Why F.Y.E. Motorsports Was
Born…..
FYE
Motorsports Promotions was created in 2003 by longtime race fan and
nationally-known announcer Chris Stepan. Stepan has been a race fan all
of his life and took his love for the sport to the next level when he
began announcing at the legendary Cedar Lake Speedway in his
hometown of New Richmond, Wisconsin and began writing a weekly column
for All The Dirt Racing News.
Since jumping behind the microphone at one of the nation’s premier dirt
tracks, Stepan’s talents have been recognized on the national level,
where Chris has announced for such series as NASCAR's Whelen Asphalt &
Dirt Series (NASCAR), the Lucas Oil Late Model
Dirt Series (LOLMDS), Stacker2 Xtreme DirtCar
Series (XDCS), the World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series (WoO), the World of
Outlaw Late Model Series (WoOLMS), the United States Modified Touring
Series (USMTS), the United Midwest Promoters Association (UMP), the
Renegade STARS Late Model Series (STARS), the Northern Outlaw Promoters
Association (NOPA), the Midwest Sprint Association (MSA), the Upper
Midwest Sprint Car Series (UMSS), the United
States Racing Association (USRA), the Northern Vintage Stock Car
Association (NVSCA), the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA),
the IRA Outlaw Sprint Car Series (IRA), the Northern Late Model
Association (NLRA), the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS), the World
Dirt Racing League (WDRL), the Northern Allstar Late Model Series
(NALMS), the DIRT Modified Series (DIRT), the Border Racing Association
(BRA), the Western Dirt Late Model Tour (WDLMT), the Desert Dwarf Car
Series (DDS), 600 Racing's Legend Series, the United States Auto Club
(USAC), the Barnett Modified Series (BRA) as well as countless Dirt Track
Racing Association (DTRA), WISSOTA Promoter’s Association and unsanctioned
events across the United States.
Stepan travels from his St. Cloud,
Minnesota home to Arizona each January and November to call
the action at the Tucson International Raceway in Tucson, AZ (formerly at the Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, AZ) for the
annual Wild West Shootout Late Model & Modified Series, held during the
second week of January in sunny Arizona and the annual West Hurst Memorial Modified
event, which is held Halloween weekend in the desert as well.
Stepan also travels to Las Cruces, New
Mexico each March and October to call the action at the annual $10,000
to win Winter Meltdown and Fall Nationals Modified events at the
Southern New Mexico Speedway and also has called that action at Sun City
Modified Classic at the El Paso Speedway Park in El Paso, Texas in March.
Stepan calls the action at the Dirt Track
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada each March and November
for their annual Las Vegas Dirt Classic and Duel In The Desert USAC
Sprint Car, Modified and Late Model events.
In 2006 Chris also became the official announcer of the Modified WinterNationals at the East Bay Raceway Park in
Tampa, Florida each
February, a week-long $5,000 to win event held the week leading up to the Daytona
500 each year.
In late 2007 Stepan was also hired as the new speedway announcer at the
state-of-the-art Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in Calvert City, Kentucky.
Stepan will travel to Sherri Heckenast's speed plant and announce the
special events throughout the 2009 season.
Stepan took his passion for and involvement
in dirt track racing and announcing one stop further when he took on the
position of the Director of WISSOTA’s Late Model Challenge Series, a
touring circuit for WISSOTA’s premier division, back in 1999 and
continued to bolstered the series’ schedule, point fund and following
until the end of the 2005 season when Stepan resigned his position with
the series to concentrate on making his FYE Motorsports promoted events
a bigger priority.
After several years of announcing at Cedar Lake, Stepan was hired on to
be the announcer at the Chippewa River Speedway in Jim Falls, WI, and
the Fox Ridge Speedway in Arcadia, WI as well as the Dodge County
Speedway in Kasson, MN where Chris spent several seasons behind the
microphone. In fact, Stepan has called races at 66 different dirt tracks
across 14 states and 2 Canadian provinces over the past 14+ seasons.
Currently Stepan can still be found behind the microphone at Cedar Lake
Speedway every Saturday night, and also has spent a lot of his time and
talent focused on being the track race director at the AMSOIL Speedway in
Superior, Wisconsin over the 2005 and 2006 seasons and then again
from 2011 through this year. Stepan also served as the promoter at the
Fox Ridge Speedway in Arcadia, Wisconsin throughout the 2007 season and
served as the announcer at the KRA Speedway in Willmar, Minnesota
on Thursday evenings from 2009 through 2011.
Chris also runs the annual John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational,
held in memory of former FYE Motorsports sponsored Late Model competitor
John Seitz, who passed away suddenly in 2007. The Seitz Memorial is held
at the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND each September.
New for 2012, Stepan has been hired to serve as the General Manager and
Promoter at the newly reopened Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, MN.
The track, formerly known as the Golden Spike Speedway will race on it's
traditional Sunday night throughout the summer and Stepan will be the
go-to person in charge.
Stepan’s passion for the sport of auto
racing is very evident with his timeless involvement with Superior,
Viking, Cedar Lake, along with his business – FYE Motorsports.
FYE was created in 2003 to stage higher-paying special events around the
Midwest to allow the drivers that compete weekly at local tracks to run
for some bigger dollar shows throughout the season. The first FYE
promoted show was the 1st annual Viking Fall Classic, held at the Viking
Speedway in Alexandria, MN on October 8th & 9th in 2003 and was an
unbelievable success, despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to spoil the
near-perfect weekend. The event was an instant success, which saw over
250 race cars enter the first ever Fall Classic.
Once the Fall Classic was in the record books, talks began how to make
the 2nd annual event bigger and better. Needless to say FYE and Viking
Speedway both stepped up to the plate and threw more money into the
purse which made the 2nd annual Fall Classic outlive it’s expectations
again with an almost unheard of 317 race cars doing battle on the 1/2
mile Viking Speedway.
In 2005, FYE Motorsports again partnered with Viking Speedway to host
the first annual Minnesota Modified Nationals, a WISSOTA-sanctioned
Modified event, which paid the feature winner a $7,000 paycheck, the
biggest winner’s purse of any WISSOTA Modified show in 2005. FYE also
held the 3rd annual Viking Fall Classic, which drew nearly 250 cars
again and paid over $80,000 to the champions.
Along with those events, FYE Motorsports added a partnership with
one of the nation’s top touring Late Model series for 2006. The PolyDome
World Dirt Racing League has formed an alliance with FYE Motorsports and
Stepan will promote five WDRL events in the upper Midwest throughout the
2006 racing season. The first two events which were held on Wednesday
night June 14th at Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, WI and Thursday,
June 15th at the Superior Speedway in Superior, WI. The next three FYE promoted WDRL events, which
was a week-long swing throughout the Northland held on Monday, August
7th at Superior; Tuesday, August 8th at the Viking Speedway in
Alexandria, MN and Wednesday, August 9th at Fox Ridge Speedway in
Arcadia, WI.
Still
another FYE promoted event is the Badger State Nationals, held at the
Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin during the first weekend
of October in 2009.
As we do each spring, FYE Motorsports proudly gives back to the racers
in the area and will be supporting the efforts of several of the
Midwest’s top dirt track competitors this season.
FYE Motorsports wishes all of our team members good luck throughout the
upcoming 2012 racing season and hopes to see each of them in victory
lane across the upper Midwest this season.
If you have any questions regarding FYE or if you are interested in
partnering with FYE to stage a ‘special’ event at your track or if you
are looking for a professional announcer for any event at your speedway,
FYE Motorsports Owner Chris Stepan can be reached at (715) 497-8916 or
via e-mail at either
chris@fyemotorsports.com.
|