DANVILLE, Iowa – John Oliver Jr. said he’d always wanted to race an IMCA Modified. He has national and Side Biter Chassis North Central Region rookie of the year awards, as well as the Lee County Speedway track title to show for his 2019 endeavors in the division. From Danville, Iowa and a long-time IMCA Sunoco Stock Car driver – Oliver was also track champ in the class at 34 Raceway this season – he won six of 35 starts with another 17 top five finishes in pacing first-year drivers nationally and in the region. “I’d always wanted to race a Modified and I wanted to try for rookie of the year. I liked the speed and the challenge more than anything,” said Oliver. “My first couple nights I did decent but driving a Modified was totally different from a Stock Car,” he continued. “I went to Andy Eckrich at Precision Performance and Dennis LaVeine and asked them what to do. The three of us got things figured out while guys like Joel Rust and [Read More]

COMANCHE, Texas – Winning track championships were at the top of Westin Abbey’s to-do list at the start of the season. After collecting 17 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature victories, he had titles at 281 Speedway and Heart O’ Texas Speedway, as well as a career third EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region crown to show for his 2019 efforts.  “This one was more challenging, for sure,” stated the Comanche, Texas, pilot, when asked to compare the drive his latest championship to 2016 and 2018 crowns. “We wanted to win track championships in the Stock Car and factory stock. The regional championship wasn’t on my mind before mid-season. We’d led national standings, were looking good in points and decided to run for the region.”  He took eight checkers at 281 and another seven at HO’T, then picked up single late-season wins at Kennedale Speedway Park and Boyd Raceway and finished third in the national point race. “I hurt a couple motors but didn’t have a lot of DNFs. Consistency was important,” said Abbey, who overcame a [Read More]

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Gut check time for Jason Duggins came on Aug. 9. Duggins virtually totaled his IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock that evening and left Aztec Speedway trying to decide if he’d continue his quest for the Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region crown. “It was a challenge. I could give up or I could regroup and come back,” he said. “I went home with a bad taste in my mouth but I had some friends help out and ran second the next night in a car that had been beat to crap. It definitely led to good things. I’m glad we kept going.” Those “good things” included eight feature wins – five of them after that wreck at Aztec – another 18 top five finishes, the Fairgrounds Speedway title, the regional crown and 18th place finish in the national point standings. “I think being in the national top 20 was more of an accomplishment than winning the region,” said Duggins, runner-up to fellow Farmington, N.M. driver and chassis builder Dennis Spencer in the 2018 regional [Read More]

CLIO, Mich. – Domination at one track and consistency at another made Matt Szecsodi a regional champion. Szecsodi won nine of 13 starts at Silver Bullet Speedway and complemented one win with six-second place finishes at Tri-City Motor Speedway, earning track championships at both venues. That combination paved the way to the top spot in point standings in the Dirt Works Eastern Region for IMCA Modifieds. “It really feels good. It’s an honor to be crowned champion of the region,” said the Clio, Mich., driver, 13th nationally, “and I hope I can represent it well.” Szecsodi’s first regional title came in his 20th year racing and 10th competing exclusively on dirt. “We had finished second to A.J. Ward in the region last year and thought it would be great to try again,” he said. “We wanted to focus on our local tracks but all the rainouts had us sweating. We had 40-plus starts last year and they were all in Michigan. We had 33 starts this year and that included a couple trips to New York to make [Read More]

ALBANY, Ore. – Top-flight competition early in the season in sunny Arizona showed Bricen James how much he needed to step up his IMCA Modified game. The same caliber of competition closer to home in June helped him with the fine tuning that led to a history-making season. From Albany, James became the first Oregon driver to win an IMCA regional championship, pacing Shaw Race Cars Western point standings. “We didn’t know if it was possible with the number of races we have in Oregon,” said James, who made 35 of his 41 starts this season in his home state. “We looked back at last year when we won the E3 Spark Plugs State championship and finished 10th nationally. We told ourselves we could do this and raced as much as we could.” He totaled a dozen feature wins, repeating as the state champion while earning his career first track title at Willamette Speedway. The 1/3-mile clay oval at Lebanon is James’ home track, located a convenient five minutes from home and just 10 minutes from [Read More]

CALERA, Okla. – With titles on the line, William Gould was at his best. And his best is very, very good. Gould won his final six, and seven of his last eight IMCA Modified starts of the season in clinching his career fourth Razor Chassis South Central Region crown. “We didn’t do anything different the last month and a half,” said Gould, who had struggled with powerplant issues. “We had a string of bad luck with crate engines but when the car ran, everything was fine.” From Calera, Okla., Gould collected 15 feature wins, five of them coming in a dozen open motor outings, along with another 22 top five finishes in 55 starts. His travels took Gould to 10 different tracks. He already had Southern Oklahoma Speedway and E3 Spark Plus Oklahoma State titles in hand before that late flurry of feature wins, which added the Grayson County Speedway track and ultimately the regional prize to his resume. “Both Southern Oklahoma and Grayson County are about an hour away from home. If you’re going [Read More]