TOWN OF BUCHANAN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Fox River Racing Club held it’s season opener at Wisconsin International Raceway Thursday evening, after being delayed for two weeks because of COVID-19.
“I’ve been coming out here since ’83, ’84, somewhere in there,” Brian Beschta said.
Beschta tells FOX 11 going to the track is a bonding experience for him and his teenage son.
“It’s a good time. We go to a lot of races together.”
But in all those years, Fox River Racing Club never dealt with a pandemic.
“We battled whether we should open or not,” Kurt Schweitzer, Fox River Racing Club president, said. “We’re making sure that we’ve got a limited size audience so people can keep the social distancing, the six feet social distancing. We’re doing contactless entry, so we’ve got tickets online so people don’t have to have that exchange there. We’re making sure the sanitizers are out, masks are recommended.”
Schweitzer tells FOX 11 the audience is limited to 25% capacity.
“Excitement has been building. We’ve got a lot of people who are looking forward to coming out. A lot on the fan side. And those drivers, I don’t think we have too many that aren’t ready. They’ve all been in the garage all winter long getting those cars ready, and they want to get out here and have some great competition.”
Andy Monday is one of those drivers.
“With everything going on in the world, it was really tough to picture how we would get from A to B to be able to come out here and compete.”
This is Monday’s 22nd year racing. He tells FOX 11 he’s glad they were able to make the season happen.
“Every night the night before the first race is like a kid before Christmas. You’re just excited to get out here.”
And for the Beschtas…
“This is something to take away what’s going on in the world. Relaxation. It’s a good time,” Betscha said.
Schweitzer says they plan to have these COVID-related precautions in place through June, then they will re-evaluate.
