WEST SALEM, Wis. — I’m taking a chance here, but the drivers of my generation — Steve Carlson, Kevin Nuttleman, Tony Bagstad, Paul Proksch, among others — can still get it done when you put them behind the wheel of a stock car.

But when any, or all, of the above do decide to park their race cars in a decade or so, they won’t lock the gates of the
La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. The show will go on.

The more I watch Emily Sue Steck, Mike Carlson, J. Herbst, Nick Clements, Branden Berg, Jake Arneson and Jes Tenner, I realize the next generation of drivers already is more than competitive.

They are good.

Take Mike Carlson, for example. The 20-something driver is third in the Kwik Trip Late Model points race after Saturday night, which is exactly halfway through the season (counting three rainouts, one of which has been made up). He’s one point behind second-place Kevin Nuttleman, and 22 points behind his father, Steve, who leads the division.

Any of the three could be the next Late Model track champion.

“I don’t ever remember a season where you could throw a blanket over the top three at this point in the season,” Nuttleman said. “It makes for some good racing.”

Mike Carlson may be the season’s biggest surprise, but Steck could steal that honor before it’s all over. The 21-year-old Winona State University student ran the race of her life Saturday night, and walked away with a second-place feature finish. Steck was strong from start to finish, and wound up beating her high-profile teammates — Steve Carlson and Nuttleman — across the line.

“That’s so cool,” Steck said of beating both her teammates. “My crew, they gave me a fast car. I couldn’t keep up with J. (Herbst), but nobody else was passing me. I just had a great car.”

Sure Steck had a great car, but she’s now to the point where she knows what to do with a great car. Ditto for Mike Carlson. Now when they have a car that can win, they have the ability to make sure it does win — or comes close. Steck has yet to win a Late Model feature race, but I’d be willing to bet she wins one before the season ends.

She has a couple of third-place feature finishes to her credit, and now a runner-up finish. We all know what’s next.

“Baby steps,” Steck said. “I know what the next step is.”

What makes it fun to watch Mike Carlson and Steck is that both are now getting some of the hard-earned respect that it requires to win races. Even if you have the best car, if the rest of the field doesn’t want you to win, you won’t. Cars in front of you can get awfully wide, and yes, take up two lanes, if you haven’t paid your dues.

It seems Mike Carlson and Steck are just two of the young guns who have at least made a number of payments on the required dues.

“I know some guys were making it as difficult as possible for me last year,” Steck said. “I hope I have earned some of their respect. I’m sure a lot of them are going to keep testing me.”

That’s OK with Steck, and with Carlson. They have proven they can handle it, and there are others who have shown they can do likewise. That bodes well for the next generation of drivers at the Fairgrounds Speedway.

Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com

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