Tyler Shoemaker

Birthdate: Feb. 27, 1985
Hometown: Bloomington, IL
Resides: Bloomington, IL

Tyler began to feel the fire to race at an early age, playing in the dirt after the races with matchbox cars. Tyler’s father Bill raced stock cars and midgets, so Tyler spent many nights tinkering on the race cars with his dad.  On Tyler’s 7th birthday, his dreams of racing came true. Tyler’s birthday present was a ¼ midget. Tyler won over 30 features in 3 short years of racing. Bill thought it was time for a change so a move to go karts was subsequent. Tyler never raced for points. They just traveled to many racetracks across the Midwest, qualifying for the Dirt Oval Nationals twice, racking up many feature wins. From that point when Tyler turned 16, he moved to the midget ranks. Tyler learned about horsepower and suspension. Tyler began his midget career with the UMARA (Now IRS) Sportsman Midget Series, a cost efficient midget group that ran on an 8 inch tire. Tyler’s 3 –year midget stint was blackened with financial troubles. At 19, Jim Dolan (JJpowder.com) offered Tyler a sprint car. In 2004, Tyler’s first full season as a sprint car driver, Tyler organized a team that had an average age of 20. Tyler and his newly formed team (Tyler Shoemaker Racing or TSR) all pitched in and bought a motor. 2005 shaped to be a remarkable year for TSR adding the UMARA Dirt Series Sprint Car Championship to its belt in its first full season. Tyler continued traveling with the MSCS (Midwest Sprint Car Series) pioneered by some of the best sprint car drivers in the Midwest. In Mid 2007, Tyler was hired to drive for Dale Ballinger’s midget team (Ballinger Racing). 2008 was a decent year for Ballinger Racing, running races on both dirt and pavement (USAC, UMARA, and PowrI). In 2009 Tyler will drive full time for Ballinger Racing. Tyler and his dad Bill will field a sprint car for Austin Shoemaker, Tyler’s younger brother. TSR will run regional sprint car races with the National Breast Cancer Foundation banner on board.