Photography and article by John Krueger

There’s no denying that technology has come pretty far in the automotive world over the years. Today’s modern cars are filled with sensors and over-monitoring ECUs everywhere. Back-up cameras, heads-up displays, and evermore sophisticated engines. Today’s modern motors can do some impressive things and are more powerful than ever before thanks to technology. While it is nice to see motors progressing so far, the same cannot be said for styling. I’ve found myself over the years growing more and more fond of older cars. I always get excited over the thought of mixing old and new together. It seems that Ben Studley had similar thoughts.

Read the rest of the story in the April issue of Wheels of Thunder.

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Snowcross…Only for Fun? What Happened?

There are few times in the world of motorsports that an athlete is able to ‘wow’ the fans, the sponsors, other athletes, and anyone who watches them compete. This season I was lucky enough to meet and follow one of those athletes. Kody Kamm of Kenosha, Wisconsin took the entire soncross series by surprise, and exceeded what was asked of him by leaps and bounds.

During a race in 2010 in Fargo, North Dakota Kody was asked to fill in for an injured Brett Bender, a driver for Hentges Racing. Kody was also moved into the Pro Lite class at that time (then called semi-pro).

When Nate and the rest of the team saw the potential in Kody, they made a quick decision to keep him on all thorugh the 2010-11 season in the Semi Pro class. He even saw the podium a couple of times towards the end of the season, with a 2nd in Haward and a 3rd in Lake Geneva. From that run in Fargo you found Kamm riding Hentges sleds and colors, and he had a place on the team even when Brett came back one or two races later.

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Written by Ceaja Philp

Even though times have changed, many women are still challenged within the job community, being a ‘good’ mother, and definitely being a motorsports athlete. Laura Klock of Mitchell, South Dakota has taken on these challenges and proved to everyone that a woman can be independent, secure, and successful while being a loving, caring, positive role model for men and women in many walks of life. Laura has taken her life experiences and inspired numerous people to reveal their true selves and achieve their goals.
Read the rest of the story in the March issue of Wheels of Thunder.

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The hustle and bustle of everyday life can seem overwhelming to many people. You get up early to get ready for work, get the kids up and off to school, go to work, after school activities and homework, plus the chores at home. We just go about things as we always have, but what if one day something major changed and we had to learn to do our daily routine all over?

This is what happened to Jim Wazny of Michigan. Jim had always been very active and enjoyed motorsports. He spent a lot of his younger years doing motocross on an amateur race level, more of a ‘racing en- thusiast’ as he called it. In about 1998 he decided he wanted to get more serious with racing, and by 2000 he had set his goal on earning an invitation to the Loretta Lynn Ranch, which would push him towards his pro level license.

His sights were set, but at 29 years old he knew he had made the decision to go Pro later in life and he wanted to prove the ‘doubters’ wrong. As he set out on a prac- tice track in April 2000 he was focused and determined. Unfortunately neither the track worker nor Jim knew the other was there. Practice was going well, but while in the air on one of the jumps his landing was blocked by a front-end loader. Jim hit the bucket and recalls knowing immedi- ately he was in bad shape. He remembers almost every part of what happened and sadly saw that part of his left leg had been severed. He remembers a burning feeling to his leg and his left arm being severely damaged.

 
Read the rest of the story in the February issue of Wheels of Thunder.

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When I first meet friends and family of athletes there is always a lot of praise and support shared, which I would expect and I do myself. However, in this particular conversation I was having about Trent there was something different that sparked my interest, so I started randomly asking others who have been around Snocross for a while if they had heard of or met him. I instantly found most people could finish his name before I could get out what I had been told….

Read the rest of the story in the January issue of Wheels of Thunder.

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