The Scoop
IMCA STOCK CARS – WISCONSIN’S MOST POPULAR DIRT CLASS IN ’25
Posted on: Wednesday July 2, 2025
Wausau, Wisconsin’s Marcus Yarie is among many dirt track drivers in the Badger state who have jumped on the IMCA stock car bandwagon in 2025.
Of all the divisions that race on the dirt in Wisconsin – the class that has seen the most growth in recent years has undoubtedly been the IMCA stock cars.
Not only have most of the “studs” remained competitive in the divisions for many decades, the popular fendered-class has lured many IMCA modified, dirt late model and even some pavement super late model stars to join the division dubbed “Too-Tough-To-Tame” in recent years.
You can scan any track that hosts the division on the popular MyRacePass app, and notice several drivers who’ve made their mark in other divisions dabbling with the IMCA stock cars. One of those drivers is Wausau’s Marcus Yarie. Yarie, who is one of the top ten in all-time IMCA modified feature winners in Wisconsin history, builds his own cars through his Banshee Chassis brand.
It was a local second-generation racer – Devin Snellenberger from Pulaski, who prompted Yarie to jump into the fendered-class. “I got together and fixed some stuff up for Devin and his stock car a year ago.” Yarie explained. “We were drinking some beers, and we got to talking as we were getting his car ready for the $10,000-to-win race at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. By the time we got done with it, his car was pretty fast.”
Years ago prior to that encounter with Snellenberger, Yarie had built an IMCA stock car for Tom Riehl, a former competitor at Shawano Speedway. “But honestly, I never did much with the division after that. Stock cars are getting to where there are so many big money shows, you’d be foolish NOT to race in it. As the summer goes on, I may race my own stock car more than my modified.”
The chassis building is a successful, yet time-consuming “side-hustle” Yarie has when he’s not working in HVAC. “There is most definitely a learning curve with this class, and it’s about the same as a modified,” Yarie said. “The cars are all so equal. You’re always out to find that little edge. With a modified, you can find three-tenths of a second advantage and go out and kill the field. With that stock car, you are looking for even less of an advantage. But when you do find that edge, it’s really good.”
Some drivers have the luxury of having enough pit crew members and resources where they can run more than one car on any given night. A number of local drivers have done that so far this year. In addition to Yarie, Cole Czarneski, Benji LaCrosse, Mike Mullen, R.M. Van Pay, Brandon Schmitt, Dustin White, Jason Zdroik and Jeff Bodendorfer are just a handful of the drivers who pull off double duty on any given race night. Yarie admits there is a slight advantage to running two cars on the same night. “You can get a real feel for what the track is doing, even if most of the adjustments you’ve already made for your feature race are set,” Yarie explained. “It makes it tough on the pit crew, though. You really need a couple of extra crew guys to pull off running two divisions in one night.”
For a long time in northeastern Wisconsin, the dirt late model was the class that many drivers looked to compete in as they climbed up that proverbial, divisional food chain as the years marched on. “I think late models have just gotten out of hand financially around here,” Yarie suggested. “I mean, the modifieds have gotten costly, too. But I think if the late models had stuck with WISSOTA sanctioning around here, we might have a bigger car count in that class. Late models used to be the class where guys looked to move up into. But, who can afford a $40,000 late model motor to race weekly at Shawano for $1,000 to win and then have to spend another $20,000 just to freshen that motor? I truly think the class has priced themselves out of the market. That is another reason the popularity of the stock car class has taken off in my opinion.”
Central Wisconsin pavement super late model standout Mark Eswein of Wisconsin Rapids joined the fun in the IMCA stock car class in 2024.
It took pavement super late model standout Mark Eswein just a couple of times watching from the grandstands to draw him into jumping into the dirt track waters. The Wisconsin Rapids Ace has won more than 100 pavement, super late model features along with 13 track and series championships along the way. “When I sat and watched this division from the stands, it was always entertaining,” Eswein admitted. “There always seemed to be a lot of passing and some real, hard-nosed competition.”
In 2024, Eswein ran somewhere between 12 to 14 shows in his IMCA stock car. All the while still racing his pavement super late model, too. Eswein estimated that maybe one-third of his dirt track foes are aware of his accomplishments on the pavement. “I’ve actually gotten a pretty warm welcome from the dirt track community, “ Eswein said. “It’s a tremendous learning curve with these cars, especially at 54-years-old. It can be frustrating at times, and I just think I need to race a little more on the dirt.”
