HIESTER'S H.O. RACEWAY

The 2024-2025 Hiester's H.O. Raceway Season came to an end at the end of March.  Here is a season review sorry for the delay in getting something written up.  We will start with the Modified recap which saw 38 different drivers take a shot at it during the 11 Race season, which saw 28 Racers running at least half of the events so we averaged 25 racers a night.  We had 5 different winner's in the 11 races which were: Shane Hiester (5), Sheldon Hiester (1), Mike Feltenberger (2), Elmer Santiago (3), and Peyton Kochel (1).  Shane Hiester was the Chanpion.  We had three racers claim their first ever segment wins at Hiester's H.O. Raceway in the Modifieds with Michael Hutt, Dave Lauver, and Dave Figura being the lucky one's to complete that tough task.  Dave did it in his Rookie season it took all year, but he accomplished one of his goals in the last race of the season.  It took Michael a year and a half to complete his task of a segment win.  Both were exstatic with their victories.  Dave Lauver also won his first career sgement towards the end of the season when he started coming on a regular basis again, but it took Dave a longtime to win with our group as he raced with us about 25 years ago or more in Magna-Tractions with the P.H.O.R.C. Series between Reading and Port Royal.  Anytime you can win a segment at Hiester's H.O. Raceway is an accomplishment as the competition is so tough each week.  Dave Comley is the next driver to win his first segment at some point next season.  Randy Haydt turned in a good season finishing third in the standings without a feature win which is a good feat considering 3 other feature winner's finishe behind him in points.  Sheldon Hiester had a strugglish type of season with only 1 feature win, a finish out of the Top 10, and a crash out during one of the nights but still finished 2nd in points.  Fifth to Seventh in points were separated by only 7 points between Tommy Hiester, Brian Sponagle, and Jim LeVan.  The three of them battled most of the season with each other as Tommy turned it on towards the end of the season to edge the other two veterans at the end of the year.  Jim Petersheim, Steve Windle, Bob Windle, Joe Keesey Sr., and Slo Joe made returns as pretty much regulars after several years of only running the Night Before Thanksgiving Race.  Mike Feltenberger missed 1 race due to indoor races, but still finished 4th in points with 2 feature wins including one of the big shows Chris Gambler Coupe Night.  It was his first Coupe Night win of his long slotcar career.  Peyton Kochel was the other feature winner during the seaso not up in the points, but he won the crown jewel event the Night Before Thanksgiving Race and was second in his only other appearance.  The other big race was the 8-Lane Race sponsored by Pioneer Pole Buildings which was won by Shane Hiester.  Thanks to all that ran the Modified Division this season as it wasn't the highest numbers in quanity for the season as usual, but it was our most consistant weekly turnout with an average of 25 Racers a week, by far the best around for a weekly track especially on a Thursday Night.  In the Sprint Car Division we had 33 Racers try it at least one time throughout the 11 Race Season with 22 Drivers completing at least half of the races.  Shane Hiester was the Champion by just 2 points over Sheldon Hiester which came down to the last race to decide the title battle.  