News Archives

Finishing every start helps Blurton finish as Sprint rookie of the year, URSS champ

QUINTER, Kan. – Winning national rookie of the year honors and the United Rebel Sprint Series championship had Zach Blurton stoked about his first IMCA EMI RaceSaver season. So did finishing each of the 34 races he started in 2016. The Quinter, Kan., driver set the pace for all first-year drivers in the sanctioned Sprint Car division, winning five times and ending in 10th place in the national points race. He’d been second in URSS points twice in the previous five years. “I was really excited when the series announced they’d be IMCA this season. It was really cool to be able to follow that and chase rookie points,” said Blurton. “We had a really good year. It was our first year ever with no DNFs. We didn’t have any torn up parts and we did everything on one motor.” All five of his feature wins, in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, came over the course of 25 series starts. “We had a lot of races close to home but still towed 18,000 miles this year,” [Read More]

Frye adds national, regional rookie awards to already crowded IMCA trophy display case

BELLEVILLE, Kan. – Tyler Frye will make room for a couple more trophies in his IMCA display case. Frye raced to Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified national and Jet Racing Central Region rookie of the year honors. The Belleville, Kan., clipper won eight of 48 starts this season in IMCA’s premier division. “When we started the season, we told ourselves that rookie of the year would be something we could accomplish,” said Frye, the 2015 Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod national champion. “By the middle of the season we knew it was possible and kept working.” “It took a lot of nights to figure out what I wanted to do as a driver and what we wanted the car to do,” he continued. “I would have liked to get more starts this season but that wasn’t possible for a variety of reasons.” His first win came in just his eighth Modified start, on April 9 at RPM Speedway. Two of the four wins Frye registered between May 21 and June 11 came at Salina Speedway. “I [Read More]

Stock Car regional crown puts Westin Abbey in IMCA history book

COMANCHE, Texas – After earning rookie of the year awards each of the last two seasons, Westin Abbey took the logical step up in 2016. The 16-year-old from Comanche, Texas, became the youngest driver to win a regional IMCA championship, topping the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. Abbey, the youngest of four brothers to have made names for themselves on Lone Star State dirt ovals, won 14 of his 54 starts this season. He was eighth in the national points race with Boyd Raceway track and Allstar Performance State championships to his credit. “We didn’t plan on racing for points but we got caught up in it,” said Abbey, a junior at Comanche High School. “The second year of experience really made a big difference.” The regional Hobby Stock rookie of the year in 2014, Abbey had won three features in his first Stock Car campaign. He won six straight times between June 4 and June 24 this season. “This was a great year. It was pretty cool to win [Read More]

Warren achieves goals of winning 2016 IMCA Hobby Stock regional, state titles

FAIRFIELD, Texas – Wesley Warren saw a lot of the Texas countryside during his drive to the Charger Chassis Southern Region championship. The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock pilot from Fairfield won nine features, plus 281 Speedway track and Allstar Performance State honors in his third season in the division. “We set goals of winning the region and state this year and we did it,” said Warren. “It was a lot of work so we have a pretty good feeling of accomplishment.” While nearly half his starts came an hour away at Waco’s Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Warren also logged a dozen 4-1/2 hour trips to Abilene Speedway, while Cotton Bowl Speedway and 281 are both about 2-1/2 hours from home. He was a three-time winner at 281, at Abilene and at Cotton Bowl, and posted 10 top-five finishes at HO’T. His first checkers at Stephenville, on March 26, came in his first race at 281 since totaling a street stock there during the 2013 season. “I like the Hobby Stocks – they’re a challenge to [Read More]

Ward joins exclusive Michigan fraternity by winning Dirt Works Eastern Region crown

IONIA, Mich. – A.J. Ward was right on target when he decided the time was right to run for 20 wins and the Dirt Works Eastern Region championship. Ward totaled 24 Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified feature victories, including a pair in New York, while becoming the first Michigan driver to reign in the region since Rick Stout in 1996. “I’ve been shooting for a 20-win season for a couple years. We got a new car (a 2013 BMS) and were flirting with 20 wins by early August,” said Ward, third in the national point standings despite logging just 38 starts, and champion at Tri-City Motor Speedway for the third time in four seasons. “It’s huge for me to be mentioned in the same sentence with Rick Stout.” From Ionia, Ward collected 22 checkers in his home state, winning 13 times at Tri-City, another five features at I-96 Speedway and four more at Crystal Motor Speedway. “Tri-City re-opened in 2011 so it’s still a relatively new track to all of us,” he said. “I don’t [Read More]

