Proctor Speedway adds some bizarre racing twists at fair-time
There are several elements to dirt-track auto racing in the Upper Midwest. At Proctor Speedway, for example, the season is divided into segments: First, the cold and rainy season, where postponements take a strong lead over completed programs; second, the actual season, where drivers from throughout the area thrash and battle to accumulate points in various categories; third, the special-event season, featuring the Amsoil Series; and finally, the home stretch, highlighted by expanded schedules for county fairs and a wild tour of invitationals, all ending by about Labor Day.
Proctor, much like other Northern area tracks, is well into invitational/fair mode.
The South St. Louis County Fair is being conducted at the Proctor Fairgrounds this weekend, and the Proctor Fairgrounds just happen to be the site of Proctor Speedway. So, naturally, the racers help celebrate the fair by putting their escapades on display at special events coordinated by the fair.
A total of 94 cars were waved onto the Proctor Speedway oval on Wednesday night for an Enduro, which is the closest thing a stock car fan could imagine to a free-for-all where survival of the fittest might be a better name.
On Friday, Speedway officials put on something called “Mudbog,” which is a novel idea of creating a gigantic, muddy hold on the main straightaway, then letting all manner of competitor go slithering through the muddy area on timed runs. Sliding and spinning out not only are allowed, they’re encouraged as part of the show.
Saturday brings another unique event to Proctor, when the Pure Stock drivers — often overlooked in programs that feature Late Models, Super Stocks and Modifieds — take over the track and put on their own show. The Pure Stock Invitational will start at 11 a.m. on Saturday, with any cars approximating Proctor’s Pure Stock rules allowed to enter. They are anticipating over 40 cars in the Pure Stock special, which pays solidly to win, and for fast qualifying time.
The Pure Stocks will about be finished by midafternoon, when the track is turned over to the American Motorcyclist Association for an AMA regional flat-track race on the oval.
The track crew might be near exhaustion by the time Saturday’s events conclude, but by Sunday, things will be back in order for a regular all-class show at Proctor.
The wild weekend will barely be calmed down when Proctor officials can look ahead to a ferocious finish to the racing season, with such events as the Silver 1,000 coming up, to say nothing of the Northern Nationals across the harbor in Superior. The Amsoil series runs at Proctor, and regional drivers will flock to Superior for the Northern Nationals on Labor Day.
All the regional tracks build to similar conclusions, and the start of invitational season means that race fans still have time to see some of the summer’s best racing on his big finishing burst competition, whether at Hibbing, Grand Rapids, Ashland, Cloquet or Proctor.
GORDON WINS BRICKYARD
Jeff Gordon won the Brickyard 400, and he had to prove something in the process. His car, admittedly, was pretty awful, and he started 27th among the backmarkers. With each scheduled pit stop, his crew made the car handle better, and as the race progressed, he became more and more competitive. He took only two tires on his last pit stop, which gave him just enough bite to run fast all the way around the track.
Whether you like Jeff Gordon or hope he’ll lose, you have to agree that it’s particularly impressive for him to win when he and his crew had to work together, all afternoon. They finally got things going right just in time for Gordon to make his final move and win the race. This weekend, Gordon, who is always strong on road courses, is a favorite again when NASCAR’s Winston Cup racers go to Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Dukes aiming for Winnipeg, but Saints provide new challenge
It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a serious bid at overtaking Winnipeg for the second-half lead in the Northern League’s North Division. All the Dukes had to do was to take care of the St. Paul Saints, while Winnipeg had to face potent Fargo-Moorhead for this week’s series.
However, nothing can be taken for granted this season for the Dukes. The Saints have struggled all season, but nobody in the North Division is playing at even a .500 clip. And the Saints also are the biggest rival for the Dukes, so even though the Dukes desperately needed to beat the Saints, they were taking nothing for granted.
“The Saints came to Duluth right on our tails, so we knew we had to do more than just show up and beat them,” said Aaron Runk.
