2/12/2024
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Meet Mike Stroik
West Bend, Wisconsin's, Mike Stroik is one of the prototypes for a Badger driver. He takes great pride in the fact that he's built his own engine and it powered him to a ninth-place finish in the 2023 AFS Badger Midget Series points race.
Let's spend a minute with Mike.
Car #9
Owner and Driver: Mike Stroik
Stroik Motorsports
Sponsors: H.H. Hinder Brewing Company of Waupaca.
Heartland Construction of Slinger
Crew: Denny Smith, Charlie Spoonmore, Raupp Family, family, and friends.
BMARA: Were you a fan of racing before you got behind the wheel and if so, who were your heroes and what tracks did you attend?
Stroik: I was a fan of racing before getting behind the wheel due to my father and his uncle Lloyd. Though they didn’t race themselves, they loved going to watch Dick Trickle, seeing as how they were located in the Stevens Point area.
I have Uncle Lloyd to thank for setting a spark in my father about motorsports that lead to me behind the wheel but I am told i cried at my first dirt race at Dodge County because of the noise!
Watching racing growing up, Dad was a Mark Martin fan but I always looked up to "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville," aka Bill Elliott, that's where the #9 comes from.
BMARA: Give us a synopsis of your racing career:
Stroik: I started when I was 12 in go karting at the Karting Kettle in Elkhart Lake WI. Progressed to race karts at tracks like Daytona, Road America, VIR, Road Atlanta, and Mid Ohio before fellow go kart competitor Denny Smith called me up and asked if I wanted to drive a midget and here we are today.
BMARA: How much time do you spend on the car each week during the season?
Stroik: Depending on what all is involved its typical I'm in the garage three nights a week. For the 2023 season with unfortunate luck it seemed I was in there a bit more!
BMARA: What is your day job and how does racing fit in?
Stroik: I manage properties in the Madison area so luckily it does help with my racing as far as schedule wise, as I can pretty flexible. But, it won’t stop a furnace from going out on a Christmas Day or a text at 2 a.m. while headed home from Sycamore, saying that there is a leaking pipe in a unit that I have to take care of!
BMARA: What's something interesting the fans might not know about you?
Stroik: Most fans might not know, but Denny Smith and I have both built our own engines from the beginning of joining the BMARA.
The concept of building Badger back up through guys dusting off old cars and throwing a production based engine platform in was exciting! We have to be getting close to 10 years of dealing with Quinn and the grey hairs are showing it!
Article by: Bill Blumer Jr. and Mike Stroik
Photo credit: Bill Blumer Jr.
Submitted By: William Blumer