baas a well knowbuilder and teacher at BloomingtonKennedy High School where his studentshave taken first prize at several CustomBike shows, says “ Don is one the bestpainters in the world”. Now you can’t getany better feedback from a guy that hasalso dealt with many fabricators andpainters in the industry. With the snow-mobile season coming upon us Don isgearing up for putting some of his signa-ture paint jobs on those crazy, but ex-tremely fast snowmobiles used for iceracing and straight runs.

The bottom line is if you are in the marketfor quality craftsmanship, eye poppingpaint jobs, and walking away with trophyafter trophy for your prized machine. Youneed to contact Don Hering. Hering Kus-toms is located at 2822 100 St East inNorthfield, MN, Phone number 507-645-7065.

Shop hours are 9:00 am to 8:00 pm Mon-day through Saturday or Check out Don’swebsite at www.heringkustoms.com

Written By Billy Boyle


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I just returned from the 2012 HOG Rally inWausau Wi. The rally was held from Au-gust 16 through the evening of the 18th, onthe property of the Wausau Harley David-son Dealership. Even though it’s theWausau HD the actual location is in Roth-schild which is at the south junction ofHwy 29 and Interstate 51. The rally openedon Thursday however, we were not able totake off until Friday at 1pm. We took offfrom Hammond, WI with the bikes allloaded for a weekend of fun. We headedeast on Hwy 12 to Menomonie where wepicked up Interstate 94 and took that a fewmiles to Hwy 29. We then continued easton Hwy 29 all the way to Wausau.

Not being in a big hurry our first pit stopwas at a truck stop in Cadot and then backon the road. As we were getting close tothe City of Abbotsford we observed a smallpickup truck with several flat tires in themedian and another pick up truck not toofar from it. The small truck had been alsoeast bound on Hwy 29 and it looked likehe lost control or fell asleep leaving blacktire marks in the fast lane. Not sure if he

hit a west bound vehicle but the smalltruck ended up facing the wrong directionand had a lot of damage. Lucky for us thisoccurred only a few short minutes in frontof us.

Arriving in the Wausau area we took Inter-state 51 to the South junction of Hwy 29then east again on Hwy 29 towards GreenBay. The motel we stayed at was only about3 miles in this direction and north of Hwy29 to Schofield Ave. We stayed at theWestin Motel which is located directly nextto the Westin Bowling Lanes and only sixmiles from the Hog Rally. It actually was agreat place to stay and allowed us to parkthe bikes for the evening and have a fewdrinks.

The bike parade started at about 6pm. Wedidn’t attend this year as we were not doneunloading the bags and unpacking. Theparade left the Cedar Creek Mall which isnear the rally site and traveled into Wausauvia Grand Avenue and then back to therally site via County Road X. An estimated500 bikes were lined up for the parade.

Opening Cermonies then began between 7and 7:30 once the parade was finished.Throughout Friday and Saturday therewere bike demo rides, vendors, bingo anda lot of food. The headliner for Friday andSaturday nights were the bands Vic Ferrariand Spicy Tie.

Saturday morning we arrived in the area ofthe rally site, found a restaurant and hadbreakfast and then headed to the rally. Wedecided to do our shopping now sincethere wasn’t a lot of people there yet.Wausau HD had a trailer set up outsidetheir store with items at a discount price. Imanaged to pick up two t-shirts for lessthan the price of one. We also checked outthe deals inside the Wausau HD Store.

We decided to wait around and watch theWisconsin State Patrol Demo. This wasvery exciting! Five bikes came rolling inwith the reds and blues on and pulled upcenter stage. The patrol sergeant took con-trol of things and introduced his team andexplained what they do and how theytrained for this. They also showed theproper way of putting your bike back upright, if you were to lay the bike down it onits side. They showed how to set it up boththe left and right sides. They also showed

Written by Brad Coplan



Off the Beaten Path2012 HOG RALLY

Wausau, WI

how they mount and dismount their bikeswhile working so their gun hand is alwaysfree for their safety.

WI State Patrol Demo Team then went intosome handling tips while riding and slowspeed control of the bike. They did ma-neuvers in a small circle as well as aroundcones. They also did some fast speed brak-ing tips using the front brake only, then therear brake only and then combined brak-ing to show how you can decrease yourdistance in stopping when using bothbrakes. This event was very entertainingand knowledgeable for all that were pres-ent.

