Chris Klemko Wins 2020 Sprint Car Championship

“A big family thing”

Chris Klemko was born with racing in his blood.

His late father, Mike Klemko, was the Late Model Champion in 1980, well before Chris was born.

His grandfather told Mike, “Well, if you’re going to race, you’re not going to live in my house.”

Chris said, “I think [my dad] was 18 when he moved out.  He moved out to Paddock Lake, kind of by the bait shop.  A friend of ours had a house, and he rented a room from him, and the garage, and started racing.  His crew was made up of a couple of his high school buddies, and his shop teacher (Central HS), Chip Nunemaker.  He started racing in the sportsman’s division, then went up to late models. “

Mike Klemko raced into the mid-80s, and then he gave up racing to start his family.

According to long-time track official and announcer, Mike Babicz, Mike Klemko is likely still the leading feature winner in Wilmot history.

When Chris and his sister Natalie were kids, the family then went regularly to the track as fans.

“My grandpa wasn’t a fan of racing, in the beginning.  But then he became [a fan], and really loved it.  So every Saturday, before the races, they’d always have a big cookout at the house, and he’d make steaks, and everyone would come over, and then we’d go to the races that night.  It’s a big family thing….. Every Saturday, when we lived on Hwy C in Bristol, at like three in the afternoon, I’d be sitting up by the road, watching all the race haulers going by.   And we always had to make sure all our chores were done, and we got to go to the races that night.  And that was a big thing.  Every Saturday night we were at the track,” Chris re-called.

Chris won the 2020 Wilmot Raceway points championship in the Wingless Sprint car class, beating defending champion Jimmy Sivia by 42 points. It was his first career track championship.

He said, of getting into racing, “I’ve always wanted to race.  My best friend, Marc (Paulsen) and I, we would always be racing around this property here, on our 4-wheeelers.  And we always said that, someday we’d be racing sprint cars, and that’s what we’re going to do.  We always went to the track……..  My dad and I had always talked, throughout the years, that he wanted to get me into racing.  And it just financially wasn’t feasible at the time.  They stopped racing late models at Wilmot, and that’s what I was really wanting to get into.  And the tracks for late models were way up north, and driving up north every Saturday just wasn’t in our budget.  So then when he passed way in 2012, I said, ‘I’m going to get into racing one of these days, one way or another.’  And a couple years later, this wingless division came around, and I just said, ‘This is it.  We’re going to do it.  I’m going to pull the trigger.  And we’re going to go.’  My crew chief Joe (Panek), who I’ve been friends with for pretty much my whole life, I called him up.  I asked Joe, I said, ‘You know, I’m thinking of doing this.  Are you up for it?’  And he goes, ‘ I guess if you show up at my house with a car, we’re going to have to do it.   It was a couple weeks later, and I showed up at his house with a car.  And it’s been all downhill since then.”

In 2015 Chris started racing in the Wingless Sprint car division and was named Rookie-of-the-Year. In 2016, he took 5th place in the season points standings.

The class continued to grow, and so did the Klemko Racing Team, as sister Natalie started to get an interest too. “That fall (2016) we went up to 141 Speedway, and rented a car up there , for her to try out, and just take some laps. It was a Thursday afternoon.  She really liked it, and it was that winter that we ended up building her a car, for the third season out (2017).

The team has finished in the top-10 in points every year.

However, before the 2020 season, the team made the game-changing decision to switch from a Triple-X chassis to a DRC. Everyone on the team believes the new chassis played a major role in the 2020 championship, and Chris said it was huge from a confidence standpoint.

“I struggled with that car (Triple-X).  We just couldn’t find a set-up that I liked.  The car would go into the corner tight, then be real loose halfway through.  I didn’t have a lot of confidence last year, in the car. You never knew what it was going to do.  Where this year, I could get in my new car, and I knew what it was going to do.  I knew I could drive it in super-hard and it was going to stick.  There was no question about it……  This year, I was a lot more, risky,  in the car, I guess, because I knew what the car was going to do.  I knew I could run into [turn] one, low, balls-out, and slide up the track into the cushion.  And I knew that the car was going to stick.  I knew what the car was going to do.  I didn’t have to think like, ‘Okay, what’s going to happen?  Am I just going to overdrive it in, and the car’s not going to turn right for me, or something?’  The Triple-X, I didn’t know what it was going to do.  And the DRC, I knew what it was going to do.  It was just the confidence in the car.”

