Vrbka, Homan, Bade, Etherton & Schreiner win big at Freedom Fest

Story by Greg Soukup

It was standing room only Saturday at Eagle Raceway for Freedom Fest 2024, presented by A1 Iron and the Nebraska Lottery. It was also a special night, celebrating the life of Stan Cisar. Stan was a long time car owner and supporter of dirt track racing as well as the voice of so many area dirt tracks. The opening prayer was a recording of the prayer that Stan gave every night that he announced, bringing a tug at the heart strings. Then, when the Star Spangled Banner was a recording of Stan’s magnificent voice I’m sure there were few dry eyes in the house. Knowing that it was the final time that I would hear that song, sung by The Voice of the Speedway teared me up also.

As a special tribute to Stan, the purse for the IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car A Feature featured a $1047 to win top prize and $347 to start referencing Stan’s Sprint #47. In addition, Trout Painting Service boosted the top prize in the other 4 classes with $347 to win the Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stock A and the Avid Realty IMCA Sportmods. Both the A1 Iron IMCA Stock Cars and Nebraska Lottery IMCA Modified winners took home $547. In addition, Rick Havenridge Financial Advisor sponsored $47 to the Speedway Hard Charger awards in all 5 classes.

The additional purse money and the memory of Stan brought a total of 137 cars to America’s Home Track, including several visiting teams with 8 sprint teams from out of state and a couple of Blasts From The Past in the persons of Toby Chapman and ‘The fastest cow in the country’ Doug Lovegrove.

There were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing.

Dana Deeke put the #36 out front on lap 1 of the A1 Iron IMCA Stock Car A, followed by the 5J of Jakob Boucher, Tommy Etherton’s 24T and Ryan Harris in the 49. Etherton passed Boucher on lap 2 for second and grabbed the top spot the next time around as Harris advanced to third. Lap 5 saw the 1C of Scott Carlson get past Boucher for fourth. He didn’t hold the spot for long as Kyle Vanover put the #19 into fourth the next circuit and passed Harris for third 2 laps later. Another pair of laps were in the books when Vanover went around Deeke for second and set his sights on Etherton. Vanover caught up to Etherton with 8 to go. Just 4 laps remained when the yellow flag was flown for the 3T of Nate Thompson who spun at the bottom of turn 4. A lap after the restart Arie Schouten moved his #99RE up to fourth. Vanover’s failed slide job in 3 and 4 with 2 to go ended with him spinning out at the top of turn 4 and the yellow lights were lit in the corners setting up a green/white/checkered finish, moving Deeke to second, Schouten to third and Harris back up to fourth. The top 4 remained unchanged to the checkers with Etherton winning, Deeke second, Schouten third and Harris fourth.

This was Tommy’s second win in 2024 after his Mother’s Day victory. Tommy related “My car was really fast tonight, thanks to my Dad, Jeremy Leiting and Travis. It was definitely tough racing against Kyle”. Tommy’s sponsors include Leiting Motorsports, Slider Chassis, The Load Shop, Shriners Hospitals, Bill and Marna Johnson, Findlay Chiropractic, Stranik Countertops and Parkay Inc.

Lap 1 of the Avid Sportmod main event saw the 9X of Lauren Cook out front with P.J. Conger second in the 13XL, Tyler Deeke’s 15 third, and Bobby Draper’s 62 fourth. Adam Vrbka jumped up to third on lap 5 in the 7V with Draper holding on for fourth. 4 laps later Mason Richards passed Draper to put the 18M into fourth. Vrbka moved up to second with 6 to go. The next time around Gary Saathoff stopped in turn 3 with a flat tire, was unable to restart his engine and was towed back to his pit. Matt Andrews took over fourth place on the restart in the #22 as Vrbka moved past Cook for the lead . Andrews got by Richards for third on the final circuit as Vrbka held on for the victory with Cook fourth.