They also had JBX Freestyle Stunt Teamthat was very good. They used two bikesand showed several stunts from wheelieswhile sitting on the bike and standing onthe seat, to standing upright on the seatwhile the bike was traveling. They also didfront brake/tire stands and drove the bikewhile sitting on the gas tank. They werealso fantastic to watch just remember toleave this kind of riding to them. Severalother games were going on both days thatwould involve the crowd. One of the eventswas the passenger on the bike grabbing thehotdog with their mouth and another wasthe passenger throwing a water balloonover a goal post and then catching it on theother side while the bike is moving. Therewere of course several other games thatwere a little were very much adult in na-ture that I can’t write about in this story.Looked like a lot of fun, however!

Food was a plentiful; hamburgers, corn onthe cob, fresh walnuts and cashews. Therally also included a free pig roast to mem-bers registered at the rally. We decided tonot go for the free pig roast as Texas Road-house was calling our names. It was sureworth it, like usual the food was fantastic!

The rally did have a couple rides plannedbut we decided to go off on our own. SinceI had lived in Wausau for a little over twoyears I knew the area well. I took our groupon a little ride to Stevens Point using theback roads and then back around towardWittenberg and back to the rally site. Weput on about 100 miles on this little joyride, it was a very nice country ride.

After the rally I did talk to the 2012 HOGRally Coordinator Tom Osowski, and headvised me that they had over 2000 peopleregister for this event. The oldest was 82and the youngest was 21 with the youngestHOG member being 8. Total miles drivenby HOG members arriving was 450,000and the furthest rider came from San Diego

CA. The furthest attendee was Joy Strainfrom Australia. They had over 200 volun-teers working this event and served 500people with the free pig roast. I would liketo congratulate Tom and his team as wellas the Wausau Harley Davison Dealer for ajob well done.

We decided to head back to the hotel andpark the bikes then head over to the bowl-ing alley for a few drinks. We awoke sun-day morning and packed up the bikes andheaded home. We ended up with about475 miles on the bikes, from the weekendof riding. It was a great getting togetherwith my friends, and fun meeting newfriends and fellow riders.

Q.I have a strange problem withmy snowmobile’s engine that Ican’t figure out??? It starts hard,

but it eventually starts. Once it is run-ning, it lacks power and has backfired afew times. I have gone through thecarbs several times, even swapped themwith a buddy of mine and it didn’t help.I have also tried his ignition box and coilas well, but nothing seems to help. Anyideas?

Bill, Minneapolis, MN

A.Bill, when I hear of a problem likethis, there are instantly 3 thingsthat come to mind. First of all, I

would check the ignition timing with ameter or test light to see if it hasn’t eitheradvanced or retarded greatly. This wouldindicate a sheared flywheel key or possi-bly broken trigger coil mount. If you hada serious issue with a drive clutch failure,that would be my first guess. If the fly-wheel key, stator, and pickup coil are in-tact, I would begin to question whether or

not the crankshaft is still in time. A quickway to check that is to take the sparkplugs out and put a full length, un-sharp-ened pencil in each cylinder. Rotate theengine until one of them indicates you areat top dead center of the stroke. Once youestablish that, if the crank is way out ofphase, you will notice that during thenext several degrees of motion, both pis-tons will be travelling in the downwarddirection. This can be very slight, but itcan usually be seen. To know for sure,you need to use a degree wheel and a dialindicator to find out exact phase orienta-tion. A twisted crankshaft can producethose very same symptoms. The 3rdthing that comes to mind is probably theeasiest to check and that is some kind ofblockage in the exhaust system. I had afamily of mice move into one of my racesleds over the summer one time manyyears ago. The first time I fired the sled inthe garage that fall, it wouldn’t run verywell at all. I spent half a day messingaround with the carbs before I finally no-

ticed that one of the pipes wasn’t pushinga very strong pulse out of it compared tothe other. I’ve seen a similar effect in astock, single pipe exhaust system when abaffle broke inside the muffler box. Ifyour sled has a muffler that is separatefrom the tuned pipe, try to disconnect itthere and see if the symptom is remedied.Be advised, you’ll want some ear plugs onfor this process as it will be quite loud.

