Article used with permission from Joe Verdegan - http://www.verdeganelite.com/

After 10 years of racing on area dirt tracks, Benji LaCrosse can say he's "been there, done that."

The Luxemburg native who calls Green Bay home has won just about everything there is to win in the IMCA stock car and modified classes.

In his first full season of racing in 2000, he tied records held by veterans John Gregorich and Charlie Kroll while racing at Thunderhill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay, winning eight features in one year, including four in a row, in the stock cars.

He's won track titles at Luxemburg, Sturgeon Bay and Seymour. He's been an IMCA state champion, North Central regional champion and the sanctioning body's national champion in modifieds. In 2005, he became the first Wisconsin driver to win the modified feature at the IMCA Super Nationals at Boone, Iowa. The event is considered by many to be the Daytona 500 for weekly dirt track racers.

Just a few weeks ago, LaCrosse gave serious consideration to running for an IMCA national title, which would have meant racing three nights per week, and chasing races at tracks when his weekly tracks rained out.

At 33, LaCrosse is set to begin a new chapter in his career. He'll make his debut on the asphalt Saturday night in the Mid-American sportsman class at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek.

"It's just time for me to try something different," said LaCrosse, who still is competing for the points championship in his IMCA modified Fridays at Luxemburg and Sundays at Seymour. "I was in that (driver tryout at 141) a few weeks back, and I thought I got a feel for the car pretty quickly."

LaCrosse's smooth driving style on the dirt may help him quickly adjust to the asphalt.

"I guess the biggest thing I noticed with the pavement, you can get on the throttle quite a bit more. On dirt, you can get out of shape and make it up within a lap or two. You break the car on the asphalt, and you've pretty much lost it. There's a much smaller margin of error."

"I think Benji will do just fine with that," said Eddie Muenster of Green Bay.

Muenster has raced against LaCrosse for several seasons in modifieds and raced on the tar for several years in a late model at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna.

"On an average dirt race, if you're hooked up, you can pass three, sometimes four cars on one lap," Muenster said. "That doesn't happen on asphalt. It's easier to drive the pavement, but you've really gotta fine tune things to go real fast."

LaCrosse is sharing a ride with Seymour's Jamie Schmidt, another driver tryout participant from weeks ago.

"For me, I'm pretty fortunate in that I just show up with my helmet, my driver's suit and go race," LaCrosse said. "It's an opportunity that doesn't come around very often, and I feel very lucky to have been given a shot at this. I had to take it."

— Joe Verdegan is a freelance writer who covers area racing for the Press-Gazette. E-mail him at jverdegan2@new.rr.com.