Newswire

Consistency helps Brad Sites capture Atomicwraps.com Empire State title

MONROETON, Pa. – Brad Sites got a championship and a lesson out of his 2016 race season. Sites didn’t have any wins to show for his efforts but was consistent enough to top the point race for the Atomicwraps.com Empire State Series, finishing in the top five in five of 12 Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified tour outings. “I finished well but didn’t have any wins. Our goal is always to win races,” said Sites, from Monroeton, Pa., and younger brother of three-time series champion Eddie Sites. “I made some changes in setup that didn’t work and we didn’t realize the tire pressure gauge wasn’t working like it should until late in the season.” Sites brought four career tour wins into the season, including a pair in 2015. He had two second-place showings this year, both of them at Skyline Raceway Park. While he hit every series show, Sites wasn’t a weekly regular anywhere. He owns a seamless gutter business and spent a lot of time on a ladder after a tornado and accompanying hail storm that [Read More]

Third Dakota Tour title, first Super Nationals crown highlight Zevenbergen’s 2016 campaign

OCHEYEDAN, Iowa – Elijah Zevenbergen returned to familiar surroundings to win the Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Stock Car Tour for the third time in four years. Then he made his first-ever visit to Boone Speedway and won on IMCA’s biggest stage. “The Dakota Tour is a nice little vacation. We have some friends out there,” said Zevenbergen, from Ocheyedan, Iowa. “Williston and Nodak are my favorite tracks on the tour and were two that got rained out, but nonetheless we won at Dickinson and Mandan, so it was a good tour.” His week at Boone was even better as Zevenbergen topped the Saturday night IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s main event. “It was kind of a standing joke in the pits, people asking me why I was there because I’d never raced at Super Nationals before,” he said. “It was a pretty crazy deal, no doubt about it, but I had a lot of good people helping me.” “Super Nationals was the biggest win of my career. It was pretty surreal. To [Read More]

Roller proves himself in new IMCA division

WACO, Texas – After cruising to 19 feature wins and his career second regional championship in 2015, Andy Roller made up his mind that it was time to move on from the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock division. “We made the main event at Super Nationals last year and felt we’d done everything we needed to prove ourselves,” said the Waco, Texas, pilot. “It was time to move on. I needed to challenge myself more.” After looking at a Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod and an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car, Roller opted to stick with a full-bodied class. That decision ultimately rewarded Roller with rookie of the year honors in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region. “I didn’t know for sure how this year was going to go but the people who help me all thought I’d be OK,” he said. “My goal was to win one time but it turned out we won twice, and we did it on the same weekend early in the season.” Those checkers came on May 13 at Heart O’ [Read More]

Underwood overcomes motor issues in regional rookie of the year award pursuit

TEMPLE, Texas – Not even motor issues over the last half of the season could slow Larry Underwood in his race to Charger Chassis Southern Region rookie of the year honors. The driver from Temple made the quick transition from the local Texas Twister class to the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock division, finishing second in the regional points race, fifth at Cotton Bowl Speedway – where he scored his first career win in the class – and sixth at Heart O’ Texas Speedway. “My goal at the start of the year was to race for national rookie but with Mother Nature, we just couldn’t get in more starts (he had 34),” Underwood said. “But this year was still great. I had a lot of fun going to the Hobby Stock after two years in a 4-cylinder class.” “I mothered a half-blown engine the last half of the season,” he added, “but my season still couldn’t have been much better.” Largely self-funded, Underwood is a truck driver by occupation so there were Fridays when he got [Read More]

Shoemaker sharp in first Razor Chassis South Central Region campaign

PARADISE, Texas – Cody Shoemaker decided he wanted to try something different after five seasons in a Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod. What he’ll try to decide next is where to display the trophy he received as rookie of the year in the Razor Chassis South Central Region for Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds. “We had been in a SportMod for a few years and just wanted to try something different,” explained the Paradise, Texas, pilot. “The Modified handles a lot different than a SportMod but it’s a lot of fun.” Shoemaker won three of 42 starts, taking the first checkers of his career in the class on March 26 at Kennedale Speedway Park. He was runner-up to regional king Matt Guillaume at Boyd Raceway and finished eighth in the points at KSP. “We ran with a lot of good guys, like Matt, Kevin Sustaire, William Gould and John Gober,” Shoemaker said. “Our goal at the start of the season was to get some top 10’s or maybe some top five’s but we outran ‘em [Read More]

