The above video clip was taken at the Cedar Lake Speedway opener on April 8, 2008. As opening nights go this was a warm one as you can see by the way people in the pit area are dressed. Opening night weather can be unpredictable from year to year. Some years openers don't take place as scheduled due to lingering snow and cold. Other years as illustrated in the above video clip the weather can be almost summer like.
Note: This 2005 video was taken with my old standard resolution camera. I have since upgraded to an HD camera so that future video posts will be of much better quality. My videos are for illustration on this blog only and are not meant for resale. See your local track videographer for high quality videos of racing events. My favorites that I highly recommend are Meeks Video and Frypan Productions.
So far this early spring (I'm writing this post on March 16) we have been in a cold and snowy pattern with more snow storms in the forecast and no significant warmup in sight. With openers scheduled as early as the weekend of April 5-6 we need some warm weather to melt all the snow if the races are to take place as scheduled. I won't go out on a limb and predict when the openers will actually happen this year but as you read this post and look through the photos you'll see a variety of dates and weather conditions at the past openers. I trust that you'll enjoy this trip down memory lane.
Looking through my records I verified that I attended opening night racing at CLS in 2001, 2002, 2003 (both nights), 2004, 2005 (both nights), 2006 (both nights), 2007, 2008, 2009 (both nights), and 2012. the 2008 Cedar Lake opener did not take place until School Bus night on May 17. Conversely last year the 2012 opener was run on April 6 and as noted by announcer Chris Stepan was the earliest opening night in the history of the track.
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| Opening night isn't always easy on equipment as seen in this 2001 photo | |
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If you look at the background in these next two photos you will see that the trees have barely sprouted leaves. Where I live we have clay under a few inches of black dirt and there have been many years that the opener was in the books before my yard dried up enough to walk around and pick up the sticks that had fallen over the winter. I recall some years when the tracks had to move snow to hasten melting so that the show could go on as scheduled.
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| The leafs are just starting to appear on the trees and fans are prepared for dropping temperatures after the sun goes down as Craig Thatcher motors past at them at the 2003 CLS opener. |
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| Buzzy Adams at the 2003 CLS opener back in his Super Stock days |
Troy Springborn showed up at the 2004 Cedar Lake opener with sharp looking ride that had obviously been groomed and tweaked in the shop in preparation for the big night. Unfortunately things did not go as planned and all that hard work was negated by a turn one flip. Ashley was not injured but many long hours of work went wheels up that night.
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| Troy Springborn motors down the backstretch on April 9, 2004 |
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| Unfortunately things did not go as planned. No drivers were injured in the making of this photo |
Everyone is anxious for the opener to get here. Racers, fans, track workers, and of course the photographers, videographers and writers. Track conditions can be unpredictable but most years the racing has been close and exciting on opening night.
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| Everyone looks forward to opening night including the photographers at CLS 2005 |
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| Opening night action CLS 2005 |
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| Photographers get their first chance to try new angles and lenses as this 2006 CLS opener pic of Bryan Sierks illustrates |
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| This 2006 opener photo of Jason Miller is dedicated to those of you who leave the left front at home. Everyone brings fresh equipment to the opener. Some leave with the loot, others with a flatbed full of scrap |
If you know me you're probably wondering why all the Late Models and Modifieds in this post but no mention of Sprint Cars to this point. Easy answer. Sprint Cars and record setting early openers aren't a good mix on account of the unpredictability of early April racing surfaces and their affect on the light weight machines. Sprint Car fans are used to waiting a few weeks longer for their fix than the Late Model and Modified fans. One of the earliest Sprint Car races I could find a record of attending in my archives was contested at the Kopellah Speedway (now Saint Croix Valley Raceway) on April 27, 2007. This race took place prior to the formation of the UMSS but the appearance of 360 Sprints on the little bullring just north of highway 8 foreshadowed bigger things for the track and the 360 Sprints in the future. The Saint Croix Valley Raceway will open their 2013 season on Friday April 26, 2013, with the UMSS 360 Sprint Cars as the headliner. The next day the winged warriors will tow a half hour down the road to Cedar Lake for a Saturday April 27 date resulting in two nights of racing that is sure to attract some visiting teams. This race weekend takes place six years almost to the day since the race depicted below.
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| Kevin Nickle (10) and Jerry Richert Jr. (62) April 27, 2007 |
We struggled with a stretch of wet, cool weather in the early spring of 2008. In fact we experienced so many rainouts that spring that the Cedar Lake opener did not take place until May 17. I'm not sure if that was a record late date for our modern era. Years ago tracks didn't used to open until May so there are most likely some later openers in Cedar Lake's history. If there are any Cedar Lake historians out there that know what date their openers were scheduled in the 60's, 70's and 80's you can visit my
gotomn.com website and use the email link to contact me, leave a comment here on the blog or message me on Facebook. I'll share your story here in my next blog post and give you a tip of the hat.
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| The weather wouldn't allow the 2008 CLS opener to take place until School Bus night on May 17 |
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| Brent Larson enjoyed the May 17, 2008, Cedar Lake opener |
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| Friends remembered Dave "Navy Davy" Trautmiller at the 2009 Cedar Lake opener (April 18, 2009) |
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| Tony Schill pitching it into turn three at the April 18, 2009, CLS opener |
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| Flyin' Ryan Olson at the April 6, 2012 Cedar Lake opener (earliest in the history of the track) |
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| Ryan Olson celebrates his historic earliest opening night win on April 6, 2012 |
As I wrap up this post I'm checking the extended 25 day outlook on
accuweather.com. Though never 100% accurate long range forecasts tend to be pretty close on what kind of a pattern we'll be in. At this point they're showing highs around 20 for the first few days next week gradually warming into the low to mid 40's the following week with lows still in the teens and 20's. I don't see anything above 50 until April 7 but again this is an advance forecast and things can change. Keep in mind though that the weather has to warm up sufficiently to melt the snow, dry the grounds, and provide fans with a reasonably comfortable experience after the sun goes down. Precipitation is another subject altogether, I hate to see races rained out but as someone that prices agricultural rail shippers for a living I'm in touch with drought conditions and I'll take all the rain we can get. Hopefully if we do have a wet spring it will take place during the week and won't affect the racing. May you all experience an early and enjoyable opener at your favorite track wherever that may be.
Racing notes:
Tim Kaeding returned from down under driving the Krikke Sprint Car in Australia to score a World of Outlaws victory at California's Tulare Thunderbowl. The Krikke car was the ride that Aussie transplant and current Minnesota resident Brooke Tatnell found succes with in the past. Kaeding is a past Cedar Lake World of Outlaws and Rice Lake IRA winner. Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahn put themselves in the front row for the Bristol NASCAR race on Sunday March 17.
See you at the races!
