The Scoop
“BIG WHEEL” THIEL BREAKS DOWN ’26 WOO SPRINT ROOKIE CAMPAIGN
Posted on: Friday December 19, 2025
Scotty Thiel (HW Designs)
“Big Wheel” Scotty Thiel realized the clock was ticking.
The 34-year-old 2024 Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw sprint car champion said he’s “not getting any younger.” That prompted his recent announcement of his partnering with car owner Greg Wheeler for an intense, 2026 World of Outlaw sprint car rookie-of-the-year campaign.
“In the grand scheme of the 410 sprint car world, I’m an old man,” Thiel joked. The longtime sprint car Ace from Sheboygan, Wisconsin parted ways with a Michigan-based team last August, and had been casually “shopping around” for potential rides in 2026. “I knew of Greg Wheeler and we started to B.S. a little bit at a couple of races later in the season, but really nothing too serious.”
After the ’25 season wrapped up, Thiel needed to find a ride for 2026. “I was going through a list of potential car owners to see who was doing what for the upcoming year, and Greg reached out to me,” said Thiel, who placed 2nd four years in a row in the final IRA points chase.
Initially, the two had agreed upon a roughly 60 to 70 race schedule. “I told Greg I loved that idea, but if we’re going to run that much I’d rather run full time and chase something.”
According to Thiel, Wheeler had never had someone approach him like that. “He told me what he spent last year as a car owner, and told me a number of what he’d be willing to spend,” Thiel explained. “So, I talked to a few of my partners who’d been with me awhile. I went back to Greg, and told him what they can bring to the table. We laid out our budgets and we were pretty close.”
Then one day the scenario spilled into a deal like ‘if we’re this close, let’s make this happen.’ “As a team, you really have some leverage if you are saying you’re running the World of Outlaw series full time, as it can help with product deals and other potential sponsors,” Thiel explained. “We put everything down on paper. We had ordered parts and other equipment before we had our stuff signed and sealed.”
One of the key factors in this partnership is that Thiel will build and maintain his sprint cars out of his Sheboygan, Wisconsin shop. “If you look at a majority of the 86 races on the WoO schedule, many of them are a six to eight hour drive from our shop,” Thiel pointed out. “Of the tracks on the series schedule, I’d say I’ve been to and raced at close to 85 percent of those tracks.”
According to Thiel, he’s gotten the full endorsement and support of his father-in-law, who is no stranger to being a motorsports backer. “I had a long meeting with Bob (Cullen) and he said he didn’t want to stop me from chasing my dream,” Thiel said. “I work for Bob as I’m a collector with his gaming machines. Bob said simply that we’ll “figure things out” with regards to my work schedule.”
Thiel plans to continue to work for his father-in-law, but admits he’ll likely be racking up plenty of frequent flyer miles flying to and from some of the events on the WoO schedule. “One other great part of our deal is that Greg told me to build whatever chassis package I want,” Thiel confessed. “No other car owner has ever done that with me before. I’ve owned my own stuff for quite awhile. Sometimes, it made things tough when the shop was a long ways from home for me. With certain parts of my setup, I can be pretty picky with some stuff. For Greg to give me that freedom to build and run the chassis I want was a big selling point to me.”
Over the years, Thiel has done enough barnstorming from coast-to-coast, traveling to bullrings from California to Pennsylvania. In doing so, Thiel has forged some solid relationships with fellow competitors along the way. “And the plan is to lean upon some of these friends I’ve gained while we’re on the road next year,” Thiel explained. “We’ve got two full-time crew guys helping us, and sometimes the road life can be tough. You’ve just got to go head first into it. It’s not for everyone. But over half of our shows are within that six to eight hour drive back to our shop. So the way the WoO schedule is laid out we’ll be coming home quite a bit.”
Thiel plans to use the month of January to build the sprint cars in preparation for the Speedweeks opener February 4-7 for a four-night slate at Volusia Speedway Park in DeLeon Springs, Florida. “We’ve got a lot of the parts getting shipped in the next few weeks, and then we’ll get a little break after those first four races at Volusia,” Thiel said.
According to Thiel. statistically speaking his performance results have been much better when he races out of his own shop. “I’ve always been a hands on racer, built my own stuff and made my own calls as far as setups go,” Thiel said. “I’ve always been big on wearing multiple hats with my racing operation. Greg has seen how I’ve raced on a budget, and how I’ve handled the logistics of things. The easier I can make it on my guys as the season wears on will be big.”
When Thiel sizes up the ’26 WoO schedule, only a handful of ovals will be new to him. “I’ve never raced at Huset’s Speedway (Brandon, SD), Red River Valley Speedway (Fargo, ND) or Nodak Speedway (Minot, ND) for example,” Thiel said. “I’m looking forward to the bullring style of those places. All of the Wisconsin and Minnesota tracks I’ve been to. I did run at Volusia once with the 360 sprint car, so we do have a notebook written down for some of these places. The Wisconsin tracks I can probably run with my eyes closed.”
Thiel added: “The IRA series provided a great training ground for me. It was a great foundation to travel around the Midwest. We raced at Manitowoc Expo and Plymouth Dirt Track for a lot of years. We joined IRA to get our feet wet with the 410 deal. But, you’ve got to be smart with what you’re doing. If you’ve got a 10th place car, you’ve got to simply make the best of it and not try to force things.”
Thiel’s team of marketing partners includes Scott Thiel Builders, Gibbsville Cheese, Flint Trucking, Professional Plating, Richards Well Drilling, Complete Water, GRP Motorsports, Triple X Chassis, HRP Hephner Racing Products, B&W Transport, Quality Diesel Performance, Sterling Express, Winters Performance, Diamond Pit Lights, Numerix Inc, CMR Wholesale/Gearwrench, Wix Filters & Smith Titanium.
Among the “home games” in play for Thiel in ’26 include the Cheese Town Showdown Saturday, June 6 at Plymouth Dirt Track and the following Sunday, June 7 at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie for the Badger State Brawl.
Cedar Lake Speedway in Somerset, WI will host a doubleheader weekend Friday & Saturday June 26 & 27 for the Independence Spectacular. Another Wisconsin doubleheader weekend is slated for Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, WI Friday & Saturday June 10 & 11.
To learn more about the Series, visit the World of Outlaws online at www.woosprint.com. You can follow Scotty Thiel’s adventure through his website www.scottythiel.com.