WEST SALEM — You’ve got to love a race in which the winner knows he didn’t win, and the overall winner was totally unsure of what the final outcome was. Really, it’s true, and folks loved it.

Yes, adult beverages are a part of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend, but none of the guys driving fast cars were consuming them Friday night while behind the wheel, that I’m sure of. So what gives?
The race is called the Dick Trickle 99, and I’ll admit I was a bit confused last year during its inaugural run. This year, I was ready and it seems the fans were, too. They understood that this race is broken down into three 33-lap segments. They understood that each of Friday night’s three segment winners — Frank Kreyer, Andy Hansen and Steve Carlson — were not necessarily going to win the race.

None of the three did.

This race takes great hand-eye coordination, great courage and a great car. It also takes some math skills, as the drivers — and crews — need to know how many points they have, and how many they need, to earn the overall championship. Place first in any of the segments, and you get one point, second, you get two, and so on.

Now, try adding your point total while driving in excess of 100 mph. Piece of cake, right?

No, so that’s why you have to excuse Nathan Hasseleu of Pardeeville, Wis., if he was a bit surprised to find out he was the overall winner of the second annual Dick Trickle 99 before a chilled La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway crowd estimated at 4,000. Hasseleu finished eighth in the first segment, eighth in the second, then third in the fourth. His final tally of 19 points was the least of any driver, giving him the win.

Not that he knew it.

“Usually it’s Holzhausen or Carlson that are really dominant here,” Hasseleu said. “Some of it is just luck. Usually we are not that good here. I knew we had to beat the 72 (Jacob Goede) and the 97 (Holzhausen). My spotter kept telling me to get by them and I would win it.”

Jason Weinkauf, with

finishes of 12th, seventh and second, was second overall with 21 points. That was the same total as Holzhausen and Goede, but the tiebreaker is how each driver finished in the third — and final — segment. Weinkauf was second in the final segment, Holzhausen

fifth and Goede sixth. So Holzhausen, last year’s overall winner, wound up third overall.

“I had 72 (Goede) passed then that last yellow came out,” Holzhausen of the spot he had, and lost, when the field reverted back to the last lap before the yellow. “And I just missed 56 (Tim Rothe) at the line.”

If Holzhausen gets each of those spots, he ties Hasseleu for the overall title, but still loses in a tiebreaker. Maybe turnabout is fair play, as Holzhausen beat Dan Fredrickson in a tiebreaker for the victory last year.

“The car wasn’t quite as good as last year,” said Holzhausen, who is racing in today’s ASA race and Big 8 event. “It was still fun.”

While it was interesting to glance at the point totals, then see who had to do what in order to win the Dick Trickle 99, it was nearly as much fun to watch Carlson and Eddie Hoffman battle it out for the lead for the first 16 laps of the final segment. These guys were literally inches apart for Laps 12-16, and that brought a smile to Carlson’s face. The crowd sure loved it.

“I haven’t raced Eddie Hoffman for at least three years, so that was kind of fun,” said Carlson, the two-time defending Fairgrounds Speedway track champ. “That’s how he likes to race; that’s something I learned years ago. Call it close encounters. I knew I could trust him and I think he knows he could trust me.”

Carlson got the best of the battle, and was happy to win the third segment. His 13th-place finish in the first segment, and 10th place effort in the second segment, however, made it too steep a climb in the final segment.

Still, it was fun to watch all three segments. The crowd, most of whom were around right to the end despite temperatures that had fallen into the low 40s, seems to like the concept, too. It’s different, it’s puzzling at times, and it creates suspense, all three of which can be missing in longer races.

Not this one.

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