shawanospeedway Archives

Not a drop in the bucket – Shawano’s Racing for a Reason raises another $25K in childhood cancer fight

SHAWANO, Wis. (June 17, 2023) – IMCA Stock Car driver Luke Lemmens might have gone home with the big check, but the big winners at Shawano Speedway’s Racing for a Reason Night were St. Vincent Hospital and the battle against childhood cancers. The 12th annual event on June 17 brought a season-best 130 cars to the Northeast Wisconsin speed plant. Parking spots were at a premium as fans packed a very full grandstand and helped raise another $25,000 for the Child Life Services department at the children’s hospital in Green Bay. Most of $23,000 was raised selling bucket drop tickets for drawings for contents of 173 donated baskets containing everything from a television to Packer tickets to racing T shirts and a diecast of Nick Anvelink’s first IMCA Modified, and another $2,000 through a raffle for a hunting rifle donated by a local gun shop. Since 2012, $280,000 has been raised and donated to provide different items on the wish list at St. Vincent, somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of that through bucket drops. “I get floored [Read More]

Lemmens leaves Shawano with big money

By Brandon Reichenberger SHAWANO, Wis. (June 17, 2023) – Luke Lemmens ran the top side to perfection in the late going, earning the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car win and $4,000 at Shawano Speedway’s Racing For a Reason. The 12th annual special benefits the battle against childhood cancer and a season-high 130 entries, 33 of them Stock Cars, checked in at the legendary half mile. Chucky Forstner and Lemmens led the field to the green and early on it was Lemmens running the high side and Forstner down low, racing side-by-side with Tyler Wilson following closely behind. The two drivers on the move were Trent Nolan, who started seventh, and Travis VanStraten, who started 11th. By lap five, both had worked their way into the top five. A restart was exactly what VanStraten wanted to see as he lined up right on Lemmens’ back bumper. VanStraten was scored first across the stripe on lap 10 but Lemmens take the lead right back on lap 11. Lap after lap, Lemmens and VanStraten raced door-to-door with the $4,000 payday on [Read More]

Muenster, Seegert headline Shawano’s Hall of Fame Night

By Brandon Reichenberger SHAWANO, Wis. (June 3, 2023) – Shawano Speedway has seen numerous legendary drivers make laps around the track throughout its rich history. In 2007, the Shawano Speedway Hall of Fame was founded and since then two deserving legends have been inducted each year. Saturday night during intermission and in front of an enthusiastic crowd, friends and family, Eddie Muenster and Gordie Seegert Jr. were enshrined into the Hall of Fame as the class of 2023. Eighty-nine cars signed in to do battle and Jared Siefert, Tyler Sobiesczyk and Marcus Yarie would be IMCA feature winners. Jerry Muenster, a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, and Paul Thorpe led the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified field to the green flag for a 20-lap, action-packed feature. Much like the heat race earlier on in the night it was Jerry Muenster and Jerry Wilinski holding down the top 2two spots at the start. Marcus Yarie overtook Nick Holtger for third by lap three and quickly set his sights on the top two. Wilinski used the high line [Read More]

Lamberies rules Shawano IMCA Modified main

By Joe Orsini SHAWANO, Wis. (May 27, 2023) – Former track champion Lucas Lamberies reigned in Saturday’s Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature at Shawano Speedway. The main event saw ageless wonder Jerry Muenster start on the pole. When the green dropped, though, outside polesitter Nicholas Holtger launched into the early lead while Jeremie Hedrick put his familiar C19 machine into the runner-up spot. That lead duo set the pace for the first nine laps until caution flew, restacking the field. The ensuing restart had Holtger lead Hedrick, Jordan Bartz, Lamberies and Marcus Yarie back to racing speeds. Lamberies and Bartz wasted no time and worked to the front, where they traded the top spot back and forth with each driver having to run low or high in the door-to-door scrap. Lamberies eventually locked up sole possession of the lead and held on when the double checkers flew. Bartz settled for a hard-fought second, Yarie claimed third and Konner Wilinski charged from ninth on the starting grid to round out the top four. Travis Van Straten proved to still [Read More]

Familiar faces in familiar places at Shawano

By Don Rouse SHAWANO, Wis. (May 20, 2023) – On a gorgeous Saturday evening the newly redesigned victory lane at Shawano Speedway powered by Auto Select saw many familiar faces return for week two. Unfortunately, one familiar face we won’t see but will always be here is Donna Dorn who lost her battle to cancer. Her presence and compassion for her favorite drivers and track will forever be with us. In the early laps of the feature for the class called Too Tough To Tame, several IMCA Sunoco Stock Car drivers found out how tough it was. A nasty crash on the backstretch found Anthony Kotula, Kyle Fredrick, Dan Michonski, Brad Nelson, Jordan Barkholtz, Mitch Stankowski, Tyler Welch all tangled in a wreck. As the caution came out and safety crews attended to the drivers involved with no reported injuries to the drivers there sure was a lot of twisted up sheet metal on the cars involved in the crash. As racing resumed, Vern Stedjee held off the hard-charging Tyler Wendt followed by Trent Nolan, Jeremy Christians and [Read More]

