MORRIS, Ill. – The ARCA Midwest Tour will roll into Grundy County Speedway this Saturday night for the running of the Wayne Carter Classic.
A strong contingent of drivers will be attending in an effort to take home the $5,000 payday, including competitors like Casey Johnson, Ty Majeski, Rich Bickle and Larry Schuler, just to name a few. Saturday’s race will be broadcast live by SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Midwest Tour TV.
Johnson is the two-time and defending Midwest Tour champion, but seeks his first Grundy County Speedway triumph this Saturday night. A fourth place showing in last year’s Wayne Carter Classic gives him a solid base to build upon. Johnson has amassed two championships at Wisconsin Int’l Raceway, three at Jefferson, two with the Big 8 Late Model Series, two with the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series, six Wisconsin State Championships, one Red White and Blue Championship and two National Short Track Championships.
Hot off his ARCA Midwest Tour wins at Jefferson Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend and at The Milwaukee Mile on Father’s Day, the 2020 Snowball Derby champion Majeski now has 27 Midwest Tour wins on his resume to go along with his four championships. In between all of his short track racing, Majeski has made the best of two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts this year, posting top-10 finishes in both. Majeski won the Wayne Carter Classic in 2016.
The Wayne Carter Classic has eluded Bickle thus far and Saturday night will be his last chance to add his name alongside his racing heroes as he prepares to retire from racing. He was runner-up to Steve Carlson in 1990 and has finished fifth and sixth the last two times he was on track at the end of the race.
Bickle has done plenty of winning elsewhere, including May’s Joe Shear Classic at Madison Int’l Speedway, where he is a two-time track champion. He also won at Slinger (Wis.) Super Speedway last month, where he has four Slinger Nationals victories. The five-time Snowball Derby champion and two time National Short Track champion is set to retire at year’s end.
It has been three years since Schuler started a Midwest Tour event, but the winningest driver in America in 1976 is back in action this season, having already posted a pair of runner-up finishes in weekly competition and sits third in the Grundy point standings. Schuler won track championships at three tracks in three states in 1976, Thursday’s at Wisconsin Int’l Raceway, Friday’s at Grundy County Speedway and Saturday’s at Illiana Motor Speedway, where he was also the 1975 champion. Schuler is a former winner of the Wayne Carter Classic in 1981.
Other expected entries include Austin Kunert, Paul Shafer Jr., Eddie Hoffman, Josh Wallace, Andrew Brocker, Austin Nason, Gabe Sommers, D.J. Weltmeyer, Max Kahler, Levon VanDerGeest, Jeff Storm, Nathan Kelly, Curt Tillman, Justin Mondeik, Keith Tolf, Ricky Baker, Steve Seligman, Dillon Hammond, Jonathan Eilen and Dalton Zehr.