Ryan Clark

Joe Hayes named IMCA Late Model division director

VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 4) – A self-described fan and ‘Late Model guy’ has been named director of the division by IMCA. Joe Hayes will focus on helping tracks strengthen their IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing programs as well as Deery Brothers Summer Series events in the newly-created Late Model division director position. “I’ve always been a Late Model guy. They put on a great show,” said Hayes, who grew up following the exploits of his favorite drivers at Tunis Speedway and was director of marketing at IMCA before working for promoters Al Frieden and Keith Simmons. “When you drop the green flag on 20-24 of them it makes all the hard work you’ve put into the program worth it.” Along with making regular track visits, Hayes will work closely with IMCA Vice President of Operations Jim Stannard in getting new sanctions and in overseeing the continued development of the Late Model division. “What I’ve always enjoyed most about racing is the people involved in it and their passion for the sport. I’ve met so many [Read More]

Abbey adds Modified rookie awards to collection of IMCA honors

COMANCHE, Texas – A former national and Super Nationals champion was quick to find success in a new IMCA division this season. Jeffrey Abbey collected 11 feature wins on the way to earning IMCA Modified national and Razor Chassis South Central Region rookie of the year honors. “I went from a class where you couldn’t make a lot of changes to one where there were endless options,” said Abbey, who had won both national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod titles in 2016. “I really enjoyed the competition and the challenge of a Modified.” From Comanche, Texas, and a first-year precision machining student at Texas State Technical College, Abbey earned his first feature win in the division in just his fifth night out as part of a Feb. 18-19 sweep at 281 Speedway. He’d register 24 top five finishes over the course of 49 starts at 10 speedplants, earning Southern Oklahoma Speedway and Oklahoma State crowns as well as the rookie prizes. “We had a lot of [Read More]

Late Model prize becomes Cooney’s second national rookie of the year award

DES MOINES, Iowa – Shawn Cooney admits that it took about a week for it to sink in that he’d really won his first IMCA Late Model feature. Now he’s enjoying the satisfaction of earning national rookie of the year honors for the second time. Cooney, 20 years old and from Des Moines, Iowa, led all first-year drivers in the Late Model division with 669 points, good for 12th place in the 2018 national standings. His first win came on Aug. 10 at Marshalltown Speedway. “I didn’t believe I’d done it for about a week,” said Cooney, son of two-time national champion Todd Cooney. “I had told my dad I wanted to beat him in a race we both finished, and I was able to beat him, Darrel DeFrance and other amazing Late Model drivers.” “It was a pretty out-of-this-world feeling,” he continued. “I grew up watching a lot of these guys and to be able to race with them and win was incredible.” IMCA’s 2013 national Sport Compact rookie of the year – and [Read More]

Quality of weekly competition helps top rookie Burkham hone Sprint skills

COMBINE, Texas – Casey Burkham spent his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car season racing with the eventual national champion. He believes those regular Friday and Saturday night tussles with Kevin Ramey made him a better driver and as a result the national Sprint Car rookie of the year. “RaceSaver Sprint Cars are a very competitive division and I got to learn racing with Kevin and a lot of other good drivers here in Texas”, said Burkham, 17 years old and from Combine. “Then we went to Eagle for the RaceSaver Nationals and I ran second to him in the opening night qualifier. I told him I was going to beat him someday.” Burkham started racing in a restrictor mini sprint class, then got a couple 360 starts in before seating up in the 305. “We learned a lot this year. We were hoping to get maybe a top three so getting our first win (on May 12 at Kennedale Speedway Park) was really exciting,” he said. “That race was just meant for us to win. [Read More]

Burkhart has a blast while winning national, Northern Region Stock Car rookie awards

HAYS, Kan. – Twenty years or so ago, Troy Burkhart raced and had a lot of fun in a local cruiser class. Last year he followed son Tathan’s first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock campaign. This season Burkhart got back behind the wheel and raced to IMCA Sunoco Stock Car national and EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region Rookie of the Year honors, as well as the Kansas State championship. “The thing about the Stock Cars is that they’re always competitive. The cars are equal and at the end of the night there are hardly any cautions and 10 cars are battling for the win,” said Burkhart, from Hays. “I like the open motor and I like the body style.” Burkhart caught the travel bug while on the road with Tathan last season. He recorded 54 starts at a dozen tracks in four states, with five wins and 22 top five finishes. He ended third in points at Salina, where he got his first win on April 27. Tathan was the Hobby Stock champion there and also [Read More]

Meyer has the right stuff in earning IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact title

