shawanospeedway Archives

Shawano Hall of Fame welcomes two 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]

Yarie, Schmidt, Christians cruise to Shawano wins

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (June 5) – While last week was the unofficial start to summer, the weather took a week to catch up. Marcus Yarie, Jeremy Christians and Jayden Schmidt all beat the heat and their respective fields to find victory lane Saturday at Shawano Speedway. The IMCA Modifieds saw Yarie power past Marcus Hoeppner and Kevin Feck in the early laps to grab the top spot. Behind Yarie, Wyatt Block was trying to get into the battle for his second straight feature win as he got by Feck for the runner-up spot as Hoeppner slipped to fourth. Jordan Bartz charged to fifth but ran out of laps in the quest for more. Christians decided he’d be the one to steal the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car spotlight. Christians motored to the front early and never looked back as he picked up another win in The Class Too Tough To Tame. Travis Van Straten secured the runner-up spot, getting by Chucky Forstner and Kyle Frederick. Forstner took third with Frederick fourth. Dan Michonski overcame mechanical issues in his heat race to take fifth. And in the [Read More]

Block, Van Straten capture first Shawano features of season

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (May 29) – The Memorial Weekend brought cool temperatures and hot action to the Shawano Speedway along with the unofficial start of summer. Wyatt Block, Travis Van Straten and Tyler Sobiescyk got their summers off to the best start of everyone with feature wins. Early action saw Jerry Wilinski jump to the lead in the IMCA Modified main and begin to build a big advantage. The caution would fly on lap four and bring the field to his bumper. On the restart, Wilinski scooted away only to have a debris bring out another yellow. Block and Andy Karl filled the second row on the lap six restart. Wilinski again extended his lead with Karl and Block fighting it out for the runner-up spot. Block took the second spot and begin to reel in the Wilinski machine at halfway. On lap 15, Block moved past Wilinski and into the lead. Block cruised to victory with Wilinski second. Jordan Bartz charged to third with Karl fourth. Josh Mroczkowski powered to the early lead in the [Read More]

Whitman cashes in at Shawano

SHAWANO, Wis. (May 22) – A picture perfect night for racing brought a large crowd to the Legendary Half Mile Shawano Speedway and with added money in the IMCA Modified division it wassure to be a big night of racing. Thanks to Line x Extreme Coating there were 1,000 reasons to win the IMCA Modified feature. Normally a driver leading green to checkered for the win makes the recap a mundane thing to write but not on this night. Johnny Whitman took the lead on the opening lap after starting third. Whitman began to power away from the field. With multiple feature wins this season, Mike Mullen was doing his best to entertain as he sliced his way to the front. By lap six, Mullen made his way to second from 10th. Mullen began to cut into the lead lap after lap and it looked like he would get by the Whitman machine on multiple occasions. Whitman was up to every challenge, however. A late-race caution gave Mullen one more shot but Whitman was up to [Read More]

Muenster checks out at Shawano

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (May 8) – An IMCA Modified driver who’s been around the track a time or two led the way to the checkers Saturday at Shawano Speedway. Eddie Muenster simply checked out and dominated to the win while Konnor and Jerry Wilinski battled with Jordan Bartz and Kevin Feck for the runner-up spot with positions changing hands lap after lap. Marcus Yarie, fighting mechanical issues all night, had been regulated to the 21st starting position in the feature. Yarie and his crew made the right decisions to get the car right as he drove to the top five. When everything settled out it would be Muenster victorious with Jerry Wilinski grabbing second from his son Konnor. Yarie was fourth with Bartz fifth. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars again set the bar for great feature action. Jeremy Christians found himself back in the pack to start the feature with a host of heavy hitters in front of him. At the front of the pack would be an announcer’s nightmare as Mitch Stankowski, Josh Mroczkowski, and [Read More]

