The Scoop
STADLER SIBLINGS – THIRD GENERATION RACERS
Posted on: Saturday May 6, 2023
Oshkosh siblings Karly and Travis Stadler are third-generation racers in the IMCA stock car class. (Life Thru The Lens photo)
A pair of Oshkosh siblings continue to keep plugging along with an ol’ family tradition.
Karly and Travis Stadler wheel IMCA stock cars primarily at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam on Tuesday nights. The brother-sister duo are third-generation racers with roots that date all the way back to the heyday of the long-gone Leo’s Speedway in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Karly, 29 and Travis, 27 aren’t blessed with a huge pit crew. In fact, The Stadler’s racing operation is truly a ‘family affair’ as their dad Dean Stadler, a former racer himself, serves as the crew chief for both cars and pretty much the only full-time crew member between the two.
Claude Stadler got the family racing tradition started racing at Leo’s Speedway in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. (Bob Bergeron photo)
The fun and games in motorsports all got started in the late 1950’s with Karly and Travis’ Grandpa Claude Stadler. “My Grandpa raced at Leo’s, and he raced with both number one and then later switched to number 10,” Karly explained. Karly sports the number 10 and has throughout her career and Travis’ race car is decked out in number one to pay homage to his grandfather.
Dean himself raced for several years at the now defunct Calumet County Fairgrounds racetrack in Chilton and another track that is no longer hosting races – Sunnyview Speedzone in their hometown of Oshkosh. Karly was in kindergarten when the track reopened for the first time in 1999. Dean had the distinction of winning the first ever race at the three-eighths mile clay oval – a street stock heat race.
Karly and Travis’ dad Dean in victory lane at Chilton Speedway. (Dan Lewis photo)
Karly got her start in motorsports in the kart ranks, racing on dirt ovals in addition to Road America’s world-famous road course in Elkhart Lake. It didn’t take long for her to jump up into the full-sized cars. Karly began wheeling street stocks at Beaver Dam Raceway and later would race IMCA stock cars at the Speedzone.
2023 marks Karly’s sixth year racing in the rough-and-tumble IMCA stock car division.
Travis has a background in racing four-wheelers. “I’ll admit its way safer racing a stock car with it’s roll cage,” Travis confessed. “I did the flat track four-wheeler racing where we were going nearly 100 miles per hour around those tracks.”
In addition to Chilton and Oshkosh Beaver Dam Raceway is another clay oval where the Stadler’s cut their respective teeth behind the wheel. This year BDR switched their weekly program up to an IMCA-based program and a return to their original Tuesday night show. “It’s nice to get back to Beaver Dam because that was another track I raced at quite a bit when I was younger in the street stocks,” said Karly, who works at Community First Credit Union in Oshkosh when she’s not racing. “For us the Tuesday night races work great. And that way I have my weekends to myself, too.”
Karly is in her sixth season of racing in the IMCA stock car class. (Life Thru The Lens photo)
For Karly having those weekends off aren’t important just for racing, either. Karly’s other hobby is photography. Through her ‘Life Thru The Lens Photography’ business she often shoots weddings and family photos when she’s not racing. “I’ve been doing the photography thing since 2016 and it’s pretty nice side hustle for me,” Karly explained.
Away from the track Travis works with his dad at Caliber Collision. “Dad paints and I do the sanding and other prep work,” Travis explained. “It’s a good trade to be in because people are crashing cars every day. We’ve always got lots of work coming in.”
Travis Stadler raced flat track four wheelers before he started his stock car racing career. (Life Thru The Lens Photography)
In a pair of early season outings at Beaver Dam Karly led a feature for a bit before racing to a sixth-place finish while Travis earned an eighth-place finish. “We’re still learning some things and trying to get better each week,” Travis explained. “I’m running a Banshee Chassis built by Marcus Yarie. I’ve got the only one and it’s an old Bay Speed chassis that he took and rebuilt. Marcus actually raced the car at Beaver Dam at their special last year. I’m trying to help him sell more of those cars.”
Karly pilots an Outlaw chassis built by Kenny Richards of Montello two years ago. “Those guys have been really supportive and worked well with us,” Karly explained. “They’ve been pretty good to us.”
Despite running two different types of chassis, Karly and Travis are still able to bounce some ideas off one another from time to time. “Even though they are two designs we do compare things like spring rates and shock numbers,” Travis said. “We’ve been pretty close most of the time. Dad and Karly and I all work on the cars at the same time and that helps. Our driving styles differ a little bit.”
According to Karly, her driving style is a tad more conservative than her brothers. “I really try hard to keep an eye out for the wrecks and avoid them,” Karly admitted. “I try to avoid being freewheeling and crazy and am always looking forward.”
Karly’s brother disagrees with her to a point. “I think Karly is better at throttle control and I think that kart racing background really helped her there,” Travis said. “I’ll admit I like to drive it a little bit harder into the corners and get on the gas a little more.”
The siblings haven’t had too many occurrences where they traded any serious paint – except one night at Gravity Park in Chilton opening night a year ago. “Travis got crossed up in three or four after somebody got sideways in front of him and I piled into him,” Karly explained. “It was mostly sheet metal but it was more of a case where nobody really anywhere else to go. A racing accident.”
When asked if either of them would ‘drop the plow’ or ‘apply the chrome horn’ to one another for a win both responded without hesitation ‘no.’ “We have too much time and money invested in these to be working on them any longer on these cars than we have to,” Travis explained. “We work as a team. We share ideas, tools and each other’s sets of tires, too.”
While the duo may have a skeleton crew for a pit crew there is no lack of family support in the grandstands whenever and wherever Karly and Travis are racing. Their mother Lori Stadler, aunt Lisa, uncle Jim Cluppert and Grandma Marianne Lesniak are often in attendance cheering the kids on.
While BDR on Tuesdays will be the regular stop for the Stadler’s in ’23, some trips to Chilton are still a possibility as is a trip south to Iowa. “The tracks at Dubuque and Vinton are both on our bucket list,” Karly pointed out.
The team of sponsors for Karly’s racing operation include Grand River Taxidermy, Alternate Route Outfitters, J & J Trucking, Stretch Zone, Knaus Cheese, Stainless Manufacturing & Design, J’s Food & Spirits and Life Thru The Lens Photography.
Travis’ marketing partners include Bottoms Up, Hot Rod Motorsports, B & E Lounge, TNT Tap, 12/27 Custom Enterprises, Houge’s Bar, Platinum Property Rentals LLC, Banshee Race Chassis & Life Thru The Lens Photography.