The Scoop
VAN PAY, LACROSSE TIED AT 128 IMCA SANCTIONED WINS HEADING INTO ’22
Posted on: Friday April 15, 2022
R.M. Van Pay carries the American flag at Luxemburg Tri-Star Speedway in the early 1990s. Van Pay sits tied with Benji LaCrosse with 128 IMCA sanctioned wins heading into the 2022 season. (Panske Ent. photo)
Whenever Mother Nature decides the northeastern Wisconsin dirt tracks can open for the 2022 season odds are strong that a fairly significant tie may well be broken at some point the local IMCA modified circles.
Heading into the 2022 campaign a pair of division stalwarts – Luxemburg native Benji LaCrosse and Green Bay native R.M. “Buck” Van Pay both sit tied at 128 sanctioned wins – leading the way amongst racers from the Badger state.
Seymour’s Brian Mullen sits third at 127, with Fremont’s Mike Wedelstadt and Todd “Felix” Dart of Algoma rounding out the top five with 113 and 80 sanctioned wins, respectively.
Sitting in sixth is a driver who hasn’t run IMCA modifieds for a few years – Pulaski’s Brad Rohloff with 72 wins followed by Green Bay veteran Eddie Muenster at 71. Green Bay native Jared Siefert, who in recent years has done more dirt late model racing than modified racing sits eighth with 57 victories.
Rounding out the top ten are a pair of active racers – New Franken’s Shawn Kilgore and Wausau’s Marcus Yarie who stand with 53 and 52 wins, respectively.
Looking at the big picture this year one common theme seems to be present – weekly racing at any track has quickly become a thing of the past. With the glut of big money specials, soaring expenses and generally smaller pit crews than fifteen or twenty years ago most teams are choosing very carefully when and where they spend their time and resources racing this year.
Not to mention the “value” or “esteem” of earning a track championship has been diluted in recent years. In many cases if you show up every week contingent upon the division you may automatically earn yourself a top five in the season ending point standings. Just by simply not missing a week. Not saying its right or wrong. It’s just the way things are heading into 2022.
Luxemburg, Wisconsin native Benji LaCrosse, shown here after winning the Eric Van Iten Memorial race at The ‘Burg Speedway in 2021, sits tied with Green Bay native R.M. Van Pay in all time IMCA modified wins with 128 heading into 2022. (danlewisphoto.net)
“I know I don’t plan on running for points anywhere,” said LaCrosse, who also races in big dollar specials in an IMCA stock car owned and prepared by Jim and Joe White. “We still plan on running some out-of-town shows and we plan on jumping around locally here at home.”
Same theme goes for Van Pay, one of the elder statesmen left in the IMCA modified division. Van Pay has been a local fixture in the division since the late 1980’s. “No points chasing for us, but we are going to try to run a full schedule on Saturday nights at 141 Speedway (Francis Creek),” Van Pay said. “We also want to hit some of the shows at Luxemburg from time to time as well.”
Mullen hasn’t chased points racing for many years, and the game plan will remain close to that again in ’22. “We do plan on running fairly regular at both Seymour (Outagamie Speedway) and 141,” Mullen said. “But we may miss some shows anytime we go out of town to run special events. But yes, as a rule we don’t typically run for points anywhere anymore though.”
Fremont’s Mike Wedelstadt, who sits fourth among all time IMCA modified Wisconsin winners with 113 victories, plans on racing Fridays regularly at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour in 2022.
As far as Wedelstadt goes, the driver who began racing modifieds in 1994 plans on racing Fridays at Seymour, Saturdays at 141 and a few shows on Sunday nights at Luxemburg. And according to Dart he has no specific plans to race at any particular track on a regular basis this season. No concrete plans per se although he does plan on doing some racing yet.
With Rohloff retired and Muenster most likely sitting out for the season with medical issues, Siefert will be a “hired gun” of sorts – wheeling a modified out of the Tim Czarneski stables in Denmark. Siefert still has his dirt late model, which he plans on racing occasionally until the car sells. “The game plan for my modified racing will be Friday nights at Seymour and Sundays at Luxemburg and contingent upon the late model schedule we plan on running,” Siefert said.
Both Kilgore and Yarie remain active racers, with Yarie’s game plan including racing as often as possible to climb higher on the all-time win list. “We are going to bounce around a little bit early in the year,” Yarie said. “We do plan on hitting Seymour weekly on Friday nights but then we plan on jumping around between Shawano and 141 on Saturday nights until the Clash at the Creek. We also do have plans to hit up Luxemburg on some Sunday nights too.”
As the season wears on rest assured, we’ll keep tabs on these updated numbers if and when they change at joeverdegan.com. Thanks for reading and get out and support your local short track. They need our support in 2022 now more than ever!
ALL TIME IMCA MODIFIED WISCONSIN FEATURE WINNERS HEADING INTO 2022 SEASON
Benji LaCrosse, Green Bay, 128
R.M. VanPay, Green Bay, 128
Brian Mullen, Seymour, 127
Mike Wedelstadt, Fremont, 113
Todd Dart, Algoma, 80
Brad Rohloff, Pulaski, 72
Eddie Muenster, Green Bay, 71
Jared Siefert, Green Bay, 57
Shawn Kilgore, New Franken, 53
Marcus Yarie, Wausau, 52