Ryan Clark

Fast start sparks Larson in charge to IMCA Modified national championship

VINTON, Iowa – A fast start close to home was all it took to convince Jeff Larson this was the year to run for the IMCA Modified national championship. He was right. Larson won 35 features and raced to three track titles on the way to the 2021 crown. From Freeport, he became the first Illinois driver to win the IMCA Modified national championship since 1987. “We won our first five nights out weekly and decided to keep going because we’d been so close last year,” explained Larson, the winner of 22 features and national runner-up in 2020. “We definitely put a lot of miles on this year but it turned out to be our best season.” Also the first Illinois driver to win a regional title in any division, Larson topped point standings at Maquoketa Speedway, East Moline Speedway and 300 Raceway en route to the national and Side Biter North Central Region titles. “There were maybe six races we won this year that we maybe shouldn’t have. The caution came out or somebody [Read More]

Car photos needed for Allstar Performance heat winner awards

VINTON, Iowa – The 2021 point season may be over but Allstar Performance is still making winners of drivers in all nine IMCA divisions. Drivers who won 10 or more heat races during the season receive $100 gift cards from the Watervliet, Mich., high performance parts manufacturer and heat race winner decal program sponsor. The driver with the most heat race wins gets a $250 gift card. What drivers have to do to make themselves eligible for those awards is email a photo of their car showing proof of heat win decals, as distributed by tracks, to IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder at kyoder@imca.com. Allstar Performance gift cards will be presented during the IMCA national banquet in November or mailed beginning the following week.

IMCA announces national and regional champions, top rookies

VINTON, Iowa – IMCA has announced its National Championship Class of 2021. Jeff Larson is the IMCA Modified champion, Cory Dumpert the IMCA Sunoco Late Model champion, Justin Clark the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car champion, Dillon Raffurty the first-ever IMCA STARS Mod Lite champion, Mike Nichols the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car champion, Kaden Reynolds the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock champion, Matthew Looft the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod champion, Matthew Day the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod champion and Caine Mahlberg the Mach-1 Sport Compact champion. Dallon Murty raced to the Junior National Championship, Kaytee DeVries to another Lady Eagle crown. Larson also reigned in the Side Biter Chassis North Central Region, Chaz Baca in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region, Dylan Sillman in the Jet Racing Central Region, William Gould in the Razor Chassis South Central Region and A.J. Ward in the Dirt Works Eastern Region for Modifieds. Nichols and Aaron Spangler paced point standings for the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern and Southern Regions, respectively. Reynolds and Jason Duggins were Big Daddy Race Cars Northern [Read More]

US 36 Raceway offers five sets of tickets for Saturday’s IMCA Missouri Nationals

By Rick Staley OSBORN, Mo. – Five lucky fans will receive a pair of tickets to Saturday’s IMCA Missouri Nationals at US 36 Raceway Dirt Track just by liking, commenting and sharing this post. That simple, just go on the track’s Facebook page, like this post, comment what you like or why you want tickets and then share. Winners will be announced Friday, Oct. 8 so keep an eye on Facebook. This is one race you don’t want to miss and now fans have a chance to win free tickets to see the very best racing on the high banks of US 36 Raceway. IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod drivers are all planning to take home the big trophy and their share of a whopping $50,000 purse. There will be plenty of the side-by-side, wheel-to-wheel action we have come to expect on a smooth fast racing surface, Want more, we got more, practice is free to fans Thursday night and Friday night after the races [Read More]

Big-time IMCA Modified special at RPM leads to another big win for Hobscheidt

HAYS, Kan. (Oct. 2) – Another big-time event ended with another big payday for Jacob Hobscheidt. After starting on the pole, running second most of the way and passing Tanner Black late in the 40-lapper, Hobscheidt was the $5,000 IMCA Modified winner Saturday at RPM Speedway’s 15th annual Fall Nationals presented by Nutrien Ag Services. “It’s been a pretty good year,” said the modest Hobscheidt, recently the winner of Park Jefferson Speedway’s Iron Cup and Southern Oregon Speedway’s R. Charles Snyder Salute and now eligible to qualify for the 2022 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We’ve focused and worked hard. We’ve made some mistakes but we’ve learned a lot.” His IMCA travels took Hobscheidt to 16 tracks in six different states in 2021. He drew the pole for his first post-season start at Hays, saw Black motor by on lap two and then stayed in the runner-up spot before a restart opened the door. “The season started out terrible,” he said. “We finally got things rolling when I got this new car (a 2020 GRT) put together.” [Read More]

