12/27/2022
Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame
Class of 2022 Inducted into Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame
(Lincoln, NE) Seven members of the Class of 2022 were inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame during festivities held at Courtside Banquet Hall in Lincoln on Saturday, November 5th. This year’s inductees were the 24rd class inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Board President Jim Riggins opened the ceremony by welcoming the large crowd in attendance. Following the invocation by Board Member Tony Glenn and the National Anthem, sung by fellow Board Member Stan Cisar, Mike Peterson was presented with the prestigious Gordie Shuck Lifetime Achievement Award by members of the Shuck family.
Following the presentation of the Gordie Shuck award, the six new inductees were recognized.
Mike Chadd competed with a number of Sprint Car racing organizations including the World of Outlaws (WoO). He won the National Championship Racing Association 360 Sprint Car series championship in 1993, and the Nebraska Sprint Car Association title in both 1998 and 2001. Track championships to his credit include the Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway 360 title in 1987 and the Eagle Raceway 360 crown in 1998.
Rod Kister was born and raised in Scottsbluff and during high school drove his 1958 Chevrolet Impala to his first racing victory at the local quarter-mile drag strip. In the spring of 1968, driving a 1960 Pontiac, Kister set the first of his many national records at Kearney Dragway and also won the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Division Five championship. That year he also became an NHRA World Point Champion by scoring more points during the season than any driver in the United States.
Scott Koraleski spent 25 years, from 1984 through 2008, as crew chief for Hall of Fame Late Model driver, Joe Kosiski. With Koraleski turning the wrenches, Kosiski racked up four NASCAR Central Region Championships and captured the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series National Championship in 1986. Koraleski also helped the team secure five Busch All-Star Tour titles. Koraleski received the NASCAR Central Region Mechanic of the Year award in 2000 and 2001.
Bob Mathouser began campaigning with the International Motor Contest Association in 1956. After moving to California in 1959, he raced with the California Racing Association, and later drove both Midgets and Sprint Cars with the United States Auto Club. Mathouser made qualifying attempts at the Indianapolis 500 five times, from 1962 through 1966, making the field of 33 in 1964 when he was scored 22nd.
Ray Royal built his first “four-bar” Sprint Car and with fellow Lincolnite, Ed Bowes at the wheel, raced successfully at Midwest Speedway and Eagle Raceway. During his more than six-decade career, he worked with numerous successful Sprint Car pilots including Lloyd Beckman, both Lou and Dale Blaney, Rodney Droud, Opperman, Roger Rager, and Doug Wolfgang,
Brian Schnee has become one of the most respected Sprint Car builders in the sport, building championship winning cars for Doug Wolfgang, Kyle Larson, and numerous other successful drivers. Schnee also drove Sprint cars for a dozen years winning the Jackson (Minnesota) Nationals in 1994 and the East Bay Nationals in Tampa, Florida in 1997.
The Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1998 and since that time has enshrined over 150 members of the Nebraska racing community. The purpose of the organization is to perpetuate the memory of individuals who have brought lasting fame and positive recognition to the state of Nebraska through their achievements in the sport of auto racing.
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