Feature Archives

Raffurty races to big money at Brick City Nationals

OCALA, Fla. (Feb. 2-3, 2024) – Most of Dillon Raffurty’s first visit to Ocala Speedway was spent as a spectator. Saturday night, he was the $4,000 Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite feature winner at the Florida speed plant’s Brick City Nationals. The Kansas City, Mo., hotshoe began his quest for a fourth consecutive IMCA national championship as runner-up to Tennessee star Ronnie Choate in Friday’s $1,000 to win main event at Ocala. He flipped the script the next night in topping the big money show, 1.2 seconds ahead of Choate following multiple cautions late in the 30-lapper. “We went back and forth Friday and I led early but caught lapped traffic at the wrong time and he got by me. I was able to make it close at the end but it was too little, too late,” said Raffurty. “Ronnie was fast early but I figured it out near midway,” he continued, after IMCA career win number 89 on Saturday. “Ocala is a very unique track. You can get creative there with the way [Read More]

Morris finds setup solution, Beeter and Parker both end IMCA Early Thaw with first feature wins

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 27, 2024) – Just in time, Troy Morris III found the setup that took him to the winner’s circle at Central Arizona Raceway. The Californian had broken before completing a lap on opening night of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw, then ran 10th in the next three Friesen Performance IMCA Modified features at CAR. Then the lightbulb came on and Morris was fourth in the Friday night show. Saving the best for last, he won the 25-lap finale … from 12th starting … and $1,250 on Saturday. “We have always struggled at Casa Grande because of the banking. It took us until the last two nights to figure out how to get the car to turn the way we wanted it to,” Morris said. “We finally found a base setup we could use before the heats on Friday.” He started on the outside row and followed the high line to the front the next night. “Starting that far back, I didn’t think I had anything to lose by trying it and literally drove [Read More]

130-plus IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars are Florida bound for Clash on the Coast

BAKER, Fla. (Jan. 29, 2024) – Just north of 130 drivers from across the United States and Canada are headed south for the Clash on the Coast presented by IMCA.TV. Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds return to race night cards for the second annual speedweek, presented by IMCA.TV and will be joined by IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars for first-ever appearances by The Class Too Tough To Tame at both Northwest Florida Speedway in Baker Feb. 26 and 27, and at Southern Raceway in Milton on March 1 and 2. Features for both divisions pay $1,000 to win and a minimum of $100 to start. Feature winners become eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational or the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. All four race programs will be broadcast by IMCA.TV. “It’s mind boggling that we have gotten this much support from the racing community. We’ve already got more than 80 Modified and more than 50 Stock Car entries, from 20 states and two Canadian provinces,” said speedweek promoter Peyton Taylor. “These being 100 percent [Read More]

IMCA 115th for Alvarado, firsts for Johnson and Schrader

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 26, 2024) – Ricky Alvarado raced to his 115th IMCA feature win on the same night Tyler Johnson raced to his IMCA first. Popular visitor Ken Schrader had the Central Arizona Raceway crowd on its feet as well on Friday, night five of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw. Alvarado, from Hotchkiss, Colo., led every lap in topping the caution-free Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main, earning $1,000 and Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility while the 14-year-old rookie Johnson led the distance in the $750 to win feature for Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods. Schrader’s first IMCA Sunoco Stock Car checkers were good for $750 and made him eligible to qualify for the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. “We raced here 11 years ago – it’s been a long time – and I ran second and third that weekend in one of Tommy Fain’s Modifieds,” recalled Alvarado, who pitted next to his Stock Car driving friend from Abilene, Texas, at Casa Grande. “This has been a good start to the year [Read More]

Abilene hosts 30th annual IMCA.TV Ice Breaker Feb. 16-17

ABILENE, Texas (Jan. 26, 2024) – Rob Poor was racing a Friesen Performance IMCA Modified in the early days of Ice Breaker at Abilene Speedway. He’ll promote the 30th annual event, one of the longest continuously running specials in the GRT Race Cars South Central Region and in all of IMCA, Feb. 16 and 17. Modifieds run for $1,000 to win, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars for $750, Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMods for $600 both nights. IMCA.TV 30th anniversary bonuses – $1,000 for the Modifieds, $750 for the Stock Cars and $600 for the Southern SportMods – will be paid to drivers who can win both nights in their respective divisions. “We had some good runs at the Ice Breaker but we never won it,” recalled Poor, starting his 23rd year in charge at Abilene. “This was one of the earliest specials of the season so there were always a lot of good cars here, from across the region and from a lot of the country.” Modified winners become Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible while Stock [Read More]

