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I94 EMR Speedway sold

I would like to officially announce the recent news, (that most have already heard), that I-94 EMR Speedway, Inc. has been sold to James Trantina III. This decision did not come easy and I have received numerous messages and calls asking the reason, "why did I sell"?
I’d like to start with the reason I did purchase the track 6 years ago, and yes, just as the COVID pandemic hit the world.
Back in 2018 - 2019 Karla was running the track by herself due to the passing of her husband, Dick Johanneck. She was very passionate about her track, but the stress from years of promoting was enough to make her decide she needed to sell or she would have to shut it down.
At that time I was still racing and was asked numerous times from Scott and Deb Engfer to please take the track over so it wouldn't be shut down. In the Fall of 2019 we started have some serious conversations and after begging my wife, (continuously for a couple of months), she finally agreed to go ahead with it. Fast forward a few months and COVID hit. Spring came around and everyone in the country was shut down from doing any kind of business other than the essential types of business. A few months went on and being we were so fortunate to have such an awesome expansive facility, we were able to meet the State's guidelines of designating appropriate "safe zones" and were able to section off areas and go back to racing.
At that same time, I knew Dick and Karla built an amazing facility and it just needed a little upgrading to take it to the next level. It has been a huge undertaking each year to make some of the upgrades that we have done, but we are very proud of how it’s turned out. A huge thanks to Scott and Deb for their relentless dedication and hard work, Larry Samuelson for his unpaid endless hours of being a jack of all trades, Brent Eggen for all the work in the electrical systems and upgrades, Dave Mass and my crew at Shaw Trucking for all the crazy projects that I have asked them to do, Sue for her help in the kitchen and for my daughter Keyanna, for keeping me organized and the weekly shows in order! This also could not have been done without the best sponsors that have stuck by my side throughout the years. I am so happy to announce our title sponsor, Scott at EMR has agreed to remain on board. And lastly, to all of our employees that show up each week, (for a not so great paying job), and just do it for the love of the sport. THANK YOU also, to all of our dedicated racers and fans! The true success of I-94 EMR Speedway is a team effort and I have had the best. There is no way I could have done this by myself.
Back to the question of why did I sell?

1. One of the biggest pet peeves I have is how social media destroys and takes down good people and good things. As an owner of a track, the passion, effort and money that is put into it daily, weekly, constantly is unending. A person pours 150% into it, but yet you get keyboard warriors and podcast people cutting the race track and your people down and it gets old. This will destroy racing. It is very tiring and causes major unneeded stress.
2. I have some medical issues that my doctor has warned me, need to take priority in my life. Over the years I’ve had a few concussions and I suffer from severe vertigo. When my local doctor was unable to find anything to ease these symptoms, I sought help at Mayo Clinic. After spending a week there being evaluated, it was found I not only have the vertigo issues to deal with but a new issue was diagnosed. I have a serious condition that has hardened the heart muscle so it is no longer pumping enough volume. It was a life wakening moment that I realized I need to take very serious. Doctors believe this occurred when I was sick with COVID a few years ago and the virus infected my heart. I’m on a six month medication regiment to see if this will improve blood flow and although there are no guarantees, we hope it will help. Doctor said it’s time to get rid of some stress. So like Bill Engvall the comedian would say, "here’s your sign".
3. It was a tough deal to watch one of your buddies go down. This has affected me more than I could ever think. The responsibility, accountability and liability are more than I want to deal with again.
4. Last and most important is, I found a person that has as much passion for racing as I do. James has the strong desire to keep racing alive and absolutely has the resources to back it. And, the most important thing about this is - NOTHING is going to change!!! I am still the Co-Promoter along side Deb Engfer and will be at the track every week doing track prep, running the infield crew and track operations this entire season.
   I want to thank my employees, sponsors, all the racers along with the awesome fans that have supported the track over the years and will continue to do so moving forward. I think it's fair to say we ALL have the strong desire to keep racing going strong and in order to do so, need all the local tracks to stay alive. It is getting harder and harder to find personnel to give up their Friday nights and with the cost of everything these days, to find the financial resources to maintain a good facility.
   And, most importantly I thank my family for giving up so much for my dreams.
   Thank you and I can't wait to see you all at the track Friday night!
   -Don

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