Newswire

Excitement, expectations high for season opener Friday at Wagner

WAGNER, S.D. – Following a successful car show and practice day this past Saturday, the 2021 racing season will officially get the green flag this Friday at Wagner Speedway. The Fort Randall Casino Weekly Racing Series will hit the track with six classes of cars to open the campaign. They include the DK Flooring and Customs IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars, the CHS Farmer’s Alliance Late Models, the Mark’s Machinery IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, the Ponca Valley Seeds IMCA Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods, the Roth Custom Farming IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and the Payer Livestock IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compacts. All classes will be under the watchful eye of one of the best safety teams in dirt track racing, with the Butte Implement Safety Team, consisting of MedStar Race Rescue, the Wagner Fire Department and Wagner Ambulance Service and the show will move along, thanks to the C & B Operations of Wagner pace vehicle. Plus, as a bonus, the DK Flooring and Customs IMCA RaceSaver Sprint cars will be racing for bonus money with the Turp’s Automotive Hard [Read More]

Thompson tops Springfield IMCA Modified main

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – James Thompson came out of a three-wide pack on lap eight and held on to record his second win out of four IMCA Modified features Saturday ight at The Quick Quarter of the Springfield Raceway. Thompson, the track champion, came from the eighth starting spot and made the smooth move on leader Jimmy Greenway and second place runner Bobby Pearish, then held back a late surge from Greenway. Action for the Bad Boy Mower IMCA Modifieds was very intense as Greenway was rolling strong on the top side while Pearish was looking for a chance to get around Greenway. Greenway, who has been away from circle track racing for several seasons, has been fighting the new car blues and was rolling strong in his Ballie Diesel Automotive number 28. So far this season it has been Thompson in his Hayden Machinery 11T and two-time winner Steven Bowers Jr. with two wins at Springfield. IMCA Modified action continues Saturday, May 8 with racing to start at 6:30 p.m.

Grube prevails in PASS headliner at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 1) – After an incredible three-car, 12-lap battle, Dave Grube II held on for the win Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, taking the Pennsylvania Sprint Series 20-lap feature by a shade less than a second over Ken Duke Jr., with Kenny Heffner a career-best third and less than two tenth’s of a second behind Duke. Grube started on the pole and led the entire 20 laps, but never shed its multiple-IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car competition, which also included Kassidy Kreitz and Justin Mills early in the race. It was when Kreitz suddenly slowed and dropped out on lap eight that the stage was set for the lengthy final fight. On that restart, Heffner grabbed second from Duke, but six laps later the former national and PASS champion retook the spot. Two laps later Heffner was back in second and on the next lap he went for the lead, with making contact with Grube on the backstretch. That allowed Duke back into second, but even with lapped traffic [Read More]

Five find formula for IMCA success at Dawson County

By Kelly Ninas LEXINGTON, Neb. (May 3) – Being faster than lightning was the formula for success at Dawson County Raceway Sunday evening. Starting the season off on the right foot by punching their tickets to the winner’s circle were Jeremy Frenier, Brandon Spanjer, Cale Osborn, Zach Olmstead and Justin Schmidt. Frenier started on the third row of the IMCA Modified grid, worked his way into the lead on the third lap and never trailed again on his way to the victory. Colton Osborn started in the third row as well and did his best to try and run the cushion and scored a runner-up finish. Dillon Schultz raced his way onto the podium late in the contest. Leading from the beginning until the end, Spanjer was on a fast-paced walk in the park it seemed as he cruised to the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod checkers. Spanjer started in the second row and took advantage of driving in clean air to score the win. Robbie Thome was second and Spencer Galaway third. Getting off to [Read More]

Dotson masters Merced, Bannister also hits California IMCA Speedweek gold at Merced

By Stephanie Deatherage MERCED, Calif. (May 3) – The California IMCA Speedweek presented by Hoppes Motorsports kept rolling northwards and Ethan Dotson kept rolling with two more feature wins Monday night at Merced Speedway. Dotson won his second straight IMCA Modified main event and fourth straight IMCA Sunoco Stock Car outing, while Jason Bannister became a first-time Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod Speedweek winner. When the green flag dropped for the 25-lap Modified feature, Cody Laney rocketed out to the point and went straight to work on building a sizable interval over the rest of the pack. As the long green flag run continued, Dotson closed in and as the pair entered lapped traffic maneuvered his mount underneath Laney, took the lead on the 15th circuit. Dotson remained in front to the $1,000 checkers for his sixth Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying victory of 2021. Oregon’s Collen Winebarger, Darrell Hughes II, Laney and Nevada’s Jake Pike completed the top five. After an early restart, Garrett Corn beat out Nicholas Johnson to set the pace [Read More]

