Friday night had all the makings of the most epic event at Norway Speedway in many years with 29 Coca-Cola Late Models — tops in our region as far as late model car counts for a weekly show. Almost 100 race cars were in the pit area and our amazing fan base packed the grandstand.

Shockingly, this all happened in the month of August when people are supposed to have football, hoodies and hot chocolate on their minds. The reason for this huge event, the second leg of Upper Michigan’s Triple Crown Championship Series, was a culmination of three race tracks — Norway Speedway, Marquette’s Sands Speedway and the Wisconsin International Raceway — all working together to bring the best drivers, race cars and fans to Norway.

Add in the fact that it was Hall of Fame night, where we had a wonderful ceremony to honor and induct our speedway legends. Then, to top it off, to be racing in the honor of one of Upper Michigan’s outstanding racing talents and personalities, Allan Yelle, (whose family was out in full force racing), and one of Wisconsin International Raceway’s talented and dedicated racers, Jerry Schneider, (whose wife Deb was in attendance).

As you can see, this was the perfect storm of auto racing in Upper Michigan and then the actual rain storm came. Many people think that the rain ruined the night, but I am glad that everyone got honored, everyone got to race a little bit and all our fans and people involved know we are no match for Mother Nature.

Before the rains came there were some exciting moments.

It was great to see the racing team of Cory Cootware back in Victory Lane as he won the B Feature event. Cootware won the Triple Crown Championship Series in 2016 and it was great to see him have a strong run.

It was just unfortunate that his dad was not able to be there, as he is a great supporter of not only his son, but the speedway as well. Coming in second Friday night was Marquette’s Darryl Britton. Wisconsin International Raceway standout Bryan Monday went from the back to the front, was sent to the back and made his way to the front again to finish a strong third and transferred to the A feature.

We also got in the Auto Value Super Stock Feature and it was a doozy.

Once again, the team of Ryan Wender and Joey Pontbriand proved to be tough to beat. Wender and Pontbriand teamed up a few years back, and Wender did all or most of the driving and led to a track championship.

Pontbriand has won eight Auto Value Super Stock features in a row, which is unbelievable because it’s such a competitive division. This year, he’s done most of the driving, as Wender is working with his son, Rocket, and has also piloted the car to a feature win a few weeks back.

The race had the fans standing on their feet on the last lap, as point leader Anthony Schiefelbein and Pontbriand were battling side by side and came upon lapped traffic. For a moment, it looked like neither would finish after the contact. But both made it through and it was a great show.

Schiefelbein, who looks to be on his way to his first track championship in the extremely competitive Auto Value Super Stock division, has only two more races to hang on to his 107-point lead over Menominee’s Kevin Peterson, who is also enjoying his best year.

Norway’s Andy Gerwig is in third, 24 points away from second. Gerwig is having his best year ever, though that came to a grinding halt as he had engine trouble Friday night. Hopefully, he can get it repaired and finish out strong.

This week is Timber Products of Iron Mountain and the Fab 4 Frenzy 4-Cylinder Racing Showcase. There will also be Wisconsin Sport Trucks and Spectator Eliminators.

And, because all the Coca-Cola Late Models did not get to race Friday night, this week it will be a $1,000 prize for the feature race, which I am sure will entice many of the travelers we had last week to return.

The Fab 4 Frenzy this week should be exciting and a great preliminary event to get ready for the upcoming Impact Survival Series special on Aug. 27. The ISS race is going to be a 300-lap enduro featuring many of our local stars as well as about 50 cars from out of state.

Hopefully the weather cooperates, and I’ll see you this Friday night.