Newswire

After fast start, Dostal satisfies need for speed with IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national prize

GLENCOE, Minn. – Alex Dostal has had a thing for speed ever since he crashed a three-wheeler into the front door of the house at the age of five or six. His ability to go fast paid off this season with the Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship. Encouraged by early success, the Glencoe, Minn., pilot targeted the national prize in mid-summer. He scored 25 feature wins in making that goal become reality. “Everything just panned out,” explained Dostal, a first-time national king after finishing fourth each of the two previous years. “I wasn’t planning on racing a Sport Compact but decided to when Princeton Speedway opened. We got three or four wins and I told my dad we were going to see how far we can take it.” “I had high hopes we could get it about 15 wins in,” he continued. “We had the national championship in our sights in late July.” Dostal showed a knack for getting his wins in bunches, carrying streaks of five straight checkers into early August and later to [Read More]

Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod crown is captured by much-traveled Hanusch

BELTON, Texas – A career that started with an old chassis rescued from a weed patch has seen James Hanusch race to the IMCA’s Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod national championship. The Belton, Texas, driver followed an ambitious 55-race schedule that took him to eight tracks in three states, collecting five feature wins, another 23 top five finishes and the 281 Speedway crown as well this season. “We were leading at 281 and doing well in national points. Everybody wants feature wins but I also know that top fives will get you a long way,” said the first-time national champ, who has typically made 50-plus starts a season during his career in the class. “We did a lot of traveling. We were on the road a lot. We strategized how to get the most points out of our late season starts and it worked out for us.” The E3 Spark Plugs Texas State champion two years ago, Hanusch logged most of his Lone Star outings at 281 and Heart O’ Texas Speedway, working in visits [Read More]

Soppe scores 100th win en route to second Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod national title

SHERRILL, Iowa – Racing, says Tyler Soppe, is one of those sports where you never know what’s going to happen. A lot happened for the Sherrill, Iowa, speedster in 2019 and almost all of it was good. Soppe motored to a career second Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod national championship, along with 21 feature wins and track titles at Maquoketa Speedway and Dubuque Speedway. “This one (the national championship) was better. When we won it the first time in 2017, all we were doing was chasing points and that took the fun out of it,” he said. “My daughter Tayler was eight years old then and told me I had to win again so she could go to the banquet.” “This year we just went out and raced. We knew if we won races that it would work out,” Soppe added. “We knew going into the last two weekends that it would be super close but we were able to replace some third-place finishes.” Soppe was spot on when he guesstimated the national championship race would [Read More]

Ryan’s proudest moment comes after IMCA Late Model national title is official

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The proudest moment in a lifetime of racing came when Matt Ryan called his father Terry to share the news that he’d won his first IMCA Late Model national championship. A 20-year veteran of the division and runner-up each of the last two and three of the last four seasons, the Davenport, Iowa, driver earned that title share on the strength of nine feature wins and another 18 top five finishes in his 29 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing starts. “The amount of joy I was overcome with was just crazy. I have gotten so close and come up short so many times. I was elated to finally win it,” Ryan said. “My dad was really nervous. To call him after it was official was probably the proudest moment of my life.” Terry Ryan had crewed for Rollie Frink before starting his own IMCA Late Model career. Matt tagged along, racing go-karts all across the country before wheeling a Late Model almost exclusively at 34 Raceway for most of 10 years. He [Read More]

IMCA Late Model national crown and rookie award go to Dumpert

YORK, Neb. – New IMCA Late Model sanctions close to home meant new opportunities this season for Cory Dumpert. The York, Neb., driver found success on the road as well in 2019, and earned both national championship and rookie of the year honors as a result. Dumpert won nine of 22 starts in becoming the first driver in division history to achieve those feats in the same season. “We had started traveling last year and were successful in Kansas. We talked about racing IMCA this year because it was right in our back yard. It definitely turned out better than we expected and it means a lot to us to have accomplished what we did,” said Dumpert, also the track champion at Boone County Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway, and the top driver in E3 Spark Plugs Nebraska State standings. “We raced to have fun. We weren’t really trying for the national deal until there was about a month to go in the season,” he added. “Then we looked at the points and thought ‘Holy [Read More]

