By Jeff Pederson
Pedal Down Promotions
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 20, 2022 – There is no debate when it comes to which Plymouth Dirt Track Racing competitor miles puts in the most miles just to get to The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis. for the opportunity to race.
For the second consecutive season, Rock, Mich. resident Cole Possi and the dedicated members of his race-loving family-based team are planning to make the eight-hour round trip trek from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to The Plymouth Dirt Track on a semi-regular basis during the 2022 PDTR 360 Sprint Car season.
“As of now, we’re planning on coming down to Plymouth around 10 times this season,” Possi said. “With the high cost of diesel fuel, it’s tough to afford to travel 400 miles every Saturday.
“Typically, we have 12 people travel down in the hauler, but we have had as many as 24 make the journey to Plymouth,” he said. “It’s about a four-hour ride one direction.”
With racing playing a key role in the lives of his grandfather, as well as his father, Earl, who tallied six A-main victories in Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car competition during his relatively brief, but highly successful Sprint Car career, it is not surprising that Possi caught the racing bug at a young age.
“I’d say the reason I’m so into racing started with my grandpa,” Possi said. “He raced a dirt Modified in Escanaba, Michigan back in the day. Then my dad raced various oval track cars on dirt and asphalt and eventually ended up with a 360 Sprint Car that he wheeled at Plymouth.
“Once I was old enough to strap into a race car, my dad bought me a 270 Micro Sprint in 2010,” he said. “I raced the 270 for a year in Escanaba and Eagle River. Then he got me into a 600 Micro Sprint. I raced the 600 for another year at various tracks throughout Wisconsin and of course at our hometown track in Escanaba. At the time, we also studded the tires and ran the Micro Sprint at a local ice track in the winter where I picked up my first feature win in a 600.”
After two years of Micro Sprint competition, Possi’s initial foray into 360 Sprint Car racing in 2012 was hindered by some bad luck at the track, as well as an ensuing shop-based disaster, which nearly derailed his Sprint Car racing dreams.
“The next spring my dad picked up a full-size Sprint Car and I junked it the first night out at Manitowoc in June 2012,” Possi said. “We pulled the engine and put it in a different chassis, only to blow it up in the heat race the next weekend. That was the end to my first season in a 360 Sprint Car. The following winter in December 2012, our shop burned down and we lost everything, ending any possibility of racing for a few years.
“Fast forward to the fall of 2020, and I ended up buying my own 360 Sprint Car,” Possi said. “There’s no going back now.”
While running roughly half of the PDTR 360 Sprint Car schedule in 2022, Possi has set modest goals for himself and the Possi Racing Team.
“I’d say our biggest goal for 2022 is to finish the year with the same top wing we started the season with,” Possi said.
The 2022 PDTR 360 Sprint Car season opener provided a career-best night for Possi at The Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday, May 7.
“My first win of any kind in the 360 Sprint Car was a heat race victory on opening night of the 2022 season on Saturday, May 7 at Plymouth,” Possi said. “I also had my best career 360 Sprint Car A-main finish in the opening night main event with an 11th-place result.”
The list of Cole Possi Racing Team pit crew members shows that racing is truly a family affair for the tight-knit family-based team.
“The pit crew consists of of Jodi [mom[, Earl [dad], Lauren [wife], Kaylee [daughter], Kaden [son], Judy [grandma], Mitch [brother in law], Sierra [sister], Clay [nephew], Jon [uncle] and Jodi [aunt],” Possi said. “Possi Racing truly is a family-run operation.”
The Possi Racing Team sponsors for the 2022 season include: U.P. Environmental Services, Joe’s One Stop, Race Driven, Derouin’s Auto Body, Inside-Out Remodeling, Call Girls Motorsports, Boogie Fest Too, Sleeping Bear Lightning Protection, Hanlon Stud Welding, JC Property Maintenance, Variance Weld and Fab, Pro Lawn Landscape 906, Larson Land Services, Astro U.P. and Miron Forest Products.
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The third PDTR racing program of the 2022 season is set to feature the stars and cars of the national touring Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Car Series, as well as the regional stalwarts of the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series for the All Stars – IRA Shootout this Saturday, May 21.
Previous All Star Circuit of Champions A-main winners at The Plymouth Dirt Track include Sprint Car racing standouts Kevin Huntley (1995), James McFadden (2019), Kyle Larson (2020) and Bill Balog of Hartland, Wis. (2021), who earned his first All Star Circuit of Champions A-main victory at The Plymouth Dirt Track in his first season as an All Star series regular last June.
After claiming 10 IRA titles and capturing 132 IRA A-main victories, Balog is set to return to defend his 2021 All Stars A-main victory at The Plymouth Dirt Track in his second full season as a regular competitor with the All Stars.
Other top entries include defending All Star Series champion and current points leader Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Ind., Justin Peck of Monrovia, Ind., Cory Eliason of Visalia, Calif., Parker Price-Miller of Kokomo, Ind., Hunter Schuerenberg of Sikeston, Mo., Cap Henry of Bellevue, Ohio, Zeb Wise of Angola, Ind., Kyle Reinhardt of Neptune City, N.J., former USAC Sprint Car, Midget and Silver Crown champion Chris Windom of Canton, Ill., Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala., Australian Scott Bogucki and two-time All Star Circuit of Champions Series champion Greg Wilson of Benton Ridge, Ohio.
Scotty Thiel of Sheboygan, who has won the first two IRA events of the 2022 season will also be on hand, along with former IRA champions Jake Blackhurst of Hanna City, Ill., Jeremy Schultz of Beaver Dam and Scotty Neitzel of Beaver Dam.
A full program of Plymouth Dirt Track Racing – Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Cars is also on the card for the all-Sprint Car event.
Grandstand spectator gates open at 4 p.m. with on-track action slated for 6 p.m.
The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds is located at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth, Wis. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook.
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For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
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