News Archives

Wood Family Makes History as CJ Speedway Opens the 2026 Racing Season

By Jerry Mackey COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa (Apr. 24, 2026) — The 2026 racing season got underway Friday night at CJ Speedway, and the Wood family from Sigourney made racing history as the father-son duo of Nathan and Brayden each scored feature victories. Nathan captured the Sunoco IMCA Stock Car main event, while Brayden topped the Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock feature, making for a memorable opening night. The first main event of the evening was the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Brayden Wood, in only his second full year of racing, started from the outside front row and immediately took command, with accomplished racer Daniel Wauters in hot pursuit. The two put on an entertaining battle, as Wauters pulled alongside Wood several times late in the race. The younger Wood showed that racing runs deep in his blood, holding strong to score his first win of the year in the B&B Racing Chassis Northern Region. Wauters finished second, while another talented youngster, Kyler Burmeister, ran a strong race to take third. Dalton Weepie and Austin Stadler completed the [Read More]

Smith Strikes Late to Win Baby Blue Harcrow Memorial Stock Car Feature at HOT

By Ben Deatherage WACO, Texas (Apr. 24, 2026) — Kaufman’s Cody Smith delivered a thrilling late-race pass to win the Sunoco IMCA Stock Car feature at the 7th annual Baby Blue Harcrow Memorial at Heart O’ Texas Speedway. The 30-lap, $3,015-to-win main event served as a qualifier for the B&B Racing Chassis All-Star Stock Car Invitational to be run at the Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, placing Smith on the eligibility list. The victory also marked Smith’s first EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region win of the season. Three-time EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region champion Westin Abbey set the early pace, fending off heavy pressure from two-time region titlist Blake Clark. Clark briefly worked his way past Abbey before a stoppage negated the move, forcing him to regroup for another charge. Through multiple restarts and challenges, Abbey continued to control the point while a tight battle for second unfolded behind him. As the race wore on, 2023 Baby Blue winner Cody Smith emerged as a contender, climbing into second on lap 17 after methodically working [Read More]

West Coast Modified Clash and SportMod Clash Set for Memorial Day Weekend at Grays Harbor Raceway

By Ben Deatherage ELMA, Wash. (Apr. 24, 2026) — The West Coast Modified Clash and IMCA SportMod Clash are set for Memorial Day weekend at Grays Harbor Raceway, with full event details now available for one of the premier doubleheader events on the West Coast. The two-night showcase will be held Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24, featuring Karl Kustoms IMCA Modifieds and Karl Kustoms IMCA Northern SportMods in separate, full-points events each night. Track, Washington State, DeVilbiss Racing Chassis, and national points will be awarded each night. IMCA Modifieds will race for $2,000 to win on Saturday and $2,500 to win on Sunday, with each night paying track, Washington State, DeVilbiss Racing Chassis Western Region, and national points. The West Coast Modified Clash format includes two rounds of heat races with passing points determining lineups. Saturday’s program will also carry added significance, as the top four finishers in the feature will lock into Sunday’s main event. Those locked-in drivers will join the top four in Sunday heat race points to compete in a dash [Read More]

Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing National Point Standings through April 23, 2026

Karl Kustoms IMCA Modifieds – 1. William Gould, Calera, Okla., 621; 2. Jared Maupin, Helotes, Texas, 481; 3. Jason Barnhill, Milton, Florida, 467; 4. Chris Smith, Brewton, Alabama, 456; 5. Luke Silber, Laveen, Ariz., 430; 6. G. W. IV Egbert, Belton, Texas, 374; 7. Greg Hopkins, Repton, Alabama, 360; 8. Jonathan Mawhinney, Las Vegas, Nev., 357; 9. Steven Whiteaker, Robstown, Texas, 343; 10. Trevor Egbert, Belton, Texas, 333; 11. Justin Erickson, Glendale, Ariz., 321; 12. Markus Frazier, Santa Maria, Calif., 316; 13. Kollin Hibdon, Pahrump, Nev., 314; 14. Bryson Yeager, Green River, Wyoming, 313; 15. Zachariah Howard, Defuniak Springs, Florida, 310; 16. Dylan Thornton, Belle Plaine, Iowa, 300; 17. Jake Pike, Pahrump, Nev., 298; 18. Tyler Bannister, Bakersfield, Calif., 297; 19. Gavyn Manning, Bakersfield, Calif., 292; 20. Brandon Beckendorf, Danube, Minn., 280. Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars – 1. Cameron Starry, Robstown, Texas, 714; 2. Blake Clark, Joshua, Texas, 628; 3. Shelby Williams, Bonham, Texas, 561; 4. Curt Lund, Redwood Falls, Minn., 470; 5. Dillon Richards, Wymore, Neb., 403; 6. Mike Albertsen, Audubon, Iowa, 400; 7. [Read More]

Heffner Takes Delayed Port Royal Feature

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Apr. 18, 2026) — Kenny Heffner added to his reputation as one of Port Royal Speedway’s most reliable front-runners in the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series by taking the 20-lap make-up feature Saturday from April 4. Heffner fought off a determined Jarrett Cavalet to win the Penns Valley Meat Market feature that had been rained out two weeks ago. It was his fifth career win at the “Speed Palace,” a track just over an hour south of his Watsontown home. Heffner lined up fourth on the grid for the race—he had been a heat race winner for the event on April 4—with Cavalet, from Hollidaysburg, taking the early lead. The race only went one lap before Friday night’s Selinsgrove winner Drew Young got into the turns three and four guardrail, barely avoiding a flip and ending his night. Another caution followed, this time for a slowing Tyler Brehm. Doug Dodson, who had started fifth, also pulled into the pits during the stoppage. The next restart set the stage for [Read More]

