Dan Fredrickson Returning to Pensacola with ASA STARS National Tour

In recent years, Dan Fredrickson’s focus has been his son’s racing career rather than his own. The Minnesota driver made just a small handful of appearances in 2022, ending his season with a top-10 finish in the Oktoberfest 200 at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway (WI).

Rejuvenated by his son’s racing efforts, Fredrickson is excited to get back behind the wheel at one of his favorite tracks to start the 2023 season, heading south to the ASA STARS National Tour’s Sunshine State 200 at Five Flags Speedway.

“I’m pretty excited,” Fredrickson told Racing America. “I haven’t raced since the beginning of October, so I’ve been out of the car a while. I had to watch all my buddies to go the Snowball Derby and go to Speedweeks, and it was hard to do. I’ll be excited to get back in the seat.”

Dan’s 13-year-old son, Ty Fredrickson, has been working his way up the racing ladder. After getting started in quarter-midgets, the younger Fredrickson has spent much of the past year traveling the country competing in INEX Legends events.

“He had a really good quarter-midget career. We tested him in a Late Model for fun when he had just turned 12. He was, right off the bat, really good at it, so I thought we better give him a shot at racing. We’ve been wearing the wheels off this Legends car we bought last year for him. We’ve been all over the place down south and he’s already met a lot of good people and turned a lot of laps at some cool race tracks.

“He’s been to Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Carteret [County], some pretty neat race tracks. Of course, it’s always the small track or the road course, being it’s a Legends car, but just being able to walk through the pits and see what a facility like that is and race on those tracks is a pretty neat deal for him.”

The plan is for Ty to make the step up to Late Model racing later this year. Until then, Dan has some time to enjoy a little Late Model racing of his own.

“He’s doing a great job and he’s just about got his Late Model ready to go, and that’s what he’ll be racing this summer. A lot of my focus is on my son. I’m excited to race a few more times this summer before we get hot and heavy in his Late Model career.”

That starts on March 10-11 at Five Flags Speedway for the ASA STARS National Tour’s first event, the Sunshine State 200. Pensacola has become a second home for Fredrickson and his family, which adds to his excitement for the upcoming race

“That town and that racetrack, all the people around there hold a little, warm spot in our lives. We’ve become really good friends with a few people down there. One of our sponsors, Fast Eddie’s Fun Center, is from there in Pensacola. We love being down there. I could see us, as a family, spending more time there in a couple of years. Maybe get a house down there. That racetrack is awesome, and the Bryant family does a good job. It’s a lot of fun to be racing there, and it always brings out the best competition.”

As it turns out, Fredrickson was part of the field in the last ASA National Tour race at Five Flags Speedway. Fredrickson led eight laps, the first of his ASA career, and finished third in the ASARacing.com 300 in May 2002.

“I raced in ASA in 2002. We actually led a few laps, Pensacola was the first track we led in that series that year. We wound up third. That was the first time I had been to Pensacola, 2002. I haven’t raced there a lot, but I sure enjoy it.”

Fredrickson has also made plans to run in the second and third events of the ASA STARS National Tour season. Those events include the Joe Shear Classic at Madison International Speedway (WI) on May 7 and the series’ visit to North Wilkesboro Speedway (NC) on May 16.

“We’re probably going to at least the first three [races]. Growing up with all those heroes in NASCAR, a person my age could really only dream of racing at North Wilkesboro. How cool is it that in May we’ll get to race our Late Models there?

“Madison, that’s owned by the McKarns family, and we’ve been friends forever, so we’ll always support them. We’ll definitely go to the Pensacola race, the Madison race and the North Wilkesboro race, the first three of the ASA National Tour.”

Whether he’s able to race the full season or not while focusing on his son’s racing program, Fredrickson is excited to see how the season unfolds as it competes at some of the top short track venues in the country.

“I think that group of guys and gals working on this ASA National Tour, you can tell they’re putting a lot of time and effort into it. I think it’s a pretty cool schedule.

“They have a lot of cool stops along the way. I’m going to assume a lot of people not from the Midwest are going to be reading this article. I’m gonna tell you, it’s absolutely must-do to go to the Slinger Nationals. That’s a really awesome race.

“Same with the Dixieland [Gandrud Auto Group 250] in Kaukauna. These tracks up here have so much character. The race fan that hasn’t had the chance to travel to Wisconsin, Slinger, Madison, Kaukauna, add it to your must-do.”

Along with Fast Eddie's Fun Center in Pensacola, Fredrickson's effort will be sponsored by Herman’s Landscape Supply, Team Construction and Justman Freight Lines.

Advance tickets are available for purchase online at https://bit.ly/ASA5FlagsTixs. Fans unable to attend the race can click here to learn more about watching the Sunshine State 200.

-Photo credit: Koty Geyer