Who knew that the mini mod of Cael Klosterbuer would live up to the name of its chassis builder? Built by Bat Wing Chassis, the car flew in the air during the feature at Worthington Speedway in Minnesota. Fortunately, the chassis held up and Klosterbuer walked away without injury.
After he exited the track, the Little Rock, Iowa, high schooler took his fire suit off and watched his little brother, Lincoln, race to fourth-place finish.
“Cael started third and Lincoln fourth in the feature,” said the Klosterbuer brothers’ father, Chad. “I was watching Lincoln when I caught sight of Cael flipping. We do not know what caused him to flip.”
Chad, a crew man in racing since the 1990s, prepared his sons’ safety equipment. Cael sat in an Ultra Shield Race Products full-containment seat paired with a five-point Simpson harness. He wore a Pyrotect helmet with a Zamp Racing head-and-neck restraint.
“He was just a little sore the next day,” Chad said. “His car was in rough shape, though. The chassis was tweaked. I would rather be safe than sorry, so we are buying a new chassis. Some stuff will be salvageable — we’re hoping the engine [and] drivetrain. Most everything else on the car is junk.”
Chad his Cael Klosterbuer is getting parts with hopes of finishing the new car by this Saturday. This marks Cael’s rookie year in the car. So far his best finish was a fourth, which he has achieved twice. Lincoln has finished has high as second this year at Worthington Speedway. Either way, Chad said Cael is eager to get back behind the wheel of his mini mod.
“He wants to get right back into a car and race,” Klosterbuer said. “We’ll give it a whirl. You might see him on Saturday night, but at worst it will be the following Saturday.”
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.
