The Scoop
COLE CZARNESKI – TEEN RACER NABS 1ST 10K PAYDAY IN NEW MEXICO
Posted on: Wednesday March 5, 2025
Denmark’s Cole Czarneski is all smiles following his $10,000 USRA stock car win in New Mexico a week ago. (seeking photo credit)
Although it’s only March, Denmark’s Cole Czarneski has already competed in enough races this winter that would compare with running weekly two nights a week during a Wisconsin summer.
The 19-year-old recently scored the biggest win of his career at Sandia Speedway in New Mexico. The second-generation driver scooped up the $10,000-to-win United States Racing Association (USRA) Southwest Stock Car Showdown last week. The victory netted the defending 141 Speedway IMCA modified and stock car champion the biggest payday of his young racing career.
Czarneski said they didn’t have to change much of anything to their Bob Harris Enterprises (BHE) chassis to make it USRA legal for this event. Czarneski started 12th in the 40 lap contest, snagging the lead around lap 30. Czarneski mixed it up with a couple of familiar faces like Jeff Abbey and Brett Berry. But many were drivers Czarneski squared off with for the first time. “The racing surface was actually a little weird,” Czarneski said. “It was sandy, but it was like grippy sand. The track was super-banked. I was told they had just re-designed the racing surface. From what the locals said, they cut the surface up pretty good.”
Czarneski has a pair of feature wins already in 2025 in the stock car. “I was pretty jacked up because truthfully, we were terrible all week leading up to the feature,” Czarneski admitted. “The best we had finished that week up until that point was 7th. But I had a gut feeling the track would dry out compared to other nights. And it did.”
Czarneski’s racing escapades during the winter months of ’25 included extended stints in Florida, Arizona and New Mexico. He has battled in 28 feature races already in 2025 between the stock car and the modified. 11 of those feature races were in the stock car while the other 17 were in the modified division.
While for most veteran race teams life on the road racing can come with it’s pitfalls, Czarneski hasn’t experienced any of that just yet. “I love being on the road and going to all of these different race tracks,” Czarneski explained. “It’s always better than being back home. But at the same time, I put a little bit of pressure on myself to do well. And when you are not running well when you’re a long ways away from home, that part of it obviously does suck. But when we travel, we’re not there on vacation. We’re there to perform.”
Czarneski will race his UMP-rules modified in a handful of 100k XR shows in 2025. (Chris Anderson photo)
Despite being just a teenager, Czarneski has 36 feature wins under his belt between the modified, stock car and northern sportmod. Does he consider himself a full time racer? “I’m thinking you could almost say that, yes,” Czarneski said. “With the amount of nights we raced last year, and we ran all 12 months of the year, I’d say we’d be pretty close.”
For the rest of the 2025 campaign, Czarneski has no plans to race for points anywhere, so the two points titles at 141 will be up for grabs. “We’re chasing all of the big dollar shows this year with the modified and the stock car,” Czarneski said. “When we are home, we’ll race at 141 and Luxemburg. Maybe Seymour. We plan on hitting those XR $100,000-to-win races and any of the other high-paying events that make sense for us to run.”
As if staying on top of his game with the modified and stock car weren’t enough, Czarneski also has a dirt late model at his disposal. “That late model is a whole different ball game compared to the modified and stock car,” Czarneski confessed. “ I’ve only got six nights under my belt in the late model. We plan on hitting some of the Dirt Kings races closer to home.”
Czarneski has the luxury of having a pair of full time crew members tending to his race cars both at the track and the shop – Sean Merline and Jamie Miller.
Despite his early season success in the stock car, Czarneski still says racing his modified remains the No. 1 priority. “The thing with the modified is one wrong decision with the setup and you’re out to lunch,” Czarneski admitted. “With the stock car, it’s a little bit more forgiving if you miss the setup a little bit. You can drive through it. When you are out of town, it’s so much of a guessing game when you first get there. But that stock car doesn’t really have to be perfect to do well and pass cars. In the modified class, it seems like everyone is so close. And there’s a lot of veteran racers who are still very fast and running at the front.”
Last year, Czarneski competed in 150 feature races. He won 19 features in ’24. “It can get hectic because some of those nights we’re running both the mod and the stock car,” Czarneski said. “Our game plan for 2025 is to race pretty much as often as we did in 2024.”
With a busy schedule racing stock cars twelve months of the year, Czarneski doesn’t have much time for other hobbies or activities. However, Czarneski, a former state qualifyer in wrestling for the Denmark Vikings, recently helped a former teammate of his prepare for his own trip back to the Madison fieldhouse. Steve Kielpikowski took 2nd in the 165 lb. Class for Denmark. “My senior year Steve was a freshman so when I was home I was his practice partner back at school,” Czarneski said. “He’d already been to state before, and to see him snag a runnerup finish was pretty cool to see.”
Czarneski and Kielpikowski both have something else in common other than wrestling. Both of their fathers raced – Tim Czarneski and Lee Kielpikowski.
Czarneski’s 2025 racing effort is fueled by Noonan Industries, LLC, Northern Concrete Construction, Directional Drilling Services, Robinson Heating and Cooling, Xtreme Trucking LLC, Nicolet Lumber Company, Ingraved – Custom Laser Engraving, Precision Asphalt Sealers, Augie’s Repair and Towing, LLC, Eaton Truck & Auto, Kielpikowski Calf Ranch LLC, Northeast Cattle Company, Northeastern Mud Jacking, Prestige Custom Cabinetry, Tri-County Heating, Hermans Construction, Custom Concrete Curb, Concrete Finishers, Bob Cullen Racing, Scotty’s, Victory Sign, DD’s Saloon, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Services, All Pro Custom Graphx, Rush Race Gear, Bob Harris Enterprises (BHE) and Julia Wesa-Goelz 72sold powered by Keller.