Oregon, WI- For the second time in his ASA Midwest Tour career, Ty Majeski has had a bounty placed upon him. This time the bounty has been posted by World Wide Technology Raceway and is set for $3,600 on Sunday afternoon May 5, 2024 at Madison International Speedway for the Joe Shear Classic 200. Previously a $1,500 bounty was placed on Majeski in 2017 at Grundy County Speedway, an event won by multi-time track Champion Ricky Baker following a late race melee which eventually saw Majeski pull his #91 machine into the pit area, disallowing the bounty to be collected.
For any driver to claim the bounty on Sunday afternoon, Majeski must be on the lead lap at the end of the race. Advance discount tickets are available online at misracing.com/tickets. Spectator gates open at 10:30am Sunday with qualifying at 12:45pm and racing beginning at 2pm. Madison International Speedway is located at 1122 Sunrise Road in Oregon, WI.
WANTED
91 Majeski- The five-time Midwest Tour Champion collected his record setting 35th career tour win last month at Slinger Super Speedway. The current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standout is arguably this generation’s most decorated Super Late Model driver. In addition to his Midwest Tour success, he has twice claimed the win at the Snowball Derby, has three Slinger Nationals titles, five Rattler wins, has also won three Oktoberfest crowns and was the inaugural ASA STARS National Tour Champion. Majeski is a two-time and defending Joe Shear Classic winner.
Majeski’s Joe Shear Classic Performances: 2023: 1, 2022: 27, 2021: 7, 2019: 21, 2017: 3, 2016: 1, 2015: 3, 2014: 20 Average Finish: 10.375
THE BOUNTY HUNTERS
4 Luke Fenhaus- One of the drivers that has kept the pressure on Majeski and has out dueled him on multiple occasions is Luke Fenhaus. One such time came during the 2021 Slinger Nationals in which Fenhaus won and then went on to SRX fame a week later. Fenhaus, while only having one Tour win, is a former State Park Speedway, CARS Tour Pro Late Model and Slinger Super Speedway Champion. The former Tour Rookie of the Year had a spectacular 2023 season, winning his second Alive for 5 title, sweeping both races of the Capital 100 at MIS and winning the ARCA Menards Series event at Iowa Speedway to go along with an ARCA East win at Nashville.
5 Casey Johnson- No stranger to winning extra bonus money at MIS, two-time Tour Champion Casey Johnson returns to ‘Wisconsin’s Fastest Half Mile’ this Sunday afternoon. The eight-time Midwest Tour winner swept both Tour races at Madison in 2022, winning both the Shear and Lettow Classics. With big wins at Milwaukee, Oktoberfest and Wisconsin International, Johnson will be one to watch. He is a three-time Jefferson Speedway Champion, has twice won the Fox River Racing Club Crown, is a two-time National Short Track Championship winner, has collected two Red, White and Blue State Championships to go along with his six Wisconsin State Championships, not to mention two Championships in both the Tundra and Big 8 Series. All told, Johnson has five career Super Late Model wins at MIS and more importantly, has found a way to have a car beneath him at race’s end.
7 Paul Shafer, Jr- Fan favorite Paul Shafer, Jr will be making his first Midwest Tour appearance of the season on Sunday afternoon, seeking his fifth career Midwest Tour victory. Shafer scored the Howie Lettow Classic win at Madison in 2017 and promises to be in contention to claim the track’s other marquee Midwest Tour event. Having won Super Late Model Track Championships at both Illiana Motor Speedway and Grundy County Speedway, he and crew chief Chris Purdy, the 2001 MIS Late Model Champ will make the haul from Indiana in an attempt to collect the bounty. Shafer put on a long distance race clinic during the Gandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin International in 2021, will he do the same in Sunday’s 200-lap battle?
14 Austin Nason- He won his Joe Shear Classic in 2018, it was Austin Nason’s first big-time Super Late Model triumph. The 2015 Midwest Tour Rookie of the Year went on to win the MIS Super Late Triple Crown title in 2018 and has since posted wins in the Father’s Day 100 at The Milwaukee Mile, All-Star 100 at Rockford and the Wayne Carter Classic at Grundy County Speedway. His most recent Tour win came just last August at Madison, making a late race charge to cross the finish line first in the Howie Lettow Classic. Nason currently has three Super Late victories at Oregon. Now chasing the ASA STARS National Tour, Sunday will be one of the rare Midwest Tour starts for the two-time National Short Track Championship winner.
15 Gabe Sommers- The defending ASA Midwest Tour Champion will look to improve upon his third place showing in last year’s Shear Classic. The four-time Tour winner put an exclamation point on his Championship season by winning at both Hawkeye Downs in August and then picking up his first Oktoberfest 200 win at La Crosse in route to the title. Sommers’ crew chief Travis Sauter won the 2013 Joe Shear Classic and has twelve Super Late wins at Madison. Gabe has been stellar behind the wheel of his #15 Super Late since winning the Tour Rookie of the Year in 2019. Having won both the Larry Detjens Memorial at State Park Speedway and the Jim Sauter Classic at Dells Raceway Park, is 2024 the year he adds the Joe Shear Classic trophy to his collection?
119 Dalton Zehr- Podium finishes in the Joe Shear Classic 200 have become commonplace for Dalton Zehr. In his last two Joe Shear Classic starts, the 2018 Midwest Tour Champion placed third in 2021 followed by a runner-up finish in 2022. Zehr found himself in the middle of the 2022 Fox River Racing Club points battle, a battle which he eventually came out on top of at Wisconsin International where he also added his name as the Red, White and Blue State Champion. In 2023, he laid claim to the 62nd annual Bettenhausen Memorial at Grundy County Speedway as well as the Midwest Tour ‘Salute the Troops 100’ at Jefferson Speedway, his fourth Tour victory. Perhaps the most remembered run of 2023 was when Zehr made a late race rally to lead late at Oktoberfest. The day ended for him, as he and another car made contact wrestling for P1. The other driver currently has a $3600 Bounty placed on him.
Others Snooping Around These Parts- 2 Bilderback (3 weekly MIS wins), 7 DeAngelis (Multiple Top 5 MIS runs), 8 Mohn (5th in Howie Lettow), 17 Kahler (2nd at Slinger, third at Lettow), 23 VanDerGeest (5th last year), 25 Storm (5th in 2021, 1 MIS Super Win), 36 Fredrickson (Dells Icebreaker Winner, 3rd at Fest), 44 Mondeik (Tour Winner), 45 VanOudenhoven (3 MIS Super Wins, 5 time WIR Champ), 47 Stenjem (2nd Lettow, 2nd MIS Weekly Points), 52 Baker (He won last time a Bounty was posted), 76 Lynch (Swept the Midwest Trucks at MIS in 2023), 80 Farrell (Has been in the hunt at MIS), 87 Edmunds (2 weekly MIS wins)