Joe Shear Classic 200 Entry List
Oregon, WI- With three former winners of the Joe Shear Classic, four Midwest Tour Champions, twelve drivers with Madison feature wins and nine Midwest Tour winners represented in the field, the stage is set Sunday’s (May 5, 2024) Joe Shear Classic 200 at Madison International Speedway. Twenty-eight Super Late Models will take the green flag in the $15,000 to win, $1,500 to start, 200-lap feature at ‘Wisconsin’s Fastest Half Mile’.
Former Shear winners include Ty Majeski (2016, 2023), Austin Nason (2018) and Casey Johnson (2022). Both Majeski and Johnson are joined by fellow ASA Midwest Tour Champions Dalton Zehr and Gabe Sommers. Sommers, the defending Tour Champ placed third in last year’s edition before winning at both Hawkeye Downs and the Oktoberfest 200 at LaCrosse, while Zehr was the runner-up to Johnson two years ago, third three years ago in this event and claimed his fourth career Midwest Tour win last May at Jefferson.
Of note, there are ten drivers entered that have visited MIS Victory Lane with their Late Model over the years. Jeff Storm, Austin Nason, Paul Shafer, Jr and Jeff Van Oudenhoven each have Super Late Model triumphs on the high banked half-mile oval. Weekly Late Model action has seen Michael Bilderback, Riley Stenjem, Brent Edmunds and John DeAngelis, Jr all claim the winner’s trophy. To nobody’s surprise Johnson and Majeski have won in both disciplines.
Two drivers that have found Midwest Truck Series success at MIS have now graduated into the Super Late Model ranks. Levon VanDerGeest won in the trucks and was fifth in the 200 lap contest last year in his Super Late Model. Last year, the Truck Series was swept by James Lynch, winning in both May and August. Additionally, Lynch set fast time in his Midwest Tour debut last July at his home track, Grundy County Speedway.
DeAngelis, Jr has come close to winning both this event and August’s Howie Lettow Classic. DeAngelis finished fourth in the 2022 Joe Shear Classic and has two straight top five finishes in the Lettow Classic, leading during the late stages in last year’s 100-lap go. Stenjem was fifth during the 2022 Shear event and posted a runner-up finish during the Lettow Classic last August. He was also the runner-up in Weekly points at MIS a year ago with one feature win on the season.
The top five from each of the past two Howie Lettow Classics are entered for Sunday’s event, with Stenjem, 2023 UMA Super Late Champ Max Kahler, DeAngelis and 2018 Tour Rookie of the Year Billy Mohn all seeking their first Midwest Tour Trophy. Other former Midwest Tour feature winners on the expected entry list include 2022 Slinger Winner Luke Fenhaus, 2020 Detjens Memorial Winner Justin Mondeik, Shafer a four-time winner and two-time winner Ricky Baker.
Spectator gates open at 10:30am on Sunday, practice for the Midwest Tour and Midwest Trucks gets underway at 11:30am with qualifying at 12:45pm and the first race at 2pm. Arrive early as the UW Marching Band will be performing the National Anthem. Discount tickets are available in advance online at misracing.com/tickets. Madison International Speedway is located at 1122 Sunrise Road in Oregon, WI.