CALERA, Okla. (Aug. 24, 2024) – Thirty years ago, William Gould was happy going fast in a straight line.
Saturday night, he kept going fast and turning left at Grayson County Speedway in Bells, Texas, winning for the 200th time in his Friesen Performance IMCA Modified career.
“It’s another accomplishment and I’m proud of it. I was glad to get it done and move on to bigger and better things, and hopefully a lot more wins,” said the Calera, Okla., speedster, IMCA’s national champion in 2013 and now the ninth driver in division history to reach the 200 win mark. “I’m looking forward to next week and the week after. You’re only as good as your last win. That’s why we race.”
His IMCA resume also boasts six GRT Race Cars South Central Regional crowns, plus nine track and six state titles.
“My dad and his brothers, they all raced and I was a hot rodder. I had a 1970 Camaro and I was content doing that,” said Gould, now 51. “I was street racing and just got tired of everyone telling me (anyone) could go fast in a straight line, that it took someone with talent and common sense to go fast and turn left.”
He quickly proved to have both after building his first Modified with help from his father David – who helped cheer him on Saturday in Bells – in 1995
“I was pretty fortunate. My first year I won 11 races, my second year I only won six because I had the attitude that I knew everything, but we continued to win my third and fourth seasons,” said Gould, who took his first sanctioned checkers in 1998. “I’ve never been as good as I could have been about keeping track of my wins so one of the things that’s cool about IMCA is that they do that for you.”
“To race for as long as I have, it’s nice to have someone else keep track and that you have proof.”
Gould posted a single-season best 25 wins during his national championship campaign, then followed with 24 wins and a runner-up finish in the national points race the following year despite missing more than two month of the early season due to oil field work commitments that took him to the Middle East for two months.
He’s posted double figure wins in nine of the last 11 seasons, finishing with nine wins each of the other two years.
The Saturday podium topper was Gould’s 10th this season.
“Winning isn’t easy because if it was everybody would be doing it,” Gould stated. “If you race and compete where there’s a winner and a loser, you obviously want to win. Two hundred wins is an accomplishment. Now I’m looking forward to 300.”
Gould had joined uncle Ronny in the IMCA Modified 100 win club in March of 2017. He’s the 21st driver in IMCA’s modern era (1979-) with 200 or more feature wins in their individual careers.
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