The Scoop
R.M. VAN PAY – HAVING A BLAST WHEELING AN IMCA STOCK CAR
Posted on: Wednesday October 14, 2026
44-year racing veteran R.M. Van Pay, a Green Bay native, is having a blast racing an IMCA stock car.
For veteran racer R.M. Van Pay, wheeling an IMCA stock car takes him back to a time earlier in his career decades ago.
The Green Bay dirt track veteran who’s won multiple track championships and features piloting an IMCA modified (and earlier in his career in a dirt late model), has reignited his racing career and is having a blast in an IMCA stock car.
For the 62-year-old racer, adding an IMCA stock car to his already busy plate started out as almost a joke for the 44-year racing veteran.
“A few years ago, when 141 (Speedway) started hosting these $10,000-to-win IMCA stock car races, as a team we started joking about getting one and trying to make the show,” Van Pay recalled. “Troy (Jerovetz) was up here, and Joe Kerkhoff had Troy’s old stock car he was driving. I called Joe up, and asked him if I could run it. We got it, raced it, and hurt the motor. We ran it again the next week. And, we hurt the motor again.”
That third week, Van Pay won the division’s heat and feature, sweeping the action at 141. “One thing led to another, and my brother Steve (Van Pay) came home with an IMCA stock car. We’ve been running that and the IMCA modified ever since.”
Green Bay’s R.M. Van Pay scored the $10,000 King Of The Creek IX at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek July 18. (141 Speedway photo)
To Van Pay, wheeling an IMCA stock car doesn’t compare at all to today’s IMCA modified or even the dirt late model he had some success with in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. “It’s really like comparing apples to oranges,” Van Pay explained. “This stock car is so driver friendly. This sort of does remind me of racing my early 1990’s leaf spring modifieds. The car pretty much drives the same as the modifieds did back in the day. That’s because you don’t have the four bars, the rear steer and all of that stuff going on with the back end of the car.”
Try picking a winner when the IMCA stock cars roll onto the track at any dirt oval in northeastern Wisconsin. It’s darn near impossible to pick one, simply because Wisconsin has been and continues to be loaded with talent. “That two barrel carb helps a lot, too,” Van Pay said. “I can see why guys like Benji (LaCrosse) and (Shawn) Kilgore came back to the stock cars and race. I’m truly hooked on racing in this division.”
The car, which is owned by R.M.’s brother Steve, is a 2021 B & B Racing Chassis. “This car we picked up near the Iowa/Nebraska border,” Van Pay explained. “Some guy had it, and it sat for a year. It was raced for half of a season. It’s a good car.”
Brothers R.M. and Steve Van Pay pose with “Roscoe” in the pits at 141 Speedway.
When you combine a top flight pilot like Van Pay with a top notch race car, that’s a tough combination to beat. Earlier this summer, Van Pay bagged the biggest paying win in his storied racing career when he picked up the $10,000 King Of The Creek in Francis Creek in the stock car. “By far, that was the biggest win of my career,” Van Pay recalled. “I have won some $1,000 and $2,000-to-win modified races, and some late model feature wins, too. But nothing compared to winning this one. It was big.”
Once upon a time, the Van Pay stable had close to one dozen pit crew members, decked out in the familiar orange/yellow Van Pay Racing crew shirts. These days, the extent of the ‘shop help’ is mainly Steve, R.M. and R.M.’s brother Race, who also competes in a modified. “It’s very limited for crew help these days, no doubt,” Van Pay said. “That goes for both the shop and track. Everybody is either retired or has other stuff to do nowadays. I’m fully retired from the paper mill, and Steve is semi-retired. He still runs the bar in Green Bay (VPR 00 Bar). We’re always trying to work on three race cars and basically one guy that can do it all. Steve and Race can come out and work on the cars when they are done with work. It’s a lot of work, though. It really is.”
Just because Van Pay has fallen in love with wheeling this IMCA stock car, don’t think Van Pay will abandon his IMCA modified anytime soon. Van Pay currently sits third in Wisconsin’s all-time feature winners, sitting behind LaCrosse and Brian Mullen.
