Newswire

Hansen proves up to challenge, wins IMCA Modified Sweet Diamond Series

MYTON, Utah – Chase Hansen has celebrated four IMCA Modified track championships at Diamond Mountain Speedway. He finally got to celebrate a special series championship there this year. Hansen, from Myton, Utah, won the inaugural Sweet Diamond Challenge Series title, with the top point total from four races at Diamond Mountain and four more at Sweetwater Speedway. “It was pretty cool to get my first series championship,” he said. “I came close the last year of the Wild West Tour. It’s something I always wanted to do.” Hansen had put himself in the series driver’s seat with a sweep of the series-opening twinbill at Vernal in June. “We were fast that weekend,” he understated. “On the second night I passed my brother Dustin for the lead with about four laps to go. He was driving my other car and it was neat that both cars were battling for the win.” With the responsibilities of his own business to tend to, Hansen ran a limited schedule in 2018 and had three wins overall in 22 starts. [Read More]

Roete ends long absence from racing with IMCA Bay Area Tour, Florida State crowns

MILTON, Fla. – Close to three decades after his last outings on dirt, James Roete has a pair of championships to show for his IMCA Modified rookie season. From Milton, Fla., Roete took top honors in both the Bay Area Modified Tour and Florida State standings. The Oelwein, Iowa, native had last raced as a high schooler, in the hobby stock class at Fayette County Raceway and Independence Motor Speedway. He was stationed in Florida after serving in the Navy in the Gulf War and made the Sunshine State his new home. “I hadn’t been in a race car in 20-plus years,” said Roete, who built a 2008 Dirt Works Chassis from the shop floor up. “I started in the rear early on to learn the car and learned how to work my way to the front. I can’t explain how I got to racing so well so quickly.” Consistent throughout the Tour, Roete got his first career win in the July 28 show at Northwest Florida Speedway. “We hung out at the track ‘til [Read More]

Marriott sets bar even higher by winning three IMCA Modified special series titles

BROOKFIELD, Mo. – Hunter Marriott set the bar high in 2017. He raised it again this season. Marriott raced to a trio of IMCA Modified special series titles in 2018, repeating as champion of the Karl Performance Arizona Tour and earning a third straight Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Crown before topping Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights standings for the first time. In all, the well-traveled Marriott raced at 28 different tracks in 11 states, winning 18 times before taking the checkers in the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational during the IMCA Speedway Moors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “The All-Star race was pretty important for us,” said Marriott, from Brookfield, Mo. “It seems like we have never run well at Boone. To be able to win that race felt pretty good.” Marriott won three of eight Arizona Tour starts, then opened the Dakota Tour with back-to-back victories at Jamestown Speedway and Nodak Speedway. His Dirt Knights Tour wins came at Park Jefferson Speedway and Buena Vista Raceway. “We got to race with a lot of good [Read More]

Consistency is key for Killingbeck in quest for Big Daddy Southern Region rookie title

CORTEZ, Colo. – A decade after hanging up his helmet, Richard Killingbeck returned to racing to earn rookie of the year honors in the Big Daddy Race Cars Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. From Cortez, Killingbeck became the first Colorado driver to win the regional ROY prize for the division on the strength of one feature victory and another 10 top five finishes in just 24 starts. “I’d driven a Ford Escort years and years ago in a non-sanctioned wasp class. It had been 10 years since I raced but I’d been wanting to get back in it,” he said. “I was out on the golf course one Saturday and heard the cars on the track hotlapping. I caught the bug and got pulled back in.” Getting a car was first on the to-do list. Killingbeck used Facebook to locate a pure stock in Price, Utah, got it home and converted it to an IMCA legal ride. He rebuilt it in just three days after a crash only six starts into the season. [Read More]

Further amendments made to 2019 Late Model rules

VINTON, Iowa – On the heals of the PRI trade show last week, several clarifications and rule amendments have been made to the IMCA Late Model division for 2019. As announced in November, bump stops will be legal for use in the division; however, “spring” bump stops will not be permitted. All bump stops must be of rubber or a similar material composition. Additionally, spring rubbers will be allowed as well for the 2019 racing season. “Although confusing on the surface, these two issues are separate and will be treated as such during inspection,” stated IMCA President Brett Root. As previously announced, a 604 Chevrolet Performance engine option will be new in 2019. Drivers utilizing a spec engine must run an unaltered one inch carburetor spacer. The approved spacer is the Governor spacer no. 100 125000 with four .95-inch restrictors, no. 100-125095. “The restrictor plate on the spec engines will be a work in progress throughout 2019, We’re reviewing dyno numbers as this release is being produced,” said Root. “We’ll do our best to monitor the [Read More]

