Zevenbergen excels during record-setting Dakota Tour IMCA Stock Car championship

Elijah Zevenbergen won the Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Stock Car Tour championship for the fifth time in 2018. (Photo by Bill Keech)

OCHEYEDAN, Iowa – Elijah Zevenbergen added another trophy to his collection after his latest racing vacation to North Dakota and Canada.

Zevenbergen won the Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Tour for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars for a record fourth straight time. His fifth career crown was also a record for the division. 

“Those tracks just fit my driving style,” said Zevenbergen, from Ocheyedan, Iowa, and the winner this year of tour features at Nodak Speedway and Southwest Speedway. “They’re smooth and perfectly dry from top to bottom. It seems like those are the tracks where we excel.”

A record 56 drivers from the U.S. and Canada competed in the Stock Car half of the Dakota Tour. Zevenbergen owns 17 tour victories during his career.

He won 10 of 39 starts in all this year, taking the checkers at a number of the division’s top-paying events, among them Hometown Heroes at Kossuth County Speedway, Hancock County Speedway’s Hobo 100 and Arlington Raceway’s Schoknecht Shootout. 

“We had a really good year last year,” said Zevenbergen, behind the wheel of a Sniper Speed ride for the duration of this season. “The car almost drove itself when we got some things figured out this season.”

Wins-2                    Top Five Finishes-4           Starts-5

HIS CREW: Parents Loren and Sue Zevenbergen, Andrea Johnson and friends.

HIS SPONSORS: Z Machine, Mega Inc., Bow Tie Auto Repair, Legend Seeds and D & K Transportation, all of Ocheyedan; Raveling Inc. of Melvin; Turbo Charged Performance of Sibley; Fury Energy of Minot, N.D.; Elite Shock Services of Elk River, Minn.; Tieszen Farms of Marion, S.D.; and Sniper Speed of Gillett, Wis.