Newswire

Nichols races to record 13th IMCA crown, he’ll move national title trophies to Texas

HARLAN, Iowa (Oct. 23, 2024) – Another IMCA racing season, another IMCA record. Mike Nichols raced to a career 13th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national crown in 2024, breaking the all-time mark set by Late Model legend Ernie Derr. While appreciative of his own efforts and his IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing competition – Nichols won 30 features and four track titles this year, boosting those career record totals to 657 and 51, respectively – he cautions that comparisons between eras are difficult to make. Nichols’ first national championship came in 2002, Derr’s last in 1971. “There should always be an asterisk with breaking Ernie Derr’s record. It was a different time. I didn’t beat Ernie Derr because I didn’t compete with Ernie Derr,” Nichols reasoned. “I have a lot of family history of talking about Ernie Derr and how awesome he was back in the day.” Nichols was nothing short of awesome himself this season, racing to a fifth consecutive crown. He also stood on top of the podium in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2014 and [Read More]

Richards races to unique championship combination by winning IMCA Sport Compact, Lady Eagle crowns

Kaylee Richards raced to a unique championship double this season, earning both Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact national and Lady Eagle titles. (Photo by Joe Orth) WYMORE, Neb. – Kaylee Richards wasn’t even thinking about racing for points in 2024. Now she’s thinking about knocking out walls to make room for an expanded trophy room in the basement. Richards capped a 24-Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature win season with a unique double, becoming the first driver to win both a national championship and the Lady Eagle award the same season. “Originally, I didn’t even want to race for points this year. I’d done it for so long I kind of wanted to take a step back and race for fun and not for points,” said Richards, from Wymore, Neb., and just the second female driver to win an IMCA national crown. “My husband Dillon talked me into racing for national points and to give it everything I had.” IMCA’s first husband and wife national champions – Dillon won the Sport Compact crown in 2017 and topped [Read More]

Notable season sees Shepperd change dynamics in drive to IMCA Southern SportMod national crown

WACO, Texas (Oct. 21, 2024) – Twenty years after he first gave any thought to being an IMCA national champion, Jeff Shepperd has started making notes about who all to thank when his turn comes to speak at the IMCA awards banquet in November. Shepperd won 13 features, along with the track title at Cotton Bowl Speedway, in racing to the 2024 Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod national crown. “We basically did the same thing we’ve always done,” said the veteran from Waco, more than a little motivated to run for the top spot on the podium this year after his national runner-up finish last season. “We tried to bring the best prepared car to the track that we could, and we tried to get a little bit more sponsor help throughout the year to keep fresh tires on the car, which I think is a huge key in this division.” “Everything we have, motor, transmission, rear end, we try to get the best we can get. Other than that, we just try to [Read More]

Wisdom, Batt, Spalding each bank $2,000 at Southern Challenge

ABILENE, Texas (Oct. 19, 2024) – Kyle Wisdom had impressed at last year’s Southern Challenge Ryan Bard Memorial, racing from his ‘B’ feature to finish fourth in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature. He turned heads again at Abilene Speedway’s 30th annual season-ending event on Saturday night, this time winning the main event and $2,000. “I’ve run second here in a SportMod a couple times and raced the Southern Challenge in a Modified four times but have never been able to win it before,” said the hometown hotshoe, newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “It’s something every driver around here wants to do. It means a lot.” Wisdom had started from the pole in the Friday night qualifier but was a DNF after getting into the wall with six laps left. Returning to the speedway the next day, he made the most of Scotty Cook’s expertise and the track wrecker “to correct the geometry” and got the wheels and tires on with all of three minutes to spare before hot laps. Wisdom [Read More]

Iowa Dirt Nationals set records at Maquoketa Speedway

By Jerry Mackey MAQUOKETA, Iowa (Oct. 17-19, 2024) – The final race of the 2024 season was held this past weekend at the Maquoketa Speedway as the Iowa Dirt Nationals were run with three near perfect weather days greeting record-setting car counts and large crowds. The action got underway on Thursday, Oct. 17with a practice session and the makeup features of the All Star Classic that was cut short back on Sept. 14 due to rain. Ethan Braaksma scored the win in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature, David Brandies topped the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event, Brayton Carter raced to the win in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods and Eric Knutson took the win the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Friday was opening night of the Iowa Dirt Nationals with 206 competitors packing the infield on the Jackson County Fairgrounds. Winners on Friday night included Drew Janssen in the Modifieds, Brandon Schmitt took top honors in the Stock Cars, Carter scored the win by inches in the SportMod feature and Knutson took the checkers [Read More]

Never give up attitude drives Dumpert to record sixth straight national crown in IMCA Late Model