This was also Adam’s second win in 2024 at Eagle Raceway after winning the 2023 points championship winless last year. I mentioned that to Adam, to which he replied “I think my confidence is just building every week now and I think that I’m being a little more aggressive. Right at the start of the race you have to pass as many cars as you can. I think I passed 4 or 5 cars right off the bat on the first lap so I knew right then that I had a pretty good shot at it. I just kept sticking with it”. I asked Adam if he had memories of Stan Cisar and he said “Yeah! He made decals for some of my hobby stocks early on and did a really good job. It was my favorite design”. Adam’s sponsors include EZ Stop, Eagle Automotive, Long Shot Repair, Tatt’s Chicken Farm, Fritzen Farms, Skip’s Equipment Services, Wojo Painting, Mook Trucking, Razor Chassis, Conservative Car Sales and Service, Stephenson’s Truck and RV Repair, Only Pro Decaling, Unlimited Sport Solutions and Clive Bannister.

The first lap of the Nebraska Lottery IMCA Modified A was called back when Jared Deterding looped the 13J in turns 3 and 4. When a lap was officially in the books Clint Homan’s 27, the X52 of Sean Manning, Chad Andersen in the 8C and the #4B of Brandon Verbeek led the field. Andersen passed Manning for second on lap 3 as Bob Zoubek moved the 5S up to fourth and moved to third the next lap. Shawn Harker cracked the top 4 on lap 5 in the 40. 7 laps left saw Andersen bobble, allowing Zoubek to pass him. Andersen bobbled again with 2 to go, moving Harker to third. Mike Densberger also got past Andersen the next time around in the #81. Homan held on for the win with Zoubek second, Harker third and Densberger fourth.

This must be the night for second wins on the season as Clint was victorious back on June 18th. Clint related “It’s been a pretty good year so far. We just need to keep everything rolling the way it’s going”. I inquired about Clint’s relationship with Stan Cisar and he stated “Stan was a customer of mine and I was a customer of his pretty much since I’ve been racing. He’s done 90 percent of my cars and since both of my kids have been racing he’s done their cars every year. I’ve known Stan for a long, long time. I appreciate everything he’s done for racing! Everybody’s going to miss him”. Clint’s sponsors include Berkshire Hathaway with Julie Daugherty-Brown, T Dog’s Lawn Care, Levi Soukup, Travis Meyer PMD Sports, Pierce Family Racing, BW Ag, 5 Star Wood Frames, Behnke Lawn Care, NAPA Auto Parts, Homan’s Auto, GRT Race Cars and Speedway Shocks.

Brad Burhenne spun his #65 out in turn 4 on the original start of the Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stock feature for a complete restart. On lap 1 Brandon Fisher’s 25, the 72T of Tyler Ramsey, Dan Markham’s 6 and the 19H of Colin Hein. Markham grabbed the lead on lap 2 with Fisher falling to second, the 24R of Dillon Richards jumping up to third and Ramsey holding onto fourth. Brad Schreiner passed Ramsey on lap 6 to put the #10 into fourth place. Richards grabbed the lead on lap 6. Schreiner moved up to third the next time around and took over second the next lap as Ryan Gilland put the #46 into fourth. With 9 to go Fisher spun out in turn 4 to slow the action. Markham bobbled on the restart, allowing Gilland to take over third as Markham fell to fourth. Hein passed Markham the following circuit for fourth. Hein passed Gilland for third with 4 to go. Richards slowed dramatically on the back stretch with a flat right rear tire the next time around moving Schreiner to the lead, Gilland to second, Hein to third and Markham to fourth. Schreiner came home first, Gilland second, Hein third and Markham fourth.

Schreiner came from outside row 5 on the starting grid. Brad said “It’s been a great 2 weeks, second last week and first this week. It was pretty good this week. I’ve always wanted to win one starting back a little ways. We started 10th tonight in the #10 car being 10th in points. I guess it was just meant to be. I think I was faster than Richards, but I don’t know if I would have been able to get him. He blew a tire, so we’ll take it. Sometimes that’s racing!”. Brad’s sponsors include Wade Insurance and Blue Collar Powder Coating.

