By Bill Martin
MERRITT, Mich. (Oct. 31, 2025) — Tylor Kay started his first Friesen Performance IMCA Modified season with two goals.
First, win rookie of the year in the Devilbiss Racing Eastern Region.
Second, run against the big names to do it.
The Merritt, Mich., speedster made good on both objectives, edging Fred Dow Jr. by just five points, the smallest margin to decide any regional rookie race in 2025.
“Winning rookie of the year was our goal from before the season even started. We wanted to try to go after it,” said Kay, who counted seven top five finishes in 33 starts. “We’re proud that we were able to achieve that, and that we were able to do it running against a lot of really tough guys every week.”
Runner-up to Cody Goodwin at Mt. Pleasant Speedway, he was sixth in points at home track Merritt Speedway and in Michigan State standings, and eighth in the regional title chase.
An occasional visitor to Crystal Motor Speedway, Kay had all of three partial seasons of experience in a local street stock class before making the jump to a Modified.
Piloting a 2023 Harris Chassis, he’d take the green in a dozen starts with eventual national champion Jeffrey Reay and 14 in all with two-time defending regional champ Myron DeYoung.
“My uncle, Richie Sutherland, has raced a Modified for a while and we agreed that it was time for me to get in the class,” Kay said. “We raced against all the good guys. We had to adapt quick and figure things out in a hurry.”
“There wasn’t a crazy amount of difference from driving a street stock,” he’d add, “but we had to get used to driving the Modified and get used to what it wanted to do.”
Merritt Speedway is located some four miles from Kay’s front door, and he’s been going to races there since he was a toddler. The Mt. Pleasant venue is an hour from home and his favorite speed plant.
“I like that track a lot,” he said. “It’s more of a momentum-based track and it sems to have a really good high line. I’m really not a fan of running the bottom.”
A welder by profession who gets the bonus of Fridays off to go racing, Kay has already made plans for his second IMCA Modified season.
“Next year, we’re going to bounce around a little more, go to Thunderbird Raceway and Winston Speedway maybe, and move around from track to track,” he said.
Feature Wins 0
Top Five’s 7
Starts 33
HIS CREW: Aunt and uncle Dana and Richie Sutherland, and cousin Trent Matthews.
HIS SPONSORS: Roger Bazun and Sons Forest Products and High Flo Performance, both of McBain; Full Throttle Grapfix of Stanford; and Team Harris Auto Racing by Melvin Allen of Alma.