Feature Archives

Perseverance pays off for Harr with IMCA Central Region rookie award

ASHLAND, Neb. (Nov. 19, 2024) – Those gray clouds that seemed to follow Tyler Harr for so much of the summer gave way to a ray of sunshine at the end of the season. Harr overcame a totaled race car, a slew of engine issues and more rainouts than he really cared to count in earning rookie of the year honors in IMCA’s Jet Racing Central Region for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds. “In the end it was all worth it. This is the biggest accomplishment of my racing career,” said the determined Harr, who chased rookie points at nine venues in Nebraska and Kansas. “When stuff like that happened, the blown engines, the truck breaking down, the rainouts, it was stressful in the moment.” “It was one of those years when it could be 3 o’clock in the afternoon and not a cloud in the sky, but we were checking the forecast to make sure it wasn’t going to rain,” he continued. “But we always had to do our best to stay in a good [Read More]

Thomas earns IMCA Sport Compact rookie honors after getting offer he couldn’t refuse

BEATRICE, Neb. (Nov. 17, 2024) – After a lifetime around the sport, Johnny Thomas got an offer he couldn’t refuse. Thomas made the most of that offer, to drive a Dillon Richards-built Mach-1 Sport Compact, and raced to rookie of the year honors in the 4-cylinder class and a runner-up finish in national point standings, second only to Richards’ wife Kaylee. “Two feature wins was my goal. I just wanted to have fun and see what happened,” said Thomas, who had made just a handful of starts in the Richards-built ride in 2023. “I went out to have a little fun and everything turned out pretty good really quick.” “When someone like Dillon makes you an offer like that, you can’t say no, especially when you already love the sport,” added Thomas, who dates Richards’ aunt Michelle Moore. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d get to race a car, let alone have the success I did this year.” He’d total 10 feature wins and 30 top five finishes in his 42 starts, along with [Read More]

Glick gets better racing with the fast guys in quest for IMCA STARS Mod Lite rookie of the year award

MADRID, Iowa (Nov. 14, 2024) – Tracen Glick did most of his racing and most of his on-track learning close to home. But it was the results of a late-season trip to Indiana that made him the 2024 Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite national rookie of the year. Fourteen years old and a freshman at Madrid, Iowa, High School, Glick was in a tight as could be battle for the rookie title with Show Me State speedster Zach Christopher. He’d join the Hoosier State Mod Lites and score his best finish of the season, finishing second in their Sept. 21 show at Lincoln Park Speedway and earning what eventually proved to be the tie-breaking difference in determining rookie of the year honors. “I was probably about a car length behind at the finish,” said Glick, whose father Joe was track champion at Boone Speedway “That was very exciting, it was a very fun race.” Moving up this season following a brief go kart career, Glick made 45 starts this season, more than he’d originally [Read More]

Early podium finish gives boost to Gaston in IMCA Southern SportMod rookie title pursuit

WEATHERFORD, Texas (Nov. 14, 2024) – Results of his second start made it clear to Cameron Gaston that his first Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod season could be something special. Gaston followed a DNF on opening night of Kennedale Speedway Park’s February Spring Kickoff special with a solid third-place run on night two. Another 13 top five finishes would follow, taking the 19-year-old from Weatherford straight to national rookie of the year honors, as well as Southern Oklahoma Speedway track and Oklahoma State crowns. “That first-night DNF kind of killed some hopes but the next night I got a third and that definitely helped set the mood for the year. To get an early podium is always a good way to start the season,” said Gaston, eighth in the national points race. “Around here, Kennedale is one of the first tracks to start the season and basically everyone is going to be there. It was definitely stacked so to get a third was definitely a good way to start.” Gaston came to the division [Read More]

IMCA Sprint Car travels take Donnohue to RaceSaver rookie of the year award

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (Nov. 13, 2024) – Brady Donnohue decided that this spring would be the season to spread his wings and travel to different tracks. Thirty-four starts at a dozen different speed factories in five states later, he had a track championship at Huset’s Speedway as well as IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national rookie of the year award to show for his efforts. “The first time we went to Huset’s it was like ‘Man, this is fun!’ We could get two nights of racing every week between there and I-90 Speedway, plus everywhere else we could go,” said Donnohue, who made regular tows to South Dakota from his home in Arden Hills, north of the Twin Cities. “We really didn’t start running for rookie of the year until about the last three weeks. There were no goals at the start of the season, We just wanted to take one race at a time and see how it goes,” he explained. “It all just kind of worked out and we’re grateful it happened that way. [Read More]

Finish to 2024 already has IMCA Central Region champ Nightingale looking ahead to next season