I’m not much of a gambler, but I’d be will-ing to bet you’ll find an answer if youcheck those 3 things.

I hope that answers your questions!

If you have a question you would like an-swered, please send them in as I am al-ways happy to do the best I can to giveyou an answer. Please email your ques-tions to [email protected], ormail them in to the following address:Wheels Of Thunder Magazine, 13915Radium NW, Suite D, Ramsey, MN55303.



The 24th annual ABATE of Minnesota StateRally had something for everyone. TheThursday night PAC Bar-B-Q got everyonestarted on a full belly. Honestly, nobody wenthungry! All proceeds from the supper sup-port your right to ride. Friday was a day filledwith biker camaraderie, new and renewed

friendships and live music in the evening.Saturday was an amazing day: A ride in themorning, bike show, chili contest, tattoo con-test, a wild motorcycle rodeo and the alwayspopular “fashion show”. But the best was yetto come. Saturday evening everybody wastreated to the straight up American rock androll of Rhino and then legendary nationalrecording artist Head East took the stage!And in the middle of the show, a brand newHarley was raffled off. The new owner wastelling everyone within earshot “I won thebike! I won the bike!” The awesome foodvendors and full service bar kept all thecampers happy and fed. I want to give a hugethank you to Ron Ernst, the Rally Chair.Many thanks to all of the folks who helped

make the Rally a success. A tip of my hat toeveryone who volunteered, attended, spon-sored, or were vendors at the Rally. Don’t missnext year – Its gonna be good!

State Fair Poll is for MandatoryHelmetsWhile the Rally was going on, people werevoting on a legislative survey at the Min-nesota House and Senate booth in the Edu-cation Building at the State Fair. Question #4was: "Should Minnesota motorcyclists be re-quired to wear helmets?" 70% of the peoplevoted yes. Honestly, this is the most half-baked survey I have seen in a long time. Infact, even the poll writers said “The poll is aninformal, unscientific survey of issues dis-cussed in prior legislative sessions…” How-ever, the results of these surveys have been

used to form policy in past years so it is im-portant to talk to your House and Senate can-didates. Tell them politely but firmly thatmotorcyclists will not support any attempt tomodify the current adult helmet law in Min-nesota.

Three Headlights?I have heard reports of motorcyclists on stockbikes getting stopped for having more thantwo headlights (MN statute 169.49b). I wasable to talk to three people who were stoppedunder this bogus pretext. The correct de-scription of this lighting configuration is oneheadlight and two auxiliary lamps (MNstatute 169.56). A Minnesota Supreme Courtdecision settled this for good years ago. Afterconsulting with Stephen O’Brien, A.B.A.T.E.of Minnesota’s attorney, a letter was writtento various law enforcement agencies alertingthem that they had officers on patrol misin-terpreting the law and requesting correctiveaction. If you feel you have been pulled overin error, it is vital to gather as much informa-tion as you can and contact ABATE of Min-nesota. This is very important informationthat helps us determine if we have a depart-ment wide problem or just one officer that isenforcing the law improperly. If you havequestions, get in touch with me. Remember,you only have the rights you are willing todefend.

Yours in freedom,

Mack

2012 ABATE OF MINNESOTA STATE RALLY“A GREAT TIME!”


The rivalry between Indian and Harley isfull of half truths and downright lies,which is why it makes the old contest sopassionate! Why after over sixty years arethe lines so profoundly drawn between thetwo brands? The two camps still resonatearguments, disagreements and even barroom fights because the Indian brand willjust not 'go away', and at times continuesto be the thorn in the Motor Company'sside. So, what did Indian do that makes itsuch a sore spot for so many years?

Only the hills of South Dakota can tell the

real story. Today, well over a half millionpeople from all corners of the world and allwalks of life gather in Sturgis, SouthDakota each August. From hardcore bikersto weekend worriers, white collar execu-tives to blue collar slaves, from the youngbarely off their pedal bike to grandparents,and everyone in between gathered this pastAugust 6th-12th.

