By Gracie Cleveland
Wisconsin spring was finally warming up to a solid 62 degrees and sunny, drawing out 31 Sprint Cars to the Sun Prairie, WI town at Angell Park Speedway. Teams, fans, and officials then braved the cold temperatures as the sun set. To start the action-packed night off, Blake Nimee went fastest in Box3 Media Hot Laps, and Scotty Thiel would pick up the Hi Plains Building Division Quicktime award in Carbon Safety Technologies Qualifying shortly after.
Two of the night’s top drivers would lead the field in Fox Lake Harbor presents Allstar Performance Heat #1. The ‘Lone Wolf’ Danny Schlafer would check out and lead all eight laps to the checkered flag. BodyCraft of Antioch presents Engler Machine & Tool Heat #2, featuring an Honest Abe Roofing team front row of Max Guilford and Kevin Newton. Newton led the first three laps, but Guilford would throw a slider in turn four to steal the lead and secure the win.
Game Day Men’s Health presents Behling Racing Heat #3 would round out heat races for the night, with Jake Blackhurst picking up the win.
The Horizon Whiskey Dash Redraw featured Schlafer and Nimee drawing the pole positions for Optimum Electric Dash #1 and Kristine Hartmann-Pleasant View Realty Dash #2. Schlafer would end up falling back to second in Optimum Electric Dash #1 with the 17GP of Tim Shaffer picking up the win and starting on the pole of the night’s Dahlke Memorial 30-lap feature. The Kristine Hartmann-Plesant View Realty Dash #2 win was picked up by Nimee, who then would complete the front row of the 30-lap feature. Transferring out of the Behling Racing Equipment B Feature were Alex Pokorski, Shelby Bosie, Bill Rose, Matt Vandervere, Will Gerrits, and Scotty Broty. TJ Haddy earned the night’s A-Main Apparel and Diecast B-Main Award.
The Steel City Outlaw Tim Shaffer held on to the lead at the green. Nimee and Schlafer followed behind with the 51 of Scotty Thiel, starting a battle for third. Thiel got past Schlafer coming out of turn 4, advancing to third.
The red flag would come out as multiple cars were tangled and stopped. The 1K of Kelby Watt, Will Gerrits in the GR8, and the previous night’s feature winner, the 25T of Travis Arenz, all stopped in turn 3 with Arenz upside down. In the following turn, the 33 of Scotty Broty was found upside down and stuck on the 4 car, Alex Pokorski, meaning all GR8 cars were involved in the incident. Newton in the 16TH was also involved. All drivers involved were okay. Cars headed to the Honest Abe Roofing Work Area to make needed repairs. The 25T, 16TH, and 33 retired for the night, while all GR8 team cars 4, 1K, and GR8 rejoined the field from the tail.
On the restart, Shaffer continues to lead as Schlafer is all gas and gets passed Nimee for second. The 3N of Jake Neuman gets a jump and advances to third, putting Nimee down to 4th. On lap 4, a battle for the lead commenced between Shaffer and Schlafer. Schlafer passes Shaffer on lap 5 and continues to lead for multiple laps. Shaffer continues to follow the Sussex, WI native as the ‘North Pole Nightmare’ Bill Balog in the 17B, is gaining positions quickly from 8th. Entering lap 9, Balog passes Neuman for third and starts to hunt down Shaffer. Both 17 cars trade the second position back and forth during lap 10, but come to an abrupt stop as the red flag flies.
Kyle Schuett in the 9K takes a tumble in turn 1 while running in the 12th spot, bringing out the red. Safety crews arrive, and Schuett climbs out of the Progressive Propane 9K, fortunately okay. During the cleanup, Pokorski, Guilford and Watt make their way into the Honest Abe Roofing Work Area. Unlike Watt, Schuett, Pokorski, and Guilford would not return for the remaining 19 laps of the feature.
The green flag drops for the restart with 19 laps remaining, Schlafer leads on lap 11. Balog steals the second position, with his 139th career win as the goal. 17 laps to go, Balog and Schlafer go slide job for slide job with Balog eventually taking the lead. Following behind is Schaffer and Neuman, but a tight battle for fifth arises between Nimee and the 2W of Scotty Neitzel. Neitzel eventually secures the fifth spot, but Thiel starts to creep up on the Ironman. With 9 to go, Balog encounters lap traffic. Going into turn 4, Shaffer goes sideways, but holds onto it, allowing Neitzel to go past for third.
Shaffer starts to take back the third position on lap 23, but the Honest Abe Roofing Caution Flag comes out for Matt Vandervere in the 10V. Safety officials bring out the hook for the 10V after hard contact with the turn 2 wall. Vandervere retires for the rest of the night.
Balog leads the field back to green with 7 laps to go. Shaffer finds his line up top and gets past the 25, and continues to look for the lead. The 17 cars battle for 2 laps, with 5 to go, Shaffer in the 17GP gets past Balog for the lead. The Michael Dutcher Motorsports machine breaks away and gets a strong lead on the 17B with 4 laps to go. Shaffer takes the white flag and, 15.101 seconds later, takes the checkered flag to win the Dahlke Memorial. Bill Balog finished second, and Danny Schlafer would round out the podium, securing third.
