By: Paul Reichert
June 14, 2024
Veteran racers have captured some of the biggest feature wins in their careers, but there are a few that have not been able to capture a marquee race. We witnessed the struggles of Dale Earnhardt time and time again to check off the Daytona 500, which he finally accomplished in 1998. Our marquee race here at Tomah-Sparta Speedway is the annual Tim Myer Memorial Shootout as we celebrate the life and career of a racer who left us too soon before his potential could be achieved. This year marked the 10th running of the race, which has seen some of the best Sportsmen racers pick up the Myer Memorial hardware at the end of the night.
Troy Dobbratz got to turn one quicker than first time Sportsmen racer Shawn Breese to take the early lead of the 30 lap Tim Myer Memorial Sportsmen feature. By lap three another first time Sportsmen competitor got alongside Dobbratz to make an early race of it. Jesse Vian finally powered around Dobbratz coming out of turn two on lap six to take control of the race. As Vian tried to build up his lead, a veteran of Tomah-Sparta was making his way forward. With many laps run and feature victories under his racing belt at Tomah-Sparta, Mike Krueger, Jr. began to reel in Vian for the race lead. Just before halfway Krueger, Jr. drove around Vian on the outside to move into the number one position. The yellow flag came out with twelve laps remaining for Dobbratz’s spin in turn two. On the restart, Mark Challet and BIll Schott made the remainder of the race interesting for Krueger, Jr. After trying to find a way around each other for a few laps, all three drivers hooked up in a freight train style formation with six laps to go. There was a lot of bumping going on between Krueger, Jr., Challet and Schott as they tried to loosen each other up to make their move forward. Everyone maintained their positions as Krueger, Jr. held onto the lead and became the seventh different winner of the Tim Myer Memorial Shootout.
In the Hobby Stock feature, Landon Lockington outran Jason Bolster to lead the first two circuits. Slicing and dicing his way through the field, Robby Robinson quickly caught up to Lockington and powered into the lead on lap three. Seth Gnewikow and Scott Mahlum got together in turn three to bring out the caution on lap five. Robinson picked up right where he left off and pulled away from his competition on the restart. Jesse Fischer moved into second with six laps left but he had a huge mountain to climb with Robinson long gone. With two laps left Fischer made up a little ground on Robinson, but then a major issue began to slow down Robinson on the final lap. Fischer began to eat up ground like Pac-Man before moving to the outside of Robinson and stealing the win as the two drivers came together at the start-finish line.
Matthew Drazkowski powered by pole sitter Aubrie Leis to take the lead at the start of the Hornet feature. Matthew Heim moved into the runner-up spot on lap two, and then powered around Drazkowski to take over the top spot on lap three. Former Mid-Am racer Taylor Dawson started at the back after breaking out during qualifying, but was making his way through the field while being mindful of not falling afoul of the breakout rule again. Tristan Drazkowski was also on the move as he shot past his dad Matt to take over second just before the mid-race point. With six laps to go Dawson charged his way around Drazkowski for second and both drivers began to close up on Heim. Heim did everything he could to hold off both Dawson and Drazkowski over the final five laps and drove away with his second career Hornet feature win.
James Gratz took a break from his High School racing to join the TACU Credit Union Six Shooters. Gratz powered by Christopher Neal to lead the opening lap of their feature. Ryatt Dobbratz and Chris Brown made contact coming out of turn two on lap three to cause a big melee that brought out the red flag. Chris and Greg Brown, Tristan Drazkowski and Alex Lueth all got collected together against the outside wall, while Zachary Morgan and Dustin McCracken suffered collateral damage that also ended their race nights. Gratz quickly got on the gas as the green returned. Former champions Matt Moore and Chuck Muller worked together to get through the traffic and make forward progress to the front of the pack. Gratz still maintained a healthy lead, but with six laps to go Moore and Muller took over second and third as they began to track down Gratz. Moore and Muller closed to within a few car lengths but Gratz would wind up ringing the Victory Bell with his first ever feature win in hand. James joins dad Mike as the first father-son duo to win features at Tomah-Sparta in a while.
The brand new Crown Vic division finally got to run a full program and compete in their first ever official feature. Matthew Heim powered past fast qualifier Bruce Backus to lead the first two laps of their feature. Cole Scholze found a way around Heim on the outside to settle into the lead by the third circuit. As Scholze opened up his lead in the feature, Heim and Backus put on a great fight over second place. They first ran nose-to-tail for a few laps, then the 1988 track champion got alongside of Heim but could not complete the pass for second. Backus got a run in turns three and four coming to the white flag as the 70 year old racer finally got under Heim for the runner-up place. Scholze had long checked out on the field as he proudly made his trip to TACU Credit Union victory lane as the very first Crown Vic feature winner.
Next Friday, June 21 Tomah-Sparta Speedway is the alternative form of entertainment to the big show happening elsewhere in Tomah. For starters, it is Cheap Date Night with admission just $5 for everybody. The kids will be looking for a few special pennies during the annual Penny Scramble following qualifying. The Hobby Stocks, Hornets, Six Shooters and the High School Racing Association will be our on-track action for the night. The Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series makes their annual visit to take us on a journey back in time to the heyday of Wisconsin short track racing. In addition to all of that, the Wisconsin Sport Trucks that run on Thursdays at Wisconsin International Raceway make their debut in Cranberry Country. Gates open at 6, the race to be the fastest of the fast starts at 6:15 and the ‘edge of your seat’ close quarters racing hits the gas at 7.