Runk, from Stillwater, came out of Iowa State as a rookie to the Northern League this season, and he has found a home in left field. He also has found a home in the leadoff slot of the Dukes batting order, and his .307 batting average trails only Brandon Pernell (.335) and Greg Morrison (.321) for the team lead.
As it turned out, the Dukes came home after being swept on the road for three games at Sioux Falls, but they had won their last three at Wade Stadium, beating powerful Winnipeg, in fact.
Unfortunately for the Dukes, that hard-throwing righthander the Saints threw at them in Monday’s series opener looked all too familiar. It was Chris Swiatkiewicz, the former UMD star who traveled from his Twin Cities job to pitch for the Dukes until it made sense for him to work out a trade to the Saints, so he could pitch near where he works.
The Saints put two runs up in the top of the first off Kris Kozlowski, and that was more than Swiatkiewicz needed on that hot August night at Wade. The question, in fact, was when would the Dukes get a hit — never mind a run?
Swiatkiewicz — pronounced “Swan-KEV-itch” — mixed his speeds well and stayed around the plate, both with his fastball and his darting slider. Through six innings, the Dukes got nary a hit, and the Saints added a run to make it 3-0. It’s hard to fight off a contending team when you’re fighting to even get a hit.
In the last of the seventh, Jay Kirkpatrick coaxed a walk, the fourth free pass Swanny had yielded. The crowd came alive, even though there were only 761 who took on the heat wave to come to the park. With one out, Brandon Pernell fought off a pitch and looped a soft line drive, just over the head of Saints first baseman Tony Chance, and as it landed on the edge of the infield dirt and skidded into right field, the Dukes had their first hit of the game.
Randy Book, who had relieved Kozlowski, went to the mound in the top of the eighth and struck out Chance and Chris Schwab, but catcher Reagan Buckley hammered a fly to deepest center field. Brent Bowers ran back, appeared he might have the drive measured, but couldn’t make the catch. Buckley circled the bases for a triple, and scored on a single by Ricky Gomez for a 4-0 cushion.
The way Swiatkiewicz was pitching, a fourth run looked pretty superfluous, but in the last of the eighth, with two out, Runk, the Dukes leadoff man, hooked his sweet swing on an 0-2 pitch and sent a missile high, long and swiftly over the right field fence.
“We knew nobody had gotten a hit off him, of course,” said Runk. “We were sitting there in the dugout for the first seven innings, saying ‘How is he getting us all out?’ He was hitting the spots well, both with his fastball and with his change, which breaks down and out to left-handed hitters, and down and in to righties.
“He’s fast enough so that his off-speed pitch really is tough. He’s not overpowering, but he’s really good when he hits his spots.”
In the eighth, Runk was up against it, with no balls and two strikes. “All I was trying to do was to get my bat on the ball,” he said. “He threw me a slider, down and in, and I got the best part of my bat on the ball.”
At 4-1, the Dukes came back to mount a serious, last-ditch threat in the last of the ninth. Swiatkiewicz left the game with a cool 2-hitter, and Ben Fleetham came on to pitch for Saint Paul. He struck out Morrison, but Kirkpatrick, a left-handed hitter, chopped a grounder down the third bae line and beat it out for the Dukes third hit of the night.
Fleetham struck out Pernell, but Brent Bowers lined a single to left field. Eddie Lantigua then hit a sharp grounder to short, and Gomez double-clutched, starting to throw to second, then readjusting to throw to first, and his throw wasn’t good, letting Lantigua beat it out.
That loaded the bases, and meant the tying run was on. Ruben Cardona hit a sharp grounder that appeared to have a chance of getting through for an instant, then third-baseman Jason Hill cut it off and fired across the infield for the game-ending out. The result left the Saints and the Dukes tied for second with identical 6-13 records, and the series was just starting.
“We knew that the Saints would be coming in here hoping to overtake us, while we were looking at catching Winnipeg,” said Runk. “All we can do now is try to put this one behind us, and come back out and win a couple.”
