Ryan Clark

IMCA Dakota Classic Tour will be ‘back to normal’

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (June 1, 2023) – For the first time in what’s been years, the guy who’s been around for all the years of the Dakota Classic Tour powered by Industrial Electric believes things will be back to normal. And normal is good. The 34th annual tour takes Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars to six different tracks in North Dakota and Saskatchewan over the course of its July 8-13 run. Modifieds run for $2,000 to win, Stock Cars for $1,000 to win each night. “Finally, it seems like we’re getting back to what feels normal,” said John Gartner, director of the tour since day one. “We haven’t had to deal with tornadoes, or flooding, and there’s no pandemic, which means we’re back to being an international series.” After dates July 8 at Jamestown Speedway and July 9 at Minot’s Nodak Speedway, the tour returns to Canada and Estevan Motor Speedway on July 10. “The tour hasn’t been north of the border since 2019, the year before COVID,” Gartner said. “I made the [Read More]

22 more IMCA Modified drivers join Fast Shafts All-Star eligible list

VINTON, Iowa (May 31, 2023) – Another 22 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified drivers have become eligible for Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying, winning $1,000 or more features in the past month. Chris Morris topped the Royal Rumble at I-37 Speedway and Chad May paced Silver Bullet’s 70th anniversary season lidlifter. Central California Clash victors included Timothy Allerdings and Rob Sanders. Anthony Roth bested Boone County’s Return of the Modifieds show while Steven Pfeifer and Kody Scholpp claimed W’s at Estevan Motor Speedway’s Border Challenge. Red Race honors at 141 Speedway went to Mike Mullen. Mitchell Clement and Brenda Kirby both won All Star Shootout features. Salute to Veterans winners at Sweetwater Speedway were Tanner Black and Ricky Alvarado. Jesse Williamson sailed to the Modified Clash checkers at Grays Harbor Raceway. Rodney Morgan was an NY-Penn Series winner while Todd Shute won at Stuart’s Whole Hog 50 and Chris Mills banked Tuesday’s win at Park Jefferson Speedway. And winners of weekly events paying $1,000 or more included Mitchell Hunt, Austin Kiefer, Jeff Larson, Casey Smith, Collin Thirlby [Read More]

Spahr streak to six with latest Port Royal PASS checkers

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 27, 2023) – The Logan Spahr dream season continued Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway when the Lewisberry driver captured his sixth straight River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature win of 2023 in the 20-lap race that was part of the Bob Weikert Memorial weekend featuring the All Star Circuit of Champions. The race ended up nearly a copy of the previous Saturday’s win (number five) at Selinsgrove Speedway: Spahr drew an advantageous third starting position for the feature, but then had to follow a determined early leader, in this case Jared Zionkowski. Spahr caught Zionkowski in traffic just past the race’s midway point and executed the winning pass on lap 14, going outside a slower car as Zionkowski passed inside. Finally, as with the previous week, a late caution flag gave Spahr’s challenger one last shot, but Spahr was up to the task and pulled away for a three-second final margin of victory. Zionkowski, a former semi-regular with PASS, nearly made his return after a season’s [Read More]

Weekly racing, candy dash to highlight weekend action at The Bullring

VINTON, Iowa (May 31, 2023) – It’ll be a sweet Sunday this weekend at Benton County Speedway. Along with IMCA weekly racing, the annual candy dash will be held on the front stretch during intermission Sunday night, June 4. The dash, which set a Guinness World Record just two years ago, will offer well over 1,000 Lbs of candy again this year for the kids in attendance Sunday night. IMCA weekly racing will feature Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds presented by Beaty Excavating, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars presented by Christie Door Company, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks presented by Vermedahl Trucking, Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Houdek Auto Center and Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by iHeart Radio as they continue their season-long point battles. In addition, the INEX Legends presented by Legends.Direct, will host a $2,500-to-win Midwest Dirt Shootout during the June 4 program. Gates open at 3:30, with hot laps scheduled for 5:30 and racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and veterans, and $5 for ages 6-14. [Read More]

10 more IMCA Stock Car drivers become B & B All-Star eligible

VINTON, Iowa (May 31, 2023) – Ten more IMCA Sunoco Stock Car drivers have stamped B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible on their pre-Super Nationals resume. Two of them – former race winner Kelly Shryock and Jared Siefert – earned guaranteed starting spots with $5,000 checkers at Clay County Classic and Jackson’s Stock Car Challenge, respectively. Dallon Murty, already locked into the 30-car field, counted the $5,000 win at Stuart Speedway’s Whole Hog 50 among his three qualifying wins in May. Peyton Taylor prevailed at Batesville Motor Speedway’s JD Garrison Memorial and Damon Murty paced Clay County’s Spring Shootout. Jason Batt was an All Star Shootout victor. Cole Mather ruled the Monday Night Madness show at Independence and everybody chased Chase Parker at 141 Speedway’s Nathan Bouche Memorial. And winners of weekly features all paying $750 were Ed Henderson, Lee Kinsella and Justen Yeager. Drivers winning All-Star qualifiers already eligible were Jerry Flippo, Troy Foulger, Adam Goff, Troy Jerovetz, John Oliver Jr., Cody Smith, Shelby Williams and Elijah Zevenbergen. B & B [Read More]

