Results

NORFOLK, Neb. – IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national and Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Re­gion rookie of the year awards were the ultimate goals this season for Lance Mielke. The five feature wins he collected during the season in addition to those rookie honors were a bonus. Mielke, from Norfolk, Neb., followed in the tire tracks of older brother TeJay in earning national and regional rookie of the year awards (in 2014) and even did so in the same Big Daddy car. “We first thought about it at the end of last season,” said Mielke, who had totaled 16 feature wins in three Mach-1 Sport Compact campaigns. “It came back to mind at the beginning of this season and we dedicated everything to running for rookie of the year.” He got his first feature win in the class on May 25 at U.S. 30 Speedway, where he went on to fin­ish second in the point race. “Going into the year, I thought I might get one or two wins. I never thought I’d get five, [Read More]

WEATHERFORD, Texas – Coming from a drag racing family, Dakota Dees didn’t understand how going fast and turning left could be all that difficult. Now that he’s done it himself, he understands. The Mach-1 Sport Compact national rookie of the year won seven of his 30 starts and six of his last 10 outings, finishing third in points at 281 Speedway and at Boyd Raceway. Girlfriend and Allstar Performance Texas State champion Julia Childs was runner-up in the standings at both tracks. “I watched her do it and thought it was awesome. She got me hooked on it,” said Dees, from Weather­ford. “Before I started racing, I couldn’t figure out how it could be so hard. When I started (in Julia’s original car) I couldn’t keep it on the track.” “I’m ecstatic about winning rookie points,” he added. “It’s the last thing I ever thought would hap­pen.” Dees’ first win came on April 29 at 281. After rolling his car at Boyd on May 12 he was consistent but didn’t make his way to victory [Read More]

KEMP, Texas – Nathan Buchanan started the 2017 season with the goal of winning Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod rookie of the year honors. Goal accomplished. In his first full season of racing in any class, the Kemp, Texas, hotshoe followed an ambitious schedule that took him to eight different tracks. Fifteen of his 40 starts came at 85 Speedway, where Buchanan won his career-first feature on July 22. “I couldn’t believe it when they threw the checkers and pointed me to victory lane. Everything was really cool,” said Buchanan, fourth in the standings at 85 and 16th nationally. “I couldn’t believe it then. I still can’t.” Self-funded, Buchanan had raced a street stock a couple times in 2005. His father Ronnie had raced and he came into the year with a learn as you go approach that paid big dividends. “It was always my dream to race and I finally got the chance to do it. I learned a lot as we went. We started from scratch. I think I started with five ratchet [Read More]

OVERTON, Neb. – Jacob Olmstead proved up to the challenge in a second IMCA division this season. Olmstead earned national Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors, winning 10 of his 43 starts and the track title at Lexington Raceway. “We started strong, won a feature, wrecked a car and had some bad luck,” the Overton, Neb., driver summarized. “I got to run with guys I grew up watching and kept racing hard locally as many nights as we could.” Third in national point standings for the Hobby Stocks in 2015 – the year his brother Zach was the top rookie in that class – Olmstead ran an abbreviated 2016 season before selling his car and crewing full-time. “I wanted something different. I wanted a new challenge, so I bought the car that Tyler Frye had driven to the national championship and ran that a couple times after the point season,” he ex­plained. “Our goal in 2017 was to run for national rookie. I wanted to get some seat time and experi­ence so [Read More]

BISMARCK, N.D. – After putting on some miles during the final weekend of the point season, Eric Harpole could make plans on where to display IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region rookie of the year awards. From Bismarck, Harpole became the first North Dakota driver to win either award, by a scant one point margin over Tommy Fose. He ran both nights at Beatrice Speedway’s Septemberfest, then loaded up the next morning to head for Quincy Raceway in Illinois. “I left Beatrice at 10 a.m. on Sunday and pulled into Quincy with just enough time to zip tie the car together,” he said. “We went out, hoped for the best and finished fourth.” Harpole had raced a Wissota street stock, which he said was similar to an IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock, for five years. Buddies Bob Fuegmann and Mike Swallers already raced in the Stock Car division and encouraged him to do so as well. “I wanted something more. The Stock Car is more of a race car. You can’t [Read More]

RIVERDALE, Calif. – When you have a passion for racing, like Grant Duinkerken, even family vacations revolve around being at the dirt track. Loading up the trailer to race for two weeks in Texas this past summer, making many new friends at the track, including eventual national champion Marcus Thomas was just one high­light for Duinkerken, who had a national award of his own when the season was complete. The Riverdale High School senior, an honor student, with a 4.0 GPA, became the first California driver to win national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car rookie of the year honors. He had 13 top five finishes on the season and was runner-up in Western RaceSaver Sprint Series standings. A veteran of two seasons in both micro sprint and outlaw kart classes, the 17-year-old speedster bought a used 2013 KPC Chassis and motor to begin his career in the class with. He tied George Tristao Jr. in the series points race but Tristao had a feature win to get the tie-breaking edge. “We wanted to get into the Sprint [Read More]