GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Brodee Eckerdt wrote his name all over the record books in 2020. The youngest rookie of the year, and the first from North Dakota, crowned in the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Eckerdt didn’t celebrate his 15th birthday until two weeks before the end of the season.  He collected three of his four feature wins on the year at Red River Valley Speedway, becoming both the youngest feature winner and youngest track champion in the storied history of the West Fargo speedplant. “My main goal this season was to finish races and get in the top five,” said the Red River High School freshman, who discussed chasing rookie of the year and the Junior National Champion awards with his parents before his first family-funded IMCA season. “We decided that the Hobby Stocks were a perfect fit for me because of my age, my driving experience and because I could race weekly within an hour from home.” Eckerdt had previously raced go-karts, 50 hp sling shots and [Read More]

BURLESON, Texas – Fast all season long, Jack Bransom found the momentum he was looking for with his career first feature victory. The Burleson, Texas, driver and Centennial High School freshman went on to win five more times in his last 10 starts and earn both IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national rookie of the year and the Boyd Raceway track championship. He’s just the second 14-year-old, and the fourth Texan in as many seasons, to earn the rookie of the year award in the class. “I wanted to learn, have fun and get some seat time,” said Bransom, son of 2008 IMCA Crate Model national champion Jay Bransom and younger brother of Jerrett Bransom, who was rookie of the year in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars three years go, at 15. “We didn’t start the season with any goals. We just wanted to do the best we could and have fun.”  He’d raced a mini stock a couple times and thought about getting into a Stock Car. Bransom agreed [Read More]

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A season of firsts saw Clay Erickson race to national Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors. From Glendale, Erickson became the first IMCA driver from Arizona to earn the national rookie title in any division, edging younger brother Justin for the prize. His first feature victory came March 7 at Canyon Speedway Park, the same venue where he’d ultimately win his first track championship. “Our consistency really stood out in our first season. We went to a lot of different tracks and ran well,” said Erickson, also the KMJ Performance State champion. “The top five’s weren’t as good as getting wins but it was good to know we could run up there.”  Erickson complemented career win number one with 18 top five finishes. Twenty-six starts came at home state tracks, another 11 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Colorado.  Team Erickson made 800 mile round trips to Cortez when Arizona tracks were closed during the warm summer months for weekend double or tripleheaders on five occasions. “We went there to run [Read More]

AMES, Iowa – IMCA drivers Chris Elliott, Jeff Mueller, Darren Medler and Eric Knutson are headed back to class early next season.  All four won designated specials in 2020, then were selected by drawing to attend Bob Harris Enter­prises Race Tech Info dirt chassis schools.  Elliott topped the IMCA Modified feature at Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Chal­lenge. Mueller was the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car winner at Marshalltown Speedway’s Dale DeFrance Memo­rial. Medler collected the checkers on night two of the Stock Car Stampede at Jamestown Speedway and Knutson was the World Nationals IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock winner, also at Motown. BHE, of Ames, Iowa, and in its eighth season as an IMCA sponsor, added Stock Car and Hobby Stock awards to its established and much appreciated program.  Top five finishers at designated Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod events were entered in the drawing and all received BHE certificates good for two shock rebuilds. Modified drivers receiving certificates included Tom Berry Jr., Steven Bowers Jr., Ethan [Read More]

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Kyler Duggins had all of one night on the track under his belt at the start of the 2020 season. Thirty-three races and four feature wins later, he was the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national and Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region rookie of the year. “I tried it out for that one night at Aztec,” said Duggins, son of two-time and repeat regional champion Jason Duggins. “The track looked a lot different that night than when I had been watching from the pits.” Duggins’ first two wins came right ahead of his dad, on July 17 at Fairgrounds Speedway and the next weekend at Desert Thunder Raceway. August and September checkers figured in his run to the track title at Desert Thunder. He drove a Grumpy Chassis three or four years older than his father’s 2003 ride that had served as a loaner for four other drivers last season.  “My first win was a real confidence booster. We’d gotten in a wreck early in the race, restarted from the back and [Read More]