bentoncountyspeedway Archives

Promoter’s post is latest Benton County Speedway first for Dripps

VINTON, Iowa – The track where Corey Dripps started his racing career nearly 30 years ago is the same track he’ll promote in 2020. Dripps and his father Rick, partners in Specialty Racing Promotions Inc., will be in charge for their first full season at Benton County Speedway. They’d promoted a single event, the season-ending Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour show, at Vinton, the traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division, last September. “We went home that night excited about a lot of things. That race gave us a great head start going into this year and things couldn’t have worked out better for us,” said Dripps, a long-time IMCA Modified driver. “Benton County Speedway is the first track I ever watched a race at. It’s the first track I ever raced at (in a pro stock, in 1992) and it’s the first track where I won a race. It’s always been special to me.” Nicknamed The Bullring, the quarter-mile dirt oval hosts the April 2 Frostbuster special before the first regular Sunday night [Read More]

Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour finale set Saturday at Benton County

VINTON, Iowa – The final checkers fly this weekend at Benton County Speedway for the 10th annual Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour. IMCA Modifieds race for $1,500 to win in their Saturday, Sept. 28 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying feature. Also on the card at Vinton are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. In addition to special series points for the Modifieds, IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, regional and E3 Spark Plugs State points will be awarded. Pit gates open at 2 p.m., the grandstand opens at 4 p.m. and hot laps are at 4:30 p.m. with racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $15 for seniors, $12 for students and military, and free for kids ages five and under. Pit passes are $30. Saturday’s race program will be broadcast by IMCA.TV. More information is available by calling 319 429-6931. Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour top 20 point standings – 1. Richie Gustin, Gilman, 276; 2. Joel Rust, Grundy Center, 242; 3. Kelly Shryock, Fertile, 226; 4. [Read More]

Carter writes final chapter in Hogan Memorial history

VINTON, Iowa (July 3) – That $4,908 check was great. But taking home the winner’s trophy from the 25th, final and record-breaking Hogan Memorial, Cayden Carter said, was priceless. Carter led all but nine laps and the last 36 times around the track in the 50-lap IMCA Modified main event Wednesday night at Benton County Speedway, beating Jeff Aikey to the stripe by three car lengths. When the checkers flew, it signaled the end of one of the longest running specials for IMCA Modifieds. A track record 153 cars, including 44 Modifieds from seven states, saw action in front of a very full grandstand. “Winning this race means a lot to us,” said Carter, born a month and a half before the first annual event and who’d also won the Hogan in 2013. “This has always been a big race for us. I didn’t want the money. I wanted the trophy. You can’t buy that.” Aikey had started 13th and battled back and forth with Joel Rust before settling into second with six laps left. Carter [Read More]

Confident in lapped traffic, Callahan collects Benton County Fair Deery Series feature win

VINTON, Iowa (June 27) – Lapped cars didn’t bother Joel Callahan. He figured if he had to get past them, so did everybody chasing him for the lead in Thursday’s Deery Brothers Summer Series main event at Benton County Speedway. Callahan made the most of four restarts before midway of the 40-lap IMCA Late Model tour feature after starting ninth, reeling in Jeff Aikey and leading the last 16 circuits for the $2,000 victory, his Deery career sixth and first since July 7 of 2016. “It’s always good to win. We had a good car and the cautions helped. It seemed like every caution I was able to gain a couple spots,” Callahan said following the county fair show victory. Aikey, winner of the previous tour race at Maquoketa Speedway, had started from the pole and set a blistering pace in the early going. Cautions erased his big leads, however, and Callahan was already sitting in second when the fourth of those yellow flags waved on lap 18. Both had to work their way around [Read More]

25 years of great memories: Final checkers fly on July 3 for Hogan Memorial

VINTON, Iowa – A quarter-century of memories will be shared and a tear or two shed before the final checkers fly for one of the longest running events in the history of the IMCA Modified division. The 25th and final Hogan Memorial is Wednesday, July 3 at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. With lap money and the mid-way leader’s bonus, the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier could pay the winner more than $5,000. “The Hogan has been a premier Modified event for many years and rightfully so,” said IMCA President Brett Root. “It’s one of those events every IMCA Modified driver wants to win. Winning the Hogan is one of those rare career highlight-type victories.” The event got its start in 1995 as the Dick Hogan Memorial Mid-Season Championship. It was renamed the Hogan Memorial following the death of Dick’s wife Janet. The Hogans’ son Scott won the inaugural Modified race in 1995. After adding trophies from the 2005, 2006 and 2010 events, he leads all drivers with four career victories. Special recognitions and presentations [Read More]

