Newswire

Super Nationals berth adds to Ayers’ Hobby Stock rookie of the year feats

ADAIR, Iowa – Adam Ayers didn’t have a lot of on-track experience to boast of before the 2018 race season. Now he’s got IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock national and Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region rookie of the year awards to show off. Ayers traveled to eight different tracks during an ambitious 47-start season as a rookie, winning three times – all at Stuart – and posting 22 top five finishes. “I ran a couple times in the cruisers years ago, then helped crew for five-time track champion Marcus Fagan and ran his Hobby Stock or Stock Car in mechanics’ races,” he said. I’d always wanted to race myself so I got a car last year, got it ready to go and penciled out where I wanted to run. Winning rookie of the year was definitely a goal.” He shared a shop and did some traveling with fellow rookie Nick Foster and Stock Car driver/brother-in-law Alex Kading. Ayers also got advice from 2017 Modified national rookie of the year Clint Luellen and multi-time national champion [Read More]

Track championship is a bonus for Wilkins in Smiley’s Southern SportMod rookie title hunt

ITALY, Texas – Kyle Wilkins was back on top of the podium this season at Big O Speedway. He finished on top of point standings for first-year Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod drivers, too. Wilkins earned national rookie of the year honors on the strength of six feature wins and consistency throughout the season. “I went into the season running for rookie of the year. The track championship was just a bonus,” said Wilkins, from Italy, Texas. “I’ve always liked the division. The cars are cool looking and it’s the division I’ve always wanted to race in. Everything worked out for us this year.” He brought five years of on-track experience in a local factory stock class to the division. Wilkins had won a championship at Ennis in that class so he already knew the fast way around the quarter-mile clay oval. After getting his first Southern SportMod win at Heart O’ Texas Speedway on May 18, he collected five checkers at Big O, getting the last of them on the final night of the [Read More]

Quickly competitive, Setser sets bar high for Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod rookies

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Minutes after learning how to drive, Brandon Setser went out and won his first heat race. He hasn’t slowed down since. Setser earned national Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod rookie of the year honors, along with the track championship at his hometown Davenport Speedway. “We had set out to chase IMCA points. The rookie of the year and track championship were goals for the year,” said Setser, who turned 22 the week after the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season ended. “We started the season at LaSalle Speedway (the March 30-31 Thaw Brawl) and right away I knew this was the division for me. It’s the most competitive class I’ve ever been in.” He’d started racing at the age of 14 in the 4-cylinder class at Davenport, getting that first heat win after a quick lesson from his uncle Gage on driving stick. Setser ran in that class for four years before a single season with more success in an outlaw street stock class. Forty-nine feature wins and 166 heat victories preceded [Read More]

Joe Hayes named IMCA Late Model division director

VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 4) – A self-described fan and ‘Late Model guy’ has been named director of the division by IMCA. Joe Hayes will focus on helping tracks strengthen their IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing programs as well as Deery Brothers Summer Series events in the newly-created Late Model division director position. “I’ve always been a Late Model guy. They put on a great show,” said Hayes, who grew up following the exploits of his favorite drivers at Tunis Speedway and was director of marketing at IMCA before working for promoters Al Frieden and Keith Simmons. “When you drop the green flag on 20-24 of them it makes all the hard work you’ve put into the program worth it.” Along with making regular track visits, Hayes will work closely with IMCA Vice President of Operations Jim Stannard in getting new sanctions and in overseeing the continued development of the Late Model division. “What I’ve always enjoyed most about racing is the people involved in it and their passion for the sport. I’ve met so many [Read More]

Abbey adds Modified rookie awards to collection of IMCA honors

COMANCHE, Texas – A former national and Super Nationals champion was quick to find success in a new IMCA division this season. Jeffrey Abbey collected 11 feature wins on the way to earning IMCA Modified national and Razor Chassis South Central Region rookie of the year honors. “I went from a class where you couldn’t make a lot of changes to one where there were endless options,” said Abbey, who had won both national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod titles in 2016. “I really enjoyed the competition and the challenge of a Modified.” From Comanche, Texas, and a first-year precision machining student at Texas State Technical College, Abbey earned his first feature win in the division in just his fifth night out as part of a Feb. 18-19 sweep at 281 Speedway. He’d register 24 top five finishes over the course of 49 starts at 10 speedplants, earning Southern Oklahoma Speedway and Oklahoma State crowns as well as the rookie prizes. “We had a lot of [Read More]

