By Ben Deatherage
LINCOLN, Neb. (May 21, 2026) — Northwest of Lincoln, the pavement eventually gives way to open Nebraska countryside.
The towns get smaller.
The nights get quieter.
And when race day comes around, the traffic starts heading in one direction.
Toward Eagle Raceway.
For Shayle Bade, those roads have led to dirt tracks for most of her life.
What started as an eight-year-old climbing nervously into a go-kart she had never even seen race before, eventually turned into a career spent chasing speed in go-karts, Micro Sprints, and RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Cars.
There were wrecks.
Tears.
Victories.
And eventually, one of the best Mother’s Day gifts a racer could ask for.
Built Into Racing
“Long story short, racing runs through my family,” Bade said.
Her cousin Tom raced go-karts years earlier, while another cousin, Billy Alley, competed in Sprint Cars. But it was Tom who helped spark everything.
“One day in 2000 my dad just asked me, ‘Hey Shayle, do you want to race a go-kart like your cousin Tom?’” she said.
At the time, she had never attended a race.
Never watched one.
Never even seen the karts run.
Then suddenly, she was at a racetrack in Nebraska City.
“After the races were over, dad put my helmet on, tied my shoes, told me what was the gas and what was the brake, and sent me on my way,” she said, laughing. “It was terrible. I had the worst time ever. I was terrified.”
But when she climbed out of the kart, her father, Butch Bade, was smiling.
“He asked me if I liked it and I said, ‘Yep, sure did dad! It was great!’” she laughed. “Then I got in the truck and just cried.”
Afterward, her father bought her a kart of her own.
The family had recently become the first to build in a new residential area with a cul-de-sac, which quickly turned into her personal training ground.
“Dad told me to take my go-kart and make my turn at the cul-de-sac and just do strips back and forth over and over hundreds of times,” she said.
The next year, she won her first race.
“And it was pretty much hell on wheels after that,” she laughed.
Bade spent roughly 12 years racing go-karts before moving into Micro Sprints in 2012. For several seasons, she balanced both divisions — go-karts on Saturdays and Micros on Sundays at Nebraska City.
But Sprint Cars had always been the goal.
“My goal once I fell in love with racing, even before we went to Micro Sprints, was to get into a Sprint Car,” she said.
Micros became the stepping stone.
Open wheels.
More speed.
More feel.
More responsibility behind the wheel.
Then came 2013.
At the time, Bade and her father had discussed buying a 360 Sprint Car, but Eagle Raceway promoter Roger Hadan had begun introducing the RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car division to the area.
Bade became one of the original drivers involved.
“We were one of the first guinea pigs with about 20 others and started the RaceSaver program at Eagle,” she said.
The jump from Micros to Sprint Cars was bigger than she expected.
“The ground speed, figuring out where your front and rear ends are, the size of the car — everything,” Bade said. “You wouldn’t think it would be that much different, but it definitely was.”
And there were mistakes.
“I feel like it was notorious for me to get into those dreaded tractor tires,” she laughed. “I’d smack the front end and knock it out, then next thing you know I’d be on the high side and hit the fence with the tail tank.”
Eventually, experience took over.
“After that, the mistakes were minimal.”
The High Side at Eagle
Eagle Raceway quickly became home.
Known nationally as “America’s Home Track,” the high-banked third-mile dirt oval became the place where Bade learned, struggled, and eventually celebrated some of the biggest moments of her career.
“If you’re looking for some good racing, Eagle is where it’s at,” Bade said. “It’s one fast racetrack and the fastest third-mile around.”
Success didn’t take long to arrive.
In 2014, she earned her first Sprint Car victory at Beatrice Speedway.
“It was one of those moments of, ‘we finally did it,’” she said.
Later that same season came another breakthrough.
Eagle Raceway.
That one meant more.
“We spent so much time there,” Bade said. “The track was racy with a good top and a good bottom. There were slide jobs, everything was going on.”
Then came the emotion.
“It brought me to tears that I was able to win.”
Then came May 9, 2026, when another Eagle victory carried an even deeper meaning.
Mother’s Day weekend.
A three-month-old baby at home.
And redemption after mechanical disaster.
“The week before we had constant motor problems,” she said. “We didn’t finish the heat race, didn’t finish the B-main, didn’t even make the feature.”
The team spent the week chasing ignition problems and trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
When they unloaded the following Saturday, they finally had confidence again.
