ED HEDLUND

Just when you think our events can’t get any bigger, Mother Nature sticks her nose in it and combines two of our biggest events of the season into one big night.

Friday is not only Auto Value Challenge Series Round 2, which is going to bring in top Wisconsin talent, it’s also Norway Speedway Hall of Fame night. We will be inducting five great members of our organization, including one of my best friends personally and one of my heroes as I was growing up watching the sport, Spread Eagle’s No 23 Bruce White.

White is literally a Norway Speedway gem, who is well known as being a “real race car driver.” He is one of the kind of guys the sport was built upon, a hard-worker who made racing his favorite pastime.

While White raced on a fraction of the budget of most competitors, his hard work, dedication and innovation allowed him to compete successfully for almost 50 years. When we think of White, we all think of his long hair, cowboy boots, and the renegade image he always portrayed. But his smile, his composure and friendly disposition is one of his best traits.

Not only is White a talented race car driver and builder, but he also gave back to the sport by being a leader and president for the last 20 years. When the track fell on hard times in the early 2000s, White was one of the first people, along with the late Roy Allard, to step up and save the place.

As you can see, myself and many others in our racing family are excited for Friday night to see him being inducted.

Another inductee that I hold dear to my heart is the late Ed Hedlund of Aurora, Wis. Hedlund, like everyone else I usually mention, devoted his life to the speedway and the sport.

When we were 16 and 17, respectively, we started to race against each other at Norway Speedway.

Back then it wasn’t common to see kids our age racing against veteran drivers. Hedlund and I soon realized that we had to work together to survive. We became life-long friends and competitors.

Once Hedlund and I were racing at Wisconsin International Raceway at a fall classic. He and another car got together and ended up in the wall.

When the race was over, I ran over to his car with an arm full of parts to help him fix it but the car was not repairable. Hedlund looked at me, smiled and said, “The propeller is bent. It’s time to have a beer.” We laughed about that for the last 20 years.

Hedlund was involved in the development of the 141 Auto Stock Car division. His sons all went on to be great race car drivers and good humans. His wife, Roxanne, worked at the track for over 20 years.

Other inductees that cannot go without mention are the late Dale Peterson of Rapid River, Marquette’s Mike Mattson and Menominee’s Mike “Red” Adair.

Peterson won several races out at Norway and a couple of track championships, as well. His royal blue No. 17 was his trademark and he was one of our greats. Later on, his career his focus changed and he got involved in the Escanaba dirt track as a competitor and mentor for his daughter, Kristie, who was a very successful race car driver in her own right.

Peterson was also the one that got me involved in the Escanaba speedway management years ago.

Adair has been involved at the speedway as a successful competitor and also gave time back to the speedway as a board member for many years. He can still be seen randomly walking throughout Sands Speedway in Marquette and at Norway, saying hi and wishing everyone good luck.

Mattson raced in the Coca-Cola Late Model division for years at different tracks in northeastern Wisconsin. He is unique in the fact that he was a Ford guy for most of his career. He was å instrumental in the development of Marquette’s Sands Speedway and helped develop many young drivers from the Marquette area.

This week also marks the return of Upper Michigan’s Short Track Racing Championship. This consists of combined points of three speedways in Michigan — Norway Speedway, Sands Speedway in Marquette and Kinross Speedpark in Kinross.

We are also going to race for Allan Yelle and Jerry Schneider. Yelle is quite possibly the most popular driver in U.P. racing. Several members of Yelle’s family will not only be in attendance but competing as well, including Abi Yelle, Jeremy Yelle, Angela Yelle, Todd Yelle and Zach Yelle.

We will also be racing in honor of Jerry Schneider of Neenah, Wis. He was another one who devoted his life to racing as a competitor and track promoter at Wisconsin International Raceway — a supporter of the sport in every way.

I was honored to race against Schneider last summer at Norway. We got to race side by side for several laps, like we did in the late ’90s at WIR. I think that’s the cool thing about racing. The second you get into the car it just takes you back to all the fun memories and moments, and it just never gets old for me.

Schneider’s extended family, which is one of the great racing families in Wisconsin, will also be in attendance this week including Lowell Bennett, Jurnee Bennett, Brady Bennett and Joel Bennett.

Last week at the speedway we had amazing weather and a great August crowd. One of my favorite things happened. We had a first-time winner in the Coca-Cola Late Model division in Scott Bolster of Marquette.

Bolster is the epitome of the sport. Most of the time Bolster pulls into the pit area with his open trailer, his truck filled with tools and parts. Nothing extravagant about his car, hauler, trailer or his budget. He’s just out there for the love of the sport and wanting to support the speedway.

Whenever I walk down by him, I always look in admiration at his setup while just a few feet away sits Justin Mondeik’s rig that looks like it belongs in the pit area at Daytona International Speedway. I think that’s the most amazing thing about stock car racing — the diverse budgets, people and collection of cars. Bolster has been racing for eight years; five years in a late model. He’s an air traffic controller at Sawyer international Airport, an Air Force veteran, a husband and father.

A cool backstory to his first win is this: Norway veteran, MC Signs & Graphics Fab 4 driver Bobby Nordell, was spotting for Bolster on the radio. When Bolster got out of his car in victory lane, Nordell told him to hold his Gatorade and he jumped in his 4-cylinder and won his heat race. It was a great night.

I’ve been saying for weeks that Menominee’s Travis Hulsizer has been improving after a rough start, in which he blew up two engines in the first three weeks. Last week he won his first feature of the season by a few feet over teammate Joe Ostermann of Norway.

I also enjoyed watching Elliott Reid win his second feature in a row in the MC Signs & Graphics Fab 4 division.

As always, see you at the track.