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Wilmot Open Sprints at Wilmot Raceway
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Upper Midwest Special Event Archive

Wilmot Open Sprints

Wilmot Raceway • Wilmot, Wisconsin • 1982–1998; 2003

Born in 1982 as an open-competition winged sprint showdown, the Wilmot Open brought the track's toughest regulars together with major traveling sprint-car stars. Bill Kojis won the inaugural 50-lapper, and the event evolved through three-race and two-round formats, All Star sanctioning, and its long association with the Kenosha County Fair before the original run ended after 1998. The Wilmot Open name returned for a Homecoming event in 2003.

Open Wilmot Raceway ArchiveOpen IRA ArchiveWinner ChronologyPreserved Results
Documented Seasons
18
Different Lineage Winners
14
Race Records
19
Preserved Result Rows
141
The First Open • 1982
Bill Kojis won the race that started the Wilmot Open tradition.

Midwest Racing News described the August 28, 1982 event as the first annual Wilmot Winged Open Sprints. Kojis edged John Stevenson by less than a car length in the 50-lap A-main and collected the $2,000 winner's share.

The Original Open Competition Sprint Showdown
Wilmot deliberately built the event around locals versus traveling stars.

A 1991 Wilmot advertisement used that exact description while inviting prior champions back for the 10th annual edition. Across the years the entry lists included Jack Hewitt, Dave Blaney, Doug Wolfgang, Danny Lasoski, Andy Hillenburg and other national names alongside the strongest Wilmot and IRA racers.

Event Eras

How the Wilmot Open Changed Over Time

The archive preserves format changes instead of flattening them into one artificial annual template.
1982
The inaugural Open
Bill Kojis won the 50-lap first annual event over John Stevenson.
1983
Three-race series
Rick Ferkel, Doug Wolfgang and Sheldon Kinser won the three rounds; Ferkel was the overall series champion.
1984–1986
Hewitt to Blaney
Jack Hewitt won back-to-back Opens before Dave Blaney captured the fifth annual race in 1986.
1987–1990
Multi-round experiment
Official Wilmot records treat selected Sheboygan County Fair Park rounds and the Wilmot rounds as one Open series. The Wilmot round winners remain identified separately.
1991–1995
Major single-event era
The Open drew large national fields; the 1993 and 1994 editions were sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions.
1996–1998
Kenosha County Fair tradition
John Tierney and Dave Moulis headline the official Wilmot Hall of Champions entries from the closing years of the original run.
1999–2002
No Open identified
Wilmot continued to stage major sprint events, but the track yearbooks and MRN use other event names during these seasons.
2003
Homecoming revival
Brian Kristan won the Wilmot Open for winged outlaw sprint cars during the October Homecoming / Fall Festival program.
Repeat Lineage Winners

Drivers Listed More Than Once in the Official Winner Lineage

Season-level lineage; the 1983 three-race series is represented by overall champion Rick Ferkel.
3 wins
Dave Moulis
1994 • 1997 • 1998
2 wins
Danny Lasoski
1990 • 1993
2 wins
Jack Hewitt
1984 • 1985
Official Winner Lineage

Wilmot Open Winners by Year

Based primarily on Wilmot Speedway's Hall of Champions, cross-checked against contemporary Midwest Racing News.
2003
Brian Kristan
Wilmot Open — Homecoming / Fall Festival revival
1998
Dave Moulis
Wilmot Hall of Champions lists Dave Moulis; MRN separately records John Tierney as Aug. 22 Kenosha County Fair Championship winner
1997
Dave Moulis
16th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints — Kenosha County Fair
1996
John Tierney
Wilmot Open Sprints — Kenosha County Fair
1995
Kim Mock
14th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints
1994
Dave Moulis
13th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints — All Star sanctioned
1993
Danny Lasoski
12th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints — All Star sanctioned
1992
Danny Smith
11th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints
1991
Doug Wolfgang
10th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints
1990
Danny Lasoski
Two-round Open series — Danny Lasoski won both Sheboygan and Wilmot rounds
1989
Andy Hillenburg
8th Annual Wilmot Open Sprints
1988
Joe Kristan
Two-round Open series — Larry Hillerud won Sheboygan round; Joe Kristan won Wilmot round
1987
Rick Ungar
Two-round Open series — Jack Hewitt won Sheboygan round; Rick Ungar won Wilmot round
1986
Dave Blaney
5th Annual Wilmot Winged Open Sprints
1985
Jack Hewitt
4th Annual Wilmot Winged Open Sprints
1984
Jack Hewitt
Wilmot Winged Open Sprints
1983
Rick Ferkel
Three-race Wilmot Winged Open Sprints series — Rick Ferkel overall champion
1982
Bill Kojis
1st Annual Wilmot Winged Open Sprints
1998 Source Note
The official Wilmot Hall of Champions and the contemporary MRN fair-race report do not line up cleanly.

