Feature Archives

Season number 61 at Stuart starts with Murty Frostbuster photo finish

By Josh Reynolds STUART, Iowa (April 10, 2022) – The engines came to life Sunday evening with drivers from all over in attendance for the IMCA Frostbuster finale at Karl Chevrolet of Stuart International Speedway. Brad Whitney and Johnathon Logue led a pack of 25 IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars to turn one and it was Logue making it out of turn two with the lead. Damon Murty cruised by on lap three and moved out to a sizeable advantage on the field, but coming from his seventh starting spot was Damon’s son Dallon. The Chelsea Charger and The Game Changer survived a few cautions and Dallon took the lead with two laps to go. Damon snatched it back as the white flag flew and the crowd came to its feet knowing this was going to be a close finish. Dallon worked the bottom of the track and looked to have the win in hand, but Damon flew off the top side of turn four and passed Dallon at the line to win for the 287th time in his career [Read More]

Big money for Jernagan at West Coast marquee event

MERCED, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – Garrett Jernagan turned a marquee event into a career-best payday Saturday night. He led the last 26 of 30 laps in winning Merced Speedway’s Al Miller Memorial special for IMCA Northern SportMods, taking home a $5,000 check. “This win ranks right up there, knowing the Miller family and racing one night for five grand,” the Bakersfield driver said, adding plugs for the dual heat format as well as track officials and sponsors. “This is one of the marquee events on the West Coast and it’s nice to only have to go 2-1/2 hours from home and race for $5,000.” Kenny Shrader got the jump on the 20 car field before Jernagan found the fast bottom groove. “I stayed there until right around lap 14 when we had a caution. I’d heard another car (Jacob Mallet Jr.), glanced at the top and saw it was getting pretty clean,” he said. “We got the yellow, I went to the top and while I was never really challenged from there, it wasn’t [Read More]

Boone Frostbuster wins to Ward, Kuehl, Murty, Smith

By Joyce Eisele BOONE, Iowa (April 9, 2022) – Four drivers wrote their names into the history books with IMCA Frostbuster wins Saturday at Boone Speedway. One hundred and ninety cars took to Iowa’s Action Track and checkers flew for Tim Ward in the IMCA Modifieds, Taylor Kuehl in the IMCA Northern SportMods and a couple 2021 Super Nationals champions, Dallon Murty in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Mike Smith in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Forty-three ground-pounding Modifieds were on hand and it was defending IMCA national champion Jeff Larson leading the opening laps. By lap 11, however, Ward had grabbed the top spot. Ward, already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible, never relinquished his lead as he motored home to the win. Jeremy Mills had to be content with second. Third went to Larson, Devin Fouquette was fourth and Johnathon Logue, in his Modified debut, rounded out the top five. Kuehl, another Arizona native, had just returned to Iowa three days prior to the Frostbuster kickoff and would lead all 25 laps on her way to a [Read More]

Boone, Stuart Frostbusters on for this weekend

BOONE, Iowa (April 6, 2022) – Forecasts are promising for Frostbuster specials this weekend at Boone Speedway and Stuart Speedway. IMCA Modifieds race for $1,000 to win along with Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility while IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars run for $500 to win, IMCA Northern SportMods for $400 to win and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks for $250 to win Saturday, April 9 at Boone and Sunday, April 10 at Stuart. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, regional and KMJ Performance Iowa State points will be awarded both nights. Mach-1 Sport Compacts are also on the Sunday card at Stuart. Entry fees are $30 for Modifieds, $25 for Stock Cars and $20 for both SportMods and Hobby Stocks. Pit passes are $30. The pit opens at Boone at 2 p.m. and racing is at 5 p.m. Stuart opens the pits at 2 p.m. and starts racing at 4:30 p.m. IMCA.TV broadcasts the Boone Frostbuster.

Laney repeats, Ryland wins two at Merced’s Jerry Shannon Memorial

MERCED, Calif. (March 26, 2022) – Cody Laney was back in victory lane with another big check at Merced Speedway’s Jerry Shannon Memorial. Laney led the last 24 of 30 laps to repeat as IMCA Modified winner at the spring special, earning $5,000. Pole sitter Jake Pike led the first four laps before the first yellow. The fourth starting Laney, already Fast Shaft All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible, was quickly on the prowl and took over on lap six. Three more yellows slowed the 22-car field but Laney was not to be denied. Jerry Flippo pursued to no avail and finished second, followed by Pike, D.J. Shannon and 12th starting Rick Diaz. Fred Ryland was a double winner in IMCA Northern SportMod and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car action. Youngster Andrew Pearce started on the pole and led through the caution eight laps into the Northern SportMod main. Ryland started in the fifth row and moved up quickly and took first place on lap 10 and led to the finish. Pearce and last year’s national rookie of the year and [Read More]

