Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150

June 13 ,2012

The article below comes from SportsMadison.com

WEST ALLIS — Travis Sauter invested nearly $5,000 in preparation for the Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 and broke even on Tuesday night, clinching one of the biggest race wins of his career.

Hard work by Sauter’s crew, fast test sessions, a tuned-up motor and confidence behind the wheel paid off as the Necedah native held off Chase Elliott and took home a $5,000 paycheck in the 150-lap ASA Midwest Tour race at the Milwaukee Mile.

“You do what it takes and we’re here in victory lane,” said Sauter, who lists his residence as Prairie du Sac. “Yeah, this probably is my biggest (career) win. I won Oktoberfest (at La Crosse Speedway) and that’s probably the second-biggest race in the state. I’m doing good with the big ones.”
Johnny Sauter, Travis’ uncle and a NASCAR Truck Series regular, finished third and Cambridge native Matt Kenseth finished sixth.

Kenseth struggled with his car, but the reigning Daytona 500 winner and former NASCAR Cup champion achieved a decent finish.

“We started the race and I thought it was going to be all right,” said Kenseth, who ran as high as fourth. “After about the second or third restart, it just wouldn’t go. We kind of struggled for a couple of days, but it was fun racing up there with them guys. At least we got to mix it up with them a little bit.

“There’s 80 cars here and there’s a really good lot of quality cars here. We just never quite got our car perfect. These guys race these things all the time. We just never quite had it.”
Kenseth, who started 22nd, had hoped to race against his son on the one-mile oval. But 19-year-old Ross Kenseth missed the show after failing to qualify in timed sessions and a last-chance race.

“I am happy he’s able to enjoy the experience and comes here and race with some of the best drivers ever,” said Joe Nemechek, a four-time NASCAR Cup race winner. “He’s wheeling the tar out of that thing.”

Matt Kenseth was frustrated with slow cars during test sessions Monday, but on the positive side, he said he was surprised with the large number of race entries.

A portion of the proceeds from the race will benefit the MACC Fund, a Milwaukee-based childhood cancer research organization, and also will honor Watertown native and legendary ASA crew chief Howie Lettow. Lettow, who died of cancer in 2010, worked with Mark Martin, David Stremme and Jimmie Johnson.

“I don’t know if the attraction is the race being at The Mile or that it benefits Howie (Lettow) or what,” Kenseth said. “Certainly the purse isn’t greater than any other race. There’s been races for bigger purses that hardly anybody shows up for. It’s cool to see all this talent and all the cars.”

Kenseth will return to Wisconsin in the next few weeks to compete in the Slinger Nationals at Slinger Speedway. He said he began tinkering on a late-model car over the winter with friend Todd Millard, a Middleton native who is a tire changer on Kenseth’s Roush-Fenway team.

“Todd and I put the car together and decided to race it a couple times this year for something to do,” Kenseth said.