ABOVE: Three wide racing shown here around turn 4 of the track. Sands, Michigan is the home to Thunder Valley Raceway.

Dehanke en route to Sands
 

04/10/03
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Don Erickson
WiddisRacing.com

Jeff Dehanke of Dehanke Racing recently publicly stated he will be racing at Thunder Valley Speedway in Sands, Michigan!

Thunder Valley Raceway races weekly every Sunday afternoon. The track is known for its dastardly turns, great staff, and fantastic fans! The track has faced some minor setbacks in recent years, but with new additions such as Dehanke Racing the track has a very bright future.

Shortly after the winning 2002 season was complete Jeff Dehanke purchased both Widdis Racing Pure Stocks. The No. 16 car, (once driven by, now, crew chief Boyd Widdis, but later by Bret Widdis) and the No. 6 car (once driven by rookie Bret Widdis) were both sold to Dehanke with hopes of keeping the cars where they had raced for many years prior. Due to unfortunate and ridiculous problems, Dehanke Racing was forced to change their racing destination to Sands, Michigan the home of Thunder Valley Speedway.

In a telephone interview Dehanke expressed the situation frankly: "It is a shame. We realize that the competition isn't as strong at Sands, but we will do our best and hopefully things will fall into place."

"My son, Dan, and I have never raced before, but we do hope to be competitive. I believe race fans pay to watch a show and they should get just that, a good show," said Dehanke in a written statement.
Dehanke, also, stated that he would be piloting the No. 23 Buick Regal and his son, Dan, would be racing the No. 8 Monte Carlo just as Boyd and Bret once did. The cars are tentatively set to be black with yellow lettering. The Dehanke's primary sponsor will be Dehanke Construction, while other sponsors will consist of Michigan Wholesale Sign of Wixom, Michigan, Steve's Tire of Manistique, Michigan, Auto Value of Manistique, Michigan, and others that haven't officially been named yet.