Dean Wille (pronounced like Willy) started racing at Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg at age 16. Twenty-nine years later, he’s on the brink of earning his first track championship there.
Out of the 12 points-paying A-mod races held this year, Wille finished outside the top three only twice. Yet, he never paid a visit to victory lane.
“You don’t want to win a championship without winning a feature,” said Wille, 45, of Warrensburg, Missouri. “In racing, you wouldn’t be able to live with that. All season long, I tried and tried. It was in the back of my head that I did not want to become a winless champion.”
The monkey came off Wille’s back last Saturday night when he won the feature.
“There is a healthy level of competition at Central Missouri Speedway,” Wille said. “The purse is the best in the state — that has a lot to do with it. The promoter, Earl Walls, is as fair as they come — he treats everyone the same. On any night, any car can win the feature.”
Wille’s modified is one of two in the field powered by a Chevrolet CT525 power plant. The crate engine is based on a 6.3L LS3, with an aluminum block and cylinder heads. Most cars in the division use USRA spec engines.
“The CT525 is 100 horsepower less than the spec engine,” said Wille. “We have the same spoiler, but had to add a little extra weight up front because of the aluminum block. I stuck with the engine because it is reliable. You just have to work on your [chassis] setup and hit your marks every lap. Central Missouri Speedway is a technical, 3/8-mile track.”
Dean Wille posed in victory lane with his crew members Jon Evans, Jim Evans and Shawn Gwinn. The team enters their final points-paying race of the season this weekend.
“We need to start the feature, and we should have the championship,” Wille said. “It is rare for me to chase points. This year there were no obligations that would take me away from my home track. That one win isn’t enough. Saturday, we want to end the season with a second win.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
