NASCAR’s Kenny Wallace wins race at Highland Speedway
by Mark Jurgena
HIGHLAND — When a NASCAR Cup Series driver with over 340 starts shows up at your track on a Wednesday night. It’s a big deal and so is your race and your track.
Welcome to the World Famous Highland Speedway.
NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace from St. Louis showed up at Highland on July 24 and took home the Challenge of Champions feature race in the UMP Modifieds Division during the Madison County Fair.
“We rebranded this last year to try and make this our own crown jewel race,” said track spokesperson Kurt Vonder Haar. “We had a big crowd. A big crowd always shows up for the fair race. It’s usually a good mix of local drivers that show up because they want that feather in their cap and win the Madison County Fair race.”
Wallace took the win from the pole over second place finisher Owen Steinkoenig of Highland and Zeb Moake of Freeburg who took third.
Bill Knebel of Pocahontas took fourth place in the 15-car field.
“I’ve won at every single DIRT Track in our area,” said Wallace on his Facebook page called Kenny Wallace (Official Page) after the race. “There was always this one track that I never won at (kept finishing second to Mike Harrison). He was not there tonight.
“Tonight I finally won the fair race in Highland. And to top it off, I went to the racetrack all by myself with no help. Super satisfying WIN.”
Wallace’s appearance at the track was a reinforcement of the racing that takes place each week at the dirt track.
“It’s big for our fan base,” said Vonder Haar. “He has more than half a million followers across social media. He always tells his fans where he’s going. He let everybody know ahead of time he was coming to Highland for this race.
“The fans were cheering very loudly for Kenny last night.”
Other local results in the race were Highland’s Talen Meadows running fifth and Brennan Meadows of Pocahontas taking seventh place. Chandler Smith of Highland took 10th.
In other divisions last week, Matt Bailey of Highland led from start to finish and took the late models race beating out Harrison and Adam Tischauser of Mulberry Grove in the 18-car feature.
Josh Heuiser and Todd Rehg of St. Jacob also competed in the race.
The Pro Modifieds were won by Kyle Helmick of Smithton followed by Zach Whaley of Hillsboro, Mo. and Andrew Johns of Belleville.
Ryan Eilers of Highland was sixth and Christian Lee of Sorento took eighth.
Cole and Alex Cygan of St. Jacob also competed in this race.
Finally in the Pro 4s (four-cylinder car) race, Joshua Hawkins of Imperial, Mo. won the feature with Travis Fleming of Fairview Heights and Chris Rakers of Beckemeyer taking third.
Tyler Rehg of St. Jacob took fourth place.
Hawkins set the Highland Speedway record for a lap during qualifying. He clocked in with a 15.929-second lap.
Rob Shaw and Robbie Poston, both of Highland were also in the field.
Upcoming Schedule
Racing returns on Saturday night to Highland as they host the Leaps of Love night with racing in five divisions. Kids associated with the Leaps of Love charity will be in town on Saturday for various events in the community.
Additionally, Kenny Wallace will be back racing at the track both this Saturday and on August 14 for the World of Outlaws late model race.
Tickets for the World of Outlaws event are still on sale at the MyRacePass app or website. They can also be purchased at Woodcrest Small Engine in Highland.
