Results

BEATRICE, Neb. – His success in spring specials convinced Dillon Richards he could be a contender for the national Mach-1 Sport Compact championship in 2017. Armed with a willingness to travel and race in some of the biggest weekly fields the class had to offer, he had that title wrapped up before ending the season with another special event victory at his hometown Beatrice Speedway. “After we won Spring Nationals at Beatrice and then both nights at RPM Speedway (the Sunflower Classic), we decided this was the year to go for it,” said Richards, 18 and already a four-year-veteran of the division. “This was our first year traveling this much and there were a lot of late nights in the shop, but it was all worth it.” His 57 starts took Richards to 11 different tracks in Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa. Eight of his 27 feature wins, and a third straight track title, came at Beatrice. Richards won another six times at Eagle Raceway and five times at Junction Motor Speedway. “We changed [Read More]

DES MOINES, Iowa – Two of the important numbers leading up to Shannon Anderson’s record-extending seventh national championship were 300 and 35. Anderson raced to his IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock career 300th win in mid-June and won for the 35th time this season at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “We had an excellent year. Honestly, it was unbelievable,” Anderson said. “We’d had a hard time even getting to 30 wins the last three years but this year we started strong and kept it rolling.” Along with national and Super Nationals titles, the Des Moines, Iowa, driver motored to the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region and Marshalltown Speedway and Southern Iowa Speedway crowns. He recorded a dozen wins at both Southern Iowa – site of his 300th, on June 14 – and Mar­shalltown, six at Kossuth County Speedway and three at Heartland Park Topeka after starting the sea­son in Texas with the opening night victory at Abilene Speedway’s Ice Breaker. “I hadn’t run Osky since 2012 and only lost there one [Read More]

TAHOKA, Texas – A season that started out with the blues turned golden for Cory Williams. The Tahoka, Texas, driver topped 17 features and ran in the top five in all but seven starts in winning the Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod national championship. “We started the season kind of running where and whenever we wanted. When we saw we were up there in the national points, it was kind of a shocker,” admitted Williams. “After that we ran hard and sewed the national deal up.” Williams was a high school junior when he earned IMCA rookie of the year honors in the division in 2011. He was third in the national points race last year and brought 24 career wins into the 2017 campaign. “There were a lot of mixed emotions after I got the call from IMCA telling me points were official and that I was the national champion,” Williams said. “It’s something we’ve been chasing for the past six years. We’ve worked very hard to win it and it was a relief [Read More]

CORSICANA, Texas – One trip to the race track was all it took to convince Marcus Thomas that the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car division was right for him. Three-plus seasons was all it took for him to win his first national championship in IMCA’s fastest growing class. “I had a weekly drag racing background and hadn’t even been to a dirt track before we went to Heart O’ Texas Speedway four years ago to watch the races,” the Corsicana driver said. “The Sprint Cars were there that night, they caught my attention and I knew right then that was what I wanted to race.” Eight of his 11 feature wins came at Kennedale Speedway Park, where Thomas repeated as track champion. He also paced Allstar Performance Texas State standings while picking up single checkers at Sabine Motor Speedway, RPM Speedway and Lone Star Speedway. The season-opening victory at Kilgore paid a hefty $1,200 and made Thomas the winner of back-to-back Sprint Smackdown specials at Lone Star. It also proved to be Thomas’ only win in [Read More]

HARLAN, Iowa – What had been an atypical season ended with a career highlight for Mike Nich­ols. Nichols won 32 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car features and three track championships on the way to a record-matching seventh career national crown, clinched before a much-anticipated first IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s championship. “I’ve always been a numbers guy but this is the only time since I’ve been racing that I didn’t pay attention to point standings, bonus points, anything,” said Nichols, from Harlan, Iowa. “The pass­ing of my brother in April put a lot of things in perspective for us.” Nichols started a new job the same month and has since started accelerated classes to earn a Master’s Degree in business administration. He and wife Anita are also making plans to build a new house so their summer was even busier than normal. “It was a little hectic. I’ve become a professional juggler,” he said. “One of my greatest regrets was not completing my education. I work full-time and travel a lot for work [Read More]

MALVERN, Iowa – A bad back finally did what the competition couldn’t: Beat Jesse Sobbing. Sobbing made IMCA Late Model tour history in 2017, becoming the first driver to win both the Deery Brother Summer Series championship and rookie of the year award in the same season. His health, however, may dictate that the Malvern, Iowa driver doesn’t get a chance to defend his latest IMCA championship. He’s had three back surgeries and a fourth is likely before the end of the calendar year. “I love racing. This was my 13th year racing and in 10 of those years I raced more than 100 times. It’s what I’ve lived and breathed,” Sobbing said. “My wife Brandi has been a huge part of my rac­ing and put up with a lot over the years. We talked about it and decided late in 2016 that this would be my last season.” The two-time Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod national champion and former champion of IMCA’s Northern Region for Modifieds considered various divisions before settling on the Late Models. [Read More]