Hobby Stock News

By Ben Deatherage VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 17, 2025) — The IMCA TV revenue sharing program continued to put money back into racers’ pockets in 2025, matching last season’s payout levels while expanding to more tracks and rewarding strong weekly support across the country. Fueled by IMCA TV Replay Subscription viewership of weekly and special events, the program once again turned digital exposure into direct financial benefits for drivers. More than 600 drivers qualified for IMCA TV bonus checks during the 2025 season. Revenue was generated from replays of weekly and special events at 54 tracks broadcast by IMCA TV or its affiliates, then distributed to drivers finishing in the top three in point standings in each sanctioned division at qualifying facilities. Drivers in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified, Sunoco IMCA Late Model, RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car and Sunoco IMCA Stock Car divisions receive checks of $255, $205 and $150. Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod competitors earn $155, $120 and $115, while Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock, Stealth Racing IMCA STARS [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage LINCOLN, Neb. (Dec. 10, 2025) — The best of the best in IMCA were honored Saturday night as national champions, rookies, track and state crown winners, special series titlists, and crew chiefs shared the spotlight at the 2025 IMCA national awards banquet. More than 600 drivers, crew members, sponsors, track officials, and family packed the ballroom at the Cornhusker Marriott. Despite blizzard-like conditions in the area, a near-capacity crowd was on hand to celebrate the accomplishments of IMCA’s 2025 champions. National champions recognized during the evening were Jeff Reay, Friesen Performance IMCA Modified; Zach Zeitner, Sunoco IMCA Late Model; Lee Goos Jr., RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car; Kelly Shryock, Sunoco IMCA Stock Car; Cory Probst, Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock; Landon Capps, Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod; Brayton Carter, Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMod; Dillon Raffurty, Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite; and John Martinez, Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact. The Junior National Champion was Hunter Ferrell, and the Lady Eagle champion was Mylee JoAnn Goldwich-Rhames. Modified Regional championships went to Kevin Williamson in the [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage MOUNT PLEASANT, Tenn. (Dec. 4, 2025) — IMCA is proud to welcome SCE Gaskets as the official gasket of IMCA Weekly Racing, marking the company’s debut in the world of dirt track competition. The support of SCE will extend across IMCA’s highest seasonal honors. Complete engine gasket kits will be presented to each of the six Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Division national champions, including the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified, Sunoco IMCA Stock Car, Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMod, Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod, Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock, and Sunoco IMCA Late Model title winners. Decal placement is required on both sides of every IMCA Stock Car, IMCA SportMod, and IMCA Hobby Stock throughout the season. This national program is paired with a strong presence at the Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, where IMCA Modified, IMCA Stock Car, and IMCA Northern SportMod champions will also receive complete gasket kits during the industry’s most prestigious week-long event at Boone Speedway. To broaden racer participation throughout the year, SCE will additionally award [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Dec. 11, 2025) — DeVilbiss Racing Chassis has been announced as the new title sponsor of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals powered by Pitt Stop Motorsports and Dynamic Drivelines, expanding its long-time support of Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly racers and bringing a major West Coast influence to one of Arizona’s biggest January traditions. The 2026 edition of Winter Nationals will once again be held at Central Arizona Raceway from Jan. 20 to Jan. 31. In addition to the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars, Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMods, and Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks, the Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites will be a part of the card for the opening week only, running Jan. 21–24. Mod Lites will race for $500 to win each night and $100 to start. The title sponsor for the Eastern Region for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, the DeVilbiss name takes an even larger step forward with the title partnership. For owner and chassis builder Zane DeVilbiss, the decision was driven by [Read More]

