CHELSEA, Iowa – A strong second half of the season helped Dallon Murty achieve the goals he’d set at the start of his first IMCA Sunoco Stock Car campaign.
The 14-year-old from Chelsea became the youngest driver in division history to earn national rookie of the year honors, as well as the youngest rookie of the year crowned in the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region.
“Our goal was to win rookie but we got out to a slow start,” said Murty. “We got better and when we saw we had a shot at it, we decided to go for it.”
The son of much accomplished IMCA veteran Damon Murty and a BGM High School freshman, he got his career first win in his 20th start in the class, on July 5 at Marshalltown Speedway.
“That was a pretty good night,” said Murty, who took to the top of the oval and led start to finish of the 18-lapper. “We had the whole family and a lot of fans there. It was pretty cool to be able to win that night.”
He won another four features, three at Benton County Speedway and one at Maquoketa, and had five more top five’s in his final 21 starts.
Murty ended the season fourth in points at Marshalltown and eighth at Vinton.
“Stock Cars are fun to drive. I like racing with my dad and we can talk about the race on the way home,” said Murty, who raced go-karts and micro mods before moving into the Class Too Tough To Tame. “The hardest thing getting used to was the weight difference. That threw my game off but once I stuck to one class I got the hang of it pretty quick.”
Starts 41 Wins 5 Additional Top Five’s 7
HIS CREW: Parents Damon and Dawn, sister Dayna, Mort Fraum, Bud Maschmann and Jonah Bearden.
HIS SPONSORS: Harris Auto Racing and Motorsports Warehouse, both of Boone; Fast Shafts, Midstate Machine and Curt Manatt, all of Des Moines; Oliver Heating and Air of Danville; Grandpa Norm; Performance Bodies and Northland Oil, both of Cedar Falls; Precision Ink Graphics & Design, Van Tomme Concrete and Front Street Tap, all of Brooklyn; CV Farms of Chelsea; Hazy Hideaway of Cedar Rapids; The Oasis Bar & Grill of Belle Plaine; Fisher Trucking of Marshalltown; Mitchell Machine of Webster City; and Richie Gustin Racing of Gilman.