Another emotional moment came as a moment of silence was held in honor of Stan before Cody Ledger pushed off first for the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car A Feature. Stan was Cody’s car owner for many years. In memory of Stan, Cody also led the field’s parade lap out front in the missing man formation as a recording of Stan’s immortal call of ‘Eagle Raceway!! Are you RRREEEAAADDDYYY’ played over the PA. I asked Cody what it was like, and he said “I’m not going to lie; I teared up. It was really special to me. I’m sure there weren’t many dry eyes in the house tonight”. Gene Ackland put the 14G out front of the initial lap with Shayle Bade’s 03 second, John Klabunde third in the 77X and Stu Snyder fourth in the 5. Joey Danley passed Snyder on lap 3 to put the #14 into fourth place. Danley moved up to third on lap 8. Bade passed Ackland out of turn 4 on lap 9 for the lead but lost the spot back to him the next time around. Klabunde regained third place the next lap as Bade again moved to the front. Bade moved out to a straightaway lead with 10 circuits remaining. Danley retook the third spot with 7 to go. Snyder vaulted up to third with 5 to go but lost the spot back to Danley the following lap. Danley passed Ackland for second with 4 to go. Bade held on to win by 3.325 seconds with Danley second, Ackland third and Snyder fourth. To say that the crowd went wild would be a HUGE understatement!!!

Again, another 2 time winner with Bade taking her second consecutive victory. Here’s a little tip from me to anyone who might interview Shayle after a win; go to all of the other victors first. Then, be prepared to sit and wait over an hour for her to finish chatting with all of her adoring fans. Finally, she will apologize saying “I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t get away” to which I replied, “The first time I get upset about waiting over an hour for a beautiful young lady to talk to me is the day that they nail my coffin shut!!!”. Shayle has been a friend for what seems like forever and if you’ve met this vivacious wildcat, you will understand. I asked her what it was like to win on the night of Stan’s memorial, to which she replied “It was a pretty special night. You know there’s tons of great cars here and everyone wanted to win for Stan, and out of all of the people to do it, we did it as a team. You know Stan, but to hear him announce with as excited as he was to say every driver’s car and sponsors, everybody is going to miss that. I absolutely love watching the replays and hearing him say my name. He was so excited, whether he knew me or not. He loved it, and I loved that he loved it! He was one in a million; just an awesome guy that will truly be missed. He wasn’t physically here with us tonight, but he was here with us tonight. Eagle was his home away from home. I thought that the track was really good tonight and I’m glad that Roger reworked it before our feature because it was going to start taking rubber right away if he didn’t. I’m glad we had that little break while they worked the bottom and top and I think it worked out in our favor. It was a fast track, but it was hard to move up through the field. It was nice that we started towards the front. We were able to keep it up there and move forward. We went green/white/checkered so we get in free next week and that’s always exciting”. I then asked her about being in the lead of the national IMCA Racesaver points, to which she replied “I wish that Dillan Baldwin who is second in points would come up here and race these drivers that I have to race against every week. Eagle Raceway is, I feel, one of the hardest tracks that I’ve ever had to run at in any kind of sprint car. I wish he had to race the competition that I have to race. We seriously have some of the best drivers up here. And, to keep my points average up I have to work my butt off! This is not just handed to me. My team and I have to work hard. I can’t take all of the credit for this. My husband works his butt off to have that car ready every week. We’re a husband and wife team so basically everything comes out of our pockets. He works full time, gets home at 8 or 9 at night and we work in the shop a couple of hours and then go to bed. He wakes up at 5 AM and we do it all over again! Half of the time we don’t even know what day it is. We just wake up and put it on repeat because we know what we have to do in order to make the next show”. Shayle’s sponsors include Helget Construction LLC, HomeShield Roofing & Exteriors, Pyrogasm Fireworks, Carpetland, Restore A Muscle Car, Shawn Bigler, Scoops Lincoln, Rowe’s Graphics Page and Onyx Wraps.

