Newswire

Speedway Motors announces fourth annual Racer Appreciation Day

By Damon Lee LINCOLN, Neb. – Speedway Motors is helping racers get a head start on the 2016 season with its fourth annual Racer Appreciation Day on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 1-6 p.m. In just four years, Speedway Motors’ Racer Appreciation Day has become a must-attend event for racers of all types from around the Midwest. The annual event combines a festive, open-house atmosphere with special discounted pricing that draws thousands to Speedway’s Lincoln, Neb., corporate campus. More than just a sale, Racer Appreciation Day transforms a portion of the massive Speedway Motors warehouse into a showroom where hundreds of new and exclusive parts are on display for racers to see, with knowledgeable tech staff available to answer questions. There’s also a wide selection of helmets and safety gear on hand, plus dressing rooms so racers can try on new suits to find the best fit. Speedway’s suspension services department is offering four free dyno sessions for shocks, springs or torsion bars, and there will be an expanded garage sale area with a great selection [Read More]

Park Jefferson sanction gives 1-2 weekend punch for drivers in South Dakota IMCA hub

JEFFERSON, S.D. – A one-two weekend combination is the result of the new IMCA sanction at Park Jefferson Speedway. Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and Mach-1 Sport Compacts will run Saturday nights this season on the 4/10-mile dirt oval. The same five divisions will run Sundays at neighboring Raceway Park. Both venues are on an IMCA hub in eastern South Dakota and western Iowa that also links tracks in Nebraska and Minnesota, said Adam Adamson, president of A to Z Promotions, which has promoted events at Park Jefferson since 2014. “We already have a huge base of local drivers in each of the IMCA divisions plus more in the area,” Adamson said. “We had pursued sanctioning last year but the fit just wasn’t right due to scheduling.” “It (the Saturday and Sunday sanctions) will really benefit everyone in the Sioux City area,” he continued. “We feel that with where we’re located, we’re at a great crossroads to put on big events like the [Read More]

Drivers in eight IMCA divisions earn shares of rich Jaz Products contingency awards program

SANTA PAULA, Calif. – With its latest partnership milestone in the rearview mirror, Jaz Products returns for a 21st season of IMCA sponsorship in 2016. Drivers in all eight sanctioned divisions again benefit from Jaz support as the Santa Paula, Calif., company gives a total of $14,100 in product certificates based on national or regional point standings. Part of the national decal program for Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds, Jaz awards certificates valued at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $75 to the top five drivers in points for each of that division’s five regions. Product certificates in the same increments will be given to top five drivers based on national point standings for IMCA Late Models, EMI RaceSaver Sprint Cars, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods, Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMods and Mach-1 Sport Compacts. Modified drivers must display two Jaz decals in designated locations on their door panels to be eligible for awards; certificates will be presented during the national banquet in November or mailed from the IMCA [Read More]

United Rebel Sprint Series signs with IMCA, RaceSaver

OBERLIN, Kan. (Jan. 7) – The Sprint Car series that boasts its drivers are Having More Fun Than The Law Should Allow is newly IMCA RaceSaver sanctioned. The United Rebel Sprint Series will have approximately 30 race dates in 2016, at tracks in Kansas, western Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma. “RaceSaver has really caught on and we want to be part of it. We want Sprint Cars to be affordable so everybody can race,” said series founder and director Rick Salem. “IMCA has been good to work with. We’re happy to work with them so our drivers can race for URSS points as well as national and state IMCA points.” Opening night for the 11th annual series is April 10 at WaKeeney Speedway. The final points night is Sept. 24 at Dodge City Raceway Park. More than 70 different drivers competed over the course of the series last year. The core group of URSS veterans was joined by a healthy class of eight rookies and transplants to the 305 division from neighboring 360 classes. Fifteen drivers [Read More]

Junction Motor Speedway switches sanction to IMCA

McCOOL JUNCTION, Neb. – Junction Motor Speedway sports four IMCA divisions on Saturday race programs beginning this season. Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Mach-1 Sport Compacts will run weekly at McCool Junction, formerly NASCAR sanctioned. “There are a lot of local IMCA cars that we’ll be able to share with other tracks,” explained promoter Delmar Friesen, citing sanctioned tracks in the area that run on Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights. “We didn’t have anyone around to share with when we were NASCAR. Probably 90 percent of the cars around here are IMCA.” A test and tune session is now scheduled for April 2. The tentative IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season at Junction Motor Speedway runs from April 30 through Sept. 3. All four IMCA divisions take the place of classes that ran in 2015 at McCool Junction and will be on the card for a mid-August special. “Most of the responses we’ve gotten (regarding the change in sanction) have been positive,” Friesen said. [Read More]

