Cedar Rapids, IA- Super Late Model drivers from five states will invade Hawkeye Downs this Saturday night (August 20, 2022) for the Iowa Donor Network 100. The ‘Stars and Cars’ of the ARCA Midwest Tour will be led by two-time Tour Champion and current point leader Casey Johnson, central Wisconsin front runners Gabe Sommers, Levon VanDerGeest and Justin Mondeik as well as former Tour Champ and Hawkeye winner Jonathan Eilen Racing begins at 7pm on Saturday. Here is a breakdown of those drivers:
Expected Entries for Saturday August 20, 2022 (17 as of 8/15/22)
SLM WINNER 2 Gregory Borchardt Prior Lake MN Dan’s Auto/Turnkey Boatworks/Prior Lake Auto/Schaeffer’s Chevrolet -Making limited Super Late Model starts, the former Sportsman division standout visited LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway Super Late Model victory lane at Oktoberfest a few seasons ago. He and his family continue to improve their Super Late Model efforts and will again return to Hawkeye Downs to race against the Midwest Tour competition.
SLM WINNER 4 Scott Tomasik Avon IN Morris Transmission/Clermont Liquors Toyota -Tomasik won the final Tony Bettenhausen Memorial held at Illiana Motor Speedway (IN) in 2015 and has multiple weekly wins at Grundy County Speedway in Illinois. Tomasik made his first Tour appearance of the season at Milwaukee and again competed with the Tour in July at Grundy. A side window blowing out at Milwaukee and an ignition issue on the grid at Grundy have hampered the team’s efforts thus far, but the third time is the charm. This will mark Tomasik’s first Midwest Tour appearance at Hawkeye Downs.
TOUR CHAMPION 5 Casey Johnson Edgerton WI Hougan Farms/Encompass Construction/Dixon Drywall/Wise Guys Auto Chevrolet -Johnson’s Tour season has been tough on his fellow competitors, second at Slinger, winning the Joe Shear Classic at Madison, third at Jefferson, winning at Milwaukee and a second earlier this month at WIR. In addition to three Jefferson titles, Johnson has amassed two track championships and two Red, White and Blue State Championships at Wisconsin International, two in Big 8, two Tundra titles, six Wisconsin State Championships at Jefferson, the 2013 and 2016 MIS Triple Crowns and two National Short Track Championships at Rockford Speedway. Johnson won the Alive for 5 feature at the Dells last weekend.
TOUR WINNER 15 Gabe Sommers Plover WI WI Potato & Veg Growers Assoc/DeKalb/Kwik Trip/Rowdy Energy Toyota -Sommers recorded his breakthrough win at the Larry Detjens Memorial at State Park Speedway in 2019, to date his only Tour win. He went on to become the 2019 Midwest Tour Rookie of the Year and backed up that effort with a runner-up points finish in 2020 and fifth a season ago. It has become commonplace to find the 15 car running up front, finishing second at Jefferson and Grundy while finishing third in the Gandrud Auto Group 250 earlier this month.. He currently sits second in Tour points.
BIG 8 CHAMPION 17 Max Kahler Caledonia IL Windsor Auto Sales/Retool/B&K Concrete Ford – Max Kahler had the car to beat at Rockford’s Spring Classic and he delivered for his family operated team, dominating the 88 lap contest to start the Big 8 Season. Since then he has added a pair of weekly wins at the Northern Illinois quarter mile oval. The young pilot had quite the week in October of 2020, charging at the end and making a late race pass to win the National Short Track Championship at Rockford and then having trailed in the Big 8 point standings he put together an impressive run at Oktoberfest to claim the Big 8 Series title.