Brenn named IMCA executive director of competition

VINTON, Iowa – Dave Brenn has a new job and some new responsibilities with America’s oldest automotive racing sanctioning body. Brenn has been named executive director of competition for IMCA. As such, he’ll be in charge of the competition department while continuing the same responsibilities he’d held as the organization’s director of division development for the past four years. “This is really a change in workload,” explained IMCA President Brett Root. “Competition Director Tom Gutowski will continue his current duties. While Dave will be taking on more responsibilities, for example he’ll still research new products for their possible use in IMCA.” While Brenn will continue traveling to and heading up tech at IMCA events around the country, he also becomes the first point of contact for drivers and local track officials with tech-related questions. “This seems like a natural progression. I am very excited about this position and am proud to be associated with IMCA,” Brenn said. “After a career of 30-plus years in the telecommunications industry, I’m happy to be working for IMCA. I [Read More]

Abelson’s third straight BMS North Central Region title complemented by tour, special events success

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Chris Abelson wanted to concentrate on winning his first Hawkeye Dirt Tour crown and hitting more special events this season. He accomplished both goals, while racing to a third straight BMS North Central Region title. “Following the Hawkeye Dirt Tour was my goal for the year. That and racing at more specials were the extent of my plans,” said Abelson, from Sioux City, Iowa, and the defending Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified national king. “To get better, you need to race against better competition and I knew a lot of those drivers would be in the Hawkeye Dirt Tour and at the bigger shows.” “I wanted to become a better driver and see how I measured up,” he continued. “When you can race with drivers like that and be a top four car, you’ve got to consider that a success.” Largely a one-man team this season, Abelson ended with 31 wins in 70 starts – at 19 different tracks in three states – and paced the points at Buena Vista Raceway. [Read More]

Guillaume sharpens IMCA Modified skills, earns Razor Chassis South Central crown

HASLET, Texas – Matt Guillaume changed his focus and reigned in a different IMCA region this season. After posting three consecutive championships in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for Stock Cars, Guillaume ran exclusively in the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified division. The result was seven feature wins, Boyd Raceway track and Allstar Performance state titles, and the Razor Chassis South Central Region crown. And the Haslet, Texas, hotshoe accomplished all that in an 11-year-old Gould Chassis. “After running two divisions full-time last year, we gave the Modifieds more focus this season,” said Guillaume. “We’ve got some really good competition in Texas and get to race against a really diverse group of drivers.” “We had success at Abilene early in the season and won night two of the Ice Breaker, for example,” he added. “You have to run well on Fridays at Boyd to put yourself in position to win and you have to hustle every Saturday at Kennedale Speedway Park just to make the feature.” Guillaume had collected the Abilene win and four [Read More]

National runner-up Sample rules in Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Region

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. – Cory Sample started the season with a chip on his shoulder. He ended it with his first Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Regional crown. Sample, from Winnemucca, Nev., won 26 features – including his Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified career 100th – on the way to the regional title and runner-up finish in national point standings. “We totaled our car last year at the Duel In The Desert and came out with a chip on our shoulder this season. We worked and worked and worked,” said Sample. “Our maintenance program got better, the tracks in northern Nevada worked together more and my schedule at work allowed me to work more weekends. Everything kind of aligned for us.” His 48 starts came at 10 different tracks, seven of them in Nevada, where he earned Allstar Performance State honors to complement Fernley 95A Speedway, Lovelock Speedway and Rattlesnake Raceway titles. Sample scored career win number 100 while putting the final touches on his Evenson Ironman Challenge Series championship at Rattlesnake on July 4. “Our [Read More]

Coopman disproves doubters with fourth career national title

MANKATO, Minn. – Even after he’d won a career third IMCA national championship last year, Nate Coopman had his doubters. There shouldn’t be any naysayers left after the Mankato, Minn., driver won 33 features and his fourth national Mach-1 Sport Compact crown this season. “I didn’t plan to run for it at all but there were people who told me I couldn’t do it again,” Coopman explained. “So there was some motivation there, plus I won a bunch of races early in the season and knew if I did any traveling that I’d have a pretty good shot.” Coopman scored feature wins at seven of the nine tracks in three states he raced at, collecting 14 straight checkers between May 6 and June 18. Streaks of six and then five straight victories put him atop the national point standings to stay in early August. His three track championships came at Redwood Speedway, Jackson Motorplex and Nobles County Speedway where Coopman won 10, nine and four features, respectively. He won for the 200th time in the sanctioned [Read More]