What is it that can draw so many for somany reasons? When we attempt to re-search history, we find ourselves again andagain coming up with different stories and

ideas from those who have lived it, or havehad it passed down from generation to gen-eration.

The stories are mesmerizing, and as young-sters we stare at the old timers not wantingto blink, afraid we might miss a word or ex-pression. Now it becomes our turn to passon the stories….but wait...someone stepson our pride…throwing in their two centson how our story is ‘wrong’! After all, thatis not the way it was and they should knowbecause they were told from someone theyknow who was there and ‘lived’ it.

So, that being said….Who Did Start Stur-gis? Indian or Harley? If you follow his-tory back far enough, the truth revealsitself.

Years ago, in the Black Hills of SouthDakota a young teenager found himselfdriving cattle and enjoying his time on thefamily ranch atop his Indian motorcycle.Clarence Hoel, better know as “Pappy”helped with the family ice business, butknew as he watched times change the clockwas ticking, and it would not be a job hecould count on to support his wife, Pearland son, Jack.

After applying for his Indian Motorcyclefranchise license, he opened the 1st Indiandealership in South Dakota in his garage in

Sturgis – SomeAmericanWritten by Ceaja Philp


1936. Pappy is also one of the foundingmembers of the Jackpine Gypsies Motor-cycle Club, which is the club who has beenthe caretaker and guardian of the Sturgisevent throughout the years.

The first know Sturgis event is credited onAugust 12-14, 1938. The Jackpine Gypsieswould gather each week to talk aboutmany local events, things that were goingon within the club and the community andthe races and events with the RPMC (RapidPioneer Motorcycle Club from Rapid City).

After these meetings many times Pappyand the boys, who road mostly Indians, outof loyalty to Hoel’s dealership would havegood natured rivalry races with the RPMs,who mainly road Harley-Davidsons. Oncethe racing was done the Jackpine Gypsieswould gather for an AMA (American Mo-torcycle Association) Gypsy Tour to theBlack Hills. These became the biggest roadevents of the day.

Every year since, the numbers of thosewanting to be a part of history has grown.The rivalry continues and will always re-main, but the truth of who started thisevent going on to its 72nd year is written inthe history books.

Whether you want to experience the ride,the people, the atmosphere, or the ri-valry….Sturgis 2012 was the place to be!

LegendsJustWon’t Die

When it comes to Sturgis, people have high expecta-tions of entertainment and fun. Seldom can you findgreat food, drinks, and entertainment all in the sameplace. When you have over 25,000 square feet ofspace and three floors to do so, the art of entertainingbecomes a little bit easier. Easyriders Saloon has anultimate location on the corner of Junction and Lazelleto make it easy access, and more fun, than you canhandle. From steaks to pizza and everything in be-tween; the grills will keep you fed and the bar staff willkeep you hydrated!

The menu of meals and drinks, a VIP area, and freeconcerts will have you coming back night after night!It’s great to have the option to cool off inside or takein the street action on the outdoor balconies, dailyspecials, and the best food and drinks in the West!Easyriders Saloon is a year round establishment thatdraws locals and tourists from around the world.

So whether it’s indoor dining and music or taking inthe giant block party in conjunction with the HootersGrand outdoor stage and Sickies Garage….EasyridersSaloon is the one stop entertainment palace of Stur-gis!

Here’s what others had to say:

Cindy of Nebraska:

Many of the venues at Sturgis are ground level attrac-tions. At Easyriders Saloon we could choose the styleof dining we wanted and then take it outside as well sothat the sites kept coming.

Bob of Minnesota:

The convenient location and guaranteed good timesequates to the fact that many veteran riders, world

over 25,000 sq.feet of



raucous entertainment space!


class vendors, and manufacturers’ repre-sentatives enjoy the food and fun. It’s agreat place to find old or new friends of allkinds. This being said you never know whoyou might meet when you stop by for acold beverage or a world class meal.

Photo opportunities abound at Easyriderstoo! From gorgeous girls, to group bikerphotos you will find it all at Easyriders Sa-loon. From a personal perspective Istopped by the Jack Daniels Honey club fora cold one this year and I ran into an oldbiker friend of mine named Ron. I had notseen Ron in the last twenty years, hell I did-n’t even know if he was still alive! But therehe was, sitting on a bar stool having a coldbeverage talking to a pretty young bar maidnamed Lisa. This is just another reason

Easyriders Saloon is always on my list of fa-vorite places to stop when I am in Sturgisfor bike week.

