By Greg Soukup
The one thing you can never count on is the September weather in Nebraska. On Thursday we suffered under a blazing sun and a heat index of 106 degrees. Last night at Eagle Raceway people were donning hoodies as the temperature dropped into the low 70’s with a strong wind from the east. Throw in a short rain shower during the C Feature for the IMCA Racesaver sprints and you’ll understand what I mean.
BUT!!!! The one thing you can bank on 100% is the fact that when the last day of the IMCA Sprint Car Racesaver Nationals rolls around you’ll see the best racing action of your life!!
Those teams that hadn’t already locked into the finale Friday or Saturday battled through an E Feature, 2 D Features, 2 C Mains and 1 B Feature in the hopes of filling out the last 9 slots for the big $14,000 to win and $1,700 to start Big Dance. Luckily, there were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing action.
Finally, it was time to determine who was going to be the winner of the IMCA Sprint Car Racesaver Big Dance and who would take home the top prize of $14,000. Driver introductions were held with the only illumination being a single spotlight and the glow sticks in the hands of the fans. One by one the 27 drivers were introduced, each of them giving their best to win the $1,000 prize sponsored by Doctor Heidi Hansen for the best performance while being introduced. That honor went to Cole Vanderheiden, pilot of the #15V sprint.
27 cars, racing 35 laps started 3-wide. Each of them hoping that they would be wearing the championship belt and taking home the top prize at the end of the evening.
Jake Bubak held first place on lap 1 in the 74B with Tyler Drueke’s 12, the 14 of Joey Danley and Brandon Horton’s 1B rounding out the top 4. John Carney II passed Horton on lap 4 to put the 74C into fourth. Drueke got past Bubak on lap 10 for the lead. Danley also passed Bubak, this time on lap 20, to move up to third place and advanced to second place 2 laps later. Carney also got around Bubak, this time with 12 laps remaining to take over the third spot. Danley took over the top position with just 8 to go and the battle was truly on between he and Drueke. With only 3 circuits remaining Drueke made slight contact with the left rear of Conner Thomas’ 17X and hit the spin cycle in turn 2. That allowed the 31BW of Braxton Weber to move up to fourth for the restart. Landon Thompson’s car caught the feature in turn 1 wrong on the restart, causing it to unload, spin and collect Gaige Weldon’s 35L. Colby Stubblefield moved up to fourth for the restart in his 2N and passed Bubak with 2 laps left to advance to third. Danley held off Carney to claim his first ever IMCA Sprint Car Racesaver Nationals victory and the beautiful trophy and belt plus the $14,000 winner’s share of the purse.
Joey was hot, sweaty and as happy as any driver could be after getting the win in the Crown Jewel of IMCA Racesaver racing. I told him it was about time he got the victory and he said “I guess I’ve been trying since 2014. I’ve had 13 tries at it, come close a few times and I thought I was just going to be close again. I ran around in third for half of the race. I knew that we had a really, really good car and that if I could stay with them until we got to traffic that I would have a shot at them. They decided to go around them and I decided to go under them. Then, when I got the lead I only had to go a few laps before the yellow came out and got me out of traffic. The race just kind of fell into my hands I feel like and we were able to capitalize on it.”
Joey had won the Belleville 305 Nationals just the month before, so I asked him which win was bigger. He related “Oh man! They’re both unreal and that’s a really hard question. I’ve been coming here to Eagle Raceway my whole life so it might be this one, but Belleville is awesome too. The atmosphere is awesome and so are the people. We love going there, but just to win them both I’m in disbelief. It’s going to take a few days to think about it. I want to thank my Dad, Tim, Blaine and Craig. They worked their butts off all weekend!” Joey’s sponsors include Empire Netting & Fence, Myers Engine Inc., mySalesman, The WAVE, HotKote Powder Coating, Unlimited Sports Solutions, Adams Automotive, High Performance Lubricants, Nissen Hardwood Floors and Onyx Digital Group.
As hard as it is to admit to myself, only 1 race remains in the 2026 season. Sunday the 13th sees the 3rd annual Stewart Alley Memorial, presented by Tyler Perry Enterprises with both the ASCS Midwest Region 360 sprint cars but the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver sprints. You won’t want to miss this event. Not only because it marks the finale of what was nothing less than a fabulous season but because the 2 previous occurrences featured unparalled racing.
