The post-race parties were a consistent theme when we asked race fans via social media to share their thoughts about what makes Oktoberfest weekend special.
“The racing is spectacular,” wrote Duane Spangler, noting the history of the event and all the greats who have raced in it. “There is not a bad seat in the place. The legendary post-race party — and the beer is always cold.”
“The pork chop sandwiches are legendary, and the ability to meet future stars at the autograph signing on Sunday morning,” shared race fan Jason Bohn. “The awesome post-race parties and the chance to experience all four seasons in just four days,”
Oktoberfest was the brainchild of promoter Larry Wehrs, who was the leaseholder on the half-mile fairgrounds oval in 1970, when Tom Reffner won the inaugural Oktoberfest feature. Wehrs and his family continued to host the event until two prominent racing promoters took over the facility 17 years later.
“John McKarns and my mom, Jody Deery, formed Motorsports Management when the lease became available at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway,” Deery explained. “I was just a young buck out of college and I was foolish enough to say I would take on the task. So, in 1987, John and Jody formed a corporation and hired me to operate the track and, of course, the highlight of the racing even back then was the Oktoberfest race weekend. Larry Wehrs established the event and the Wehrs family did a great job promoting it and making it what it was. We were fortunate enough to come in and carry on that tradition.”
The list of drivers who have won the Oktoberfest 200 reads like a who’s who of asphalt stock car racing, but Close points to one racer when asked to identify his most memorable Oktoberfest moment.
“Joe Shear won three straight years during the 1990s and I don’t believe anyone else has won that race three straight times,” Close said. “When it comes to short-track stars, Shear was right up there among the best, but I don’t think he gets recognized as much because Joe was a really quiet guy. He didn’t bang his own drum very loudly. His post-race interviews were one and two words, but when it came to racing, he was good.
“By that time in the 1990s, Oktoberfest was already a four-day show and the guys who were racing in that thing were incredible. For me, I always thought winning that race three consecutive times was really, really a magnificent accomplishment.”
McKarns enjoys looking back to his early years at Oktoberfest when he worked alongside his father, who lost his battle with cancer in 2010.
“We used to get up early in the morning to be at the track by 6, and it was just he and I riding from the motel to the track,” McKarns recalled. “We’d open the pit gate and kind of get things going in those early days. It’s where you learn to be a jack-of-all-trades because an event like that is demanding on the entire staff. Probably the biggest thing he and I used to do was park the haulers and greet all of the racers, and that’s something I still do.”
Interestingly, Deery prefers to look ahead instead of back when asked about his favorite Oktoberfest memory.
“I have a favorite memory every Oktoberfest — and that is halfway through the main event,” he said. “I stop at that point and watch the race and watch the people because the event is done. My work up to that point is finished. I can stop and say, ‘This has been five days of hell or this has been five days of fun.’ The main thing about Fest is there’s nothing the same each day. Of course, it’s racing but the different divisions, the different people coming in, cars leaving, cars coming in; so it’s a great event and we feel very fortunate to be able to host it every year.”
The 50th Oktoberfest weekend is scheduled for Oct. 3-6 at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, Wis. Deery expects more than 500 competitors across 19 divisions and the schedule calls for approximately 1,200 laps of racing.
To view a complete list of the 49 previous Oktoberfest winners, move to the next page.