Feature Archives

Hogge makes history with Modified win in California IMCA Speedweek opener

By Stephanie Deatherage PLACERVILLE, Calif. (Aug. 10) – Bobby Hogge IV made history on a history-making night for the inaugural California IMCA Speedweek. Placerville Speedway had the honor of opening the first-ever Speedweek event, presented by Hoppes Motorsports and 51 IMCA Modifieds and 36 Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods contended. Hogge earned $1,000 and a 2021 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot nod for his Modified victory while Garrett Jernagan took the $750 Northern SportMod checkers. Polesitter Hogge struck first on the opening lap to beat the field to the wire. Consecutive cautions kept the field bunched up preventing the Salinas standout from developing a large lead and Hogge soon had his hands full with a hard-charging Danny Wagner. Wagner slipped past Hogge on lap six only to lose the lead on the following trip past the flag stand. Hogge reclaimed the front spot and built a decent advantage during long green flag runs. Around halfway, Shane DeVolder applied loads of pressure on the leader and eventually took over the top position on the 21st circuit. However, DeVolder lost [Read More]

Super Tuesday All-Star voting begins

VINTON, Iowa (Aug. 11) – It’s Super Tuesday and voting for the 17th annual Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational voting has begun. Twenty-eight of the 30 IMCA Modified drivers starting the All-Star race, to be held Sept. 11 at Boone Speedway during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, will be elected today. All voting will be conducted on the IMCA Facebook page with the electronic polls open until 9 p.m. CST. Voters must cast ballots for 10 candidates. The top three vote recipients from each of the five Modified regions are guaranteed starting spots, with their region of candidacy determined by where they made the majority of their IMCA sanctioned starts. The next 13 drivers with the highest vote totals, regardless of region, become All-Stars. Completing the field will be drivers with the top national point total and with the most 40-point feature wins as of Aug. 28 who compete at Super Nationals. One hundred and twenty-three drivers are on the ballot. The Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational pays $1,000 to win. Each All-Star driver [Read More]

Thornton strikes IMCA Modified gold at Park Jefferson’s J & J Fitting Iron Cup

JEFFERSON, S.D. (Aug. 8) – Ricky Thornton Jr. added his name to the list of J & J Fitting Iron Cup champions on Saturday night as the Adel, Iowa, driver invaded Park Jefferson Speedway and left with the famed IMCA Modified Iron Cup along with a $7,000 top prize. The 35-lap feature went green with Cody Laney and Lance Mari making up the front row. The California-based Laney found the top groove to his liking and controlled the race through the mid-point. Thornton became the first driver to find the tacky bottom groove on turn four and passed slowly gained on Laney. A caution flag was all Thornton needed and he powered off the bottom of four to take the lead going into one. Meanwhile, Sioux City Excitement Chris Abelson was mounting a serious challenge and rolled into the second spot. One last caution was enough for Thornton and he pulled away for the 2021 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying victory with Abelson second and Tripp Gaylord in third. A number of drivers had strong runs mid-pack [Read More]

IMCA Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational Super Tuesday voting is Aug. 11

VINTON, Iowa – The Election Day all of IMCA Nation has looked forward to is Aug. 11. Super Tuesday voting will determine 28 of the 30 drivers who start the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational during the upcoming IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. All voting will be conducted that day through the IMCA Facebook page, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST. The top three vote recipients from each of the five IMCA Modified regions become All-Stars, with their region of candidacy determined by where they made the majority of their sanctioned starts. The next 13 drivers with the highest vote totals, regardless of region, join the All-Star field. The final two All-Stars will be drivers with the top national point total and the most 40-point wins as of Aug. 28 competing at Super Nationals. The 17th annual Fast Shafts Invitational will be Friday, Sept. 11 at Boone Speedway. Any driver(s) who believes they should be on the following list of candidates should contact IMCA as soon as possible so their All-Star status can be [Read More]

Pretty spectacular, Meyer motors to first Speed Shift Dirt Knights TV win at Algona

ALGONA, Iowa (Aug. 6) – The race didn’t start the way Nick Meyer hoped it would, but it ended just the way he wanted it to. Meyer won his career-first Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour for IMCA Modifieds feature Thursday at home track Kossuth County Speedway, earning $1,000 and a spot on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. “It was pretty spectacular, this being a Dirt Knights race, let alone at my home track,” he said following the big Denny Hovinga Fair Night event. “This was a pretty huge win. Having the Dirt Knights here put the icing on the cake.” “I got to race with some of the best drivers in the country,” he added. “My goal all season has been to get on the Fast Shafts All-Star ballot and we did it on the last possible night.” Meyer started the 30-lapper outside Randy Brown on the front row. He had checked out on the field and was running in another area code long before the first caution on lap 25, and then [Read More]

