SHAWN SHINGLEDECKER AND BRENT RHEBERGEN ARE TOP E MOD TEAM AT TRI-CITY
by Brian Spaid

June 2, 2006 

   With the first E Series race of the season scheduled for this Sunday night at Tri-City Speedway, the E Mod drivers are getting ready for the four-race series of events all week long.

   At Shawn Shingledecker’s garage outside Franklin, they are doing double the work.

   During the winter, the Shingledecker family decided to add a second car to the mix. Then, they decided to up the ante on the competition in 2006 by inviting the top E Mod winner at Tri-City, Brent Rhebergen of Clymer, N.Y., to race as the teammate to Shingledecker.

   “My mom wanted to do it more than anything,” said Shingledecker. “It’s a lot of work for the crew.  We’re going try it for this year and reevaluate it before the 2007 season.”

   Based on their early season performance, there is no need to do anything different. Heading into this weekend, Shingledecker and Rhebergen each have one feature win, sit second and third in the E Mod point standings, and lead the Hard Charger point chase as well.

   Rhebergen and Shingledecker have vastly different backgrounds. Shingledecker, 32, has raced E Mods since the division started its weekly run at Tri-City in 2000, when he was named rookie of the year. He has three career wins in the E Mods, including victories at Tri-City and Sharon Speedways. Rhebergen, 37, is a Late Model driver at heart, who ventured into the E Mods when invited to drive for Bruce and Kathy Steadman of Centerville in 2000. The result was 41 feature wins at Tri-City and two track championships for the Steadman-Rhebergen team.

   Rhebergen added the 42^nd feature win to his resume on May 21^st while driving for the Shingledeckers.

  “I didn’t think we’d win this fast,” said Rhebergen.

   The whole idea of a two-car team began last season. The Steadmans quit the sport at the end of 2004. Rhebergen, who is a school bus mechanic for Clymer Central School District, also operates a successful speed shop known as All-Ways Racing, from which he sells E Mod chassis constructed by well-known Midwestern car builder Bob Pierce.

   “The Shingledeckers have been customers of mine for some time,” said Rhebergen. “All summer long, I joked with them that they should buy another car. Then, they decided to do it and asked me to drive. I was real surprised and honored. I want to help Shawn, but they are also allowing me to test different stuff on my car.”

   Shingledecker has thoroughly enjoyed the expertise Rhebergen brings to his race team.

   “Brent’s shown me some stuff,” said Shingledecker. “We know a lot about the setup of these cars already. We even showed Brent some things he never tried. He liked them, which was real neat. He’s also taught me more about how to drive the car into the corners. It’s helped me, but it’s also hard because I’ve been doing it my way for six years now.”

   For Rhebergen, the deal gives him an opportunity to experiment with different setups, improve his knowledge of the Pierce chassis, and even develop new strategies to win races. The comfort level of the team is one asset that Rhebergen enjoys.

   “This is a really laid back situation,” said Rhebergen. “The Shingledeckers are like family. I noticed that about them when I raced for the Steadmans. They bring food to the track and eat together as a family. They’re a good group of people.”

   Rhebergen agreed to drive the car with the understanding that he would make about 75% of the races at Tri-City. On other occasions, Rhebergen intends to drive his Late Model in certain special events. That occurred this past weekend, when he raced at Little Valley Speedway in New York.

   “I told them I wasn’t sure if I could run all the time and they are very lenient,” noted Rhebergen.

   As a result, Andy Buckley of Stoneboro will drive when Rhebergen not available and maintain Rhebergen’s points position as a result.

   “Andy is really good driver that dominates the Stock Car division at Mercer Raceway Park,” said Shingledecker, who is a foreman for bridge construction with Shingledecker’s Welding. “Andy actually works for our company in the field as equipment operator. He’s talked about driving an E Mod, and we agreed to let him run when Brent wasn’t able to do it. He looked great on Sunday. He was leading his heat race when he got a little loose and spun.”

   With the E Series races about to commence at Tri-City, it is apparent that the Shingledecker team will be tough to beat with Rhebergen in No. 45S and Shingledecker in No. 54S.