2016 Season-In-Review: Nygaard Nets 9th NOSA Title!

GRAND FORKS, ND (September 26) – After a long, grueling six month stretch of racing, the 2016 season has finally come to a close for the Nygaard Motorsports team. It was another banner year for Wade Nygaard, who just completed his 26th year behind the wheel of a Sprint Car, as he picked up his series leading ninth Northern Outlaw Sprint Association (NOSA) championship, which is six more than the next closest competitor.

“All year long I tried not to focus on racing for points or winning the championship. Once we got to the last race we realized that we just had to beat one guy by a certain amount of points we just knew he had to have a clean race,” said Wade.

“We tried to stay in our nice little bubble and not get hit, not run into anybody else, not make any mistakes, or not drive off the race track. Once we finished the race it was a relief. It was a nice way to end the season, especially for my car owner and all our great sponsors.”

Along with the NOSA championship, Nygaard’s season was highlighted by several wins included a 360 victory at Badlands Motor Speedway.

“The Badlands win was the most exciting win as far as close racing and having a great car,” continued Wade. “The first win of the year in Grand Forks was also a really exciting night.”

Wade felt as though the team was lacking a little bit of speed throughout the season, which prompted different changes to the setup on several occasions.

“I did a heck of a lot more experimenting this year than I have ever done in my life. We tried a bunch of different things trying to stumble on something that might work a little better. I did a lot of second guessing when setting up the race car and I still don’t think we hit on exactly what we were looking for.”

2016 also brought the opportunity for Nygaard to compete at Badlands much more than in previous years.

“It was super fun being able to race down there so much this year. We’d race the 410 on Saturday night at get to stay the night, get up in the morning and change engines to run the 360 show on Sunday. It was really nice to be able to run the same track two nights in a row.”

With Badlands changing their program around for 2017, the team tentatively plans on competing in both the 360 and 410 programs on Saturday night. Nygaard will also set out to defend his NOSA title once again, as well as the coveted River Cities Speedway track championship.

Wade capped off 2016 with six feature wins, 21 top fives, 36 top tens, and five heat wins in 44 races.

The entire Nygaard Motorsports team would like to thank their great sponsors for their continued support!

Auto Finance Super Center Fargo
C&M Ford Sales, Inc
Valley Oral & Facial Surgery
ICON Architectural Group
Ground Round Grill & Bar-Grand Forks, ND
J&J Construction
Dahlstrom Motors Inc.
DeMer’s Stor-All
Tammy Howard, Greenberg Realty
Gary Paulson Farms
Tire One
Energy Release
Bosh Enterprise
Northland Custom Woodworking

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