Late Model prize becomes Cooney’s second national rookie of the year award

DES MOINES, Iowa – Shawn Cooney admits that it took about a week for it to sink in that he’d really won his first IMCA Late Model feature. Now he’s enjoying the satisfaction of earning national rookie of the year honors for the second time. Cooney, 20 years old and from Des Moines, Iowa, led all first-year drivers in the Late Model division with 669 points, good for 12th place in the 2018 national standings. His first win came on Aug. 10 at Marshalltown Speedway. “I didn’t believe I’d done it for about a week,” said Cooney, son of two-time national champion Todd Cooney. “I had told my dad I wanted to beat him in a race we both finished, and I was able to beat him, Darrel DeFrance and other amazing Late Model drivers.” “It was a pretty out-of-this-world feeling,” he continued. “I grew up watching a lot of these guys and to be able to race with them and win was incredible.” IMCA’s 2013 national Sport Compact rookie of the year – and [Read More]

Quality of weekly competition helps top rookie Burkham hone Sprint skills

COMBINE, Texas – Casey Burkham spent his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car season racing with the eventual national champion. He believes those regular Friday and Saturday night tussles with Kevin Ramey made him a better driver and as a result the national Sprint Car rookie of the year. “RaceSaver Sprint Cars are a very competitive division and I got to learn racing with Kevin and a lot of other good drivers here in Texas”, said Burkham, 17 years old and from Combine. “Then we went to Eagle for the RaceSaver Nationals and I ran second to him in the opening night qualifier. I told him I was going to beat him someday.” Burkham started racing in a restrictor mini sprint class, then got a couple 360 starts in before seating up in the 305. “We learned a lot this year. We were hoping to get maybe a top three so getting our first win (on May 12 at Kennedale Speedway Park) was really exciting,” he said. “That race was just meant for us to win. [Read More]

Burkhart has a blast while winning national, Northern Region Stock Car rookie awards

HAYS, Kan. – Twenty years or so ago, Troy Burkhart raced and had a lot of fun in a local cruiser class. Last year he followed son Tathan’s first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock campaign. This season Burkhart got back behind the wheel and raced to IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region Rookie of the Year honors, as well as the Kansas State championship. “The thing about the Stock Cars is that they’re always competitive. The cars are equal and at the end of the night there are hardly any cautions and 10 cars are battling for the win,” said Burkhart, from Hays. “I like the open motor and I like the body style.” Burkhart caught the travel bug while on the road with Tathan last season. He recorded 54 starts at a dozen tracks in four states, with five wins and 22 top five finishes. He ended third in points at Salina, where he got his first win on April 27. Tathan was the Hobby Stock champion there and also [Read More]

Meyer has the right stuff in earning IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact title

PIERCE, Neb. – The good stuff was the right stuff this season for Ramsey Meyer. Meyer raced to 31 feature wins and track titles at Raceway Park and Off Road Speedway to earn his career second IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship. “We found some good stuff. We worked hard and just kept going,” the Pierce, Neb., driver said. “I race against some of the best competition in the country so we just kept plugging away like we hadn’t won anything yet.” He won 11 of 12 starts at Raceway Park and 11 of 13 outings at Off Road Speedway, along with championships at both. Meyer started the season with the opening night checkers at Beatrice Speedway’s Spring Nationals and won four times at Boone County Raceway and twice at Junction Motor Speedway, with single victories at Eagle Raceway and Park Jefferson Speedway as well. “Spring Nationals was a race neither my brother Cameron or I had won before, so it was special. We definitely knew that night this might be a special year,” he [Read More]

Racing smart, Tucker races to career second IMCA Southern SportMod title

CARBON, Texas – Hard work was the key to Gabe Tucker’s first national championship. Smarts got him his second. Tucker, from Carbon, Texas, topped national point standings for the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods this season, winning 19 features – including his career 100th in the division – and track championships at Abilene Speedway and Heart O’ Texas Speedway. “We had a pretty good year. We didn’t start out the season running for the national championship. We were shooting to get 100 wins, which is a milestone for any IMCA racer,” he said. “After we did that, we looked at the points and thought we might have a chance at the national championship.” Tucker had won the national SportMod crown and finished third in the national Stock Car standings during a grueling 112-start campaign in 2013. He had just 46 starts in earning the bookend Southern SportMod hardware this year, again driving for team owner Steve Hayes. “In 2013, we worked harder. We followed the Lone Star Series and ran 58 nights in the SportMod [Read More]