11/5/2024
WISSOTA
CHERNOSKY TOPS ROOKIE HONORS AND NABS NATIONAL TITLE IN FIRST MOD SEASON
WISSOTA’s newest racing facility, the Thunder City Speedway in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada officially opened its doors on June 4 th, 2022 and just over two years later, the city of Thunder Bay now is home to the WISSOTA Modified National Champion and Rookie of the Year in Cole Chernosky.
Cole started his 2024 season with three cars in three different classes, competing in the WISSOTA Modifieds, Super Stocks and Midwest Modified divisions at various times throughout the season. At season’s end, Cole not only won the WISSOTA Modified National Championship, but he also won the WISSOTA Modified National Rookie of the Year Award, the Canadian Modified Championship and raced to an impressive 33 feature wins for his efforts all season, including 19 Modified wins and 14 Super Stock wins as well.
Of the 33 wins, Cole mentioned a few that stood out to him, including his first Modified win at his home track in Thunder Bay, along with the win at the Madtown Showdown at the Madison Speedway in late September, plus winning at several other new tracks including Rice Lake, Bemidji and Greenbush. He said ‘we definitely enjoyed going out west and racing against new people and at different speedways. It was our first year going to the Seitz Memorial at the River Cities Speedway for three nights, which was a cool place and an awesome party! We met a lot of people this year during our travels. It’s crazy how big/small WISSOTA really is.’
Cole was in a season-long battle for the national title with multi time national champions Kevin Adams, Shane Sabraski and Mike Stearns all the way until the final weeks of the season when Cole’s final win of 2024, which came at the Madison Speedway the last weekend of September against a stacked field of cars, pushed him over the edge and made it so his nearest competitors couldn’t catch him and were racing for second. Cole ended up besting Adams by 23 points for his first ever national championship. Steans ended up third, just 26 points back with Sabraski 47 markers back at season’s end.
Throughout the season, Chernosky raced in 108 feature events, at 18 tracks across 4 states and Canada en route to his national title. He not only won features at 8 of those tracks that he competed at, but he finished inside the top ten a whopping 89 times and picked up 70 top five finishes for his efforts as well, showing he was able to adapt to any type of race track that he chose to attend.
Cole’s #33c is supported by Hood Equipment Canada Inc., Half-Way Motors Power Sports, Ultramar, Pennzoil Full Auto Service Center, Truvalue Auto, Ryden’s Border Store, Neebing Roadhouse, Franks Garage, HD Hyundai, Recycle West, Wacker Neusen, Base Concrete, Carstar – Thunder Bay, Alicia Moore – Realtor, Re/Max Generations, AllTemp Trailer Rental, LRL Group Ltd., SSR Race Cars & Parts, Asv, Axis Equipment Finance, Hoodrents, Wayne Toyota Thunder Bay, Waste Connections of Canada, Canadian Dirt Track Centre, Work Truck West, JMV Electric, A. Colla Insulation Ltd., Chubbs Performance and Bay Lock & Security, JDI Signs & Graphics. His team is also supported by his dad Don, as well as all of his friends and family members that help throughout the week including Chachey, Chris, Terry, Joe, Mom, Randy and Caroline.
When asked about what it meant to be a national champion, Cole said ‘never in a million years did I think I would be in this position with this being my rookie year in a Modified, I guess I can say it hasn’t really set in yet. I guess you could say I’m speechless.’ He also mentioned that ‘after being crowned National Champion, we were just invited to the Dome in St. Louis in December. 2024 keeps getting better and better and better. Only a few more months and we are into 2025. Hopefully we can do it all over again. See everyone at the banquet.’
Congrats to Cole 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