Come Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, Jeff Storm will be competing against drivers who weren’t even born yet when he won at the Milwaukee Mile.
The date was August 23, 1997 as part of the ASA National Tour Trak Auto 250 weekend. “Stormy” took the win at The Mile in the Mid-American Stock Car Series on his way to a first of two consecutive championships with the series.
Nearly 26 years after that victory at The Mile, his memory of what happened during the race has dwindled, but the feeling of winning at the historic facility will never go away.
“From 1997? I don’t remember a whole lot, that was so many years ago and I’ve run so many races since then. I do remember just how cool it was to win there,” said Storm. “I believe we were there with the ASA National Tour that day, I think they were V6’s at the time but I don’t remember. There were a lot of people around and a lot of people watching so that was really cool.”
Storm’s racing career started in the late 1980’s and has raced generations of top Wisconsin stars, from Dick Trickle and Lowell Bennett to Ty Majeski and Luke Fenhaus. In that time, he has made it a point to race at the Milwaukee Mile when the ASA Midwest Tour has it on the schedule. He has made 11 previous starts at The Mile, with more laps than perhaps anyone else in the field.
He has shown speed in his other trips to Milwaukee, but a pair of thirds is all he has to show for it since the turn of the century.
“We’re always excited to go back to the Mile. We don’t miss too many, I think there were a few years in there that we didn’t go due to rules and circumstances and whatever. But it’s a track that we usually try to get to. We’ve been really close a few times but haven’t gotten it done, hopefully this is the year.”
An ignition wire failure ended his ASA STARS National Tour debut early at Madison International Speedway. His second start with the series now comes 26 years after winning at Milwaukee during an ASA race weekend at the facility.
“I went down to Nashville last fall and they were having a meeting. It’s a good thing, there’s obviously some growing pains but we’re hoping for them to succeed for sure, it’s a neat deal. I wish they could get all these rules straightened around and get everything on the same page. It’s a ton of work preparing for the Milwaukee Mile, there’s a lot of stuff you got to do.”
“I’m excited that they took it over. Bob Sargent’s a good guy and he’s putting in a lot of effort to get this going and I wish him nothing but the best. Hopefully he can keep this thing rolling.”
The ASA STARS National Tour heads to the historic Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, June 18 for the Father’s Day 100 Presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza.
The event will be broadcast live by SPEED SPORT affiliate MidwestTour.tv.
The Father’s Day 100 will be co-sanctioned with the ASA Midwest Tour, which will be the fourth race of the ASA MT season. R.J. Braun, Ty Majeski and Dalton Zehr have won races with the series this season.