Feature Archives

New approach, same results: Looft takes off Fridays, races to sixth IMCA Northern SportMod national title

SWEA CITY, Iowa (2023) – Matt Looft took a new approach in his pursuit of another Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod national championship. He raced less. Looft chased points at just two tracks, winning titles at Thursday night venue Kossuth County Speedway and Saturday night speed plant Arlington Raceway. Three Monday night checkers at Clay County Fair Speedway and three more in as many Friday night starts at Murray County Speedway would help give the Swea City speedster 31 wins and his third straight and career sixth national crown. “The only thing that’s harder than getting to the top is staying there. Our family is busier and work is busier. It’s a real balancing act,” said Looft, the division’s all-time leader with 263 feature wins and 35 track and special series titles. “My wife and I decided that we’d take some nights off from racing to focus on family things with the kids and make sure the car was ready when we did race. My wife and family are my biggest support system and we [Read More]

The Professor changes point chasing plans, becomes first IMCA Sport Compact national champ from Texas

SPRINGTOWN, Texas (Nov. 2, 2023) – A driver who wasn’t even planning to race for points at the start of the season led them all at the end of it. Twenty feature wins helped make Randall Martin the first Texas driver to win the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact national championship. The speedster from Springtown won track titles at Boyd Raceway, Kennedale Speedway Park and Southern Oklahoma Speedway as well as Texas and Oklahoma State titles in his first full season in the 4-cylinder class. “It means a lot for me to win the national championship, and to be the first driver from Texas to do it in the Sport Compacts. That’s one of the reasons why I ran for it,” Martin said. “It’s an awesome feeling and now there’s a sparkle in my eye. I wanted my name on that trophy.” Trophies may have been the last thing on Martin’s mind after his engine went up in smoke on opening night, but he was the king of consistency from that point. The wins … seven [Read More]

Back on track after six years, Phillips wins IMCA Southern SportMod national crown

TUSCOLA, Texas (Nov. 1, 2023) – Back in a race car after six years away from the track, David Phillips couldn’t have scripted a better start to his 2023 season. The ending was pretty special, too. Phillips, from Tuscola, was quick to knock the rust off after his lengthy hiatus, winning a dozen features, Boyd Raceway and Texas State honors on the way to earning the Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod national championship. “I had something to prove,” stated Phillips, who’d wheeled IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and then a SportMod over 12 seasons before that break. “I had a pretty bad year the last year I raced. It was rough on us. I wanted to come back, prove to myself and show I still had it.” “It’s a really, really cool achievement to win a national championship, especially when you look at the list of the other guys who have done it,” he continued. “You don’t realize what it takes ‘til you do it yourself and it was a 100 [Read More]

Olmstead races to 100th career win on way to first national IMCA Hobby Stock crown

OVERTON, Neb. (Oct. 31, 2023) – Zach Olmstead’s 27th feature win of the season was the 100th of his IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock career. His 28th checkers of 2023 made the Overton, Neb., driver a first-time IMCA national champion. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” admitted the Overton, Neb., driver, who also has an IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s crown and three straight Stephenville Starter Race of Champions victories on his IMCA resume. “Being a national champion is something I dreamed would happen.” “We knew it would be tough but we thought we had a good chance at the start of the season. We had some luck and it just seemed like everything happened at the right time on the track for us.” Olmstead, who shares a 60×60 shop in Overton with brothers Jacob and Morgan, traveled to 11 different tracks in Kansas and Nebraska and won at all but one of them in earning IMCA Northern Region and Dawson County Raceway and RPM Speedway track titles. He had averaged 14 feature wins over each of [Read More]

2023 is another season for the IMCA record book as Nichols races to 12th Stock Car national crown

HARLAN, Iowa (Oct. 31, 2023) – Mike Nichols had three lessons to share, following his career 12th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national championship. First, do the work. Second, surround yourself with good people. And third, when you find a penny, pick it up. Nichols won 22 features, along with the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region and track championships at Dawson County Raceway and Shelby County Speedway, in matching the legendary Ernie Derr’s IMCA career total of 12 national championships in 2023. “Since I started racing, we have always remembered to do the work away from the track. You can never get away from that,” said Nichols, already laying the groundwork for 2024. “And when you continue to surround yourself with good people, good things will continue to happen.” “My racing has become 10-fold better since becoming part of a team,” continued the Harlan, Iowa, hotshoe. “Since getting together with my wife Anita late in 2011 we have eight national championships together.” Nichols started his latest championship campaign with nine checkers before the Memorial Weekend, then endured [Read More]

Dumpert does everything right in racing to fifth straight IMCA Late Model national title