TRUCK CHAMPION 23 Levon VanDerGeest Merrill WI Central Sawdust of WI/Breber Music/Culver’s Chevrolet -Levon VanDerGeest recorded his first VDL Fast Time Award last month when the ARCA Midwest Tour visited Grundy County Speedway. Levon became the youngest winner in Milwaukee Mile history when he rolled to the Midwest Truck Series victory on Father’s Day 2019. Levon went on to become the 2019 Truck Champion and finished second in the 2021 ARCA Midwest Tour Rookie of the Year standings. Levon’s first visit to Hawkeye Downs resulted in an eleventh place showing last year and is fresh off an impressive fifth place run at WIR.
SLM CHAMPION 26 Dean Cornelius Bloomington MN CVF/Refinishers Supply/Stop Tech Brakes/Phil Russell Trucking Chevrolet -Nearly twenty years ago Cornelius was an up and comer on the asphalt. The 2003 Raceway Park Champion ventured out of Minnesota and claimed the Midwest Allstar Racing Series Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 on the strength of a win at Madison. Cornelius continued to be ultra successful by racking up wins with his dirt stock car around the country and is now back concentrating on asphalt racing, teamed with longtime Minnesota Champion Mark Lamoreaux. With a new power plant under the hood, the duo heads to the former stop on the NASCAR Northern Series trail.
LM WINNER 40 Curt Tillman Roscoe IL AllTrucksUSA.com Chevrolet -Curt Tillman is a former weekly front runner at Rockford Speedway, and was named the Speedway’s most popular driver in 1986 where he picked up multiple feature wins. Now back at it with a new found enthusiasm and the help of former Midwest Tour Champion Andrew Morrissey. Curt has been fast on Thursday nights at Wisconsin International Raceway this season, leading multiple times and recording multiple preliminary wins.
TOUR WINNER 44 Justin Mondeik Gleason WI Powerhouse Lawn & Leisure/Metsa Machines/Merrill Manufacturing/Agra Chevrolet – Mondeik’s lone Tour win was recorded during the 2020 Larry Detjens Memorial at State Park Speedway where he is a two-time and defending Track Champion. With a fifth win at State Park just last week, Mondeik is again leading the point standings at his home track. In addition to his Wausau success, Mondeik has posted back to back Stateline Challenge wins at Norway Speedway in the UP of Michigan and collected the Champion’s Hardware the past two seasons at Golden Sands Speedway. Mondeik finds himself fifth in the Tour point standings and has tallied a total of twelve weekly wins on the season.
49 Jerry Mueller Richfield WI All Pro Asphalt/Paving Pal/Homer’s Towing/Hair 251/Reed Enterprises Chevrolet -Making his Midwest Tour debut at perhaps one of his best tracks, Jerry Mueller will make the haul from Eastern Wisconsin to Hawkeye Downs for Saturday Night’s Iowa Donor Network 100. In the past three Big 8 Series events at the Iowa pavement oval, the former Slinger Street Stock Champion has clicked off a third place effort, a fourth and most recently another podium performance, placing third at Hawkeye in June.
HAWKEYE CHAMPION 64 Griffin McGrath Cedar Rapids IA McGrathAuto.com Chevrolet -With his attention mainly on INEX Legend Car racing these days, McGrath will return to Super Late Models this weekend and at a track he has been known to run quite well at. McGrath is the 2018 Hawkeye Downs Track Champion and was victorious this June in the Big 8 Series Clash at the Downs. McGrath scored an ASA Late Model Series North victory at The Milwaukee Mile in 2010 and has three Midwest Tour Fast Qualifier Awards to his credit.
SLM CHAMPION 71 Blake Brown Twin Lakes WI McCloskey Farms/Terry’s Auto Group/Olson’s Iron & Disposal Ford -Unlike many of the up and coming drivers who talk about how iracing got them into racing, iracing during the pandemic got this driver turned fisherman back into the sport in which he found much success. Brown was the 2011 Illiana Super Late Model Track Champion and then went traveling with the Midwest Trucks, becoming their Champion in 2014 alongside a Championship in the Trucks at Madison. Brown is the 2021 Grundy County Speedway Sportsman Champion and won a weekly SLM feature at Grundy in June.
