STUART, Neb. – Mitchell Dvorak rode a three-year labor of love to national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car rookie of the year honors this season.

After starting his career in a Hobby Stock, Dvorak sold that ride to help fund his move to the winged division. He and crew chief Pete Kubik built a car piece-by-piece over the next three years with the ultimate goal of racing, and winning, at hometown Stuart, Neb., Raceway.

“I wanted to get some seat time in a hobby stock. It had always been a dream to race a Sprint Car. That was always in the plans for sure,” Dvorak said. “My dad Bob has raced a Sprint Car for 20 years so racing has definitely been a part of our family.”

Dvorak was runner-up to his father in the race for the Stuart track title. He was also a frequent visitor to South Dakota’s I-90 Speedway and counted three Sprint Series of Nebraska outings among his 25 rookie season starts as well.

RaceSaver career win number one came on Aug. 9 at Stuart, with Dvorak’s dad and brother Neil in the field as well.

“Winning that night was an awesome feeling. It’s pretty cool to be part of a small community track,” he said. “It means a lot to be the hometown kid and win at that track.”

Those checkers and Dvorak’s improvement throughout the season resulted in large part from time spent in the shop.

“We’re always trying to figure out what to do better and my crew puts in a lot of time,” he said. “Pretty much all the time when I was in the garage, they were right there with me.”