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (2023) – Cory Dumpert vowed last fall that he’d “hit the ground running” when the 2023 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season rolled around. He made good on that promise, racing to 15 feature wins, three track titles and a record-extending fifth straight IMCA Sunoco Late Model national championship. “Last year was more for fun. This year we just kept our head down and kept racing. It was more of something I wanted to do,” said Dumpert, from Newman Grove, Neb., now the third driver in IMCA’s modern era to win national championships in five consecutive seasons. “And now that I have won five straight, the feeling is hard to describe.” “We’re in uncharted waters.” Dumpert was quick to find victory lane after switching to a Longhorn Chassis, topping the opening night show at U.S. 30 Speedway and collecting another 10 checkers by mid-June. While he did most of his racing in Nebraska, a visit to Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa, on June 16 provided the second of three feature wins that [Read More]

Baca reaches 100 career win milestone before taking national championship home to Arizona

MESA, Ariz. (2023) – Two six-race streaks bookended Chaz Baca’s history-making 2023 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season. After starting the year with half a dozen underwhelming outings, the 26-year-old from Mesa got dialed in a new-to-him chassis and won his Friesen Performance IMCA Modified career 100th feature in late May. The checkers kept coming and Baca would race all the way to the national championship. “There have been so many great IMCA drivers from Arizona. To think I would be the first from Arizona to win a national championship is crazy,” he said. “Having three tracks (in the state) to race at regularly lined us up to go for the national championship this year without having to travel so much.” “There were a handful of nights I may have given away a win,” Baca added, “but we kept driver errors to a minimum and had more good luck than bad.” Along with a career third Shaw Race Cars Western Region crown since 2020, Baca motored to track titles at Central Arizona Raceway, Cocopah Speedway and [Read More]

A first for Arizona as Baca wins Modified crown, IMCA names top champions, rookies of 2023

VINTON, Iowa (Oct. 3, 2023) – After winning his career 100th feature in the division over the Memorial Weekend, Chaz Baca announced that his next goal for the 2023 season would be winning the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified national championship. Goal accomplished. The Mesa driver became the first Arizona driver to earn an IMCA national crown in any division, ending his drive to the title with six straight checkers and a career single-season best 25 feature wins in all. “I’m excited, relieved, everything you can be at once. This is a ‘Wow !’ thing,” said Baca. “We switched to a (2021) Harris car and thought we had a shot at it at the beginning of the season. My whole team, family, friends and sponsors, was really the key. The whole thing wouldn’t have happened without them.” Along with the national title, Baca raced to a career third Shaw Race Cars Western Region crown, track championships at Central Arizona Raceway, Cocopah Speedway and Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway and Arizona State title. While 23 of his weekly [Read More]

Foulger wins 103 lap IMCA Modified feature, sweeps Pettit Shootout

By Steven BlakesleyBlakesley Sports Media WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2023) – Troy Foulger completed the sweep of the Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout at Ocean Speedway in Saturday’s 103-lap finale, grabbing the 13th annual Friesen Performance IMCA Modified event in Watsonville. The victory paid $3,006 to win in the extra distance affair at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds after Foulger snared $1,003 and Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility on Friday night. “Thank you to the Pettit family for everything they do. They are a wonderful family and give us a great race,” Foulger said. “Hats off to the track crew and hopefully that was a good show for the fans. I saw (Nick DeCarlo’s) nose down there and I didn’t know what pace to set. Lapped traffic was thick so I just started sliding people. So I kind of moved my line down there in three and four and was able to get away.” Hall of Famer Jim Pettit II led the 22 starters from the pole position before Foulger took over the lead [Read More]

Herndon takes $10,000 checkers at Batesville’s 28th Mid-America IMCA Stock Car Championship

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Sept. 30, 2023) – A win that’s been a long time coming came Saturday night for T.J. Herndon. Herndon led the last 29 of 50 laps and banked $10,000 after the long green flag run that ended the 28th annual Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America IMCA Sunoco Stock Car Championship at Batesville Motor Speedway. “I’ve been after this one for 10 or 15 years. It took me a long time,” said Herndon, from Atwood, Tenn., and newly guaranteed a starting spot in the 2024 B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. “I feel like I had two or three taken away from me but we finally got one.” There was no taking anything from Herndon once he worked his way from fourth starting to the front on lap 22, passing Zane DeVilbiss and outrunning early leader Troy Burkhart the rest of the caution-free distance. “I was just praying ‘Please don’t let the caution come out,’” said Herndon, fully aware of an ailing car ahead of him trying to stay out of the way and get off [Read More]