Friesen awards crate engines to three IMCA rookies of year

LINCOLN, Neb. – Three IMCA rookies of the year will look to continue their on-track success in 2019 compliments of Friesen Performance. Modified rookie of the year Jeffrey Abbey received a 604 crate engine while Hobby Stock rookie of the year Adam Ayers and Northern SportMod rookie of the year Brandon Setser both earned 602 crates. Also the top rookie in the Razor Chassis South Central Region, Abbey won 11 features and was 16th in the national points race. He was the track champion at Southern Oklahoma Speedway and the Oklahoma State champion. Ayers also led the way in the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region rookie standings. He was a three-time feature winner and qualified for the main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Setser won two features and was track champion at Davenport Speedway. In addition to completing IMCA rookie of the year requirements, drivers in all three divisions must have displayed a Friesen logo on their race car to be eligible for the crate engine award. “The [Read More]

Pritchett gets best of early season bad luck, motors to EQ Southern Region rookie honors

COMBINE, Texas – A casual conversation got Bryce Pritchett into an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car this season. Consistent finishes throughout 2018 made the Combine, Texas driver the rookie of the year in IMCA’s EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region. “This is a fast class and one that I’ve been around all my life,” said Pritchett, whose uncle Duain was IMCA’s national rookie of the year in 2000 and national champion in 2003. “Modifieds and SportMods race but they don’t get to bump and rub so much. I like all of that.” Now a senior at the University of Texas at Arlington majoring in construction management, Pritchett started racing at the age of 12 in a junior mini stock class and moved to street stocks at 16. He took some time off from racing when he started college and got back on the track in a factory stock before making the move to the sanctioned class. “My grandpa Arty owns the car. He and Duain had been talking about me driving it and everything went from there,” [Read More]

Top Larry Shaw Western Region rookie DeVolder also delivers tour, state titles

PACIFICA, Calif. – An early season trip to Arizona built the foundation for Shane DeVolder’s Larry Shaw Race Cars Western Region Rookie of the Year campaign. The Pacifica, Calif., hotshoe, a graduate of the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod division, logged eight IMCA Modified February starts in the Grand Canyon State. The seat time proved invaluable as he took that experience home and earned All-Star Modified Tour and California State honors as well as the regional rookie prize. “We started off the year at the Arizona Modified Tour. Racing with all those cars definitely helped a lot,” he said. “The Modified is a whole new class for us and our goal at the start of the season was to improve every time we went out. We spent a lot of time and effort working on our program.” His career first win came over the Memorial Day Weekend. DeVolder earned $1,200 and a spot on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot when he took the Santa Maria Raceway Nationals checkers. “Our first win was amazing,” said DeVolder, [Read More]

Truemner is triumphant in race for IMCA Eastern Region rookie of the year award

IMLAY CITY, Mich. – A fourth generation driver looking to make a name for herself in the racing world earned rookie of the year honors this season in IMCA’s Dirt Works Eastern Region for Modifieds. Sixteen-year-old Victorya Truemner of Imlay City was a weekly regular at both Tri-City Motor Speedway and Silver Bullet Speedway and had four outings at a third Michigan speed plant, Crystal Motor Speedway, as well. The Imlay City High School junior posted five top five finishes in 30 starts before wrapping up the season with a 10th place showing at Crystal’s Great Lakes Nationals. “This is something I would like to do for a living. I like the division and I like the sportsmanship of everyone I raced with,’ said Truemner, citing late-season help from her competition in getting a motor replaced so she could get back on track. “I was very satisfied with the way I ended the season. My goal was to make Great Lakes Nationals my first year racing it and I definitely reached that,” she continued. “Taking [Read More]

Turner rules rookie standings in IMCA’s Jet Racing Central Region

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Shadren Turner couldn’t have scripted a better start to his IMCA Modified career. He couldn’t have written a better ending for his first season in the open wheeled division, either. Turner, from St. Joseph Mo., earned Jet Racing Central Region rookie of the year honors in 2018, along with Bethany Speedway and Missouri State championship honors. “With the new sanctions at Bethany and US 36 Raceway (where he was runner-up in the point standings), we decided to venture in and see what a Modified was like,” Turner explained. “We had some good results for sure and learned a lot.” Turner had four wins in all, including victories in his first start on April 20 at U.S. 36 and his 31st and final start on Aug. 25 at Bethany. “We went into the first night hoping not to do terrible and won, then came out the next Saturday and won again,” he said. “It was pretty amazing. We were just trying to learn some things and fired off real good.” Turner had [Read More]