RESULTS:
IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car 93 Entries A Feature 1 35 Laps | 00:18:04.308 1. 14-Joey Danley[2]; 2. 74C-John Carney I[8]; 3. 2N-Colby Stubblefield[4]; 4. 74B-Jake Bubak[1]; 5. 4X-Jason Danley[11]; 6. 10X-Trevor Serbus[10]; 7. 1B-Brandon Horton[6]; 8. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[7]; 9. 9A-Hunter Hanson[9]; 10. 23 Brandon Bosma[13]; 11. 18W-Cole Wayman[14]; 12. 91D-Michael Day[12]; 13. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[24]; 14. 25X Gunnar Pike[16]; 15. 12-Tyler Drueke[3]; 16. 31BW-Braxton Weger[17]; 17. 26-Jacob Harris[18]; 18. 5-Stuart Snyder[20]; 19. 28B-Braden Ockenga[27]; 20. 11D-Dominic White[23]; 21. 17X-Conner Thomas[25]; 22. 4J-Jacob Gomola[22]; 23. 31W-Landon Thompson[5]; 24. 35L-Gaige Weldon[15]; 25. 71-Channin Tankersley[21]; 26. 11J-Joey Starnes[19]; 27. 22D Daniel Nekolite[26]
B Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:01:23.436 1. 11J-Joey Starnes[2]; 2. 5-Stuart Snyder[1]; 3. 71-Channin Tankersley[3]; 4. 4J-Jacob Gomola[6]; 5. 11D-Dominic White[4]; 6. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[7]; 7. 17X-Conner Thomas[15]; 8. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[16]; 9. 28B-Braden Ockenga[17]; 10. 14G-Gene Ackland[12]; 11. 72C-Kayden Cole[10]; 12. 0M-Steven Richardson[24]; 13. 03-Shayle Bade[18]; 14. 9X-Laney Moore[11]; 15. 17XX-Lee Goos Jr[5]; 16. 25-Chase Brewer[20]; 17. 74-Daniel Estes Jr[23]; 18. 18 Corbin Erickson[19]; 19. 3B-Blake Ba lenger[21]; 20. 14S-Ethan Barrow[9]; 21. 14J-Josh Riggins[8]; 22. 49A-Ace Moore[13]; 23. 11K-Tyler Knight; 24. 91-Adam Gulion[14]; 25. (DNS) 11-Taylor Velasquez
C Feature 1 16 Laps | 00:23:55.043 1. 49A-Ace Moore[1]; 2. 17X-Conner Thomas[3]; 3. 28B-Braden Ockenga[4]; 4. 18-Corbin Erickson[6]; 5. 3B-Blake Balenger[8]; 6. 74-Daniel Estes Jr[2]; 7. 24-Tyler Harris[10]; 8. 14N-Nick Barger[5]; 9. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[9]; 10. 11A Toby Chapman[13]; 11. 74E-Claud Estes I[7]; 12. 59-Kenny Venable[16]; 13. 56-Bil Johnson[15]; 14. 7C-Chris Morgan[14]; 15. 6B-Bayley Ba lenger[11]; 16. 2T-Cameron Thompson[12]
C Feature 2 16 Laps | 00:03:44.382 1. 91-Adam Gulion[1]; 2. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[2]; 3. 03-Shayle Bade[3]; 4. 25-Chase Brewer[6]; 5. 11K-Tyler Knight[4]; 6. 0M-Steven Richardson[7]; 7. 77X-John Klabunde[10]; 8. 7M-Kevin Ramey[11]; 9. O7-Owen Carlson[15]; 10. 30-Matt Johnson[12]; 11. 88-Jordan Knight[16]; 12. 71E-Colby Estes; 13. 9-Kevin Rutherford[8]; 14. 11-Taylor Velasquez[13]; 15. 33S-Jeremy Schultz[9]; 16. 98P-Ryan Padgett[5]; 17. (DNS) 71-Channin Tankersley
D Feature 1 14 Laps | 00:05:30.060 1. 11A-Toby Chapman[1]; 2. 7C-Chris Morgan[8]; 3. 56-Bil Johnson[2]; 4. 59-Kenny Venable[10]; 5. 08-Chase Koe liker[5]; 6. 6-Logan Moore[9]; 7. 61-Jackson Geragi[7]; 8. 77-Bret Klabunde[12]; 9. 3-Charlie Harmon I[3]; 10. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[14]; 11. 1O-Michael Oliver[6]; 12. 63-Jack Thomas[13]; 13. 3D-Dan Griep[4]; 14. 49Z-Zak Moore[11]
D Feature 2 14 Laps | 00:03:17.908 1. 11-Taylor Velasquez[2]; 2. 71E-Colby Estes[1]; 3. O7-Owen Carlson[8]; 4. 88-Jordan Knight[3]; 5. 17-Justin Bolte[4]; 6. 4W-Nathan Weiler[9]; 7. 32-Trefer Waller[10]; 8. 2A-Alex Salzman[7]; 9. 18T-Taelynne Roberts[14]; 10. 4-Gavin Gregory[6]; 11. 0-Chase Weiler[13]; 12. 24B-Johnny Boos[5]; 13. 69-Mike Moore[11]; 14. 44V-Daren Bolac[12]
E Feature 1 12 Laps | 00:09:03.387 1. 63-Jack Thomas[4]; 2. 0-Chase Weiler[1]; 3. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[10]; 4. 18T-Taelynne Roberts[14]; 5. 23X-Jacob Schoeberl[2]; 6. 10-Brad Schreiner[7]; 7. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[11]; 8. 3V-Len Vermeulen[5]; 9. 47-Kyra Weber[13]; 10. 20T-Travis Christensen[8]; 11. 86-Jordan Rupe[9]; 12. 92-Josh Most[6]; 13. 27-Mike White[3]; 14. 1A-Andrew Zimmerman[15]; 15. 72-Daniel Estes Sr[12]
Dash 1 - 2 Transfer to dash #2 6 Laps 1. 74C-John Carney I[1]; 2. 23-Brandon Bosma[6]; 3. 35L-Gaige Weldon[5]; 4. 25X-Gunnar Pike[3]; 5. 31BW-Braxton Weger[2]; 6. 26-Jacob Harris[4]
Dash 2 - 2 Transfer to dash #3 6 Laps | 00:01:24.701 1. 74C-John Carney I; 2. 10X-Trevor Serbus[1]; 3. 4X-Jason Danley[3]; 4. 91D-Michael Day[2]; 5. 23-Brandon Bosma; 6. 18W-Cole Wayman[4]
Dash 3 - 2 Transfer to dash #4 6 Laps | 00:01:23.613 1. 2N-Colby Stubblefield[1]; 2. 14-Joey Danley[3]; 3. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[2]; 4. 74C-John Carney I; 5. 9A-Hunter Hanson[4]; 6. 10X-Trevor Serbus
Dash 4 6 Laps | 00:01:26.590 1. 74B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 14-Joey Danley; 3. 12-Tyler Drueke[3]; 4. 2N-Colby Stubblefield; 5. 31W-Landon Thompson[2]; 6. 1B-Brandon Horton[4]