I also spoke to several other drivers to hear their remembrances of Stan. Doug Lovegrove said “Oh my gosh!! You know, the one thing I remember most is when our band played out here at the IMCA Racesaver Nationals, I didn’t know that Stan played the drums. We sat and talked about playing the drums and he actually got up and played a song with us. What a great time! Stan was always around. He was just as much a part of this racetrack as anybody or anything. More than me that’s for sure. I’ve raced out here a long time and Stan has been involved wherever we went it seems. Anywhere we went it seemed that he was there. He’s seen it and done it or he did it on the side. A very cool guy”.

Mike Boston related “He was a great guy. He did a lot of my vinyl stuff and stopped down at my shop a lot of times to have his race cars fixed when they needed it”.

Trevor Grossenbacher told me “Stan was an amazing, amazing guy! The voice of Eagle Raceway for a long, long time. He would do anything for you, talk to anybody. He was just a great guy. Everybody is going to miss him. I got goose bumps when they did the missing man formation for him. Hearing his prayer and listening to him doing the national anthem was crazy. It just doesn’t sink in because it feels like he’s still here. He was a great man and will be missed dearly”.

Lastly, I spoke to Stu Snyder. He stated “Stan was a hell of a guy! He gave me my nickname and he’s given probably more than half the drivers who ever raced here their nickname. I first met him when I started driving for Eldon Rhoten. He was doing the decals and layouts for all of Eldon’s cars and did them all right up until Eldon got sick. Our decals and design work, that’s just what Stan did. He was just a larger than life figure when it came to racing. Just an amazing guy who you knew was going to announce anywhere we went around the Midwest. You knew that you were going to have one hell of an announcer, have a great show and get the fans involved. There’s a big hole in our lives and I don’t think anyone will ever fill that hole. The announcers we have now at Eagle are really good at their craft, but they learned it from him and he was damned sure the best ever at doing it around here. We’re surely going to miss him. I wish we could have won for him tonight, but that wasn’t in the cards. We’ll pack it up, wash it up and see if we can’t get one for him down the road”.

It’s plain to see that Stan was not only a fantastic announcer, car owner and racing supporter, he was a friend to everyone he met. Always with that great big grin we all came to know and love. We miss you Stan! God wanted the best, so he called you home. You’ll forever be in our hearts. God speed Stan Cisar, until we meet again at that great dirt track in the sky.

Next Saturday, July 6th is Buckets of Money night at Eagle Raceway presented by Pepsi-Cola of Lincoln and Nebraska Septic. It’s also Junior Fan Club Night. Kids 12 and under receive free front gate admission. There will be a $1500 money grab on the front stretch at intermission sponsored by One Shot Auto Repair.

Front gates open at 5:15 with adult admission being $15.

Hot laps start at 5:30 with racing action kicking off at 6:30. All 5 classes will be competing including Nebraska Septic Sprint Cars, Nebraska Lottery Modifieds, Avid Realty SportMods, A1 Iron Stock Cars & Valentino’s Hobby Stocks.

Pit gates open at 3:30 with pit admission being $30.

RESULTS:

Hobby Stock-IMCA A-Feature

1. Brad Schreiner Weeping Water, Ne. 2. Ryan Gilland Sterling, Ne. 3. Colin Hein Columbus, Ne. 4. Dan Markham Plattsmouth, Ne. 5. Kenny Roberts Lincoln, Ne. 6. David Carter Fremont, Ne. 7. Jordan Uehling Norfolk, Ne. 8. Ian Roschewski Beatrice, Ne. 9. Trenton Dowty Fremont, Ne. 10. Tyler Ramsey(r) Papillion, Ne. 11. Adam Wasserman Fairbury, Ne. 12. Brad Burhenne Council Bluffs, Ia. 13. Brandon Fisher Lincoln, Ne. 14. Ben Becher Lincoln, Ne. 15. Matt Rotschafer(r) Denton, Ne. 16. Jason Hansen(r) Glenwood, Ia. 17. Dillon Richards Wymore, Ne. 18. Khrysta Stransky Lincoln, Ne. 19. Neil Pella Adams, Ne. DNS. Kyle Gannon Lincoln, Ne.