Ryan Clark

McCurdy gets back on track, races to rookie award in Southern Region for IMCA Stock Cars

TEMPE, Ariz. (Nov. 21, 2023) – After a nine year break, Chris McCurdy Sr. decided the time was right to get back on the race track. After his first IMCA Sunoco Stock Car season, he was wishing he’d made that decision sooner. McCurdy followed an ambitious schedule, making 47 starts at seven different tracks. While it took 44 of those starts to get his one and only win, the Tempe, Ariz., driver became a consistent runner on the way to earning EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region rookie of the year honors and the Arizona State championship. “We hadn’t raced since 2014 but when we started again this year we did it running with the big dogs at the IMCA.TV Winter Nationals,” said McCurdy, who piloted the same 2022 IROC Southwest by Rip Performance car son Chris Jr. won the state title in last year. “I’d never raced a car with this much suspension or with Hoosier tires before.” The top 10 finishes, 17 in all, would start coming in bunches by April. McCurdy would be [Read More]

Season-long tour ends with Thomas taking IMCA Hobby Stock Southern Region award

STRASBURG, Colo. (Nov. 21, 2023) – What started as the You Only Die Once, You Live Every Day Tour ended with John Thomas earning rookie of the year in the Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Thomas made 23 of his 38 starts in his native state of Arizona, ending up with four feature wins and 20 top five finishes. “What I liked best about being in a Hobby Stock was the competitors,” said Thomas, 58, who also raced in New Mexico, Utah and his adopted state of Colorado. “We’d race hard and we might fight hard, but we’d hug when we were done. And at the end of the season, everyone in the division was faster.” Guesstimating his last feature win came in a pure stock in 2007, Thomas got back into racing following a health scare and with the full support of girlfriend Meghan Aden. His first sanctioned victory, fittingly, came on June 3, her birthday, at Central Arizona Raceway. “That was my highlight of the season and not because it was my first [Read More]

Sachau follows Super Nationals success with IMCA Stock Car national, regional rookie awards

MANNING, Iowa (Nov. 20, 2023) – Jake Sachau needed a single season to race to a collection of IMCA accomplishments it would take most drivers an entire career to accumulate. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region rookie of the year, Sachau was track champion at Crawford County Speedway and a 10-time feature winner in 2023, wrapping up the season with the checkers at Shelby County Speedway’s Tiny Lund Memorial. But wait, as the old late-night TV infomercials urged. There’s more! A two-car star, Sachau won both the BSB Race of Champions and Northern SportMod main event, and qualified for both the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational and Stock Car Big Dance at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “Super Nationals is a race I’ve wanted to win my whole life. When I started racing, I told myself I wouldn’t stop until I did,” he said. “I had high expectations last year and went home disappointed. I knew I had the best car this year [Read More]

Stiteler lassoes rookie of the year award for IMCA Sport Compacts

DECATUR, Texas (Nov. 20, 2023) – His interest in a different kind of horsepower explained Stephen Stiteler’s decision to move to Texas. After retiring from rodeo last fall, the racing bug bit and that’s what got Stiteler on the dirt and in an IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact. “I wish I would have done this sooner,” said Stiteler, national rookie of the year in the 4-cylinder division by virtue of a tiebreaker after finishing the 2023 season tied in points with teammate Callee Gaston. “I’ve never had so much fun.” The Michigan native turned Decatur resident made 50 starts during the season, winning three times and finishing third in the points race at Southern Oklahoma Speedway. He got his first win in the division at Ardmore and the other two at Kossuth County Speedway in Iowa during one of his quick racing vacations. “I had run go karts on dirt before I started rodeoing. I found a niche of people who did that in Michigan but figured I could do better in Texas and moved here [Read More]

Top IMCA Hobby Stock rookie Richardson ends super season with Saturday night start at Boone

MORNING SUN, Iowa (Nov. 20, 2023) – Tucker Richardson began his first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock season not quite sure what he or his car were capable of. A lot, as it turned out. Richardson wrapped up national and IMCA Northern Region rookie of the year honors along with East Moline Speedway track and Illinois State championships while winning four features and qualifying for the main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s … all before celebrating his 17th birthday. “If you’d asked me at the beginning of the season if we’d be racing for rookie of the year, I’d have told you no way. If you’d asked in the middle of the season, I’d have told you maybe,” Richardson said. “Later, when I’d seen that I could compete, I was thinking we needed to go to more races. That’s when we started traveling and getting out more.” He’d turn laps at eight different tracks in all, racing to a flurry of top five finishes in the second half of the season [Read More]

