歪歪漫画

ST. CLOUD 鈥� Slowing down isn't exactly Dustin Holtquist's thing.

Even at 40, the St. Cloud resident thinks his auto racing career still has a way to go.

"I'm competitive and I love winning," Holtquist said with a laugh. "I don't know what else I would do with myself if I quit. I think I've slowed down a little bit. That's what I tell myself at least. When it's going good, racing is great. Then you have some downs and it makes it easier to think you could quit. I'll slow down eventually, but not this year."

The St. Cloud resident is the . He earned 2,210 points last season and edged former national champions Dean Larson and Tommy Bowden by 11 and 21 points, respectively, to claim the title.

After putting 20 years into racing, winning a title was bittersweet for Holtquist, who began racing around his hometown of Milbank, South Dakota, when he was just out of high school. Winning a national title is all about how many points you can accumulate during a race season. For Holtquist, that meant racing in 56 events last year.

"I had 18 wins last year and that obviously helps," Holtquist said. "You have to race a lot and be consistent, especially coming in the top three. I was close in 2018, but lost by five points. It was my goal for about six or seven years to win it. It was a huge thing for me when I accomplished it."

To win the WISSOTA Mod-4 title, Holtquist went to raceways throughout Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming. He won feature races at seven different tracks, including in Sauk Rapids. This year, he's sitting in second place in the Granite City Motor Park standings with 301 points. Clear Lake's Tommy Bowden is in first place with 322. Holtquist typically races every Sunday at Granite City.

His dad, Bob, who still lives in Milbank, usually accompanies his son on trips and also races in the WISSOTA Mod-4. He already has 183 points this summer at Granite City Motor Park after driving up to Milbank to race in its events. Through June 22, he was sitting in fourth place in the Mod-4 standings nationally with 1,763 points. Bob is right ahead of him in third with 1,816 points. Dean Larson from Pennock is in first place with 2,172 points.

Contributed / Dustin Holtquist

"Wyoming is special for my dad and I and the people are great out there," Holtquist said. "Their tracks are awesome and they're always welcoming. My dad will drive almost three hours every weekend to race with me if he can. Being in St. Cloud was a good change of pace for me because it's more centrally located. Granite City is only 10 minutes away."

Holtquist first got into two-man hornet racing when he was 19 on tracks in Montevideo, Canby and in Aberdeen and Watertown, South Dakota. Twenty-one years later, he's come a long way. He sticks to because of how affordable 鈥� and fun 鈥� it is.

Holtquist started building his own chassis in 2020. Since that time, he's piled up the victories. He's also received sponsorships from (where he works) and other Central Minnesota businesses.

"The Mod-4 is just fun and everybody has fun. Once in a while you'll have an altercation, but we're all pretty tight and usually have a great time," Holtquist said.

Ironically enough, Holtquist is the one who got his dad into racing. His grandfather, Melvin, raced in his youth but Bob never did. Now competing against his dad is something he loves.

"I never really knew my grandpa raced until after I started. He passed away about 14 years ago. He's the reason my car number is 5. I have some old pictures of my grandpa with his car and that's pretty special. He raced back in the 1960s out in Canby and Madison.

"My dad always came with me when I started and I told him to jump in one night. He ran a few races and got hooked. He bought a car and the rest is history."

The life of an amateur racer isn't glamorous, especially since they work hard just to break even. Like many others, Holtquist does it because it's become more than a hobby for him.

After he's done working at Collins Brothers during the week, Holtquist will work until 9-10 p.m. most nights on his No. 5 car. Once the weekend hits, it's even more work. He typically races on Friday in Princeton, Saturday in Ogilvie and Sunday nights in Sauk Rapids 鈥� depending on his schedule 鈥� and the weather.

Contributed / Dustin Holtquist

"I spend an infinite amount of time on my car," he said. "Race days, I'm going to the next track and doing tire work. It's another full-time job. Taking care of your tires is the most important thing. If your tire prep isn't good, even if you have 900 horsepower in your engine, it won't make a difference.

"It's pretty much a continuous checklist every week in and week out."

As for the money part of it, Holtquist knows that his goal is to always break even every year.

"Ideally, you have to place in the top three every night to do that. That will always pay for your entry fee and fuel costs," he said. "Most nights, you're winning $500. Some tracks pay out $1,000. If you win a special, that's huge. One time I won $1,600 in two days. You're never ahead in racing."

Holtquist gets help from his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, and his daughter, Ella, on some weekends when he goes out. Ella has raced a little bit herself, but is more focused on helping her dad. Holtquist is more than OK with his daughter doing whatever she's comfortable with.

"Racing is all she's ever known and she enjoys it, but last year she did ask if she had to come with a couple of times," Holtquist said with a laugh. "But she's a huge supporter. I never expect her to love what I love. She enjoys helping me out, which I love about her. She lives in Milbank with her mom and she comes up here and enjoys St. Cloud."

Holtquist is already finding different ways to have an adventure. He knows racing doesn't last forever. He's doing more four-wheeling and recently bought a boat. However long he keeps going, it's going to be hard to put a full stop to it one day.

"I always want to push my car to the absolute limit," Holtquist said. "I've been nicknamed 'Spin Doctor' because I love to spin out so much. I'm an aggressive driver 鈥� you have to be. You can't race with your wallet. If you're out there racing with your checkbook, that's never going to be good for anyone."

Looks like someone isn't hanging it up anytime soon.