Stock car driver Casey Woken finished 10th in the Big Dance at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals held at Boone Speedway in Iowa. A 10th typically doesn’t elicit much attention from the public. But, this top-10 felt like a win for Woken, who recently lost both a car owner and a crew member.
Randy Ward fielded the car for Woken. On August 25, he passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Ward was 67.
Riley Hager crewed for Woken. On September 5, the day before he was set to arrive at Boone Speedway, he died in a vehicular crash. Hager was 24.
Best Friend
Woken knew his father’s best friend, Randy Ward, for more than 20 years. When Woken’s brother Cole, started racing, Ward helped him.
“We had no money,” Woken, 30, of Norton, Kansas, said. “We were a low-buck operation. When my brother quit racing, Randy took us on full-time and became our car owner. He paid for the whole shebang.”
Woken and Ward talked daily. Ward considered Woken a member of his family. Ward even attended Woken’s baby shower for his daughter Brexlyn.
An oil-well owner, Ward was well known for his generosity in racing, especially at a pair of Nebraska tracks — Dawson County Raceway in Lexington and Lincoln County Raceway in North Platte. The week following Ward’s death, both tracks held memorials for him. Woken made it to both — Saturday at Lincoln County Raceway and Sunday at Dawson County Raceway.
“I changed gears in the car and drove two and a half hours to that race [at Lincoln County Raceway],” said Woken. “Then, we drove home, changed gears in the wee hours of the morning and headed to Dawson County Raceway.”
Woken and Ward set a goal at the beginning of the season to win the stock car championship at Dawson County Raceway in Lexington, Nebraska. That night of the memorial Woken won the feature and the track title.
“There was a big age difference between us, but he became my best friend,” Woken said. “He was a kid at heart. He was so excited about the Super Nationals.”
Tragedy Strikes Again
After winning at Dawson County Raceway, Woken attended the services for Ward and his burial in Colorado on the Friday before the Super Nationals. Following that, Woken worked with crew members Riley Hager and Kolton Field around the clock to prepare the car for Boone Speedway. Woken and his wife, Chelsey, loaded the car and hauled it to Iowa, arriving just in time for the Prelude to the Super Nationals on Saturday.
“We were mentally exhausted,” said Woken. “We kept getting texts from Riley, giving us words of encouragement. He said Randy would be proud of us.”
The next day, Woken got a “page out” from his fire department with geo coordinates of a vehicle accident. It was the location of the A&N Farms, where Hager worked.
Hours later he learned that Hager, who was in a side-by-side, had been moving cattle across a roadway and was struck by an SUV. Hager died in surgery.
“He was a big part of my life, as I was of his,” Woken said. “He and Kolton were in my garage past midnight four or five nights a week. It is so hard to find people who want to help you and don’t expect to get paid.”
Racing Goes On for Casey Woken
“It is hard to be at Boone when there is sadness,” said Woken. “It’s a party, but we couldn’t do much partying. Our goal was to make the show, and we stuck to our goal.”
Casey Woken qualified for the Big Dance for the second time in his career. The other time came in 2015.
“Finishing 10th was an accomplishment, but it is hard to think about anything except the new norm,” Woken said. “Kolton is back in college. I still have Chelsey, Brexlyn, my dad, and my brother. I am ridiculously fortunate. [Knowing] that will help me keep going and trying to keep winning in memory of Randy and Riley.”
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Corrected the name of the person accompanying Casey Woken in the photo (2022-09-17). Corrected where Riley Hager worked (2022-09-18).
The Outside Groove Director of Photography has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
