By Greg Parent
The Kouba Memorial is typically one of the biggest events on the UMSS schedule each year and has a long, storied tradition as one of the more prestigious races in the Upper Midwest for sprint cars. The 2016 edition, which will be the 24th Annual, will return to the Cedar Lake Speedway as part of the popular World of Outlaws racing weekend on July 8-9. The Friday night July 8 program will feature the Earl Kouba Memorial for the UMSS winged sprint division paying $2,000 to win and the Ethel Kouba Memorial for the UMSS Traditional sprints paying a record-setting $1,000 to win.
For the first time since 1998, the Earl Kouba Memorial will return to the Cedar Lake Speedway where four previous Memorial races have been held. Cedar Lake winners of the Earl Kouba Memorial include Kent Winters, Donny Schatz, Tony Norem and Spike Lempelius. The list of previous winners of the Earl Kouba Memorial reads like a who’s who in Upper Midwest area sprint car racing. Dating back to the first Earl Kouba Memorial held in 1993, there have only been two repeat winners in the 23 year history of this long-standing event. Past champions include Dean Brown, Curt Lund, Kent Winters, Donny Schatz, Tony Norem, Spike Lempelius, Brian Schnee, Jimmy Kouba, Roger Rager, Jake Peters, Matt Folstad, Dustin Lindquist, Chuck Swenson, Billy Balog, Lee Grosz, Jerry Richert Jr., Brad Barickman, Brooke Tatnell, Lou Kennedy, Jr. and Justin Henderson. The only repeat winners are Jimmy Kouba, as he won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001 at the Princeton Speedway and Brooke Tatnell, who has won in 2011, 2013 and 2014. A total of five different tracks have hosted the event including Jackson Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Princeton Speedway, North Central Speedway and St. Croix Valley Raceway.
In addition to the UMSS winged sprints, the Traditional non-winged sprints will also be on the program at the 24th running of this great event in what will be the Ethel Kouba Memorial portion. This will be the fifth race at the Kouba Memorial for the Traditional sprints and they will be running for a record $1,000 to win with a total purse of over $6,000. Since adding the Traditional sprints to the Kouba Memorial back in 2014, previous winners include Mike Mueller, Chase Viebrock and Rob Caho, Jr. Mueller and Viebrock won actual Ethel Kouba Memorial features at Princeton in 2014 and 2015 while Viebrock and Caho won Earl Kouba Memorial features in 2014 and 2015. Since the inception of this class of cars back in 2011, the UMSS Traditional sprints have grown in numbers and popularity. There is a decent chance that the single night car count record set last year on the first night of the WoO weekend show of 24 Traditional sprints will be broken this year.
The Kouba family does an outstanding job each year securing sponsorship money for this event. In addition to the base purse offered by the Cedar Lake Speedway, the following sponsors have generously donated to help make this night a well-paying event: GRP Motorsports, D&D Motorsports, Midwest Power Equipment, Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series, Gillund Enterprises/Justice Brothers, Leigh Thomas Construction, Protofab, Bevlor Utilities, Jim Goerges, Donnahue Designs, and the Kouba family (Jimmy, Joe & Judy). In all, the combined purse for both divisions is in excess of $16,000.
The rain date for the July 8 Kouba Memorial is the next night Saturday July 9. The typical race format for each division is expected with the UMSS winged sprints running heats, Challenge races and a feature while the Traditional sprints run heats and a feature. In honor of the 24th Annual Kouba Memorial, the feature race distance will be 24 laps for each division. Assuming weather is not a factor on Friday night July 8, the UMSS winged and Traditional sprints return for a full program on Saturday July 9 with $1,000 to win in the winged sprints and $500 to win in the Traditional sprints thanks to sponsorship help from GRP Motorsports. Racers and fans will certainly want to make plans to attend what should be a tremendous weekend of sprint car racing on July 8 & 9 at the Cedar Lake Speedway featuring the World of Outlaws, the UMSS winged sprints and the UMSS Traditional sprints.
Earl Kouba Memorial UMSS Feature Payout: 1)$2,000, 2)$1,000, 3)$750, 4)$650, 5)$550, 6)$500, 7)$450, 8)$40, 9)$325, 10-14)$300, 15-16)$275, 17-20)$250, 21-22)$200.
Ethel Kouba Memorial TSCS Feature Payout: 1)$1,000, 2)$700, 3)$600, 4)$500, 5)$400, 6)$350, 7)$300, 8)$240, 9)$200, 10)$185, 11-15)$175, 16-20)$150.