Just Too Wet: ABC Raceway Cancels Again; Farm Stock Special Next
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, June 22 – One for six is not a very good batting average, whether you’re talking baseball or racing.
With more than a week of precipitation behind them, and confronting a forecast that called for light showers Saturday morning followed by heavier rains come evening – all of which came true – officials of the ABC Raceway made the decision on Friday to cancel Saturday’s Ashland Community Night and annual “Racing for a Reason” fundraiser, presented by Northern Clearing Inc of Ashland, along with its annual Kids’ Meet the Drivers night, to have been presented by Heartland Communications Group of Ashland and Iron River.
The Raceway’s 60th season under the direction of the Ashland-Bayfield County Racing Association has completed just one of its first six scheduled nights of racing, due to the excessive amount of precipitation that has hit the Chequamegon Bay area in the past three months. However, the schedule has not yet reached its halfway point, and some very big events are still to come.
The award-winning three-eighths-mile northwestern Wisconsin red-clay oval will next host its third annual Farm Stock Special, to be presented by White River Ag Products of Mason, on Thursday, June 27. The event, which pays tribute to area farmers, will offer greatly increased purses for the WISSOTA-sanctioned Fuhrman Design Modifieds, Superior Floral Super Stocks, and Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds in attendance. The Patsy’s Bar WISSOTA Pure Stocks and Berglund Design ABC Six-Cylinders will also partake in that night’s program.
The Mods will be running for a feature-winner’s check of $2,500, while the Midwest Mods will race for $1,500 to win their feature, and the Super Stocks will run for $1,000 to win. After the races, fans and race teams are invited to stay an enjoy live music by “The Hucksters,” and fans will also have a chance at winning two reserved lawn seats for all three days of “Concert in the Corn,” coming to Mason on August 22-24.
The track will sit idle on Saturday, June 29, but will return to action with its second “Six-Cylinder Slam,” to be presented by the Safari Bar of Ashland, on July 6. Also on ABC’s schedule for July are a visit by the Renegades High Rollers Sprint Car Series, to be presented by the Bad River Lodge, Casino & Convention Center of Odanah, on Saturday the 13th, and the always-popular kids’ bike races, to be presented by Chicago Iron & Supplies of Ashland, on the 20th.
More information regarding these and other upcoming events, as well as any updates to the season schedule, at the ABC Raceway are available on the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com, and via its FaceBook page.