The Wilmot yearbook lists Dave Moulis as the 1998 Wilmot Open winner. MRN previewed the August 22 Kenosha County Fair program as the annual Wilmot Open Sprints Championship, but its post-race story identifies John Tierney as the Fair Championship winner after Moulis flipped on the first start. The museum therefore preserves Moulis in the official Open lineage but does not attach the August 22 finishing order to the Open archive until that discrepancy is resolved.

Preserved Race Results

Wilmot Open Finishing Orders

Result depth varies by year. Existing IRA data is inherited directly; MRN supplies full or partial fields for several additional editions.
2003 • Wilmot Open Sprints
October 4, 2003 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerBrian Kristan
Preserved result depth • 1 rowMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Brian Kristan——
1993 • Wilmot Open Sprints
July 29, 1993 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerDanny Lasoski
Preserved result depth • 20 rowsMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Danny Lasoski——
2—Joe Roe——
3—Jack Hewitt——
4—Dave Moulis——
5—Al Schmidt——
6—Kevin Huntley——
7—Frankie Kerr——
8—Todd Kane——
9—Jeff Shepard——
10—Randy Sippel——
11—Johnny Mackison Jr.——
12—Joe Gaerte——
13—Dick Colburn——
14—Tim Engler——
15—Rocky Hodges——
16—Rick Hood——
17—Frank Filsko——
18—Rod George——
19—Kelly Kinser——
20—Brooke Tatnell——
1991 • Wilmot Open Sprints
July 10, 1991 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerDoug Wolfgang
Preserved result depth • 22 rowsMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Doug Wolfgang——
2—Dave Blaney——
3—Joe Gaerte——
4—Stevie Smith Jr.——
5—Danny Lasoski——
6—Gary Wright——
7—Bobby Davis Jr.——
8—Dave Hanna——
9—Bob Peterson——
10—Mike Frost——
11—Aaron Berryhill——
12—Max Dumesny——
13—Bobby Allen——
14—Frank Filsko——
15—John Hajduk——
16—Jack Hewitt——
17—Gib Wiser——
18—Joe Roe——
19—Jim Uttech——
20—Dan Boorse——
21—Dale Blaney——
22—Jac Haudenschild——
1990 • Wilmot Open Sprints
July 11, 1990 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerDanny Lasoski
Preserved result depth • 25 rowsThe Third Turn →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Danny Lasoski—running
2—Mike Frost——
3—Jeff Walker——
4—Bobby Allen——
5—Joe Roe——
6—Dave Hanna——
7—Kim Mock——
8—Allen Winker——
9—Steve Meyer——
10—Dave Moulis——
11—Jim Carr——
12—Dan Boorse——
13—Al Schmidt——
14—Bob Peterson——
15—Joe Kristan——
16—Dave Bliss——
17—Bob Robel——
18—Joe Symoens——
19—Carmen Manzardo——
20—Frank Filskov——
21—Gary Zobel——
——Darrell Dodd—DNQ
——Gib Wiser—DNQ
——Larry Hillerud—DNQ
——Scott Neitzel—DNQ
1985 • Wilmot Open Sprints
July 16, 1985 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerJack Hewitt
Preserved result depth • 1 rowMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Jack Hewitt——
1983 • Open Series Round 1
June 25, 1983 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerRick Ferkel
Preserved result depth • 1 rowMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Rick Ferkel——
1983 • Open Series Round 2
July 30, 1983 • Wilmot Raceway
Feature WinnerDoug Wolfgang
Preserved result depth • 1 rowMidwest Racing News →
Pos.StartDriverCarStatus
1—Doug Wolfgang——
Archive Scope
The Wilmot Open is now preserved as its own event family instead of being scattered across weekly Wilmot, IRA and All Star records.

The collection establishes the official 1982–1998 winner lineage, preserves all three 1983 rounds, links existing IRA result fields for 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1992, adds strong MRN finishing-order depth for 1991 and 1993, and records the 2003 Homecoming revival. The 1999–2002 gap is shown as a documented break rather than filled with unrelated Wilmot sprint races.

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