MAIZE, Kan. (Nov. 12, 2024) – How he finished his 2024 campaign already has Jake Nightingale looking forward to next year. The Maize, Kan., clipper repeated as back-to-back champion in the Jet Central Region for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, with the same consistency but none of the late-season drama as last year. “We were getting down to the last month and realized we were in the fight, we were right there,” said Nightingale, who tallied six feature wins and 23 top five finishes in his 31 starts, all but one of them coming in his home state. “We didn’t win as much as I think we should have. We had a lot of second place finishes and some of them were hard to swallow,” he’d continue. “We were good, but we weren’t good enough and I’ll be the first to tell you that.” Fast but not fast enough through the middle of June, Nightingale picked up a slew of runner-up’s before winning consecutive outings at Saltcity Racing, RPM Speedway and Salina Speedway. “That was a [Read More]

Gould gets 200th IMCA Modified win, takes seventh turn as South Central Region champ

CALERA, Okla. (Nov. 12, 2024) – A season that started with no clear-cut goals still produced what William Gould called “some pretty cool” accomplishments. Gould became just the ninth Friesen Performance IMCA Modified driver to reach the 200-career win mark while earning a career seventh championship in the GRT Race Cars South Central Region. “My only goal was to win when it was my turn,” said Gould, who took his turn on top of the podium 10 times in all in 2024. “It always means a lot to us when we’re able to win our region and getting the 200th win was pretty cool, too. “We’ve raced a Modified for a lot of years and I’m glad we were able to get it this season,” he’d add. “We didn’t have a regular Friday night track so moving up the list in wins isn’t easy.” From Calera, Okla., Gould also raced to the All-Star Shootout and a career seventh state championship, the sixth of them coming in Texas. He’d started the season sweeping Kennedale Speedway’s Spring Kickoff [Read More]

IMCA Eastern Region king DeYoung is Modified winner in 30th straight season

STANTON, Mich. (Nov. 12, 2024) – The numbers that stand out most from Myron DeYoung’s 2024 race season are two, eight, 11 and 30. From Stanton, DeYoung motored to a second straight championship in the DeVilbiss Racing Chassis Eastern Region, along with a career eighth Michigan State crown and career 11th track title, at Lake Odessa’s I-96 Speedway. And notably, DeYoung became the first driver to win at least one Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature in 30 consecutive seasons. He captured seven checkers over the course of his latest campaign, matching the career total of 150 of Michigan legend Rick Stout, IMCA’s national champion in 1995, DeYoung’s rookie season. “It took a little while to really set in,” admitted DeYoung, who got his first win of the season on May 18 at long-time home track Crystal Motor Speedway. “It made me think a lot about all the people who have helped me since I started racing. I’ve been real fortunate – we’re not rich or anything, we’re just normal people who like to race and have [Read More]

Feature

Fett finesses his way to IMCA Stock Car national, northern region rookie awards

ALGONA, Iowa (Nov. 8, 2024) – Nobody was more surprised than Colby Fett after he won his career-first start in an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car. But no one was surprised that he became the national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region rookie of the year in The Class Too Tough To Tame. The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod veteran from Algona, Iowa, made 48 Stock Car starts at nine different tracks in three states, finishing with a flourish and counting seven wins among 22 top-five finishes “We were going to race the SportMod most of the season and hit specials in the Stock Car. We were never thinking about running for rookie of the year,” said Fett, “but then we went out and won our first race in the Stock Car at Clay County Fair Speedway and figured we’d keep going and see where it took us.” “The Stock Car seems to be the division everyone is gravitating toward,” continued Fett, a built motor fan and sixth in national point standings for 2024. “It’s one of [Read More]

Roth answers call to drive an IMCA Late Model, then races to national rookie of the year award

PLATTE CENTER, Neb. (Nov. 8, 2024) – At first, Anthony Roth wasn’t sure if the offer he got to drive a Late Model this season was serious. It was, and next he’ll be making room in the display case for another IMCA rookie of the year award. Roth raced to an impressive nine feature wins, along with the track title at U.S. 30 Speedway on the way to earning IMCA Sunoco Late Model national rookie of the year honors. “I had goals set that I wanted to win races and I wanted to be successful. When we went out and won four of our first five races it was like gosh, this is fun. We were on to something,” said Roth. “Rookie of the year really wasn’t a goal. The goal was just to win races and have fun, and we did that.” From Platte Center and a veteran Friesen Performance IMCA Modified driver, he had another 12 top five finishes in 26 starts and ended third in the national points race. “In January, Jerry [Read More]