ABC Raceway’s 60th Season will be One for the Record Books
15-show schedule will include two record-payout events
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, April 1 – For fans looking for excitement and variety in their 2024 racing season, the ABC Raceway’s schedule looks ready to provide both. For drivers seeking to run for some seriously large purses … well, ABC will offer that, too.
The 15-race slate set for the award-winning northern Wisconsin speedplant’s 60th season under the direction of the Ashland-Bayfield County Racing Association will include racing in eight different divisions overall. The Raceway will play host to five weekly offerings during most of its regular-season programs – WISSOTA-sanctioned Fuhrman Design Modifieds, Superior Floral Super Stocks, Lightning Storm Graphics Midwest Modifieds and Patsy’s Bar Pure Stocks, plus its own Berglund Design Six-Cylinders.
Of the 14 regular-season race programs scheduled, thirteen will be held on the track’s traditional Saturday nights, while the other will be on a Thursday.
While the crown jewel of the ABC Raceway has long been the popular end-of-season Red Clay Classic – this year with Enbridge signing on as primary sponsor – three events set for the 2024 regular season will be significant in their own right.
The biggest of those three – especially in terms of money on the line – will be the fourth annual “The 444 Memorial,” presented by Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center, to be held on Saturday, August 10. As race number 16 of the 21-race Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series, the event, held in honor of the late former Modified and Midwest Mods racer Tanner Byholm, will also be the final race of the week-long, six-event, six-track XR Events “Northern Storm” tour that will begin in Princeton, MN, on the prior Monday and continue with stops in Ogilvie, Hibbing, and Proctor, MN, and Superior on its way to Ashland.
Once here, many of the Upper Midwest’s best WISSOTA Late Model, Modified, and Midwest Mod drivers will compete for starting spots in their respective features, which will pay out all-time ABC Raceway-record – by far! – winner’s checks of $20,444 (Late Models), $15,444 (Mods), and $10,444 (Mid-Mods). By comparison, last Fall’s Red Clay Classic Late Model, Mod and Mid-Mod feature winners took home $6,500, $5,200 and $3,500, respectively – each of those a track-record paycheck at the time.
To help celebrate the tenth season of the FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series, the folks at ABC will host not one, but two of the Series’ race nights, starting with the tour opener on Saturday, June 1, presented by NAPA Auto Parts and paying an incredible $4,000 to win the night’s Series feature – matching the track-record posted payout of last year’s Classic for that division. The event should draw upwards of 60 Super Stock drivers, all of which will most likely return a week later for the fourth of the Series’ nine races on June 8, to be presented by Super One Foods.
Adding to all of that, the high speeds and wild racing associated with sprint cars returns to Ashland’s red-clay oval with a visit by the Renegade High Roller Series on Saturday, July 13, sponsored by the Bad River Lodge, Casino & Convention Center. The Minnesota-based Northern Renegades Traditional (wingless) sprints have joined with the Upper Midwest Sprint Series (UMSS) in 2024 for this invitation-only tour for approximately 30 participating drivers to race at up to ten tracks, including ABC.
Many of the tour’s drivers and teams will be competing on the historic track for the first time.
The season kicks off on Saturday, May 18, with the Northern State Bank “Lid-Lifter” and is followed by the popular Kids’ Meet the Drivers Night, presented by Heartland Communications Group, on May 25. After the back-to-back Northland Super Stock Series shows to start June, the Raceway will offer a Teacher Appreciation Night, sponsored by WIMI, 99.7 FM, on June 15, followed by its “Racing for a Reason” Community Night on June 22, which offers free admission for all seating in the grandstands, courtesy of Northern Clearing Inc.
June closes out with the Raceway’s only non-Saturday regular-season event – the third annual White River Ag Products Farm Stock Special, on Thursday the 27th, highlighting the Modifieds, Super Stocks and Midwest Mods. Then the Six-Cylinders find themselves in the spotlight on July 6 with their second-ever Safari Tavern “Slam” event, which offers two features and big money for the unique-to-ABC budget-level division. After the visit from the sprint car series on the 13th, July closes out with the Chicago Iron & Supplies-sponsored kids’ bike races on the 20th and the track’s Hall of Fame ceremonies on the 27th presented by Zar’s Bar & Banquet Hall.
After the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce and Ashland-Bayfield County Sportsmen’s Club team up to present a backpack giveaway night on August 3, which will include a visit by WISSOTA Street Stocks, and the “444” on the 10th, the Raceway’s regular season concludes on the 17th with Mountain Dew Championship Saturday Night, sponsored by North Star Beverage, when the 2024 points champs will be crowned for each of the five weekly divisions.
The historic season will conclude with the 49th annual Red Clay Classic powered by Enbridge, to be held Friday & Saturday, September 27-28. One of the Midwest’s biggest and most prestigious dirt-track events, the Classic will once again draw upwards of 200 WISSOTA Late Model, Modified, Super Stock and Midwest Mod competitors to Ashland to race for a share of a total scheduled purse well in excess of $120,000.
Finally, Raceway Board president Eric Erickson has proudly announced that the Association has committed over $100,000 to capital improvements scheduled to be completed over the course of the 2024 season, aimed to provide comfort, safety, and an even higher-quality product on the track. Those improvements include a new catch-fence ranging from Turn 1 to Turn 3; a redesign of the pit parking area south of Turns 1 and 2; additional lighting; updates to the pit public address system; and a resurfacing of the track in the Fall.
More information regarding the 2024 season schedule at the ABC Raceway is available on the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com, and via its FaceBook page.
ABC 2024 schedule advance 4/1/24
ABC Raceway – 2024 season schedule (all races on Saturdays except where indicated)
May 18 – 60th season opener, presented by Northern State Bank
May 25 – Kids’ Meet the Drivers Night, presented by Heartland Communications Group
June 1 – FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series race 1, presented by NAPA Auto Parts (no Modifieds)
June 8 – FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series race 4, presented by Super One Foods
June 15 – Teacher Appreciation Night, presented by WIMI 99.7 FM (no Super Stocks)
June 22 – “Racing for a Reason” Community Night, presented by Northern Clearing Inc (free grandstand admission)
June 27 (Thurs) – Farm Stock Special, presented by White River Ag Products (no Pure Stocks)
July 6 – “Six-Cylinder Slam,” presented by Safari Tavern
July 13 – Renegade High Roller Series sprints, presented by Bad River Lodge, Casino & Convention Center (no Modifieds, Midwest Mods)
July 20 – kids’ bike races, presented by Chicago Iron & Supplies
July 27 – Hall of Fame Night, presented by Zar’s Bar & Banquet
August 3 – kids’ backpack night, presented by Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce and Ashland-Bayfield County Sportsmen’s Club (w Street Stocks)
August 10 – 4th annual “The 444 Memorial” WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series / RaceXR.com Northern Storm special, with Modifieds and Midwest Mods, presented by Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center (non-points night)
August 17 – Mountain Dew Championship Saturday Night, presented by North Star Beverage
Sept 27-28 (Fri-Sat) – 49th annual Red Clay Classic powered by Enbridge (Late Models, Modifieds, Midwest Mods, Super Stocks)
Nick Gima
announcer / publicist / historian
ABC Raceway, Ashland WI
“home of the Red Clay Classic”