National champions, top 10 drivers in five IMCA divisions earn awards from Longacre

BOONVILLE, Ind. – The Longacre Racing Products awards program rates a 10 with drivers in five IMCA divisions for an eighth season. IMCA Modified, IMCA Sunoco Late Model, IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car, Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod national champions receive a digital caster/camber gauge with AccuLevel. Top 10 drivers in national standings for the same divisions get $100 product certificates from the Boonville, Ind., manufacturer of race car measurement and setup equipment. Longacre also gives an analog tire gauge with silver case to Modified, Late Model, Stock Car, Hobby Stock and Northern SportMod champions at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Information about Longacre products is available at the www.longacreracing.com website, by calling 800 423-3110 and on Facebook. “Last year we had some substitution of our year-end awards based on factors out of our control, but adjusting on the fly was something everyone encountered to some degree in 2020,” IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder said. “We’re proud to renew a great Longacre program and look forward to a great [Read More]

Surprising Off Road Speedway wins for Prauner, Meyer

By RANDY POSPISHIL sports@norfolkdailynews.com NORFOLK, Neb. (May 1) – Even experienced and successful dirt track drivers surprise themselves on occasion. That was the case for Kyle Prauner and Cameron Meyer when each won features at Off Road Speedway on Saturday night that they didn’t necessarily expect to win, albeit for different reasons. Prauner, who had 141 wins driving in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods, is competing in the IMCA Sunoco Late Model division this season and won for the first time. “We’ve always wanted to run Late Models but I never honestly felt that we’d be able to afford a Late Model,” Prauner said. “We scoured the web and found a car. It’s a 2012 so it’s probably older than most of them that are out there (on the track). Everything in it, like the motor and transmission, is used.” “But we’ve got a good friend, Cory Dumpert, who helped us out getting it set up with all the right equipment,” he added. “He’s had a lot of success and he was gracious enough to help [Read More]

Eagle checkers are RaceSaver career first for Weiler

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (May 1) – What Nate Weiler didn’t think would be possible became reality Saturday night at Eagle Raceway. Weiler made a huge move to the front on lap eight for his IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car-first career feature win at America’s Home Track. “I’m speechless really. This is something that I never thought would be possible for me,” he said post-race. “I’ve spent many years as a pit crew member but I had never driven any kind of dirt track car in my life before the RaceSaver class came to Eagle. Racing with some of the best people in the sport and in this class, plus the fact that I just beat all of them tonight feels amazing!” Shon Pointer regained the second spot with seven laps to go, Neil Nickolite was third and Trevor Grossenbacher drove the number 35 car to fourth. “Everybody keeps telling me I was pulling away but I don’t have a mirror in the car and I wasn’t going to try and look behind me,” Weiler said. [Read More]

Markwardt masters Modifieds, Stolp, Kemkes also collect 141 Speedway wins

By Greg Aregoni FRANCIS CREEK, Wis. (May 1) – Randy Markwardt Jr. used his searching skills to find his way to the front and find victory lane at 141 Speedway, as 172 cars signed in for competition Saturday at 141 Speedway. Jeff Bodendorfer set sail early in the IMCA Modified feature and went on cruise control at the top of the 1/3-mile. Markwardt started in sixth and tried multiple grooves to make his way to the front of the field. Markwardt finally caught Bodendorfer on lap 11 and pulled away over the remaining laps. Rob Charapata made his way to second but never make a charge. Bodendorfer had a great run in third after leading the first half of the race. Aaron Stolp had a rough first week and was determined to get back on top. Stolp did just that in a dominating win in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature. Stolp led until a red flag on lap 14 which involved much of the top 10. Stolp then maintained his lead over the final [Read More]

Mullen captures third straight on Bob Bennett Memorial Night

By Dave Buss SHAWANO, Wis. (May 1) – On Saturday night, Shawano Speedway celebrated its Night of Champions, honoring the 2020 championship class. Webster’s Dictionary defines a champion as ‘someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause.’ Before the races, another champion’s life was honored as Bobby Bennett was remembered. Although Bennett never won a track championship at Shawano, it was only appropriate to honor his life on the Night of Champions. The IMCA Modifieds took to the track to open the features with Mike Mullen trying to extend his season-opening win streak to three. Kevin Feck looked to be the man to end the streak early on as he led the opening five laps. Further back in the pack, Andy Karl and Marcus Yarie, along with Jerry and Konnor Wilinski were waging a spirited battle with three-wide racing and competing slide jobs. Meanwhile, Mullen was dicing his way forward and with a power move grabbed second on lap six. Riding his momentum, Mullen took his spot at the lead [Read More]