By Bill Martin
READING, Minn. (Oct. 28, 2026) – A Facebook memory popped up back on June 6 to tell Blake Luinenburg he’d won his first Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock feature six years ago to that date.
He won his career first Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod feature that evening at Worthington Speedway, one of many memories Facebook will have to remind him of from his national rookie of the year season in the open wheeled division.
The Reading, Minn., racer would total nine victories and win the Murray County Speedway track title, ending the season 12th in the national points race.
“It was pretty cool to see that Facebook memory pop up and that I’d gotten my first win in a Hobby Stock six years to that day. And it was cool to have my first SportMod win at my home track,” he said. “I didn’t really know what to expect moving up this season. I had some really successful seasons in a Hobby Stock and for being a rookie, this was a really good year, too.”
Runner-up in Minnesota State standings, second at Worthington and third at Redwood Speedway, Luinenburg started 2026 at the IMCA TV Winter Nationals in Arizona.
“I had new goals this season. I felt I had accomplished everything wanted to in the Hobby Stock (with 43 career wins to go with four track championships) and it was time to move to a new division,” the 2026 GRT by BHE pilot explained. “The driving style between the two classes was entirely different. You have to drive the SportMod a lot more sideways. That was the biggest thing to get used to, and the rear steer, but once I adapted to it, I didn’t feel too much of a difference.”
His best showing in eight January starts at Casa Grande was ninth.
“I didn’t really know what to expect moving to the SportMod but once I got the grip of it, I was all right. I never thought I’d get nine wins on the year, especially after starting the season in Arizona. The car kind of got screwed up there,” said Luinenburg. “We got it home and I have to give a big thanks to the guys at BHE and Cam Reimers, they helped me go through the car. After that, I started to understand it better and that helped a ton.”
Back home, he ran at seven different tracks in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota, all familiar from his Hobby Stock days, and posted 33 top fives in his 48 Midwest starts.
His rookie also showed five wins at Redwood and three at Murray County, plus runner-up honors in Minnesota State standings.
“I could race three nights a week within an hour from here, so that was huge. I wanted to go to some different places and learn. That was my whole goal this year and the competition was good each week,” Luinenburg said. “I had to race Brayden Ahlers and Blake Andrews every week and they’re fast. They made me better. Eric Larson did, too. He was a good competitor all year.”
“I’m definitely a competitor and I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out something new. Around home we have a pretty good group of guys to race against. They’ll race you clean for the most part. It was fun to race something different.”
Luinenburg crewed for his father Justin, IMCA’s national Hobby Stock champion in 2015 for “as long as I can remember,” and got to watch him with the Sunoco IMCA Stock Car crown at Worthington this season.
“He’s won a lot of track championships,” Blake said. “It’s probably a bigger deal to me than it is to him. He still really enjoys racing and it’s fun that we can do it together as a family.”
Wins – 9
Top Five Finishes – 33
Starts – 56
HIS CREW: Parents Justin and Tracie, sister Annalee, uncle Trent Degroot, grandparents Jeff and Barb Degroot and JR and Pat Luinenburg, uncle Steve Degroot, brother-in-law Isaac Bierman, Zach Kleve and Ryan Moberg.
HIS SPONSORS: Luinenburg Waste of Reading; Degroot Repair, DB Express, Eggers Trucking, Ryan Moberg Consignments, Anderson Race Parts, Blume Cattle, Southwest Hearing, Cleo Customs and Low’s Sheet Metal, all of Worthington; Bruns Racing Products of Redwood; Aaron and Jason Krohn Farms and Chris Hubers Automotive, both of Slayton; Devin’s Diesel Repair of Adrian; Mitchell Machine of Webster City, Iowa; Bob Harris Enterprises of Ames, Iowa; and Dynamic Drivelines of Des Moines, Iowa.