TOUR CHAMPION 77 Jonathan Eilen Hampton MN Eilen & Sons Trucking & Landscape/Graber Auto Body Ford -Eilen returned to Tour Victory Lane for the first time in over nine years at State Park Speedway in July, 86 events had passed. The 2012 ARCA Midwest Tour Champion and 2007 Tour Rookie of the Year has a total of six career feature victories including the first ever Tour event in 2007 held at his home track, Elko Speedway. Eilen, who is seventh on the all-time wins list will make his Tour Record 150th start on Saturday Night. Jonathan sits third in the Tour Point Standings and is the only former Tour Hawkeye Downs winner entered this weekend.
SLM CHAMPION 77 Riley Stenjem Utica WI Sreamin’ Norwegian/Hausz Contractors/Hougan Farms/Direct Networks Chevrolet -Stenjem has adopted quickly to Late Models, the three-time Legend Wisconsin State Champion won the Jefferson Speedway Late Model Rookie of the Year Award along with winning two out of the three Wisconsin State Championship feature events in 2019. With limited Tour starts, he has posted five top ten finishes, with top tens coming during last year’s Howie Lettow Classic and Oktoberfest 200. The 2021 Tundra Series Champion and 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development Program Driver posted top ten finishes in his last three tour starts, fifth at Madison, sixth at Jefferson and fifth at Grundy.
SLM WINNER 81 Bryan Syer-Keske Lakeville MN Advanced Diesel Power/Fredrickson Signs/Bros Jorgenson Chevrolet -The former Elko Speedway weekly Super Late Model winner has a strong Oktoberfest last fall finishing eighth overall in the Dick Trickle 99 and qualifying for Sunday’s ARCA Midwest Tour 200 lap Championship Feature. Syer-Keske believes he is in the best position he has ever been in to compete with the ‘Stars and Cars’ of the ARCA Midwest Tour and will join them Saturday at Hawkeye Downs.
LM WINNER 95 Harley Jankowski Sparta WI Hableman Brothers Cranberrys/Kurts Shop/Modern Disposal Sys Chevrolet -The former LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway competitor has made the move to Super Late Models and has found victory during Central Wisconsin Racing Association action. Having recently acquired the former Skylar Holzhausen mount which finished third at Hawkeye in 2015. Jankowski currently sits second in the 2022 ARCA Midwest Tour Rookie of the Year standings.
TRUCK CHAMPION 100 Tristian Swanson New Market MN Marthaler.com/Country Joe Homes/Gumm Farms/Hamke Toyota -A second generation driver, Tristian has his sights set on the Tour Rookie of the Year Award and is the current Rookie point leader. Last season, a win at Madison’s Joe Shear Classic put him on everyone’s radar in the Midwest Trucks. Swanson went on to win four features and was crowned Midwest Truck Champion and Rookie of the Year at season’s end. Tristian is a former Legends Track Champion at Dells Raceway Park and started his Super Late Model season by competing in the Chilly Willy at Tucson Speedway in AZ. He posted back to back tenth place finishes in Tour action at Jefferson and Milwaukee earlier this season.
Schedule of Events for Iowa Donor Network 100, Saturday August 20:
2pm Pit Gate Opens
4pm Practice Begins
4pm Front Gates Open
5:45pm Qualifying Begins
7pm Racing Begins
Ticket Pricing: General Admission Tickets $20, Seniors and Youth $15, children ages 8 and under admitted free.
Divisions: The ARCA Midwest Tour will be joined by the Midwest Dash Series and Legends.
Location: Hawkeye Downs is located at 4400 6th Street SW in Cedar Rapids, IA. For additional information visit www.hawkeyedowns.org or call 319-365-8656.
Past Midwest Tour Hawkeye Downs Winners
2007 Steve Carlson
2008 Steve Carlson
2009 Steve Carlson
2010 Steve Carlson
2011 Jonathan Eilen
2014 Ty Majeski
2015 Ty Majeski
2021 Ty Majeski *also set Track Record 18.216 seconds
