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The Weather FINALLY cooperated, Wenthe Wins DIRTcar Modified, Vondohlen captures FIRST EVER DIRTcar Pro Modified WIN---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
7.26.2025 CHARLESTON SPEEDWAY: CHARLESTON, IL

Quite possibly the biggest story of the night, seemed to be the fact that the weather FINALLY cooperated and allowed us to do racecar things with our racecar friends at our favorite racecar track, The Charleston Speedway!! We have suffered 9 total rain outs thus far in 2025, making the last Saturday in July, only the fifth race of the season. The drivers were ready to get back to slinging dirt, and the fans were ready to cheer on their favorites. Of the 83 cars that checked in, we saw two divisions with more than full fields; those were the 24 in DIRTcar Modified and 22 in DIRTcar Hornet! The covered grandstands provided shade from the scorching heat to just over 300 eager fans that were ready to enjoy the evening. Looming storms expected to hit around 10pm, caused for a bit of a “hurry-up” short intermission that only lasted only 18 minutes, so the racing action was basically non stop from the first green flag that flew on qualifying at 6:19pm, right up until the final checkered flag that fell at 9:45pm. Thankfully, the storm completely broke apart and no rain fell. The track crew had the track great from the first race all the way to the last, but without the fans and drivers, it would all be for nothing; so, a HUGE shout out to the fans, the drivers, the car owners, the teams and our great volunteer track staff for another amazing event! YOU all are the ones that make EVERY race night, a SUCCESS!!

Here’s a rundown of some of the action from July 26, 2025!
DIRTcar Modified division saw 24 entries.
Qualifying results:
1.#22 Wade Wenthe 14.471
2.#87 David Shain 14.503
3.#95 Ed Roley 14.549
4.#3F Rob Fuqua 14.607
5.#114 Brent Moore 14.638

The three heat races were won by #22 Wade Wenthe, #87 David Shain and #01K Billy Knippenberg. After setting quick time, and then winning Heat 1, Wenthe would be starting P1 for the 20 lap feature event. When the green flag flew, Wenthe never looked back, leading lap 1 all the way to the checkered flag, to take home the top prize! With the winner starting P1, you might think the race was lackluster, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Fans were able to enjoy side by side racing with 3, and sometimes 4 wide racing, wheel to wheel, bumper to bumper, lap after lap!! Hard Charger honors go to #71 Jeff Graham, as he took advantage of the racey surface and moved up 13 positions from his 24th starting spot to take the 11th finishing position. Billy Knippenberg, Ed Roley, David Shain and Drake Stevenson spent the majority of the race wheel to wheel fighting for their place in the top 5. A couple of other notable chargers were Don Kiger with his +7 run and Talen Beard with his +5 run to finish 7th. After being involved in a late race incident, #114 Brent Moore finished 17th and found a nice surprise at the pay window. Our announcer, Rob Calhoun, recently lost his mother, in her honor the Calhoun family added $80 to whomever finished 17th in DIRTcar Modified, although likely not the way he wanted to earn an extra payday, Moore was thankful to receive the extra bonus.

Moving onto DIRTcar Pro Modified:
DIRTcar Pro Modified saw 14 entries.
Qualifying results:
1.#27V Drake Vondohlen 15.182
2.#72 Donnie Cheesman 15.246
3.#H28 David Henderson 15.254
4.#3W B.J. Deal 15.398
5.#27 Drew Schwartz 15.413

The 2 heat races were won by #27V Drake Vondohlen and #72 Donnie Cheesman. That heat win would put Vondohlen starting P1, 15 laps later, Vondohlen found himself winning his first ever DIRTcar Pro Modified Feature! First time winners are always a blast. Drivers race week after week and sometimes they get down on themselves & wonder “Will I ever win a feature?”, Vondohlen answered that question for himself and everyone in attendance as he finished with a one second lead over current point leader, #72 Donnie Cheesman! Cheesman had his hands full most all of the race with challenges from #3W B.J. Deal, however, Cheesman kept his composure and held off the challenge forcing Deal to settle for 3rd. The track slowed down from qualifying to the feature event by over a full second, which provided for some great side by side racing action. Taking home Hard Charger honors was the #78K Kaden Donley. Congratulations to Drake Vondohlen on his big win!

DIRTcar Factory Stock saw 7 entries.
Qualifying results:
1.#11S John Strawser 16.854
2.#42 Jesse Simmons 17.091
3.#19 Duncan Auter 17.191

DIRTcar Stock Car saw 6 entries.
Qualifying results:
1.#5 Ryan Taylor 15.999
2.#16L Dylon Holycross 16.160
3.#187 Korey Bailey 16.844

