Ryan Clark

A first for Arizona as Erickson earns national Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod ROY honors

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A season of firsts saw Clay Erickson race to national Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors. From Glendale, Erickson became the first IMCA driver from Arizona to earn the national rookie title in any division, edging younger brother Justin for the prize. His first feature victory came March 7 at Canyon Speedway Park, the same venue where he’d ultimately win his first track championship. “Our consistency really stood out in our first season. We went to a lot of different tracks and ran well,” said Erickson, also the KMJ Performance State champion. “The top five’s weren’t as good as getting wins but it was good to know we could run up there.” Erickson complemented career win number one with 18 top five finishes. Twenty-six starts came at home state tracks, another 11 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Colorado. Team Erickson made 800 mile round trips to Cortez when Arizona tracks were closed during the warm summer months for weekend double or tripleheaders on five occasions. “We went there to run [Read More]

Elliott, Mueller, Medler, Knutson win drawing to attend Harris Race Tech Info dirt chassis school

AMES, Iowa – IMCA drivers Chris Elliott, Jeff Mueller, Darren Medler and Eric Knutson are headed back to class early next season. All four won designated specials in 2020, then were selected by drawing to attend Bob Harris Enterprises Race Tech Info dirt chassis schools. Elliott topped the IMCA Modified feature at Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Challenge. Mueller was the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car winner at Marshalltown Speedway’s Dale DeFrance Memorial. Medler collected the checkers on night two of the Stock Car Stampede at Jamestown Speedway and Knutson was the World Nationals IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock winner, also at Motown. BHE, of Ames, Iowa, and in its eighth season as an IMCA sponsor, added Stock Car and Hobby Stock awards to its established and much appreciated program. Top five finishers at designated Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod events were entered in the drawing and all received BHE certificates good for two shock rebuilds. Modified drivers receiving certificates included Tom Berry Jr., Steven Bowers Jr., Ethan [Read More]

Single start sets stage for Duggins’ run to national, Big Daddy Southern Region ROY

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Kyler Duggins had all of one night on the track under his belt at the start of the 2020 season. Thirty-three races and four feature wins later, he was the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national and Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region rookie of the year. “I tried it out for that one night at Aztec,” said Duggins, son of two-time and repeat regional champion Jason Duggins. “The track looked a lot different that night than when I had been watching from the pits.” Duggins’ first two wins came right ahead of his dad, on July 17 at Fairgrounds Speedway and the next weekend at Desert Thunder Raceway. August and September checkers figured in his run to the track title at Desert Thunder. He drove a Grumpy Chassis three or four years older than his father’s 2003 ride that had served as a loaner for four other drivers last season. “My first win was a real confidence booster. We’d gotten in a wreck early in the race, restarted from the back and [Read More]

Texan Day drives to national rookie honors for Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods

FARMERSVILLE, Texas – Running with the national champion helped Matthew Day earn national IMCA honors of his own. Day, 17 years old and a Farmersville High School junior, won five features while racing to the national Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod rookie of the year award. He ran with Dean Abbey, who won a career third national title this season, in 26 of his 38 starts. “We knew we wanted to race for rookie of the year,” said Day, who began racing Fridays at Boyd Raceway in addition to Saturdays at Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore and saw even more of Abbey. “We learned a lot from him. The more we raced Dean, the faster we got.” Day had started racing go-karts at the age of four and had success in the junior limited modifieds, a local class similar to Southern SportMods before joining his father Dan in the sanctioned division this year. Third in national, Southern Oklahoma track and KMJ Performance Oklahoma State standings and fifth in points at Boyd, he was runner-up [Read More]

Fast finish to season nets Wilkinson national Stock Car, EQ Northern Region rookie honors

NELIGH, Neb. – Pressure? Bring it, says Cameron Wilkinson. The third generation speedster from Neligh, Neb., clinched IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern region rookie of the year awards on the final weekend of the season, with third- and first-place finishes at Junction Motor Speedway. “A lot of people knew I had pressure on me. That’s what I like,” said Wilkinson, who welcomed the high stakes opportunity despite having to change engines and swap bodies after a tough outing the previous weekend. “We had a lot of confidence at the start of the season and winning rookie of the year is what I set out to do.” Wilkinson won the national rookie prize by a single point, over Texan Dustin Mooney. He was the track champion at Off Road Speedway, where he won for the first time on July 1, and runner-up at Boone County Raceway. He’d finished second in four straight features leading up to career win number one. “We’d had a lot of nights when we were real close [Read More]

Dream season comes true for top IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car rookie Dvorak