Dukes catch fire to burn Winnipeg, threaten solid second half
Maybe it’ll be a springboard to a sensational second half to this Northern League season for the Duluth-Superior Dukes. Or maybe not. But regardless of the follow-up, the Dukes just finished supplying the most stunning wake-up call to themselves and the rest of the league by flying into the all-star break with a three-game sweep against powerful Winnipeg.
The Dukes accomplished the feat in the face of their biggest challenge of an up and down season.
There was no doubt, at the start of the season, that the teams to beat would be Winnipeg in the North Division and Fargo-Moorhead in the South. Sioux Falls, however, was the surprise of the first half of the season, by rising up to challenge, and beat, Fargo-Moorhead for the first-half flag in the South. The Dukes finished second to Winnipeg in the North, but most observers figured it was a distant second, and the Dukes really couldn’t compete at that level.
The way the league shaped up, the Dukes could handle everybody in the league except the “big three” — Winnipeg, Fargo-Moorhead and Sioux Falls. So when the Dukes started off the second half with a 3-9 record, most of the blame went to the schedule, which had the Dukes at Fargo-Moorhead and at Winnipeg, then returning home to face Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg last week.
When the Dukes dropped three straight to Fargo-Moorhead, it reaffirmed the presumption, and left the Dukes 3-9. When the Dukes whipped Winnipeg to open the next series, it seemed to be just a good night in a deadly, difficult schedule.
But Saturday night at Wade Stadium, the Dukes played one of the more entertaining ballgames of the season. The game put on display manager Ed Nottle’s willingness to build his lineup and to juggle his batting order. He had inserted recently acquired shortstop Mike Theoharis as the No. 2 hitter, newcomer Jay Kirkpatrick as the designated cleanup hitter, center fielder Brent Bowers, who was acquired from Fargo-Moorhead after Eddie Gerald broke his hand last week in Fargo, and catcher David Briceno was yet another newcomer, batting ninth.
He also dropped second baseman Ruben Cardona from high in the order to eighth, but in Nottle’s way of manipulating players, batting eighth or ninth in the order is a privelege, not a punishment.
The Dukes fell behind 2-0 in the third, then vaulted ahead 3-2 in the fourth. Klae Calvert, the Dukes potential “stopper” among starting pitchers, worked to hold the Dukes in the game, but they saw Winnipeg tie the game 3-3 in the eighth. Still, they regained the lead in the last of the eighth when Bowers came through with a key hit to drive in Greg Morrison with the go-ahead run at 4-3.
The next hitter was Eddie Lantigua, and he also came up with a key hit, but pinch-runner Jeff Lahti was tagged out at the plate while trying to dive past catcher Ryan Robertson.
So the game went to the top of the ninth 4-3, and the Goldeyes tied the game on a bases-full single by Derek Kopacz. Ruben Cardona led off the last of the ninth by lining a hard single to right, and he was sacrificed to second. But the Goldeyes escaped the jam, and the game went to the 10th inning.
Matt Koziaro took the mound as the third Dukes pitcher and dodged a minefield of Winnipeg chances, as a single, stolen base and wild pitch gave the Goldeyes the leadoff runner on third. Koziaro struck out Peter Prodanov, then walked star hitter Carmine Cappuccio intentionally before striking out Luis Ortiz for the second out. A walk to A.J. Leday loaded the bases, and the 1,500 fans, bolstered by boy scouts who were waiting to camp overnight in the outfield, were riveted to the drama on the field. Koziaro induced Ryan Robertson to ground to second, and the Dukes had escaped, still tied 4-4.
Outhit pretty thoroughly throughout the game, the Dukes got a chance when Brandon Pernell walked in the last of the 10th. He stole second, then he swiped third. With two out, Lantigua walked, and Cardona came up with the pressure at a peak. The stocky little second baseman ripped a line drive toward center, and Winnipeg shortstop Brent Sachs dived, but couldn’t quite reach it, and Pernell jogged home with the winning run for a 5-4 Dukes victory.
