Thursday, October 15, 2026 was the Season Opener for the Modified Division here at Hiester's H.O. Raceway and the event was sponsored by GMI First Mechanical. We had 27 Racers participate in the event with Veteran Jim LeVan of Shillington picking up the victory in the season opener. Jim won 3 races on the night on his way to the win by just 1 track section over the 2nd place finisher. finishing second was Mike Feltenbergern winning 5 races on the night and coming up just short of the victory. Coming home in the third and final spot on the podium was Peyton Kochel, also winning 5 races on the night. Peyton was only 12 sections back of pulling off the victory on the night. Fourth place went to Randy Haydt winning 4 races on the night. Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was Tom Hiester picking up 1 win on the night. The rest of the running order finished up like this: 6-Shane Hiester (1 win), 7-Andrew Cremer (2 wins), 8-Elmer Santiago (1 win)[TIE], 8-Sheldon Hiester (1 win) [TIE], 10-Jim Petersheim (1 win), 11-Dave Figura (1 win), 12-Steve Windle (1 win), 13-Brian Saylor, 14-Brian Zerbe (1 win), 15-Bob Windle, 16-Brian Sponagle (1 win), 17-Michael Hutt, 18-Gilbert Zerbe, 19-Rodney Koch, 20-Joe Keesey Sr., 21-Lyle Spiegel, 22-Steve Smith Sr., 23-Mike Scheidy, 24-Joe Keesey Jr., 25-Miles DeCoster, 26-Matt Yohn, and 27-Jelyn Columbo. We had 2 people make their first ever career starts in slot car racing at Hiester's H.O. Raceway and they were Matt Yohn and 9 year old Jaelyn Columbo. Both new racers improved each lane as the night progressed which is all you want to see out them being their 1st time ever racing. Neither driver was near crashing out of any of their races they tran in as well. It was nice to see such a big and strong field of racers on hand for the opener making hard to imagine how big of a season we could end up having as this was only the opener for the Modifieds and the Season Opener for the Sprints is up next Thursday Night, so we will have to wait and see who all is present in the house next week for that one. It was good having Rodney Koch back racing with us after a short retirement stint of about 2 years, but he informed us he will not be racing weekly with us as we will only be running the Modified Division this season with us. We had 14 of the 27 Racers pick up a Race win on the night. Steve Smith Sr., also made his return to the oval after taking time off in the 2nd half of our season last year to focus on his 2ND Floor Raceway which is a Drag Strip in Smokestown,PA. AFter the racing action was over we held a Cash Dash Sponsored by Pete Fox and picking up the win in that was Sheldon Hiester, followed by Bob Windle in 2nd, and Michael Hutt in 3rd. We will be back in action this Thursday Night October 22, with the Season Opener for our Sprint Car Division and the evenings race will be sponsored by The Tommy Hiester Fan Club, with Warm-Ups beginning at 6PM and the 1st Race to start around 7PM. 1-Jim LeVan 89.21 (3 wins) 2-Mike Feltenberger 89.20 (5 wins)
3-Peyton Kochel 89.09 (5 wins)
4-Randy Haydt 88.31(4 wins)
5-Tom Hiester 88.15 ( 1 win)
6-Shane Hiester 88.15 (1 win)
7-Andrew Cremer 88.05 (2 wins)
8-Elmer Santiago 88.04 (1 win) [TIE]
8-Sheldon Hiester 88.04 (1 win) [TIE]
10-Jim Petersheim 87.36 ( 1 win)
11-Dave Figura 87.03 (1 win)
12-Steve Windle 86.38 (1 win)
13-Brian Saylor 86.02
14-Brian Zerbe 85.39
15-Bob Windle 84.34
16-Brian Sponagle 84.29 (1 win)
17-Michael Hutt 83.26
18-Gilbert Zerbe 80.38
19-Rodney Koch 77.36
20-Joe Keesey Sr. 77.12
21-Lyle Spiegel 76.19
22-Steve Smith Sr. 76.07
23-Mike Sheidy 75.27
24-Joe Keesey Jr. 75.25
25-Miles DeCoster 69.14
26-Matt Yohn 62.02
27-Jaelyn Columbo 56.08
Next Race- Thursday October 22, 2026 Sprints Tom Hiester Fan Club Night
