auto racing

Vanderloop pockets $4K after post-race inspection

Published by admin on Mon, 08/21/2023 - 10:50am

Lucas Lamberies, JJ Vanderloop, Gunner Frank, Kyle Fredrick and Tanner Westphal picked up feature wins on a steamy Aug. 19 evening at Shawano Speedway.

In the IMCA Stock Division, Shawn Wagner and Vern Stedjee set the pace for the 20-lap feature. Wagner led the first few laps, with Stedjee hot on his tail.

On lap three, Stedjee moved his machine around Wagner for the lead. Once Stedjee was at the point, he made a statement that he wanted to taste victory at the half mile again.

Drengler completes milestone in racing

Published by admin on Tue, 08/15/2023 - 8:53am

Jasper Drengler, of Shawano, has done what no other race car driver has done before — he has raced on tracks in all 50 states.

In late April, Drengler raced in West Virginia to mark the end of a goal about eight years in the planning.

Drengler has been racing since 2000, but it was only around 2016 or 2017 that he decided to try to race in every state.

“We’ve checked off a whole bunch; let’s go for all of them,” he recalled thinking at the time.

Whitman, Springborn score feature wins

Published by admin on Mon, 08/14/2023 - 9:51am

Mother Nature provided a beautiful Aug. 12 evening for racing at Shawano Speedway, where the first “Retro Night” was held. Jasper Drengler, Johnny Whitman, Troy Springborn, Trey VanStraten and Tyler Sobiesczyk all came away with feature wins.

In the IMCA Northern Sport Mod feature, pole sitter and former limited Late Model champion Dave Lytie and fellow competitor Andrew Engels — who had his dad’s No. 33 on the side of his normal No. 29 machine — set the pace for what would become a very caution-plagued feature.

Videographer kicked out of Speedway

Published by admin on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 8:32pm

The disqualification of a driver at the Shawano Speedway on July 22 kicked off a series of events that led to the dismissal of a longtime videographer from the racetrack.

Driver Johnny Whitman was cited for a weight infraction following his win in the IMCA Modified feature race, which caused him to be disqualified. Instead, the prize money went to second-place finisher Mike Wedelstadt.

The disqualification led to videographer Mike Thorne to question the interpretation of the rules during one of his videos.

Christians, Wilinski capture checkered flags

Published by admin on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 11:03am

Mother Nature provided a beautiful night for racing at the legendary half mile on Aug. 5. Jerry Wilinski, Tyler Sobiesczyk, Todd Frank, Jeremy Christians and Brad Wedde left with the checkered flag and trophy after scoring feature wins in their respective divisions.

Travis Welch and Trent Nolan led the field to the green flag for the 20-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Nolan quickly took the lead, with Shawn Wagner following Nolan. Christians made the pass on Welch to maintain his third-place starting spot.

Some new faces reach speedway’s victory lane

Published by admin on Mon, 07/24/2023 - 11:48am

Mitch Stankowski, Gunner Frank, Mike Wedelstadt, Zachary Raab and Calvin Stueck picked up feature wins on July 22 at Shawano Speedway.

Up first was the IMCA Stock Car division, with Larry Buckwheat and Dillon Sexton on the front row, but the man of the hour would be Stankowski.

As the green flag flew, Stankowski used his sixth place starting spot to jump to an early lead on the outside and lead by lap number four. He was followed by Travis VanStraten, and those two would begin to break away from the rest of the field.

Postl claims Late Model feature win

Published by admin on Mon, 07/17/2023 - 11:48am

Max Oreskovich, Marcus Yarie, Lukas Postl, Trent Nolan and Lucas Hacker won the five feature races at Shawano Speedway on Halloween night on July 15.

In the IMCA Sport Mod feature, Dustin Marquardt and Shannon Fandrey made up the front row and led the field to green. J.J. Vanderloop quickly used his fourth starting spot to get past Marquardt for the lead.

Whitman wins IMCA Modified feature

Published by admin on Mon, 07/10/2023 - 2:43pm

Johnny Whitman, Tyler Sobiesczyk, Joel Bennett, Vern Stedjee and Calvin Stueck won the five feature races on July 8 at Shawano Speedway.

The IMCA Modifieds kicked off the night’s feature events. Nick Holtger and Jerry Muenster were responsible for leading the field to green.

Marcus Yarie quickly made a charge for the lead after a few early cautions, being followed by Lucas Lamberies, Whitman and Jordan Bartz. By Lap 5, Whitman found his way around his fellow competitors on the top of race track and grabbed the top spot.

Bartz, Frank, Stueck repeat as feature winners

Published by admin on Mon, 07/03/2023 - 5:44pm

Trent Nolan, Jeffrey Teske, Todd Frank, Jordan Bartz and Calvin Stueck won the five feature races on July 1 at Shawano Speedway.

Bartz won the IMCA Modified feature race for a second straight week. Lucas Lamberies, Johnny Whitman, Konnor Wilinski and Kevin Feck rounded out the top five.

Teske was the top finisher in the IMCA Sport Mod class. Tyler Sobiesczyk, Max Oreskovich, Jerry Vanderloop and Jake Carpenter finished out the top five.

Bartz claims $1,000 after winning IMCA Modified

Published by admin on Mon, 06/26/2023 - 12:13pm

Jordan Bartz, Todd Frank, Travis VanStraten, Tyler Sobiesczyk and Calvin Stueck earned feature wins on June 24 at Shawano Speedway.

The Late Models feature had, arguably, the hottest move of the night. Pole sitter Derek Janke led the opening lap but crossed the stripe almost even with fellow front row mate Joe Reuter. It didn’t look like either of those drivers was prepared for Frank to shoot between them into the lead coming out of turn two on the second lap.