The boy scouts didn’t seem to mind the delay before they could set up camp in the outfield, and the second victory in succession over the Goldeyes came despite being outhit 13-8.
The two victories over Winnipeg proved that the Dukes were out of their doldrums, and could, indeed make a run at the Goldeyes in the second half. It was almost as if the third and final game of the series on Sunday was anticlimactic. It also was the stuff of rationalization when the Dukes trailed 5-1 going into the last of the ninth.
Incredibly, the Dukes rallied for five runs in their final turn at bat and stole a 6-5 victory to sweep the Goldeyes.
At 6-9, the Dukes hardly seemed to be world-beaters, but the sweep sent the Goldeyes spiraling downward to 7-8. That not only left Winnipeg vulnerable, it also thrust the Dukes clearly into the middle of the second-half North Division pennant race. Regardless of record, the Dukes were only one game behind the Goldeyes.
Even the all-star game seemed to matter little. The Dukes, who have completed their season play against both Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg, were left itching to go to Sioux Falls and keep their new-found potency producing victories.
Dukes catch fire to burn Winnipeg, threaten solid second half
Maybe it’ll be a springboard to a sensational second half to this Northern League season for the Duluth-Superior Dukes. Or maybe not. But regardless of the follow-up, the Dukes just finished supplying the most stunning wake-up call to themselves and the rest of the league by flying into the all-star break with a three-game sweep against powerful Winnipeg.
The Dukes accomplished the feat in the face of their biggest challenge of an up and down season.
There was no doubt, at the start of the season, that the teams to beat would be Winnipeg in the North Division and Fargo-Moorhead in the South. Sioux Falls, however, was the surprise of the first half of the season, by rising up to challenge, and beat, Fargo-Moorhead for the first-half flag in the South. The Dukes finished second to Winnipeg in the North, but most observers figured it was a distant second, and the Dukes really couldn’t compete at that level.
The way the league shaped up, the Dukes could handle everybody in the league except the “big three” — Winnipeg, Fargo-Moorhead and Sioux Falls. So when the Dukes started off the second half with a 3-9 record, most of the blame went to the schedule, which had the Dukes at Fargo-Moorhead and at Winnipeg, then returning home to face Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg last week.
When the Dukes dropped three straight to Fargo-Moorhead, it reaffirmed the presumption, and left the Dukes 3-9. When the Dukes whipped Winnipeg to open the next series, it seemed to be just a good night in a deadly, difficult schedule.
But Saturday night at Wade Stadium, the Dukes played one of the more entertaining ballgames of the season. The game put on display manager Ed Nottle’s willingness to build his lineup and to juggle his batting order. He had inserted recently acquired shortstop Mike Theoharis as the No. 2 hitter, newcomer Jay Kirkpatrick as the designated cleanup hitter, center fielder Brent Bowers, who was acquired from Fargo-Moorhead after Eddie Gerald broke his hand last week in Fargo, and catcher David Briceno was yet another newcomer, batting ninth.
He also dropped second baseman Ruben Cardona from high in the order to eighth, but in Nottle’s way of manipulating players, batting eighth or ninth in the order is a privelege, not a punishment.
The Dukes fell behind 2-0 in the third, then vaulted ahead 3-2 in the fourth. Klae Calvert, the Dukes potential “stopper” among starting pitchers, worked to hold the Dukes in the game, but they saw Winnipeg tie the game 3-3 in the eighth. Still, they regained the lead in the last of the eighth when Bowers came through with a key hit to drive in Greg Morrison with the go-ahead run at 4-3.
The next hitter was Eddie Lantigua, and he also came up with a key hit, but pinch-runner Jeff Lahti was tagged out at the plate while trying to dive past catcher Ryan Robertson.
So the game went to the top of the ninth 4-3, and the Goldeyes tied the game on a bases-full single by Derek Kopacz. Ruben Cardona led off the last of the ninth by lining a hard single to right, and he was sacrificed to second. But the Goldeyes escaped the jam, and the game went to the 10th inning.
