By Jeff Pederson
Pedal Down Promotions
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) August 12, 2022 – In his seven seasons behind the wheel of a B Mod at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Patrick Hanson of Sheboygan Falls has experienced the highs and lows that the sport of dirt track racing is notorious for dishing out on a regular basis.
Even through his most challenging times on the track, Hanson has persevered and developed into a fixture in the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing’s B Mod ranks since the division’s inception in 2016.
With just two points nights remaining in the 2022 PDTR B Mod season, the Sheboygan Falls resident currently stands 11th in the point standings with two 10th place A-main showings to his credit on May 7 and July 9, while competing in seven of the eight PDTR B Mod events held so far during the 2022 campaign.
“We picked up a new powerplant for the 2021 season, and in the off season this past year, my good friend and one of our sponsors, Kyle Schroeder of FineLine Fabrications, spent a fair amount of time doing some cutting and burning in our rear suspension to get our rear end geometry onboard with the current chassis being built,” Hanson said. “2022 has been a learning curve getting used to something completely different, but we’re growing more comfortable with it and the adjustments we’ve been making.”
With an affinity for racing lying within his family lineage, it’s not a surprise that Hanson was drawn to the track an early age.
“The start of my racing interests are an early childhood memory,” Hanson said. “Both my grandfathers were friends with and helped out some legends of seasons past like Kenny Painter, Tom Glaubig and Wayne ‘Weiner’ Goetsch, so I got to see a lot of pictures and hear stories about the good old days of racing. My uncles were fairly involved for a lot of years. My uncle Steve Grusznski raced a Hobby Stock for a few years and hung it up to crew with various people over the years alongside my other uncles, Tim and Pat.
“Before the popularity wraps and vinyl printers, my uncle Pat of Gizzos Custom Graphics was one of the big hand lettering guys around here, so I got to hang out as he worked on various hot rods during my childhood,” he said. “My dad regularly took us to Plymouth for EWSC shows when I was a kid, so as you can see, the racing hook was set pretty early for me.”
As the years progressed, Hanson’s connection to racing through his circle of friends eventually led him to jump behind the wheel himself.
“Fast forward to my late teens, a good friend of mine, Justin Green, was racing giving some of us that all grew up together an opportunity to spend time in the shop with him and learn a thing or two,” Hanson said. “After a few years of tagging along with Justin Green and a few other people, I picked myself up a car late in 2014 and spent time building it. We’ve been racing since 2016 at Plymouth.”
Hanson enjoyed a strong start to his racing career as he claimed the PDTR B Mod Rookie of the Year Award in the division’s debut season at The Plymouth Dirt Track in 2016.
“My career highlight has to be taking rookie of the year in the Plymouth B Mod division in 2016 in a competitive field of half a dozen or so rookies,” Hanson said. “It’s been a wild ride since we started. We spent our first three seasons in the top 10 in points and been having some rough seasons since then.”
With family, work and other commitments cutting into the time he devotes to his favorite hobby, Hanson tries to keep the rollercoaster ride of racing in perspective.
“What I enjoy most about the sport is getting out with my friends for a night of competition and having fun,” Hanson said. “When I started racing, I leased shop space in Sheboygan Falls and shared that with the Long brothers, Shane and Spencer, Glen Blanke and Justin Green. Since then, I’ve moved on. I have a shop on my own property now and don’t get to see those guys much besides Saturday nights. With having a family, career commitments and other things in life, racing for me has not gotten the time and money that it may necessarily take to be a front runner every weekend.
“More important to me is being able to get out with my friends for a few hours each week and challenge myself to improve with the limited resources we have and have some fun with all these guys,” he said. “This sport costs too much to not be having fun. My son is starting to enjoy spending time out in the shop with me and spending time around all this racing stuff, so hopefully I can keep this growing into something I can share with him as he gets older. A special thanks goes to my wife who not only knew what she was getting into when she met me, but continues to put up with me playing in the dirt all these years,”
Patrick Hanson’s pit crew includes Austin Hanson, Andrew Behnke, Rick “The Hedder” Hed, Paul Perronne, Cody Sachse and Randy Post.
The sponsors for Patrick Hanson’s B Mod are D&H Sales and Service/Brad Dahmer Motorsports, Falls Tap, Pecos Club House, FineLine Fabrication, JAWS Lawn and Landacaping, CrazyG Designs, Shady Dave’s Speed Factory, Leadfoot Race Bodies, Falls Ace Hardware, Homestead Heating and Cooling, Extreme Enterprises and Ultimate Racecars.
“A big thanks goes to all our great sponsors who help keep this program going week after week every season,” Hanson said.
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This Saturday, Aug. 13 is Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Junior Fan Appreciation Night with prize drawings, giveaways and special activities geared to kids 15 and under. Prizes include a kids battery powered Jeep donated by Neumann Plumbing & Heating, Nintendo Switch Lite with pouch and games donated by Larry Boedecker Family, Fondy Sports Park certificate, Kelly’s Creamery certificate and gas card donated by Dave & Brenda Mohs and a bike donated by Kim’s 5 Corners among others. Each kid in attendance will also receive a coupon for a free hot dog and soda with a coin and candy drop set to take place courtesy of Vander Vaart Concrete.
In addition, all A-main winners on Saturday, Aug. 13 will receive an extra cash bonus and a plaque in memory of beloved racer and flagman Dave Deicher, who passed away in May 2021.
Spectator gates open at 4:30 p.m. with qualifying slated for 5:30 p.m. and racing set to begin at 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.
Pedal Down Promotions is a full-service public relations and media services company devoted to helping clients effectively communicate with targeted audiences through a diverse array of promotional strategies and methods, including press releases, newsletters, profile and feature articles, website and social media content development, printed media, editing and layout, graphic design and book publishing services.
For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
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