By Ben Deatherage
BELGRADE, Mont. (Oct. 22, 2026) — Ty Clemens knows what it takes to compete for a regional championship in Montana, where traveling several hours between racetracks is a regular part of the season. The 38-year-old from Belgrade made those miles count in 2026, capturing his second DeVilbiss Racing Chassis Western Region championship in the Karl Kustoms IMCA Modified division.
Clemens, who previously won the region in 2022, remains the only Montana driver to claim the Western Region championship. He also secured his fifth Montana State championship, breaking a tie with Jeremy Meirhofer for the most in state history, and earned his second consecutive track championship at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls.
“We have to travel a lot in this part of the world with the racetracks all spread apart as they are compared to Iowa or other places,” Clemens said.
That travel included regular three-hour trips from Belgrade to Electric City Speedway and Big Sky Speedway in Billings. One weekend, Clemens raced Friday at Gallatin Speedway in his hometown before making the four-plus-hour trip to Sheridan Speedway in Wyoming. Even those journeys were relatively short compared with his trips to Utah and Arizona during the season.
“I didn’t make any too crazy next-day trips this year,” Clemens said. “We just tried our best to race what was most convenient to us.”
The regional championship was not part of Clemens’ original plan. He said both of his title-winning seasons developed similarly, with early success eventually changing his priorities.
“The times we would try to go for it and win the region, work really hard for points racing, we seem to struggle,” Clemens said. “But the two years we’ve won it were both years we didn’t start out wanting to go for it. You end up getting some wins, and you look and you’re kind of in the running, and your focus changes. You start counting points and try to make it happen.”
Driving the ROVR Products/GDC Investments/Northwest Concrete-sponsored No. 12 PCD Chassis, Clemens recorded 11 feature victories, 27 top-five finishes, and 34 top-10 finishes in 35 A-main starts across 39 events attended.
Seven victories came at Electric City Speedway, three at Gallatin Speedway, and one at Gillette Thunder Speedway in Wyoming.
His season began with a difficult trip to the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at Central Arizona Raceway in January. Clemens and his crew became ill while traveling to Arizona, leaving them struggling to prepare and maintain the car. He failed to qualify for an A-main during the four nights of competition.
“We started the year off rough with our start in Arizona,” Clemens said. “We went down there with the intent of trying to figure out the new IMCA rules, and on the way down, me and the whole crew got the flu really bad. I wasn’t in the best condition to race, and the crew wasn’t in the best condition to maintain the car.”
The turnaround continued when Clemens returned to Montana, winning his first three appearances at Electric City Speedway in May.
Clemens’ strongest stretch came during June and July, when he won four consecutive features between June 20 and July 10. That run included three victories at Electric City Speedway and one at Gallatin Speedway and was part of a nine-race top-five streak.
One of his favorite moments came during Independence Day weekend at Electric City Speedway, where he swept both nights of the Fastest in the Falls event.
Clemens finished inside the top 10 in his first 32 feature starts, with his only finish outside the top 10 coming Sept. 24 at Desert Thunder Raceway in Utah.
“For a lot of the year, we didn’t finish out of the top 10 at all,” Clemens said. “We had a couple of weird deals at the end of the year.”
He rebounded with consecutive runner-up finishes at Desert Thunder Raceway to close the season.
Another element of the championship was the car itself. Clemens returned to the same PCD Chassis he drove to his first Western Region championship in 2022, a decision influenced by changes in his plans for newer equipment.
“It was a good year, and I did it in the same car as last time,” Clemens said. “We didn’t run that car in between the two championships as much, but we brought it back out this season just because of some circumstances with ordering cars and switching my mind halfway through cars being built. This was the only one we had around, and it’s been a really good car to us.”
Feature Wins: 11
Total Top Fives: 27
Total Starts: 39
His Pit Crew: Chris Svaldi, Will Latoush, Ben Nichols, and Colin Scott
His Sponsors: ROVR Products, GDC Investments, Northwest Concrete, Lea Concrete, NAPA of Belgrade, Big Sky Tint, Alpine Surveying, College Street Barber, EuroPerformance, Custom II Manufacturing, and TDS Suspension.