Track champs do battle at Red River Speedway

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This article was published 31/08/2024 (292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local racers, Kevin Penner of Blumenort and Steinbach’s Mike Martin, have taken turns winning the track championship trophies in the Super Stock category at Red River Co-op Speedway on Highway 75, near St Adolphe.

Penner raced to the track championship last year, while Martin claimed the coveted trophy in 2007.

Formerly Victory Lane Speedway, there are a total of five classes that run on a weekly basis at the Red River Co-op Speedway, including Super Truck, Super Stock, Modified, Street Stock, as well as a rotating specialty class.

This year, Martin and Penner are among the front-runners in the highly competitive Super Stock category, where there are 27 cars.

Martin, 36, a 13-year veteran at the Speedway, is currently fourth in the standings, while Penner, 45, in spite of crashing out of his last two races, is still in the top 10.

Crashes are the nature of stock car racing, where banging around the track is frequently the order of the day. Penner says he tries not to mix it up too much during a race, as any damage incurred means many hours and a considerable amount of money, making repairs to get the car ready for the next race.

Ironically, two weeks ago, Martin and Penner crashed into each other, when another driver pushed Martin into Penner’s car, knocking both of them out of the race.

“We spent about 50 hours and $1,800 in repairs to get the car ready to race again,” said Penner, who runs Penner Performance in Blumenort together with his father, Len Penner, a former drag racer and an integral part of Kevin’s team.

Martin, a mechanic at the family-owned business, Martin Diesel Service, says they spent 35-40 hours, including his crew chief, Wayne Kroeker, repairing his car.

Martin says it is common among the racers to have ties to the auto-truck repair business. “All racers are interested in the sport, often work in the business, and have the know-how to keep their cars running at top performance.”

Each car is set up to the same specifications, making it an even playing field, he explained. The cars generate 350-400 horsepower and reach speeds of about 75 mph on the straights and 60 mph in the corners of the 4/10-mile dirt oval racetrack.

Martin cut his teeth the first few years at the track getting acclimatized to racing in the Street Stock category, where he twice won the track championship.

This is a hobby for these racers, albeit an expensive one, as they perform Thursdays at the Speedway, often in front of several thousand spectators.

The key ingredient to winning a track championship, as both Penner and Martin have accomplished, is consistency, noted Penner.

“Points are accumulated based on your performances in the heats and the feature races; if you crash out like I did the last two weeks, it doesn’t help your cause.”

Martin and Penner will be back at it this week for another round of racing at Red River Co-op Speedway, where racing gets underway every Thursday at 7:30 p.m.