By Bill Martin
BAYFIELD, Colo. (Oct. 28, 2025) — Hunter Ferrell walked across the stage and accepted his Bayfield High School diploma this spring, then raced to the top of the class in both IMCA Junior National Championship and B & B Racing Chassis Southern Region standings.
The first driver from Colorado to accomplish either feat, Ferrell won 20 features in his career fourth Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock season. Fifth in national point standings, the much-traveled 18-year-old took 13 checkers and the track title at Utah’s Desert Thunder Raceway.
He was also a three-time winner at both Cortez Fairgrounds Speedway in his home state and at Arizona’s Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway, while winning once at Aztec Speedway in New Mexico.
“It was about halfway through the season when I took over first in the regional standings, and realized I was first in Junior Nationals and started getting more wins under my belt that I realized this season could be special,” said Ferrell, now a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango, studying business. “At the start of the season we were really just looking for regional. We were top three the last couple years and really wanted to get that first place. I wasn’t thinking I would be first in Junior National.”
Ferrell’s Junior National Championship came in a field of nearly 600 drivers ages 18 and under, and the top 10 drivers in those point standings each receive $500 scholarships applicable toward higher learning degrees.
The Southern Region prize came ahead of defending champion Nathan DeRagon and Lady Eagle winner Mylee JoAnn Rhames.
Ferrell started his on-track career in quarter-midgets. He had 17 IMCA sanctioned wins, including 13 in 2024, coming into this season.
“My local tracks were all IMCA sanctioned and Hobby Stocks were the best class for us. We really didn’t want to get into Sport Compacts or a front wheel drive class and Hobby Stocks were an economical option,” Ferrell said. “I think the best thing about the class is the diversity of the drivers. There are drivers who are older, there are drivers who are younger and just getting started and that’s what I like about it, it makes the competition interesting.”
One of his weekly track highlights this came in late June at the Show Low speed plant when he started last in the feature after being disqualified from his heat race for leaking fuel, then passed 21 cars for the feature win.
The willingness to travel as well as the attention to detail were complements as Ferrell was a top five finisher in another 11 of his 37 home region starts.
He also ran under the bright lights at Boone Speedway during both the NAPA Auto Parts Prelude and the Speedway Motors IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
“The closest weekly tracks we have, Cortez and Aztec, are a little over an hour away but Arizona and Utah are like five or six hours away and we were doing that about every weekend,” he said. “Maintenance had a lot to do with our being able to travel and our success. Me and my dad Darren were in the garage pretty much every night, making sure the car (a 2021 Rev Chassis) was perfect or as good as we could make it. Maintenance was definitely a big factor.”
His father was also a big factor in the success of Team Ferrell.
“It’s really cool to think that I’ve been able to do something that a lot people have raced for years and years to do, and I won the region in my fourth year of racing. I wouldn’t have been able to do that or win the Junior National Championship myself,” Ferrell said. “It was really my dad who got me out there and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. I’ve had some buddies help but for the most part it’s just been me and him.”
Texan Nathan Sodek was also 18 when he won the initial Southern Region crown, in 2007.
Feature Wins 20
Total Top Five’s 11
Total Starts 38
HIS CREW: Father Darren.
HIS SPONSORS: Southwest Ag and Four Corners Trailers, both of Bayfield; Pace ProLube Shop of Durango; and Williams Plumbing of Price, Utah.