By Ben Deatherage
SLEEPY EYE, Minn. (Oct. 10, 2025) — The prairie around Sleepy Eye stretches in all directions, a patchwork of green and gold divided by gravel roads and the steady rhythm of farm life. The town itself rises gently beside its namesake lake — small, hard-working, and steeped in stories older than the state itself.
For Matt Speckman, it’s the perfect place to build, fly, and race — a life shaped by machinery, family, and perseverance. That combination came full circle this fall when Speckman captured his 100th career IMCA-sanctioned feature win on Sept. 27 at Arlington Raceway, driving from eighth on the grid to victory. The milestone made him the sixth driver from Minnesota to reach the Century Club in the Sunoco IMCA Stock Car division.
Matt Speckman races his no. 81 Sunoco IMCA Stock Car at speed at Arlington Raceway earlier this summer. (Photo by Sarah Moriarty)
A Town with Deep Roots
Sleepy Eye’s history is as enduring as the fields that surround it. The town took its name from Chief Sleepy Eye, a Dakota leader known for his compassion and wisdom — and for the gentle droop of his eyelids that gave him his English name. In 1824, he was among a small delegation of Native leaders who met President James Monroe in Washington, D.C., and later played a key role in the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, helping guide settlement along the Minnesota River and recommending Mankato as a safer location for early traders and settlers.
Sleepy Eye was platted in 1872 and incorporated in 1903, growing into a vital agricultural hub for the region. Over the generations, its mills, railroads, and fertile farmland anchored a close-knit community. The town even made national headlines in the early 1990s when residents briefly debated a ban on MTV.
Today, the community of roughly 3,500 remains proud and enduring — home to a local brewery, family-owned restaurants, a golf course, and a campground at Sleepy Eye Lake, where locals fish through the ice each winter. “It’s a small town, but it’s a good place to be,” Speckman said. “We’ve got great food, good people, and that small-town feeling where everyone knows you.”
Sleepy Eye Lake at sunset near downtown Sleepy Eye, Minnesota — the hometown of 100-time Sunoco IMCA Stock Car winner Matt Speckman. (Photo by SleepyEye-MN.com)
From the Stands to the Driver’s Seat
Speckman didn’t grow up racing — in fact, he didn’t even attend his first race until he was in his 20s. “I went with my buddy that raced, just to check it out,” he said. “That was a lot of fun. I ended up having way more interest in it than my buddy who brought me.”
His mechanical curiosity, honed helping his dad on the family farm, quickly turned into something more. “I’ve always been mechanically inclined — if it had an engine, I wanted to figure out how it worked,” he said.
When it came time to pick a number, he wanted something distinct. “I’ve always been 81,” Speckman said. “I just wanted something no one else really had, and it stuck. It’s my number — I made it my own.”
By 2008, he’d jumped into the local Hobby Stock scene, racing for two years before a friend sold him on stepping up to a Sunoco IMCA Stock Car. “As long as I was racing something, I didn’t care what class it was,” he said. “But I loved the full-body cars — that really got my interest.”
Finding Speed, Finding Consistency
Speckman won his first Stock Car feature in 2010 at Redwood Speedway, and he’s been a fixture in victory lane ever since — winning at least one sanctioned feature every season since 2010, except for 2023.
He’s also had four double-digit win seasons, including 2012 and 2017 with 10 wins each, and a career-best 11 wins in 2019. That 2019 campaign also brought a Redwood Speedway championship, paired with an earlier title at Murray County Speedway in 2012 — both big, fast half-miles that fit his driving style.
“The half-miles are pretty much what we have around here,” Speckman said. “You get a lot of room to race, and that’s what I like.”
Of his 100th win, he smiled. “Most of my wins at Arlington have come on the bottom this year,” he said. “But this one came from the top. Everyone started heading low, and I found a little traction up high. Josh Larsen slipped in the middle of the corner, and that was just enough for me to get him at the checkered.”
Flying the Fields
When he’s not behind the wheel, Speckman’s cockpit has wings instead of tires. In recent years, he’s become an agricultural pilot, spraying soybean and corn fields during the busy summer months.
“The last two years, I’ve been flying in July and August,” he said. “So I still strap in, put a helmet on, and get paid to do it,” he laughed. “Just a different kind of throttle control.”
A job change in 2022, combined with a vicious wreck in North Dakota in 2020, made him reevaluate how to balance racing and work. “That was a big commitment, and it limited my time,” he said. “But this past winter, I had more time in the shop. We went through the car top to bottom, and it showed — we won four races at Arlington in eight starts and three more at Redwood in seven.”
Gratitude and Grounded Goals
Speckman’s success hasn’t come alone. “I had a great mentor in Scott Clobes — he was good at setups and helped me early on,” he said. “And I’ve got to thank my parents for putting up with this all these years, and my wife Ashelyn — she really enjoys racing. Everyone that’s helped me, I appreciate them all.”
He gives special credit to H & D Underground, a loyal backer since his first laps, along with Fusion Pro Fiber Splicing, Zeuli Race Engines, Wade’s Repair, Mark’s Body and Glass, T&K Equipment, The Cabin Bar, Speckman Farms, Ragin Acres, and Justice Brothers.
Now, with 100 wins in the books, Speckman says he’s still hungry — but grounded. “I just love racing,” he said. “If I’m in a car, I’m happy. If I’m in a plane, I’m happy. I’m lucky I get to do both.”
For a racer from a small Minnesota town, it’s been a journey of steady climbs — from the fields, to the sky, to the Century Club.
