Newswire

ITALY, Texas – Kyle Wilkins was back on top of the podium this season at Big O Speedway. He finished on top of point standings for first-year Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod drivers, too. Wilkins earned national rookie of the year honors on the strength of six feature wins and consistency throughout the season. “I went into the season running for rookie of the year. The track championship was just a bonus,” said Wilkins, from Italy, Texas. “I’ve always liked the division. The cars are cool looking and it’s the division I’ve always wanted to race in. Everything worked out for us this year.” He brought five years of on-track experience in a local factory stock class to the division. Wilkins had won a championship at Ennis in that class so he already knew the fast way around the quarter-mile clay oval. After getting his first Southern SportMod win at Heart O’ Texas Speedway on May 18, he collected five checkers at Big O, getting the last of them on the final night of the [Read More]

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Minutes after learning how to drive, Brandon Setser went out and won his first heat race. He hasn’t slowed down since. Setser earned national Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors, along with the track championship at his hometown Davenport Speedway. “We had set out to chase IMCA points. The rookie of the year and track championship were goals for the year,” said Setser, who turned 22 the week after the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Rac­ing point season ended. “We started the season at LaSalle Speedway (the March 30-31 Thaw Brawl) and right away I knew this was the division for me. It’s the most competitive class I’ve ever been in.” He’d started racing at the age of 14 in the 4-cylinder class at Davenport, getting that first heat win after a quick lesson from his uncle Gage on driving stick. Setser ran in that class for four years before a single season with more success in an outlaw street stock class. Forty-nine feature wins and 166 heat victories preceded [Read More]

VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 4) – A self-described fan and ‘Late Model guy’ has been named director of the division by IMCA. Joe Hayes will focus on helping tracks strengthen their IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing programs as well as Deery Brothers Summer Series events in the newly-created Late Model division director position. “I’ve always been a Late Model guy. They put on a great show,” said Hayes, who grew up following the exploits of his favorite drivers at Tunis Speedway and was director of marketing at IMCA before working for promoters Al Frieden and Keith Simmons. “When you drop the green flag on 20-24 of them it makes all the hard work you’ve put into the program worth it.” Along with making regular track visits, Hayes will work closely with IMCA Vice President of Operations Jim Stannard in getting new sanctions and in overseeing the continued development of the Late Model division. “What I’ve always enjoyed most about racing is the people involved in it and their passion for the sport. I’ve met so many [Read More]

COMANCHE, Texas – A former national and Super Nationals champion was quick to find suc­cess in a new IMCA division this season. Jeffrey Abbey collected 11 feature wins on the way to earning IMCA Modified national and Razor Chassis South Central Region rookie of the year honors. “I went from a class where you couldn’t make a lot of changes to one where there were endless options,” said Abbey, who had won both national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod titles in 2016. “I really enjoyed the competition and the challenge of a Modified.” From Comanche, Texas, and a first-year precision machining student at Texas State Tech­nical College, Abbey earned his first feature win in the division in just his fifth night out as part of a Feb. 18-19 sweep at 281 Speedway. He’d register 24 top five finishes over the course of 49 starts at 10 speedplants, earning Southern Ok­lahoma Speedway and Oklahoma State crowns as well as the rookie prizes. “We had a lot of [Read More]

DES MOINES, Iowa – Shawn Cooney admits that it took about a week for it to sink in that he’d really won his first IMCA Late Model feature. Now he’s enjoying the satisfaction of earning national rookie of the year honors for the second time. Cooney, 20 years old and from Des Moines, Iowa, led all first-year drivers in the Late Model divi­sion with 669 points, good for 12th place in the 2018 national standings. His first win came on Aug. 10 at Marshalltown Speedway. “I didn’t believe I’d done it for about a week,” said Cooney, son of two-time national champion Todd Cooney. “I had told my dad I wanted to beat him in a race we both finished, and I was able to beat him, Darrel DeFrance and other amazing Late Model drivers.” “It was a pretty out-of-this-world feeling,” he continued. “I grew up watching a lot of these guys and to be able to race with them and win was incredible.” IMCA’s 2013 national Sport Compact rookie of the year – and [Read More]

COMBINE, Texas – Casey Burkham spent his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car season racing with the eventual national champion. He believes those regular Friday and Saturday night tussles with Kevin Ramey made him a better driver and as a result the national Sprint Car rookie of the year. “RaceSaver Sprint Cars are a very competitive division and I got to learn racing with Kevin and a lot of other good drivers here in Texas”, said Burkham, 17 years old and from Combine. “Then we went to Eagle for the RaceSaver Nationals and I ran second to him in the opening night qualifier. I told him I was going to beat him someday.” Burkham started racing in a restrictor mini sprint class, then got a couple 360 starts in before seat­ing up in the 305. “We learned a lot this year. We were hoping to get maybe a top three so getting our first win (on May 12 at Kennedale Speedway Park) was really exciting,” he said. “That race was just meant for us to win. [Read More]