Nebraska’s Ware makes history by winning IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national crown

COLUMBUS, Neb. – By mid-July, Jeff Ware knew the 2019 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season had the potential to be a special one. He just had no way of knowing how special. Boosted by a fast start and armed with an attention to maintenance, Ware won 29 features in becoming the first Nebraska driver to win the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national championship. The veteran from Columbus collected the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region crown, track titles at Boone County Raceway, Dawson County Raceway, Eagle Raceway and U.S. 30 Speedway, and the E3 Spark Plugs Nebraska State prize as well. “We’d won nine in a row at Eagle, three in a row at Albion and our first two starts at Columbus. That’s about when we decided to start digging in and going as hard as we could,” said Ware. “Winning the national championship is huge. It’s one of the things my buddies and I have always talked about. It’s cool now to be included in the conversation of drivers who have done it.” [Read More]

Duke scores Pennsylvania first with IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car crown

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – A Duke was king of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car division this season. Ken Duke Jr. of Selinsgrove became the first driver from Pennsylvania to win a national championship in any sanctioned division, topping standings for the winged class in his fifth IMCA season. “It’s kind of unbelievable. It’s an honor for sure, with as much racing as goes on and with how many dirt tracks we have here,” he said. “Winning the national championship hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe it will when we get out to the banquet. I know what we’ve done and how hard we worked, but it’s still a little hard to believe. It’s pretty amazing.” Duke collected 10 feature victories in all, eight of them in Pennsylvania Sprint Series action. He won that series crown for the second time in four years while earning his career-first E3 Spark Plugs Pennsylvania State title. “A lot of the races we ran have ‘B’ mains and a lot of guys don’t qualify for the feature,” said Duke, noting the series [Read More]

Puzzle pieces fall in place for Grabouski’s dual IMCA national championship quests

BEATRICE, Neb. – Sometime around mid-July, Jordan Grabouski was having lunch with wife Whitney when his better half said something along the lines of ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if you won both the IMCA Modified and Stock Car national championships this season?’ No driver had ever accomplished the two IMCA national championships in the same season feat before and Grabouski, who was already leading point standings in both divisions, had to agree that yes, it’d be awesome. “So many pieces of the puzzle fell together for us this season,” said Grabouski, who totaled a single-season record 69 feature victories in 108 starts, winning his career fourth and second straight IMCA Modified national crown with 33 checkers and his first IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national title with another 36. “It’s crazy to think that something like this is even possible to do and it’s definitely not something that can be done without help from a lot of people.” En route to Jet Racing Central Region and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region crowns, the Beatrice, Neb., driver collected [Read More]

2020 IMCA Late Model point season dates announced

VINTON, Iowa – The 2020 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season for Late Models will run from Wednesday, Jan. 1 through Sunday, Sept. 27. Points earned at sanctioned events during that time will apply toward national, track and E3 Spark Plugs State standings. National point standings will be based on drivers’ best 20 of their first 40 sanctioned starts. Plans are for Late Models to be part of the opening night program Monday, Sept. 7 at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s at Boone Speedway. That evening’s purse will be similar to what has been paid at recent Super Nationals.

IMCA stars walk the red carpet at national awards banquet

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nov. 30) – The stars of the IMCA dirt track racing world walked the red carpet Saturday night at the national awards banquet. The more than 600 champions and rookies of the year crowned during the 2019 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season were honored during the annual gala, held at the Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. National champions feted included Jordan Grabouski, IMCA Modified and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car; Matt Ryan, IMCA Late Model; Cory Dumpert, IMCA Late Model; Kenneth Duke Jr., IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car; Jeff Ware, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock; Tyler Soppe, Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod; James Hanusch, Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod; and Alex Dostal, Mach-1 Sport Compact. Regional Modified champions were Bricen James in the Shaw Race Cars Western; Tom Berry Jr. in the Side Biter Chassis North Central; Grabouski in the Jet Racing Central; William Gould in the Razor Chassis South Central; and Matt Szecsodi in the Dirt Works Eastern. Grabouski also ruled the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region for Stock Cars while Westin Abbey paced the [Read More]