Opening night checkers at Shawano fly for Christians, Schmidt, Mullen

By Dave Buss  SHAWANO, Wis. (June 22) – Some on social media were calling Saturday’s IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature at Shawano Speedway one of the best they have seen. Winner Jeremy Christians wouldn’t disagree. Rod Snellenberger took command of the race in the first few laps but was soon joined by Dan Michonski and Eric Arneson as Christians fought through traffic. With multiple four-wide battles behind him Snellenberger, seemed to be on his way to the win. Michonski, Arneson, Christians and Mike Schmidt, however, had other plans.  The four quickly closed to the back bumper of Snellenberger. Michonski ran the high side with the oth­ers working the low side. Lap after lap, positions were swapped between the challengers with Snellenberger maintaining a slight lead. On lap 19, slight contact between Christians and Snellenberger caused a tire to begin going down on Snellenberger’s ride. Christians pounced on the opportunity and in a drag race down the front stretch edged out Michonski. Snellenberger held onto third with Schmidt fourth. Marcus Yarie was the IMCA Modified winner [Read More]

SHAWANO, Wis. (July 22, 2023) – There were some new faces in victory lane at the legendary half-mile Shawano Speedway Saturday night. Up first was the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car division and the man of the hour would be Mitch Stankowski as he jumped to an early lead from sixth starting and into the lead by two. Travis VanStraten and Dan Michonski followed in what became a three-car breakaway. Stankowski held his ground, fought off the challenges of his fellow competitors and was not denied as he raced his no. 5 to victory lane. “It’s nice to win and I want to do it again,” he said. “We definitely have a lot of stout competition here.” As the checkered flags flew at the line in the $3,000 to win Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature it was Johnny Whitman, Mike Wedelstadt, Mike Mullen and Konnor Willinski finishing in that order. However after post-race inspection track officials deemed Whitman was disqualified for a weight infraction which gave the victory and Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility to Wedelstadt.   In [Read More]

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (June 19) – Last week it was the future in the spotlight, this week it was the past as two new members were inducted into the Hall of Fame at Shawano Speedway.  George Giesen and Ed Bertram were honored for their past accomplishments at the speedway and in racing. With friends and family along with numerous current and former drivers who have benefited from the new Hall of Famers’ contributions to the racing world in attendance, the two were honored in a ceremony at intermission.  IMCA Modifieds hit the track with numerous drivers who got their start in go carts at the GSR Raceway run by Bertram. It didn’t take long until the yellow slowed the action with Jeff Bodendorfer leading the way. Green flew again and it was Bodendorfer building a lead as Lance Arneson ran second and Konnor Wilinski third.  Bodendorfer built a lead of nearly a second. Arneson began to make his way forward and grab the top spot for lap 17 but Bodendorfer fought right back the [Read More]