PROCTOR SPEEDWAY CROWNS CHAMPIONS AT ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET
By Jerry O'Brien

The annual Proctor Speedway Banquet was held on Saturday December 2nd at the Lost Isle in Carlton, MN. A good crowd of over 200 attended the dinner, awards ceremony and dance. After the social hour, those assembled dined on a buffet of Turkey, Roast Beef and Ham with a choice of Au Gratin and baby red potatoes as well as buttered corn. 

After dinner it was time to hand out the point fund checks as well as the hardware. Splitting the emcee duties were Mark Fleischer and Nick Gima. Prior to the awards ceremony former speedway President Chris Sailstad spoke to the 2007 schedule hitting some of the high points. The regular season is scheduled to start on Sunday, May 13th. The first special will be on Memorial Day weekend, the first Como Modified series event. It will be a Modified weekend with both the Sunday Modified winner receiving $1000 as well as the Monday Como series winner.

Besides Enduros and the like the popular Twin Ports twin 25's will return on August 5th with the AMSOIL Corporation as the title sponsor. August 30th will see the annual Silver 1000 and the third annual Proctoberfest will return on October 5th and 6th with sponsorship from Rick Gondik Law Offices.

Major sponsors for 2007 include the AMSOIL Corporation, Gondik Law Office and the Black Bear Casino.  Roger Smith a member of the Tribal Consul of the Fon Du Lac Band spoke and stated that the Black Bear casino will continue and increase it's sponsorship partnership with the Proctor Speedway and will continue to sponsor the Silver 1000. To that end Smith presented Speedway President Jerry "Crash" Carlson with a check for the Silver 1000 sponsorship of $11,000.

Carlson also announced that the Fon du Lac Band will assist in the plans for the new concession building that must be built to replace the old one on the front stretch. Carlson spoke to the noise pollution problems and made us aware that the Proctor Speedway may have a problem with a particular "neighbor." He made us aware that WISSOTA as a group is forming a lobby group with the intention of taking the fight for the right to operate their race tracks to the Minnesota State Legislature and several thousand dollars have already been donated to finance this end.

Point fund checks were handed out to those drivers outside the top ten with each of the top ten finishers in the five divisions receiving trophies. Seasons champions are Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN Pure Stocks; Nick Lavato, Duluth WISSOTA Midwest Modified; Kyle Peterlin, Hibbing, WISSOTA Super Stock; Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, WISSOTA Modified and Harry Hanson, Eveleth Late Model. Besides their trophies and point fund checks, each champion received a surprise gift from Rick Gondik and former racer Dick Christman, a "Crankshft Barstool" produced by Dick Christman.

Harry Hanson 2006 Late Model Track Champion

Darrell Nelson 2006 Modified Track Champion

Nick Lavato 2006 Midwest Modified Track Champion

Kyle Peterlin 2006 Super Stock Track Champion

Ricky Davis 2006 Pure Stock Track Champion

Each of the five divisions had Rookies of the Year named. In the Curtis Oil Pure Stocks it was Dan Larsen driver of the #68 Pure Stock who tied for 6th place with Jon McKinnon with 692 points. The WISSOTA Midwest Modified Rookie of the Year is Chad Larson who finished fourth in points at 604. The WISSOTA Super Stock Rookie of the Year is Frank Befera who finished 25th in points with 221. Justin Jones was named Rookie of the Year in the WISSOTA Modified division finishing third in points with 595 and the WISSOTA Late Model Rookie of the Year is Dave Esse who finished 12th in final points with 417.

Each season a "Sportsman of the Year" is named in each division as well as an overall sportsman. This season Tom Morinville was named in the Pure Stocks, Nick Lavato in the Midwest Modified, Kyle Peterlin in the Super Stock division, Jayme Lautigar, Modifieds and Jeff Massingill in the Late Models. The Overall Sportsman was awarded to outgoing Pit Steward Dave Ruby who is retiring after more than 25 years in the position. 

Each year the Speedway President presents the President's Award to someone who has done a lot to help him over the year. This year's recipient is new Grandmother Mary Korich who managed the Proctor Speedway concessions and did a great job with several innovations not seen previously at the Speedway.