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My name is John Ostermann and I have been involved with Norway Speedway as a fan, competitor, and on the track management team since I was about eight years old.
Years ago, when Norway Speedway was experiencing what can now be referred to as the "Golden Years", I wrote a weekly column in the Iron Mountain Daily News. The column covered all the latest and greatest things that went on at the speedway as well as insight on other local sports happenings as I am a retired schoolteacher, basketball and football coach of over 30 years. If there is any one thing I have learned about Norway Speedway and its business success is that we need to develop and maintain a strong relationship with The Daily News. With that being said I would like to thank The Daily News for giving us this opportunity once again.
Friday night at the Speedway it is one of our biggest and most exciting events of the season. As not only is it our Salute to Veterans and Roy Allard Memorial Night, but we are also going to be honoring our Hall of Fame inductees for 2021. To top it all off we will be having Dickinson County's first fireworks display of the season. The event is going to be put on by Sayklly's Candies of Escanaba.
We have a great group of Hall of Fame inductees that made a wide range of contributions over the years and helped make our organization great.
Menominee's Fred Gignac raced at the Speedway for over 30 years. Gignac possibly has the most familiar and popular nickname in Speedway history as he was known as "Floorboard Freddy". He ran his familiar number 10 on his Late Model with his signature orange and white paint and raced successfully throughout his career. Gignac is a true sportsman and was one of the first teams that realized that racing is one of the greatest family sports on earth. Every week Gignac came to the track with his entire family, even the dog.
John Koehler of Iron Mountain was the voice of Norway Speedway for 30 years and I would also consider him a local sports icon as he does all the play by play for all our local high school teams. I personally believe John could make a strong candidate for a position in the Upper Michigan Sports Hall of Fame for all his contributions in broadcasting and announcing that he has made over the last 30 years. The voice of Norway Speedway made history when our new Four Cylinder Division came about in 2000 by referring to them as "Dogs" and playing the song Who Let the Dogs Out as the cars entered the Speedway. Nobody will ever forget his cheerful and excited voice yelling "release the hounds" as the race began.
Brian Swanson of Norway is another Speedway gem as his wreckers have been parked on our infield for over 30 years as well. Brian's Towing is one of the most successful businesses and his beautiful wrecker and flatbed brought prestige, dependability, skill and safety to our Speedway. Swanson was recently awarded The Roy Allard Memorial Award given out every year to the Speedways most dedicated volunteer or behind the scenes employee. Though Brian is no longer at the Speedway with his equipment he is still active as a member of the Dickinson County Fair Board and is the Speedway liaison.
Greg Ives of Bark River is the definition of small-town boy makes it to the big leagues. In the early 2000's, Greg who comes from a racing family headed up by his father Roger and brother Steve, was a standout in the Coca-Cola Late Model Division finishing second in the championship points to Jamie Iverson. Greg who has an engineering degree from Michigan Technological University took his family and moved down south to begin his employment with a NASCAR Team. Greg has experienced incredible success at the NASCAR level leading several teams to victories and championships including Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson. He is currently working and leading Alex Bowman to his breakout season NASCAR Cup Series.
Pat Temple of Vulcan who passed away on March 2, 1999, is another one of the Speedway's foundation members. Temple started his racing career in 1966 in a partnership with the late Frank Bergen, Jr. The two teamed up to build a 1955 Buick that Pat called "The King of the Semi Feature" as he had won many races with the car but no main events. It was not until the following year when Pat built a 1957 Chevy that was bright yellow and wore the No. 0 on the door. The 0 had a wing coming off of it and it was dubbed "The Flying 0." This was the car that basically took Temple and Don Vaneynde to the next level. It was not long after this that they won the 1970 Upper Peninsula Dirt Track Championship. Temple was always up for the challenge moving from the Sportsman Division into the Modified Division soon after and in his own way built his own modified from the ground up.
Pat was never one to go and buy anything from anybody, and he was a talented mechanic, welder and fabricator. He demanded that his cars not only be fast, but they had to look beautiful and racy as well. He loved competition and raced all over to find it, including Canada. He is one of two drivers to win a Modified Feature with a carbureted engine with all the fuel injected cars. Pat closed out his racing career in the mid 90's winning the Auto Value Superstock Championship. Pat had a huge, generous heart that matched his fan base. He was extremely popular with the kids in the Norway area as he was a bus driver for many years. I truly believe I am his number one fan.
For more information go to norwayspeedway.com, and I hope to see ya at the track.