Weekly

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa – Dana Benning returns to the helm at Independence Motor Speedway in 2015, this time with a partner. Benning and son Brady comprise B & D Promotions, which will oversee events at the 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval. “It’s exciting to come back,” said Benning, who had promoted Independence from 2000-2002. “We put new lighting in 15 years ago and that was a starting point for improvements made since then. The facility has been much updated, so it’s kind of like walking into a turnkey operation.” A new victory lane and continued work on the racing surface are on the more immediate agenda at Indee with a new front straight catch fence in future plans. “There isn’t a lot of work that has to be done to the facility,” acknowledged Benning, most recently event manager at Benton County Speedway. “What we need to do is polish the show and make sure it continues being the best in Eastern Iowa.” Five sanctioned divisions, the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds, IMCA Late Models, IMCA Sunoco Stock [Read More]

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Tire samples taken from top five finishers in the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified main event and from IMCA SportMod main event winner J.C. Howell revealed no use of any foreign substance(s) at the Duel In The Desert. This was the third year samples were taken from top finishing Modifieds and submitted to a testing laboratory following the special at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Terry Phillips, Jordan Grabouski, R.C. Whitwell, Johnny Scott and Chris Brown comprised the top five. With the increase in Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod and Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod entries – a record 96 competed at the Nov. 12-15 Duel – tire testing was expanded to include the winner of that main event as well. “Since results are final we will begin mailing the complete payout to all drivers who earned shares of the Duel In The Desert purse,” IMCA Vice President of Operations Brett Root said.

SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – A native of the Midwest with a two-wheeled background is finding suc­cess promoting racing on four wheels in Arizona. Jonah Trussel has raced motocross many of his 37 years and promoted events for that sport at Arizona Speedway for the past 8-1/2 seasons. A 1/3-mile dirt oval was built at the Apache Junction venue and IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modi­fieds joined regular shows beginning in 2011; Trussel kept the sanctioned division on programs at Cen­tral Arizona Speedway when he took charge of the Casa Grande track last January. “Promoting is something that I like to do. I enjoy being involved with racing and racers, and I’ve had fun doing it,” he said. “The better percentage of weekends of my life have been spent at the track, whether it be motocross or a dirt track. A lot of my buddies grew up driving stock cars so we spent a lot of time watching each other race.” The Indiana native began competing at a club-built motocross track conveniently located right across the [Read More]

VINTON, Iowa – IMCA’s longest tenured employee will end one career and start another on Nov. 26. Executive Secretary Rick Haefner will retire after more than 25 years with the sanctioning body. He’ll trade scheduling, record-keeping and correspondence chores for time with grandchildren, a honey do list, travel and plenty of golfing and fishing. “I’ll miss the people here and a lot of the people I’ve worked with in my 25-plus years at IMCA,” he said. “Meeting and making friends with so many different people from across the United States is what I’ve enjoyed most about working here.” IMCA had just four other full-time employees when Haefner punched in for his first day of work on March 3, 1989. He was in charge of points and membership, in a position created because of the amount of time his co-workers spent on the road and out of the office. There were 85 sanctions – 59 of them for Modifieds – at tracks in 15 states when Haefner started at IMCA. “The computers we were using then [Read More]

VINTON, Iowa – The cost of an IMCA competitor’s license will remain unchanged for the 13th consecutive season in 2015. Licenses will run $115 for Modifieds, $135 for Late Models, $105 for Sprint Cars, $95 for Stock Cars, $90 for both SportMod divisions, $85 for Hobby Stocks and $60 for Sport Compacts. Optional associate/crew member licenses are also unchanged at $60. IMCA will not administer the West Coast Super Stock program next year. The same insurance coverage remains in effect. A subscription to Inside IMCA is included with license purchase. The 2015 license application form is published on Page A21 in this month’s newsletter. It will also be available online.

BEATRICE, Neb. – The Gage County Agriculture Society has promoted head flagman Derek Fralin to director of competition at Beatrice Speedway. Fralin has been head flagman at Beatrice for the past eight years. He competed in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock, Factory Stock and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car divisions for 15-plus seasons, winning the Hobby Stock track title at Beatrice in 1999 and the Stock Car crown in 2003 and 2004. He comes from a strong racing background which includes his father Monty, brothers Tim and Matt, and son Tyler. Fralin has worked at Exmark Manufacturing for 18 years and is currently a quality control supervisor at the Beatrice plant. He’ll assume his new role at the track in November. Dan Crawford had been director of competition at Beatrice for the past four years.