Stoked for sure, Woodie celebrates first win at Ernie Mincy Early Thaw

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 25, 2024) – There was no shortage of adjectives following Kaden Woodie’s career-first Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature win Thursday at Central Arizona Raceway. The long tow from Milaca, Minn., topped the final feature of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw show, ahead of Cam Reimers and Clay Erickson. “It was awesome. It was exhilarating for sure,” said Woodie, who made the trip from north of the Twin Cities with his dad Paul and crewman Shawn Hess. “My team and I have been putting in the work. I was stoked, for sure.” He led all 20 circuits from the pole, building an advantage of 5-1/2 seconds and catching up with the back of the field before a lap 14 caution. Two more cautions came out before the race ended green, white, checkered. “It was definitely run being out front and lead. I’d checked out before the first caution,” said Woodie, twice a runner-up during the season-opening IMCA.TV Winter Nationals at Cocopah Speedway. “I could hear Cam behind me after the last [Read More]

Flat tire can’t keep Partain from Casa Grande repeat

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 20, 2024) – Both his Friday and Saturday night finishes ended with Bo Partin in victory lane. The routes he took to get there, however, couldn’t have been more different. Partain won Friday’s Ernie Mincy Early Thaw feature for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars from the pole, withstanding challenges from Aaron Olson and then Scott Sluka as four restarts slowed the finish of the 20-lapper at Central Arizona Raceway. After starting outside row one the next night, a flat tire sent the hometown driver to the infield hot pit. He’d get a new right front, restart at the rear and race all the way back to the front swapping the lead with Olson before taking the $750 checkers by a fraction of a second over the runner-up. “You always want to win,” said Partain. “When you can go to the back and still win, you know you’ve got a good race car.” Olson and Jason Rogers were running 1-2 at midway, before Rogers lost the handle. Partain was already in third by lap [Read More]

Berry finds preferred line for Early Thaw IMCA win

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 19, 2024) – Tom Berry had to hustle to get a couple late post-season wins in Arizona last year. He found victory lane much sooner this year, winning Friday’s night two Ernie Mincy Early Thaw feature for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds. “I fell back to fourth (from third starting) and was thinking that’s where I would finish,” said Berry, a DNF after running up front in the Thursday opener. “The high line was the preferred line and it took me three or four laps to get the lead once I found it.” The $1,000 checkers were the first of the season and career 72nd in the class for Berry, who piloted a Mike Wedelstadt owned car at Casa Grande. IMCA’s 2020 national champion was already eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We raced in Arizona in 2015 and won twice at Cocopah in the Turkey Classic Harvest Hustle last Thanksgiving,” he said. “We got started early this year, getting the win in our second start.” Opening night winner Chaz [Read More]

Baca maintains momentum with Early Thaw IMCA Modified win

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 18, 2024) – Chaz Baca loaded up the momentum he found at Cocopah Speedway and raced to the opening night Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature win at Central Arizona Raceway’s Ernie Mincy Early Thaw. A two-time winner during the second week of the season-opening IMCA.TV Winter Nationals, the series and defending national champion got the best of a star-filled field Thursday at Casa Grande. Baca was side-by-side battling for the lead at midway with 2020 national champ Tom Berry before taking the $1,000 checkers ahead of 2021 national king Jeff Larson. “It was definitely a tough one,” said Baca, who nonetheless stretched his lead to six car lengths before Larson cut into that advantage. “Right now everything is just going very well for us and we’re hoping we can keep up the momentum for the rest of the season.” The 20-lapper can caution-free following a yellow on the initial start and the third-starting Baca ran at or near the front every circuit, working the lower line in the first set of [Read More]

Dates announced for inaugural South Texas IMCA Modified Series

HUFFMAN, Texas (Jan. 19, 2024) – The idea of a traveling series deep in the Lone Star State becomes a reality this year, with the inaugural South Texas IMCA Modified Series. Twenty-one race dates, 18 of them during the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season, have been announced for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds at Cotton Bowl Speedway in Paige, I-37 Speedway in Pleasanton, South Texas Race Ranch in Corpus Christi and Texana Raceway Park in Edna. “What we want to accomplish with this series is develop an average car count of 15 to 20 cars a night along with a good fan following,” explained Jacob Hortch, a Modified driver who helped put the pieces in place for the first annual tour. “It’s cool to have the tracks working together and focusing on building Modified racing.” “Everyone is excited for the possibilities that this series can bring and we hope to put on some awesome shows for the fans” IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing national, GRT Race Cars South Central Region and IMCA state points will be [Read More]