Congratulations To Our 2023 Norway Speedway Track Champions!!

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John Ostermann

I’ve been around the Speedway for around 40 years or so and I believe the biggest thing I took for granted in those 40 years is that we all race safely, and I will never do that again. I am thankful every night that we get an event in and there’s no serious accidents or injuries. We raced the whole summer successfully and safely. Unbelievably, many of us continued racing right into the fall running specials around the region. Even a group of us ventured down to Illinois. Looking back at our season I’m very proud of what our drivers, sponsors, fans, and track workers have accomplished. Our car counts were great as well as our attendance even in the most questionable of economic times. There were many things that went on at our Speedway this summer that were memorable as usual. One of the best things to happen to us this summer was the return of John Koehler. We were overwhelmed with the number of fans, sponsors, and teams that reached out to us and congratulated us for bringing him back. I will have to admit it was great hearing his voice again after some time off. The week of the Dickinson County Fair Labor Day 100 he called me up for an interview on how I felt about the season and as usual on race week I had a million things on my mind and kind of drew a complete blank. What I should have said is the best thing that happened to the Speedway this summer was the insurgence of new young drivers, racing families, and sponsors. Cadie Lucas, Payton Linder, Sophi Hornick, Joey Homstrom, Tony Wender, Lukas Peterson, Parker Summerfield, Cody Vanderloop, Joey Stankowicz, and Dante Stachowicz will be racing in the Auto Value Super Stock division running for Rookie of the Year, with exception of Joey Stankowicz that is running in the Coca-Cola Late Model division in his early 20’s, they are all teenagers and most of them still in high school. One of the coolest back stories is the 141 Auto Stock Car Rookie of the Year Parker Summerfield. Parker and his family have created an immediate positive impact on our program with their family business sponsoring the Speedway and Parker racing successfully in the stock car division. He has already purchased a top late model and will be running for Rookie of the Year in that division next year. The reason he has a cool back story is because pictured is Parker in Norway Speedway Hall of Famer Mark Miller’s car about 16 years ago. So, you kind of know who is partially to blame on getting him hooked on going fast. 

Cadie Lucas from Kingsford, MI is a 14-year-old in 8th grade at Kingsford high school that started out slowly and got faster every week. She is being mentored by her father Chris Lucas who is a former Norway Speedway Fab 4 standout. She is our Fab 4 Rookie of the Year as she edged out “Mailbox” Mike Frame who also had a great year. 

Escanaba’s Joey Stankowicz is the old man of this group at 22 years old but will be throwing his hat in the ring for Coca-Cola Late Model Rookie of the Year 2024. It is a very touch division to succeed when the majority of Joey’s experience is on dirt and on ice. Joey looked good running the last few weeks of the season this year and it will be fun watching him develop over the summer next year. 

Norway Speedway recently had its Election of Officers and Kingsford’s Scott Stanchina was voted in as the Treasurer for another term, as well as Vice President Joey Pontbriand. Norway Speedway Safety Director Gary Thom of Aurora, WI was voted in as Member at Large. Those 3 will be joining President John Ostermann and Secretary Joe Testolin. Congratulations to the 2024 Board of Directors! As I do every year, I would like to Congratulate all of the local athletes that have ties to Norway Speedway including Iron Mountain Mountaineers Parker Summerfield & Connor Owens, Norway Knights Wyatt Spade, Cheerleader & Volleyball player Lydia Steinbrecher, Cheerleader Joey Bourg and Florence Bobcat’s Joey Holmstrom. 

I will continue writing through the racing off-season to keep you informed on all of our latest happenings at our Speedway. Thanks to all of you that attended the races this summer. On behalf of the Board of Directors and everyone that raced this season, we greatly appreciate it.