Oh, and did I mention the free concertsthey had this summer? Yes there were freeconcerts nightly. The Hooters Grand Stageoutside had bands like Dan Lawson, War-rant’s Cherry Pie Tour with Firehouse andTrixter, Blackberry Smoke, The KentuckyHeadhunters, Hairball, and Faster Pussy-cat; to name a few.

The bands rocking the Easyriders SaloonIndoor Stage included bands such as JaredBlake, Righteous Rectifiers, Cash’d Out(Johnny Cash Tribute), and the MoustacheBandits. The tunes didn’t stop there! Theelevated boardwalk connecting them toSickies Garage made it the place to be forfood, drinks, and live entertainment of allsorts! Trust me…I will go back!

Kevin of Idaho:

No doubt the best food and drinks I had allweek. It was great to be able to watch allthe outside ‘life’ while having a meal andcold one. The staff were a blast! Not oftenyou go into a place that is loaded with peo-ple for that many days and are able to crackjokes, have great service, and can’t wait forthe next visit.




Ihave known John and Diane Kurtz for many years, and actually met my wife at one of their social par-

ties. I was out testing my Harley one night after working on the fuel system and happen to be in their

neighborhood. I decided to stop by for there were several cars and bikes at the house, and I was ready

for a cold one. I walked in reaping with gas, and there she was sitting at the table, my future wife. I will

never forget her remark as we locked eyes. ”Hi John” Robin said. “Excuse me but is that 110 octane you are

wearing”? My life forever changed from that moment on, and we have enjoyed countless good times with

John and Diane on our Harleys and camping. So when I was in need to organize a Bike / Car Show, I knew

who to call. This couple for sure qualifies as social butterflies to say the least, and know how to party.

Independence, Iowa


I mentioned to John and Diane an oppor-tunity to plan a trip with their group andmake a run on a Sunday to Troy Mills,Iowa. I had previously scheduled an eventwith owner Joanne Hartnett at The DamBar and Grill located about 30 minutessouth of Independence, Iowa. Twice shewas forced to cancel because of rain, so Ioffered to bring in a group on anotherweekend to enjoy the great food served andhelp her out. The date was set and Johnand Diane put the wheels in motion for awonderful turnout with beautiful weatherfor the Cruisers. The success and fun thisgroup shares drew my attention, and Ithought this would be a good story to in-clude in our Wheels of Thunder Magazine.Perhaps other small communities share thesame passion and could benefit from howto organize their friends for Dinner

Cruises. I asked John Kurtz to share hisstory.

John was transferred to the Advance AutoParts store in Independence, Iowa in 2004.He was excited to be working close tohome....only a 1.5 mile commute to thestore. John had lots of friends that were carand motorcycle enthusiasts. He found thatthere were some really awesome classiccars sitting in storage that rarely was takenout. The customers in the store would tellstories of the old car clubs that had comeand gone and all the good times that theyhad.

John’s wife Diane grew up in Independenceand also knew lots of people. They talkedabout how much fun it would be to getpeople together for a cruise now and then.Having a Harley and two classic cars, a de-cision was made to do both cars and bikes.

In 2005 they started with a small group offriends that would meet on Thursdaynights, cruise to a couple of local estab-lishments and then have dinner. Everyonehad fun but it was pretty unorganized with



just 6 to 10 people.

John and Diane helped out with a localcruise group that held an annualfundraiser. The turnouts were pretty goodand so they thought there would be an op-portunity to expand their idea.

In 2006 a real schedule was put togetherand posted at the store so more peoplewould show up. The turnouts were not realgreat but they stuck with it and we werehappy if we had 20 to 30 people show up.After contacting a local cruise club to see ifthey were interested in participating, theydeclined so a decision was made to proceedon their own.

How do find a night that can please every-one? Well you can’t, so Thursday nightswere chosen starting in May and continu-ing into October. The plan was every week,and if you can come that is great; if not wewill look forward to when you can.

