3/22/2025
Eagle Raceway
Interview with 2024 Modified Champion Bob Zoubek
By Greg Soukup
It’s now just over 3 weeks before the first cars hit the high banks of Eagle Raceway when the first open house practice night happens on Saturday April 12th, followed by another open house practice night the following Thursday April 17th. Then on the 18th and 19th the fans will be treated to 2 nights of racing as the 2025 edition of the Icebreaker Challenge takes to the track.
In the meantime, hopefully this, the third installment of my chats with last year’s track champions at Eagle Raceway, will keep your spirits up and get you ready for the real thing. I spoke to Bob Zoubek who took home the hardware for topping the points in Nebraska’s Best Lawn and Landscape IMCA Modified class in 2024.
This was actually Bob’s third track championship, having been the top dog in modifieds at Beatrice in 2012 and twice at Eagle; once in 2016 and then again in 2024.
Bob started his racing career in 1996 racing a hobby stock at Beatrice as well as a Friday Night Flyer at Eagle Raceway. He then switched over to a Pro-Am, still competing at Beatrice and Eagle. “Everybody started to quit the Pro-Ams and Eagle dropped their Friday night show” so In 2004 he made the move to a modified. Just part-time but then going full time in 2005. “That was a humbling experience for sure” he said. “I hooked up with Jim Sasse, and that really helped me out!”.
I inquired about his feelings concerning running at Eagle, to which he replied “I love racing at Eagle. I think that’s the best track I’ve ever raced at in my life. I’ve raced everywhere in the area, in Kansas and Iowa plus a lot of different tracks here in Nebraska. The atmosphere at Eagle with the crowds is just great; truly hard to beat”.
I then asked Bob if winning the points last season at Eagle Raceway made up, at least in a small way for having had to stop competing in 2023 due to a broken arm. He said “It was a great deal, but I think we could have won 2 in a row. But, we’ll never know. When you have to quit to have surgery while you’re leading the points it really hurts, but we came back and proved that we were still good enough to win”.
He concluded our chat by stating that he had a lot of people that he wanted to thank. “Baker Boys Racing Suspension do an awful lot for me, Behrens Family Sweet Corn also help out so much, City Slickers Bar and Grill keep me in refreshments after the races, Mollock Motorsports and Noonan Industries are pretty much my main go to people at the moment. There are so many sponsors that keep me racing that it’s just hard to name them all, but I couldn’t do it without any of them. Of course, I need to thank my crew. Roger Klein, Gary West and Justin Sladek give me a great car every night”.
As for the 2025 season his plans are “We’re going to race at Eagle every night and anywhere else we can find to run. As long as we can compete twice a week, that’s what we’re going to do”.
Again, Open House Practices will be Saturday April 12th and Thursday April 17th with the Icebreaker Challenge kicking off the actual season Friday and Saturday April 18th and 19th.
To see the full season schedule and information go to the Eagle Raceway home page.
Submitted By: Racine Thompson
