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7/19/08 - Wisconsin International Raceway - Troy and Kyle were both looking forward to their return to WIR, having both had a strong performance in the "Red Race" earlier in the summer. This held true through qualifying with Troy putting himself in the 5th position, and Kyle just slightly behind in the 7th position.

After the invert, this put both the brothers nose to tail on the outside line in the 2nd and 3rd rows. At the drop of the green, they both made the outside line work, and then Kyle made the pass for the lead on only the second lap of the race. Troy followed suit, settling into the 3rd position, where he stayed up until a flat tire put an early end to his good run. Troy made a quick pit stop right before the race's only caution came out, and returned to the track at the rear of the field. Meanwhile, Kyle brought the field down for the green flag, and a quick sprint to the finish. Kyle ended up leading all but one lap of the race, winning his second Mid-American feature. Troy recovered two positions by returning to the track after his flat tire, finishing 18th.

6/28/08 - 141 Speedway - Francis Creek, Wi - Being the smallest track on the Mid-American schedule, 141 Speedway always seems to bring it's own set of challenges to the Mid-American series. Troy ran strong all practice, putting himself in the top 10 of transponder scoring all afternoon, while Kyle was slightly outside the top 10 looking in. This flip-flopped for qualifying while Troy admitted to making some mistakes during qualifying, while Kyle edged himself into the 9th spot, Troy had to settle for 16th, and a trip to the last chance race - where he finished third.

Both Troy & Kyle seemed to be on the move during the feature event, having both brothers working through the field together nose to tail on the inside line for part of the race. The good run for Kyle unfortunately came to an early end due to a part failure in the rear end of his car. While it should have been a quick fix, and he should have been able to return to the track - his car was damaged further by the track's saftey crew. The additional damage caused by the track crew brought Kyle's night to an early end. Troy would finish the race in the 12th position.

Results:
Troy: 12th
Kyle: 16th

6/24/08 - Madison International Speedway - Kyle made his first Big 8 series attempt, and second ever Limited Late Model attempt at Madison International Speedway on Tuesday. "Everyone was happy with the results at Rockford last weekend" said Kyle, "so we thought we would give madison a shot." Kyle was in the top ten in lap times by the transponder scoring for the last two practice sessions (7th in session 2, 10th in session 3). Kyle's qualifying lap didn't go as well though, where he said he messed up on both laps. While his time put him in the late teens, it wasn't good enough to be in the top 14 to make the show by time. Instead, Kyle made the show through the last chance race, where he finished 3rd. Unfortunately, during the last chance race, Kyle's spindle ended up getting bent after being doored on the backstretch. The car was inconsistent after that, making it a handful to drive during the feature. Kyle ended up finishing in the 18th position.

6/21/08 - Rockford Speedway - Limited Late Model - Kyle made his first ever Limited Late Model race at the Rockford Speedway Saturday night. Kyle was driving the RaceCarHelp / Spectrum Coatings #36 car. After having only two short practice sessions to make adjustments on the car, Kyle was able to qualify in the fourth position, putting him in the trophy dash! Kyle was then able to finish fifth in the feature.

6/14/08 - Wisconsin International Raceway - Making their first of three total visits to WIR this summer, Troy and Kyle both wanted to be able to perform well at this track this summer being that it's the track they visit the most. Kyle qualified in the 7th position, while Troy qualified 12th. Even though Troy was disappointed in his qualifying run, it put him on the pole after the invert. During the race, Troy was able to jump into the lead while Kyle was running a few cars behind working through traffic. Troy would have benefited from a longer green flag run, but a caution early on ended that run. Kyle was able to work his way up to the fourth position, while Troy held on to the final top 5 spot.

5/31/08 - Dells Raceway Park - The Dells Raceway Park first brought the Mid-American series into their facility last year, where Kyle achieved his first feature win. Returning to the track for their second time, both Troy and Kyle felt pretty confident about their chances. This confidence was validated through the two practice sessions, where both cars only needed minor changes, and were running nearly identical times on the watch. For qualifying, Kyle had put down a lap good enough to tie the track record, and gain him his first fast time award. Troy qualified 8th, but knew he had more in the car, claiming to have slightly messed up on his second lap.

