Last year’s Father’s Day 100 came down to a photo finish between veteran Casey Johnson and young gun William Sawalich. Johnson would pull out the win by a mere .032 seconds, but just getting to the finish may have been the three-time ASA Midwest Tour champion’s biggest feat that afternoon.
He and his team were plagued by a cracked distributor all race, using the controlled pit stops to repair what they could just to get to the checkered flag. Even with the issues, his No.5 was the class of the field that afternoon.
In the final laps of the 100-lap event, the motor began cutting out more and more, allowing Sawalich to cut the lead and nearly steal it. The Edgerton, WI driver was able to overcome the issue and the late charge for the win.
“We were fortunate that we were even able to finish. We had a cracked distributor that we were battling the whole day and the motor kept cutting in and out,” said Johnson of the finish. “The first competition caution when we were able to come in and pit, we put fans on the car and changed coil wires, anything electrical we can think of and it cooled down enough to where it wouldn’t miss.
“As the runs went longer the harder it would start to miss, otherwise it probably wouldn’t have been too close of a race. That thing was cutting out halfway down the straightaway, three or four times even. We were lucky to hang on, let’s put it that way. We were just able to sneak it out there.”
It was Johnson’s first Super Late Model win at the The Mile and his second win at the facility, the other coming in a Big 8 Late Model Series race in July 2013 as part of the Howie Lettow Memorial. That afternoon, he beat out another Midwest competitor in Austin Nason to get it done.
“Milwaukee’s always a really cool race. There’s a lot of history with the track. It’s our Daytona 500 for us Super Late Model guys around here. It’s surreal, really. Last year, we were fortunate to pull it off. You don’t really think about it until you do it. It’s really cool to be able to say you’ve won at the Milwaukee Mile.”
Johnson made his first start of the 2023 season in a local Late Model show at Jefferson Speedway, but will be in a car owner and crew chief role for Sunday’s Father’s Day 100 with Barrett Polhemus behind the wheel for his first start at The Mile.
The Texas driver first joined forces with Casey Johnson in 2022 to run the full TUNDRA Super Late Model Series season, along with select starts with the ASA Midwest Tour. Polhemus is returning to Casey Johnson’s No.79 in 2023, now running for Midwest Tour Rookie of the Year honors.
“He was good buddies with a friend of mine down in Texas. He’s sent a couple kids up here to run our stuff. Barrett’s trying to progress his racing career so he got a hold of me. I thought him running the Midwest Tour and the ASA STARS National Tour stuff would be a good fit. Some of the best racecar drivers in the country run that stuff and if you’re going to prove yourself, that’s the place to do it.
The ASA STARS National Tour heads to the historic Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, June 18 for the Father’s Day 100 Presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza. Tickets for the Father’s Day 100 are now on sale at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds ticket office, or online by clicking here.
The Father’s Day 100 will be co-sanctioned with the ASA Midwest Tour, which will be the fourth race of the ASA MT season. RJ Braun, Ty Majeski, and Dalton Zehr have won races with the series this season.
The ASA STARS National Tour opened the ten race, six-state schedule at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL on March 11. Gio Ruggiero is the most recent winner, winning his first-career Super Late Model race in the Tar Heel 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway.
For the full ASA STARS National Tour schedule, plus Super Late Model rules and other information, please visit the series website at starsnationaltour.com, or be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: STARS National Series | Twitter: @racewithstars | IG: @starsnational).
ASA STARS National Tour
The ASA STARS National Tour debuted in March of 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced last October, many of the best drivers in America will compete in the ten-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.
The ASA STARS National Tour is made up of three races from each of the regional pavement Super Late Model Series under the Track Enterprises banner; the ASA CRA Super Series, the ASA Midwest Tour and the ASA Southern Super Series.
The Team Construction Winner’s Circle program has been announced as a part of the ASA STARS National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program provides additional financial incentives to those teams who support the Series, thanks to Team Construction.
Track Enterprises, a Racing Promotions Company based in Illinois, will operate the ASA STARS National Tour. It announced the acquisition of the CRA sanctioning body in January and followed that up with the purchase of the Midwest Tour in July. In October, Track Enterprises President, Bob Sargent announced a partnership with the Southern Super Series which set the table for the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour.
