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Teenage Sensation Josh Richards Hopes To Finally Race In Front Of Longtime Sponsor
Mike Seubert, Owner Of Wisconsin’s Seubert Calf Ranches Plans To Attend
Saturday Night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series Event At Charter Raceway
Park In Beaver Dam, Wis.
BEAVER DAM, WI – May 8, 2007 – Wisconsin businessman Mike Seubert has
sponsored teenage dirt Late Model sensation Josh Richards for four seasons,
but he’s still waiting to see the kid race in person for the first time.
“Believe it or not,” admitted Seubert, “I’ve never seen him turn a
wheel yet.”
That will likely change this Saturday night (May 12), when Richards pays a
visit to Seubert’s homestate for the first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model
Series event at Charter Raceway Park.
Richards, 19, of Shinnston, W.Va., is fully expecting to slide his Seubert
Calf Ranches No. 1 around the high-banked, one-third-mile clay oval with his
longest-tenured sponsor watching intently from the stands.
“I’m planning to be there for the race,” said Seubert, whose business is
located in Dorchester, Wis., about 180 miles northwest of Charter Raceway
Park. “I’ve pretty much been staying close to home to see my racing, but I
want to make the trip down to see Josh.”
Seubert, 36, is in his 15th year operating Seubert Calf Ranches, a
third-generation family business situated roughly halfway between Eau Claire
and Wausau in the north-central part of Wisconsin. He oversees over 1,000 head
of cattle, which are sold to specialty markets all over the country.
It was just over a decade ago that Seubert began his involvement in Wisconsin
dirt-track racing as a sponsor of local racers. “I did it as a weekend
hobby,” said Seubert, who attended events at area speedways while growing up
in the Badger State.
Soon enough, Seubert’s dabbling in motorsports became a major venture. He
branched out from sponsoring drivers to owning dirt Late Model cars as well.
Seubert’s racing program has grown to the point where he now has 20 drivers
on his Seubert Calf Ranches roster: Terry and Nick Anvelink, Craig Bartz, Doug
Blashe, Tim Buhler, Joel Cryderman, A.J. Diemel, Dave Fieber, Cody Grosskruetz,
Kerry Hansen, Justin Hirt, Todd Jensema, Curt Martin, Tom Nesbitt, Chris
Oertel, Eric Pember, Richards, Bob Richardson, Mike Stangl and Dan Wanta.
It’s a long list, comprised mostly of Wisconsin drivers – and Seubert
outright owns the dirt Late Models campaigned by a majority of his chauffeurs.
He estimates that he owns 20 or so cars (when you own that many, you really do
have to approximate), 30 engines, 15 trailers (including a t-shirt trailer
that peddles merchandise of his drivers) and seven motorhomes.
Seubert’s racing effort has gotten so big, he’s building a 20,000 sq. ft.
shop in Abbotsford, Wis., that will effectively bring his entire team under
one roof next year. He plans to hire fulltime mechanics to tend to the racing
equipment.
The cars Seubert purchases are exclusively Rocket machines, which are built by
the West Virginia-based Rocket Chassis company co-owned by Josh’s father and
team owner, Mark Richards. The longtime business relationship between Seubert
and Mark Richards intensified when Seubert decided to not only sponsor
Mark’s Rocket House Car in 2004 (it was then driven on the WoO LMS by
Ohio’s Bart Hartman), but also back Josh’s efforts as a 16-year-old dirt
Late Model that season.
“Mike has been Josh’s main sponsor for his whole career,” said Mark
Richards.
Josh has developed into a national dirt Late Model star with the Seubert Calf
Ranches logo displayed prominently on his car. The precocious racer known as
‘Kid Rocket’ was the 2005 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year, and this season
he’s a serious title contender; he won the 2007 season opener, on Feb. 17 at
Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, and he enters the five-race, five-state WoO
LMS ‘Monster Midwest Tour’ (which begins Wed., May 9, at Iowa’s
Davenport Speedway Quarter-Mile) tied for fourth in the point standings with
Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky.
“Mr. Seubert has been a big asset to my racing career,” said Richards, who
will make his first-ever start at Charter Raceway Park. “I’m excited that
he’ll finally get a chance to see me race (on Sat., May 12).”
Seubert knows Richards will give him a good show.
“For the age he is, he has a lot of talent,” said Seubert. “He’s only
gonna get better, and that’s why it’s exciting to sponsor him. He has a
great career ahead of him.”
Richards will be part of an all-star cast of drivers participating in the WoO
LMS event at Charter Raceway Park. The track’s only Super Late Model race of
the 2007 season will feature a 50-lap A-Main that pays $10,000 to win from a
$50,000 purse.
The speedway’s gates are scheduled to open on May 12 at 2 p.m. and general
gates at 3 p.m. Racing is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.
Adult general-admission tickets for the event are $25 if purchased in advance
and $30 the day of the race. Pre-race adult chair-back reserved seats are $30.
Pit passes on race day will be $40, but a pit pass/ticket combo purchased in
advance is $30.
For ticket reservations and information on a special VIP Suite offer for the
event, call the track office at 920-887-1600 or log on to www.wismotorsports.net.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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