11/4/2024
WISSOTA
MIDWEST MOD MASTER; SIMPSON SPEEDS TO FIRST CAREER WISSOTA NATIONAL TITLE
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada’s David Simpson comes from a family rich in racing tradition and involvement in the motorsports scene north of the border, so to win the 2024 WISSOTA Midwest Modified national title and become the first Canadian to do so is a huge honor for someone who’s so deeply involved in the sport.
Simpson, 28, raced 80 times throughout the 2024 season and was able to rip off 26 feature wins in a dominating season for his efforts. David not only won 27 times, but finished inside the top ten in 63 of his starts and recorded 52 top five finishes to go along with it, showing how tough he was to contend with all season long.
Among Simpson’s 27 victories, he picked up wins at his home track, the Thunder City Speedway, plus also won at ten other tracks across the region, including the Fiesta City Speedway, Red Cedar Speedway, Grand Rapids Speedway, Proctor Speedway, ABC Raceway, Miller Central Speedway, Dakota State Fair Speedway, Emo Speedway, Gondik Law Speedway and Mosquito Speedway.
Of the 27 victories David raced to this season, he mentioned several that were special or memorable, including winning the Northern Nationals after falling out of his heat race and being forced to start 11 th in the b-main. He won the b from the 6 th row and then raced through the field and won the feature after starting 18 th . He also mentioned winning the Grand Rapids Midwest Modified special, the Wayne Hari Fall Freezer, the Emo Speedway Labor Day Special, the Thunder bay Truck Centre Dirt Track Nationals Showdown, the Richard Schutte Tribute and of course racing to the Grand Rapids and Thunder City track championships as well. When asked to sum up his season, David said ‘all the long hours of hard work and dedication to the sport I love has finally paid off!’
Simpson, started racing 13 years ago and has been racing in the Midwest Modified division since he was 15 years old. He competed in the Super Stock division in 2023 as well, but his main focus so far throughout his career has been in the Midwest Modified class and he has seen much success.
David is sponsored by Sign Design Inc., Contracting Kings Inc., Itec 2000 Equipment Inc., Pete’s Backhoe Service, Power System Solutions, Thunder Bay Truck Centre / Peterbilt of Fort Frances, Dryden, Longlac, DJ’s Truck & Trailer Repair, Mike’s Place, Neebing Lumber & Buildings Supplies, Westfort Productions, Tycon Construction, Per-Hol Construction, Tecni-Cool Radiator, S.G. McKinnon Logging, McKinnon Bros. Trucking, McKinnon Racing, WFO Bear Hunt, Rosslyn Auto Centre, Bertrand Contracting, Joey’s Seafood Restaurants, All-Tech Systems Inc., JD Hair Salon, Auto-Tool Sense, Opas Contracting, Fastlane Motorsports & Powdercoating, Zeuli’s Race Engines & Machine Shop, CRC Motorsports and Cadillac Chassis & Fab, and he is also supported by his wife Justine, daughter Ainsley and new baby due in December, along with his crew chief / dad Scott, grandpa Dave, stepmom Chrissy and dog Hoosier.
The Midwest Modified division first was sanctioned by WISSOTA in 2001 and as mentioned, Simpson is the first Canadian-born driver to win the National Championship in the division. The only other Canadian WISSOTA National Champions are Ward Imrie in the Modifieds in 2017 & 2018, Ricky Weiss in the Late Models in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015, Lou Kennedy Jr. in the Championship Sprint Cars in 1995 and Thunder Bay’s own Tom Nesbitt in the Late Model division back in 1990.
Congrats to David and his team!
The WISSOTA Promoters Association exists to benefit its member tracks to enhance safe, profitable and successful dirt track racing, through unified, cost-effective rules, policies and procedures enacted within a democratic environment.
The WISSOTA Promoters Association was founded in 1981 by eight track promoters in Wisconsin and Minnesota, with an intent to offer uniform rules for the promoters and drivers involved in the Late Model division. Soon, the group decided to do the same for the growing Modified division.
In 1984 a voluntary steering committee was formed to oversee the business aspects that developed and to guide the future of WISSOTA’s racing divisions. That steering committee evolved into a board of directors, and the non-profit racing organization became incorporated in 1986.
Promoters who join the organization become, in essence, part owners of the racing organization and are expected to contribute to its overall success. Each November, the WISSOTA annual meeting is held; the member promoters gather annually in this forum to discuss the future of the organization. Member promoters are given the opportunity to vote on all organizational policies and procedures as well as rules for competition in the various racing divisions. WISSOTA’s member promoters and racing associations have spent approximately 30 years of hard work at the annual meetings crafting unique rules for each of the divisions, which are known as WISSOTA Late Models, WISSOTA Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks, WISSOTA Street Stocks, WISSOTA Mod Fours, WISSOTA Pure Stocks and WISSOTA Hornets.
WISSOTA is proudly sponsored by their official marketing partners: Hoosier Racing Tire, My Race Pass, NAPA Auto Parts, Dirt Race Central, Speedway Motors, Suburban Chevrolet and All The Dirt Racing News, along with their Platinum partners, Raceceiver and Chevrolet Performance, plus their Gold sponsors, which include EngineQuest, QA1, and World Products. WISSOTA is also sponsored by Silver partners Motul, AFCO and Willy’s Carburetor & Dyno Shop, plus Bronze sponsors, including Hanco Corporation and Statk Products. WISSOTA also has a great group of contingency sponsors, including Brodix Cylinder Heads, BuyRaceShirts.com, Manley, Allstar Performance, AMI Graphics, Winning Edge Graphics, Velocita, RaceCals, RaceGear Designs, All Star Trophy & Awards, Minuteman Press, UEM Pistons, Mahle Motorsports, Performance Auto and MD3. WISSOTA’s Late Model Challenge Series is proudly sponsored by Structural Buildings, Momentum Truck Group, Freightliner, Western Star, Minnesota Truck Headquarters, NAPA Auto Parts, Garage Tech X-treme, Raceceiver, AT21 Spoiler Factory, Velocita, BuyRaceShirts.com, Sunoco Race Fuels by Woodie’s Racing, Gorsuch Performance Solutions, Speedwerx, Hiller Auction Inc., Shaw Trucking Inc., Collins Bros Towing of St. Cloud, ServPro, Olsen Custom Farms, Joe Provo Racewear, My Race Pass, Hoosier Racing Tire, Motul, White City Glass, Champ Pans and MD3. WISSOTA’s Official Supporters include: American Heritage Bank, After The Checkers, Bid-2-Buy, Carlson Service Center, Engine Shop, Extreme Tint LLC, Frankman Motor Comp. Inc., FYE Motorsports Promotions, Hanso Paving, Heights Pizza Man, H&S Heating & Cooling, Hilmerson Spots Center, K&A Autobody, Kal’s Motor Group, Kramlich – Deede Meats, Landwehr Construction, Line-X of St. Cloud, Manheim Minnesota, Nyhus Family Sales, Outlaw Graphics, Select Electric, LLC, Sharptruck.com, Specialized Auto Glass, St. Cloud Financial Credit Union, TP Fabricating, Town & Country Excavating, Westwind Logistics, Woodie’s Racing, Woodie’s Manufacturing and Zeuli’s Race Engines.
For more information on WISSOTA, log on to www.WISSOTA.org.
Submitted By: Nikki Cook