Mike Wedelstadt in the "X" car

Jun 17, 2008

People become involved with racing in many different ways. Some are born into it, some have had the desire since they were little ones to grab that checkered flag. For Mike Wedelstadt, it was a little different.

When Mike was about 25 years old, he went through some personal issues. A good friend of his suggested he build a race car to take his mind off things. Mike heeded his friend’s advice, spent all winter working on his new race car, and when time came to test it out, he won his first ever heat and feature. After that, he was hooked.
 
Since that fateful first night out, Mike has continuously improved his car and his driving with each race. That’s rather impressive considering how little free time he has.
 
“I own my own business and when I’m done with that just about every night we work on these cars until about 8, 9, or even 10 o’clock,” said Wedelstadt.
 
On top of working on his car, Mike’s other free time is consumed with his constant and extremely busy schedule. When the tracks around his home town of Fremont, Wisconsin are still covered in a couple feet of heavy white snow, Mike and his crew are far away where the weather is slightly more conducive to competitive driving.
 
Some of the many locations the McDermid Wedelstadt Motorsports team travels to include Corpus Christi, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Tampa, Florida; Lebanon, Missouri; Watertown, South Dakota and many other places in between. 
 
The man hasn’t forgotten where he came from, however, racing close to home in Antigo, Shawano, Seymour, Oshkosh and Sturgeon Bay (all cities in Wisconsin) numerous times throughout the summer. In fact, one of those happens to be Wedelstadt’s favorite track.
 
“Antigo, hands down. I love it there,” the man behind the “X” car said. “(But) going far away helps us out a lot. These guys (who race in these farther away events) just race for a living. That’s all they do. We learn so much and more and our confidence is much higher after we come back. We know our car so much better after these events.”
 
This confidence has been showing in these early summer months, as Mike has finished in the top three in every feature he’s entered so far this June.
 
When asked what he attributes all his success to, Mike said, “All the support I get from everybody. I have a lot of great supporters. I get to try some new stuff from research and development. Potawatomi, (family and crew), other sponsors. They’re just great.”
 
Wherever he gets his success from, his opponents ought to hope it slows down a bit for him, because Mike certainly isn’t slowing down, on or off the track.