Deery Brothers Summer Series gets top billing at Benton County Fair show

VINTON, Iowa – The Deery Brothers Summer Series headlines blue ribbon fair week entertainment next Thursday, June 27 at Benton County Speedway. The 50-lap $2,000 to win, minimum $300 to start main event marks just the fourth visit by the IMCA Late Model tour to Vinton. Pit gates open at 5 p.m. and the drivers’ meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:45 p.m. with racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $15 for adults, $5 for kids and free for youngsters ages five and under when accompanying a paid adult. Pit passes are $30. Also on the Benton County Fair program are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. Darrel DeFrance of Marshalltown has competed at all 492 events in the series’ 33-year history and won the first Deery event held at Vinton in 1988. Rob Toland of Colona, Ill., was the Deery winner at Benton County in 2005 and Jeremiah Hurst of Dubuque led the way to the checkers when the tour made its much anticipated [Read More]

Independence Deery rained out, Benton County show is next

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (June 19) – Add another Deery Brothers Summer Series event at Independence Motor Speedway to the growing list of rainouts. Tonight’s IMCA Late Model tour race at Indee has been canceled due to rain and resulting conditions. No make-up date has been announced. Next up on the Deery schedule is the $2,000 to win event at Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Thursday, June 27. Pit gates open at 5 p.m. for the county fair show. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

Sports Park Raceway postponed, Benton County Speedway to host Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights opener

FORT DODGE, Iowa (May 21) – Rain has been declared the winner of tonight’s Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour event at Sports Park Raceway. The Fort Dodge speedplant was to host opening night for the 10th annual tour for IMCA Modifieds Tuesday evening. IMCA and track officials hope to reschedule that race for later this summer. The tour now gets underway on Memorial Day with a $1,500 to win, minimum $150 to start show at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods complete the Monday, May 27 program, to be broadcast by IMCA.TV. The traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division, Benton County has hosted eight Dirt Knights Tour events since 2011, each of which resulted in a different winner. It’s a rich holiday weekend in Vinton, as Modifieds will race for $2,000 to win at Sunday’s Albert Auto Night program. Both Albert Auto Night and Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour features are qualifiers for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. Sanctioned [Read More]

Brown is late-race hero at Hogan Memorial

VINTON, Iowa (July 3) – Kyle Brown had one win and a bunch of fourth-place finishes going into Tuesday’s Hogan Memorial. He had the most prestigious win of his IMCA Modified career when it was time to load up the trailer following the 24th annual special at Benton County Speedway. Brown pounced when leader Troy Cordes got out of line with seven circuits to go in the 50-lapper, charging to the front and outrunning defending race winner Hunter Marriott to the checkers. Forty Modified drivers from across three states were entered and Cordes, two-time Hogan winner Richie Gustin and Chris Simpson completed the top five in a main event that played out in front of a packed grandstand. Four different drivers took turns in the lead in a race interrupted by caution just once. “I don’t know what it paid to win,” said Brown, who had yet to look at the $2,683 amount written on the presentation check he received in victory lane, “but it feels real good to put up a win against this [Read More]

Hurst gets best of Benton County Deery Series foes

VINTON, Iowa (June 28) – It wasn’t that long ago Jeremiah Hurst wasn’t sure about his future in racing. On Thursday, he was in victory lane telling all about his Deery Brothers Summer Series win at Benton County Speedway. “This is awesome. It’s my first win since my heart attack (last July). It seems like we have a lot of seconds,” said Hurst, most recently runner-up in back-to-back IMCA Late Model tour events last month at Quad City Speedway and Boone Speedway. “It feels really good to be able to win tonight.” Boone had been the site of Hurst’s last Deery win, during the 2002 IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. His career first tour win had come the previous September at 34 Raceway. “There was a time when I didn’t know if I’d be racing,” Hurst said. “This is my second year racing for Ken Roberts and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened for me.” Hurst took home $2,000 for the Benton County fair victory. The checkers came a full second [Read More]