By John Rittenhouse
Like most weekends, Luverne's Anthony Mann raced his sportsman class car at Rapid Speedway, Rock Rapids, Iowa, Friday night.
This time, however, was different.
Two days after losing his older brother, Nick, to a welding accident at Cor-Tech Manufacturing, Anthony Mann entered the driver's seat in car No. 20 with a heavy heart.
Nick Mann had worked as a member of Anthony's pit crew in the past, and the car had words and symbols recognizing Nick as being his brother's No. 1 fan.
Before the night was through, Anthony raced as well as he could in an emotional situation. He has posted feature wins in the past, and probably will again in the future, but his fourth-place performance in Friday's feature event will be one race Anthony will never forget.
Mann was joined by a number of other area drivers at Rapid Speedway Friday.
Luverne High School graduate Scott Overgaard also competed in the sportsman class, placing second in the feature.
Magnolia's Josh Klay posted a win in a heat race of the hobby stock class before driving his way to a third-place finish in the feature event.
Kanaranzi's Colter Deutsch also mixed it up in the hobby stock class, placing fourth in the feature race.
Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate Darren Korthals and Adrian's Mark DeBoer placed second and third respectively in the late model street stock feature.