9/10/2025
Eagle Raceway
Stewart Alley Memorial recap by Greg Soukup
By Greg Soukup
The sad news is that Sunday’s second annual Stewart Alley Memorial, presented by Tyler Perry Enterprises marked the end of the 2025 season for Eagle Raceway. The great news is that those in attendance or watching on Dirtvision were treated to one truly great evening of racing action.
The ASCS 360 sprint car series hadn’t visited America’s Home Track since 2019, but their triumphant return to the high-banked 1/3 mile showed why they are one of the top racing series in the world. The Malvern Bank 360’s were also on hand to add to the car count. All told, 58 360 teams packed the pits. The addition of 25 of the IMCA Racesaver sprints made for an all-sprint car show, and what a show it was!!
Tony Rost from Utica, Nebraska was fastest in qualifying for the 360’s with a blistering 11.551 second lap.
There were 2 serious incidents in the preliminary action, both occurring in the ASCS sprints. In heat #2, the 7C of Chris Morgan got very loose in turn 1 causing both Dylan Opdahl’s 2E and the 8B of Jake Galusha to hit him and go flipping. Then on lap 1 of the Last Chance Showdown Gaige Weldon in the 35W and the 16G of Austin Gossel went flipping down the front stretch. Neither driver was seriously injured, but their nights were done.
The first A Feature was for the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprints. Adam Gullion was first back to the flag stand on lap 1 in the 24Z with Cole Vanderheiden’s 15V, the 32 of Trefer Waller and Logan Moore’s #6 rounding out the top 4. Tyler Drueke quickly moved up from his 9th place starting position to grab fourth from Moore. 2 laps later he passed Waller to advance to third and got past Vanderheiden for second a few laps later. Vanderheiden retook the position a couple of laps later. Lap 14 saw the 8B of Kaedon Thurman spin to a stop at the exit of turn 2 for a caution. With 10 to go Gunnar Pike’s 25 flipped up and over the wall in turn 1, coming to a halt just inside the catch fence bringing out the red flag. Drueke did not see the red flag nor hear the announcement over his Receiver. He kept going full speed down the front stretch, wheel hopped Gullion’s rear tire and slammed head on into the implement tire guarding the pit entrance. After he was extracted from his racer he was taken to the hospital for observation. I spoke to him the next morning and he said that other than a headache and a sore neck he was fine. Thank goodness for modern safety equipment!! At that time, your top 4 were Gullion, Vanderheiden, the 35 of Trevor Grossenbacher and Moore. Grossenbacher got a great restart, snagging the lead as Vanderheiden also passed Gullion to move up to second. 1 lap later Moore too passed Gullion to take over the third spot. Try as he might, Vanderheiden could not pass Grossenbacher and the top 4 remained unchanged to the checkers with Grossenbacher first, Vanderheiden second, Moore third and Gullion fourth.
Trevor took home the top payout of $1,222 for his victory.
I congratulated him on a great run and he said “It was good, other than that unfortunate accident where Tyler hit that tire. It helped us on the restart though. This was an awesome race to win, the Stewart Alley Memorial. He was an awesome guy. We bought our first race car from him and I’ve been hooked up with Billy ever since. We restarted third, the leader and second place went to the bottom and we went around them on the top, then moved back to the bottom. I wasn’t sure where to run once I got the lead, so I stayed up on the top until I saw Cole’s nose under me. I went down to protect and did what I had to do because Cole is so fast. I had to move down there to keep him from passing me. It was a great racetrack tonight, thanks to Roger and a fantastic event thanks to Tyler. It just keeps getting better and better every year. I mean, where else are you going to go to watch this many sprint cars on a Sunday?”
Trevor’s sponsors include Stop N Shop, Muehling Financial, Fastrak Farms, Gregg Masonry, Cornhusker Heating, Buda Concrete, Husker Diesel, TP Enterprises, Ron Fox Motorsports, Silver Ridge Construction, Speedway Motors Racing Engines, Zamp, Wilwood, Central Body Shop, Onyx Digital Group and WC’s Sports Bar.