Chris was very quick to point to his pit crew of Joe Panek, John Cronin, and Kevin Hinich.

He said he was so happy to win the championship for them. “It means a lot to me, but I couldn’t have done a single thing without my crew.  They did it all for me.  I just got in the car and drove.  For me to win the Wilmot championship, for them, means the world for me.  Without them, I wouldn’t be doing this.  They’re the heart-and-soul of this team, that keep it going.  They do all the work on the cars, and I just get in and drive.  And for me to give that award to them is what means the most.  It shows them, all their hard work wasn’t for nothing.”

Natalie was also very quick to credit the pit crew of Klemko Racing Team, “I know we always say it, but we really do have an A+ team.  Our pit crew, we have 3 guys (Joe, John, Kevin) that are absolutely fantastic, and [neither] Chris, nor I, would’ve had any results without them.  It’s definitely not an individual sport.  It absolutely takes a team.  I think most drivers can say that.  No driver can just get out there and really just do it on their own.  It really takes a hard working crew to support them, and Chris is very lucky to have that,” said Natalie.

Chris has stuck with the same #70 as his dad, and also uses the same white/red color combination on the race car. “I’ve kind of stuck with that theme, as kind of honoring him.  If it wasn’t for him, taking me to the track as a kid, I probably wouldn’t know much about this stuff.    Every summer that’s where I was.”

Chris talked more about how the racing brought his family together, and how much his late grandmother loved it. “It was really hard this year, I lost my grandma halfway through the season.  It was my dad’s mom, and she was 94.  Last year she made about a half-dozen races, and she’d be sitting down in the front row handicap section, cheering and yelling and screaming.  And we had a weird season this year, and she wasn’t able to come.  When we were able to race, I’d be calling her on Sunday to let her know how I did.  The assisted living place that she lived at, there was a girl that worked there, that would go to the track, she was a race fan as well, and Sunday mornings, my grandma would be waiting by the door, for her to come into work, to find out how I did, or, ‘How did Natalie do?’  You know, I wish she was there when I won that night.  I know she was there.  But I wish she was there physically.  I wish we could have called her and told her that we won the championship.  In 1980 my dad won the championship, 40 years ago,” he said.

Chris also finished 2nd in the 2020 IRA series points, out of 65 different drivers.

Natalie said she is impressed with how Chris has done it with such a clean style, and the respect of the other divers. “I think a difference between Chris and some of the other drivers is, that he is very consistent.  I think consistency is what got him to this point to finally winning a championship.  There’s a lot of fast cars in our class, but you don’t know if they are going to win the race, or crash.  You don’t know when they get on the track.  Chris, he’s very calculated with his moves.  And his average results, he’s consistently at the top.  He is just a very steady and smooth driver, and to pull off an entire season and win it, that’s what you have to be.  You can’t just be fast one night and then crash the next.  Chris is also a well-respected driver in the class.  He’s a clean driver.  He has the respect of his fellow racers, and he also respects them.  He respects their equipment, to not go out there and just intentionally crash somebody, or tear it up.  So I think that winning the [championship] and having the respect of the drivers also means a lot.  He did it the clean way to get there.  And that means a lot, to earn respect in this class, and that is one thing that Chris has acquired over the years of racing,” she said.

Chris is also a first-responder and volunteer with the Bristol Fire Department.

He also owns this construction company in Bristol. = http://www.ckcontractorsllc.com/about

Congratulations Chris, Kevin, John, and Joe.

Good luck in 2021.

  

Non Wing Crate Sprints = FINAL – 2020 RESULTS

Final Results: View All

Pos	Car	Driver	Hometown	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Features	Points	Gap
1	70	Chris Klemko	Bristol, WI	1	6	11	11	1387	–
2	91	Jimmy Sivia	Winthrop Harbor, IL	1	6	7	11	1345	42
3	38	Allen Hafford	Beach Park, IL		4	8	10	1220	167
4	19K	Derek Crane	Racine, WI	2	7	8	9	1209	178
5	7X	Ryan Marshall (R)	Kansasville, WI		2	7	11	1187	200
6	40	Tim Cox	Park City, IL		5	7	9	1136	251
7	4	Jordan Paulsen	Trevor, WI		3	4	11	1111	276
8	1N8	Nathan Crane	Waukegan, IL	1	1	5	9	1106	281
9	6B	Vince Bartolotta	Muskego, WI			4	9	1065	322
10	50	Rusty Egan	Burlington, WI		1	4	10	1045	342