The Scoop
CZARNESKI ON HIS $10K PAYDAY, DIRT TRACK REGIONAL FEATURE TOTALS & MORE
Posted on: Monday June 15, 2026
When you race against the toughest drivers in the business week in, week out, it certainly can prepare you for the high-dollar, five-figure payday races.
That’s exactly what happened with Denmark’s Cole Czarneski. The 21-year-old netted the biggest victory of his racing career, by winning the 18th annual Clash At The Creek IMCA modified feature at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek Saturday.
The second-generation racer also put the cherry on top of the cake, by also winning the IMCA stock car feature that same night. “It was nice to roll off from the front row, obviously,” Czarneski said. “But when you have to go 50 laps with guys like Johnny Whitman and Benji LaCrosse who’ve won this race before, I was always aware of where those guys were. But they were in the vicinity the entire race it seemed. 50 laps is a long time when you think about it.”
According to Czarneski, it was tough at times to get into a true rhythm whenever there was a yellow. “I wanted to save my stuff, so I tried to bide my time in the first 20 laps or so,” Czarneski admitted. “On every restart, I’d see Johnny (Whitman) and Benji (LaCrosse). Those two are two of the best in the country. And then you’ve gotta deal with lapped traffic. It may look easy starting on the front row, but honestly, it’s not as easy as it seems.”
What also helped prep Czarneski for his 1st 10k payday at his home track was the consistently tough field week in, and week out. “That certainly helps prepare you, no doubt,” Czarneski said. “What also helped was that we didn’t have to start 10th or 12th like we normally do with IMCA’s point average invert.”
Prior to the drop of the green for the 10k mod Clash, Czarneski won the IMCA stock car main. “We did have a division that ran before the mod feature, but I was looking at the track and really studying it during the stock car feature,” Czarneski admitted. “That whole time I was in the stock car, i was thinking about where I was going to run on the track in the modified. I thought the track surface was really good Saturday.”
While Czarneski normally pulls double duty at 141 in his IMCA mod and stock car, this coming weekend will be a different double duty of sorts. Czarneski will compete with some of the best in the business as the World of Outlaw late models roar into town. “We’ve got a new late model this year, and it’s a whole new ballgame,” Czarneski said. “With these guys, I’ll be happy to run in the top 10. I do think having a million laps at 141 could help. I feel that guys like myself and Benji (LaCrosse) can at least run well against these guys. That’s the goal anyways. (LaCrosse is expected to field a car out of the Parker Racing stable).
Czarneski added: “I mean, look at Travis Arenz when he won the High Limits race here. I guess you can never say never. If the track dries out like it sometimes does on Saturday nights, that could play to the advantage of those of us who race here regularly. We’ll see. I’ll be happy to make the show, honestly.”
Of the 24 contestants who cracked the starting field out of 60 entries, Wisconsin obviously led the way with 22 of those drivers from Wisconsin – many of them weekly, 141 competitors. Only two out-of-state racers earned their way into the big show – Torrance, California’s Cody Laney and Harcourt, Iowa’s Tim Ward.
48 of the 60 modified contestants were from Wisconsin. Compared to past years, only two drivers from Iowa turned up in the modifieds. Other states drivers included Michigan (4), Arkansas (3), Arizona (1), California (1) and Illinois (1).
This week will see another circus-like atmosphere at 141, as the World of Outlaw late models roll into for a two-day scrum June 19-20. A $12,000 payday is on the line Friday, with $25,000 being doled out to the winner of Saturday’s action. Racing gets underway at 6 p.m. both nights. Running in support of the WoO will be the IMCA stock cars and northern sportmods.
IRA OUTLAWS – By all indications, the return of the IRA Outlaw sprint cars to Shawano Speedway was a success. 20 machines turned out to do battle. A new track record was set at the half-mile, with Blake Nimee turning in a blazing 17.116 lap. I remember as a kid at Shawano when Tom Stueding turned the first ever 24 second lap in a late model. That was a big deal back in 1975.
Crowds were reported to be healthy at both Outagamie and Shawano. Consider that the week prior Plymouth Dirt Track had a packed house, and Angell Park Speedway also had a sizeable crowd when the World of Outlaw sprinters were in town. It is evidence that dirt track racing remains highly popular, especially with special events.
OUTAGAMIE OFF FRIDAY – There will be no stock car racing this Friday, June 19 at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. The Mackville Truck pulls will instead be in action at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds in Seymour. Weekly, Friday night stock car races return on Friday, June 26 as the Dirt Kings late model tour returns to Seymour. The action kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
THE HILL RACEWAY – The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay is off this weekend. Racing action at John Miles Park is set to return June 27 for Millie’s Pub & Grub Hall of Fame night. The 2026 inductees include Forestville’s Von Eytcheson, Algoma’s “Big Daddy” Wayne Grosbier and Sturgeon Bay’s Bernie Reinhardt. Action gets underway at 6 p.m.
PAVEMENT PONDERINGS – The rained out “Red Race” will take place this Thursday, June 18 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. The event is also the Rich Somers Memorial race. The hammer drops at 6:30 p.m.
