I usually miss a couple of weeks of racing each year at Shawano Speedway and last Saturday was one of those weeks. From the photos I have seen from Saturday night, and the posts on the Shawano Speedway Forum website, it appears that I missed a wild week of racing.

Of course a wild week of racing usually means that there were some bad accidents during the racing program. This may cause excitement for fans, but it not good for the drivers who are involved in the accidents.

The first nasty accident took place in one of the WISSOTA Late Model heat races. From the photos I have seen of the aftermath of this wreck, it involved Travis Jellum and Joe Reuter, with Reuter’s car needing two wreckers to get it off the track. The damage was extensive enough that neither driver was able to make it out for the feature.

The second nasty wreck took place in the FASTRAK Late Model feature, when Dave Fieber was trying to take the lead from Jeff Curtin coming out of turn four when the two made contact, causing Curtin’s car to roll once and Fieber’s car coming to a rest on top of Curtin’s car. For those with access to the Internet, a video of the accident is on YouTube.com. Search for Shawano Speedway and you should be able to find the accident.

Unfortunately, spectacular accidents like this are part of racing. Hopefully all the drivers involved will be able to get their cars back together and make it back to the track soon.

There were plenty of new drivers in victory lane last week. Tom Naeyaert won his first WISSOTA Late Model feature of the year, as did Jerry Wilinski in the IMCA Modified division. As amazing as this sounds, because we are already in the middle of June, Rod Snellenberger won his first IMCA Stock Car feature of the year at the Speedway. Aaron Holiday, a rookie in the FASTRAK Late Model division, won his first ever feature in only his fourth night racing the car. Cody Hudson, who won his first ever feature the prior week, repeated the feat, winning the IMCA Northern SportMod feature.

Even though the calendar says it is the middle of June, there have been only four race nights completed at Shawano Speedway so far this year. That leaves about two and a half months of racing left, so let’s take some time to look at the point standings so far in each division.

In the WISSOTA Late Model division, Paul Parker holds a seven point lead over Nick Anvelink. Defending champion, Ron Berna, sits in third place 11 points back, while Tom Naeyaert is 15 points out of the lead.

Eric Scribner and Jerry Wilinski are tied for the top spot in the IMCA Modified point standings. Jason Czarapata is only four points out of the top spot, while Tim Jorgenson is only seven points back. With the smaller IMCA Modified car count this year, it might be difficult for any one driver to pull away, so this could be a close battle all season.

Rod Snellenberger’s feature win last week propelled him into first place in the IMCA Stock Car point standings. He holds a slim one point lead over Nate Michonski. John Heinz is three points out of first, while Shawn Wagner is nine points back. Devin Snellenberger holds down the fifth spot, 14 points out of the top spot.

Despite the wreck last week, Fieber and Curtin remain in the top two spots in the point standings in the FASTRAK Late Model division. Fieber holds a seven point advantage over Curtin, and an eight point advantage over Justin Hirt. Joel Bennett and Holiday are 11 and 15 points out of the top spot, respectively.

In the IMCA Northern SportMod division, defending track champion, Clint Forstner holds a small four point lead over Tracy Wassenberg in the point standings. Chad Jaje is 17 points back, while Hudson and Don Woller are tied, 19 points out of first place.