Feature Archives

Probst caps decade of success with second IMCA Hobby Stock national championship

BREWSTER, Minn. (Oct. 24, 2024) – A couple wins at a track that hasn’t treated Cory Probst too kindly in the past gave him a big boost of confidence. Four wins racing closer to home to wrap up the season made him a two-time IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national champion. Probst, from Brewster, Minn., matched his career-best total with 29 feature wins, in 46 starts, for the tie-breaking championship edge over Mike Smith and Cody Williams in the national standings. All three had finished the season with the maximum 1,000 points, plus 30 points for two track titles. “I wasn’t planning on racing for national points this year but it’s always something that’s in the back of your head, especially when you’ve won it before and put together some good seasons. It wasn’t until maybe early August that I saw I could have a shot,” said Probst, who’d previously hoisted the national champion trophy in 2020 and dedicated this campaign to late chassis builder Dale Bittner, who passed away in May. “We knew it would [Read More]

Nichols races to record 13th IMCA crown, he’ll move national title trophies to Texas

HARLAN, Iowa (Oct. 23, 2024) – Another IMCA racing season, another IMCA record. Mike Nichols raced to a career 13th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national crown in 2024, breaking the all-time mark set by Late Model legend Ernie Derr. While appreciative of his own efforts and his IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing competition – Nichols won 30 features and four track titles this year, boosting those career record totals to 657 and 51, respectively – he cautions that comparisons between eras are difficult to make. Nichols’ first national championship came in 2002, Derr’s last in 1971. “There should always be an asterisk with breaking Ernie Derr’s record. It was a different time. I didn’t beat Ernie Derr because I didn’t compete with Ernie Derr,” Nichols reasoned. “I have a lot of family history of talking about Ernie Derr and how awesome he was back in the day.” Nichols was nothing short of awesome himself this season, racing to a fifth consecutive crown. He also stood on top of the podium in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2014 and [Read More]

Richards races to unique championship combination by winning IMCA Sport Compact, Lady Eagle crowns

Kaylee Richards raced to a unique championship double this season, earning both Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact national and Lady Eagle titles. (Photo by Joe Orth) WYMORE, Neb. – Kaylee Richards wasn’t even thinking about racing for points in 2024. Now she’s thinking about knocking out walls to make room for an expanded trophy room in the basement. Richards capped a 24-Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature win season with a unique double, becoming the first driver to win both a national championship and the Lady Eagle award the same season. “Originally, I didn’t even want to race for points this year. I’d done it for so long I kind of wanted to take a step back and race for fun and not for points,” said Richards, from Wymore, Neb., and just the second female driver to win an IMCA national crown. “My husband Dillon talked me into racing for national points and to give it everything I had.” IMCA’s first husband and wife national champions – Dillon won the Sport Compact crown in 2017 and topped [Read More]

Notable season sees Shepperd change dynamics in drive to IMCA Southern SportMod national crown

WACO, Texas (Oct. 21, 2024) – Twenty years after he first gave any thought to being an IMCA national champion, Jeff Shepperd has started making notes about who all to thank when his turn comes to speak at the IMCA awards banquet in November. Shepperd won 13 features, along with the track title at Cotton Bowl Speedway, in racing to the 2024 Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod national crown. “We basically did the same thing we’ve always done,” said the veteran from Waco, more than a little motivated to run for the top spot on the podium this year after his national runner-up finish last season. “We tried to bring the best prepared car to the track that we could, and we tried to get a little bit more sponsor help throughout the year to keep fresh tires on the car, which I think is a huge key in this division.” “Everything we have, motor, transmission, rear end, we try to get the best we can get. Other than that, we just try to [Read More]

Wisdom, Batt, Spalding each bank $2,000 at Southern Challenge

ABILENE, Texas (Oct. 19, 2024) – Kyle Wisdom had impressed at last year’s Southern Challenge Ryan Bard Memorial, racing from his ‘B’ feature to finish fourth in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature. He turned heads again at Abilene Speedway’s 30th annual season-ending event on Saturday night, this time winning the main event and $2,000. “I’ve run second here in a SportMod a couple times and raced the Southern Challenge in a Modified four times but have never been able to win it before,” said the hometown hotshoe, newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “It’s something every driver around here wants to do. It means a lot.” Wisdom had started from the pole in the Friday night qualifier but was a DNF after getting into the wall with six laps left. Returning to the speedway the next day, he made the most of Scotty Cook’s expertise and the track wrecker “to correct the geometry” and got the wheels and tires on with all of three minutes to spare before hot laps. Wisdom [Read More]

