Crandon on Labor Day weekend: A short course off-road holiday

In the world of short course off road racing, Crandon International Raceway's legendary Labor Day weekend is their Indianapolis or Daytona… it's the one that everyone wants to win. How the tiny hamlet in northern Wisconsin came to be the world center of short course is a longer story, but the Polaris Crandon World Championships now features 58 races over four days, involving sportsmen and Pro classes and even Ultra4. But it's the weekend finale that gets the racers' and fans' excitement redlining: the Red Bull Crandon World Cup.

Pitting the best Pro4 and Pro2 racers against each other in a winner-take-all bash, the two classes start staggered to account for the difference in lap times, with the faster Pro4s starting second. Oh, and that start… If there's a more exciting start in short course off-road racing than Crandon, we haven't seen it. A land-rush start into the fast, banked, right-hand Turn 1 is as dramatic as it gets.

The number of races, the desire for racers to win here, the Cup races (there's one for Pro Lite and Pro Buggy as well), the prize package that's the biggest in short course, all assemble to make the Polaris Crandon World Cup one of the best weekends in off road, or just about any motorsport.

“Crandon is special for a lot of reasons,” says promoter Marty Fiolka. “We like to equate it to the Indy 500 in the sense that it is an all-American Midwest holiday weekend in the summertime. We wrap up the summer, they start the summer. But it has a lot of the same feeling, a lot of the same elements in terms of being long-time tentpole events for the sport. This is the 56th Polaris Crandon World Championship weekend, which is amazing to think about. This little town here in the upper part of Wisconsin near the Canadian border has built this facility over 400 acres that's hosting 62,000 people here, and it's truly special in the sense that it's now also become a real off-road hub.”

After 56 years, Crandon International Raceway is a little different today. There are now 2300 grass camping spots, the track has added a rocks stadium so the Ultra4 racers can show off their skills in the Hella Rage on the Rocks on Saturday night, and the track has added hospitality venues over the years.

But the short course off road remains the star attraction, and with more than 20 classes ranging from youth to Sportsman to the seven Pro categories and featuring everything from side-by-sides to near-stock trucks to buggies and on to the big-horsepower, high-flying Pro 2s and Pro 4s, there's a little something for everyone. Fiolka admits to being a bit of a buggy nerd, but also appreciates the karts and youth side-by-sides. This year Bass Pro Shops is even awarding all the kids that win a world championship ring with fishing outfits, which they'll use to go attempt to catch the biggest fish in Crandon's stock ponds – the winner gets a $2000 scholarship. It's an example of what has really become as much a reunion of sorts in the off-road community.

“It's just 450 race teams all coming together for a homecoming at Crandon, I think it's the place any of us, whether on the staff, or our partners, or our racers, or the fans, want to be," says Fiolka. "It's the place to come if you love motorsports at all in America. And we look at it that way, where it's not just for off-road fans, anymore. In fact, we have a great relationship now with our friends down at Road America, which is about two-and-a-half hours from here, and the president of that racetrack, Mike Kertscher, is coming with his staff, they love watching it."

And it culminates in the legendary Red Bull Crandon World Cup, which often features dramatic finishes, sometimes with trucks on top of one another.

“The concept was really born here at Crandon and perfected here, the Pro2s versus the Pro4s,” Fiolka explains. “It's a staggered start – the Pro2s take off, and then usually between 30 and 40 seconds later, the Pro4s leave, and it's a 10-lap shootout. No competition caution flags, and mathematically the leaders should reach the finish line at the same time. Here in June, we had probably the most exciting finish ever, where we have three trucks kind of going at it at the finish, but it is an exciting way to end the weekend. It's all-out mayhem. It's the most prestigious race the racers want to win all year, and they'll take a Red Bull Cup Championship over a season championship all day long.”

The Polaris Crandon World Championship takes place Thursday to Sunday, with the Red Bull Cup scheduled for 6:20 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. RACER Network will carry 17 hours of live racing from Crandon throughout the weekend.