Results Archives

Gronning’s short season ends with top award for Shaw Race Cars Western Region rookies

CASPER, Wy. – A racing career that started on the drag strip led Dino Gronning straight to an IMCA Modified. Gronning saw his steady finishes at home state tracks Casper Speedway, Gillette Thunder Speedway and Sheridan Speedway rewarded with rookie of the year honors in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region. “I always wanted to race a Modified and thought I’d step in and be a natural, but it threw me a curve with the 4-link suspension,” he said. “We spent half the season to get the car to my liking. I’ve had a lot of conversations with the guys at Shaw.” Gronning purchased a 2019 car the previous owner had made just three starts in, and has already got a 2021 Shaw on order. The first in his family to develop a need for speed, he’d started racing drag cars, enjoying success on the track but tiring of the expense and travel time involved. What’s become a 20-plus year circle track career has included everything from ‘B’ modifieds and street stocks to four cylinders. [Read More]

Late start doesn’t slow Bennett in pursuit of Dirt Works Eastern Region rookie crown

CARO, Mich. – Chad Bennett has added a new title on his already extensive racing resume: Rookie of the Year in IMCA’s Eastern Region for Modifieds. Bennett won five of 24 outings in his first IMCA season, not making his first start until mid-June, and finishing third in the national rookie and Tri-City Motor Speedway point races and fourth at Silver Bullet Speedway. “We struggled early, then stumbled across a simple little mistake we were making with the car, got it corrected and started winning. We had a blast this season,” Bennett said. “The people I raced with try to kick your ass when you’re on the track but we still have a camaraderie that wasn’t there when I was racing on pavement.” “This is the most technical racing I’ve ever done,” he continued, “and it’s the most family oriented and most fun I’ve ever been part of.” From Caro, Mich., Bennett started his racing career on the drag strip in the late 1980s. He moved over to oval tracks in 1993 and won his [Read More]

White has rookie, state awards to show for 1st Razor Chassis South Central campaign

RED OAK, Texas – Jon White Jr. had regional and state awards to show for his first season running with IMCA Modified national championship caliber competition. The Razor Chassis South Central Region rookie of the year and KMJ Performance Texas State champion counted the likes of former national champs P.J. Egbert and William Gould among his regular weekly top-flight foes. “I love the class,” said White, runner-up in the national rookie points race to Dakota Sproul following a successful Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod career. “I had fun, I got to go fast and I got to race with a ton of guys who are stiff competition. I’m ready to start next season.” White’s 42 starts took him to nine different tracks in Texas and Oklahoma. He was fourth in points at Heart O’ Texas Speedway, where he won for the first time in a Modified during the Sniper Speed Lone Star Tour program in February, and runner-up at Kennedale Speedway Park, site of his second feature win, on the final weekend of the season. [Read More]

McBirnie tops IMCA Modified rookie class in Side Biter Chassis North Central Region

BOONE, Iowa – The results from his first season in an IMCA Modified already have Jake McBirnie looking forward to his second. McBirnie made the quick transition from a Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod, winning twice at hometown Boone Speedway and finishing as rookie of the year in the Side Biter Chassis North Central Region. “I was ready to push myself and get better and learn more about racing,” McBirnie said. “I wanted to make myself a better driver and race against a new level of competition.” He found the competition he was looking for at nine different tracks, qualifying for the main event in all but one of his 33 starts and ending fifth in points at Boone. McBirnie won back-to-back starts there on Aug. 15 and Aug. 29. “There were several nights we ran decent, tried some different things and learned a lot about the car,” said McBirnie. “That first win was awesome. I raced with Joel Rust before he broke and the win kind of helped us get some things figured out before [Read More]

Mooney shines in race for rookie award in EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region

FORNEY, Texas – A quick learner with a good teacher raced to rookie of the year honors in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. Dustin Mooney won a pair of features and finished in the top five in another 23 starts, finishing just a point behind Cameron Wilkinson in the race for the national prize. He’d run junior minis, Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods and then winged modifieds before helping girlfriend Taylor Florio and her father Chris with their cars. Mooney got back on the track himself after trading that winged modified for a former Caleb Crenshaw-driven 2016 Destroyer Chassis. “I had not raced in three years. I got the car, scaled it, jumped in it and went racing,” he said. “We left the original body on. The only thing I did was buy shocks.” “There was some adaptation and I am not God’s gift,” he added, “but I am a fast learner. Stock Cars are fun to race.” He traveled to six different tracks, winning the title at Cotton [Read More]

