LAKE CITY, Iowa (Nov. 17, 2022) –  Born and raised in a racing family where winning IMCA championships is the norm, Mike Smith can now boast of having won a unique one.  The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock driver from Lake City, Iowa is the 2022 Junior National Champion after topping standings for the nearly 400 drivers ages 13-18 who competed in IMCA this season.  “It’s a great accomplishment and another one I’m glad I won,” said Smith, who’d become the youngest driver in division history to win the main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s last year. “It’s nice to be the first one in the family to win something and I’m always glad when I can click off another championship in a Hobby Stock.” The 20-time feature winner raced to track titles at both Boone Speedway and Kossuth County Speedway and a career-first Iowa State crown as well. “We didn’t shy away from the competition. We ran with a lot of good drivers and they made me work every [Read More]

ATKINS, Iowa (Nov. 15, 2022) – Darrick Knutsen towed to 10 different tracks in six states and ended up cruising into the IMCA history book.  Knutsen became the first STARS Mod Lite driver to earn IMCA national rookie of the year honors, starting the season racing in Arizona and then Florida before concentrating on weekly events in the Midwest, closer to his Atkins, Iowa, home. “My goal from the start of the season was to win rookie of the year and we started out pretty good,” stated Knutsen, at 50 the second oldest driver to earn that award, in any division. “I focused on getting my starts in, especially at Marshalltown, and when we got rained out in Iowa I went to Kansas or Nebraska to race.” “There were a lot of nights,” he added, “when I went to a track eight or nine hours by myself, then turned around and drove home after the races.” Knutsen had crewed for his younger by two minutes twin brother Erick, who had raced both an IMCA Sunoco [Read More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Nov. 15, 2022) – Dillon Raffurty made it his mission in his second IMCA season to show the success of his first sanctioned STARS Mod Lite season wasn’t a fluke. He was nearly perfect in proving it. The Kansas City star won 30 of his 35 starts and a second straight STARS Mod Lite national crown in 2022, repeating as winner of the Race of Champions and champion at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s as well.  “Last year I felt I had a lot to prove and I kind of raced for myself. This season we dedicated to my dad David, who died in January, and a lot of good things happened,” said Raffurty. “I put his memorial sticker on the left side of the dash so he raced with me all this year.”  After a February vacation to Florida for the Sugar Bowl Winter Nationals, a lot of good things happened for Raffurty during two separate streaks of 15 straight wins, from April 15 to June 25 [Read More]

SLOAN, Iowa (Nov. 14, 2022) – His fast start to the season surprised even Willy Kirk. The 15-year-old from Sloan, Iowa, had three wins and another eight top five finishes to show for his first 12 starts and stayed fast through the end of September in earning the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod rookie of the year award.  “We were pretty much aiming for the rookie award from the start and we raced as much as we could,” said Kirk, who totaled five feature wins and 35 top five finishes, racing to Wagner Speedway and South Dakota State titles as well. “I had to learn how to drive the car and how to pass, so it was surprising to us, coming out of the gate like that.” “My dad taught me how to drive and gave me some really good setups,” continued Kirk, whose father and crew chief Dirk had raced both IMCA Modifieds IMCA Late Models. “We talked every time before I got in the car and after every race. We always tried to [Read More]

SWEA CITY, Iowa (Nov. 14, 2022) – A first-time win became the highlight of the season for one of IMCA’s winningest drivers. Matthew Looft raced to the fifth Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod national championship of his career, winning a single-season best 37 features – including his career 200th – and track titles at Arlington Raceway and Kossuth County Speedway. The career leader in all three divisional categories added another title to his lengthy list of accomplishments in 2022: Champion at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “That would have to be the highlight of our season,” Looft said of his Sept. 10 drive to the checkers at Boone Speedway. “It was almost unexpected because we started so far back but by the time we were 10 laps in, I knew I had a good shot of winning. The car was just so good that night.”  “It was pretty unbelievable, especially because it had been four or five years since the last time we were at Super Nationals,” he continued. “That pretty much [Read More]

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (Nov. 14, 2022) – Cory Dumpert came into the 2022 season looking to add to his IMCA Sunoco Late Model legacy. He accomplished just that, becoming the first driver from Nebraska to win the Late Model main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s before racing to the division’s modern era record of four consecutive national championships. “Everything we accomplished this season was pretty special. It was a lot of hard work,” said Dumpert, from Newman Grove and just the fourth different driver to win Super Nationals and national championships the same season.  “We wanted to get that fourth national title but knew how hard it would be. We wanted to do as well as the points as we could without getting too wrapped up in it, then see where we were a month or so before the season ended,” he continued. “And there was a lot of emotion in winning Super Nationals, especially doing it coming out of a ‘B’ feature and starting 11th.” Dumpert won 17 [Read More]