Six tracks host California IMCA Speedweek shows

MERCED, Calif. – California is the place Modified and Northern SportMod drivers will want to be, for the inaugural California IMCA Speedweek Aug. 10-15. IMCA Modifieds race for $1,000 to win their Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying features while Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods chase $750 top checks each night. The inaugural California IMCA Speedweek presented by Hoppes Motorsports opens next Monday at Placerville Speedway, then travels to Petaluma Speedway on Aug. 11; to Antioch Speedway on Aug. 12; to Merced Speedway on Aug. 13; to Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford on Aug. 14; and to Bakersfield Speedway for the Aug. 15 finale. All events are draw/redraw. Modified features pay $100 to start, Northern SportMod features $75, with IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Shaw Race Cars Western Region and KMJ Performance State points, in addition to series points at stake. Top five drivers in standings for each division receive point fund shares, in increments of $1,000, $400, $200, $100 and $100 for the Modifieds and $700, $300, $200, $100 and $100 for the Northern [Read More]

Braaksma is first at Fairmont for third IMCA Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights win

FAIRMONT, Minn. (Aug. 5) – Ethan Braaksma’s first visit to Fairmont Raceway ended with his third Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour for IMCA Modifieds feature win of the summer. Braaksma started outside the front row and led all 25 laps Wednesday on the fast half-mile oval, earning $1,000 for his efforts. “I had a good car tonight and hit some good, consistent laps,” he said. “We haven’t changed much on the car this year and kind of went with what we’ve been doing. I don’t have a lot of experience on half miles and thought we did a good job making adjustments from our heat to the feature.” After an early caution, the Bob Shryock Memorial headliner ran green another 17 straight laps. Braaksma led by more than four seconds and was catching up with the back of the field when home track heavyweight and 12th starting Brandon Beckendorf passed Todd Stinehart for second, just before midway. Beckendorf made up ground in a hurry as the front pair ran in heavy traffic. Braaksma’s challengers got [Read More]

Dotson, Thompson are IMCA Harris Clash winners on record-setting night at Deer Creek

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. (Aug. 4) – Ethan Dotson had raced his way into the record book with his first Harris Clash victory. He joined a select group of IMCA Modified drivers with his second on Tuesday night at Deer Creek Speedway. With total entries at a record 155 for the 29th annual Clash, Dotson became just the sixth driver to win one of IMCA’s most prestigious events twice, leading all 30 laps and holding off defending race winner Austin Arneson in the process. “I don’t know what else is more fun,” said Dotson, chased much of the distance by Jeff Aikey and 2018 Clash winner Cayden Carter. “It was an awesome track and we got lucky starting where we did.” The Californian drew the pole and set a blistering pace over the first half of the race, halted by the first caution on lap 17. Dotson continued to make the most of the fast higher line in the race to the checkers as Aikey and then Carter ran in second. Arneson had started ninth and moved [Read More]

Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights return to Fairmont for another Minnesota show

FAIRMONT, Minn. – A Minnesota track that made Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour history last summer welcomes traveling IMCA Modifieds back on Wednesday night. Fairmont Raceway became the first speedplant in the North Star State to host the IMCA tour in August of 2019. The Dirt Knights will be back in town on Aug. 5, running for $1,000 to win the Bob Shryock Memorial headliner. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. Hot laps are at 7 p.m. with racing to follow for the 98th event in the tour’s 10-plus seasons. One thousand dollars is also the top prize when the tour is at Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, Iowa, for the Thursday, Aug. 6 Denny Hovenga Memorial Pit gates and the grandstand open at 5:30 p.m., with 7 p.m. hot laps to precede racing. Six previous Dirt Knights events have been held at Algona since 2011. Modified features at Fairmont and Algona are qualifying events for the 2020 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. Also running each night are [Read More]

Clay County Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights IMCA Modified checkers fly for Abelson

SPENCER, Iowa (Aug. 3) – The top side of the big Clay County Fair Speedway oval took Chris Abelson to victory lane in Monday’s Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour IMCA Modified main event. Forty entries from nine different states vied in the fourth round of the 2020 tour and after Tanner Black led the first two laps, Abelson took charge on the high groove. Kelly Shryock made a charge of his own from 11th starting but ran out of laps and ended in second. “The cushion kept getting closer and closer to the wall. You had to negotiate it just right,” Abelson said. “He’s (Shryock) a tough competitor and always one to look for.” Abelson had started fourth and quickly drove past Brandon Beckendorf, Nick Meyer and Black to take over the front spot. Cautions on laps six and 10 brought the field back together briefly before Abelson was pulling away. Jesse Rogotzke worked his way to third late in the 25-lapper, Nick Meyer was fourth and tour point leader Ethan Braaksma was fifth. Meyer [Read More]