Newswire

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]

MBSLM Series acquires IMCA Summer Series for 2020 and beyond

VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 3) – One era in IMCA Late Model racing ends and another begins in 2020. The IMCA Summer Series becomes part of the Omaha, Neb.-based Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series, owned by Joe and Steve Kosiski, next season. “It has been a great 33-year ride for this series and our traveling Late Model drivers,” IMCA President Brett Root. “The growth in Late Model sanctions, however, in 2019 demonstrated that we needed to commit our time and resources to further developing national and weekly race programs for that division.” “I firmly believe Late Model touring series across the Midwest need unification,” Root added. “The Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series has rules that accommodate IMCA Late Model members and this is a positive step in the right direction for those drivers who want to be part of touring events.” “I can’t adequately thank the many drivers and track promoters who have supported this series for so many years. Summer Series events have been season highlights at a lot of tracks [Read More]

Dream comes true for Lady Eagle winner Florio

COPPERAS COVE, Texas – Taylor Florio grew up watching Robin Batt and dreaming of the day when she, too, would win the IMCA Lady Eagle award. Those dreams became reality as the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod driver from Copperas Cove, Texas, raced to the top point total of the 227 female drivers competing in IMCA this season. “I grew up watching Robin race and wanted to be like her. I thought it was the coolest thing ever when she won the Lady Eagle (in 2010) and I wanted to do it, too,” said Florio, who also repeated as the E3 Spark Plugs Texas State champion. “I knew at the beginning of the season we wanted to do it. We set out to achieve our goal and midway through started thinking maybe this was our year. And it was.” She’ll display her Lady Eagle award on the TV stand, right next to the trophy she received in 2015 after becoming the first female driver to win national rookie of the year honors, also in a [Read More]