Ryan Clark

$43,500 in Chevrolet Performance bonuses paid to IMCA crate engine track champions

GRAND BLANC, Mich. – As part of one of the most lucrative programs for IMCA competitors, Chevrolet Performance has paid $43,500 in bonuses to drivers who won track championships while competing exclusively with crate engines in 2018. In all, 174 drivers in the IMCA Modified, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod divisions received $250 checks, mailed this month from the IMCA home office. Both the number of drivers receiving bonuses, and the total bonus amount, were the most ever in the history of the program. This was the second season in the current three-year bonus agreement with Chevrolet Performance, which has now awarded more than $280,000 to eligible drivers over the course of the crate engine track championship program. “Chevrolet Performance has recognized IMCA racers for well over a decade and their support continues to grow each season,” IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder noted. “We are proud to work with such an outstanding company and be able to give weekly dirt track racing recognition at the highest [Read More]

Scholpp improves from 2017 standings to win IMCA Modified Gunslinger Tour title

ESTEVAN, Sask. – Kody Scholpp was second in standings at the end of the 2017 Gunslinger Tour and set his sights on finishing one spot better this year. And that’s exactly what he did, winning three times and collecting another five top five-finishes over the course of the mid-June IMCA Modified tour at tracks in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. “The Gunslinger Tour is more of a regional tour than a national one. We traveled with a pickup, a small enclosed trailer and didn’t have to spend beaucoup dollars,” the Estevan, Sask., driver said. “Everybody went out for breakfast together and we had a lot of fun.” His wins came at Big Sky Speedway, Sheridan Speedway and Black Hills Speedway. “We got a lot of racing in and we had a lot of fun doing it, without spending a lot of money,” said Scholpp. For the season, Scholpp logged 40 starts at tracks in seven states and Saskatchewan. Wins-3 Top Five Finishes-8 Starts-8 HIS CREW: Kevin Irwin and Tristan Humphrey. HIS SPONSORS: Hutt’s Trucking, Turnbull Crushing, [Read More]

Wild West Shootout family vacation ends with IMCA Modified tour title for Campos

KEIZER, Ore. – John Campos made a family vacation out of the eight-race Wild West Shootout. His consistency made him champion of the eighth annual tour for IMCA Modifieds. Campos, from Keizer, Ore., ran eighth on opening night and then sixth in each of the next two shows in the California and Oregon-based tour. He then reeled off five straight top four finishes, sealing the title with back-to-back third place finishes at Willamette Speedway. “I had followed the tour twice before. I stayed consistent and came out on top this year,” Campos said. “I get excited to run this tour. I look at it as a vacation. We took the family along (daughter Bristol celebrated her birthday on tour the first two years) in a motor home.” He started fast but not fast enough at Siskiyou Motor Speedway, Southern Oregon Speedway and Coos Bay Speedway, then started to right the ship with a third place outing at Cottage Grove Speedway. “We found some stuff that was off,” Campos explained. “Then we started picking up the [Read More]

Hansen proves up to challenge, wins IMCA Modified Sweet Diamond Series

MYTON, Utah – Chase Hansen has celebrated four IMCA Modified track championships at Diamond Mountain Speedway. He finally got to celebrate a special series championship there this year. Hansen, from Myton, Utah, won the inaugural Sweet Diamond Challenge Series title, with the top point total from four races at Diamond Mountain and four more at Sweetwater Speedway. “It was pretty cool to get my first series championship,” he said. “I came close the last year of the Wild West Tour. It’s something I always wanted to do.” Hansen had put himself in the series driver’s seat with a sweep of the series-opening twinbill at Vernal in June. “We were fast that weekend,” he understated. “On the second night I passed my brother Dustin for the lead with about four laps to go. He was driving my other car and it was neat that both cars were battling for the win.” With the responsibilities of his own business to tend to, Hansen ran a limited schedule in 2018 and had three wins overall in 22 starts. [Read More]

Roete ends long absence from racing with IMCA Bay Area Tour, Florida State crowns

MILTON, Fla. – Close to three decades after his last outings on dirt, James Roete has a pair of championships to show for his IMCA Modified rookie season. From Milton, Fla., Roete took top honors in both the Bay Area Modified Tour and Florida State standings. The Oelwein, Iowa, native had last raced as a high schooler, in the hobby stock class at Fayette County Raceway and Independence Motor Speedway. He was stationed in Florida after serving in the Navy in the Gulf War and made the Sunshine State his new home. “I hadn’t been in a race car in 20-plus years,” said Roete, who built a 2008 Dirt Works Chassis from the shop floor up. “I started in the rear early on to learn the car and learned how to work my way to the front. I can’t explain how I got to racing so well so quickly.” Consistent throughout the Tour, Roete got his first career win in the July 28 show at Northwest Florida Speedway. “We hung out at the track ‘til [Read More]

