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Upper Midwest Special Event Archive

Dells Midwest Championships

20 Editions of Wisconsin Dells Fall Championship Racing

From 1972 through 1991, the Midwest Championships served as Dells Motor Speedway's major late-season special. The event evolved from a rich 200-lap open late model race into ARTGO championship weekends and later CWRA-era fall finales.

View 20 EditionsDells Motor Speedway
Editions
20
Years
1972–1991
Inaugural Distance
200 laps
Archive Backbone
MRN OCR
The Beginning
A major two-day late model race from its first running.

Midwest Racing News advertised the inaugural 1972 event with a $16,000 purse, a 200-lap feature and $2,500 to the winner. Dick Trickle won that first edition. The 1973 advertising explicitly called the race the second annual Midwest Championship, fixing the beginning of the lineage at 1972.

How It Evolved
The format changed, but the September tradition remained.

The weekend moved through long-distance features, twin-feature formats, ARTGO season finales and open/CWRA years. Weather also shaped the history: the Sunday finals were rained out in both 1985 and 1986.

Period Archive

Midwest Championships Material

Museum-held Dells results material and period imagery.
Dick Trickle at Dells Motor Speedway
Dells Motor Speedway, 1979Kurt Luoma photo
Dells Midwest Championships results archive
Midwest Championships results materialMuseum archive
Repeat Headline Winners

Drivers with Multiple Wins

The event format changed over time, so the chronology preserves the headline/overall winner recognized for each edition.
3 wins
Dick Trickle
1972 • 1980 • 1985
2 wins
Joe Shear
1974 • 1976
2 wins
Mike Miller
1977 • 1978
2 wins
Steve Carlson
1987 • 1989
Research Note
The 20-year lineage is established, but “winner” does not always mean the same race format.

For 1972–1984, MRN's own 1985 prior-winners list provides the event winner chronology. Beginning in 1985, the weekend format changed enough that the museum records rain-shortened editions, overall champions and headline feature winners with notes rather than forcing every year into a single identical definition.

Complete Headline Chronology

1972–1991

Twenty consecutive annual editions documented in Midwest Racing News.
YearWinnerFormat / Note
1972Dick TrickleInaugural 200-lap championship
1973Joe RuttmanMidwest Championships headline winner
1974Joe ShearMidwest Championships headline winner
1975Ed HoweMidwest Championships headline winner
1976Joe ShearMidwest Championships headline winner
1977Mike MillerMidwest Championships headline winner
1978Mike MillerMidwest Championships headline winner
1979Marv MarzofkaMidwest Championships headline winner
1980Dick TrickleMidwest Championships headline winner
1981Larry DetjensMidwest Championships headline winner
1982Jim SauterMidwest Championships headline winner
1983Jim BackMidwest Championships headline winner
1984Mark Martin13th annual Midwest Championships
1985Dick TrickleSaturday 40-lap winner; Sunday twin 50s rained out
1986Butch MillerSaturday 50-lap winner; Sunday finale rained out
1987Steve CarlsonOverall late model champion
1988Steve HolzhausenOverall late model champion; Doug Herbst won Saturday 100
1989Steve Carlson100-lap late model feature
1990Kevin Cywinski100-lap CWRA late model feature
1991Jim Weber20th Anniversary; 150-lap ARTGO feature
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