Eswein estimated that as the ’25 season wears on, that he’ll race his IMCA stock car on the dirt closer to one-third or even one-half the time he runs his pavement super late model. “I still love racing the pavement, too, and we’ll keep doing that,” Eswein said. “We use that dirt car is a bonus for our sponsorship package. Our sponsors get exposure with the dirt car as a bonus to the pavement car.”
Waterford’s Bodendorfer used to race dirt late models when Hales Corners Speedway was still open in Franklin, Wisconsin. In recent years he’s battled in an IMCA modified. Bodendorfer recently took the plunge and decided to join the fun in the stock car class. “For us, it makes sense for a few different reasons,” Bodendorfer explained. “We are already at a lot of these tracks with the modified as it is. And, there seem to be more and more bigger paying events for the IMCA stock cars each year. And, to top it off, they are fun to drive, too.”
Longtime IMCA modified and dirt late model driver Mike Mullen of Seymour has been a top flight competitor in the IMCA stock cars the past couple of seasons.(danlewisphoto.net)
Mike Mullen cut his teeth in the IMCA modified division, following in his dad Brian Mullen’s footsteps. Since then, Mullen has also had success in a dirt late model in recent years. Mullen has enjoyed dabbling in the stock car division, wheeling an eight-year-old race car owned by Ricky Lemmens. “We decided to jump into the stock car division mostly because of all the high dollar specials that came about,” Mullen explained. “It’s rare to make a dollar in racing, but with racing the higher-paying stock car events it’s a possibility.”
Like many racers these days, Mullen doesn’t race weekly, or chase points in any track or series. “The technology with these cars isn’t as advanced as say a modified or a late model, so we can take a few weeks off and race the stock car where you can’t really afford to do that with those other two divisions,” Mullen pointed out. “And one other thing is the class has great competition and also way less maintenance than a late model, for sure.”
Green Bay native R.M.”Buck” Van Pay won an IMCA stock car feature in 2025 after decades of wheeling an IMCA modified and a dirt late model. (VPR 00 photo)
Green Bay native R.M. Van Pay remains in the top three in all-time Wisconsin IMCA modified wins in 2025. Van Pay, who started out racing in the sportsman division in the 1980’s, wheeled a dirt late model for many seasons. The veteran pilot has jumped into the IMCA stock car fray, even capturing a feature win in 2025.
The name Scheffler is synonymous with dirt late models out the Milwaukee area for several decades. Dirt late model standout Taylor Scheffler joined the IMCA stock car ranks in 2025 as well.
Just how long will this trend continue? It’s hard to say. But one thing is for certain. As a track announcer going on 43 years, I can honestly say some of the best racing I’ve seen whether it’s a rough or smooth track, or a dry or tacky racing surface, this class never disappoints and always puts on a solid show. Three and four-wide racing is common. Our area has spawned many national champions. And these studs are still racing in 2025. Rod Snellenberger. Travis Van Straten. Brandon Czarapata. And many others like former Supernationals winner Jeremy Christians. Kyle Frederick. Junior Karcz. Dan Michonski. And many, many more.
This division will continue to entertain the fans in our region for many years (and possibly decades) to come. In fact, you can see this division scrap for a $10,000 top prize at 141 Speedway for the eighth annual King Of The Creek race July 14-16.
Pulaski’s “Hot Rod Snellenberger’s familiar No. 10 IMCA stock car is shown on his open trailer in the pit area at Shawano Speedway in the early 2000s. Snellenberger remains Wisconsin’s winningest IMCA stock car driver heading into 2022. (Joe Slack photo)
ALL TIME WISCONSIN IMCA STOCK CAR WINNERS AS OF JULY 2, 2025
Rod Snellenberger, Pulaski, 231
Brandon Czarapata, Pulaski, 137
Travis VanStraten, Shiocton, 134
Jeremy Christians, Horicon, 114
John Heinz, Green Bay, 86
Charlie Kroll, Forestville, 80
Kyle Frederick, Oconto Falls, 77
Larry Karcz, Pulaski, 52
Dan Michonski, Marion, 51
Brian Bruechert, Kewaunee, 50
John Gregorich, Kewaunee 50
13th Benji LaCrosse, Casco 47