News Archives

Burkhart has a blast while winning national, Northern Region Stock Car rookie awards

HAYS, Kan. – Twenty years or so ago, Troy Burkhart raced and had a lot of fun in a local cruiser class. Last year he followed son Tathan’s first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock campaign. This season Burkhart got back behind the wheel and raced to IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region Rookie of the Year honors, as well as the Kansas State championship. “The thing about the Stock Cars is that they’re always competitive. The cars are equal and at the end of the night there are hardly any cautions and 10 cars are battling for the win,” said Burkhart, from Hays. “I like the open motor and I like the body style.” Burkhart caught the travel bug while on the road with Tathan last season. He recorded 54 starts at a dozen tracks in four states, with five wins and 22 top five finishes. He ended third in points at Salina, where he got his first win on April 27. Tathan was the Hobby Stock champion there and also [Read More]

Meyer has the right stuff in earning IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact title

PIERCE, Neb. – The good stuff was the right stuff this season for Ramsey Meyer. Meyer raced to 31 feature wins and track titles at Raceway Park and Off Road Speedway to earn his career second IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship. “We found some good stuff. We worked hard and just kept going,” the Pierce, Neb., driver said. “I race against some of the best competition in the country so we just kept plugging away like we hadn’t won anything yet.” He won 11 of 12 starts at Raceway Park and 11 of 13 outings at Off Road Speedway, along with championships at both. Meyer started the season with the opening night checkers at Beatrice Speedway’s Spring Nationals and won four times at Boone County Raceway and twice at Junction Motor Speedway, with single victories at Eagle Raceway and Park Jefferson Speedway as well. “Spring Nationals was a race neither my brother Cameron or I had won before, so it was special. We definitely knew that night this might be a special year,” he [Read More]

Racing smart, Tucker races to career second IMCA Southern SportMod title

CARBON, Texas – Hard work was the key to Gabe Tucker’s first national championship. Smarts got him his second. Tucker, from Carbon, Texas, topped national point standings for the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods this season, winning 19 features – including his career 100th in the division – and track championships at Abilene Speedway and Heart O’ Texas Speedway. “We had a pretty good year. We didn’t start out the season running for the national championship. We were shooting to get 100 wins, which is a milestone for any IMCA racer,” he said. “After we did that, we looked at the points and thought we might have a chance at the national championship.” Tucker had won the national SportMod crown and finished third in the national Stock Car standings during a grueling 112-start campaign in 2013. He had just 46 starts in earning the bookend Southern SportMod hardware this year, again driving for team owner Steve Hayes. “In 2013, we worked harder. We followed the Lone Star Series and ran 58 nights in the SportMod [Read More]

Challenges can’t deny Looft third Northern SportMod title

SWEA CITY, Iowa – Challenges on and off the track couldn’t deny Matthew Looft in his quest for a career third Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod national championship. Looft collected 26 feature wins, plus track titles at Arlington Raceway and Kossuth County Speedway. His success came following the May 30 birth of son Brysen, who was later diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s Disease, which is a result of missing nerve cells in the muscles of the baby’s colon. Following an extensive surgery and 17 days in the neonatal intensive care, Brysen went home to Swea City, Iowa, and the Looft Team turned its attention back to racing. “This (national) championship was harder to win than the ones in 2013 and 2014 because there was just so much happening and racing was not our top priority,” Looft said. “Brysen has a long road ahead of him but we are grateful for the thoughts and prayers as well as the nomination into the Shayla Bee Fund family.” The Shayla Bee Fund was established to help responsible, working class families with a child in medical crisis; the organization presented a generous donation to the Loofts during intermission at Fairmont Raceway on Aug. [Read More]

Anderson extends record with 8th Hobby Stock title

NEW VIRGINIA, Iowa – His latest national championship campaign had even Shannon Anderson shaking his head a bit in disbelief. Anderson won 33 of his 39 starts in extending his career record to eight national IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock crowns, then captured a division record fifth IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s crown in his final outing of the year. “We lost a lot of races to rain, especially early in the season, but when we got to race it seemed like everything worked right for us,” said Anderson, now of New Virginia, Iowa. “I only had one flat tire all season and there were nights when the caution came out when I needed it to and put me on the leader’s back bumper.” Along with the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region title, Anderson earned track championships at Marshalltown Speedway, Sports Park Raceway and Buena Vista Raceway. After opening the season with checkered flag runs at Lee County Speedway and Benton County Speedway, he won 10 of 15 starts at Marshalltown, 11 [Read More]

