The Scoop
GLEMBIN, AHO & ZDROIK – EAGLE RIVER SPEEDWAY’S ‘BRAT PACK’
Posted on: Tuesday September 22, 2026
Glembin, Aho and Zdroik.
No, it’s not the name of a new law firm. It’s a trio of teenage racers (one of whom is just 12 and not quite yet a teen), who compete in three different, full-sized race cars on Tuesday nights at Eagle River Speedway.
The popular third-mile, clay oval continues to do it’s part to keep growing the sport of stock car racing in Wisconsin.
The track hosts it’s weekly 300 micro sprint division, in which kids as young as five can start racing the winged racers on Tuesday nights.
But, this trio of youngsters have turned some heads, and made some noise in three of the track’s full-sized classes. Here’s a look at these drivers – all of whom have roots that run deep at this race track.
Rylee Glembin
The 16-year-old is a three-sport athlete outside of the race track. The junior at Three Lakes high school excels at cross country, basketball and soccer. In addition, this fourth-generation racer competes in the track’s pure stock class.
Glembin’s family has roots that run deep in Eagle River Speedway racing history. Rylee’s great-grandfather, Ken Glembin, built the speedway in 1975. Her grandpa, Mark Glembin, and her dad, Ryan Glembin, promoted the track themselves for a number of years. In fact, Ryan still races, where he remains competitive in the rough-and-tumble IMCA stock car class on Tuesday nights.
“I just grew up with this sport,” Rylee confessed. “When my grandparents owned the track, I’d ride my little, plastic four wheeler that was powered by a battery around the track. I also remember watching dad race when I was really little.”
According to Rylee, she decided she really wanted to race herself prior to the 2025 racing season. “I have been around this sport my whole life,” Rylee said. “When I was younger, I was maybe a little more timid. As I got older, I began to realize that racing was something that I wanted to do.”
Instead of puttering around Eagle River’s track in a much smaller, winged car at a younger age, Rylee jumped into the full-sized division pure stock with both feet, learning as she goes.
“Truth be told, I never once pushed her to (race),” said Ryan Glembin. “When she told me she wanted to race, I asked her if she was SURE she wanted to do this? Her reply was ‘yes.” So, I went out and bought her a pure stock, surprising mom in the process.”
For Rylee, the funnest of part of the Tuesday night races at Eagle River are the friendships. “I get to see some of my friends, and I’m slowly getting the hang of this,” Rylee said. “I’m going to stick with the pure stocks probably for next year, Maybe eventually I’ll move up into a street stock once I get better. My goal is simply to improve each time I get out on the track.”
At home in the shop, when she’s not taking part in whatever school sport of the season, Rylee chips in at the shop, taking tires off, cleaning the air filter, and performing other minor tasks on her number 33 racer.
14-year-old Cooper Aho poses next to the B modified he races at Eagle River Speedway.
Cooper Aho
Similar to the Glembin family, 14-year-old Cooper Aho grew up in a racing family.
Cooper’s Dad, Jesse Aho, retired after last season. In addition to piling up numerous track championships at Eagle River Speedway, Jesse Aho wrapped up his career with 100 feature wins, and finished up that storied career wheeling a USRA late model.
Prior to the ’26 season, the plan was to have Cooper climb into dad’s late model. “Personally, I just felt a little more comfortable jumping into a Midwest Modified than I was in a USRA late model,” Cooper admitted. “At least, for now anyways.”
Cooper had won frequently in the 300 micro sprint class, racing with his younger brother Carter, who’s also a frontrunner, and Eagle River Speedway’s 2026 division champion. Jesse sold his late model, and with the help of his grandpa, the family got an offer from a sponsor who was selling a modified. That’s the route Cooper went.
“This move to the modifeds made sense for a few different reasons,” Jesse explained. “We’ve been racing three cars a night for the past five seasons. When Cooper stepped up, it was good. I wasn’t going to go out and buy another truck and trailer. That just made no sense. I think he did great in 2026. He’s kept his rookie mistakes to a minimum. Truth is, as his dad, I might be the one holding him back the most. He did really well in that big $10k show and got some genuine compliments from some really good, seasoned drivers. I think we’re almost ready to ‘take the governor off’ so to speak.”