Mission accomplished for Karl

By Scott J. Owen SHAWANO, Wis, (Aug. 20, 2022) – Andy Karl survived a caution slowed Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature to score his first-ever feature win at the historic half mile Shawano Speedway Saturday night. Former rookie of the year Adam Jacobson took the lead at the start of the event. Karl went to the inside on lap three to take the lead. Karl survived and used multiple restarts to maintain his advantage at the front of the field. JJ Anderson applied pressure to the leader before mechanical woes ended his night. Late in the race, Karl held off Jayden Schmidt for the win. Schmidt advanced 13 spots for second. Lucas Lamberies finished third. Ageless Jerry Muenster was fourth and Marcus Yarie advanced 11 spots to take fifth. The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature hit the track with third generation racer JJ Vanderloop leading lap one. Vanderloop quickly began to pull away from the rest of the field as Mike Springborn ran second on the grid. As Vanderloop clicked off lap after lap in the lead, Bryce Clements, [Read More]

Sobiesczyk wins just in time

By Scott J. Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (July 16, 2022) – Halloween at the Half Mile Shawano Speedway brought the kids out in droves in search of candy and the racing was just as sweet. Looking to put a season of bad luck behind him with a heat win earlier in the night, A.J. Springborn grabbed the lead at the start of the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature. As he led, Tyler Sobiesczyk moved to second. Springborn’s bad luck continued, though, as he spun while leading on lap five to bring out a caution and send him to the rear of the field. Sobiesczyk inherited the lead on the restart and was immediately pressured by Jeffery Teske, until Teske spun on lap five. When the race went back green Sobiesczyk held serve the rest of the event. On the final lap, Sobiesczyk began to show smoke. As he took the checkered flag, his third of the season, the motor expired in a cloud of smoke. Travis Rhoades was able to advance from ninth to finish second. Max Oreskovich took third. Bryce Clements finished [Read More]

IMCA Stock Cars are spectacular at Shawano

By Scott J. Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (June 25, 2022) – Though the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car division is known as The Class Too Tough To Tame, it doesn’t always feature a three-wide battle for the lead for nearly half of the race. But Saturday night at Shawano Speedway it sure did with Trent Nolan prevailing for his fourth win of the year. Fresh off an impressive heat race win earlier in the evening, Dylan Stedjee took the lead on lap one. Tyler Wendt pressured Stedjee from the start, pulled alongside the leader on more than one occasion while Kyle Frederick, Nolan and Luke Lemmens joined the battle at the front of the field. Frederick pulled to the outside of Stedjee on lap seven to take the lead. Lemmens quickly made it three-wide for the lead with Frederick and Stedjee. Frederick continued to lead as Lemmens ran second and Nolan moved to third. On lap 11, Frederick, Lemmens and Nolan began their three-wide battle for the win that would continue for the final nine laps of the race. Most often [Read More]

Nolan, Sobiesczyk, Schmidt are IMCA winners at Shawano

By Justin Zirngible. SHAWANO, Wis. (May 7, 2022) – Three IMCA drivers raced to season-first wins at Shawano Speedway on Saturday night. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars took to the track for the first “A” main of the night and The Class Too Tough To Tame did not disappoint. The father-son duo of Vern and Dylan Stedjee started on the front row for the 20-lap main event. Vern Stedjee got the jump on the start and led the first 15 circuits. A late caution tightened the field as the high line was starting to come in. Shawano’s Trent Nolan would use that groove to gain the advantage after the restart and go on to take the checkered flag. A rough start for the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods resulted in a time-shortened feature. Hollie Welch held the lead for the start of the event and Kevin Bethke led a number of the mid-race circuits, but 11th starting Tyler Sobiesczyk was not going to be denied with his new mount, debuting for the first time in 2022. The Friesen Performance [Read More]

Mid-Summer Classic brings two nights of action to Shawano

SHAWANO, Wis. (July 23-24) – Fans were given two opportunities to watch racing action at Shawano Speedway as the Mid-Summer Classic kicked off on Friday. Mike Mullen was the story on opening night, picking up All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility wins in both the IMCA Modified and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car divisions in very impressive fashion while Jayden Schmidt paced the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. Saturday would provide just as much action as Marcus Yarie, Jeffery Teske and Chucky Forstner found victory lane. The Northern SportMods kicked action off with what looked to be another great run by Max Oreskovich jumping to the early lead. Oreskovich led the early part of the race with Schmidt giving him astiff challenge for the top spot. Jeff Schmuhl and Teske joined the battle up front. As the leaders entered turn one, Oreskovich’s engine expired, taking him to the outside wall and collecting Schmidt, who was able to continue after a trip to pit lane. Schmuhl also suffered mechanical issues during the caution and retired his car for the night. Meanwhile, Teske [Read More]