Feature Archives

Sports Park Raceway achieves goal of IMCA sanction

FORT DODGE, Iowa – The promotional team at Sports Park Raceway can put a big check next to the third and final goal they set for the half-mile speedplant last year. IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and Mach-1 Sport Compacts will run Sundays this season at the Fort Dodge dirt track. Opening night is scheduled for April 22. “We ran the track last year with IMCA rules and goals to establish our car count and grandstand attendance,” explained Jason Vansickel, who co-promotes Sports Park Raceway with Marty Pringle and Dave Doughty. “We wanted to be IMCA sanctioned this year, so now we’ve accomplished all three of those goals.” “It’s huge that we’re sanctioned with IMCA. This is IMCA country and it’s what the drivers and fans wanted,” Vansickel added. “This track has never been sanctioned before and other sanctioning bodies were not the answer.” A test and tune session is planned for April 15. After taking the last weekend of July off, season championship night will [Read More]

IMCA Modifieds headline four Winter Challenge Series dates at Canyon

PEORIA, Ariz. – IMCA Modifieds run for $1,000 to win and berths on the Fast Shafts Allstar Invitational all four nights of the 2018 Winter Challenge Series at Canyon Speedway Park. Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 20-21 and Jan. 27-28 programs also feature IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods in $500 to win features while IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks chase $250 top checks. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Allstar Performance State and special series, but no track points, will be given all four nights. Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Region points will also be awarded to Modifieds, EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region points to Stock Cars and Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region points to Hobby Stocks. Pill draw is $25 for the Modifieds, $20 for both Stock Cars and Northern SportMods, and $10 for Hobby Stocks. Pit gates will be open throughout both weekends and camping is available. Grandstands open at 11 a.m. and racing begins at 1 p.m. Pit passes are $35 for adults, $20 for kids ages 7-11 and [Read More]

Karl Performance named title sponsor of Arizona IMCA Modified Tour

DES MOINES, Iowa – Anticipation is high for racing in Arizona as year two of the Arizona IMCA Modified Tour runs Feb. 8-18 in the desert. Pre-entries have eclipsed inaugural year numbers and drivers speak of this desert romp as the destination for off-season racing. In addition to all of the hype, the tour has added a familiar name as title sponsor of the week-long event, Karl Performance of Des Moines, Iowa, with a multi-year agreement. The Karl Performance Arizona IMCA Modified Tour will start Feb. 8-10 at Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, and continues Feb. 11-12 at Central Arizona Speedway in Casa Grande, Feb. 13-15 at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, and then wraps up with the IMCA Winter Nationals at Cocopah Speedway in Yuma Feb. 16-18. Featured on the cards are IMCA Modifieds with $1,500 to win, minimum $150 to start Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying feature events along with Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods. Practices will be held Feb. 8 and 13, capped with a $1,000 to win King of the Hill [Read More]

Southern Oklahoma says OK to IMCA Modifieds

ARDMORE, Okla. – Nine dates for IMCA Modifieds are on the 2018 schedule at Southern Oklahoma Speedway. The division runs both nights of Southern Oklahoma’s season-opening IMCA Weekend Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10. Friday night events will also be held April 20, May 18, June 1 and 15, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 14. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Jet Racing Central Region or Razor Chassis South Central Region, Allstar Performance State and track points will be awarded all nine nights. The track champion earns bonus points applicable toward national and regional standings. “We’ve been a Modified track since Day One and I’ve been approached for years by IMCA drivers who wanted to race here,” said promoter John Webb. “I’m a Modified driver myself and I’m glad we can give these guys a place to race. I can promise them that we’ll give them a good track to race on.” IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars following the Sprint Series of Oklahoma, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and IMCA Southern SportMods also travel to [Read More]

March 3 opening night for Sprint Series of Oklahoma

By David Smith Jr. OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – An ambitious schedule awaits the Sprint Series of Oklahoma IMCA RaceSaver Series presented by Smiley’s Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tires Southwest as officials released their 2018 slate on Saturday. The first of four events at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker is slated for Saturday, March 3. Other events scheduled at the 1/4-mile, red clay oval are Friday, April 27; Friday, June 29 as part of the second annual Freedom 40; and the Sprint Car series season finale on Saturday, Sept. 22 at the third annual Pat Suchy Classic. The doubleheader weekend at Southern Oklahoma Speedway is March 9-10. Other Friday events at the Ardmore speedplant are April 20, May 18, June 15, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 14. Enid Speedway, located on the Garfield County Fairgrounds, has one event slated thus far, which will take place on Saturday, March 31. Lawton Speedway, which will run IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars weekly in 2018, hosts SSO events on Saturdays April 14, July 7 and Aug. 11. Oklahoma Sports Park [Read More]