There are no dues or formal membership,all enthusiasts are welcome. The interesthas really grown with anywhere from 40 to100 people per week with regulars as well

as first time visitors that soon become reg-ulars.

Interest has really boomed the last twoyears and this has become a great group.Information is posted on their own Face-book page and this year members had T-shirts designed with their logo for

members to purchase if they desire. JerodBeier has been outstanding taking photosand videos for the Facebook page. Heworks tirelessly getting photos of every ve-hicle that arrives and posting them.

The group helps out with an annualfundraiser for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Re-search Foundation) and has also donesome special nights for Camp Courageous,Honor Flights, Make A Wish and someothers.

The growing numbers do create some chal-lenges as to where they can find restaurantsthat will handle the numbers. Many arehappy to offer a limited or special menuthat speeds up the service. That really helpsand the group really appreciates that. Somemeals are prepared by the group for someevents.

The Cruisers meet every Thursday at 6 PM,leave promptly at 6:30 PM and generallyare back home between 9 and 10 PM.Please Visit their Facebook page “ThursdayNight Dinner Cruisers" to view schedules,photos and videos.

From tech to trail, to the racetrack and spend-ing time with folks who embrace the snowmo-bile lifestyle, that’s what ahead on a newseason of “ Sledhead 24-7”

The Emmy nominated show is available of 93million cable networks, including FOX SportsNorth and Fox Sports Wisconsin, Sunday nightsat 10pm starting November 4th. Its North Amer-ica's best TV show and website dedicated to thesnowmobiles.

Each week Meischa Johnson, former racer PaulMack, tech expert Jeff Fisher and locals whoknow the scene, steer you to the world’s great-est places to ride with world class riders.

We’ll test, rate, ride and review new gear andgadgets and the latest models from all themajor manufactures.

Speedwerx is known as the home of horse-power, and we’ll test the limit of what a sledcan do, through a series of ambitious projectsand builds at the legendary Minnesota speedshop.

For race fans “Sledhead 24-7” has exclusivecoverage of the greatest snocross racers on theplanet, with a backstage pass to the AMSOILChampionship Snocross Series.

Simply put, if it happens on a snowmobile, thenyou’ll see it first on Sledhead 24-7.”

In show one we'll discover the first sign of win-ter; as the sledding season starts at Hay days.It’s an end of summer snowmobile celebrationwith world-class grass drags, legendary swap

meet, the latest news from the manufacturesand a walk down vintage sled row Paul Mack,and his running mate Jeff Fischer stroll downmemory lane.

Amid the vintage sleds, they discover just howold they really are.

We’re counting’ down, till the green flag flieson the AMSOIL championship snocross season.

We’ll flash back to last season’s highlights andfast-forward to the great racing straight aheadon the greatest snocross race series

Looking for a new ride or curious about the lat-est in sled technology?

Check out our report from “ snow shoot”. Asour expert test riders put this years modelsthough a “ no holds barred”, test session. Theyput time in the saddle to discover the best sledfor your riding style. And the setting? The bigcountry of west Yellowstone.

But Sledhead 24-7 is also about people, folkslike you, who love to ride,we’ll profile charac-ters who love to grab a handful of throttle.

Tune in each week www.Sledhead24-7.com.

SledHead 24/7 TV Showairing on FSN-MN & FSN-WI

Sledhead 24-7 can be seen Sunday nights at 10pm on FSN

Sledhead 24-7 ready to roar

http://www.sledhead24-7.com/Airtimes/



Ok you’re cruising

down Highway 151

on your hog and the

wind is whipping through your

hair but all of a sudden your

belly’s grumbling and you need to

pull over and refuel. Fortunately

Scooters Bar & Grill, one of East-

ern Iowa’s favorite bar is right off

the highway and ready to serve.

Scooters Bar and GrillAnamosa, IA


Scooters has made the most of its locationand executed the theme well. TheAnamosa area has been a motorcyclistMecca for years thanks to the worldwidesuccess of J&P Cycles. The interior ofScooters is an open space that’s a bit in-dustrial with a fun bar and restaurant of-fering a great menu. There are plenty oftables, a long bar for service and room tomill about when things fill up on a Satur-day night offering live music.