141 Speedway promoters nominated for ARPY

FRANCIS CREEK, Wis. – The 141 Speedway promotional trio of Dan Ratajczak, Scott Ratajczak and Toby Kruse are among the nominees for the prestigious Auto Racing Promoter of the Year award given by Racing Promotion Monthly. They were nominated from RPM’s Northern Region. 141 sanctions the Modified, Stock Car, Northern SportMod and Sport Compact divisions with IMCA. “This is exciting. It’s been a very good combination and we’ve learned a lot from Toby,” said Dan Ratajczak. “We averaged about 130 cars a week last season. We’re glad to be part of IMCA.” Ratajczak was a long-time IMCA Modified driver and Scott was his crew chief. They’ve promoted 141 with Kruse since 2014. “This is really a year-round business,” Ratajczak said, while en route to a weekly conference call with his partners. “We’ve made a lot of improvements to the facility and track but we’re nowhere near where we want to be yet. There’s still so much we want to do. Our goal is “Bigger, better, faster.” They’ve made an emphasis on customer service, which includes [Read More]

2016 Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Tour dates finalized

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – With Jamestown Speedway officials recently making their announcement to sanction Modifieds weekly beginning in 2016, dates and locations for the 27th annual Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Tour have been finalized. Opening night for both Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car series will be in Jamestown on Saturday, July 9, at Jamestown Speedway. On Sunday, July 10, the tour heads north to Minot and Nodak Speedway. The series then goes international on Monday, July 11, at Estevan, Sask., Motor Speedway. Night four brings the tour back to North Dakota on Tuesday, July 12 at Williston Basin Speedway. From there, the series heads south to Dickinson and Southwest Speedway on Wednesday, July 13. The series then heads east to Mandan for its traditional Championship Night on Thursday, July 14 at Dacotah Speedway. Still in the works is a post-tour Modified race at Dacotah Speedway called The Legendary on Friday, July 15. This race has a tentative payout of $10,000 to win, making it the highest paid race in North Dakota [Read More]

IMCA home office closed for holidays

VINTON, Iowa – The IMCA home office will be closed beginning at noon Thursday, Dec. 24 for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Regular business hours resume at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4.

Atchison County Raceway will add IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars next season

ATCHISON, Kan. – Atchison County Raceway will feature Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars on regular Friday night programs beginning in 2016. A couple spring specials are to be scheduled before the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season begins at the 1/5-mile oval on April 29. Point races on the 1/5-mile dirt oval continue through Aug. 26. “We had wanted to go with IMCA since we opened (in 2012) but things just didn’t work out,” said owner and promoter Phil Birkinsha. “We have had IMCA drivers race with us before. Now they’ll be able to come here on Fridays and race for IMCA points.” Located in the extreme northeast corner of Kansas, Atchison County Raceway was built at the former site of an asphalt plant two miles north of Atchison. The high-banked racing surface is 80 feet at its widest. “Stock Cars put on the best show around with the rule package IMCA has,” noted Birkinsha. We haven’t run Modifieds here before weekly but have run specials. When IMCA allowed Modifieds [Read More]

Jamestown announces IMCA Modified sanction for 2016

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (Dec. 24) – Christmas came a day early for Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified drivers in North Dakota. Jamestown Speedway owner Keith Veil announced the division would headline regular Saturday race programs at the ¼-mile high-banked clay oval beginning next season. Opening night for the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season is scheduled for May 14. Jamestown will be part of IMCA’s Belleville Motorsports North Central Region. Jamestown had sanctioned the division with WISSOTA since 1988. Veil told the Jamestown Sun that the move to IMCA had been in the works for at least the last four years, citing the growing number of sanctioned tracks in western North Dakota and neighboring Minnesota. Red River Valley Speedway at West Fargo announced earlier in the week it would re-open with sanctioned Modifieds, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks on weekly cards. Both affordability of the IMCA class and the ease drivers had in moving up to the class were also factors. “As a race track promoter, we’re a marketing agency and [Read More]