Foley scores IMCA first with regional rookie prize

TUCSON, Ariz. – The first female driver to win IMCA regional rookie of the year honors knew all about going someplace fast long before her first Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified season. Kelsie Foley, 19 years old and the top rookie in the Larry Shaw Racing Western Region, completed EMT certification during her senior year of high school. She started attending summer fire academies at the age of 16, going on ride-alongs during eight hour shifts with local fire crews and emergency personnel. On track, Foley follows in the tire tracks of her father John, who raced on asphalt and then dune buggies before taking over as her crew chief. They traveled in an old Dodge pickup and towed an open trailer to six different tracks in Arizona and California. “Our goal this season was to win the Western Region rookie. We looked at this year as a learning experience,” said Foley, who logged 28 starts. “My dad and I both had asphalt backgrounds so we came out with our eyes open and our ears [Read More]

Mighty Axe checkers highlight Kendall’s regional rookie of the year season

BAXTER, Minn. – Billy Kendall didn’t hesitate to answer when asked about the highlight of his first Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified season. The BMS North Central Region rookie of the year won the night two main event at North Central Speedway’s Mighty Axe Nationals, earning $1,200 and a spot on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. “I finally got a win at the Mighty Axe and it came in a Modified,” said Kendall, who celebrated his 18th birthday a month after the point season ended. That was a pretty big deal for me.” Now a senior at Brainerd High School, Kendall started racing go-karts at the age of six and worked his way through the hornet, pure stock, street stock and Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod ranks. He won five of his 37 Modified starts this season. “It was time for us to go to a new car and with the crate engine option, we decided to make the jump to a Modified. We had a really good season,” he said. “At the start of the [Read More]

Spearling makes late-season repairs to complete Eastern Region rookie quest

CLIO, Mich. – A former track champion on asphalt is now a rookie of the year on dirt. Aaron Spearling paced first-year drivers in the Dirt Works Eastern Region despite being forced to limp to the end of his first Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified season by a late August wreck. “We learned a lot this season and that’s what we expected,” said Spearling, from Clio, Mich., and a regular at Tri-City Motor Speedway and Crystal Motor Speedway. “We knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this class. You know you’ve done something when you have a good finish running with these guys.” He started racing in 2004 and won the pure stock championship at Spartan Speedway in Lansing three years later. After Tri-City re-opened, Spearling raced a street stock there on Friday nights and made two or three visits to Crystal every season. “We had decent success in the street stocks and were ready for a new challenge. The big thing we had to learn with the Modified was keeping [Read More]

IMCA crate engine track champions earn $39,500 in Chevrolet Performance bonuses

GRAND BLANC, Mich. – Bonuses totaling $39,500 have been paid by Chevrolet Performance to IMCA drivers winning 2016 track championships while competing exclusively with crate engines. One hundred and twenty-one different drivers in the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod, Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock divisions won a total of 158 track titles with crate engines this season. Bonuses of $250 per track championship were mailed this month from the IMCA home office. This was the third season in the latest three-year bonus agreement with Chevrolet Performance, which has now awarded some $200,000 to eligible drivers over the course of the bonus program. “This has been a lucrative program for our members since its inception over a decade ago and we appreciate the support Chevrolet has shown IMCA racers during that time,” noted IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder. “We’ll continue to structure this program to put cash in the pockets of IMCA drivers and recognize track championships.” The 52 crate-powered Modified drivers winning 66 track titles and [Read More]

Further clarifications announced to 2017 IMCA rules

VINTON, Iowa – Several further clarifications have been announced to 2017 rules initially released by IMCA in November. A left front take-up spring will now be allowed in the Late Model division. The maximum spoiler width was increased from 72 to 72-1/2 inches while the maximum diagonal measurement from the center of the rear axle to the top of the interior deck was upped from 52 to 54 inches. No tolerance will be allowed in measuring either dimension, emphasized IMCA President Brett Root. Wording regarding standard weight axles tubes has also been added for Late Models and Modifieds and Root said drivers in both divisions should read those rules again. The rule implemented during the 2016 season allowing a claim/exchange for Stock Cars with the 350 cfm carburetor option but not the 500 cfm option will be continued. And wording allowing flat milling on the combustion side of the head only in the Stock class has been removed. “With the PRI trade show held after the release of our rules and proof reading by our [Read More]