Newswire

Schram’s season championship night win puts wrap on IMCA Late Model rookie prize

STERLING, Ill. (Nov. 11, 2022) – Dustin Schram was already familiar with the view from victory lane at East Moline Speedway. His latest trip there ranked among the highlights of his IMCA Sunoco Late Model national rookie of the year season. “We decided to do something different this year,” Schram said, after winning a pair of track titles at East Moline along with 28 features over the 2017-2021 course of his Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod career. “Our goal was to win rookie of the year in the Late Model. We did that, we won two features and we even led the national points for a couple weeks.” Wheeling a 2018 MastersBilt purchased from Chuck Hanna – the last Illinois driver to win IMCA Late Model national rookie of the year honors, in 2012 – along with three pickup loads of spare parts, Schram made 34 starts at six different tracks, getting his first win on June 4 at 34 Raceway, just a week after breaking big time at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway. “It seemed like [Read More]

Werkmeister goes from starting in back to first in IMCA RaceSaver rookie points chase

ARMOUR, S.D. (Nov. 10, 2022) – Koby Werkmeister went from starting in back getting seat time at the start of the 2022 season to winning the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car rookie of the year award at the end of it. Along the way, the 16-year-old from Armour, S.D., picked up his first feature win in the winged division, in addition to I-90 Speedway track and South Dakota State championships. “We just went into the year looking to get seat time and a feel for the car. The rookie award was not a goal until we were told about it mid-season,” he said. “We started watching points more closely then and really concentrated on doing our best every night.” “Now I look back and ask myself ‘how did we do this?’” continued Werkmeister, 14th in the national point standings. “I can’t thank my parents and everyone who has helped me enough for everything they’ve done for me. It’s been a lot of fun.” Werkmeister’s prior racing experience had been solely in go-karts, starting at the age of [Read More]

Rare repeat for Clark in drive to national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car championship

HAMERSVILLE, Ohio (Nov. 10, 2022) – Winning a RaceSaver Sprint Car national championship is a special accomplishment. Winning national championships in IMCA’s winged division in consecutive years even more so and Justin Clark not only accomplished the feat, he did it in a car rescued from the scrap heap. The Hamersville, Ohio pilot defended his 2021 title, outlasting Minnesota rival and friend Trevor Serbus in a close race to the 2022 crown. He was a 14-time feature winner, also repeating as the top driver in Ohio Thunder Sprint Series and Ohio State point standings. “We decided this spring that this would be our final RaceSaver season. Winning our first national championship last year still hadn’t set in and we decided we wanted to run for it again,” he explained. “The start of the season was very good and even when we didn’t win our finishes were really consistent.” Clark reeled off three straight wins to start the year and had just one finish outside the top 10 before starting a streak of six straight victories [Read More]

High expectations become reality as Denning wins Razor Chassis North Central Region title

STERLING, Ill. (Nov. 9, 2022) – A season that began with high expectations ended with Travis Denning winning his career-first Razor Chassis North Central Region championship. Denning more than doubled his career total with 15 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature wins, while topping East Moline Speedway and Maquoketa Speedway standings. From Sterling, the Illinois State king was fourth in the national points chase. “We started the season wanting to win the East Moline championship, get 10 feature wins and do as well as we could in national points. As far as those go, you never quite know where you’re going to end up,” Denning said. “We knew we were going to be good in our new Performer by Precision Performance car, but we didn’t know we were going to be that good.” “Everybody has high expectations at the start of the season. Ours became reality.” Denning’s seven wins at East Moline included checkers at both the Ron Weedon Memorial and season championship night shows. He also won three times at Maquoketa and at Davenport Speedway, [Read More]

GRT Race Cars South Central Region title is career sixth for working man, racer Gould