James’ patience rewarded with first Spring Nationals IMCA Modified win

BEATRICE, Neb. (March 20, 2022) – Fifteen years and 21 laps of patience paid off for Jeff James. James finally chased down Tim Watts, then led the last four times around the track for the much anticipated Spring Nationals IMCA Modified feature win Sunday at Beatrice Speedway. “I followed him and I followed him and I followed him, and I was finally able to sneak up underneath him,” said James, $2,500 richer and newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We’ve been coming to Beatrice for the better part of 15 years and have never won one before. We’ve been trying and doing a lot of different things for a lot of years. It’s a relief to finally win one.” James had started outside Watts on the front row. Jacob Hobscheidt, Todd Shute and Johnny Saathoff, a seven-time Spring Nationals winner, completed the top five. James’ victory came in his sixth start in a second-hand 2020 Rage by Precision Performance. He’d posted second- and third-place finishes in the same ride last fall [Read More]

Saturday night special again for Grabouski with IMCA Modified and Stock Car Spring Nationals wins

BEATRICE, Neb. (March 19, 2022) – Opening night of the 2022 Spring Nationals looked a lot like opening night of the 2021 special. Just like he did last March, Jordan Grabouski won both IMCA Sunoco Stock Car and IMCA Sunoco Modified features at hometown Beatrice Speedway Saturday night. The two sets of checkers upped his Spring Nationals career record total to 14, a dozen of them in a Modified and dating to 2008. “It was fun. It’s kind of crazy to think about,” said Grabouski, who motored to B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility with the $2,000 Stock Car win before taking the $2,500 Modified victory. “Every year you ask, ‘How can I do it again?’ but we had some luck and it all played out. It was awesome.” Grabouski raced from ninth starting to battle Tyler Frye and take over the lead with five laps to go in the Stock Car headliner. Frye, the Saturday winner at Beatrice Octoberfest last fall, stayed right behind to the finish. Kyle Vanover, Scott Brown [Read More]

Ward completes IMCA Modified Southern Stampede sweep

ARDMORE, Okla. (March 19, 2022) – Tim Ward went 372 days between his first and second IMCA Modified Southern Stampede feature wins. He went just 24 hours between his second and third. Ward completed his weekend sweep at Southern Oklahoma Speedway Saturday night, racing from eighth starting to the $3,000 checkers. He’d won $2,000 from the pole on Friday at Ardmore. “Weekends like this are everything we go for. We try to win every night,” Ward said. “We had a good car and really good draws both nights. Everything worked out for us.” Ethan Braaksma, 13th starting Jeff Taylor, Matt Bonine and Drake Findley completed the top five. The more than 100 IMCA entries on Night 2 of the Stampede included 49 Modifieds. Making a rare three-wide start, Ward took the initial green flag for the 30-lapper from the middle of the third row. “It took a few lap fort the top side to come in and I was about the only one up there,” he said. “I got up to second before there was a [Read More]

Ward stampedes back to winner’s circle at Southern Oklahoma

ARDMORE, Okla. (March 18, 2022) –Tim Ward raced his way back to victory lane while Blake Clark won for the first time at Ardmore and Tim Hamilton won for the first time in his IMCA career on opening night of Southern Oklahoma Speedway’s Stampede special. Ward topped Friday’s $2,000 to win IMCA Modified feature, leading all 25 laps from the pole. The 10th starting Clark collected the $1,000 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car checkers a fraction of a second ahead of Shelby Williams and Hamilton was the $1,000 Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod winner at his home track from sixth starting. Early cautions kept lapped traffic from becoming a factor in the Modified main event and Ward caught up with the back of the field again late in the contest. “Southern Oklahoma really fits my driving style,” said Ward, who’d become a first-time winner in the state at last year’s Stampede. “It gets slick and slippery when it dries out. You’ve got to slow down (for the corners) and be patient in the car.” “It’s a lot [Read More]

Antioch opener all about family as DeCarlo tops IMCA Modified feature

ANTIOCH, Calif. (March 18, 2022)– Winning the opening night feature at Antioch Speedway was great. But even better, said Nick DeCarlo, was that he got his first IMCA Modified victory since late in 2020 while racing with his father and brother. “It was emotional. I was really relieved,” DeCarlo said following the rare start with father Terry Sr. and brother Terry Jr. “It had been so long since I’d won I’d considered giving up. There was a feeling of relief, to be honest, but with just that one win, man, I’m excited about racing again.” The Martinez driver brought 32 career wins in the division into the March 12 show. The last of those checkers came more than a year and a half ago, in mid-August California Speedweek and early September weekly races at home track Antioch. His best finish in what proved to be a star-crossed 2021 was second, also on opening night and at Antioch. “I had no luck last year,” said DeCarlo, ticking off a list of DNQ’s and DNF’s that concluded [Read More]