IMCA Modifieds new in 2019 at Springfield Raceway

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The “something different” Springfield Raceway owner and promoter Jerry Hoffman was looking for is the IMCA Modified division. The sanctioned class will be new to Saturday programs at the quarter-mile, high-banked clay oval in southwest Missouri in 2019. Opening night will be in March with first point races in April. “It was time for a change. Sometimes you have to wait ‘til the time is right to do something different,” Hoffman said. “Tracks in the area are down to single digit car counts and even the nights big money was added car count did not grow like you thought it would.” Hoffman and Doug Bland had purchased the track 12 years ago. “We had been the first track in the area to sanction both USRA Modifieds and ‘B’ mods,” said Hoffman, now the sole owner. “You can really run an IMCA Modified cheaper than you can a USRA ‘B’ mod.” Springfield Raceway will be part of IMCA’s Jet Racing Central Region. After the season-opening March Madness special, the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly [Read More]

500th career win is highlight of Nichols’ 8th championship

HARLAN, Iowa – The two most important numbers to come from Mike Nichols 2018 season were 500 and eight. Nichols won his 500th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature in extending his record-tying national championship total to eight. He’s just the second IMCA driver to reach the 500 win mark and shares the modern era national championship record with Hobby Stock driver Shannon Anderson. “Our biggest milestone was reaching 500 wins,” said the Harlan, Iowa, speedster, who raced to the landmark checkers on Aug. 26 at Dawson County Raceway. “A third straight national championship was very important and it’s definitely a who’s who of national champions that I’ll be standing on stage with at the IMCA banquet, but the 500th win was a goal we wanted to reach this year.” Nichols totaled 42 feature wins, at 11 different tracks in five states while upping his division best total to 503 career checkers. The EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region champion won all 13 starts at Dawson County and eight of 10 at Crawford County Speedway. Nichols had [Read More]

Ramey follows learning season with 2018 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national title

FORT WORTH, Texas – A learning season in 2017 paid national championship dividends for Kevin Ramey in 2018. Ramey won a division-best 16 features en route to his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national crown. “We could not have asked for a better season. We were blessed,” said Ramey, from Fort Worth and track champion at Devil’s Bowl Speedway and RPM Speedway and Texas State champion as well. “It was just a phenomenal year.” He won eight times at Devil’s Bowl and seven times at RPM, plus a checkered flag run in the June 29 Sprint Series of Oklahoma at Red Dirt Raceway. “We lost a lot of races to rain, but we were consistent when we did race and when we looked at them, we saw we were up there in national points,” Ramey said. “There are a lot of good drivers at both our weekly tracks but this was one of those seasons where no matter what happened, it worked in my favor.” Ramey had 31 starts on the season. He finished outside [Read More]

2019 drivers’ meeting set for US 36, Bethany

CAMERON, Mo. – The drivers’ meeting for the 2019 season at US 36 Raceway and Bethany Speedway is set for 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 at the Cameron Community Center. The drivers’ meeting is combined for both race tracks so drivers can get all their paperwork completed for both tracks if they choose to. The meeting will allow drivers and teams to register their car and reserve pit stalls for the upcoming season. Registration for the 2019 season for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars is $60 and $50 for Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods is $50. Pit stalls are $60 to reserve for the 2019 season. The meeting will also include a discussion on the updated 2019 general rules and teams can bring any questions they have. This is a great opportunity for drivers and teams to get a head start on the 2019 season. Snacks and coffee will be available for all in attendance. The Cameron Community Center is located at 915 N. Ashland Drive, Cameron, Mo., [Read More]

Back on track, Hurst races to national Late Model title

DUBUQUE, Iowa – A driver who was just glad to be back on the track earned his career first IMCA Late Model national championship this year. Jeremiah Hurst won both starts on the final weekend of the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season, then clinched the national title with a seventh place run in the Deery Brothers Summer Series finale in September. The conclusion of his 2018 campaign was a far cry from Hurst’s 2017 season, which came to an abrupt end after he suffered a heart attack in late July. “I wanted to go back and race the next night. I couldn’t wait to get back and race this year and the doctors said there was no reason not to,” the Dubuque, Iowa, driver explained. “I changed my lifestyle dramatically. I changed my diet and quit smoking. This is the best I’ve felt in years.” A contender for the 2017 national crown, Hurst ended up seventh in the points chase despite missing the final month-plus following his heart attack. Changes in track sanctions [Read More]