Smith proves up to challenge in race to IMCA Northern SportMod rookie award

FORT MORGAN, Colo. (Nov. 17, 2023) – After much success in his two IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock seasons, Hunter Smith thought the time was right to look for new challenges in a new division. After his first Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod start, he knew that decision was the correct one. Smith, 16 years old and a junior at Brush High School, became the first Colorado driver to earn national rookie of the year honors in his new class. He’d also topped standings for Hobby Stock rookies in 2021. “We bought a 2019 Rage turnkey from Brett Berry on a Saturday. He helped us with setup and we raced it the next day,” Smith said. “The handling is different, but in a way I ended up driving it kind of like my Hobby Stock. “I’d just throw it into the corner, even on a dry slick track.” With Grandfather ‘Papa’ Rich Smith traveling with Hunter every night, his first of 10 wins on the season came in just his second start, at El Paso County [Read More]

Florida star Throop is top IMCA Mod Lite rookie

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 16, 2023) – A streak of 12 consecutive feature wins keyed Stevie Throop’s race to the Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite national rookie of the year award. But Throop, from West Palm Beach, said his biggest win came during a racing vacation outside his home state of Florida. “We had three top four finishes with the Tennessee Mod Lite Racing Association before winning the Memorial Weekend show at Diamond Park Speedway (in Arkansas),” said Throop, 24. “That was definitely our highlight of the season. To roll out of the box at a track you’ve never seen before and beat people who race there regularly speaks volumes about the program we’ve built in a short time.” Throop was quick to serve notice on his Mod Lite competition that he’d be a contender to be be reckoned with, winning a Sugar Bowl Nationals feature in just his second night out before launching that streak of 12 straight checkers from mid-February and into May at East Bay Raceway Park and Hendry County [Read More]

Opportunity knocks, Spalding answers with run to IMCA Southern SportMod rookie title

ANDREWS, Texas (Nov. 16, 2023) – Opportunity knocked this season for Cutter Spalding, in the form of a Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod. The 18-year-old from Andrews, Texas, was quick to make the transition from a local street stock class, racing to three feature wins and the national rookie of the year award in the sanctioned division. “Man, these cars are open wheel, they’re fast and they’re such a competitive class,” said Spalding. “Matt Mueller, who is a family friend and who I grew up watching race, called after last season and asked if I wanted to race his hot rod this season. I wasn’t expecting an opportunity like that.” “Of course I said yes.” Spalding made for than half of his 2023 starts at Abilene Speedway, where his first IMCA win came on April 1. He’d end the season third in points at Abilene, fourth in the All Star Shootout standings and seventh nationally. “It was really cool to get my first win there. Some of the best Southern SportMod drivers around, guys [Read More]

Patience pays off as Emerson earns IMCA Modified national, regional rookie awards

WEATHERFORD, Texas (Nov. 15, 2023) – In the fall of 2021, Kaleb Emerson credited the quality of competition he ran against weekly in helping win Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod national rookie of the year honors. It was more of that good competition, plus fatherly advice and patience that took the Weatherford, Texas, teen to national and GRT Race Cars South Central Region rookie awards for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds this season. “Unloading the car and racing against guys like Matthew Day and William Gould so many nights definitely made us better. Everything I accomplished this year I had to earn,” Emerson said. “And it helped a lot to have my dad (Jeff, also his crew chief and fellow driver) racing with me. I can ask him almost anything because he’s been to so many different tracks and definitely knew how to help me with setup.” The patience part, however, had to be learned. Emerson needed 20 starts over the first three months of the season before getting his first win, on June 2 [Read More]

First-night RaceSaver winner Rabenberg ends first IMCA Sprint Car season with rookie award

CAMBRIDGE, Minn. (Nov. 15, 2023) – Tyler Rabenberg had two pretty big accomplishments to his credit in just his first month in an IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car. He had an even bigger one at the end of his first season. The 17-year-old from Cambridge, Minn., had two wins and another 13 top five finishes in racing to national rookie of the year honors in IMCA’s winged division. “We started off really good. I definitely never thought I’d win my first start, at Red River Valley Speedway, and to win again just 10 days later at Huset’s Speedway was a huge accomplishment,” said Rabenberg. “We had a tough stretch for a while with some DNFs before we got our momentum back and ended up having a pretty good year.” “There are a lot of second, third and even fourth generation drivers who have a lot of knowledge in the sport but we came into Sprint Car racing blind,” he added. “We had very little knowledge about it so my dad Craig and I spent many hours [Read More]