CALERA, Okla. (Nov. 8, 2022) – While William Gould’s 28th Modified season was a learning one, he still taught his GRT Race Cars Southern Region foes a thing or two, too. Gould motored to a second straight and career sixth regional championship while collecting 14 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature wins, along with track titles at Boyd Raceway and Kennedale Speedway Park and the Texas State crown. “The goals we set for ourselves every year are to win the region, two track championships and, depending on how good we are, to see where we are in the point standings,” said the Calera, Okla., hotshoe, third nationally this year behind Jordan Grabouski and A.J. Ward. “You can spend God knows how much money chasing specials, or you can race weekly, then put on a suit and tie and go to the national banquet and get checks for $7,000-$10,000.” “That’s pretty good money for a working man who just likes to race.” Every indication early in the season was that the 2022 season would be a special one. [Read More]

Ward finds right IMCA Modified option to win fifth Dirt Works Eastern Region crown

IONIA, Mich. (Nov. 8, 2022) – A.J. Ward found himself almost out of options just 14 starts into his 2022 season. After wrecking and rebuilding his Friesen Performance IMCA Modified, the Ionia charger was fast but not fast enough and six checkers short of the long-time goal he had set of surpassing Rick Stout as the winningest driver in division history from Michigan. “We had already won six times, then got air borne and twirled around hard mid-May from an outside retaining wall tractor tire at Thunderbird Raceway,” explained Ward, in the hunt for Dirt Works Eastern Region and national championships as well. “We rebuilt the car but it just had that feeling where you knew you couldn’t get any more out of it. We were fast enough to do everything but win for about the next month.” “The change we made in our setup was the kind of stuff you do when you’re all out of options,” he continued, “but it worked and we started turning those second and third-place finishes into wins and [Read More]

A first for Montana as Clemens wins crown in IMCA’s Shaw Race Cars Western Region

BELGRADE, Mont. (Nov. 7, 2022) – The season where Ty Clemens wasn’t chasing points ended with him on top of point standings for the Shaw Race Cars Western Region. The 13-time Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature winner from Belgrade repeated as track champion at hometown Gallatin Speedway while becoming the first driver from Montana to win a regional championship in any IMCA division. “We were excited to win this. We weren’t points racing this season,” he said. “Last year we tried to race as much as we could, ran 58 nights and wore ourselves out finishing seventh nationally. This year we didn’t focus on points and did better, finishing sixth, because our top 25 finishes were better.” “It was a surprise to find out I was leading the regional points,” he added. “I didn’t know because it wasn’t something we were watching. I was talking to another driver at the track and he told me I was leading the points. I was just out there trying to win races. I wasn’t aware of where we [Read More]

Day adds national Modified rookie award to growing list of IMCA accomplishments

FARMERSVILLE, Texas (Nov. 7, 2022) – Matthew Day was enjoying a successful first Friesen Performance IMCA Modified season before taking a racing vacation to the Midwest. After an intense and personalized tech seminar in the pits at Deer Creek Speedway, he went home to Texas even faster. Already much accomplished in his brief IMCA career, the 19-year-old Farmersville flyer earned national and GRT Race Cars South Central Region rookie of the year honors, as well as Heart O’ Texas Speedway and Southern Oklahoma Speedway track titles and the Oklahoma State crown this season. “Winning 12 Modified features, finishing fifth in the nation and being the national rookie of the year was a much bigger deal than anything I’ve done before,” said Day, the top Southern SportMod rookie in 2020 and national champion in the division last season. “You have to have a good car and you have to know how to drive it, because you’re racing against the best drivers every night.” Day was a winner in just his third start this season, taking the [Read More]

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Grabouski gains appreciation of accomplishments along with record fifth IMCA Modified national crown

BEATRICE, Neb. (Nov. 4, 2022) – The decision to run for a record fifth Friesen Performance IMCA Modified national championship was made before Jordan Grabouski took the first green flag of the season. That goal now attained, he can look back with an appreciation for his career accomplishments, as well as those of the two drivers he’d shared the previous mark of four titles with. “We were able to accomplish a lot this season, but the Modified national championship is special,” said Grabouski, from Beatrice, Neb. “I can remember when I was crewing for Johnny Saathoff and he and David Murray Jr. would drive all over to race against each other. I know the grind they had to go through back in the day and it was cool to be able to watch their rivalry.” “Then you throw drivers like Kevin Larkins and David Trauernicht and a lot of other guys in the mix, and that made it something just to win a weekly show at tracks like Beatrice and Eagle,” he continued. “There would [Read More]