PIERCE, Neb. – The good stuff was the right stuff this season for Ramsey Meyer. Meyer raced to 31 feature wins and track titles at Raceway Park and Off Road Speedway to earn his career second IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship. “We found some good stuff. We worked hard and just kept going,” the Pierce, Neb., driver said. “I race against some of the best competition in the country so we just kept plugging away like we hadn’t won anything yet.” He won 11 of 12 starts at Raceway Park and 11 of 13 outings at Off Road Speedway, along with championships at both. Meyer started the season with the opening night checkers at Beatrice Speedway’s Spring Nationals and won four times at Boone County Raceway and twice at Junction Motor Speedway, with single victories at Eagle Raceway and Park Jefferson Speedway as well. “Spring Nationals was a race neither my brother Cameron or I had won before, so it was special. We definitely knew that night this might be a special year,” he [Read More]

Racing smart, Tucker races to career second IMCA Southern SportMod title

CARBON, Texas – Hard work was the key to Gabe Tucker’s first national championship. Smarts got him his second. Tucker, from Carbon, Texas, topped national point standings for the Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMods this season, winning 19 features – including his career 100th in the division – and track championships at Abilene Speedway and Heart O’ Texas Speedway. “We had a pretty good year. We didn’t start out the season running for the national championship. We were shooting to get 100 wins, which is a milestone for any IMCA racer,” he said. “After we did that, we looked at the points and thought we might have a chance at the national championship.” Tucker had won the national SportMod crown and finished third in the national Stock Car standings during a grueling 112-start campaign in 2013. He had just 46 starts in earning the bookend Southern SportMod hardware this year, again driving for team owner Steve Hayes. “In 2013, we worked harder. We followed the Lone Star Series and ran 58 nights in the SportMod [Read More]

Challenges can’t deny Looft third Northern SportMod title

SWEA CITY, Iowa – Challenges on and off the track couldn’t deny Matthew Looft in his quest for a career third Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod national championship. Looft collected 26 feature wins, plus track titles at Arlington Raceway and Kossuth County Speedway. His success came following the May 30 birth of son Brysen, who was later diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s Disease, which is a result of missing nerve cells in the muscles of the baby’s colon. Following an extensive surgery and 17 days in the neonatal intensive care, Brysen went home to Swea City, Iowa, and the Looft Team turned its attention back to racing. “This (national) championship was harder to win than the ones in 2013 and 2014 because there was just so much happening and racing was not our top priority,” Looft said. “Brysen has a long road ahead of him but we are grateful for the thoughts and prayers as well as the nomination into the Shayla Bee Fund family.” The Shayla Bee Fund was established to help responsible, working class families with a child in medical crisis; the organization presented a generous donation to the Loofts during intermission at Fairmont Raceway on Aug. [Read More]

Anderson extends record with 8th Hobby Stock title

NEW VIRGINIA, Iowa – His latest national championship campaign had even Shannon Anderson shaking his head a bit in disbelief. Anderson won 33 of his 39 starts in extending his career record to eight national IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock crowns, then captured a division record fifth IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s crown in his final outing of the year. “We lost a lot of races to rain, especially early in the season, but when we got to race it seemed like everything worked right for us,” said Anderson, now of New Virginia, Iowa. “I only had one flat tire all season and there were nights when the caution came out when I needed it to and put me on the leader’s back bumper.” Along with the Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region title, Anderson earned track championships at Marshalltown Speedway, Sports Park Raceway and Buena Vista Raceway. After opening the season with checkered flag runs at Lee County Speedway and Benton County Speedway, he won 10 of 15 starts at Marshalltown, 11 [Read More]

IMCA Modifieds new in 2019 at Springfield Raceway

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The “something different” Springfield Raceway owner and promoter Jerry Hoffman was looking for is the IMCA Modified division. The sanctioned class will be new to Saturday programs at the quarter-mile, high-banked clay oval in southwest Missouri in 2019. Opening night will be in March with first point races in April. “It was time for a change. Sometimes you have to wait ‘til the time is right to do something different,” Hoffman said. “Tracks in the area are down to single digit car counts and even the nights big money was added car count did not grow like you thought it would.” Hoffman and Doug Bland had purchased the track 12 years ago. “We had been the first track in the area to sanction both USRA Modifieds and ‘B’ mods,” said Hoffman, now the sole owner. “You can really run an IMCA Modified cheaper than you can a USRA ‘B’ mod.” Springfield Raceway will be part of IMCA’s Jet Racing Central Region. After the season-opening March Madness special, the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly [Read More]