With the desire to continue the long tradition of running both DIRTcar Factory Stock as well as DIRTcar Stock Car, but also being conscious of the financial limitations associated with the struggling car counts in both divisions; the decision was made to make adjustments to our methods. The decision was made that we would qualify and heat race the two divisions separately, but when the feature time rolled around, the two divisions would race on the track at the same time. While racing on track at the same time, the two divisions were scored separately. Each competitor in each division was competing for the purse money as well as the points in their own respective division, as all of that remained separate. Ultimately, what happened was, the drivers were able to race with 12 other cars, and the fans had to stay closely engaged to see where their favorite would finish. There were no significant negative impacts to the end result, and the fans received an extra layer of entertainment. Whether or not we continue the practice is yet to be determined, but it was certainly fun and entertaining to see and think about.
#42 Jesse Simmons would win the Factory Stock heat due to a disqualification and change in divisions by another competitor, which gave Simmons the P1 feature starting position.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, #99K Jerrad Krick was unable to attempt a qualifying lap, so he was relegated to starting last in the Stock Car heat race, but he wouldn’t stay there long. Krick completed the pass to lead lap 5 and never looked back on his way to another heat race win.
With heat race wins under their belts, Simmons would start P1 of Factory Stock and Krick would start P1 of Stock Car. The way the combining of the divisions was carried out, the ENTIRE Stock Car division started side-by-side in front of Factory Stock. Each lining up according to their heat race effort. The green flag flew for the 15 lap feature and outside of a late race caution on lap 14, the entire race was caution free. The excitement and racing action was definitely there!! While current Stock Car point leader #5 Ryan Taylor has won 3 Stock Car features in a row, #99K Jerrad Krick was there to end his streak. Krick started P1 and never gave Taylor the opportunity to lead a single lap picking up his second win this season at The Charleston Speedway. Stock Car driver, #97 Josh Griffith, after struggling during qualifying and missing his heat race completely was able to rally back to a podium finish with his 5th to 3rd place run. During the Factory Stock Heat, #11 John Strawser would suffer a cut tire on lap 2 that ended his heat race. The top 4 in Factory Stock feature would finish just as they started, but Strawser was able to have a redemptive run and convert his 7th starting place into a 5th place finish.
Combining the two separate divisions in the way we did it, seems to be receiving more positive than negative reviews. We will be communicating to the major stake holders in the coming days and work closely together to offer the best experience we can offer to our fans and our drivers & teams as well. This is a group participation situation, and we will continue to work to make it a great process. If you would like your thoughts to be heard on this or any other issue, drop us an email at charlestonspeedway2020@gmail.com.

Onto DIRTcar Hornets:
DIRTcar Hornets saw 22 entries.
Heat races were won by #44DD Airn McRill, #15 David Lauritson and #6J Kenny Cordes. Until we have 25 or more cars entered in a single division, we will start ALL competitors that show up to race with us. With that being the case, all 22 DIRTcar Hornets were set to take to the track come feature time, unfortunately 2 cars were unable to make the call. There is very little more exciting than 20 of the fastest Hornets in the country ripping around the high banks of The Charleston Speedway, but #22M William Muma took it up a notch. On the initial start, exiting turn 2 headed down the back stretch, Muma made contact with another car, and then the wall. After contact with the wall, Muma’s #22M was sent flipping down the back stretch right in front of #41 Danny Waddell. Waddell would suffer damage to significant enough to end his feature before it started, but nothing compared to the carnage that was left of Muma’s car. Thankfully both drivers walked away with minor bumps and bruises, and no significant injury. We are extremely thankful for all of the safety measures our drivers take to ensure their safety, and a HUGE thank you to our safety crew for their professional execution of rolling his car over back on to its wheels, as well as all the track clean up. When there is a crash like this, there is certain to be fluids and other debris left on the track. Our infield volunteers are always quick and extremely efficient with their effort to not only clean up a mess on the track, but also to ensure it is safe for our drivers to drop the hammer! The Hornet drivers wasted no time getting right back to the racing action. #44DD Airn McRill started P1 along side #15 David Lauritson who would succumb to mechanical issues and finish 15th. McRill would lead lap 1 and refuse to give the lead up to the hard charging #26J of Kenny Cordes. Cordes wasted no time getting to P2, little did he know that P2 would be as far forward as he was going. McRill did not have an easy win though, Cordes made sure of that. The two raced each other hard for the 12lap feature, but when the Checkered flag fell, it was all McRill. This marks win #3 of the season for McRill who is still trailing #41 Jaekob Durbin in the Championship chase by 21 points.

The racing this season, what little we have been able to have due to rain out cancellations, has been awesome, lap after lap. Brad Agney and his crew continue to provide a great race track every time they have the opportunity. Fan attendance continues to be as good as our car counts. If you have not made it out to the Speedway yet this season, make plans NOW to be in attendance!!

We have been working with a couple of new track photographers for the speedway due to Serenity York’s recent job transfer. All of the photos she took over the last couple of years can be viewed and purchased following this link:
www.yorkphotography.smugmug.com

One of the new photographers, Karson Evans, has his pics posted up at this link:
https://karsonevans.smugmug.com/Charleston-Speedway

Gail Roe is also helping with track pics, and we will post a link on our Facebook page as soon as we have one.
We certainly miss Serenity and wish her the best, and we are so thankful for Roe and Evans stepping up and helping ensure we capture the memories that are made at The Charleston Speedway. Be sure to check out the photos these two are sharing.
Be sure you keep up to date with whats going on at The Charleston Speedway by clicking the LIKE and FOLLOW button on our Facebook page. You can also follow all of the racing action by using the My Race Pass app, no matter where you are. Just download the app and search Charleston Speedway.

Next up on the schedule is the highly anticipated Fan Appreciation and Driver Autograph night this coming Saturday night August 2, 2025 presented by Steak ‘N Shake of Mattoon, IL. Grandstand admission is ONLY $5…and at intermission, we will have a driver autograph session FREE OF CHARGE right on the front-stretch of the Speedway! This is a MUST ATTEND event! You won’t wanna miss it.

SO MAKE SURE YOU GRAB A FRIEND AND JOIN US AT THE CHARLESTON SPEEDWAY…….!!!
#chuckvegas

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