COLLYER, Kan. (June 7, 2024) – A lot of single-season goals added up to a big career accomplishment for Blaine Walt.
Walt won his career 100th Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature Friday night at Thomas County Speedway, a victory that had him searching for just the right words to describe.
“I’m happy, excited, still in shock. You just never know if something like this is going to happen,” said Walt, from Collyer, Kan. “Getting 100 wins wasn’t ever the big goal. Every year we just wanted to get as many wins as we could, maybe 10 or 12, but we never really set a goal to get 100. It just happened to work out that way.”
He’s the 10th driver in division history to reach the 100 win mark. Also of note, Walt is just the sixth Kansas driver with 100 IMCA wins in any division.
“It feels really good to be part of that group of people. We haven’t had a lot of people from around here get 100 wins,” he said, citing the likes of David Murray Jr. and Jason Rogers in the achievement. “It’s a pretty cool deal.”
Walt got his introduction to dirt track racing courtesy of his father and long-time crew chief Larry, who helped pit for Randy Patterson. He ran a go kart before getting into a Northern SportMod in 2010, collecting his first two wins in his rookie season.
Since, Walt has won the 2012 Kansas State and 10 track championships. His best single-season win totals were 14, in 2018 and 2021, with 10-win campaigns in 2017 and 2020.
His first ride, a late 1990’s, early 2000’s vintage Dirt Works, is now the test car for the chassis dyno in the automotive machine shop his dad owns in Collyer.
Walt works there, has his own lawn care and spraying business and also farms. With a busy family – he and wife Ryan have are parents to Jordi, 8, and Bowen, 6 – the calendar on the refrigerator is full of kids’ activities, race dates and the occasional weekend getaway.
“We’ve been racing probably 20-25 times the last few years,” acknowledged Walt, who followed Friday night pictures on the front stretch with a cold one at the trailer and some conversation with the locals before watching the end of the races, loading up and heading for home. “It was exciting to get my 100th win. Now we’re just going to keep going at Hays, Colby and WaKeeney, and maybe some specials close to home.”
Win number 100 was Walt’s fourth of the season and came in a 2023 Fury Chassis. He’s also got five runner-up finishes and a third-place run to show for his first 10 starts of 2024.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.