The Sprints saw 5 different Feature winners as well.  Sheldon Hiester (4), Shane Hiester (4), Andrew Cremer (2), Mike Feltenberger (2), and Elmer Santiago (2).  Congrats to Joe Keesey Sr. on picking up his first career Hiester's H.O. Raceway segment win in the Sprint Car class it was a long time coming and well deserved.  Jim LeVan had his best season in a Sprint at Hiester's with a 5th place finish in the final standings, and best race finish during the season on the last step of the podium in 3rd.  Jim I believe your first career feature win is coming next season.  Andrew Cremer was 3rd in points with 2 wins and 11 Top 10's.  Mike Feltenberger was 4th in points with 2 wins, and only running 10 races.  Bear was in the title hunt until he had to miss a week for indoor races at Trenton.  Brian Zerbe turned in a strong Top 10 point finish in 8th winning several segments on the season.  Elmer Santiago another one in the same boat as some of the other top runner's missing a race which took him out of the top half of the Top 10 in points with 2 feature wins one of them being Wingless Night.  Thomas Hoover was another rookie contender who had perfect attendance on the season, and came home in 12th place.  Jazmin Santiago just missed the Top 10 in points finishing 11th, but also missed 1 race.  We had alot of different segment winner's throughout the season which shows the stiffness of the competition.  In the Overall Combined points we had 40 different racers partake in the fun at least 1 time in the 22 Race schedule.  The Overall Champ was Shane Hiester, 2nd-Sheldon Hiester, 3rd-Mike Feltenberger, 4th-Jim LeVan, and 5th-Tom Hiester.  We had 6 different winners between the 2 divisions.  We had 5 racers' with perfect attendance for the entire 22 race season: Jim LeVan, Thomas Hoover, Tom Hiester, Sheldon Hiester, and Shane Hiester. The 2024-2025 Rookie Class was made up of 4 competitors Joe Keesey Jr., Lyle Spiegel, Thomas Hoover, and Dave Figura.  Dave Figura came out as the Rookie of the Year because he was the highest finisher in Overall Points.  It was good to see some of the drivers get faster as the season went along picking up segment wins like: Joe Keesey Sr., Bob Windle, Steve Windle, Jazmin Santiago, Jim Petersheim, Jim LeVan, Brian Saylor, Michael Hutt, Brian Zerbe, Brian Sponagle, Dave Figura, John Kosmoski, Scottie Heilman, Dave Lauver, and Tyler Oswald.  Thanks to all the racers, sponsors, and Tom and Debbie Hiester for allowing us in their house every Thursday Night from October to March to do the hobby we all still love.  Playing with little slotcars LOL.  Thanks to Bear for starting the 50/25/25 this season, and also the White Power fund.  Thanks to all that helped with the book, computer, and power throughout the season to take some pressure off of Sheldon and Shane.  I hope everyone enjoyed the banquet at Victor Emanuel beneficial club.  Thanks to Bob Windle for the 3D printed Trophies, and Scottie Heilman for the give away car at the banquet as well.  We have good little group of men and ladies that participate so let's carry this momentum into next seaso coming off another successful year at the track.  Sponsors are open if anyone is interested just contact one of us to let us know you would like a night.  Thanks for the support hope to see you all next season.