Drew Young Tops Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Apr. 17, 2026) — Former rodeo competitor Drew Young of Beaver Springs scored his second Selinsgrove Speedway victory, and fifth of his career, Friday night in the 20-lap River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature at the big Snyder County oval. Young, the track’s 2025 Sportsmanship Award winner, inherited first place on lap two when Dustin Young of Danville, no relation, blew his engine after taking the early lead. Drew Young then held off several challenges from 2025 PASS and Selinsgrove Rookie of the Year Chris Dolan of York to win by 0.183 seconds. Drew Young was runner-up in the PASS season standings last year. He joined the RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car tour as a regular in 2021 after a four-race trial the year before and scored his first series win in 2023. Dolan notched his best career finish and was more than two seconds ahead of third-place finisher Kruz Kepner of nearby Kreamer, the 2025 PASS champion who also claimed the track’s IMCA Sprint Car division title last year. Although [Read More]

Oliver Wins Thrilling Stock Car Race at Independence

By Christine Rublack INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (Apr. 21, 2026) — A Tuesday night full of exciting racing at Independence Motor Speedway saw John Oliver Jr. take home the victory by the smallest margin of the night in the Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars, edging Kodey Miles by just 0.051 seconds. Kodey Miles took the lead early, with Tanner Allen and Tom Schmitt in pursuit. Oliver began working the low groove as the duo in front of him battled for second. Schmitt moved into second while Oliver continued to work underneath him. With a couple laps to go, Oliver closed in on Miles for the top position and, as the checkers waved, took the win. It was the first win of 2026 for the West Burlington veteran in the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region after starting fourth. Miles and Schmitt finished second and third, while Gage Neal and Tanner Allen completed the top five. Kolin Hibdon dominated the Karl Kustoms IMCA Modifieds. Hibdon quickly pulled away as Joel Rust moved into second, and the pair began to distance themselves [Read More]

Christina and Matt Ratzlaff: From Separate Paths to the Same Track

By Ben Deatherage MONTE VISTA, Colo. (Apr. 21, 2026) — Out in southern Colorado, where the land stretches wide beneath towering mountain ranges and the air sits thin at more than 7,500 feet above sea level, racing isn’t just something you do—it’s something you carry with you. The San Luis Valley is one of the most unique places in the country—an expansive, high-altitude basin carved by the Rio Grande and surrounded by peaks. Agriculture drives life here, from cattle to potatoes to barley fields, and the distances between towns are measured in miles, not minutes. Monte Vista sits at the heart of it all, a town established in 1884 along the railroad, its Spanish name meaning simply “mountain view.” It’s here where Christina and Matt Ratzlaff have built both a life—and a race team. Two Drivers, One Team On any given night, the Ratzlaffs roll into the pit area as a two-car operation in the Karl Kustoms IMCA Modifieds with Christina in the No. 15 and Matt in the No. 16. Their journeys to this point [Read More]

Jim ‘Cowboy’ Kennedy: A Life Remembered

By Ben Deatherage EVERETT, Pa. (Apr. 21, 2026) — RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car racer Jim “Cowboy” Kennedy never needed much to go racing — just a car, a wrench, and a reason to keep going. For nearly seven decades, the Pennsylvania native carved out a place in sprint car racing that few could ever match, continuing to compete well into his 90s before his passing on April 2 at the age of 91. But long before the tributes, the Hall of Famer had already told his story — in conversations with reporters, at racetracks, and in the quiet, in-between moments that defined a life spent chasing the next green flag. A Life That Spanned Generations Kennedy was born on August 7, 1934, into a world far different than the one he would come to know behind the wheel of a Sprint Car. The United States was deep in the Great Depression, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early years of his first term, working to steady a nation searching for its footing as parts of [Read More]

The Midnight Rider Strikes Again as McLain Holds Off Miller in CST Thriller at Friendship

By Evan McCrory ELKIN, N.C. (Apr. 18, 2026) — A scorching April afternoon set the stage in the valleys of North Carolina as 16 RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Cars rolled into Friendship Motor Speedway for the Carolina Sprint Tour’s first appearance at the facility since 2021. The night opened with Radical Race Gear hot laps, where Pennsylvania’s Trevor Gach continued his early-season speed streak. Piloting the Carber Racing entry, Gach topped the charts for the second consecutive event with a blistering lap of 15.186 seconds. Heat race action proved eventful. Matthew Wall went for a tumble in turn three, bringing a collective pause from the crowd—fortunately, he emerged unharmed. In another incident, Robert Tyler and Ben McCall made contact entering turn one, collecting Gach in the process. When the dust settled, George Loux and Greg Smyre claimed heat race victories. Following a redraw of the top eight, Jake McLain and Robert Tyler led the field to green for the 25-lap, $1,000-to-win main event. McLain wasted no time asserting control, charging to the lead through the opening corners [Read More]