By Sarah Stewart FORT DODGE, Iowa (Dec. 5, 2025) — Sports Park Raceway has announced a major step forward for the 2026 season, confirming that the facility will operate under Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing sanctioning beginning next year while shifting its weekly program to Sunday nights. The track’s 2026 IMCA lineup will feature Sunoco IMCA Late Models, Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars, Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMods, Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts. Owner and promoter Jeff Frevert said the decision aligns with the track’s long-term goals for growth, stability, and consistency. “We believe it’s time to grow,” said Frevert, “and with IMCA’s strong consistent support and a move to Sunday nights, we’re confident this step will help Sports Park Raceway continue to thrive for years to come.” The track previously sanctioned IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Northern SportMods, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Sport Compacts, and IMCA Hobby Stocks in 2018–19. Operations manager Sarah Stewart echoed that excitement, noting both personal experience and the benefits for competitors and fans. “As someone [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage BAKER, Mont. (Nov. 25, 2025) — The highway out of Baker runs straight and lonely, a ribbon of asphalt cutting through open prairie and endless sky. It’s the kind of road where you measure distance not in miles, but in hours — the kind that every racer from eastern Montana knows by heart. Most weekends, Taylor Heaton and his family point their rig toward North Dakota, chasing laps across the badlands, putting in three-, four-, even five-hour hauls just to race. For Heaton, that long road is part of the deal. It’s where the thinking happens, where the nerves settle, where the excitement builds. It’s where the weekend begins. This is the landscape that shaped him — wide, rugged country where nothing comes easy and every mile matters. It’s where his family put down roots, where racing first sparked to life, and where that spark carried him from off-road machines to the no. 11H Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock. Now, as he prepares for 2026, those same long miles are leading him into a [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage GLIDDEN, Iowa (Nov. 24, 2025) — The open country between Scranton and Glidden is quiet in the fall, corn stubble rolling out beneath a November sky that feels wider than the world. Out here, farm towns don’t hide their history. These towns were built by people who kept going no matter the obstacles, and in that way alone, they fit the life of Shane Butler. Butler returned to racing in 2025 after nearly four years away, climbing back into a Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock at Boone Speedway. The comeback was more than a restart. It was a declaration that life had finally given him back the one thing he had lost — his health, his freedom, and the chance to chase the sport that runs in his family’s blood. The Road Back Butler had raced since he was 17, when his father Rodney built him his first Hobby Stock. Racing was a Butler family constant. His dad had raced Hobby Stock–type cars for three decades beginning in 1985, often carrying the number 37 [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Nov. 9, 2025) — Kollin Hibdon capped off The Showdown tripleheader weekend in style, leading every lap of Sunday’s Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main event at Central Arizona Raceway to win the finale for the second consecutive year. The Pahrump, Nev., native—now residing in Waterloo, Iowa—pocketed $3,000 for the 30-lap victory and became the first driver in event history to repeat as champion. The win also earned Hibdon a spot on the eligibility list for the 2026 Fast Shafts All-Star Modified Invitational at Boone Speedway during the Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Hibdon, the 2025 Marshalltown Speedway track champion and winner of the Ernie Mincy Memorial Early Thaw Series at the same track earlier this year, started outside the front row and grabbed the lead immediately. Despite several cautions slowing the pace, he never faltered, mastering each restart and steadily pulling away from his challengers. Wisconsin’s 2024 state champion Cole Czarneski stayed closest in pursuit, coming home second after winning Saturday’s preliminary feature, while Friday night’s victor, Austin [Read More]

By Kaden Krebs MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Oct. 25, 2025) — The Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMods produced another exciting showdown at the Fast Shafts Harvest Hustle on a seasonally chilly night at Marshalltown Speedway, highlighted by an early restart that changed everything. Matt Avila used the high side perfectly to surge around National champion Brayton Carter and take command of the race. Despite a late caution tightening the field, Avila stayed smooth and steady to the finish. Carter finished runner-up, followed by Brayden Shepherd, Dylan VanWyk, and Cam Reimers. Rookie Butt Steals Show in Hobby Stocks  The Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks delivered the most dramatic finish of the night, where a packed grandstand braved the cool air to see a first-time winner steal the spotlight. Veteran Bradley Graham, no stranger to leading laps on the High Banks, paced the early circuits until 14-year-old rookie Carson Butt mounted a stunning late-race charge. Butt slipped past Graham in the closing laps to capture a thrilling, crowd-pleasing victory — a breakout moment to close his rookie campaign. Graham settled for [Read More]

VINTON, Iowa (Nov. 4, 2025) — IMCA drivers who piled up heat race wins this season can cash in with Allstar Performance gift cards — but they must submit proof by Nov. 18. Any driver who wins more than 10 heat races in 2025 is eligible for a $100 Allstar Performance gift card. The single driver with the most heat-race wins nationwide will receive a $250 Allstar Performance gift card. Gift cards will be presented during the IMCA National Banquet on Nov. 29. To be eligible, drivers must email a photo of their car showing the official heat-win decal in place, as distributed by tracks, to IMCA Marketing Integration & Sponsorship Director Carson Becker-Gramm at cbgramm@imca.com. Photos must be received no later than Nov. 18.