After being the fifth Horizon Whiskey feature winner in the 2025 Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints feature, Shaffer said, “My guys are awesome, gave me a great car, and they bring the life back out of me.” Shaffer stated during his interview in Real American Beer Victory Lane.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Cars will be back in action on Saturday, May 24th, for Founders Night at Wilmot Raceway and Sunday Funday at 141 Speedway on Sunday, May 25th. Can’t be there? Catch all the action live on Flo Racing!
Photo: HW Designs
A Feature 30 Laps | 00:34:56.304
17GP-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 3. 25-Danny Schlafer[3]; 4. 51-Scotty Thiel[5]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[6]; 6. 3N-Jake Neuman[4]; 7. 79-Blake Nimee[2]; 8. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[18]; 9. 34-Sterling Cling[7]; 10. 85J-Logan Julien[13]; 11. 1K-Kelby Watt[14]; 12. 5D-Zach Daum[12]; 13. 96-Jake Blackhurst[10]; 14. 6-Bill Rose[20]; 15. 09-Clayton Rossmann[17]; 16. GR8-Will Gerrits[22]; 17. (DNF) 10V-Matt VanderVere[21]; 18. (DNF) 16C-Max Guilford[9]; 19. (DNF) 9K-Kyle Schuett[15]; 20. (DNF) 4-Alex Pokorski[19]; 21. (DNF) 16TH-Kevin Newton[11]; 22. (DNF) 25T-Travis Arenz[16]; 23. (DNF) 33-Scott Broty[23]; 24. (DNF) 3B-Shelby Bosie[24]
B Feature 12 Laps | 00:02:39.798
4-Alex Pokorski[2]; 2. 3B-Shelby Bosie[4]; 3. 6-Bill Rose[1]; 4. 10V-Matt VanderVere[5]; 5. GR8-Will Gerrits[8]; 6. 33-Scott Broty[6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy[3]; 8. 12-Corbin Gurley[12]; 9. 4K-Kris Spitz[7]; 10. 99-Tyler Brabant[10]; 11. 7F-Lance Fassbender[11]; 12. 24-Scott Conger[9]; 13. (DNS) 9-Tommy Colburn
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:00:50.657
17GP-Tim Shaffer[2]; 2. 25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 3. 51-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 34-Sterling Cling[3]; 5. 16C-Max Guilford[5]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:00:48.714
79-Blake Nimee[1]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 96-Jake Blackhurst[4]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:01:44.450
25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 2. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[2]; 3. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 4. 51-Scotty Thiel[4]; 5. 9K-Kyle Schuett[6]; 6. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 7. 4-Alex Pokorski[7]; 8. 10V-Matt VanderVere[9]; 9. GR8-Will Gerrits[8]; 10. (DNS) 99-Tyler Brabant
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:40.098
16C-Max Guilford[2]; 2. 16TH-Kevin Newton[1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien[5]; 5. 34-Sterling Cling[3]; 6. 09-Clayton Rossmann[8]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy[7]; 8. 33-Scott Broty[9]; 9. 24-Scott Conger[10]; 10. 9-Tommy Colburn[6]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:01:44.295
96-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[1]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[3]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 5. 1K-Kelby Watt[5]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[8]; 7. 3B-Shelby Bosie[7]; 8. 4K-Kris Spitz[9]; 9. 6-Bill Rose[6]; 10. 7F-Lance Fassbender[10]; 11. 12-Corbin Gurley[11]
Qualifying | 00:00:25.024
51-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.078[20]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.083[22]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.132[27]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman, 00:12.143[15]; 5. 34-Sterling Cling, 00:12.160[10]; 6. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:12.199[31]; 7. 17GP-Tim Shaffer, 00:12.206[12]; 8. 16C-Max Guilford, 00:12.218[21]; 9. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.223[16]; 10. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:12.226[24]; 11. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 00:12.228[29]; 12. 5D-Zach Daum, 00:12.236[8]; 13. 25T-Travis Arenz, 00:12.252[30]; 14. 85J-Logan Julien, 00:12.341[17]; 15. 1K-Kelby Watt, 00:12.350[11]; 16. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:12.356[28]; 17. 9-Tommy Colburn, 00:12.435[1]; 18. 6-Bill Rose, 00:12.442[23]; 19. 4-Alex Pokorski, 00:12.461[9]; 20. 21H-TJ Haddy, 00:12.467[26]; 21. 3B-Shelby Bosie, 00:12.552[3]; 22. GR8-Will Gerrits, 00:12.579[18]; 23. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 00:12.613[6]; 24. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.620[4]; 25. 10V-Matt VanderVere, 00:12.642[13]; 26. 33-Scott Broty, 00:12.711[25]; 27. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.878[5]; 28. 99-Tyler Brabant, 00:12.976[14]; 29. 24-Scott Conger, 00:13.226[7]; 30. 7F-Lance Fassbender, 00:13.389[19]; 31. (DNF) 12-Corbin Gurley[2]