In the feature, both Troy and Kyle had fast cars. Unfortunately the race was slowed many times due to the yellow flag, including one caution where water was laid down on the track from a blown radiator hose. Right after the yellow flag flew, Scott Null was spun around in front of the field, and Troy had nowhere to go. “I thought I’d get it whoa’ed down in time to not hit him, but once I got into the water with the tires locked up, there was no way for me to stop for Scott” said Troy. Neither car was harmed much beyond cosmetic damage and both were able to continue on.

The rest of the race continued without problem for either Shear Racing car. Troy worked his way back up to the 6th position after losing a couple spots. Kyle had worked his way up to 2nd place, and was reeling in race leader Bill Prietzel until the race was ended due to the track curfew. Kyle said “knew I would be able to catch Bill, as my car was improving throughout the race, but getting around him would have been a different story. He’s a great racer, but I hope we would have at least put on a good show had the race gone the entire length.”

5/16/08 - Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway - Joining the USAC Midget Sprint cars for the day, the Mid-American series made the trip up to La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on friday. It proved to be a busy and tough afternoon for all the racers having a single practice session to tune their cars to the track conditions. During the single practice session, both Troy and Kyle made minor adjustments between short runs to try dial in their cars.

Qualifying was shortened to one single lap, where Kyle turned a lap good for 5th position, and Troy placing himself into the 8th position.

The rest of the night was a race to beat the rain storm brewing off in the distance. The first caution of the race came on lap 9 for a racing incident between James Swan and Kyle who were both racing hard. Kyle spun out, but no damage was done to the car, and he was able to restart from the rear of the field.

Shortly after the green flag dropped, light sprinkles started to fall down on the track for a short period of time, but nothing significant. Then around lap 30 the storm dumped on the track. It rained pretty hard for the final laps of the race. The track started getting slick, and Troy nearly spun coming off turn 2. He kept going, but lost several positions while saving the sideways car. The race was given the checkered flag on the next lap due to the heavy rain, completing the race at lap 31.

4/13/08 - Rockford Speedway - There was a lot of beating and banging this weekend at the Rockford Speedway, very few cars left the track without at least body damage, and both Troy & Kyle were no exception to this. Both brothers qualified in on time with nearly identical times. Troy qualified 9th, while Kyle qualified 10th. After the invert, it made the race a "Shear" third row with Kyle on the inside, and Troy on the outside.

Both cars were running well in the top 10 until Kyle was tagged from behind, spinning him around. Troy was also hit hard in the door by the same driver in this incident, but continued on. Kyle then had to work his way from the tail of the field, picking his way back to the front. Throughout the race, Troy & Kyle had a number of exciting side-by-side laps, fighting for the same position.

Troy and Kyle would both later be collected in Don Wood's wreck while trying to avoid Don, causing body damage to both cars. Kyle was able to continue on, but unfortunately Troy had to make a trip to the pits during that caution to have some hanging fiberglass body parts pulled off the car. Troy returned to the track just barely outside the top 10. While Kyle was fighting his way into a top 5 finish, Troy would be trying to make his way back into the top 10.

Troy wants to thank Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream of Rockford, IL for helping support him for the Spring Classic. Kyle thanks RETOOL of Rockford, IL and Chubby Bubba's Pizza of Janesville for their continuing support.

4/8/08 - Making their second appearance on the Rockford area TV stations, Troy and Kyle also appeared on WREX 13 today. The video is available here ( link opens in a new window).

4/5/08 - Troy and Kyle were interviewed by Rockford area TV stations during Rockford Speedway's open practice date on April 5. The video from My Stateline Fox 39 is available here. ( link opens in a new window).

3/14/08 - Troy & Kyle were a part of the "Hometown Heroes" edition of Hawkeye Racing News. Here is the article by Matt Panure:

Shear Name Still Going Strong in Mid-American

Second Cousins. That is the relationship between Midwest racing legend Joe Shear and the two Mid-American standouts who share the last name, Kyle and Troy Jr. “Every track we go to I've had at least one person come up and ask me what our relation was to Joe so I definitely think there is a lot of added pressure to that,” said Kyle. “A lot of people see the name and expect us to be good because of it,” he added.

The brothers from Roscoe, Illinois differed on their opinions. “A lot of people know that this was pretty much our first year in any race car. They were really surprised that we did as well as we did. Maybe will expect a little more out of us with the Shear name this year,” stated Troy.

