Feature Archives

Dotson, DeMey head to Duel finale with Thursday night wins

By Steven Young LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Nov. 12) – Ethan Dotson and Shane DeMey earned their places in Saturday night’s main event for IMCA Modifieds at the 23rd annual Duel In The Desert with qualifying feature wins Thursday night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Jason Wolla and Jordan Grabouski led the field to the green at the start of the first of the pair of 20-lap qualifiers and it was Grabouski who took the point early. Dotson chased down Grabouski on the second round, eventually taking the lead on the backstretch, as Wolla reeled Grabouski back in for the second and final transfer spot. Wolla and Grabouski swapped lines in their bid for the position, allowing Dotson to pull away by a second in a half. Dotson built a lead of over two seconds by the halfway point, as he approached the rear of the field. As the leader worked traffic, Grabouski closed to under a second with seven remaining. It was then when Jacob Hobscheidt made a strong run from third [Read More]

Thornton, Egbert win opening night Duel qualifiers

By Steven Young LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Nov. 11) – Ricky Thornton Jr. and P.J. Egbert punched their tickets Wednesday night for the 23rd annual Duel In The Desert IMCA Modified main event, winning their respective 22-lap qualifying features. In the first qualifier at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track, Thornton and William Gould led the field to the green. Thornton set a blistering pace early, leading by over a full second at the completion of the opening round. Tanner Black moved up to the second spot on the second circuit, then began to close in on Thornton for the top spot. The lead duo maintained the same distance through 10 completed laps, as they approached the rear of the field. Thornton closed in on a pair of lapped cars running high and low with six remaining, allowing Black to close to within a half of a second with five laps left. Three lapped cars further quelled Thornton’s momentum, causing him to abandon the bottom to work the traffic with three laps left. Thornton put [Read More]

Leonard conquers Fall Classic IMCA Modifieds for career-best payday

WACO, Texas (Oct. 25) – The higher line took Cody Leonard to the IMCA Modified checkers and a career-best payday Sunday at Heart O’ Texas Speedway. Leonard raced from seventh in topping the Fall Classic field, earning $3,500 and a spot on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. “It feels great. I kind of grew up watching the guys I’m racing with,” he said. “Racing with them is pretty cool. I was that little kid hoping to get to their level one day and here I am.” Josh McGaha, Craig Oakes, defending race winner P.J. Egbert and Caleb Stone completed the top five. Leonard had battled Jeff Emerson for the fifth spot before a late caution. He restarted on the outside, quickly found a faster line and drove to the front. “We came here as often as we could toward the end of the season and didn’t make a lot of changes,” Leonard said. “We knew we had a pretty good car coming into the weekend.” Oakes had started 12th, Egbert 15th and Stone 10th. John [Read More]

IMCA returns to Las Vegas for 23rd annual Duel In The Desert Nov. 9-14

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – One of IMCA’s longest running specials returns to the Entertainment Capital of the World, as the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts the 23rd annual Duel In The Desert Nov. 9-14. IMCA Modifieds run for $10,000 to win and a minimum of $1,000 to start their Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying main event. Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars both run for $5,000 to win and a minimum of $500 to start. Stock Cars return to the Duel program this year. The Duel will be promoted for the first time by X.CELERATED and will be broadcast by XR. Parking begins at noon Sunday, Nov. 8 for backstretch rows and at noon Monday for reserved rows A-F and free. Track packing starts at 2 p.m. and practice for all three divisions runs from 3-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Gates open at 8 a.m. with drivers’ meetings at 1 p.m., track packing at 1:30 p.m. and racing beginning at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, with heats, ‘B’ features [Read More]

Late Model Hall of Fame tabs Aikey, Bob Shryock

VINTON, Iowa – A driver with strong IMCA credentials and a driver with a strong IMCA connection are among the newest inductees onto the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls,, a seven-time champion and the winningest driver in IMCA Summer Series history, and the late Bob Shryock of Estherville, father of IMCA Modified and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car driver Kelly Shryock are among the eight drivers and contributors who make up the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021. In addition to seven titles and 71 feature wins earned over the 32-plus years the Summer Series, Aikey owns a single division record six IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s championships. His string of four straight crowns from 2013 to 2016 is also an event record. “This is not something I ever expected,” said Aikey, at a loss for words when he got the official call from the hall. “You read on the Internet about other people inducted and what they’ve done. This means a lot to me.” While [Read More]