Sometimes, Jesse has to travel out of state for his job. That leaves Cooper and Carter to handle some of the maintenance chores on the race cars. “I try to do as much as I can when dad is away for work,” Cooper explained. “Tires. Pressur e washing, and cleaning the air filters and other stuff are all part of it. Dad comes home, and he handles to setup part of our cars. We’re learning as we go with that, too.”
For now anyways, Jesse said Cooper will remain in a B mod for the time being. “Although, I think Cooper needs to quit hanging around Grandpa,” Jesse joked. “Because when they do, things tend to get a little more expensive.”
When he’s not at the race track, the high school freshman partakes in a number of sports, including football and basketball. Cooper is also hoping to make the school’s golf team in spring, as it’s his favorite summer hobby outside of racing.
12-year-old Lucas Zdroik with his street stock
Lucas Zdroik
Lucas is the son of multi-time Eagle River Speedway track champion Jason Zdroik. This 12-year-old battled in the 300 micro sprints for a handful of seasons.
When asked why he moved up into the street stocks at the age of 12, Lucas simply replied he wouldn’t fit into the 300 any more!
Lucas enjoyed his rookie year in the street stocks. Like the other two drivers in this story, we saw vast improvement with Lucas’ performances week-to-week. “The street stocks locally are a pretty tough class, with some really good cars,” Lucas admitted. “It’s a completely different car than the 300. With these street stocks, you just can’t drive into the smaller gaps that you used to be able to do with the smaller 300 car.”
Lucas stays busy when dad is busy working with his business, Zdroik Well Drilling. “When dad is working, I handle maintenance tasks on all of the race cars,” Lucas pointed out. “I clean all of the cars, tires and air filters. I like the street stock division, and plan on sticking with it for awhile.”
Lucas is also an accomplished snowmobile racer during the winter months. In addition to that, he plays football, too. In 2026, he did spread his wings a bit, racing at Gravity Park USA in Chilton. His plans include racing a late season special at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek in late September.
2026 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 9-21-26)
(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
Nick Anvelink 8
Joel Bennett 7
Brett Swedberg 4
Mitch McGrath 2
Turk Letizia 1
Jesse Glenz 1
Troy Springborn 1
Andy Karl 1
Taylor Scheffler 1
Paul Parker 1
Brad Mueller 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Cole Czarneski 8 (Dakota Mod Tour)
Johnny Whitman 6
Jayden Schmidt 5
Russ Reinwald 4
Dylon Waldvogel 3
Benji LaCrosse 3
Lucas Lamberies 3
Steve Mueller 3
Will Garceau 3
Kevin Feck 3
Mike Mullen 3
Jesse Cullen 3
Mike Mueller 2
Travis Hansen 2
Joel Seegert Sr. 2
Marcus Yarie 2
Tanner Janke 2
Noah Schepp 2
Jeffrey Teske 2
Brandon Schmitt 2
Zachary Raab 1
Greg Gretz 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
Todd Dart 1
Jason Ebert 1
Adam Abbey 1
Colton See 1
