On December 12, Illinois’ Brian Petersen scored what may well be the biggest win of his career. Yes, Peterson was victorious in every Pro and Pro Lite round that took place that day in Salem, Wisconsin, but even more significant was his role in the formation and launch of the new Midwest Snocross Series.
Petersen has had moderate success as a privateer Sport class racer on the ISOC national tour but knows all too well about the challenges of competing against giant budgets at that level. Never to be deterred, Brian has made marketing and appearance a bigger part of his program over the last couple of seasons, even attracting such national sponsors as West Coast Customs, before they found their way onto Elias Ishoel’s championship winning Boss Racing Ski_Doo.
Now, in an effort to return regional racing to Wisconsin and help provide a more level playing field for those just starting out, or unable to make the weekly tow to a distant national event, Petersen is devoting more of his time, along with a solid group of equally motivated board members, to the new Midwest Snocross Series.
“With many of my neighbors immersed in the sport of snowmobile racing, it’s no surprise I would grow up to follow it closely. In the early 2000s, my parents signed me up for my first race at one of the Wisconsin regional series at the time, Winter Thunder Challenge. My brother got started shortly after and we spent the next decade or so with that series coming through the ranks.
Over the years, the series took on new ownership and eventually made its way to Illinois under the Great Lakes Snocross (GLX) name. Unfortunately for us, most of the racers who had gotten their start with the series had made the switch to running nationals full-time and as a result, the series was left with only a few riders in each class. Following the 2014-2015 season, the series came to an end, leaving myself and a few others without a place to race on a weekly basis. At the time, I was a full-time college student driving home to race on the weekends and competing on the national series just wasn’t feasible.
Following my graduation in 2016, I was able to devote more time to snocross and began traveling to nearly all the ISOC national events. We also came across the GNSS regional series at the time and started racing all of those as well. I started working in IT for a label company right out of college, so practicing during the week wasn’t a real option. I saw the regionals as a way to escape the office and get in my seat time before the national races.
Fast forward a couple of years to 2021 and I’m doing more of the same. Some families and venues came together at the close of the 2020-21 season and discussions began to start up a new regional series in the Midwest. As one of the more experienced racers in the area, they came to me to get feedback on track designs, entry fees, pro payouts, and things of that nature.
Eager to grow the series, I helped get the social media accounts started and was able to lend a hand establishing some sponsorship tiers and proposals. As the summer and fall rolled around, families continued to step up to help in various areas and I was able to begin shifting my focus back to my new team, Lakeland Powersports Racing, and my own training.
We’re now two weekends into the series’ first season and I honestly can’t say enough good things about everyone involved. From the board of directors to the venues we have on board, as well as the track crew and everyone involved in the scoring of the races, they are all going above and beyond to make this a reality.
Honestly, the goal of Midwest Snocross is to replicate a lot of what has made the ISOC national series so successful while still serving as a starting point for kids and those looking to make the switch from trail riding, drag racing, ovals, or cross country. For us, that means offering plenty of classes, so everyone gets a chance to line up multiple times throughout the day. It means taking rider feedback into account – if a portion of the track is chewed up, we’re going to take the time to fix it before someone gets hurt. Obviously, we will make mistakes along the way, but we’ll be quick to learn and address those issues the next time around.
At this point, I’m able to focus on getting the best race results possible. I still lend a hand with social media posts, race recaps, and answering questions when they come up, but for the most part, I’m just there to provide feedback. At the end of the day, I want this series to be a success and that means promoting snocross to a new generation of riders, just like Winter Thunder Challenge did for me back in the day.”
Brian Petersen –
