KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 21, 2025) – Meet this year’s Knoxville Nationals winning car owner, Shane Liebig. What is his sprint car journey? How did he reach the summit in 2025 as a Nationals Champion? While he’s no stranger to Knoxville Raceway or the sport itself, car owners often work behind the scenes, focused on making their teams as competitive as possible. Liebig is no different. He is dedicated, driven, and committed to building a winning program.
Joanne: How did you get into racing?
Shane: My grandfather was one of the forefathers who started Black Hills Speedway in South Dakota. All my uncles have raced as well back in the day; modifieds and older sprint cars. Then my dad raced and built his own cars, so I grew up as a kid surrounded by racing.
I started racing mini sprints myself at the age of ten, then started in sprint cars the day I turned 16. I actually raced the very first 360 Nationals back in 1991: I made it to 6th in B, but was a top 10 timing in. I continued to race (sprint cars) in the area. My family in South Dakota is kind of like the Trostle's of Knoxville, or the Kreitz's of Pennsylvania. In our world, our family won a lot. As a third-generation driver I was expected to win.
In the late 1990’s I headed out to California to race during the Jason Meyers and Bud/Tim Kaeding era. I spent a year out there racing and decided to move home to start a family and build my business back in South Dakota. Business got busy and with two kids and a new house we had just built. Then I broke my back racing. With kids and a business, I had to make a choice: race or not. After that, I bought and sold teams where I would piece teams out and even promoted some World of Outlaw shows during the years of 2005-2020, mainly at Black Hills Speedway. I bought Billings, Montana’s Big Sky Speedway with my friend, Jerry Brey, where we were determined to turn it around.
In 2015, I decided to get back into sprint car racing as an owner. My good friend, Brady McDonald and I had watched winter heat series and we noticed a young kid out of Texas named Aaron Reutzel and we decided to approach him to race our car at the Winter Heat. We sucked in that Winter Heat! But by the end of 2016, we ran really well and almost won some big shows. Back then, we were the number 55 because that was my grandfather’s car number, then Aaron wanted to go back to his number 87, so we made the car number switch. The 2017 Nationals, we went through the Friday night Hard Knox show and got in. In the Nationals A Main that year, we started 22nd and finished 7th. I felt like it launched Aaron’s career. It was fun racing with Aaron. After that season, I decided to get out of racing for a while.
Fast forward, I sold Big Sky Speedway back in 2022 and decided to try racing again. So, I put together a team right before The Jackson Nationals, where Matt Juhl ran my car. I decided to go with Kalib Henry in 2023, where we ran five or six shows and tested at Knoxville. The car was fastest in practice. Then we ran Huset's. I really try to get the best out of my guys. This was Kalib’s first time away from home and it just wasn’t the right fit at that time, so Matt Juhl came back to run my car for the High Bank Nationals. Our car was fast, but we got in an accident and unfortunately, Matt broke his back. I had Garet Williamson in the car for two nights at Huset's. Then Scott Bogucki connected with me looking for a car to run for the 2023 Nationals and the remainder of the season. I talked to my dad about it and decided to give Scott a chance. I hired Scott and we were again fast; made the main the at the Nationals then decided to compete together for 2024. We won a few shows, both of us getting our first Knoxville Raceway feature wins together. We had great speed for the Knoxville Nationals and ran 8th, the car was strong. At that point, I wasn’t sure what to do going forward, but we went to Huset's and after that, went home to winterize the car. I called Guy Forbrook for advice. He suggested giving Ryan Timms a call (Ryan had ran a couple races for Forbrook). At that time, I wasn’t looking for a driver. I remember Ryan ran second to us at Huset's one night and I was really impressed. Forbrook kept on me to call Ryan, and I was kind of dragging my feet. Randy Timms (Ryan’s dad) ended up calling me to have Ryan race my car. Ryan had a midget race conflict on the weekend I had wanted to race, but we settled on a High Limit I-70 show. That went extremely well, and Ryan and I wanted to keep racing, so we went to Lucas Oil Speedway where a fuel line came loose. He was leading and it cost him a High Limit win. After that, we went to Texas and ran 3rd and 5th.
