GONDIK LAW SPEEDWAY HALL OF FAME
GONDIK LAW SPEEDWAY HALL OF FAME (8-20-21)
Just a short reminder: the Hall of Fame for the now named Gondik Law
Speedway was started by Duane “Andy” Andeson who was the unofficial
Historian of the speedway since he was one oof the founders of the then Tri-State
Speedway back in 1962.
Andy felt that there were many drivers, officials, etc who had a hand in the
history of the track and deserved to have a Hall of Fame.
The HoF class for 2021 inducted were inducted on August 20, 2021 and are the
19th class inducted. There are three Categories to which Hall of Fame members are
inducted: Retired Drivers, Pioneer/Achievement and Active Driver. The retired
Drivers are split into two sections, Section A, 1962-1988 and 1989-Present. One
candidate from section A and two from section B are chosen. The Pioneer/
Achievement Category and the Active Driver Category are limited to one each per
Class.
All voting for the Hall of Fame inductees is done by a Voting Committee
consisting of not more than 25 members. A Director of the Hall of Fame and
several volunteers take care of any business that should come up during each year.
The current Hall of Fame Director is Jeff “Chops” Christman.
It must be made clear that anyone on the Ballot is being voted upon only on
their accomplishments at Gondik Law Speedway, not their overall
accomplishments at other venues throughout their careers.
The 2021 Gondik Law Speedway Hall of Fame Inductees are:
Pioneer/Achievement: Joanne O’Brien who was and continues to be, a long time
Volunteer who has been important to the track for over 35 years and counting. In
all that time she has never once said no when asked to do something to further the
race track no matter who the Naming Sponsor may be or who the Promoter may
be. It is a well deserved honor.
On the Active Driver List there are three former racers.
John Rousseau had a stellar career at the speedway in three different divisions.
In the Street Stock class he had three feature wins and finished in the top ten in
points five times with four of them being in the top five. In the Late Models he
earned multiple top ten finishes in Feature races. In the Modified division he won
three features, had two top ten finishes in the point standings and was the 1985
Modified track Champion.
Ed Wakefield raced in two divisions, Modifieds and Late Models. In the
Modifieds he won 13 times, was the 1990 and 1992 Point Champion and had six
additional top ten finishes in the point standings, with three of those also being in
the top five. In the Late Model Division he finished in the top five in points twice
and earned many top five and top ten feature finishes.
Pat Van Ert raced primarily in the Bomber Division, Street Stock Class and
Pure Stock Class. In 1984 he had four feature wins in the Bombers and was the
inaugural Point Champion along with co-driver Mark Swanson. In the Street
Stocks he had one top ten finish in the point standings and earned multiple top ten
finishes in feature races. In the Pure Stock division he had seven regular season
feature wins. In 2007 and 2010 he was the Northern Nationals Pure Stock
champion. In 2008 he was the point champion and had two additional top five
finishes in points. Pat is the current record holder for consecutive feature laps
completed in regular season events with 270, a record that has stood for almost
eleven seasons.
The Active Driver for the 2021 Hall of Fame is Glidden, WI’s Bill Byholm. In
the Modified division he has five feature wins and was the 2001 Point Champion
in the division. He also had nine additional top ten finishes in point standings with
eight of them also being in the top five. Bill also raced in the Late Model division
scoring a pair of feature wins and also finished in the top ten in points five times
with four of them in the top five.
All inductees were invited to a dinner put on by Hall of Fame members Joyce
Klick and Joanne O’Brien in the Multi-Use building (Curling Club) where they
were joined by around 75 friends, family and other Hall of Fame members. They
were then awarded their membership in the Hall of Fame. They were then
transported to the racetrack grandstand where they were introduced to the fans.
Each Inductee has a grandstand sectioned named for them for the rest of the 2021
season. In the spring the signs will be put back up and will be on display until the
2022 class is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
