$5,000 to win for IMCA Northern SportMods at Merced’s fifth annual Al Miller Memorial

MERCED, Calif. – Four Saturday dates for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars are on the 2020 schedule at Merced Speedway.  The full-bodied class runs May 9, June 27 and Aug. 1 and 22 at the quarter-mile clay California venue. “We have had a number of drivers ask about adding Stock Cars here. If they support us, we’ll add more dates next season,” promoter Doug Lockwood said. “We really like IMCA. Their rules make everybody’s job easier and guys who have been racing at other tracks in California can come to Merced and know their cars will be legal when they get here.”  Merced will be part of IMCA’s EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region. Stock Cars points earned there also figure toward IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National and E3 Spark Plugs California State standings. The IMCA Modifieds and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods return to regular weekly programs at Merced. Both divisions headline the June 10 fair special, the June 20 Ed Parker Memorial and the pre-holiday special on July 3, which features free grandstand admission and [Read More]

MERCED, Calif. (June 15) – Slowly but surely, Troy Foulger is figuring out the nuances at Merced Speedway. Foulger raced from sixth starting to win Saturday’s Ed Parker Memorial IMCA Modified main event. His third victory of the season at the Central Valley oval paid $2,028, plus lap money, and landed him on the ballot for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “It was awesome,” said Foulger, who split leader Randy Brown and a lapped car to take the front spot on the 19th of 30 circuits. “We ran in traffic most of the way and I tried to get through it as quick as I could.” After an early caution, the race stayed green all the way to lap 27. Foulger pulled away again in beating Brown and Robby Sawyer to the checkers. “I ran the top side most of the way,” he said following his ninth start of 2019 at Merced, “but I could go about anywhere to get through traffic.” Cody Burke and hard charger Trevor Fitz-Gibbon, who’d started 13th, rounded out the top [Read More]

MERCED, Calif. (April 17) – Leader Jason Bannister knew “those fast guys” would be coming as the laps clicked away at Merced Speedway’s Al Miller Memorial main event. Bannister was faster, though, and took home Saturday’s $5,000 Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod feature win ahead of Fred Ryland and Tom Fraser. “It was awesome. To be competitive and win a race like this is really exciting,” the Bakersfield hotshoe said. “We hit the setup and we were on a rail. This was my biggest win and the biggest payday of my career.” He’d passed Fraser for the front spot on lap three and Ryland took over the second spot just before a multi-car pileup on the backstretch brought everything to a halt on lap 10. The race stayed green from that point, with Ryland chasing Bannister in traffic as the 35-lapper wound down.  He cleared two lapped cars and was cutting into Bannister’s lead but ran out of laps to catch the leader. “I knew Fred was back there,” said Bannister, the Friday night runner-up. “I’d [Read More]