Rich Somers Memorial Red Race Super Late Model Expected Entries:
#2 Lowell Bennett
#2 Sawyer Effertz
#2 Jordan Thiel
#3 Taylor Vandermoss
#4 Cody Vanderloop
#7 Derek Thorn
#8 Chad Butz
#9 Braison Bennett
#10 Andy Monday
#11 Bobby Kendall
#11 Alex Prunty
#13 Nick Egan
#17 Grant Griesbach
#28 Corey Manders
#30 Pete Vandermolen
#33 Trevor Vandermolen
#36 Lou Goss
#45 Jeff VanOudenHoven
#47 Casey Johnson
#50 Mike Anthony
#59 Mickey Schallie
#72 Randy Schuler
#72 JJ Vanderloop
#97 James Swan
#100 Weston Marthaler
#119 Dalton Zehr
TUNDRA LEFTOVERS – Verona’s John Beale picked up the TUNDRA super late model series win at Marshfield Motor Speedway in the Bob & Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial race last Saturday. Beale bested the 22 car super late model field. The support division, the Midwest Truck Series feature was won by Elko, Minnesota’s Tristan Swanson. 28 truckers were in attendance.
The next TUNDRA SLM series event is slated for July 4 at Dells Raceway Park for the North American Cup race. On tap next for the Midwest Trucks is set for Sunday, June 21 for a Father’s Day special at Slinger Super Speedway.
2026 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 06-14-26)
(Tracks included, but not limited to: Outagamie Speedway, Gravity Park USA, Luxy Raceway, 141 Speedway, The Hill Raceway, Plymouth Dirt Track & Shawano Speedway. We’ll also include feature wins by N.E. Wisconsin drivers scored at other tracks, including out-of-state and series victories. These include both IMCA sanctioned & non-sanctioned wins)
LATE MODELS
Joel Bennett 3
Nick Anvelink 2
Turk Letizia 1
Jesse Glenz 1
Brett Swedberg 1
Troy Springborn 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Cole Czarneski 4
Johnny Whitman 3
Dylon Waldvogel 3
Lucas Lamberies 2
Mike Mueller 2
Russ Reinwald 1
Benji LaCrosse 1
Joel Seegert Sr 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Zachary Raab 1
Travis Hansen 1
Greg Gretz 1
Jesse Cullen 1
Steve Mueller 1
Kevin Feck 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
Todd Dart 1
Tanner Janke 1
Will Garceau 1
Marcus Yarie 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
IMCA STOCK CARS
Trent Nolan 4
Tyler Wilson 4 (IA)
Brett Wenzel 3
Brad Lubach 3
Benji LaCrosse 3
Cole Czarneski 3
Dan Michonski 2
Marcus Hoeppner 2
Rod Snellenberger 2 (FLA)
Luke Lemmens 2
Presley Harrington 1 (IA)
Brandon Schmitt 1
Jerry Wilinski 1
Chase Parker 1
Tyler Schrimpf 1
Nick Buckarma 1
Mitch Stankowski 1 (ERS)
Caden LeMieux 1
Travis Welch 1
Jeremie Hedrick 1
Shanon Guelette 1
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 9
AJ Springborn 4
Ryan Schmidt 2
Matt Urban 2
Brady Harshbarger 2
Tony Gates 1
Brad Buckman 1
Carsin Cullen 1
Cole Magnin 1
Max Oreskovich 1
Logan Brass 1
Cole Thomas 1
Travis Schmidt 1
Kaden Besaw 1
Trevin Veeser 1
Tim Jorgenson 1
Tony Gates 1
JJ VanderLoop 1
Jacob Rens 1
Elijah Koening 1
Tim Sheppard 1
Derek Fehling 1
George Henkel 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Trey Van Straten 4
Travis Zirbel 3
Dave DeGrave 3
Derek Moede 3
Alex Haese 3
Paul Diefenthaler 2
Phillip Wuesthoff 2
Dave DeGrave 2
Roman Blank 2
Cory Romenesko 1
Todd Berzowski 1
Paul Ambrosius 1
Garrett Geyer 1
Kyle Genett 1
Jason Eisel 1 (ERS)
Hope Eisel 1 (ERS)
GRAND NATIONALS
Jake Richards 4
Jeff Richards 4
Jeff Muehlbauer 2
Mavrick Ruh 2
Nate Ruh 1
Tyler Kulow 1
Will Sorce 1
Brad Weiss 1
Luke Scholten 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
James Reese 4
TJ Everard 4
Kyle Jorgenson 3
Lucas Hacker 2
Brian Watzka Jr. 2
Scott Schlafke 2
Tanner Westphal 2
Cody McLain 1
Autumn Allard 1
Brian Hillringhouse 1
TJ Everard 1
Cody McClain 1
Jake Peters 1
Robbie Holst Jr 1
Brian Watzka Jr. 1
Cody Booth 1
Dan Thomson 1
Nathan Lisowe 1
Thomas Schulte 1
LS/USRA LATE MODEL
Mark Hoeppner 3
Eric Klawatter 2
Jason Zdroik 2
Corbyn Wassenberg 1
Todd Gorny 1