Texarkana 67 to feature IMCA Modifieds, Southern SportMods on Friday nights

TEXARKANA, Ark. (Jan. 8) – Promoter Dennis Gardner Jr. is looking forward to seeing a lot of the area race cars that have been sitting idle the past few seasons back on the Texarkana 67 Speedway oval this season. IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Southern SportMods are new in 2018 to Friday night programs at the ¼-mile dirt speedplant. The IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National point season for both divisions runs from April 6 to Aug. 31. “There is a lot of interest in the IMCA sanction. A lot of people are excited about it,” Gardner said. “We already have 15 to 20 Modified drivers in the area who are converting their old cars or building new cars.” All that interest is understandable as the Modified track champion will receive a 2018 chassis purchased by Texarkana 67 from Larry Shaw Race Cars. The Texarkana 67 management team was in charge of four events last fall. The IMCA rules package in general and economics in particular figured in their decision to sanction beginning this year. “Three [Read More]

New part numbers announced for GM 602, 604 crate engines

VINTON, Iowa – General Motor has introduced an improved sealing system for GM 602 and 604 crate engines. A cap seal system has replaced the breakaway bolts effective immediately. This has resulted in an additional part number for both GM 602 and GM 604 engines. Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Southern SportMod drivers can compete with 602 numbered 88869602 crates while Modified drivers can compete with 604 numbered 88869604 crates, as well as the previously approved part numbers. “GM has added a new part number for what is essentially the third generation of 602 and 604 engines,” explained IMCA President Brett Root. “Those additions demand a part number change but assembly and performance remain the same. Earlier part numbered engines are not less competitive and remain 100 percent IMCA legal.” “While rulebooks have already been sent to print, the timing is actually very good for us,” Root said. “IMCA seals must be put on the new part numbered GM engines right out of the gate when they are purchased from a GM Performance dealer.” “This [Read More]

IMCA Modifieds head Jan. 13, 14 Winter Heat cards at Perris Auto Speedway

By Scott Daloisio PERRIS, Calif. – While fans of most race tracks across the nation are months away from the first race of 2018, Perris Auto Speedway fans are days away from the opening races of the year when the Riverside County racing facility hosts Winter Heat featuring the IMCA Modifieds along with Super Stocks, Street Stocks and American Factory Stocks on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 13 and 14. The pit gate will open at noon both days, spectator gates will open at 2 p.m. and racing will begin at 3 p.m. Both days will feature complete shows with heats, “B” mains (if needed) and “A” mains for all classes. The IMCA Modified portion of each show will award IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Region, Allstar Performance California State and Perris Auto Speedway track points. 2018 is going to see an expanded season for the IMCA Modified drivers and the drivers from the PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks and American Factory Stocks series at The PAS. With the racing weekends [Read More]

IMCA office closed for holidays

VINTON, Iowa – The IMCA home office will close for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays at noon CST on Thursday, Dec. 21 and re-open at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2. Happy holidays to all and the best of luck to all drivers throughout the 2018 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing Season.

32nd annual Deery Brothers Summer Series set for 2018

VINTON, Iowa – Running under the Deery Brothers banner for a 27th consecutive season, the Summer Series for IMCA Late Models returns in 2018 with dates at familiar venues as well as tracks that have been absent from the schedule for years or even decades. While scheduling of $2,000 to win, $300 to start events continues, the 32nd annual tour will return to Davenport Speedway for the first time since 2014 for opening night in April. The series travels to Maquoketa Speedway, Quad City Speedway, Boone Speedway, Marshalltown Speedway, Benton County Speedway, 34 Raceway, CJ Speedway and Fayette County Speedway. Five or six more races are expected to be added to the schedule and all dates will be announced in January, as will new race format procedures. The Deery Series last visited CJ in 1996 and was most recently at Benton County in 2005 and Fayette County in 2009. Home track of series ironman Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown Speedway again hosts the Miller Lite 50 Deery event. Boone rolls out the red carpet for both Memorial [Read More]