The ASCS A Main was up next. Time to put the cherry on top of what was another fabulous season of dirt track racing at America’s Home Track, Eagle Raceway. And what better way to do that than to have 27 of the best 360 sprint car drivers in the world compete for 35 laps trying to take home the $10,222 payout waiting for the victor?
Sam Hafertepe Jr. got a good start, moving from inside row 2 to the lead in his 15H. Cameron Martin, who started on the pole fell in behind Hafertepe in the 4M as JJ Hickle’s 63 and the 5 of Ryder McCutcheon rounded out the top 4. Blake Hahn got past McCutcheon on lap 2, putting the #5 into fourth position. McCutcheon regained the fourth spot on lap 7. 2 laps later the 47 of Brant Obanion hit the turn 4 wall hard and the yellow lights were lit in the corners. Hahn headed to the pits during the caution. Carson McCarl spun the 27 out in turn 2 on lap 10 to slow the action again. Martin took advantage of the restart to pass Hafertepe for the top spot. Cody Gardner’s 6 spun out in turn 1 on lap 12. Dustin Selvage looped the 6K in turns 3 & 4 on lap 14 for another caution. Hafertepe took back the lead on lap 17 but relinquished it to Martin again 3 laps later. McCarl spun to the infield on lap 28 and the yellow flag was again brought out. Austin McCarl got past McCutcheon on the restart, putting his 88W into fourth place. The following circuit saw Hickle get loose in turns 3 & 4, sliding up the track but managing to keep going. McCutcheon tried to avoid contact with Hickle and hit the wall, causing his right front wheel to come off. The caution lights were lit in the corners again. The top 4 at that point were Martin, Hafertepe, Austin McCarl and Hickle. 3 circuits remained when Hickle got under Austin McCarl to take back third. The top 4 stayed the same to the checkers with Martin winning, Hafertepe second, Hickle third and Austin McCarl fourth.
The top 2 were a reversal of the previous night’s finish where Hafertepe best Martin for the victory. This marked Martin’s very first ASCS win of his career. To nobody’s surprise he was all smiles in victory lane. I congratulated him on win #1 with the ASCS to which he replied “First one! I was able to knock off my first win at Knoxville earlier this year and got to knock off my first 2 podium finishes with the ASCS this year too. I finished second to Sam last night at 81 Speedway but we were able to get back around him for the win tonight. This win was super cool and I can’t thank Tyler Perry Enterprises enough, Eagle Raceway and ASCS. This is such a cool night with so much money that came into the race, and on a Sunday night. I’ve got class in the morning, but this was an awesome way to end the weekend.” I mentioned that he was very patient and took his time before passing Hafertepe and moving to the lead. He stated “I was pretty glued to the high side because I felt really good up there. I ran the bottom a few times just to hold Sam off. The top worked in very nice. I’ll have to watch the replay but I’m sure that everyone else behind me was giving it all they got. Just super cool banging the boards here at Eagle, one of the better racetracks in the world, especially with me getting my first ASCS win here. I want to thank everybody who helps put this car together. It’s a team effort and I’m proud to represent my sponsors.”
Cameron’s sponsors include Intellicence, Higher View Enterprises, Heartland Steel, C&B Elevator Construction, Tom Davis Automotive and Northways Heating and Cooling.
So many people are to be thanked for helping to put this event on; Tyler Perry Enterprises, the Alley family, ASCS, the fantastic staff at Eagle Raceway and of course Roger Hadan and Racine Thompson. Their tireless efforts this week and all year long make Eagle what it is; One Badass Racetrack!!
Don’t forget to come out to Eagle Hollow Haunts this Halloween season and we do have one last thing on the agenda; the Eagle Raceway and Mini-E Raceway banquet on January 10, 2026.
We look forward to seeing you all at the track next year for what is going to be an even bigger and better season with lots of special events including the third annual Stewart Alley Memorial.
Submitted By: Racine Thompson