Larson races to ‘pretty cool’ 100th IMCA Stock Car win

READING, Minn. (May 27, 2023) – The perfect night and the perfect track provided the perfect setting for Jeffrey Larson’s 100th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car win. Larson led the last lap and a half of the opening night feature Saturday at Worthington Speedway, racing virtually side-by-side with Luke Sathoff coming to the white flag and telling himself “Don’t mess this up” the rest of the way. “We were just trying our best to get the win was all. The track was good, we had a good car and we were just hoping we could get there,” said Larson, from Reading. “It was pretty cool to get this win and share it with Warfare Motorsports. We’ve been fortunate to win some big races over the years and this one is definitely right up there.” “Dad would be so proud, for sure.” The win was Larson’s first of 2023 and first since his father, team member and mentor Jim passed away this spring. Jim had been the first in the family to race, starting in enduros and winning [Read More]

Just 14, but Beau already knows how to win in an IMCA Late Model

PLAINVIEW, Neb. (May 27, 2023) – A high school freshman-to-be finished first in the IMCA Sunoco Late Model class Saturday night at Off Road Speedway. Rookie Beau Johnson started outside the front row and led start to finish of the 25-lapper, taking the checkers ahead of Nelson Vollbrecht and four-time and defending national champion Cory Dumpert. “The car just got better and better,” said Johnson, who had broken while leading with nine laps left the night before at Boone County Raceway. “We caught a lapped car near the end and were able to win by about four car lengths.” One of, if not the youngest feature winner in division history, Johnson is still a month shy of 14 and a half. He’ll be a ninth grader this fall at Plainview High School and has already graduated to the Late Models from go karts, running at the track adjacent to the big oval at Norfolk. “It’s a big step up but I got in three (non-sanctioned) starts at I-80 last year,” said Johnson, who wheels a [Read More]

Whole Hog Hat Trick for Dallon Murty

By Josh Reynolds STUART, Iowa (May 29, 2023) –The finale of the third annual Whole Hog 50 sponsored by VanEaton Pork ran Monday at Karl Chevrolet of Stuart International Speedway. Winners for the night were Kolby Sabin, Dallon Murty, Calvin Dhondt and Mitchell Morris. Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts kicked off the features and it was Anthony Clark leading through lap five. Sabin found a quicker line to take over the next time around and he cruised to the win. Clark finished second with Elijah Hoyt third, Terry Bickford fourth and Zander Steiner fifth. The next race would be the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and the third running of the Whole Hog 50. A three-wide start and 32 hungry racers set the stage for an exciting 50-lap race, and as they took the green flag everyone in attendance was on their toes. Michael Jaennette took charge early on with Austin Bouzek and Chanse Hollatz in close formation behind. Jaennette kept the lead until a yellow flew on lap seven, bringing Nick Roberts up to row two [Read More]

Close Racing Supply backs touring IMCA Modifieds in NY, PA

ELDRED, Pa. (May 31, 2023) – The not infrequent chats Close Racing Supply owner Joel Smith had with customer Jake Maynard frequently covered the topics of IMCA and Modifieds in general and IMCA Modifieds in particular. Those conversations ultimately led Close to taking on the title sponsor role for the then-new NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series three years ago. The Eldred, Pa., suspension component manufacturer and high performance parts retailer provides a portion of the point fund and helps Maynard, now the tour director, keep connected with other NY-Penn sponsors. “We have serviced the dirt track industry for more than 25 years and have always been in Modifieds. We’ve had some very good IMCA drivers come out of this area over the years,” Smith said. “We do a lot of traveling and get to Iowa for Super Nationals every year.” “I like everything about IMCA, especially the rules,” he continued. “Everything is done right.” Doing everything right was Maynard’s goal when he took over at the helm of the tour, and as director of the Eastern [Read More]

Oliver races into IMCA Stock Car 100 win club

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (May 26, 2023) – John Oliver Jr. listened to the list of names of drivers in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car 100 career win fraternity and was impressed. And honored, to become the 30th member of that exclusive club. “That’s a pretty good group. It feels pretty good to get 100 wins for how many good Stock Cars are out there,” Oliver said, following his own history-making checkered flag run Friday night at Lee County Speedway. “And I’m glad to get it because now it’s one thing off my mind and I can go out and race my race.” From West Burlington, Iowa, Oliver ran an outlaw hobby stock before friend Jason Cook asked if he’d be interested in driving a Stock Car. That was in 2006 and the answer was a resounding yes. Oliver totaled a dozen feature wins and won the first of what is now 14 career track championships that season. “Stock Car racing is probably the most fun I’ve ever had racing,” he said. “It’s so close. Everybody is [Read More]