Rich holiday weekend opener at Benton County for IMCA Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour

VINTON, Iowa (May 22) – A rich holiday weekend at Benton County Speedway brings the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour presented by Wehrs Machine to Benton County Speedway.

The tour for IMCA Modifieds opens at Vinton for the seventh time in nine years with a top prize of $2,000 at stake on Memorial Day Monday, May 28.

Sunday’s Albert Auto Prelude also pays $2,000 to win so it will be possible for a driver to enjoy a $4,000 Memorial Weekend at the traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division.

“There’s a lot to be excited about this weekend and about the entire tour,” said IMCA President Brett Root. “We’ve increased the nightly payout as well as the tour point fund, all events will be broadcast by IMCA.TV and the Dirt Knights will be featured on MAVTV.”

A minimum of $200 will be paid to start each Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying tour feature, with the tour cham­pion earning a $1,500 share of the nearly $10,000 point fund.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and racing for each Memorial Weekend event at Vinton starts at 6 p.m. IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods also run for IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, regional and Iowa State points both days; track points will be awarded on Sunday as well.

Modifieds will draw/redraw both nights. All divisions are draw/redraw on Monday.

Grandstand admission is $15 for adults and $5 for children under five each night and pit passes are $30. Heat winners on Sunday get $25 from Albert Auto Service.

The tour ran under the Hawkeye Dirt Tour banner from 2010-2017. A passing points system will be used beginning this year to determine feature qualifiers from heats and starting spots for ‘B’ features.

Jimmy Gustin of Marshalltown won at Vinton last May while the defending tour champion is Kelly Shryock of Fertile.