IMCA Hobby Stocks perfect fit for youngest Big Daddy Northern Region ROY Eckerdt

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Brodee Eckerdt wrote his name all over the record books in 2020. The youngest rookie of the year, and the first from North Dakota, crowned in the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Eckerdt didn’t celebrate his 15th birthday until two weeks before the end of the season. He collected three of his four feature wins on the year at Red River Valley Speedway, becoming both the youngest feature winner and youngest track champion in the storied history of the West Fargo speedplant. “My main goal this season was to finish races and get in the top five,” said the Red River High School freshman, who discussed chasing rookie of the year and the Junior National Champion awards with his parents before his first family-funded IMCA season. “We decided that the Hobby Stocks were a perfect fit for me because of my age, my driving experience and because I could race weekly within an hour from home.” Eckerdt had previously raced go-karts, 50 hp sling shots and [Read More]

Bransom earns Sport Compact rookie award, races to 4th straight prize for Lone Star State

BURLESON, Texas – Fast all season long, Jack Bransom found the momentum he was looking for with his career first feature victory. The Burleson, Texas, driver and Centennial High School freshman went on to win five more times in his last 10 starts and earn both IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national rookie of the year and the Boyd Raceway track championship. He’s just the second 14-year-old, and the fourth Texan in as many seasons, to earn the rookie of the year award in the class. “I wanted to learn, have fun and get some seat time,” said Bransom, son of 2008 IMCA Crate Model national champion Jay Bransom and younger brother of Jerrett Bransom, who was rookie of the year in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars three years go, at 15. “We didn’t start the season with any goals. We just wanted to do the best we could and have fun.” He’d raced a mini stock a couple times and thought about getting into a Stock Car. Bransom agreed [Read More]

A first for Arizona as Erickson earns national Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod ROY honors

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A season of firsts saw Clay Erickson race to national Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors. From Glendale, Erickson became the first IMCA driver from Arizona to earn the national rookie title in any division, edging younger brother Justin for the prize. His first feature victory came March 7 at Canyon Speedway Park, the same venue where he’d ultimately win his first track championship. “Our consistency really stood out in our first season. We went to a lot of different tracks and ran well,” said Erickson, also the KMJ Performance State champion. “The top five’s weren’t as good as getting wins but it was good to know we could run up there.” Erickson complemented career win number one with 18 top five finishes. Twenty-six starts came at home state tracks, another 11 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Colorado. Team Erickson made 800 mile round trips to Cortez when Arizona tracks were closed during the warm summer months for weekend double or tripleheaders on five occasions. “We went there to run [Read More]

Elliott, Mueller, Medler, Knutson win drawing to attend Harris Race Tech Info dirt chassis school

AMES, Iowa – IMCA drivers Chris Elliott, Jeff Mueller, Darren Medler and Eric Knutson are headed back to class early next season. All four won designated specials in 2020, then were selected by drawing to attend Bob Harris Enterprises Race Tech Info dirt chassis schools. Elliott topped the IMCA Modified feature at Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Challenge. Mueller was the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car winner at Marshalltown Speedway’s Dale DeFrance Memorial. Medler collected the checkers on night two of the Stock Car Stampede at Jamestown Speedway and Knutson was the World Nationals IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock winner, also at Motown. BHE, of Ames, Iowa, and in its eighth season as an IMCA sponsor, added Stock Car and Hobby Stock awards to its established and much appreciated program. Top five finishers at designated Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod events were entered in the drawing and all received BHE certificates good for two shock rebuilds. Modified drivers receiving certificates included Tom Berry Jr., Steven Bowers Jr., Ethan [Read More]

Single start sets stage for Duggins’ run to national, Big Daddy Southern Region ROY

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Kyler Duggins had all of one night on the track under his belt at the start of the 2020 season. Thirty-three races and four feature wins later, he was the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national and Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region rookie of the year. “I tried it out for that one night at Aztec,” said Duggins, son of two-time and repeat regional champion Jason Duggins. “The track looked a lot different that night than when I had been watching from the pits.” Duggins’ first two wins came right ahead of his dad, on July 17 at Fairgrounds Speedway and the next weekend at Desert Thunder Raceway. August and September checkers figured in his run to the track title at Desert Thunder. He drove a Grumpy Chassis three or four years older than his father’s 2003 ride that had served as a loaner for four other drivers last season. “My first win was a real confidence booster. We’d gotten in a wreck early in the race, restarted from the back and [Read More]