Trent Nolan 1
Eric Scribner 1
Josh Long 1
Wyatt Block 1 (ERS)
IMCA STOCK CARS
Trent Nolan 9
Cole Czarneski 8 (IA)
Brad Lubach 7
Rod Snellenberger 6 (FLA)
Brett Wenzel 6
Tyler Wilson 5 (IA)
Marcus Hoeppner 5
Luke Lemmens 4
Benji LaCrosse 4
Nick Buckarma 4
Jeremy Christians 4
Dustin White 3 (ERS)
Caden LeMieux 3
Dan Michonski 3
Mike Mullen 3
Jerry Wilinski 2
Chase Parker 2
Eric Mahlik 2
Mitch Stankowski 2 (ERS)
Presley Harrington 2 (IA)
Kyle Frederick 2
Tyler Schrimpf 2
Zackary Marg 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Travis Welch 1
Jeremie Hedrick 1
Shawn Kilgore 1
Shanon Guelette 1
Kegan Van Ooyen 1
Jeremy Anschutz 1
Marcus Hoepper 1
Dylan Stedjee 1
RM Van Pay 1
Keslie Richards 1
Junior Karcz 1
Travis Van Straten 1
Daniel Sell Jr 1
Jamison MacDonald 1 (IA)
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 18
Travis Schmidt 6
AJ Springborn 6
Craig Dorner 4
Tim Jorgenson 3
Max Oreskovich 3
Cole Magnin 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Dylan Schmidt 3
Dustin White 2 (ERS)
Ryan Schmidt 2
Matt Urban 2
JJ Vander Loop 2
Tim Sheppard 2
Shane Bahr 2
Brayden Carter 2
Alec Wery 2
Justin Green 2
Tom Schneider 2
Carsin Cullen 2
Joey Taycher 1
Owen Wilcox 1
Tony Gates 1
Brad Buckman 1
Logan Brass 1
Cole Thomas 1
Kaden Besaw 1
Trevin Veeser 1
Tony Gates 1
Jacob Rens 1
Elijah Koening 1
Tucker Pari 1
Derek Fehling 1
George Henkel 1
Steve Lorier 1
Randy LeMieux Jr 1
Dakota Johnson 1
Brad Miller 1
Travis Kleindl 1
Frank Gasperini 1
Cory Kemkes 1
Eric Craine 1
Jake Sachau 1
Chris Budzban 1
Austin Zdroik 1 (ERS)
Brian Konitzer 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Derek Moede 7
Trey Van Straten 7
Phillip Wuesthoff 7
Paul Diefenthaler 6
Cody Potter 6 (TNT, ERS)
Dave DeGrave 5
Alex Haese 5
Roman Blank 4
Shanon Guelette 4
Travis Zirbel 3
Dave DeGrave 2
Jason Eisel 2 (ERS)
Hope Eisel 2 (ERS)
Garrett Geyer 2
Austin Steinke 2
Brayden Lundquist 1
Cory Romenesko 1
Todd Berzowski 1
Paul Ambrosius 1
Kyle Genett 1
Brian Gundrum 1
James Riske 1
Jake Brickner 1
Chad Vetting 1
Tyler Fox 1
Tucker Bodendorfer 1
Quentin Morrison 1 (ERS)
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 9
Jake Richards 7
Jeff Muehlbauer 5
Brad Weiss 3
Mavrick Ruh 3
Tyler Kulow 2
Luke Scholten 2
Nate Ruh 1
Will Sorce 1
Nick Schumacher 1
Brad Lubach 1
Josh Pierce 1
Marshall Plate 1
Matt Urban 1
Rick Mahlberg 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
James Reese 9
TJ Everard 8
Tanner Westphal 5
Cody Booth 5
Brian Watzka Jr 5
Scott Schlafke 4
Mike Meier 4
Kyle Jorgenson 3
Cody McClain 3
Lucas Hacker 2
Nathan Lisowe 2
Thomas Schulte 2
Calvin Stueck 2
Brett Deprez 2
Dan Thomson 2
Brad Wedde 2
Bennett Glidden 2
Autumn Allard 2
Chase Ertel 1
Brian Hillringhouse 1
Tony Everard 1
Jake Peters 1
Robbie Holst Jr 1
Shaun Bangart 1
Dallas Topel 1
Skyler Bork 1
Todd Boehlein 1
LS/USRA LATE MODEL
Mark Hoeppner 8
Jason Zdroik 3
Lucas Peterson 3
Eric Klawatter 3
Jeff Thomas 2
Todd Gorny 2
Guy Carley 2
Logan Fleischmann 2
Jason McFadden 1
Corbyn Wassenberg 1
Dave Bennett 1
Pat Kelley 1
Keslie Richards 1
Jake Binash 1
Chad Lederer 1