Feature Archives

Rudolph, Ayers ace Hobby Stock qualifiers

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 2) – Aaron Rudolph and Adam Ayers raced their way to front row starting spots in the main event, with Hobby Stock qualifying feature victories on opening night of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Rudolph continued his Boone Speedway success, earning Saturday’s pole by winning the first qualifier while Ayers victory in the second qualifier netted him the front spot on the middle row. Top eight drivers in both Monday qualifiers advance to the Big Dance. Chasing Rudolph, from Grand Junction, across the stripe were Trevor Holm of Chandler, Minn., James Johnson of Cherokee, Brandon Nielsen of Spencer, Cory Stone of Lovington, the first New Mexico driver to make the Hobby Stock main at America’s Racin’ Vacation, Braxton Berry of Colby, Kan., hard charger Michael Kimm of Vinton and Matt Hanson of Slayton, Minn. The next seven scored behind Ayers were Kevin Bruck of Dunlap, 2017 and 2018 runner-up Corey Madden of Avoca, Jason Kohl of Missouri Valley, Drew Barglof of Sioux Rapids, Jeff Ware of Columbus, Neb., Miciah [Read More]

Thornton borrows car, tops Deery feature for second Super Nationals crown

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 2) – Ricky Thornton Jr. had a three-time Super Nationals champion to thank for his second Super Nationals crown. Piloting a car borrowed from Todd Cooney, Thornton dominated in leading the last 36 of 50 laps and won Monday’s Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model main event, on opening night of the 37th annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s at Boone Speedway. “Todd and I have been friends for a couple years. It was 100 percent how he runs it,” Thornton said after the last of the victory lane photos were taken. “We didn’t change a thing. He has a setup just for Boone.” “When Ricky Thornton calls and asks to borrow your car, you don’t say no,” said Cooney, who won the last of his three Super Nationals titles in the same car, in 2017, and was almost as happy becoming a Super Nationals champion car owner. The $2,000 checkers came at the end of Thornton’s career-first tour start. The fast-paced feature was stopped by just a single caution, [Read More]

Martin sprints to second RaceSaver Nationals crown

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (Sept. 1) – Jason Martin won his second RaceSaver Nationals crown in three years with another impressive run to the $2,500 checkers Sunday night at Eagle Raceway. The 2017 champion and 2018 runner-up topped the pinnacle event for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars ahead of Trevor Grossenbacher and pole starter Jake Bubak. “I’m super proud to do this. We finally got a second one,” Martin said. “Last year we just didn’t get the job done last year and that really kind of ticked me off all year. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder. “I’m really, really proud to get this second win at RaceSaver Nationals.” Kaleb Johnson and defending race winner Kevin Ramey rounded out the top five. Teams from 14 states competed at the seventh annual event and nine states were represented in the 27-car main event field. Californian Brooklyn Holland raced her way onto the starting grid by winning the “C” feature, finished eighth in the “B” and ended the main event in 10th. After a [Read More]

Bag toss teammates are first champions crowned at Super Nationals

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 1) – Tim Staley and Dustin Brooks came to Boone to enjoy the races and party. They also became the first champions crowned at the 37th annual IMCA Speedway Motors fueled by Casey’s. The Muscatine duo, aka Team Shocker, won all seven of their games to capture the title of the first annual Scorezit Fun Day Bag Tourney presented by BBB Cornhole. They defeated the Team Show Me The Money pair of Dave Musser and Toby Smith, both of Boone, 21-11 in a finale broadcast on Facebook Live to earn a $588 top check and a Scorezit scorekeeper Forty-nine teams vied and more than 150 games were contested in the inaugural tourney, played out behind the first set of turns at Boone Speedway. “We’re backyard players,” said Staley, explaining their success as a combination of consistency, timing and adjustment. “You have to play to your opponent,” Brooks said. “We’re first annual Super Nationals bag tourney champions,” he added. “We came here to party and watch the races. We’ll go home as Super Nationals [Read More]

Drueke gets the job done Saturday at RaceSaver Nationals

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (Aug. 31) – Tyler Drueke’s first win of the RaceSaver Nationals weekend paid him $700 while Jake Bubak won for the second time in as many nights Saturday at Eagle Raceway. Drueke topped the qualifying feature for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars, while Bubak scored the $1,000 Jake Ita Memorial Race of Champions checkers. Drueke took over the front spot on lap 12 when Joey Danley dropped to the infield. Dusty Ballenger moved up to third after two more laps. Ballenger got past Toby Chapman on a restart with 10 laps left to take second. Cody Ledger moved the 47 into the fourth spot with 8 to go and took over third the next time around. The final change in the top four came with three laps left when Stu Snyder put his no. 5S into fourth. The top four were Drueke, Ballenger, Ledger and Snyder. Ledger was disqualified in post-race tech for refusing to tech. That moved Luke Cranston into fourth. Joining the top four to fill rows four through [Read More]

