During the Fox River Racing Club’s final program of the 2026 season, Marty Cmejla claimed victory in the Sizzlin’ 4s feature. After a long tough season of adversity and learning, Cmejla finally had things go his way, scoring his first feature win after only 15 career starts.

The MC Motorsports drivers of Marty Cmejla (#8) and Cole Trudeau (#84) were looking for a successful end to the season after a tough night last week. The week prior to last week, in the Blue Race, Cmejla hit the damaged #00 car of Cody Haack, destroying the front of Cmejla’s car. He went to work with help from Jacoby Pollei and Jordan Gracyalny and got the car back to it’s original form. Unfortunately, a new radiator was not delivered yet. Cmejla was stuck with a stock radiator from Pollei. This radiator led to overheating issues as it did not have the capabilities to cool the car down.

Cmejla ultimately DNF’d in the heat, and DNF’d in the feature. After starting 21st, Cmejla was up to the Top 10 after 8 laps before pulling off. For Cole Trudeau, it was tough from the start. Cody Vandenberg got spun checking up for Connor McCormick on the initial start. Cole chose to go high to avoid, but ended up right into Cody’s right-side door. Cole’s frame got bent and many other things broke, including the tow getting knocked out significantly.

Work was put in over the week to get the cars up to shape for the season finale. Cmejla’s new radiator came, and was put in and worked. Cole was struggling getting the adjustments he needed.

Then came race day, hopes were high but there was still concern that the fixes and changes over the week would not work to the team’s benefit.

Starting in qualifying, problems were evident for both cars. Cole’s car was not handling at all how he wanted it to, and ended up with an 18.3 in qualifying, good enough for 11th. Cmejla’s radiator worked - but the fan was having a hard time staying plugged in. As Cmejla parked his car on the front stretch waiting for his run, his temps were skyrocketing. Luckily Alex DeGroot was sitting closeby and was able to get the fan plugged in. The temperature went down and Cmejla was able to make a qualifying run.

Unfortunately, Cmejla got stuck behind the #73 of Chase Thomson on his fast lap exiting Turn 4. This led to Cmejla having to lift out of the gas, costing him a few tenths. Cmejla ended up with an 18.4, good enough for 13th place out of 22 cars.

The MC Motorsports boys were shaping up good despite the rough qualifying due to the invert. They decided to run 3 heat races. Both cars were put in Heat 2. Cmejla started 2nd, and Trudeau started 4th. The heat went green and Cmejla led flag to flag getting by the #279 of Beth Craig. A caution came out for Cole Trudeau and Rylin Volovsek (#40) making contact. Cmejla did his first restart from the lead and hung on to win his 3rd career heat win, 2nd of the year.

Now it was feature time. Cmejla got some words of encouragement from 2024 Season Finale feature winner, Kory Lorrigan, prior to the race. In the feature, Cmejla started 4th, behind the #91 of Becca Schallie. Scott Griesbach (#28) was able to start on the pole. Cole started right behind Cmejla, in 6th place. The green flag waved with some confusion.

“I didn’t know if we were going. They said one-to-green on the radio, but the pace car was still on the track which was very unusual. All of a sudden the green was waving and on the gas I went,” Cmejla said.

The confusion led to a pretty stacked up restart, but Cmejla timed it well and went middle 3-wide on Becca Schallie and Beth Craig into Turn 1. Then, exiting Turn 4, Cmejla had a great turn and cut to the inside of Scott Griesbach. Cmejla took the lead on Lap 2, and checked out to a big lead before the caution came out.

The caution was for Cole Trudeau and multiple other cars. Cole, struggling with the handling after some adjustments after the heat race, found himself around in front of Jeremy Czarapata (#73). Others like Connor McCormick (#14), Becca Schallie (#91), Jacoby Pollei (#21), and even Justin Fickel (#47) were involved in the accident. Cole was out for the race and suffered a DNF with a 16th place finish.

Cmejla, disappointed in the caution, studied the running order during the red flag. He noticed that the faster cars were pretty far away. Cmejla knew he needed to stay calm and just run fast laps til the end. The restart flew with 16 to go. The running order was 1. #8 Marty Cmejla; 2. #279 Beth Craig; 3. #2 Gordon Davis; 4. #28 Scott Griesbach.

Fickel got his spot back under the caution, which is key for the end of the race. Cmejla entered a flow state on the restart, and gapped Beth Craig significantly. A few spots behind was Justin Fickel, the 2026 FRRC Sizzlin’ 4s Champion. Fickel got by Beth Craig, and now with about 7 to go his sights were set on Cmejla. Cmejla had nearly a half-track lead, but Fickel was running laps a half-second faster than Cmejla!

With 2 to go, Cmejla still had a full straightaway lead, until a problem arrived in front of him. In the worst spot possible, Cmejla caught the lap car of Jeff Wohlrabe, Jr. (#13). Race control gave no warning the lap car that Cmejla was coming. Cmejla was forced to match Jeff’s speed exiting Turn 2, costing him momentum down the entire backstretch. Just like that, Fickel was on Cmejla’s rear coming to the white flag. Cmejla ran a great last lap with pressure right from behind, but Fickel was able to race Cmejla cleanly. Marty Cmejla crossed the line two tenths ahead of Fickel to claim his first feature win!

Cmejla was thrilled and got to have an interview. He then claimed his trophy and took the picture in victory lane. “It’s what you dream of, a feature is as big of a win as it can get in this division besides a championship. This is the goal every week, to be here in victory lane. Now that pressure is off and there is tons of momentum for next season,” Cmejla said after the race.

Cmejla went to the tech shed after the race for the first time of the season and the victory was official. Cmejla was gathered by his crew and supporters and other racers, who offered their congratulations. 

After a tough season of adversity and learning, it all paid off in the last race of the season. Cmejla gave thanks to his sponsors: Warner Commercial Roofing, Valley Trusses, Fox Valley Mosquito & Tick Control, Q90 FM, Shadow Rain LLC, and PC Designs. Without the sponsors, we couldn’t do it! Also a big thanks to Jacoby Pollei, Cody Vandenberg, Alex DeGroot, Jordan Gracyalny, Steve Trudeau, Billy Schommer, Ethan Beattie, Blake Maass, Grayson Kelly, Tyler Veldman, and others who I'm sure we're forgetting for all their help and support since we got the Dodge Neon in 2025 and this season.

Cmejla ended up jumping 2 spots in the points, from 11th to 9th. Unfortunately, Cole ended up 1 spot out of the Top 10, finishing the season 11th in points.

Currently, MC Motorsports plans for next season is the same as now: Marty Cmejla back full-time in the #8 Dodge Neon, and Cole Trudeau back in the #84 Mazda3. During the offseason, our MC Motorsports Virtual Racing Team will be operating all offseason long!

You can view the final standings for the 2026 Fox River Racing Club Sizzlin' 4s season HERE.