Matt Koziaro took the mound as the third Dukes pitcher and dodged a minefield of Winnipeg chances, as a single, stolen base and wild pitch gave the Goldeyes the leadoff runner on third. Koziaro struck out Peter Prodanov, then walked star hitter Carmine Cappuccio intentionally before striking out Luis Ortiz for the second out. A walk to A.J. Leday loaded the bases, and the 1,500 fans, bolstered by boy scouts who were waiting to camp overnight in the outfield, were riveted to the drama on the field. Koziaro induced Ryan Robertson to ground to second, and the Dukes had escaped, still tied 4-4.
Outhit pretty thoroughly throughout the game, the Dukes got a chance when Brandon Pernell walked in the last of the 10th. He stole second, then he swiped third. With two out, Lantigua walked, and Cardona came up with the pressure at a peak. The stocky little second baseman ripped a line drive toward center, and Winnipeg shortstop Brent Sachs dived, but couldn’t quite reach it, and Pernell jogged home with the winning run for a 5-4 Dukes victory.
The boy scouts didn’t seem to mind the delay before they could set up camp in the outfield, and the second victory in succession over the Goldeyes came despite being outhit 13-8.
The two victories over Winnipeg proved that the Dukes were out of their doldrums, and could, indeed make a run at the Goldeyes in the second half. It was almost as if the third and final game of the series on Sunday was anticlimactic. It also was the stuff of rationalization when the Dukes trailed 5-1 going into the last of the ninth.
Incredibly, the Dukes rallied for five runs in their final turn at bat and stole a 6-5 victory to sweep the Goldeyes.
At 6-9, the Dukes hardly seemed to be world-beaters, but the sweep sent the Goldeyes spiraling downward to 7-8. That not only left Winnipeg vulnerable, it also thrust the Dukes clearly into the middle of the second-half North Division pennant race. Regardless of record, the Dukes were only one game behind the Goldeyes.
Even the all-star game seemed to matter little. The Dukes, who have completed their season play against both Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg, were left itching to go to Sioux Falls and keep their new-found potency producing victories.
Top girls fast-pitch teams advance to state, regional , nationals
The strength of Twin Ports area fast-pitch softball has never been better, a fact underscored by various post-season tournament competitions. But it is a complex world where advancement is sometimes assured and other times unreachable.
The area girls fast-pitch league, which started out as a four-team operation intended to promote the Esko Ice, which has never lost a game since the girls fast-pitch league started play, has nurtured some strong supporting teams. The league has grown to the point where most of a dozen regional teams have developed to a high level of competitiveness.
The Minnesota Xplosion last weekend finished as runner-up to the heralded Mankato Peppers in the state Class A tournament, which qualifies the Xplosion for this weekend’s regional American Softball Association tournament in Mankato, where the prize is a trip to Virginia for the national tournament.
The Xplosion consists of players from Duluth, Cloquet, Virginia, Hermantown, Carlton, Cherry and Eveleth.
The Minnesota North Stars, a team comprised of girls from Cloquet, Proctor, Barnum and other regional towns, competed in the state Class B tournament, and reached the semifinals to also qualify to advance to further competition in the vast network of ASA regional and national tournaments. The Blast, another league team, also advanced far enough to go on in Class B play, but those teams must decide if they will try to meet the costly travel demands to keep playing.
The Duluth Aerials, made up of girls from Duluth East, will play this weekend in Rochester in the state Class C tournament.
If it seems odd that the Esko Ice doesn’t compete in any of those state or regional tournaments, it is because the Ice is in what is called the Gold level, and is qualified to automatically participate in the under-18 Gold Nationals at Marietta, Ga., in two weeks.
“It does seem like maybe we should be going to the state or regional tournaments,” said Gary Fritch, the first-year head coach of the Ice, who assisted Roger Plachta last season, when the Ice also went to the Nationals.