The Shear boys’ story is unique to most race car drivers. “Racing was something I always pushed for as a kid,” said Troy, “it just didn’t materialize.” However, the dream for the Shear boys to race came true after Troy returned from an internship at “the place where dreams come true.”

“I returned from an internship at Disney World and there were two cars in the shop,” said Troy. One of the cars was purchased from Mid-American front runner Jamey Dorsey and the other was a Shear house car. Troy took Troy Sr.’s number six and Kyle slapped a seven on the side of his new ride.

Of course, that urge to race had to materialize from somewhere. The Shear kids followed their dad to the track as he chased the Mid-American Stock Car Series in the mid to late 1990s as a driver and then later as a car owner.

In those days, it was not rare for Mid-American to be a support class for ARTGO. So when the Shear boys went to see their dad in the pits after an event, they would normally find him talking to Joe. “We were pretty young, we would be there when my dad was talking to him and we would get to talk to him too a little bit,” recalled Troy. Kyle recalled the visuals of the black and red number 36. “I remember watching him at Rockford and watching all the things he used to do on the track.”

The Mid-American Stock Car Series seemed to be a perfect fit for the brothers to begin their career. “I remember watching the Mid-Am Series when my dad used to race. We watched it grow and now that we're driving in the series, its like re-living our childhood,” stated Kyle.

Although 2007 was only their first full year in any kind of race car, the Shears proved that racing is in their blood. Troy Jr. started ten of twelve features finishing in the top five once and top ten twice. He also had several top ten qualifying runs. Kyle started all twelve events finishing in the top five three times, the top ten six times and collected a win at Dells Raceway Park on his way to being named Rookie of the Year.

Kyle’s win at Dells Raceway Park ranks high on both lists of the Shears’ favorite memories of their rookie season. Troy was the last car to fall a lap to Kyle and was not far behind when the checkered flag waved. He was out of his own ride and waiting in victory lane for Kyle when he exited his mount.

Of course Kyle’s win was big in his mind. “Your first win is something you remember for the rest of your life,” stated Kyle. “and to beat out James Swan, who is one of the best drivers in the series… the win will just stand out in my mind for the rest of my life.”

The two had many more enjoyable experiences during the year, but Troy specifically mentioned another main event that stuck out in his mind. “The Milwaukee Mile weekend was such a blast knowing that we put all three cars in the tope ten in qualifying,” he said. Shear Racing fielded an entry for Jimmy Becker that Saturday morning as well. The three cars, numbered six, seven, and eight, qualified eighth, seventh, and sixth respectively.

The second most frequent question the Shear brothers receive regards a sibling rivalry. “I want to beat him,” said Troy, “it’s really cool to beat him and I'm sure for him, it’s really cool to beat me too.” Kyle tries not to identify his brother as a rival. “I just look at him as another competitor. I think I gave him less room than I gave anyone else at Rockford,” said Kyle.

While the brothers may enjoy racing each other hard, they keep things in perspective. “We know that we can't touch each other because that’s the car that we'll be fixing at the shop. We know that when we get back to the shop that we have to answer to dad,” added Troy. Kyle expressed the same feelings. “I knew if he wrecked I'd be the one fixing it. We share everything and work together. We both watch each other and try to help each other get better,” said Kyle.

The Shear team certainly is a family operation. The team is sponsored by Troy Sr.’s concrete business, Troy Shear Cement, and is owned and operated by mom and dad Shear. Troy and Kyle also credit their crew, Don, Chris and Jerry.

The two brothers will be back in 2008 in hopes to improve their positioning in series standings. Kyle, who finished seventh in points is aiming for a championship in only his second season. “That may be a little farfetched. If I can finish in the top five I'll feel pretty successful, hopefully we'll bring home a win or two.”

The Shears and the rest of a very strong Mid-American contingent will begin the race to the 2008 championship on Sunday, April 13th at the Rockford Speedway in Love’s Park, Illinois. For more information regarding the Mid-American Stock Car Series including the 2008 schedule, past results, the final 2007 standings and driver information, please visit www.midamericanracing.com.

3/08/08 - Be sure to check out Hawkeye Racing News, Troy & Kyle are a part of the "Hometown Heros" edition with an article by Matt Panure. For information about Hawkeye Racing News, check their site at Hawkeyeracingnews.com

8/23/08 - ShearRacing.com is going through some updates for your enjoyment. Check back soon, and be sure to check out the new Shear Racing online store!