10/23/2023
WISSOTA
Doar Delivers Dominating Run For 6th Challenge Series Title
New Richmond, Wisconsin’s Pat Doar had arguably one of his best seasons to date on the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series tour this past season, claiming six series victories and capping it off by claiming his 6th series championship in the process.
Doar, who also won series titles in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2018, entered the 2023 series as the all-time winningest driver in series history with 36 career series triumphs and after winning 6 series events during the season, ended the season still in the #1 spot for career wins with 42 and was able to tie John Kaanta as the only two drivers to ever win 6 championships in the history of the tour.
The 2023 series was the 25th anniversary of the series, which was created in 1999 and saw new leadership, a new race format, new incentives, some new, higher paying events and a twenty-race schedule that made it more appealing for drivers, especially Doar, to commit to.
When asked about winning his 6th series title, Pat said ‘I think we maybe snuck in there a couple times before people knew what it was back in the beginning and we’ve had a lot of good luck over the years. I really can’t believe we’ve been doing it that long, but we’ve always had a lot of fun doing it.’
The series kicked off with a pair of Minnesota events in mid-May at the I-94 emr Speedway in Fergus Falls, MN and at the Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, MN. Doar ran sixth at I-94 and picked up the win at Ogilvie to start the season off on a high note.
When the series kicked back into action the second weekend of June with four events across Western Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota, Doar rattled off a pair of wins at KRA Speedway in Willmar, MN and at the Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo, MN before running third at the Madison Speedway in Madison, MN and then salvaged a 10th place finish at the Casino Speedway in Watertown, SD to take the point lead entering the bulk of the summer. The final two events on June’s calendar were rained out and rescheduled for late August.
A busy stretch of series events were held in July with the second stop at Ogilvie, the first of three visits to the Hibbing Raceway in Hibbing, MN, the Halvor Lines Speedway in Proctor, MN, the ABC Raceway in Ashland, WI and the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, WI making up a 5-night swing as part of the XR Northern Storm tour. Proctor and Superior rained out, but Pat was able to win his fourth series event of the season at Ogilvie, before running 15th at Hibbing and third at ABC to cap the week and hold onto the top spot in points heading into August.
When August rolled around, the rescheduled Twin Ports Twin 25’s at the Gondik Law Speedway was up first and Pat kept up his winning ways, topping the series feature for his fifth win on tour of the season. The next events were scheduled to be the Duane Mahder 55 at the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, WI and the annual trek to the Rice Lake Speedway in Rice Lake, Wi. Red Cedar was washed out and Pat ran fifth at Rice Lake.
The rescheduled Hope Kids Nights at Ogilvie and at the Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, MN were up next with Pat racing to a pair of fourth place finishes on the weekend, continuing to build his point lead as the tour headed into the busiest weekend of the year – Labor Day weekend.
Labor Day weekend traditionally kicks off on Thursday night at the Silver 1000 at the Halvor Lines Speedway, where Pat finished 6th in the feature race. From there, the tour made the trip to the Grand Rapids Speedway in Grand Rapids, MN for the WISSOTA Classic and Pat finished 9th in that night’s feature race. The final two nights of the weekend were at the Hibbing Raceway for the track’s annual Labor Day Shootout, where Pat recorded feature finishes of 4th and 7th to all but lock up his sixth title with just one event remaining on the schedule.
The final event on tour was the opening night of the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 at the I-94 emr Speedway, where Pat proved he was the best on tour all season by racing to his sixth series win of the year and emphatically stamping his name as the 2023 Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series Champion in the process.
Doar topped series runner up Jake Redetzke by 137 points with Jeff Massingill, Sam Mars and Ryan Mikkelson rounding out the top five in the final series point standings. John Kaanta, Kyle Peterlin, Darrell Nelson, Travis Budisalovich and Dustin Sorensen completed the top ten in the final rundown.
129 drivers competed in at least one series event this season during the 18 events that were run. 2 events fell victim to rain and were not able to be rescheduled.
Doar’s #11 Rocket Chassis is sponsored by Tri Star Engines & Transmissions, Kivi Bros. Trucking, Speedwerx, Vic Hill Racing Engines and OSI Physical Therapy. Pat’s core crew members are his wife Nancy, and his crew chief Luke.
Heading into the 2024 season, Doar owns 42 career series victories and is now a 6-time champion. He will look to break the tie with John Kaanta as they both try to become the series’ first ever 7-time champ next summer.
The 2023 WISSOTA Challenge Series was sponsored by Structural Buildings, ServPro, Garage Tech Xtreme, Joe Provo Racewear, AT21, Shaw Trucking, CMD Race Shocks, Dirt Track Supply, Speedwerx, Motul Oil, Velocita, MyRacePass.com, Raceceiver, Marv’s Trailer Sales, Hoosier Racing Tires, Chevrolet Performance and QualityFreightRate.com.
For more information regarding the Challenge Series, feel free to visit www.WissotaChallengeSeries.com.
Submitted By: Camryn Sullivan