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WINNEMUCCA, Nev. – Kaitlyn Sample drove 6-1/2 hours every weekend of the season just to get to the shop and work on her IMCA Modified. Then she traveled to nine different tracks in four states to earn rookie of the year honors in IMCA’s Shaw Race Cars Western Region. “That was definitely a huge accomplishment,” said Sample, who collected eight of those top five’s in the second half of the season. “I came a long ways from my first race. Winning rookie of the year was one of my biggest accomplishments this season.” Sample is the younger sister of two-time regional champion Cory Sample and drove his 2018 Razor that “fell into her hands.” She had about a month to get the car ready for 2021. “I raced a go kart for one year about 10 years ago and grew up around Cory and his racing,” said Kaitlyn, who earned her dental hygienist degree in December and made the commute from Sun Valley, Idaho, to the family base in Winnemucca, Nev., on weekends. “My brother [Read More]

FORT RIPLEY, Minn. – Greg Kohl Jr. didn’t need to go into much detail to describe his Mach-1 Sport Compact national rookie of the year season.  “It was great,” the Fort Ripley, Minn., flyer said following a 2021 campaign that saw him win eight features and track championships at North Central Speedway and Princeton Speedway. “Our goal was taking top five’s every night. We had three DNFs but after that was all top five’s.” He won three of 14 starts at Princeton and another five of 17 at Brainerd, where his checkers included the Ron Johnson Memorial feature and opening night of the Mighty Ax. “North Central is my home track. I live about eight miles from there and growing up I was always watching races there,” said Kohl, a former dirt bike racer. “Princeton is about an hour and a half from home. It’s a little bit smaller and there’s something about tracks that size that I like.” Fourth in national standings, Kohl ran with younger brother Nathan and cousin Josh Maleski this season [Read More]

BRUSH, Colo. – A season full of firsts saw Hunter Smith race to national IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock and Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region rookie of the year honors. The 14-year-old Brush High School freshman became the first Colorado driver to win either award. He’s the second 14-year-old to earn the national prize and the youngest to win in the ROY in the Northern Region. “Hobby Stocks are a good class to get started in. I wanted to be in a full-sized car in case I wanted to move up,” he said. “Our goal at the start of the season was regional rookie of the year and we just kept pushing. We dropped out of the national lead but got it back, and we were really excited when points became official. It was really cool to be the first from Colorado to do it, and I was surprised to be the youngest to win the regional rookie.”  Smith did a lot of winning as a rookie, starting with 10 feature victories. His 51 starts [Read More]

LINCOLN, Neb.  – His finish in what was billed as a mechanics’ race was all it took to prove to Cade Richards that he had the tools to drive an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car. Richards won 14 times in his first season in the Class Too Tough To Tame, earning an unprecedented bounty of awards that included national runner-up and rookie of the year honors, as well as EQ Cylinder Heads Northern region rookie, Eagle Raceway and Beatrice Speedway track and KMJ Performance Nebraska State championships. “Finishing second in national points really stands out. I never figured we’d be able to do that in a homebuilt car,” said Richards, 17 years old and a junior at Lincoln East High School. “So many things had to go right just for us to win the two track championships. Winning the first Stock Car championship was pretty big for me.” Richards parked his Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod in late spring to focus on the Stock Car. Top rookie in the Northern SportMods in 2019, he’s now the sixth driver [Read More]

SPENCER, Iowa – Kaytee DeVries will make room in her trophy case for an award she originally hadn’t planned to chase.  The winningest female driver in IMCA history raced to her career fourth, and second consecutive Lady Eagle award, topping point standings for the 273 female drivers who competed in the nine sanctioned divisions in 2021.  From Spencer, Iowa, DeVries won 17 Mach-1 Sport Compact starts and complemented her latest Lady Eagle prize with track championships at Buena Vista Raceway, Kossuth County Speedway and Worthington Speedway.  “We wanted to focus more on track championships and weren’t planning to run for Lady Eagle at the start of the season. We were doing really good at the start of the year and our goals were to top last year’s wins (19) and not destroy the car,” said DeVries. “It turned out to be a long season and my husband Jay spent more time working on my car than he did racing his Hobby Stock and with the luck I was having,” she continued, “I didn’t think I’d [Read More]

CHELSEA, Iowa – Dallon Murty will add another championship to his IMCA resume. The 16-year-old from Chelsea, Iowa, won 30 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car features, topping point standings for the nearly 500 drivers ages 13-18 who competed in IMCA this season on the way to earning Junior National Champion honors.  “It means a lot to be to be able to win Junior National Champion,” the BGM High School junior said. “We had fallen just short and finished second last year. To win it on our second try is pretty good. I think the Junior National Championship is a great thing for drivers getting into the sport.” “At the start of the season, we weren’t focusing on points. We wanted to run as many big events as we could but at one point we took the lead in both national and Junior National points and we changed our focus,” he added. “National points didn’t work out but the Junior National Championship did.” Murty was at the top of his game at IMCA’s biggest event, becoming the [Read More]