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.
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 a pretty young lady 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:
Sprint-IMCA A-Feature
1. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 2. Joey Danley Martell, Ne. 3. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 4. John Klabunde Fort Calhoun, Ne. 5. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 6. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 7. Trevor Grossenbacher Panama, Ne. 8. Jack Thomas Bates City, Mo. 9. Koby Werkmeister Armour, Sd. 10. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 11. Cole Wayman Lincoln, Ne. 12. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 13. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 14. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 15. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 16. Jay Russell Wathena, Ks. 17. Chad Koch Murdock, Ne. 18. Tyler Hendrickson(r) Lincoln, Ne. 19. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 20. Ty Ledger Omaha, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA B-Feature
1. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 2. Chad Koch Murdock, Ne. 3. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 4. Tyler Hendrickson(r) Lincoln, Ne. 5. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia. 6. Nathan Weiler Omaha, Ne. 7. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 8. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 9. Dusty Ballenger Harrisburg, Sd. 10. Daniel Nekolite O`neill, Ne. 11. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 12. Bayley Ballenger Harrisburg, Sd.
Sprint-IMCA C-Feature
1. Nathan Weiler Omaha, Ne. 2. Daniel Nekolite O`neill, Ne. 3. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 4. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 5. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 6. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne. 7. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne. 8. Kyra Weber 9. Jackson Weber 10. Bret Klabunde Omaha, Ne. 11. Jr Topper St. Jo, Mo.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 1
1. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 2. Trevor Grossenbacher Panama, Ne. 3. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 4. Jack Thomas Bates City, Mo. 5. Chad Koch Murdock, Ne. 6. Tyler Hendrickson(r) Lincoln, Ne. 7. Nathan Weiler Omaha, Ne. 8. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 2
1. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 2. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 3. John Klabunde Fort Calhoun, Ne. 4. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 5. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 6. Bayley Ballenger Harrisburg, Sd. 7. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 8. Jackson Weber 9. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 3
1. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 2. Joey Danley Martell, Ne. 3. Jay Russell Wathena, Ks. 4. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 5. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia. 6. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 7. Daniel Nekolite O`neill, Ne. 8. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 9. Kyra Weber
Sprint-IMCA Heat 4
1. Koby Werkmeister Armour, Sd. 2. Ty Ledger Omaha, Ne. 3. Cole Wayman Lincoln, Ne. 4. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 5. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 6. Dusty Ballenger Harrisburg, Sd. 7. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 8. Jr Topper St. Jo, Mo. 9. Bret Klabunde Omaha, Ne.