Mullen captures third straight on Bob Bennett Memorial Night

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (May 1) – On Saturday night, Shawano Speedway celebrated its Night of Champions, honoring the 2020 championship class. Webster’s Dictionary defines a champion as ‘someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause.’ Before the races, another champion’s life was honored as Bobby Bennett was remembered. Although Bennett never won a track championship at Shawano, it was only appropriate to honor his life on the Night of Champions. The IMCA Modifieds took to the track to open the features with Mike Mullen trying to extend his season-opening win streak to three. Kevin Feck looked to be the man to end the streak early on as he led the opening five laps. Further back in the pack, Andy Karl and Marcus Yarie, along with Jerry and Konnor Wilinski were waging a spirited battle with three-wide racing and competing slide jobs. Meanwhile, Mullen was dicing his way forward and with a power move grabbed second on lap six. Riding his momentum, Mullen took his spot at the lead [Read More]

Lemmens, Sobiesczyk, Mullen are Shawano winners

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (April 24) – Hardy fans came out Saturday evening to Shawano Speedway to see Luke Lemmens, Tyler Sobiesczyk and Mike Mullen pick up IMCA feature wins. Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods led off feature action with Dylan Waldvogel and Sobiesczyk on the front row. Sobiesczyk did not let his great starting position go to waste as he stormed out to a commanding lead in the early part of the race. Waldvogel was challenged and eventually passed by John Holtger, who got close to the Sobiescyk machine on a couple of occasions but was not able to make the pass. Back in traffic, Jayden Schmidt was working his way forward in a spirited battle with Jeffrey Teske and Max Oreskovich. Schmidt eventually grabbed the third spot with Teske fourth. After troubles in his heat race, Teske had recovered by winning the “B” main. Early on it looked like the IMCA Modified main would be the Eddie Munster show. Muenster rocketed to a large lead on lap number one and began to pull [Read More]

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

SHAWANO, Wis. (April 17) – Welcome sights on opening night at Shawano Speedway included a nearly packed grandstand and 111 cars checking in to the pit area. Eric ‘Chummy’ Arneson would return to racing action at the speedway in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car division and would battle through caution the opening laps to take the lead on lap four, powering past the Chucky Forstner machine and bringing Jeremy Christians along with him. Arneson and Christians were joined by Kevin Hebbe in the top three before numerous cautions set up a final lap shoot out that found Christians jumping past Arneson to pick up another feature win. The constant throughout the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod event was defending track champion Jayden Schmidt leading the pack. Schmidt gained the top spot from Jason Jach on lap two and survived multiple restarts to pick up the feature win. Jeff Schmuhl powered through the field from his ninth place starting spot to grab second while Jeffrey Teske took third. The IMCA Modifieds rolled on the track with Mike Mullen to the [Read More]

Wilinski, Forstner, Schmidt all repeat at Shawano

By Scott Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (Aug. 15) – It almost felt like déjà vu all over again Saturday as Konnor Wilkinski, Chucky Forstner and Jayden Schmidt returned to victory lane for the second week in a row at Shawano Speedway. Lap one of the IMCA Modified feature saw Kevin Feck go from third to first to lead the field. As Feck led, Wilinski began to work through traffic after starting 10th. A caution after lap six bunched the field up and Wilinski capitalized, going from his third place restart position to the inside of Feck to snag the lead. Wilinski did not look back as he drove to his second win of the year. Feck finished in second and Marcus Yarie raced all the way from 18th to third. Jeremie Hedrick would lead the early stages of the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature while being pressured by Gary Kasperek and Forstner. The trio went three-wide for the lead on lap four. Hedrick still held the lead until lap six when Forstner utilized the inside groove [Read More]

Wilinski, Forstner, Schmidt are IMCA winners at Shawano

SHAWANO, Wis. (Aug. 8) – The 2019 Shawano Speedway track champions were honored Saturday as part of the Night of Champions. The action on the track that evening saw the 2020 points battle heat up while heading towards the season’s end. In the IMCA Modified feature, Shawn Frelich and Jesse Peebles led the field to the line. Peebles grabbed the early advantage while Konnor Wilinski began his move forward after starting eighth. Wilinski captured the top spot a few laps later. Wilinski began to pull away as Marcus Yarie and Lance Arneson gave chase. As the top three worked themselves free of the pack, Lucas Lamberies was slicing his way through the field. Wilinski proved up to the challenge, grabbing the feature win with Yarie finishing second. It only took Chucky Forstner a couple laps to take the top spot in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature. Gary Kasperek applied the pressure on Forstner for the first half of the feature which went caution free. Jeremy Christians and Trent Nolan would battle it out for [Read More]