Ryan Clark

750+ early entries for Super Nationals come from 26 states, internationally

BOONE, Iowa – More than 750 drivers have already thrown their helmets in the ring to be part of the best and biggest dirt track racing event on the planet. By the noon deadline Thursday for IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s pre-entries, 752 drivers had made plans to be part of the 37th annual running of America’s Racin’ Vacation Sept. 2-7 at Boone Speedway. Early entries are in hand from 26 states plus Canada and Australia and include 228 Modified drivers. For the first time in Super Nationals history, Stock Car pre-entries have topped the 200 mark. One hundred and forty-five Northern SportMods, 123 Hobby Stocks and 45 Sport Compacts are pre-registered. Late Models following the Deery Brothers Summer Series are not required to pre-enter. That show headlines the opening night program on Monday. Pre-registered Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock and Northern SportMod drivers are eligible to compete in the Aug. 31 Prelude at Boone. Pre-registration also makes Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Sport Compact drivers eligible for Weekly Racing Bonuses. The [Read More]

ROC heats completed on opening night of RaceSaver Nationals

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. – The first day of the seventh annual IMCA RaceSaver Nationals at Eagle Raceway kicked off Thursday afternoon with a press conference featuring past Nationals champions Kevin Ramey and Jason Martin as well as 2019 track champion Trevor Grossenbacher. Also in attendance was this year’s grand marshall, Dr. Danger who helped put on a small demonstration of the spectacular feats he will be performing throughout the weekend. Then the Sprint Car teams that had made the trek to Eagle Raceway got a chance to jump on the track to either get familiar with the surface again or, for those who had never had the good fortune to participate in the event, learn its intricacies. Qualifying heats for the Jake Ita Memorial Race of Champions were held later that evening to set the starting grid for the Saturday event. The line-up for that race are as follows: Trevor Grossenbacher, Bennet Mike Moore, Des Moines, Iowa Bradley Sterrett, Bloomington, Ind. Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, S.D. Adam Gullion, Lincoln Brooklyn Holland, Fresno, Calif. [Read More]

Great drivers get shares of great Super Nationals purse

BOONE, Iowa – Great dirt track drivers will take home shares of a great purse at the 37th annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super National fueled by Casey’s. Nearly $300,000 will be paid out to competitors at the upcoming Super Nationals, scheduled Sept. 2-7 at Boone Speedway. Another $60,000 in contingencies will be awarded to Modified, Late Model, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Northern SportMod and Sport Compact drivers. “So many elements have gone into making and maintaining Super Nationals as the premier event for weekly IMCA racers,” observed IMCA President Brett Root. “Our goal has always been to keep entry fee and admission costs at reasonable levels while continuing to provide the best possible purse structure that attracts and benefits the weekly IMCA racer the most. The Weekly Racing bonus accomplishes just that. We welcome all racers to attend but our bonus is geared toward IMCA’s most loyal racers.” “Over the years,” he continued, “we have been able to accomplish that because of the great contingency award support given by IMCA sponsors.” The Saturday, Sept. 7 Modified [Read More]

Elliott completes drive to checkers at Dodge City’s SportMod Mayhem

By Lonnie Wheatley DODGE CITY, Kan. (Aug. 24) – Robert Elliott became the fifth different winner of Dodge City Raceway’s IMCA SportMod Mayhem event by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 30-lap feature. Elliott pocketed $1,000 by winning the sixth annual event after taking command at midway and holding off Dakota Sproul and Blaine Walt. Race Elliott and Ryan Kirchoff led the way to the initial green flag. Robert Elliott worked his way forward from seventh with Walt bolting from fourth to take the lead away from Race Elliott on the second lap. Robert Elliott made his way to third by the fourth round behind Walt and Sproul and then pounced on the second position following a lap seven restart. He stalked Walt over the ensuing rounds before battling into the lead on the 16th circuit Sproul moved into second behind Elliott on a restart and pressured for the point the rest of the way, working the high side as Elliott circled the bottom of the track. Elliott was up to the task, keeping his chasers at [Read More]

Duke adds BAPS to dream season

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (Aug. 25) – Ken Duke Jr. is enjoying a season most racers can only dream about, winning races and leading both the Pennsylvania Sprint Series and national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car point standings, but one track was conspicuously missing from the top tier of his 2019 resume: BAPS Motor Speedway. On Sunday night, Duke took care of that small discrepancy with a convincing victory in the 20-lap PASS feature at the York County speedway. It’s not that you could call Duke’s performance at BAPS poor: he had a 12-race streak of top 10 finishes at BAPS dating to early 2017 but his last victory at the track had come nearly three years ago, on Sept. 3, 2016. With the victories mounting at other regular PASS tracks like Port Royal, Path Valley, Clinton County and Duke’s hometown Selinsgrove Speedway, BAPS stood out. No more. After drawing the outside front row starting position Sunday, Duke out-charged pole sitter and Saturday night Port Royal winner Landon Price for the early lead, then [Read More]

