past

The Midsummer Nationals were held in Ogilvie over the weekend, between the RAIN showers, until it was completely WASHED out. Several races had been run but not enough to determine a champion. So we did the only thing we could do, we waited until Wednesday and finished the races. When the sparks all settled the WINNER was Wayne Erickson with Wally "the old guy" securing 2nd and Chad Keehr FINALLY getting on the podium with a 3rd. Go Figure, Wayne wins the MidSummer Nationals for the the 3rd time, hummm does anyone else see a pattern here. He can't win in Mora but always wins in Ogilvie, maybe he is really from Ogilvie,,,, We may never know.

Congratulations to Rookie Chelsea Johnson 1st place, Matt Johnson 2nd place,

and Rookie Brian Smith 3rd Place.

Some Photos are posted here

HERE is the recorded version of the LIVE stream in a few days.

Special Thanks to Us Cable for providing us with Internet Access and Marc Johnson and his team at Squirrel Video Services for shooting the stream live, in the cold.

Matt Johnson 2010 Champion

Shown on the left receiving his 1st place trophy from Wayne. Notice the plugs on the trophy, they are from Waynes 2nd place ride from 2009

Here are the top Three. Matt Johnson, Rookie Matt Anderson, and Wayne Erickson.

Thanks to Art Sanbeck for the Trophies, they are Awesome.

At the start of the day it looked like we would get rained out, as it was, the WIND was the only big issue. Fourteen racers showed up with their tools including several rookies.

Many new rides this year, check back soon for additional photos, videos, and stories.

Videos of the Races from May 1st 2010

2010 event was streamed live on the Internet.

Sponsored by North Star Access

Congratulations!

2009 CHAMPION Matt Johnson 2nd place Wayne Erickson 3rd place Jon Larson

Check out The Rest of the Field and their Rides!

RACE DAY 2009 was the biggest and best race in the long and colorful history of Minnesota's LONGEST running and best attended Power Tool Race. This year we had more racers and saw the most competitive racing ever with many races almost to close to call.

In the first race of the day veteran driver Chad Keehr lost to rookie driver Q. Chads new tool gave him some impressive wheelies but the Red Racer was just no match for team DEWALTs screaming yellow scooter. Next up was Larry who built a whole new racer since joined us at the Mid Summer Nations in Ogilvie last year. This years ride was a bit faster but it wasn't fast enough for true rookie, Justin, and his chainsaw Trike. When have you ever use Trike and Chain saw in the same sentence? After his driver, oh how can I put this, , well, lets just say he WISED UP, Justin had to drive it himself. We all hope his driver makes a Full recovery. Two time Champion, Jon, fit a new gear to last years winning ride and gave rookie Gabe his first defeat. Returning for a second year with a greatly improved new ride Darin E. suffered a setback as his tool was just to much for the chain and he lost to rookie Brock. Good effort Darin, try #40 chain next time. Next up was Darin S. and his rolling ladder, which is sure not to meet OSHA standards, they tend to frown on rolling ladders that use string for steering. He took on another rookie, Gary, and his racing machine with came in a close second to the ladder. The final to races featured Paul and Mike who built a much lighter machine than last years massive 4 wheeler but alas they drew Wayne in the first round and that spelled defeat for the engineer and his building buddy. Last up was Wally the old guy and has impressive jeep against Matt in a ride the was started buy Rob and Chris from Russ's Auto. Matt added the tool and gearing to a mostly complete, discarded, frame. After two hours of racing including a near disaster during the Powder Puff races, Matt went on to Victory beating Wayne handely as Waynes' plug went up in spectacular flames.

For more information, drivers info, photos and even videos, please go to the NING pages from the above link. If you wish to share your photos or comments we ask that you join the NING, it is the best way to keep up on what is going on in the red neck fun of Power tool racing. Thanks for Visiting Us. Happy building, see you at the next RACE.

2009 RULES 2010 Registration is Now OPEN

2008 Ogilvie Campion Wayne Erickson, 2nd Jon, 3rd Danielle

2008 Mora Champion Jon Larson

Wayne won the First "Back to the Tower Days Power Tool Race" by only inches. With newcomer Larry and veteran Jon starting the days competition it was distend to be a hot day of racing. After the spring races Wayne sold his "slightly used" "low mileage" Porter Cable router on Ebay to some poor unsuspecting fool. He used the profit from the sale to purchase a use grinder, "that has lots of good miles left in it". That seemed to do the trick. The new power of his hot buy sped him to a close victory over his discontented rival, note photo above of 2nd place loser, and finally a 1st place win. Waynes' 1st place ride and the second place loser of Larson.

2008 Race What A DAY!!! Check out the race bracket.

On Friday all the racers were sure we would have to cancel due to weather. It was Cold. It was Raining, HARD. The Wind was blowing, HARD. By Saturday morning the rain had stopped and the skies began to clear. At race time it was nearly nice.

The race started with a few small electric and sound delays but once we started racing everything went great. In the first race rookie Greg took on Chad Keehr. Chad has not won a race in two years but this years ride looked promising until he ran over his own cord. The second race pitted rookie Darren Erickson against returning racer Darren Stenstrom, the veteran won hands down. Rookie Darren is the youngest builder we have ever had and he has already begun building a new ride, good things are yet to come. Next up was Rob from Russ's Auto body and Matt Johnson from Johnson's Hardware. When the power came one, parts came off, good thing Wayne is quick on the switch. While the parts were swept up Team Psych Ward got a free pass with their Yamaha 4 wheeler, guess they were hoping the rain would turn the road to mush, to bad for them it was solid as can be. Now it was Jon and Tony, both left the line with the font wheel(s) completely off the ground. Jon managed to pull out a solid run while Wayne was so shocked he hardly noticed that Tony had nearly driven into the crowd. When Wayne came to the line with his all new ride he faced Chad Fore who is running the same cart as last year, Chad still pulled out the win. The last pair from round one was veterans Wally and Craig. Wally's new build was very impressive and he managed to beat Craig with his new ride. For a full review of every race check out the brackets.

As the races progress, Chad K managed to win his first race ever beating young Darren when he blew a chain. Then he had to leave with Keith, 2007 champ driver, filling in for him. Lots of other racing when on and I may write about them when I get caught up on some other projects that I have been putting off while building a winning racer. Check back and see if I ever get them done. If you have photos or other things to share, send them to me at sailingrebel@hotmail.com

2008 Competitors Final Race Video Jon VS Rob

We race power tools so

you won't have to.

2008 Competitors

2008 Race Videos