ALL-TIME WISCONSIN IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE WINNERS HEADING INTO 2026 (as of 10-10-26)
Benji LaCrosse- 148
Brian Mullen- 131
R.M. Van Pay- 129
Mike Wedelstadt- 117
Todd Dart- 86
One thing you WILL see down the road is Van Pay hitting some of the bigger paying IMCA stock car specials in and out of Wisconsin. “If Steve ever came to me and said hey, let’s go catch this show down in Iowa or wherever it might be, we’ll just load up and go,” Van Pay explained. “Steve owns all of the equipment lock, stock and barrel.”
This is R.M. “Buck” Van Pay in his rookie late model season in 1984 after brother Steve Van Pay purchased the car from Roger Van Roy. (Dave Panske photo)
One common theme this long-time racing veteran is that races are won in the shop – plain and simple. “If you don’t put the time into the cars at the shop, you just aren’t going to have the success on the track,” Van Pay said. “Because in this stock car class, the caliber of drivers is tough. Really tough. It’s hard to pick a winner. You’ve got to have the right setup in, because these cars are so close. It takes every little bit you can get out of the car with the carb and motor making things so equal.”
Pit crew members include Steve Van Pay, Race Van Pay, Lacy, Winnie and Roscoe serves as the crew chief.
Van Pay’s team of marketing partners includes VPR 00 Bar, Cattle Corner, Legacy Livesetock, Victory Sign, Vander Kinter Trucking, Denmark Towing and Recovery, Otto’s Meats, Arrow Auto Parts, Marv’s Hometown Tire & Auto, Keith Phillips Construction/Concrete Contractors, Toby K’s Hideaway, LVP Creative, BHE Custom Suspensions, GRT Race Cars, B & B Racing Chassis, Wizard Ink, Big Worm’s Racing Videos, Jordan Hanisch Photography/Kevin Lenz, In Memory of Skeeter, Bernie & Chet.
2026 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 10-11-26)
(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 8
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 11 (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
Todd Dart 2
Zachary Raab 1
Greg Gretz 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
Jason Ebert 1
Adam Abbey 1
Colton See 1
Trent Nolan 1
Eric Scribner 1
Josh Long 1
Cody Apfelbeck 1
Wyatt Block 1 (ERS)
IMCA STOCK CARS
Trent Nolan 9
Cole Czarneski 8 (IA)
Brad Lubach 7
Brett Wenzel 7
Rod Snellenberger 6 (FLA)
Tyler Wilson 6 (IA)
Marcus Hoeppner 5
Nick Buckarma 5
Luke Lemmens 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Jeremy Christians 4
Mike Mullen 4
Dustin White 3 (ERS)
Caden LeMieux 3
Dan Michonski 3
Jerry Wilinski 2
Chase Parker 2
Eric Mahlik 2
Mitch Stankowski 2 (ERS)
Presley Harrington 2 (IA)
Kyle Frederick 2
Tyler Schrimpf 2
Brandon Schmitt 2
Zackary Marg 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 1
Jamison MacDonald 1 (IA)
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 20
Travis Schmidt 6
AJ Springborn 6
Craig Dorner 4
Tim Jorgenson 3
Max Oreskovich 3
Cole Magnin 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Dylan Schmidt 3
Ryan Schmidt 3
Justin Green 3
Dustin White 2 (ERS)
Matt Urban 2
JJ Vander Loop 2
Tim Sheppard 2
Shane Bahr 2
Brayden Carter 2
Alec Wery 2
Tom Schneider 2
Carsin Cullen 2
Blake Andrews 2 (141)
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
Cole Czarneski 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Derek Moede 8
Trey Van Straten 7
Phillip Wuesthoff 7
Paul Diefenthaler 7
Cody Potter 7 (TNT, ERS)
Dave DeGrave 5
Alex Haese 5
Shanon Guelette 5
Roman Blank 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
Cole Czarneski 1
Quentin Morrison 1 (ERS)
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 10
Jake Richards 8
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
Taylor Rahn 1
Rod Snellenberger 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 2
Matt VanderVere 2
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
Derek Crane 1
Dylan Henry 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