LaCrosse leads the way at Outagamie

By Edward Anschutz SEYMOUR, Wis. (Aug. 23) – Benji LaCrosse only led one lap of the IMCA Modified feature but it was the one that paid as he snatched the victory from Andy Kleczka Friday at Outagamie Speedway powered by EWSC. Kleczka used his front row starting spot to build a huge lead early. That was erased when the caution flew just past midway. The first to challenge for the top spot was last week’s winner Wyatt Block Jr. as he worked down low and Kleczka ran the cushion. Once again Kleczka built a gap as LaCrosse took the runner-up position with three laps remaining. LaCrosse closed in but remained two car lengths behind. On the final corners, LaCrosse came in high and dove down the track to the inside of the leader as they came to the checkers. When the dust settled it was LaCrosse winning by the width of his bumper in a thriller. On the other side of the coin it was heartbreak city for Kleczka who had to settle for second. Block placed third while Jerry Wilinski and rookie Cody Apfelback completed the top five. In IMCA Sunoco [Read More]

Michonski, Nolan fight to the finish

By Scott Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (Aug. 24) – Nate Michonski and Trent Nolan brought the Shawano Speedway crowd to its feet as the two traded paint in the race to the checkered flag in Saturday’s IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature. Michonski prevailed for his first win of the year. The feature started with a four-wide battle to lead lap one with Vern Stedjee ahead of the pack by a bumper. The four-wide battle continued on lap two, but this time it was Tom Riehl leading the way. On lap three, Nolan took his car to the front of the pack. Michonski moved to second on lap five and the lead duo began to pull away a bit from the rest of the field. On lap 17, Michonski pulled to the inside and led by the slightest of margins at the line. Nolan tried to return the favor on lap 18 as he went to the inside but to no avail. Not giving up the chase, Nolan again pulled alongside Michonski on the final lap. The two made contact exiting [Read More]

High groove gets Thompson to victory lane

By Ronnie Williams SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Aug. 24) – Bad Boy Mower IMCA Modified point leader James Thompson shocked the field by moving in the high groove on lap 15 and pulled away to record his fifth feature win of the season at The Quick-Quarter of the Springfield Raceway. Thompson, who twice this season has pulled off late-race wins by using the bottom groove to his advantage, showed patience on the ultra-quick surface after the track was hit by heavy rain showers both Friday night and Saturday morning. After searching for a spot on the track to gain ground on the leaders, Thompson used two early cautions to get position as leader Bobby Pearish and last week’s winner Ryan Gilmore were waging an all-out war for the spot. Action went solid green after the lap three caution. Thompson the very quietly picked his spots very carefully. The lap 15 caution bunched the pack together as Thompson had moved to second and picked the outside lane for the double-file restart to most everyone’s surprise. He wheeled to the upper [Read More]

Carroll collects I-37 feature win

By J.M. Hallas PLEASANTON, Texas (Aug. 24) – Chris Carroll looked like he was on his way to an easy victory in Saturday’s IMCA Modified main event at I-37 Speedway, until a mid-race caution flew. Carroll then had to fend off Dillon Tindall and a last lap challenge from former champion Greg Dinsmore to secure that win. A spun car on lap 13 brought out the yellow that erased Carroll’s lead. Greg Dinsmore and Dillon Tindall stayed wheel-to-wheel for second on the restart with Jason Borlace, Donald Banker and Anthony Gordon three-wide for fifth. Banker took the spot and then passed Campbell for fourth. Dinsmore finally shook off Tindall for second but remained a handful of [Read More]

Gnat notches Norfolk feature win

By Randy Pospishil sports@norfolkdailynews.com NORFOLK, Neb. (Aug. 24) – Jeremy Gnat led 18 laps, then had to hold off hard charger Cameron Meyer to win Saturday’s Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod feature at Off Road Speedway. Meyer pulled alongside Gnat as the pair took the white flag and entered the final lap together. Gnat promptly retook the lead coming out of turn two and won his first race of the season at Norfolk, in 13 tries this season. Meyer, who held a narrow two-point lead over Robbie Thome at the top of the division’s point list, finished second ahead of Joey Haase. Meanwhile, Thome’s car was damaged earlier in the race and did not finish. Another highly-contested finish came in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars feature where Jason Wilkinson earned his second win of the season at Off Road Speedway by holding off repeated challenges from TeJay Mielke during the race’s final 10 laps. Mielke’s second place was his sixth top five finish of the season, while Chad Bruns took third for his ninth top five. [Read More]