By Bill Martin CHULA VISTA, Calif. (Oct. 31, 2025) —   An early January suggestion became reality in late September as Kevin Reuter sailed to rookie of the year honors in the B & B Racing Chassis Southern Region for Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks. He’d raced the first four nights of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at Casa Grande’s Central Arizona Raceway, planning “a hit or miss kind of season” and racing when and where he could, all depending on when he’d be at sea as a U.S. Navy aviation ordinance man, loading and arming bombs, missiles, rockets and small caliber weaponry on jets that fly off aircraft carriers homeported in San Diego. Those deployments can last six to eight months and despite the uncertainty, Reuter agreed to make the rookie chase when friend and fellow Hobby Stock driver Scott Tenney suggested it. From Chula Vista and the first California driver to earn the Southern Region rookie title, he collected six top five finishes in 25 starts, racing at one track, Barona Speedway, in his home [Read More]

By Bill Martin DES MOINES, Iowa (Oct. 30, 2025) —  A “random, home-built car” that Kolby Sabin bought super cheap sat in his dad Kurt’s driveway, covered by a tarp, for more than a year before he got it on the dirt. It’s long since been promoted to prime parking, in a heated garage, after carrying Sabin to Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock national and B & B Racing Chassis Northern Region rookie of the year titles. “I’ve tried to find out more information about the car, but I’ve just run into a dead end,” said Sabin, a three-time feature winner and also track champion at Marshalltown Speedway in the mystery machine. “We got it in the middle of 2023, let it sit for a while before we worked on it and got it race-ready for 2024, then made a few spot starts and hit some practice nights.” “After looking at other people’s cars, we made some changes in the off-season. We put in a new fire wall and floor pan and made some other updates [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Oct. 28, 2025) — Central Arizona Raceway will have the return of “The Showdown,” a three-day IMCA special presented by Toste Construction, running Friday through Sunday, Nov. 7–9, with an open practice on Thursday, Nov. 6. The weekend features Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars, Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMods, and Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks, capped by a $3,000-to-win Modified main event on Sunday. Action fires at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Pit gates open at noon Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday. Grandstands open at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at noon on Sunday. Purses are stout all three days. Friday and Saturday pay $1,000 to win and $100 to start for Modifieds; $500 to win and $50 to start for Stock Cars; $500 to win and $50 to start for Northern SportMods; and $400 to win and $50 to start for Hobby Stocks. The top two finishers from Friday and Saturday’s main events in each division will be locked into [Read More]

By Bill Martin BAYFIELD, Colo. (Oct. 28, 2025) — Hunter Ferrell walked across the stage and accepted his Bayfield High School diploma this spring, then raced to the top of the class in both IMCA Junior National Championship and B & B Racing Chassis Southern Region standings. The first driver from Colorado to accomplish either feat, Ferrell won 20 features in his career fourth Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock season. Fifth in national point standings, the much-traveled 18-year-old took 13 checkers and the track title at Utah’s Desert Thunder Raceway. He was also a three-time winner at both Cortez Fairgrounds Speedway in his home state and at Arizona’s Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway, while winning once at Aztec Speedway in New Mexico. “It was about halfway through the season when I took over first in the regional standings, and realized I was first in Junior Nationals and started getting more wins under my belt that I realized this season could be special,” said Ferrell, now a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango, studying business. “At the [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage FARMINGTON, N.M. (Oct. 27, 2025) — Mylee JoAnn Rhames, known across the pits as “Mylee JoAnn,” became the 2025 Lady Eagle champion, marking the first time a driver from New Mexico has claimed the honor and just the second from the American Southwest, following Shelby Alves, who lived in Arizona at the time, in 2022. The pilot of the Gasco/O’Reilly Auto Parts/KFR Graphics no. 7MJ entry joins Leah Wroten and Tiffany Bittner as the only Hobby Stock drivers to earn the title, Wroten being the last to do so in 2018. “It’s super cool to win this for New Mexico,” she said. “A lot of the other winners have come from Iowa or the Midwest.” Mylee’s season began at the IMCA TV Winter Nationals in Arizona, where she built early momentum with a string of strong finishes before settling into a dominant summer rhythm at Desert Thunder Raceway in Price, Utah — her home track away from home in 2025, located 301 miles from her hometown of Farmington. “Our season was different. We [Read More]