Bubak is best on opening night at RaceSaver Nationals

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (Aug. 30) – His Friday night qualifying feature win earned Jake Bubak $700 and the pole start for Sunday’s RaceSaver Nationals main event. Eighty-nine IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car teams from 14 states saw action on opening night at Eagle Raceway. Chasing Bubak to the stripe and joining him in the first three rows of the main event grid were Jason Martin, Kaleb Johnson, Trevor Grossenbacher, Anton Hernandez, Ethan Barrow, Jake Martens, Andy Shouse and Justin Clark. Johnson led lap one of the qualifier with Bubak, Martin and Luke Cranston close behind. Bubak took advantage of a lap two restart and snagged the lead while Martin passed Johnson the next time around. The track was lightning fast as the leaders jumped to the high side and began to pull away from the pack. Bubak stretched his lead to six car lengths by lap 14 but he could not shake Martin completely. Martin managed to close on him in heavy lapped traffic as the race went the rest of the way caution [Read More]

Rust runs away from IMCA Modified foes at Prelude

By Joyce Eisele BOONE, Iowa (Aug. 31) – A whopping 323 cars checked in to the Boone Speedway for the running of the Wild Rose Casino and Resort Prelude to the Super Nationals Saturday night and the $1,000 to win IMCA Modified feature went to Joel Rust. On a hot streak of late, Rust started sixth and grabbed the lead from Dennis LaVeine, then fended off challenges by Kyle Brown and Jeremy Mills before pulling away on the high side. Kyle Brown took second, Cody Laney came from 12th to finish third, Kelly Shryock started 10th and finished fourth and Richie Gustin was fifth after starting 15th on the field. Jeremy Mills was running third on the white flag lap, slipped high in turn four and fell back to finish 11th. Rust was already on the ballot for the 2020 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. Thirty-four heat races and 17 “B” features were required to set the main event grids for the Prelude. Kelly Shryock was the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car winner, John Watson topped the IMCA [Read More]

750+ early entries for Super Nationals come from 26 states, internationally

BOONE, Iowa – More than 750 drivers have already thrown their helmets in the ring to be part of the best and biggest dirt track racing event on the planet. By the noon deadline Thursday for IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s pre-entries, 752 drivers had made plans to be part of the 37th annual running of America’s Racin’ Vacation Sept. 2-7 at Boone Speedway. Early entries are in hand from 26 states plus Canada and Australia and include 228 Modified drivers. For the first time in Super Nationals history, Stock Car pre-entries have topped the 200 mark. One hundred and forty-five Northern SportMods, 123 Hobby Stocks and 45 Sport Compacts are pre-registered. Late Models following the Deery Brothers Summer Series are not required to pre-enter. That show headlines the opening night program on Monday. Pre-registered Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock and Northern SportMod drivers are eligible to compete in the Aug. 31 Prelude at Boone. Pre-registration also makes Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Sport Compact drivers eligible for Weekly Racing Bonuses. The [Read More]

ROC heats completed on opening night of RaceSaver Nationals

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. – The first day of the seventh annual IMCA RaceSaver Nationals at Eagle Raceway kicked off Thursday afternoon with a press conference featuring past Nationals champions Kevin Ramey and Jason Martin as well as 2019 track champion Trevor Grossenbacher. Also in attendance was this year’s grand marshall, Dr. Danger who helped put on a small demonstration of the spectacular feats he will be performing throughout the weekend. Then the Sprint Car teams that had made the trek to Eagle Raceway got a chance to jump on the track to either get familiar with the surface again or, for those who had never had the good fortune to participate in the event, learn its intricacies. Qualifying heats for the Jake Ita Memorial Race of Champions were held later that evening to set the starting grid for the Saturday event. The line-up for that race are as follows: Trevor Grossenbacher, Bennet Mike Moore, Des Moines, Iowa Bradley Sterrett, Bloomington, Ind. Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, S.D. Adam Gullion, Lincoln Brooklyn Holland, Fresno, Calif. [Read More]

Great drivers get shares of great Super Nationals purse

BOONE, Iowa – Great dirt track drivers will take home shares of a great purse at the 37th annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super National fueled by Casey’s. Nearly $300,000 will be paid out to competitors at the upcoming Super Nationals, scheduled Sept. 2-7 at Boone Speedway. Another $60,000 in contingencies will be awarded to Modified, Late Model, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Sport Compact drivers. “So many elements have gone into making and maintaining Super Nationals as the premier event for weekly IMCA racers,” observed IMCA President Brett Root. “Our goal has always been to keep entry fee and admission costs at reasonable levels while continuing to provide the best possible purse structure that attracts and benefits the weekly IMCA racer the most. The Weekly Racing bonus accomplishes just that. We welcome all racers to attend but our bonus is geared toward IMCA’s most loyal racers.” “Over the years,” he continued, “we have been able to accomplish that because of the great contingency award support given by IMCA sponsors.” The Saturday, Sept. 7 Modified [Read More]