Wilmot Raceway semi-truck dirt race a first for Wisconsin

WILMOT, Wis. - Twelve semi-trucks racing each other, ripping around a dirt track, is a first for Wisconsin. And it's coming to Wilmot Raceway in Kenosha County on Saturday.

Semi-truck dirt track race

What we know:

"It's basically trying to control something that's not meant to do what it's doing," Chris Kikelhan, a racing driver of one of the semi-trucks, said.

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The trucks have over 1,000 horsepower and can reach 85 mph. 

"These guys are putting that all down," Wilmot Raceway Director Chris Klemko said. "It's a 12,000-pound truck on a thousand horsepower, on a three-eighths dirt track, so it's nothing comparable that I know of."

Kikelhan has been racing these things since 2015.

"It's a lot of fun," he said.

I rode along with Kikelhan. The inside of the cab was rattling, the engine was screaming, and before a thought could run through my head to remind me to breathe, I was getting thrown into the next corner and drifting sideways.

"We're within a couple feet of each other, we touch each other, guys hit each other from behind. We try not to take each other out, but sometimes it gets rough," Kikelhan said.

During the ride-along with Kikelhan, it's obvious his love for this is instinctual. He has been driving semi-trucks as a job since he was 18, and he has been around dirt track racing since he was young.

"It's definitely not for the paychecks and that stuff," Kikelhan said. "You have to love it and be into it. You have to breathe it."

American Big Rig Racing in Wilmot

What's next:

The series Kikelhan competes in is American Big Rig Racing. He does 22 races from April to October every year, all across the country. Klemko said Saturday's event is one of the biggest they have ever had. The raceway has already sold 2,000 presale tickets: a sell-out crowd.

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"While other tracks around the country are closing, we're improving, so this is just going to make things get bigger and better around here and making this track great," Klemko said.

This big rig battle is Saturday night at Wilmot Raceway at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds. Gates open at 5 p.m. – and it's lights out and away they go at 6:45 p.m.

Wilmot Raceway has around 30 other racing and rodeo events from April to mid-September.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Ben Hanson and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.