“It’s a pretty complex setup, but the Gold Nationals are for teams at the highest level, the most elite teams, which can draft players from all around their areas. It is really tough competition. Last year, we won two games at the Nationals, and that was probably better than we could have been expected to do. I sometimes wonder if we wouldn’t be better off going to a state or regional tournament, where we could win a lot of games, and maybe even the tournament, because the competition at the Gold Nationals is so strong.”
College recruiters flock to the Gold Nationals, and most of the teams have several Division One players or top candidates.
“Last year, we won our first game in the double-elimination pool play, then we lost to Katy’s Kruisers, a team from Katy, Texas, that had Catherine Ofterman pitching,” Fritch recalled. “She had pitched and lost 1-0 to the U.S. Olympic team last year, and this year, she beat a team of Olympic candidates. She’s going to the University of Texas, and they had numerous D1 players.”
The Ice is made up of select players from throughout the area, with a couple players from Forest Lake. Stephanie Fritch, the coach’s daughter who starred at Duluth Central and now pitches for Winona State, is the top pitcher, while Lindsey Erickson from Hermantown, April Makowski from St. Scholastica, and Meghan Norris from Duluth East, are among other selected players.
Numerous coaches get involved because their daughters play, much like boys sports. Ron Tondryk of Cloquet coaches both the Xplosion, where his daughter, Brooke Tondryk, alternates pitching starts with Lindsey Predovich of Virginia, and the under-14 age Blast, where his younger daughter plays. “I’ve coached 17 teams during the past 10 years,” Tondryk said.
“At the 14-under tournament the previous week, we won our first two games, lost our third, then had to win five straight games without a break to get to the championship, where we lost 5-1.
“Last weekend at Elk River, the Xplosion played seven games, and we won five of them,” Tondryk added. “The only team that beat us was the Mankato Peppers, which has four Division One players.”
The way Tondryk worked his pitching rotation, Brooke Tondryk pitched the first game and Predovich the second, and he continued the pattern as the Xplosion got to 4-0.
“We and the Peppers were the last two undefeated teams, and they beat us 1-0 in eight innings,” said Tondryk. “They scored an unearned run in the eighth inning to beat us, then we came back to beat Tartan 1-0 to get the chance to play the Peppers again in the finals. But we had to beat them twice in the double-elimination format, and we ran out of gas. They beat us 8-0.”
Brooke Tondryk pitched both games against the Peppers, finishing 3-2 for the tournament, while Predovich was 4-0 in the alternate games. The Xplosion is now 27-12 for the season, but they may have a couple players missing from the regional tournament in Mankato this weekend.
In Rochester, coach Stan Karich thinks his Aerials could do well, but the Class C tournament is an unknown. His team sacrificed star third baseman Norris to the Ice midway through the season, but has persevered.
“There are a lot of real community teams in the Class C tournament, but also some metropolitan area teams that are put together after their A and B tournament teams are selected, so there will be some good teams from bigger areas, too,” Karich said.
Conspicuous by their absence from all the state tournaments, the Esko Ice remains Minnesota’s only Gold National team. And Tondryk measures the progress of his Xplosion by the fact that they lost 1-0 to the Ice and 1-0 to the Mankato Peppers in two tests against the state’s best teams.
The Ice will take its 22-4 record to a tournament in Chippewa Falls, Wis., this weekend for a tuneup for the Gold Nationals. Plachta, former Esko coach, based his original select team in Esko, so the name remains even though there are only a couple players on the team from Esko. It is certain to be the smallest town represented at the Gold Nationals. Plachta just finished his first year as softball coach at UWS, and is coaching the Superior Toons in Twin Ports league play, where Erickson remains his top pitcher, when she’s not playing center field for the Ice.
The rest of the regional teams don’t have national tournaments as their focus, which is why some of the travel plans are questionable. Such trips, forced in a short time, are extremely expensive, which is why most teams advance as far as they can in state or regional play, but may choose not to go on to nationals.
“We’ll play in the regional at Mankato this weekend, and we’ll go on to the Midwest Nationals in Cincinnati,” said Tondryk. “If we do real well there, we may go on, but we haven’t decided yet.”
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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