Ryan wanted to pursue a continued partnership for 2025, but I wasn’t sure. I do everything myself and am used to a 30-40 race schedule. I have a business, kids, and grandkids. Ryan was adamant that he wanted to run for me though, so we decided to head to the final race of 2024 at Charlotte. Ryan ran very well, and I decided on a plan for 2025. Marty Breiten has always been good buds with my dad, and my dad convinced Marty to come on board. Unfortunately, my dad passed away back in January of this year. Ryan moved up to South Dakota to be closer to the team, and he works on the car and does all the odd jobs around the shop with Marty. I usually come home from work about six to head to the shop to work on the car. It’s truly been a Cinderella story. Ryan, Marty, Ben, and I knew it was possible to win. We all four believed it.
Joanne: When did you start working on sprint cars?
Shane: When I grew up, my dad and uncle were hands-on, so it made me be hands-on from the get go. We didn’t have a lot of money so had to put it all together ourselves; if we broke it was going to be a long season. We didn’t send our motors back to an engine builder to be freshened, we did them ourselves. I have always been faciated with mechanics of sprint cars. This has been fun having some really good kids behind the wheel of my cars, and I have helped a lot of them get started in their racing careers.
Joanne: What engines, chassis, wings, shock packages do you run?
Shane: I use Rick and Jay from Speedway Engine Development, Maxim Chassis, HRP Wings, and Momentum Shocks. I am very loyal to my people and have been with these people for years. I make what I have work, and try to not get too caught up in what everyone else does.
Joanne: Was winning the Knoxville Nationals a goal all season?
Shane: We had planned to come to Knoxville to race as much as possible, but on the first weekend out (World of Outlaws weekend) we got 15th and we were very disappointed. We sat down and committed to race Knoxville every night, but my son’s graduation from college and King’s Royal weekends kind of knocked us out of winning the points title. We also broke an axle in a heat and didn’t get out for the main one weekend, but we knew we needed to commit so we could be the best car come August, same with Huset's. We have to race every night to get better, and we know what to try and change. We have won five times at Knoxville; we never had same engine, wings- a different package every night we went out trying to get better. Then I pulled all the best parts of each race and put a package together for the Nationals with the goal to win. We are lucky to have lots of video of just our car, Randy videos every race so we can watch and get better and analyze Ryan’s performance. I also try to help Ryan deal with some of the pressure of being a young racer, I have been under the same pressure, and I understand it.
Joanne: What is your plans for next year?
Shane: We have to finish this season still, we have lots of racing left including Jackson and Huset's bigger shows we want to try to win. We are in a close points battle with Kaleb Johnson up at Huset's. We plan to run The Tusky (Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal Speedway in September), then all around wherever we can race, and finish up with the World Finals at Charlotte. Next year, we plan to race weekly at Knoxville again, and Huset's and Jackson as well. Then schedule wherever fits in between. It’s been a pleasure racing at Knoxville Raceway, all the officials are so good to us. It’s family. The support is amazing.
Meet the Liebig #10 Crew:
Shane Liebig, Marty Breiten, Ben Morris, Anthony (Dickie) Timmerman, Carter and Spencer Johnanson, Mitch Morris (truck driver), Orville Chenworth, and Ryan Timms.
Team Sponsors:
Hample Oil, Citgo, CP Excavating, Raw Machinery, Lone Dakota Acres Trucking, Joel Pigeon Trucking, McDonnel Farms, West River Trailer Sales, Olson Towing, Momentum Racing Suspensions, Comfort Air and Heating, Kelderman Ranch, Metal Concepts, Buchert Farms, C&E Landscape, Benic Enterprises, Citgard Engine Oil, Speedway Engine Development, and Phil Durst.
- Eric Arnold on Aug 21, 2025
- Article Date: 8/21/2025 by Joanne Cram