WAUSAU, Wis. – The ARCA Midwest Tour travels to State Park Speedway this Saturday night for the running of the Auto Select Larry Detjens Memorial.
The entry list for the 125-lap feature is a mix of local competitors who will be looking to defend their home turf against the touring stars of the ARCA Midwest Tour. For those unable to attend in person, the race will be broadcast live Saturday night by SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Midwest Tour TV.
Headlining the entry list is Luke Fenhaus, a local competitor who has taken up the challenge of chasing the ARCA Midwest Tour title.
Fenhaus has grabbed headlines in recent weeks with a victory in the Slinger Nationals at Wisconsin’s Slinger Super Speedway. That victory earned him an invite to race in the Camping World SRX Series event at Slinger, where he led more than half the race before finishing second to Indy car veteran Marco Andretti.
A late model track champion at State Park Speedway in 2018, he started the season with a win at Dells Raceway Park in the Icebreaker and followed that up with a pair of runner-up efforts and fast times at Madison Int’l Speedway and Jefferson Speedway in ARCA Midwest Tour action.
Also on the entry list is Derek Kraus, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular who is taking advantage of NASCAR’s two week break for the Tokyo Olympics. He has enjoyed past success at State Park, capturing the 2016 running of the Detjens Memorial.
Mark Mackesy will be among the local competitors trying to keep the Larry Detjens Memorial trophy for himself. He’s a three-time winner of the Detjens Memorial and a four-time track champion at State Park Speedway and previously beat the ARCA Midwest Tour invaders at State Park in 2011.
Defending Larry Detjens Memorial champion Justin Mondeik is also on the entry list. The defending State Park Speedway track champion already has four victories at the track in weekly competition this season in addition to wins at nearby Norway Speedway.
Chris Weinkauf will make his ARCA Midwest Tour season debut in pursuit of his fourth victory during the Larry Detjens Memorial. He last won the event in 2011 and also scored victories in ’10 and ’03. He and Mackesy are tied with the late Dick Trickle with the most Detjens Memorial wins at three.
Other big names on the entry list include four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski and the legendary Rich Bickle. Neither of them have won the Larry Detjens Memorial. For Bickle, this will be his last opportunity to do so as he plans to retire at the end of the season.
Other drivers expected to compete include Austin Nason, John Beale, Casey Johnson, Paul Shafer Jr., Andrew Brocker, Gabe Sommers, Max Kahler, Louis Goss, Jeremy Lepak, Brock Heinrich, Dillon Hammond, Travis Volm, Jonathan Eilen, Dalton Zehr and Rayce Haase.
The Larry Detjens Memorial is named for the late Larry Detjens, a late model standout who was a winner with ARTGO and ASA during the 1970s and ’80s. He was killed in a crash at Wisconsin Int’l Raceway in 1981.