The theme and menu play heavily to themotorcycle enthusiasts and the servers arevery friendly. Everyone is welcome to hangout and have a good time. The food is tra-ditional bar fare and Wednesday nights ispacked with people enjoying their WingNight. A pile of hot wings, some moz-

zarella sticks and onion rings is a favoritecombination. The hot wings are fried to acrisp and drenched in wing sauce. Scoot-ers’ mozzarella sticks are beer battered andfried golden brown and the onion rings hasthe perfect ratio of onion to batter.

Char-grilled burgers ranging from a thirdto a whole pound of fresh ground beef, suc-culent pork tenderloin and a fantastic arrayof appetizers are also a favorite. Daily drinkspecials, entertainment and just the rightamount of attitude make this a true bikerbar. It offers a destination to plan a ride,and later stop and pop a cold one.

Scooters Bar and Grill, Anamosa, IA is justa couple miles away from the Anamosa Hillclimb and Swap Meet site and J&P Cycles.In a town that is on every biker's list ofplaces to visit, Scooters Bar and Grill is agreat place to relax, grab a burger and talkwith other riders or people who appreciatethe biker lifestyle.

Details: Scooter’s Bar & Grill, 10537 ShawRd (off Hwy 151), Anamosa; kitchen open11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; (319) 462-3663 orwww.scootersanamosa.com



MOTORCROSS


ATV RACING


MONSTER TRUCK


DEMO DERBY

G ameON! TV is excited to join you again! Thisissue of Wheels of Thunder continues to exciterace fans with it's interesting stories and magnifi-

cent pictures. GameON! TV continues to grow & reachso many of you with our sports programming and nowwe are expanding to the Dakota's and western Minnesotavia MidCo Sports Network. As you know, GameON!loves sports, from the variety of professional, college &high school sports to all the outdoor events that dot ourregional landscape. GameON's partnership with Wheelsof Thunder is strong and just like you, we also enjoy themost comprehensive race magazine and website to befound! Wheels of Thunder magazine gets it and gets youthe latest information, amazing pictures and all those ter-rific stories to the most passionate motorsports fans inthe country!

Looking ahead, there's special moments ahead forGameON! We just broadcast out 100th show, each andevery week GameON! comes to you in crystal clear fullHigh Definition and we have just launched our first APP(it's free to for Apple & Android phones). GameON! TVis now offering a weekly PODCAST available @ our showwebsite <http://www.GameOnTvMN.com> www.Game-OnTvMN.com. It's full of bits and pieces of sports fromthe region and what's ahead on our weekly TV show.GameON! still serves as the lead-in to the award win-ning FOX NFL pre game show on FOX's MY29 here inthe Twin Cities during the NFL Season.

GameON! does what no other TV sports interview show(in the region) does. We offer a diverse and entertaininghalf hour of TV as we bring you the most visible andpopular Minnesota sports figures. From the new lookVikings, to the WNBA Champion Lynx, the MNA Tim-berwolves, the NHL Wild, the Twins and we visit withthe Lacrosse Swarm. There's NASCAR and we're all overyour favorite drivers now that snow racing approaches.GameON! just featured championship racer LeviLaVallee and we'll be all over the SnoCross racing seasonand Xtreme sports that touch all seasons!

This show is interactive so we'd love to hear from you!

Please visit our Facebook site (friend us @ GameON onfacebook), our website @< h t t p : / / w w w . g a m e o n t v m n . c o m / >www.gameontvmn.com and 24/7on twitter #game-ontvmn. And we're always planning bigger and bettershows at the best location in the world, SEVEN Steak-

house/Sushi/UltraLounge/Skybar, in down-town Minneapolis. You are always welcometo visit our live tapings and each week welist guests and updates on the GameON!website as well as our Facebook site. Getupclose and personal with us!!

We also partner with the one of the largestVikings fan sites in the world, <http://www.pur-plepride.org/> www.PurplePride.org. I've said it beforeand I'm saying it again! Get off the couch and get yourGameON! Be a part of the exciting effort we're puttingon! Here's to fall and the coming winter sports seasonahead. Hope to see you at an upcoming GameON! tap-ing!!




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MIDWEST!Opportunities for

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Best of theMidwest’ arenow available!

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