STUART, Neb. – Mitchell Dvorak rode a three-year labor of love to national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car rookie of the year honors this season. After starting his career in a Hobby Stock, Dvorak sold that ride to help fund his move to the winged division. He and crew chief Pete Kubik built a car piece-by-piece over the next three years with the ultimate goal of racing, and winning, at hometown Stuart, Neb., Raceway. “I wanted to get some seat time in a hobby stock. It had always been a dream to race a Sprint Car. That was always in the plans for sure,” Dvorak said. “My dad Bob has raced a Sprint Car for 20 years so racing has definitely been a part of our family.” Dvorak was runner-up to his father in the race for the Stuart track title. He was also a frequent visitor to South Dakota’s I-90 Speedway and counted three Sprint Series of Nebraska outings among his 25 rookie season starts as well. RaceSaver career win number one came on Aug. [Read More]

Manternach follows adjusted schedule to IMCA Late Model rookie of the year honors

DYERSVILLE, Iowa – Mitch Manternach had winning the IMCA Sunoco Late Model national rookie of the year award in mind from the time he unloaded his newly purchased car in January. After 25 starts at seven different tracks and five top-five finishes, the Dyersville, Iowa driver was thinking about where to display the trophy that came with those honors. “We had to adjust our schedule because of Covid but really started coming on about mid-season,” said Manternach, one point better than Jacob Waterman in the race for the top rookie prize and sixth in point standings at both Dubuque County Fairgrounds Speedway and 300 Raceway. “While there were a couple nights we came close to winning but I couldn’t get the job done, I was very happy with the way things worked out,” he continued, “With the caliber of drivers we ran with, we were very happy to be as competitive as we were.” Most of his pre-Late Model seat time had come in a Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod. “We had a deal pop up [Read More]

Sproul streaks to IMCA Modified national, Jet Racing Central Region rookie honors

HAYS, Kan. – He might not like racing for points but IMCA Modified rookie Dakota Sproul proved he was pretty good at it. From Hays, Kan., Sproul won 16 features in earning national and Jet Racing Central Region rookie of the year honors. The Dodge City Raceway Park and KMJ Performance Kansas State champion finished seventh nationally and third regionally. “I’ve never liked to race for points because it seemed like I got too involved in it and wasn’t able to travel to more bigger shows,” admitted Sproul, who had totaled 43 wins in five Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod seasons. “We had like three or four races in (the region) and were turning in consistent finishes when we actually decided to run for rookie of the year.” His first two wins came back-to-back, on June 6 and 7 at Sherman County Speedway. Sproul later put an “insane” streak of seven straight W’s together, starting with a Kansas Thunder Series sweep at Osborne Speedway. “The next night was at Dodge City, where my car is always [Read More]

Seven January dates for IMCA.TV Winter Nationals at Cocopah

SOMERTON, Ariz. – Cocopah Speedway gets the 2021 race season off to a fast start with seven IMCA.TV Winter Nationals dates in January. IMCA Modifieds run for $1,000 to win in Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying features Wednesday, Jan. 6; Thursday, Jan. 7; Friday, Jan. 8; and Saturday, Jan. 9; and again at Thursday, Jan. 14; Friday, Jan. 15; and Saturday, Jan. 16 shows. Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods race for $750 to win, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars for $500 to win and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks for $350 to win each night. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, regional and KMJ Performance State points will be awarded each night. Drivers who pre-register via My Race Pass by opening night pay no entry fee; entry fee for the tour after that date is $100. An open practice runs from 6-9 p.m. Jan. 5 at Somerton. Another open practice, as well as the $500 to win Mach-1 Sport Compact main event and the $1,000 to win Gene Freeman pit crew challenge is slated for Jan. 13. [Read More]

Changes minimal in IMCA rules for 2021

VINTON, Iowa – As expected, changes in IMCA rules for the 2021 race season were minimal. “Making no changes in rules is always the most cost effective for our racers. Changing rules costs money,” IMCA President Brett Root said. “Of course we can’t foresee the future. Making rules is what we do by definition as a sanctioning body. We try to keep changes to a minimum and the vast majority of what we do falls under the category of necessary corrections.” “A number of the changes or clarifications for 2021 were being made in multiple divisions,” added Root. “Shocks, springs and front and rear suspensions, for example, are going in a direction we didn’t believe was good for drivers in the long term.” A maximum seven inch stroke will be in effect on front shocks and maximum nine inch stroke on rear shocks for Modifieds, Stock Cars and Northern SportMods. And no Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern or Southern SportMod shock can pre-load or pin any spring. 2021 rules for those five divisions have [Read More]