MOTOR

Some of the state's best stock car drivers get started before they're street legal

Tim Johnson
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Luke Fenhaus, 14, poses alongside his stock car in his family's workshop in the town of Wausau. The Wausau East student sits in first place in the super late model class at State Park Speedway and leads the point race in the Midwest Truck Series as well.

Mark Mackesy has had his share of success in more than three decades of racing stock cars on short tracks around Wisconsin. His list of accomplishments includes four season titles at Wausau's State Park Speedway. 

But there's another family member the Wausau resident believes has the potential to make an even bigger mark in the sport.

Mackesy entered last Thursday's State Park competition with a chance to win the Flip Merwin Memorial for the fourth time in the 14 years of the super late model feature. But the prerace conversation turned to his 19-year-old nephew, Dillon, a limited late model driver whose car was stationed a handful of spots away among the long row of haulers.

“He is way better than I was at his age,” Mackesy said shortly before heading to the track for a heat trial. “When I was 19, I was wild, smashing into stuff (on the track) and had all kinds of stupid ideas.

"He already has won a feature and I didn’t get one until I was 21. He is further ahead of where I was by far. He is smooth as silk out there. That car don’t wiggle or anything. He is good.”

Dillon started his racing career years before he could drive legally on the street, part of a growing trend in which teens are too young to have a driver's license but are behind the wheel of stock cars. 

"I've just been around the track forever," Dillon said. "My dad, grandpa and uncle all race, and my dad (Wayne) gave it up to help me now."

Dillon graduated from Wausau West in 2017 but already is a veteran driver of sorts. He sits in third place in season points at State Park Speedway in his first year of racing in the limited late model class. Before that, he raced three years in pure stock after two years in four-cylinder. He won track championships in four-cylinder at State Park Speedway and Marshfield Motor Speedway. 

"The sport definitely needs a youth movement," said Eric Mahlik, the promoter at Luxemburg Speedway. "We've had a handful of 14-year-old drivers or around that age who have started in the last couple of years.

"I think with the economy starting to turn a little bit for the better, I think there are more younger drivers getting involved. It can be a really fun sport, but it is a time-consuming one, too, and it takes money to run it."

Crew members work on Dillon Mackesy's race car last Thursday at State Park Speedway in Wausau.

Young drivers getting noticed

Young drivers who show potential on small dirt and paved tracks are starting to receive opportunities at higher levels in the sport.

The most recent example is Stratford student Derek Kraus, 16, who is part of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West circuit. Kraus won the Bandolero division at State Park Speedway in 2013 and ’14, and three years ago was the youngest driver to win a feature race on the American Ethanol Super Truck Series.

He also became the youngest driver to win a feature in the ARCA Midwest Tour in 2015.

Then there is Eagle River native Natalie Decker, 20, who competes in the ARCA racing series, the latest stop in a racing career that included driving in the four-cylinder class when she was 12.

Decker, who started in go-karts when she was 7, won the super stock season title at the Marshfield Motor Speedway in 2012 and was the rookie of the year on the ARCA Midwest Tour in 2013.

Decker's two cousins — Paige, 25, and Claire, 23 — made a combined six starts on either the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series or Xfinity Series. 

“When I started, if you won everything at your local track and proved yourself, (NASCAR) might look at you down South, but you would be about 35 years old,” Mark Mackesy said. “Now, they are starting kids in the go-karts at 5 and then bumping them up to the Bandos.

"If you are going to move on and think you have a chance to make it into NASCAR or a higher level, you have to start them young and hopefully you can catch someone’s eye when they are 13 or so.”

Age vs. ability 

When a seventh-grader became the youngest entrant in a pro late model feature race in Nashville this year, NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. expressed safety concerns about the age of drivers operating stock cars. Busch's main concern was the speed the cars reach and the force they generate.

Others take a different look at the subject, focusing on ability over age when it comes to risks. 

"It depends on the kid's background," Mahlik said. "Sometimes if they grew up in a family that has been involved in racing, they tend to be faster and more competitive off the bat ... and have experience with the car setup and making sure the car is handling well. That is a big part of it.

"Some of it is maturity level, too. I recommend to some of those young drivers that they start in the back (of the field) until they feel comfortable to start up front. You learn a lot from starting in the back and following the drivers up front — that way you can learn how fast to get into a turn, when to get on the gas and when to hit the brakes. It's stuff that can be tough to learn when you don't have a lot of driving experience."

Carson Sillars, 15, climbs into his stock car before a heat trial in the Pure Stock Division last Thursday at State Park Speedway in Rib Mountain.

A number of  teen drivers are showing they can handle their cars no matter where they start.

"To be honest, I was more nervous when I was racing myself than when he is out there now," said Clint Sillars, a semi-retired super late model driver who is the crew chief for his 15-year-old son, Carson. “Like I told him when he started, ‘I wouldn’t put you in a car if I didn’t know you could do it.' I think he has very good car control out there."

Carson, a Wausau East student, is in his first full season competing in pure stocks and second overall in the division. He raced go-karts for a few seasons but took a short break until he regained an interest in driving again a few years ago. He built the stock car with his father in 2017 and the two remodeled it this winter. Carson also got the backing from the eight sponsors for the car on his own. 

"My dad gave me a chance, an offer to let me race again, and I took it," said Carson, who races at the State Park Speedway and tracks in Marshfield, Norway (Michigan) and La Crosse.  

He's in fourth place in the pure stock season standings at State Park and finished fourth in last Thursday's feature race after he had the fastest qualifying run. 

"Confidence is the biggest thing," Clint Sillars said of the change in his son from last year. "It comes with having more time running with (the other cars) in traffic. There is tough guys you have to run against in that (super stock) class — guys like Butchy Schramm and Chad Dietche who have been racing for 20-some years.

"They can intimidate you, but that's not a bad thing. If you can run against those guys, you know you've got something."

Luke Fenhaus, 14, works on his stock car last Wednesday in his family's workshop in the town of Wausau. Fenhaus leads the super late model points chase at State Park Speedway in Rib Mountain.

And a youth will lead

Fourteen-year-old Luke Fenhaus is in first place in the super late model season title chase at State Park Speedway and also is leading in points for the state's Midwest Truck Series. 

He plays basketball in the winter, but racing is his first love, and the sport has been a passion in his family. His father, Al, won the World Championship Snowmobile Derby in Eagle River in 1993, and his cousin Matt Schulz won the titles in 2010 and '13. His crew chief is Tommy Ress, who used to hold the same position on Natalie Decker's team. 

"I think I have just kind of grew up around (racing)," Fenhaus said, "and then I have good support behind me and that keeps me going." 

The Wausau East student got his start in the kitty-cat class in snowmobile racing when he was 4 and went on to go-karts and later Bandoleros, where he won the 2015 season championship at State Park Speedway.

Fenhaus is in his first full season racing in super late models and the truck series after a limited schedule last year. 

His first super late model race was "The Thaw" feature in late April at Golden Sands Speedway in Plover. 

"I was pretty happy just making it that show, being it was my second time being in that car," Fenhaus said. "There still wasn't any stickers on (the car) — just the number and 'Fenhaus' on it. It was kind of a last-minute planned race and we just went for it.

"We started third-to-last and there were about 20-some cars and we came back to finish 10th. It was pretty nerve-wracking at the time, but gave me some confidence. I think I have gained respect from the (other drivers) since then by racing them clean, and I have just continued to improve."