Elliott up to Challenge at Abilene’s Bard Memorial

ABILENE, Texas (Oct. 17) – After more than a year outside the winner’s circle, Chris Elliott proved more than good enough on night two of Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Challenge. Elliott led all 30 laps of the Saturday evening IMCA Modified main event, earning $2,000 and a spot on the 2021 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. “It’s been a tough year,” Elliott said after taking the hometown checkers. “We’ve had some good nights but it seems like we had some rotten ones where we either broke or were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Runner-up in three of the four Red River Tour events, Elliott saw his season really do a 180 when he qualified for the main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s and ran from 18th starting to eighth in the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We were decent at Boone but not as good as I wanted to be ” said Elliott, most recently a feature winner at Cardinal Speedway’s Sam Hodges Memorial in [Read More]

Dove goes from IMCA Modified contender to winner at Jordan Page Winter Nationals

ARDMORE, Okla. (Oct. 10) – Going into the Jordan Page Winter Nationals weekend at Southern Oklahoma Speedway, Tommy Dove was hoping to qualify for the IMCA Modified main event. Once that goal was accomplished, it took just a handful of laps before the Ardmore driver knew he could win it. Dove, making just his fifth start in the division in a car recently purchased from Tyler Stevens, raced from seventh starting to win the 25-lapper, passing William Gould on his way to the front and holding off another heavy hitter in Josh McGaha to stay there. The checkers were good for $2,500 and a Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot berth. “We’ve been running this event every year and every year I said I wanted to win it so bad,” Dove said. “First I was shooting to be in the ‘A’ main, then if I was in the top 10 I’d be happy. Five or six laps in I knew I was a contender.” Dove had started the season in a Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod [Read More]

Thornton goes 3-for-4 with latest Race For Hope win

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 11) – New car? No problem. Thornton topped the $12,000 to win Race For Hope 71 feature for IMCA Modifieds at Batesville Motor Speedway. Sunday’s checkered flag run was his second straight and third in the four years the event has been held. “It’s awesome to be able to win this race three out of four years. This was definitely one of our biggest wins,” said Thornton, who led start to finish in the 71-lapper. “We brought a new car (a Lethal Chassis), went back to our notes and didn’t have to change a thing all week.” Already on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot, Thornton set fast time to start the week and never slowed down. After rain postponed the main event from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, he weathered a handful of cautions before and after the mandatory fuel stop on lap 40. The final yellow came with three laps left. Jake O’Neil pulled to Thornton’s back bumper before chasing him to the checkers. “This year we were really good [Read More]

Bowers repeats run to Missouri IMCA Nationals crown

By Jacob Blair OSBORN, Mo. (Oct. 10) – The second annual IMCA Missouri Nationals at US 36 Raceway crowned one back-to-back champion and three first-time event winners. Steven Bowers Jr. repeated as the IMCA Modified winner while Trevor Grossenbacher, Mike Nichols and Adam Vrbka prevailed in IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car, IMCA Sunoco Stock Car and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod main events, respectively. The 30-lap IMCA Modified main event was led early by Josh Munsen before Chad Andersen made the move to the front. Andersen set the pace for the first half of the race. While he controlled the field, however, all eyes were on Bowers as he charged through the field. After Saturday night trouble, Bowers had to come from 11th starting and methodically worked through the field. At halfway, Andersen began to fade while Bowers continued to find more speed. Once Bowers got to second, Andersen didn’t have much left to fend him off. Bowers took off to dominate the final 10 laps and make the trip to Westfall GMC Victory Lane. The back-to-back wins [Read More]

Aftermarket transmission option approved for IMCA Stock Cars in 2021

VINTON, Iowa – IMCA Sunoco Stock Car drivers see a rule already familiar to Modified racers go into effect beginning next year. IMCA aftermarket transmissions with an aluminum case and internal clutch will be legal for use at sanctioned Stock Car events beginning Jan. 1, 2021. The current approved aftermarket transmission list includes: * Falcon p/n 60100; * Bert p/n LMZ and Generation II models 1300 and 1400; * Brinn p/n 70001 and Brinn Predator p/n 70600 (new addition);   * Mitchell Machine Bullet Internal Clutch;   * and RaceGator p/n 140002.   These are aluminum case transmissions and the transmission rule specifically states No ball-spline transmissions. The use of any other aftermarket transmission, including magnesium case or ball-spline is not legal.  Transmissions may not have any type of coatings or paint. “The Stock Car division has been one of our most popular and talked about divisions and we continue to see it expand with new sanctions where the Modified division is already established,” explained IMCA President Brett Root. “As supply and demand issues continue to present [Read More]