Marriott sets bar even higher by winning three IMCA Modified special series titles

BROOKFIELD, Mo. – Hunter Marriott set the bar high in 2017. He raised it again this season. Marriott raced to a trio of IMCA Modified special series titles in 2018, repeating as champion of the Karl Performance Arizona Tour and earning a third straight Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Crown before topping Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights standings for the first time. In all, the well-traveled Marriott raced at 28 different tracks in 11 states, winning 18 times before taking the checkers in the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational during the IMCA Speedway Moors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “The All-Star race was pretty important for us,” said Marriott, from Brookfield, Mo. “It seems like we have never run well at Boone. To be able to win that race felt pretty good.” Marriott won three of eight Arizona Tour starts, then opened the Dakota Tour with back-to-back victories at Jamestown Speedway and Nodak Speedway. His Dirt Knights Tour wins came at Park Jefferson Speedway and Buena Vista Raceway. “We got to race with a lot of good [Read More]

Consistency is key for Killingbeck in quest for Big Daddy Southern Region rookie title

CORTEZ, Colo. – A decade after hanging up his helmet, Richard Killingbeck returned to racing to earn rookie of the year honors in the Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. From Cortez, Killingbeck became the first Colorado driver to win the regional ROY prize for the division on the strength of one feature victory and another 10 top five finishes in just 24 starts. “I’d driven a Ford Escort years and years ago in a non-sanctioned wasp class. It had been 10 years since I raced but I’d been wanting to get back in it,” he said. “I was out on the golf course one Saturday and heard the cars on the track hotlapping. I caught the bug and got pulled back in.” Getting a car was first on the to-do list. Killingbeck used Facebook to locate a pure stock in Price, Utah, got it home and converted it to an IMCA legal ride. He rebuilt it in just three days after a crash only six starts into the season. [Read More]

Friesen awards crate engines to three IMCA rookies of year

LINCOLN, Neb. – Three IMCA rookies of the year will look to continue their on-track success in 2019 compliments of Friesen Performance. Modified rookie of the year Jeffrey Abbey received a 604 crate engine while Hobby Stock rookie of the year Adam Ayers and Northern SportMod rookie of the year Brandon Setser both earned 602 crates. Also the top rookie in the Razor Chassis South Central Region, Abbey won 11 features and was 16th in the national points race. He was the track champion at Southern Oklahoma Speedway and the Oklahoma State champion. Ayers also led the way in the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region rookie standings. He was a three-time feature winner and qualified for the main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Setser won two features and was track champion at Davenport Speedway. In addition to completing IMCA rookie of the year requirements, drivers in all three divisions must have displayed a Friesen logo on their race car to be eligible for the crate engine award. “The [Read More]

Pritchett gets best of early season bad luck, motors to EQ Southern Region rookie honors

COMBINE, Texas – A casual conversation got Bryce Pritchett into an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car this season. Consistent finishes throughout 2018 made the Combine, Texas driver the rookie of the year in IMCA’s EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region. “This is a fast class and one that I’ve been around all my life,” said Pritchett, whose uncle Duain was IMCA’s national rookie of the year in 2000 and national champion in 2003. “Modifieds and SportMods race but they don’t get to bump and rub so much. I like all of that.” Now a senior at the University of Texas at Arlington majoring in construction management, Pritchett started racing at the age of 12 in a junior mini stock class and moved to street stocks at 16. He took some time off from racing when he started college and got back on the track in a factory stock before making the move to the sanctioned class. “My grandpa Arty owns the car. He and Duain had been talking about me driving it and everything went from there,” [Read More]

Top Larry Shaw Western Region rookie DeVolder also delivers tour, state titles

PACIFICA, Calif. – An early season trip to Arizona built the foundation for Shane DeVolder’s Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Region Rookie of the Year campaign. The Pacifica, Calif., hotshoe, a graduate of the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod division, logged eight IMCA Modified February starts in the Grand Canyon State. The seat time proved invaluable as he took that experience home and earned All-Star Modified Tour and California State honors as well as the regional rookie prize. “We started off the year at the Arizona Modified Tour. Racing with all those cars definitely helped a lot,” he said. “The Modified is a whole new class for us and our goal at the start of the season was to improve every time we went out. We spent a lot of time and effort working on our program.” His career first win came over the Memorial Day Weekend. DeVolder earned $1,200 and a spot on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot when he took the Santa Maria Raceway Nationals checkers. “Our first win was amazing,” said DeVolder, [Read More]