Mods                                            Sprints                                Overall                                 

1-Shane Hiester 543                   Shane Hiester 533             Shane Hiester 1076

2-Sheldon Hiester 514                Sheldon Hiester 531          Sheldon Hiester 1045

3-Randy Haydt 493                     Andrew Cremer 517           Mike Feltenberger 954

4-Mike Feltenberger 473            Mike Feltenberger 481       Jim LeVan 935

5-Tom Hiester 464                      Jim LeVan 478                    Tom Hiester 924

6-Brian Sponagle 462                 Elmer Santiago 469            Andrew Cremer 909

7-Jim LeVan 457                         Tom Hiester 460                 Elmer Santiago 896

8-Elmer Santiago 427                 Brian Zerbe 452                  Jim Petersheim 841

9-Jim Petersheim 421                 Jim Petersheim 420           Brian Zerbe 823

10-Steve Windle 397                   Gil Zerbe 413                     Gil Zerbe 755

Tonight Thursday March 27, 2025, was the Eleventh Race of the 2024-2025 Hiester's H.O. Raceway season for the Modifieds sponsored by Randy's Raceway of Topton, PA.  We had 27 Racers in the pit area to take part in the action.  Taking the win after the smoke cleared was Elmer Santiago.  Elmer won all 6 segments on the night cruising to victory.  Second went to Peyton Kochel.  Peyton won 5 segments losing to his Poppop Tommy Hiester at the finish line.  Third went to Shane Hiester.  Shane won 3 segments on the night.  Fourth went to Tommy Hiester.  Tommy won 4 segments on the night turning in his best run of the season in his new "Going Bananas" Davey Wenger #4 car.  Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was Mike Feltenberger.  Bear won 1 segment on the night.  The rest of the fireld finished up this way: 6-Jim LeVan (1 win), 7-Randy Haydt (4 wins), 8-Sheldon Hiester (1 win), 9-Little T (2 wins), 10-Andrew Cremer (1 win), 11-Brian Sponagle (1 win), 12-Scottie Heilman (1 win), 13-Bob Windle, 14-Steve Windle, 15-Jim Petersheim, 16-Brian Zerbe, 17-Brian Saylor, 18-Tom Cremer, 19-John Kosmoski, 20-Gilbert Zerbe, 21-Dave Figura (1 win), 22-Hiram Durant, 23-Jazmin Santiago, 24-Thomas Hoover, 25-Lyle Spiegel, 26-Mike Sheidy, and 27-Michael Windle.  Thanks to Randy J. Haydt of Randy's Raceway for sponsoring tonight paying the entry fee, giving out 4 t-shirts, 3 gift certificates for a painted body from Tom Hiester valued at $12 each, and he bought a soda for all in attendance.  The racing action was close and intense all night with 2 races every car finished on the lead lap.  Congratulations to Dave Figura on his first segment win at Hiester's H.O. Raceway.  Peyton Kochel made a rare appearance for just the second time this season, and missed a perfect night by 2 pieces of track.  Tom Hiester ran very well all night even winning on Lane 3 in his best driving performance of the season of course beacause it's over LOL.  There were several gauntlets throughout the night as no matter which poker chip you drew you had a bullet around you.  Sheldon Hiester struggled again on Lane 3 with the Modified once again, but still finished in the Top 10.  Jim Petersheim struggled, but he was in the middlle of the 3 gerations of Hiester's sandwich (Tom, Sheldon, and Peyton).  21 of the 27 Racers had 80 laps, and 13 people won segments so almost half the field won a segment so it is tough.  Lyle Spiegel had some better runs again tonight with some 13's.  Tom Cremer made his first Modified start of the season, and ran consistant all night in some tough races.  We ran two Cash Dashes again tonight to get all of the sponsors in.  The first Cash Dash was sponsored by Woody Barnett and finished this way: 1-Andrew Cremer, 2-Scottie Heilman, and 3-Mike Sheidy.  The second Cash Dash was sponsored by RFRHS Craig Ray and finished like this: 1-Sheldon Hiester, 2-Mike Feltenberger, and 3-Randy Haydt.  Thanks to all of our race and Cash Dash sponsors for the 2024-2025 Hiester's H.O. Raceway season.  They were much appreciated by the racers.  Congratulations to Shane Hiester on his Modified Point Title.  We will let everyone know about the date for the banquet when we hear back from Victor E. Manuel's.  Once again Tom and Debbie Hiester want to thank all of the racers, sponsors, and friends for the support of another successful season at Hiester's H.O. Raceway.  Bear did the 50/50 as a 25/25/25/25 so we had 4 different winners tonight Conrats to the lucky winners.  We are done now until October, but Little T's Speedway in Meyerstown, PA has a double header left yet on Saturday March 29, 2025 with Warm-Ups at 10AM and 1st Race at 11:30AM.  Randy's Raceway just wrapped up his season Tuesday night, but will start up again in September. Thanks again to all for a great season.     

 

1-Elmer Santiago 90.00

2-Peyton Kochel 89.38

3-Shane Hiester 89.35

4-Tommy Hiester 89.19

5-Mike Feltenberger 88.36

6-Jim LeVan 88.27

7-Randy Haydt 88.24

8-Sheldon Hiester 87.38

9-Little T 87.22

10-Andrew Cremer 87.09

11-Brian Sponagle 86.06

12-Scottie Heilman 85.39

13-Bob Windle 84.38

14-Steve Windle 84.13

15-Jim Petersheim 83.29

16-Brian Zerbe 82.14

17-Brian Saylor 82.03

18-Tom Cremer 82.01

19-John Kosmoski 81.37

20-Gilbert Zerbe 81.36

21-Dave Figura 80.32

22-Hiram Durant 79.38

23-Jazmin Santiago 79.20

24-Thomas Hoover 78.10

25-Lyle Spiegel 76.09

26-Mike Sheidy 73.09

27-Michael Windle 72.26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next Race- Summer Break!