World IMCA Stock Car Championship is next at Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. – The top-paying IMCA Sunoco Stock Car event in the world takes The Class Too Tough To Tame to Batesville Motor Speedway for the $50,000 to win World IMCA Stock Car Championship Oct. 13-16. Presented and broadcast by IMCA.TV, the inaugural event will start 30 cars and boasts a main event purse of $125,000 with $15,000 paid to the runner-up, $10,000 for third, $5,000 for fourth, $3,000 for fifth and a minimum of $1,500 to start. The top two drivers from each of 15 heat races transfer to nightly ‘A’ features Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the top nine from those races advancing to the Saturday main event. Third and fourth place drivers, fifth and sixth place drivers and seventh and eighth place drivers transfer to nightly “B,” “C” and “D” features to race for points. The pit gate opens at 2 p.m. Wednesday and at 4:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The grandstand opens at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 7:30 p.m. each night. Entry fees are $250 if paid by Oct. 1 or $350 [Read More]

US 36 Raceway hosts Oct. 8, 9 IMCA Missouri Nationals

By Rick Staley OSBORN, Mo. – US 36 Raceway presents the IMCA Missouri Nationals Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8-9, with a $50,000 combined payout. IMCA Modifieds and IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars both race for $2,000 to win and a minimum of $200 to start, with the Modified winner becoming eligible to qualify for the 2022 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars run for $2,000 to win, a minimum of $100 to start and B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods chase a top check of $1,500 with a minimum of $90 to start. The top 12 cars from Friday qualifying are locked into the Saturday show and there will also be a payout for that night. All payouts are based on a minimum of 24 cars per division. Entry fee in all four divisions is $35 if paid by Oct. 6 or $70 after that date. Entry fee is 100 percent refundable if the event would weather out. An open practice session is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. [Read More]

Dillon Raffurty dominates at Lakeside’s Rage on the River

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Sept. 24) – Another impressive outing put $1,000 in Dillon Raffurty’s pocket. Raffurty led all 15 laps of Lakeside Speedway’s Friday night Rage on the River special for his 27th IMCA STARS Mod Lites victory of the season. The run to the checkers was delayed an hour or so by two rain delays, then by a caution with two laps left in the main event. Raffurty’s brother Michael was second and Ed Griggs rounded out the top three. “I like the bigger tracks. The track definitely had two grooves. You could run on the very top and you could run on the very bottom,” Raffurty said. “I won running the top. My brother was second running the bottom.” The top three drivers received Yoshimura bonuses of $250, $150 and $100, respectively. Hard charger Nathan Wolfe passed 10 cars to score a Hoosier tire certificate. Yoshimura bonus recipients at Lakeside Speedway’s Rage on the River were, from left, Ed Griggs, Michael Raffurty and Dillon Raffurty. (Photo by Lisa Burlington) David Raffurty, the winner’s father, [Read More]

Money, Sherfick cash top checks at Mid-America Clash

SALINA, Kan. (Sept. 24-25) – Clay Money and Dylan Sherfick cashed the big checks at Salina Speedway’s Mid-America Clash. Both IMCA Modified winners pocketed $1,500, along with Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. Money won the ‘B’ feature and the main event on Friday while Sherfick won Saturday’s 25-lapper from the pole. Money started the opening night show headliner from 13th. He was running third when the caution came out with 10 laps left and took the lead on the restart. “We like to go to Salina when we can. I kind of like that track when it slicks up. I know where to run it,” said Money, who took the checkers ahead of Sherfick, Brandon Conkwright, Marcus Tomlinson and Tim Watts. “I know where to run it.” Sherfick had started seventh and improved one position from his Friday finish the next night. He’d run at Salina one time before this season, DNF’ing five or six years ago. “We’ve had a pretty decent car. We changed a couple things for Saturday and that definitely helped [Read More]

Hogge, Kanke both bring brooms to Ocean Speedway’s Pettit Shootout

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Sept. 24-25) – Bobby Hogge IV added to his collection of Pettit Shootout trophies while Cale Kanke started his. Both drivers swept weekend events at Ocean Speedway, with Hogge picking up $1,003 and $3,006 IMCA Modified victories, his career sixth and seventh at the event. Kanke earned $503 for Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod career win number one on Friday and $1,003 for win number two the next night. “It was a pretty amazing weekend for us,” said Hogge, who wheeled the Rage by Precision Performance ride he’d debuted at the Prelude and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “We started our venture in California with this car really well. Things couldn’t have gone any better for us.” Newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational, he won from 10th starting on opening night and from outside row one on Saturday. “We floundered around mid-pack for a while before we found our way toward the front and battled with Paul Stone,” he said, “and got the lead around midway of the [Read More]