“I went out for hot laps and was quickest in our group,” she said. “I knew we had fixed it.”
She won the heat race and started on the outside front row of the feature.
And when Roger Hadan prepared the cushion around the top side of the speedway, Bade knew exactly where she wanted to be.
“If you know anything about me, I love running the high side and I hate the bottom,” she laughed.
Everything clicked.
“It was super fast and I got into my groove and sailed the top.”
Three months earlier, she had given birth to daughter Natalynn. Her son Jessin was already four years old.
And motherhood hadn’t slowed her down for long.
In 2021, Bade said she gave birth to Jessin on Sunday, August 22, and was back in her Sprint Car six days later for her first race of the season the following Saturday.
That night at Eagle, her family joined her in Victory Lane.
“It was awesome,” she said. “Previously I would win for my mom, but now it was special because it was a little bit for me too.”
Shayle Bade celebrates her Mother’s Day weekend victory at Eagle Raceway on May 9, 2026, alongside family and crew members after scoring an emotional RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car triumph. Pictured from left to right are Ramon Huber, Lakota Snyder, Joe Snyder, Shayle Bade holding daughter Natalynn, husband Chris Helget, Jack Walter, and mother Michelle Bade. (Courtesy Photo)
From Lincoln to Raymond
Bade grew up in Lincoln before eventually moving to Raymond a few years ago.
A village of just 159 people according to the 2020 census, Raymond sits northwest of Lincoln surrounded by farmland and open countryside. The community traces its roots back to the 1860s before officially forming along the railroad in 1880, eventually being named after railroad official I.M. Raymond.
Despite its small size, the area carries a deep connection to rural Nebraska life.
Nearby Branched Oak Lake helped bring new life and recreation to the region decades later, while Raymond itself maintained the quieter pace of a farming community.
For Bade, it’s close enough to racing while still feeling removed from the rush of the city.
When she’s not at the racetrack, she enjoys spending time with family and making trips to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, a facility internationally recognized for its conservation work and massive indoor exhibits.
Originally founded in 1894 as Riverview Park Zoo, the facility evolved over the decades into one of the most respected zoos in the world. Today, it features attractions like the Desert Dome — one of the world’s largest indoor deserts — along with the Lied Jungle rainforest and Kingdoms of the Night, the largest nocturnal exhibit on the planet.
“It’s rated the number one zoo in the country for a reason,” Bade said. “You can spend all day there and still not see everything.”
Still Living the Dream
Family remains at the center of everything.
Her parents both carried military backgrounds. Her father served in the United States Army and remained deeply involved in her racing career before passing away from COVID in December 2020 after battling the illness for several months.
Her mother, Michelle, served 33 years in the United States Army before retiring with the rank of Sergeant First Class.
Michelle Bade, right, poses with her uncle Andy during a formal military event. Michelle served 33 years in the United States Army before retiring with the rank of Sergeant First Class. (Courtesy Photo)
“First and foremost my husband,” Bade said when discussing the people who help keep her racing today. “When dad passed away, Chris stepped up and we became a husband-and-wife-funded racing team.”
Her husband, Chris Helget, became both crew member and partner in keeping the operation alive while balancing life with two young children.
Butch Bade shares a dance with daughter Shayle during her wedding reception in 2019. Before his passing in December 2020, Butch remained one of the biggest influences and supporters throughout Shayle’s racing career. (Courtesy Photo)
Support also comes from her mother, who helps with the kids when the team travels out of town, along with sponsors including Helget Construction, Hippo Equipment, Mammoth Station, HomeShield Roofing and Exteriors, Onyx Wrap, MyRacePass, Restore Muscle Cars, and Pyrogasm Fireworks.
But racing still remains at the center of everything.
Always has.
Always will.
Today, Bade continues balancing motherhood, family life, and Sprint Car racing — all while continuing to compete against some of the toughest drivers in the region.
It isn’t easy.
Sprint Car racing rarely is.
The sport humbles people quickly.
“Racing is one of the most humbling sports,” she said. “It’ll either make you or break you — and it can do both in the same night if it has to.”
But after all these years, she still feels the same excitement she discovered as a child.
The same adrenaline.
The same pull toward the racetrack lights.
And somewhere along the way, the little girl who once cried in the truck after her first race became one of the early pioneers of RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car racing at Eagle Raceway.
Still chasing the cushion.
Still searching for the next checkered flag.
Still living the dream.
