WOODLAND, Wash. (Aug. 9, 2024) – Devon Reed got into a Friesen Performance IMCA Modified so he could race more often and at more tracks.
Coming off his career-first feature win in the division, the Woodland, Wash., hotshoe is finalizing plans for his first-ever trip to Boone Speedway and the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
“It’s going to be a new experience for me,” said Reed, who will make the bulk of the 1,850 mile one-way trip to Iowa’s Action Track on Interstates 84 and 80. “I‘m looking forward to watching some good racing and hopefully being part of it.”
“I don’t have super high expectations, given that this is my first trip and the level I’m at,” he added, “but I’m definitely going to give it a try. I’d like to win a heat and get into one of the qualifying features. I’d be pretty happy with that for my first time.”
Forty-one years old and the owner of an auto repair shop, Reed followed grandfather Frank Manley, who raced midgets in the 1950’s and 60’s in Colorado, into dirt track racing.
He ran in a local sportsman before switching to the Modified late in 2019.
“I wanted to be able to travel around and race at more places,” explained Reed. “The sportsman car was fun but it was completely different than a Modified. I guess the best way to put it is you can hop in a Modified and it’s easy to drive. Then you go out there and race with other people and find out that they’re hard to make go fast.”
Reed has already turned laps at nine different tracks in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region this season.
He started out at the IMCA.TV Winter Nationals at Cocopah Speedway and logged 17 starts in Arizona before racing closer to home. Reed has competed at six different Pacific Northwest venues since the Memorial Weekend, taking those career-first checkers on July 20 at Sunset Speedway.
He led every lap of his heat and the feature that evening.
“My car (a 2022 Victory Chassis) was working good. The setup was good, we were able to get out front, stay out front and not make any mistakes,” he said. “We beat some good cars. It was exciting.”
“The competition in our area is really tough. I race with guys like Collen Winebarger, Bricen James and Grey Ferrando on a regular basis and they’re always kicking my butt,” said Reed. “I like being able to race with them, and to travel round and make friends with people in different places. I’ve made friends with people in California and Arizona, pretty much everywhere we go.”
His favorite tracks include Cocopah, Hanford in California and Skagit in his home state, where he’ll wrap up the 2024 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season at the Sept. 27-28 Survive the 55 special.
“I’m trying to get better. I try to get at least 50 raced in every year,” said Reed, who will get at least six nights in during his upcoming trip to the Midwest. “I’m going to go to Marshalltown (for the Showdown at MoTown) the Friday before and the Saturday Prelude at Boone.”
Both the Prelude and the entire week of Super Nationals will be broadcast by IMCA.TV.
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