Call the track office at 608-461-1920, visit our website at tomahspartaspeedway.com and be sure to like the track’s Facebook page for more information about Tomah-Sparta Speedway and the 2024 schedule of events.
RESULTS
Sportsmen
Feature (Tim Myer Memorial–30 laps): 1. MIke Krueger, Jr., 2. Mark Challet, 3. Bill Schott, 4. Dan Frye, 5. Jason Backus, 6. Jesse Vian, 7. Shawn Breese, 8. Troy Dobbratz
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Troy Dobbratz, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Jesse Vian, 4. Shawn Breese
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Bill Schott, 2. Jason Backus, 3. MIke Krueger, Jr., 4. Mark Challet
Qualifying: 1. Jason Backus 16.293, 2. Mark Challet 16.411, 3. Mike Krueger, Jr. 16.509, 4. Bill Schott 16. 577, 5. Jesse Vian 16.856, 6. Dan Frye 17.176, 7. Troy Dobbratz 17.343, 8. Shawn Breese 18.273
Hobby Stocks
Feature (15 laps): 1. Jesse Fischer, 2. Robby Robinson, 3. Jarrod Sutherland, 4. Landon Lockington, 5. Mike Gratz, 6. Jason Bolster, 7. Shelby Lockington, 8. Seth Gnewikow, 9. Scott Mahlum, 10. Bryan Schott, 11. Grant Witcraft, 12. Raymond Hardy
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Seth Gnewikow, 2. Mike Gratz, 3. Jason Bolster, 4. Bryan Schott, 5. Scott Mahlum, 6. Landon Lockington
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Robby Robinson, 2. Jarrod Sutherland, 3. Jesse FIscher, 4. Grant Witcraft, 5. Shelby Lockington, 6. Raymond Hardy
Qualifying: 1. Jesse Fischer 17.794, 2. Shelby Lockington 18.280, 3. Jarrod Sutherland 18.284, 4. Grant Witcraft 18.314, 5. Rayimond Hardy 18.364, 6. Robby Robinson 18.436, 7. Mike Gratz 18.571, 8. Jason Bolster 18.701, 9. Landon Lockington 18.728, 10. Seth Gnewikow 18.740, 11. Bryan Schott 19.476, 12. Scott Mahlum 19.612
Hornets
Feature (15 laps): 1. Matthew Heim, 2. Taylor Dawson, 3. Tristan Drazkowski, 4. Tristan Finnigan, 5. Matthew Drazkowski, 6. Aubrie Leis, 7. Joshua Schwartz, 8. Caleb Uksas, 9. Landon Peterson, 10. Ashtin Quinnell, 11. Glen Bush, Jr., 12. Dan Linnehan
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Tristan Finnigan, 2. Joshua Schwartz, 3. Aubrie Leis, 4. Matthew Drazkowski, 5. Caleb Uksas, 6. Logan Groskreutz, 7. Jordan Finch
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Ashtin Quinnell, 2. Tristan Drazkowski, 3. Dan Linnehan, 4. Taylor Dawson, 5. Glen Bush, Jr., 6. Landon Peterson
Qualifying: 1. Dan Linnehan 18.725, 2. Tristan Drazkowski 18.752, 3. Glen Bush, Jr. 18.763, 4. #19 19.036, 5. Matthew Heim 19.231, 6. Landon Peterson 19.427, 7. Tristan Finnigan 19.484, 8. Matthew Drazkowski 19.609, 9. Aubrie Leis 19.781, 10. Caleb Uksas 20.195, 11. Joshua Schwartz 20.248, 12. Logan Groskreutz NO TIME, 13. Jordan Finch NO TIME, 14. Taylor Dawson NO TIME (DQ)
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Feature (15 laps): 1. James Gratz, 2. Matt Moore, 3. Chuck Muller, 4. Tim Murphy, Sr., 5. Jay Raines, 6. Ryatt Dobbratz, 7. Christopher Neal, 8. A.J. Finnigan, 9. Chris Brown, 10. Greg Brown, 11. Tristan Drazkowski, 12. Dustin McCracken, 13. Alex Lueth, 14. Zachary Morgan
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Chuck Muller, 2. Chris Brown, 3. Alex Lueth, 4. James Gratz, 5. A.J. Finnigan, 6. Zachary Morgan, 7. Christopher Neal
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Tristan Drazkowski, 2. Matt Moore, 3. Greg Brown, 4. Dustin McCracken, 5. Ryatt Dobbratz, 6. Tim Murphy, Sr., 7. Jay Raines
Qualifying: 1. Dustin McCracken 19.327, 2. TIm Murphy, Sr. 19.444, 3. Matt Moore 19.528, 4. Greg Brown 19.574, 5. Ryatt Dobbratz 19.601, 6. Tristan Drazkowski 19.661, 7. James Gratz 19.702, 8. Christopher Neal 19.740, 9. Chris Brown 19.756, 10. Chuck Muller 19.823, 11. Alex Lueth 19.902, 12. Zachary Morgan 20.184, 13. A.J. Finnigan 20.603
Crown Vics
Feature (12 laps): 1. Cole Scholze, 2. Bruce Backus, 3. Matthew Heim
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Bruce Backus, 2. Cole Scholze, 3. Matthew Heim
Qualifying: 1. Bruce Backus 20.506, 2. Matthew Heim 21.500, 3. Cole Scholze NO TIME