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (Oct. 17, 2024) – While there’s a lot to be said for consistency, Cory Dumpert credited a never give up approach to his latest IMCA Sunoco Late Model national championship season. The Newman Grove, Neb., driver collected 15 feature wins en route to his sixth consecutive national title, a record for IMCA’s modern (1979-) era. “That’s pretty cool, surreal, really,” said Dumpert, also the Nebraska State champion for a sixth straight season, as well as track champion at both Boone County Raceway and Off Road Speedway. “We started racing a Late Model with IMCA in 2019 and while we’ve had a lot of success since then, this season was definitely the most challenging and our most rewarding championship.” “Consistency was important – on paper it shows 38 top five’s – but there was a lot of stuff that happened that we had to overcome, too,” he’d add. “It was a terrible year with some of the mechanical stuff that happened but it was still a very rewarding year.” “We just never gave up.” [Read More]

Winter Nationals title gives boost to Baca in race to second straight IMCA Modified national crown

MESA, Ariz. (Oct. 16, 2024) – After penciling out his 2024 race schedule, Chaz Baca figured he had a pretty good shot at winning a second straight Friesen Performance IMCA national championship. And after racing to a confidence boosting IMCA.TV Winter Nationals crown, he did just that. “It was a goal from the start this year. We saw the weekly schedules that we were going to be able to do in Arizona and thought we’d have plenty of races to be able to do it again,” explained the Mesa speedster, who’d become the first driver from Arizona to win an IMCA national crown last year. “After the way Winter Nationals went, we thought we had a pretty good shot at it and we just ran for it right away.” Baca totaled a single-season best 28 feature wins in his ninth Modified campaign while adding his fourth Shaw Race Cars Western Region crown in five years and fifth straight and career seventh Arizona State title to his IMCA resume. He also won Modified track titles at [Read More]

IMCA announces 2024 national champions

VINTON, Iowa (Oct. 15, 2024) – Record-setting racers and first-time kings and a queen are among the 2024 national champions announced today by IMCA. Mike Nichols’ 13th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car crown is the most all-time in IMCA while Cory Dumpert’s sixth straight IMCA Sunoco Late Model title sets a new record for the sanctioning body in its modern (1979-) era. Kaylee Richards became the first driver to win both a national championship, in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts, and Lady Eagle award. Other first-time national champs were Lee Goos Jr. in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car and Jeff Shepperd in the Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMods. Matthew Looft’s Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod title was his career seventh, Dillon Raffurty’s Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite crown his career fourth. Chaz Baca went back-to-back in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and Cory Probst topped the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock standings for the second time. A 30-time feature winner, Nichols complemented his latest national title with EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region and Crawford County Speedway, [Read More]

Celebration of life is Wednesday for Donnie Hix

BELLS, Texas (Oct. 15, 2024) – A celebration of life for Donnie Hix will be held Wednesday, Oct. 16 beginning at 6 p.m. at Grayson County Speedway. Hix, 38, peacefully passed away at his Bells home on Oct. 10. He won two track championships at Bells during his IMCA career, in the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods during his 2005 rookie season and last year in the Friesen Performance Modified division. He was also the Southern SportMod Oklahoma State champion in 2008. Survivors include his wife Kelli and children Baylee and Easton; constant four legged companion Ollie; parents Tommy and Debra Hix; siblings Jessica Garza, Timmy Hix and Jay Wells; niece Faye and nephews Paxton and Parker; aunts and uncles Cheryl and Hal Hargis and Eddie and Shannon Doggett; and many cousins and loved ones including friends that were family. Donnie was preceded in death by grandparents, Nina Doggett, Buddy Doggett, Flo Hix and Don Hix Sr., cousin Jerry Don Montgomery and aunt Donna Montgomery. While remembering his love of racing and fishing, family members noted [Read More]

Wray checks forecast, then checks out at Beatrice Octoberfest

BEATRICE, Neb. (Oct. 11-12, 2024) – Cory Wray checked the forecast, then he checked out. The Friesen Performance IMCA Modified hotshoe from Trenton, Mo., made his first visit to Beatrice Speedway in five years for the season-ending Octoberfest special, leading all 25 laps of Saturday’s $2,000 to win feature. “We looked at the weather, saw it was going to be nice and decided to race one more weekend,” said Wray, newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “It was a good way to end the season.” He’d started third and took the lead coming to the line at the end of lap one. A lap four caution bunched the field back together but Wray pulled away and was running in traffic late in the contest. Johnny Saathoff was second, Braxton Yeager third. Justin Zeitner motored from 15th starting to fourth for hard charger honors. Jordan Grabouski, most recently a three-time Octoberfest main event winner in 2020, topped Friday’s $1,000 to win feature for the Modifieds and both $750 to win features for the [Read More]