Nitto Sweeps 2023 Ultra4 Podium at Crandon International Raceway in Wisconsin

September 5, 2023
Story By
Matt Holt

The nonstop action packed racing can not be explained in mere words, the sounds, the feelings, as the vehicles scream out of the first corner from the land rush start is something can only be experienced at Crandon which has been dong its short course racing for 54 years.

With the 120 cars from Ultra4 plus Champ also racing trucks and buggies it was a wild weekend of racing.

The land rush start is one of the most impressive things in all of racing, from the early days of Le Mans to the Baja 1000, watching everyone push as hard as they can to make sure the can edge out the rest of the field, right off the start so they have fresh air and are not eating dust from the rest of the field, pushing hard and moving into the first corner is so important because it can put you in the lead for the second corner and that will set a driver into leading the pack.

Thursday was practice with most teams arriving earlier in the week and getting ready to work the bugs out of the car and learning the track and making adjustments so the cars with be dialed in. The next morning was short course racing and qualify and another opportunity for racers to dial in the car for the big day. Something different about the races at this park is night time racing, and there is nothing like racing under the big lights at night with a pack out crowd cheering everyone on.

UTV

PRO OPEN & STOCK CLASSES

During the first UTV race there was a Open class and a Stock class. A UTV got stuck and back up in the rocks, Paul Wolff battled and another car rolled over and one was left upside down. Part of the reason for new track rules where no passengers are allowed for safety purposes. There was a lot of passing in the rocks, which lead to a lot of damaged parts and racers pushing hard to make the smooth passes. Jody Ford was out battling hard the entire time and huge part of team Indiana. The UTVs were setting impressive times.

PRO MODIFIED

The Pro class ran directly after the pro and stock and it was a lot of dust leading to all sorts of problems with visibility as drivers push harder and harder. Kyle Chaney was on a terror, blowing away his competition, and I can not stress enough how important the hole shot is for this class. Kyle was also racing in the PRO4 class earlier in the day.For many racers it was there first time racing at Crandon, which is awesome to see. Travis Zollinger took the win in the last mile.

EMC Class

With Anthony Yount having one of the craziest rollovers to start the race, it was going to be an action packed event right out the gate, luckily everyone was ok, but the car was destroyed. When asked what was broken on the car he replied with, “everything,” but it was a great thing that the safety gear did its job! The EMC or Every Man's Challenge has 3 classes sub-classes: Stock, Modified, and Legends which means you have 3 different speeds of cars driving all at the same time, which can cause all kinds of chaos with lapped cars and each class fighting their way to the top.

Mick Henson, who races a Toyota pickup, was flying thought the rock section broke all sorts of stuff as he was exiting. And the passing in the rocks for this class was especially exciting. Brent Harrell was walking away with it and had over a minute lead.

4400 Class

There isn’t much on this planet that will make your heart skip a beat like the massive heard of elephants charging as 17 racing 4400 unlimited monster rigs blast off the starting line all at the same time and roar into famous turn one. Loren Healy came out the gate and was on a terror with his new Triton Engineering Chassis and Nitto Trail Grappler tires he had an epic first lap with several battles on the course.

Legendary racer Shannon Campbell was one of the fastest in the rocks as be blasted though as if he was skipping but mechanical failure ended his day early. Paul Wolff, who rolled over on the second corner, got up on his Nitto Trail Grappler tires and still managed to get some of the fastest lap times of the day!