News & information

Welcome,
With everything that's going on amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and how it is effecting the Norway Nation. I just thought I would touch base with you all about the results of the Tuesday night meeting with the Dickinson County Fairboard. Since day one of the pandemic, the Speedway has been prepared to race and has treated each canceled event as a rain out. With the fairgrounds being on lockdown and none of us being able to get in for routine maintenance and prep work we will not be able to have our rescheduled opener on June 5th. We are hoping that June 6th will be our first practice and June 12th will be our season opener. However, this depends on the Governor of Michigan's  announcement on May 15th as to whether or not she will extend the stay at home order and restrictions put in place. The Dickinson County Fairboard is in full support of us racing at the Speedway this summer. It's just going to be a matter of when and under what restrictions.
Please check the Norway Speedway Facebook page on a daily basis to track the latest updates.
Thank you,
 John and the DCRA Board of Directors Timmy, Matt, Joey, and Kevin

I hope everybody in the Norway Nation is safe and healthy through these most difficult of times. Even though Mr. Verdegan keeps us informed with the latest in racing news, I just want to touch base with everybody on a few things you would normally hear  at our general membership meeting. 

It was about a month ago when the racing association met with the Dickinson County Fair Board concerning the Covid-19 outbreak and the cancelation of what I thought was going to be a huge joint event, the Motor Sports Madness.  It was decided that the  all-day Saturday event taking place in June would be cancelled and replaced with a regular night of racing.  It was about a week and a half after that we were informed the Fairgrounds would be closed for use until June 1st.  I know racing seems pretty un-important  at this time when people are literally fighting for their lives, losing jobs, and not knowing what is next but for many of us, racing is our escape from the realities of the real world.  Unfortunately at this time it is out of our hands as to when we can step  foot on the Speedway property.  With that being said, we will keep everyone posted as to any major speedway announcements.
 
Even though our world has slowed down, the speedway board of directors are still preparing and going about business as usual.  We recently appointed a new board member, Kevin Lee.  Everyone knows Kevin as the speedway videographer who has taken our racing  videos to the next level.  Kevin is also the president of the Norway Nation and makes all of the cool designs for birthdays and other speedway promotions.  Kevin is a successful business owner out of the Rapid River area and his experience will be an asset  to the board of directors.  When I asked Kevin to be on the board, I asked him to name 3 things he didn't like about Norway Speedway.  He replied "There is nothing I don't like about Norway Speedway."  The board also hired one of the hardest working and dedicated  employees our speedway has seen in years, Trevor Vassar.  He will be our new full-time flag man for the 2020 season.  When the speedway took on the responsibility of selling tires to enhance the revenue for all of us, it took our treasurer position to another  level.  We have hired Cindie Nichols to do our sales tax and general accounting.  Cindie owns Cindie Lu's Accounting & Tax Services in Aurora, WI.  She is a long-time race fan and will be at the track every night to assist our treasurer with tire sales, startup  money, deposits, and could be instrumental in our concession service. There is a good possibility the drivers could get paid immediately after the races. We have fortunately maintained the rest of our great workforce for the season.  The board has also approved  the Hermansville Rescue Squad to be our ambulance service for our 2020 season and we are working with Baker Signs to get the billboards repaired and updated for the upcoming race season.

The schedule will remain the same and we will be ready to start racing as soon as we get the OK.  The car show that was scheduled for May 16th has been changed to a virtual Facebook car show.  We are asking all drivers and teams get pictures ready of their  completed cars for that date. Fans will be able to vote on best appearing cars in all divisions.  The Central Upper Peninsula Dual with Sands Speedway has been put on hold for now.  However, the 141 Auto Stock Car division has been invited to Kinross Speed  Park to try and revive the former triple crown racing series.  

There are several new racing teams in all of the divisions and a few of them include Elliot Reid, Trevor Pankratz in the 141 Stock Car Division.  Auto Value Super Stock driver Kevin Petersons son Luke (who we normally see walking around the pit area with  headphones on spotting for his father) will be piloting an MC Signs & Graphics 4 Banger racecar and will be running for rookie of the year.  Oconto's Garrett Goetsh, son of the late racer Jeremy Goetsch and former crewman of Tyler Wusterbarths Coca-Cola Late  Model team will also be running for rookie of the year in the MC Graphic Fab 4 division.  Garrett's grandpa and Jerry Wusterbarth helped Garrett build a beautiful new car.  In the Auto Value Super Stock division, veteran John Komp will be unveiling his new  car in the next few weeks.  John was a stand out years back in the division and will be a great addition.  In the Ken's Sports Sport Truck Division, Michael Hoffman, Nick Langtange, and Brent Barglind all purchased a new trucks and will be participating in  the division in 2020.  There are many trucks for sale in this division, contact me if you have any interest in joining one of the fastest growing divisions at the speedway.

As you can see even though are world has taken a step back, Norway Speedway and its drivers are still moving forward. Please follow all rules of the stay at home orders and social distancing so we can get all of this over with and get back to what we love,  racing.

On behave of the DCRA Board: Joey Pontbriand, Tim Schultz Jr., Mathew Charlebois, Kevin Lee, and myself John Ostermann, Stay healthy everyone.