John Koehler

NORWAY — If you were raised in the Iron Mountain, Kingsford and Norway community and had any interest in sports whatsoever, there were two people that came to mind.

One of them I think about every time I write this column and he was the one that basically gave me the opportunity to promote Norway Speedway through the Iron Mountain Daily News. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. But the late great Burt Angeli, also known as “Scuttle Burt,” was synonymous with high school sports and all sports for that matter in our neighboring communities.

Rest in peace, Mr. Angeli.

The other name also echoes the local sports community and is literally a living legend in broadcasting high school sports. Norway Speedway Hall of Famer John Koehler has been the voice of local high school sports since 1979.

Koehler serves on many different organizations such as the Twin State Babe Ruth, Upper Peninsula Writers and Sportscasters Association, and is the Dickinson County public information officer.

I am writing this column to inform everyone that Koehler will be returning to Norway Speedway for 2023 and beyond. Koehler was hired by the late speedway president Jeff DeRidder to replace the late Hall of Fame public address announcer Denny Hanson.

With the assistance of the late Hall of Famer Roy Allard, one hall of famer took over for another as Denny Hanson stepped aside and Koehler stepped right in and, with the exception of a few years, he was the voice of Norway Speedway for almost 30 years.

As the saying goes, “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” I can’t tell you how much the people of our organization appreciate Koehler coming back. Even though it hadn’t officially been announced until now, the speedway board of directors is receiving tons of positive feedback from fans, competitors and sponsors.

Our 4-cylinder division, which is making a strong comeback in car counts as we had almost 40 cars during the Dickinson County Fair, was once known as the DQ Dogs. Koehler would play the famous song, “Who let the dogs out” and shout out “release the hounds” as the green flag fell, one of his signature displays of his extraordinary voice.

Although I’m not really looking forward to him singing, “You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille” in which Koehler always changed the lyrics to “You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel”, as a race car owner and a part of the track operating team, seeing a wheel coming off of anything causes me extreme anxiety.

On behalf of all of us at Norway Speedway we thank Koehler for coming back.

On Aug. 26, the Impact Survival Series (ISS) will make its return to Norway Speedway on a Saturday night. It’s a 300-lap race for anywhere between 70-90 cars which will be competing for the huge purse that is offered at this event for 4-cylinder front wheel drive race cars. This year’s event will have special meaning as we have a local driver Norway Speedway star and Faithorn native Elliott Reid currently in second in championship points, trailing Adam Hayden 142-132.

Yes, that is not a misprint. The ISS Enduro ran its second event in Jefferson, Wis., in the wintry Midwest weather.

Local drivers that competed at Jefferson Speedway last week included a strong fourth-place finish by Elliott Reid, a respectable 19th-place finish by Kingford’s Cole Brown, followed by Iron Mountain’s Zach Hanson in 43rd.

Norway’s Isaac Bray did his best impression of the General Lee by going airborne and providing the photographers with an excellent picture of the bottom of his car while finishing 54th overall. Kingsford’s Christopher Trulock finished 80th, having to fight mechanical issues. In total, 81 cars competed in the event.

Congratulations to all those guys from the Norway Speedway Board of Directors.

See you at the track!