Track champion VanHoff back at Boone to race with best of the best

2024 Super Nationals, Northern SportMod, Results

Already an IMCA track champion, Chowchilla, Calif.’s Emali VanHoff brings a new set of goals to the upcoming IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. (Photo by Top Dawg Racing Photos)

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (Aug. 26, 2024) – Emali VanHoff had no shortage of adjectives in describing the feeling when she turned her first laps at Boone Speedway last September.

The young hotshoe from Chowchilla, Calif., returns to Iowa’s Action Track as a Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod track champion, looking for much better results at the 42nd annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.

“Last year was my first year racing at Boone. It was exciting,” said VanHoff, 18 years old and previously a spectator at Super Nationals each year since 2020. “It was overwhelming, it was crazy and I was nervous. To experience Super Nationals and just experience it was awesome.”

While her 2023 results weren’t enough to get her into the Saturday show … DNF’s in both heat races and mid-pack finishes in both ‘B’ features … the opportunity to race with the best had VanHoff counting down the days until this year’s Nationals.

“I never thought in a million years that I’d be able to go to Boone and race with the best of the best. It was awesome,” she said. “Just the feeling of everyone over there, the track, it was amazing.”

I definitely want to make a qualifying feature this year,” continued VanHoff. “That’s my entire goal. If I get into a qualifying feature, that would be life-changing for me, quite honestly.”

With the Ocean Speedway track title already in hand, she’ll come to Boone eligible to qualify for the Pulse Racing Innovations Race of Champions.

VanHoff is in a 2015 Shaw Chassis and ran in the top five in 11 of 12 Ocean starts this season.

“Consistency what helped me this season. Top five finishes every race are what kept me up there,” she said. “It was unfortunate that I didn’t get to win my first main event this year but to win the track championship was amazing. We spend so much time working on our cars, me and my brother, and we had some luck on our side. We were able to go out there and keep the car in one piece.”

An early graduate from Chowchilla Union High School, VanHoff and brother Austin, who will be back at Boone in a Stock Car, will make the 28-hour tow, in separate trailers, with parents Jack and Cindy, crewman Allan Neal and friends Cody and Kayla Brown. 

With Austin’s encouragement, VanHoff started racing in a go kart, then went to the SportMod after just a couple mini late mode outings.

“I’ve been in a Northern SportMod since 2020, I’ve been in it ever since and I just love it,” she said. “I have a lot of fun in the class, the people in it are so fun and the car is just a blast to drive.”

After Super Nationals, she’ll start a seven month course at the Paul Mitchell Cosmetology School in Fresno and hopes to open her own salon afterwards.

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