When Hermie Sadler and his attorney Bill Stanley decided to go to court to challenge the state’s ban on skill games in June, a racing partnership wasn’t at the front of their plan. The duo recently announced their new Sadler-Stanley team sponsored by Pace-O-Matic, a skill games manufacturing company.

Former NASCAR star Ryan Newman is the driver of the Pace-O-Matic car and had a top-15 finish Friday, April 1 in Richmond. Sadler-Stanley driver Jonathan Brown finished second at South Boston Speedway last weekend.

“Our team had an awesome weekend of racing, with Ryan Newman piloting the 39 SS Racing car in the NASCAR Whelen race at the Richmond Raceway and our own Jonathan Brown driving the No. 22 at the SMART Modified Tour Series race at South Boston,” Sadler said on his Facebook page. “Both cars qualified well and led multiple laps during each race.”

Racing was discussed in front of a judge on Dec. 6 in a Greensville County courtroom. Stanley asked Sadler to assist him in defining a skill game. Stanley had Sadler talk about a video racing game both played and asked if it qualified as a skill game. The attorney pointed out he beat Sadler in the game. While cracking a smile, the former NASCAR driver told all in the courtroom he let Stanley win.

Skill games are back pending a May 18 court date when Circuit Court Judge Louis Lerner makes a final decision on the case. Lerner ordered the temporary injunction removing the state’s ban until a further review on Dec. 6, citing a constitutional and 1st Amendment issue when rendering his decision. He said the case brought before him by the Sadler team is likely to prevail on the merits.

The outcome of the skill games issue will be resolved for good next month. Still, the work of Sadler and Stanley against the commonwealth brought the duo together to form a strong racing partnership this season.

This story originally appeared 04/12/2022 on Emporia Independent Messenger.