By Greg Soukup
Junior Fan Club Night, presented by Nebraska Septic and AM Contracting was held at Eagle Raceway last evening. With just 3 points nights left in the 2026 season the battles for the championship are all still up for grabs. 137 teams filled the pits and ran 27 races for the fans’ enjoyment.
There were no serious incidents throughout the entire program.
The Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car A saw Alex Salzman’s 2A, the 4W of Nate Weiler, Cole Vanderheiden’s 15V and Tyler Hendrickson’s 14T the first 4 back to the flag stand on lap 1. Gene Ackland passed Hendrickson on lap 7, putting his 14G into fourth place. Braden Ockenga’s 28B spun to a stop at the bottom of turn 1 on lap 15 for a caution and the Choose Cone was placed on the front stretch again. The top 4 on the restart were Salzman, Weiler, Vanderheiden and Ackland. Tyler Drueke got a fantastic run on the restart to put the 12 into second with Vanderheiden holding onto third and Ackland remaining fourth. Salzman threaded his way through lapped traffic to lengthen his lead and take the win. Drueke, Vanderheiden and Weiler rounded out the top 4.
This marked Alex’s second career victory and his first in 2026. His previous visit to Stumpy’s Custom Creations victory lane came back on June 28th of 2025. He related “It definitely feels good and this second one makes sure that the first one wasn’t a fluke. We started on the pole and that definitely helps, but there’s such a tough crowd of sprint cars here. We just kept running laps and hopefully kept putting space between ourselves and the others.” Alex’s sponsors include RP Prints, Slade Shock Technology, Leiting Motorsports, Speedway Motors and MAXIM Racing Inc.
Just 2 weeks are left in the 2026 regular season and nobody has the points wrapped up yet. Be sure to come out next week for the Eagle Shootout presented by Speedway Motors and S&L Trenching. All 5 IMCA classes will be competing.
Grandstands open at 5:15 with adult admission being $20, youths 6-12 are just $5 with children 5 and under free.
Pit gates open at 3:15 and hot laps start at 5:45 and racing at 6:30.
Also, if you haven’t already done so you might want to get your tickets for the 14th annual IMCA Racesaver Nationals. This 4 day event always draws cars from all over the country.
Last year we had well over 100 teams do battle on the high banks of One Badass Racetrack, Eagle Raceway. How many will show up this year? You can only find out by coming out and watching it yourself. For ticket and race information go to Tickets – RACEsaver Sprint Series
RESULTS:
IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car 23 Entries A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:08:53.798 1. 2A-Alex Salzman[1]; 2. 12-Tyler Drueke[9]; 3. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[3]; 4. 4W-Nathan Weiler[2]; 5. 14G-Gene Ackland[8]; 6. 14J-Josh Riggins[5]; 7. 18W-Cole Wayman[11]; 8. 91-Adam Gu lion[14]; 9. 77X-John Klabunde[10]; 10. 03 Shayle Bade[7]; 11. 25-Gunnar Pike[18]; 12. 11D-Dominic White[15]; 13. 23-Brandon Bosma[12]; 14. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[4]; 15. 2T-Cameron Thompson[16]; 16. 08-Chase Koe liker[17]; 17. 28B-Braden Ockenga[20]; 18. 1B-Brandon Horton[6]; 19. X-Dylan Waxdahl[19]; 20. 10-Brad Schreiner[23]; 21. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[21]; 22. 3D-Dan Griep[13]; 23. 0 Chase Weiler[22]
Drueke Trucking Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:02:07.943 1. 12-Tyler Drueke[6]; 2. 03-Shayle Bade[5]; 3. 23-Brandon Bosma[8]; 4. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[4]; 5. 3D-Dan Griep[1]; 6. 2T-Cameron Thompson[3]; 7. X-Dylan Waxdahl[7]; 8. (DNS) 10-Brad Schreiner
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:02:14.103 1. 2A-Alex Salzman[2]; 2. 14J-Josh Riggins[4]; 3. 14G-Gene Ackland[5]; 4. 18W-Cole Wayman[7]; 5. 91-Adam Gu lion[6]; 6. 08-Chase Koeliker[3]; 7. 28B-Braden Ockenga[8]; 8. 0-Chase Weiler[1]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:02:14.913 1. 4W-Nathan Weiler[2]; 2. 1B-Brandon Horton[4]; 3. 77X-John Klabunde[6]; 4. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[3]; 5. 11D-Dominic White[5]; 6. 25-Gunnar Pike[7]; 7. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[1]