The Scoop
JARED SIEFERT – HOW HIS SNIPER SPEED, IMCA SUPERNATIONALS RIDE CAME TO BE
Posted on: Thursday August 25, 2022
Jared Siefert of Luxemburg will wheel this Sniper Speed IMCA stock car at the IMCA Supernationals at Boone (IA) Speedway in September.
It was a post-race conversation over a couple of cold brews that evolved into a return to the IMCA Superationals at Boone (IA) Speedway in a stock car for Jared Siefert.
After 141 Speedway’s $10,000-to-win “King of The Creek” in July Siefert, a 45-year-old second-generation racer from Luxemburg was bench racing with Jon Courchaine of Sniper Speed. “I almost jokingly said to Jon I didn’t yet have a stock car ride for the IMCA Supernationals at Boone in September,” Siefert recalled. “I get a phone call the next day and between Sniper Speed, myself and some parts contributed by Cody Scray we’ve got a stock car we’ll be running for Boone.”
Siefert has raced just about everything under the sun on dirt tracks. The Green Bay East graduate built his first race car – a dirt street stock in his dad Art Siefert’s garage while still in school in the mid-1990s. From there Siefert raced to multiple feature wins, track and national championships in an IMCA modified.
These days Siefert remains a “hired gun” of sorts in a modified driving for Tim “CZ” Czarneski of Denmark. He’s also got a dirt late model he wheels when time and pit crew help permits. A busy schedule running his own Snap On tools franchise combined with a much more limited supply of pit crew help compared to 20 years ago has slowed Siefert down. In the early 2000s Siefert would often race up to four nights a week. Those days are long gone.
With being self-employed and the race cars in general requiring much more time and attention than they did years ago, Siefert no longer actively chases track championships. And whether he’s racing his own late model or another car owner’s modified or stock car, Siefert’s style of driving doesn’t change. “No matter who owns the equipment you’ve still got to be respectful of it,” Siefert explained. “The cars these days take up a lot of time as it is with just regular maintenance and when you wreck stuff it’s that much more time. And it’s really tough with limited crew help.”
Siefert turned some heads when he wheeled Scray’s stock car to victory at Shawano Speedway’s half-mile in his first appearance ever behind the wheel in that machine. Later that year at Boone for the Supernationals Siefert won the qualifying feature the night before the “big show” and was leading the Supernationals when he tangled with another car, dashing his hopes for a Supernationals title.
In a modified at the Supernationals Siefert has qualified for the big dance four times. He’s hoping with some luck he can get back to his winning form in the Sniper Speed stock car. “The car is basically owned by Sniper Speed,” Siefert explained of the business arrangement. “I provided a drive train and Cody (Scray) had some stuff to finish the car. Sniper chassis has a ton of sponsors that really helped pitch in on this deal.”
Siefert readily admits when it comes to the Supernationals at Boone a little luck never hurts. “The draw you get has always been important at Boone and a little luck can most certainly help,” Siefert said. “I’ve been up til 3 and 4 a.m. the last couple of nights trying to put the finishing touches on this stock car. The goal is to get it done in time to get a race or two in before the Supernationals. Maybe Batesville, Arkansas and Seymour. It’ll be close.”
Jared Siefert still races his late model in Dirt Kings Tour action on occasion. (JS Designs photo)
Siefert never met a race car he didn’t like. “I still enjoy running the late model the most but without regular crew help and extra time it’s just getting harder and harder to do, especially on the financial end,” Siefert said. “That’s why I really appreciate the deal I’ve got driving for CZ and now for Jon Courchaine and this Sniper Speed deal. I’ve worked on my own stuff and raced it for a long time. Things are different now though. Too many people just go and buy a car ready to race. Nobody wants to learn anything themselves or put the time in to learn stuff. I don’t want to be wrenching on race cars at all hours of the night much anymore as I’ve done enough of that when I was younger earlier in my career.”
As one of the wheelmen out the Czarneski racing stable Siefert has served as a mentor of sorts for Tim Czarneski’s son Cole who frequently on the area dirt ovals. “That’s one of the reasons I think CZ had me come and race for him and yeah I’ve been a mentor to Cole a little bit,” Siefert said. “The kid has really grown as a racer quite a bit.”
As for what Siefert’s racing future holds. Like many these days he’s promising simply to take things year by year. “For me racing is still fun,” Siefert admitted. “I’m not burnt out of it yet, so we’ll just continue to take things as they come.”
Siefert’s IMCA Supernationals, Sniper Speed stock car effort has multiple backers. They include Bilstein Shock Absorbers, CRS Suspension and Fabrication, Multifire Wires by Money, QuickCar, Schoenfeld Headers, Fisher Race Engines, Landrum Performance Springs, KRC Power Steering, Dirt Defender Dynamic Drivelines, Simonar Sports, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Tri County Heating, Pro 1 Property Services, Curtin Construction, Chad Roffers Trucking, BMRE Electric Carts Co, Pingel Processing LLC, Barker Reconditioning, Prestige Custom Cabinetry, KSE Racing Products and Paint By JellyBean and Victory Sign.