Never give up attitude drives Dumpert to record sixth straight national crown in IMCA Late Model

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (Oct. 17, 2024) – While there’s a lot to be said for consistency, Cory Dumpert credited a never give up approach to his latest IMCA Sunoco Late Model national championship season. The Newman Grove, Neb., driver collected 15 feature wins en route to his sixth consecutive national title, a record for IMCA’s modern (1979-) era. “That’s pretty cool, surreal, really,” said Dumpert, also the Nebraska State champion for a sixth straight season, as well as track champion at both Boone County Raceway and Off Road Speedway. “We started racing a Late Model with IMCA in 2019 and while we’ve had a lot of success since then, this season was definitely the most challenging and our most rewarding championship.” “Consistency was important – on paper it shows 38 top five’s – but there was a lot of stuff that happened that we had to overcome, too,” he’d add. “It was a terrible year with some of the mechanical stuff that happened but it was still a very rewarding year.” “We just never gave up.” [Read More]

Winter Nationals title gives boost to Baca in race to second straight IMCA Modified national crown

MESA, Ariz. (Oct. 16, 2024) – After penciling out his 2024 race schedule, Chaz Baca figured he had a pretty good shot at winning a second straight Friesen Performance IMCA national championship. And after racing to a confidence boosting IMCA.TV Winter Nationals crown, he did just that. “It was a goal from the start this year. We saw the weekly schedules that we were going to be able to do in Arizona and thought we’d have plenty of races to be able to do it again,” explained the Mesa speedster, who’d become the first driver from Arizona to win an IMCA national crown last year. “After the way Winter Nationals went, we thought we had a pretty good shot at it and we just ran for it right away.” Baca totaled a single-season best 28 feature wins in his ninth Modified campaign while adding his fourth Shaw Race Cars Western Region crown in five years and fifth straight and career seventh Arizona State title to his IMCA resume. He also won Modified track titles at [Read More]

IMCA announces 2024 national champions

VINTON, Iowa (Oct. 15, 2024) – Record-setting racers and first-time kings and a queen are among the 2024 national champions announced today by IMCA. Mike Nichols’ 13th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car crown is the most all-time in IMCA while Cory Dumpert’s sixth straight IMCA Sunoco Late Model title sets a new record for the sanctioning body in its modern (1979-) era. Kaylee Richards became the first driver to win both a national championship, in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts, and Lady Eagle award. Other first-time national champs were Lee Goos Jr. in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car and Jeff Shepperd in the Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMods. Matthew Looft’s Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod title was his career seventh, Dillon Raffurty’s Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite crown his career fourth. Chaz Baca went back-to-back in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and Cory Probst topped the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock standings for the second time. A 30-time feature winner, Nichols complemented his latest national title with EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region and Crawford County Speedway, [Read More]

Berry brings broom to Batesville’s IMCA Race for Hope 71

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 12, 2024) – The last thing Tom Berry Jr. loaded in his trailer Saturday night was the broom. Berry completed his three-night sweep of Batesville Motor Speedway’s Race for Hope 71, leading all 71 laps of the $7,500 to win Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main event. Coupled with $2,500 feature wins Thursday and Friday and a $2,500 bonus for winning all three nights, his weekend take added up to $15,000. “It was an awesome payday,” acknowledged Berry, already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible. “I had it in my mind going down there that I might be able to win three in a row if everything worked out the way we needed it to.” “Also, I was alone this weekend. I had no crew, it was just me and my dog Sidekick,” he added. “I had a few people jump in and help me with the fuel stop but other than that it was a one man band all weekend, so to run that good being alone was pretty cool.” Berry, third [Read More]

DeVilbiss delivers another big money IMCA win at Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 12, 2024) – Another big money race at Batesville Motor Speedway ended with Zane DeVilbiss taking home the big money. The Farmington, N.M., flyer led the last 33 of 50 laps in winning Saturday’s Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America IMCA Sunoco Stock Car Championship. “The track’s been beautiful. That’s why we love coming to Batesville. I drive 17 hours to race here,” said DeVilbiss, trying to make himself heard over the noise of the fireworks that followed his run to the $10,000 checkers. “I wish this was my home track.” Those sentiments are understandable as DeVilbiss raced to a career-best $50,000 payday at Batesville’s IMCA Modified Race for Hope 71 in 2021. Third in last year’s Mid-America main event, he started outside Dallon Murty on the front row and chased the Chelsea Charger the first 17 times around the track. DeVilbiss was scored in the lead by all of nine thousandths of a second on the next circuit. Murty stayed close while Peyton Taylor rallied after restarting at the tail early on, racing into [Read More]