Newswire

First practice at Dodge City Raceway Park is April 5

By Lonnie Wheatley DODGE CITY, Kan. (March 6) – It’s drawing ever closer as Dodge City Raceway Park is set to fire to life just 30 days from now with an open practice session on Saturday, April 5. The open practice will be from 5-8 p.m. with pit passes $10 and admission to the grandstands free. The session precedes an exciting season of racing action atop the 3/8-mile clay oval that ranks among the premier dirt tracks in the nation. Racing action officially gets under way on Saturday, April 12, with a full slate of championship series action featuring the track’s regular classes of IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds, IMCA SportMods, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Thunder Cars and Hornets. The season continues with 15 nights of competition before culminating with the second annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial featuring the URSS Sprint Cars along with the track’s championship series finale on Saturday, Sept. 27. Along the way will be the always highly-anticipated World of Outlaws Sprint Cars “Boothill Showdown” on July 4-5 along with a variety of [Read More]

Plenty of firsts accompany Whitwell in Wednesday Modified win at Las Vegas

R.C. Whitwell won the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified feature Wednesday evening at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. (Photo by Tom Macht, www.photofinishphotos.com) LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 5) – Wednesday was a night of firsts for R.C. Whitwell on the half-mile Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Whitwell topped the first of four qualifying heats, then led all 25 laps of the IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified feature on opening night of the FVP Outlaw Showdown. The Arizona native and recent California transplant took the $750 checkers in his first night out in the Bill Henderson-owned Victory Circle ride. Forty Modifieds ran at LVMS in the first of two midweek events. Josh Vogt, Kyle Heckman, Logan Drake and Brad Pounds rounded out the top five in the feature. “The track was very racy. I ran the high side to the middle most of the way,” said Whitwell, after making his first non-Duel In The Desert visit to the Dirt Track, “and (teammate) Kyle ran a lower line. It was a pretty good [Read More]

Cottage Grove Speedway schedule full of action from start to finish

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (March 5) – The 2014 season is expected to be a great one as Cottage Grove Speedway gears up for the coming campaign. With 32 scheduled events, fans will have plenty of opportunities to see the area’s best racing every Saturday night from April through September. The season kicks off Saturday, April 5 with an open practice while the following weekend the first race of the year is scheduled to take place on April 12. IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds return to weekly programs for a fifth season. It won’t be long for the first special event of the year occurs as Cottage Grove will play host to the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic on Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26. May will see the return of the popular Fan Appreciation Night on the 10th and the American Sprint Car Series-National Tour will pay visits on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th. A pre-race party is planned to get the weekend underway on Thursday the 23rd to [Read More]

Schedule announced for BST Colorado Sprint Car Series

By Joe Bellm HOLYOKE, Colo., – Attention Sprint Car racers, 2014 is going to be an amazing year. BST Promotions is thrilled to announce its affiliation with Eagle Motorsports RaceSaver Sprint Cars and IMCA. The tour is based out of your best eight of nine races. This year’s schedule has been made so that every racer has a chance to race in all of the BST Colorado shows as well as the URSS national shows, giving racers more options than ever in 2014. BST Promotion is glad to announce that we offer three of the fastest and best maintained tracks for the Colorado Tour. The tracks are I-76 Speedway containing the “high-banked famed ¼-mile”track, which is only one hour east of Denver in Fort Morgan. The Colorado tour will stop four times at this spectacular race track, on April 27, June 7, Sept. 20 and Oct. 4. Then it’s off to the races again at Phillips County Raceway in Holyoke, which is known for its wicked fast three-wide 3/8-mile track. Once again the Colorado tour [Read More]

Champ Pans continues awards for drivers in five IMCA divisions

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (March 4) – Champ Pans continues a popular awards program benefitting IMCA drivers in five divisions this season. The Eau Claire, Wis., manufacturer and second-year sponsor gives $50 product certificates to second through 10th place finishers in national standings for IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMods. Certificates can be applied to purchases from Champ Pans or Champ Brackets, another JR Manufacturing Company. Certificates will be presented during the national awards banquet or mailed the following week from the IMCA home office. “The great part about the Champ Pans program is that it applies regardless of what engine combination you prefer,” observed IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder. “If you are racing with a claim engine or a crate engine, you’re running a Champ oil pan and that makes this partnership unique for this market and one that we are proud of.” More information about Champ Pans and Champ Brackets products is available by calling 715 834-7748 [Read More]

Beatrice Spring Nationals postponed to March 21, 22

BEATRICE, Neb. (March 4) – Chalk up another early-season postponement due to too much winter and not enough spring. Spring Nationals at Beatrice Speedway will now be Friday and Saturday, March 21 and 22. The 21st annual special had originally been scheduled for March 14-15 The rescheduled program sports five sanctioned divisions, headlined by IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds in $2,000 to win, minimum $200 to start Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying features both nights. IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods both race for $500 to win and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks for $400 to win each night. Minimum start money is $75. Mach-1 Sport Compacts run for $200 to win on Saturday. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing national, regional and Allstar Performance state points will be given each night for the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks. National and state points will be awarded to Northern SportMod and Sport Compact competitors. Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m. Friday, with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. On [Read More]

Practice sessions return to Willamette Speedway

By Ben Deatherage LEBANON, Ore. (March 4) – For years, Friday nights at Willamette Speedway mostly meant a chance for drivers to shake down their car before the big race on Saturday, to fine tune their machines and troubleshoot any hiccups their mounts were giving them. Open practices are back on select dates at the historic 1/3-mile clay oval in 2014 after a couple years’ hiatus. “After not having practices for the last couple years, drivers started giving us feedback,” commented Track Manager Chris Nofziger. “They told us that they felt they would be more competitive if there was a night or two during the year where they could come out and just figure stuff out. With us bringing practices back, I think fans will see our already quality competition get even tougher.” The first opportunity for cars to hit the track in 2014 will be during two test and tune sessions on Saturday, April 5 and Friday, April 11. The first race of the upcoming campaign is slated for Saturday, April 12. The four [Read More]

Eagle Motorsports returns in title sponsorship role for IMCA RaceSaver Sprints

LINCOLN, Neb. (March 3) – Eagle Motorsports returns for a second season as title sponsor of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car division. The Lincoln, Neb., sprint car chassis manufacturer and high performance parts retailer again furnishes a portion of the $2,600 point fund to be paid to top 10 drivers in national point standings for the winged class. IMCA Eagle Motorsports RaceSaver Sprint Cars ran in Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Virginia last year. New sanctions in Iowa and Colorado have already been announced for 2014. Drivers must display two Eagle Motorsports decals on their race car to be eligible for point fund money. Point fund checks will be presented during the national awards banquet in November, or mailed beginning the following week from the IMCA home office. “In addition to the point fund contribution, Eagle also awards a free chassis kit to the national champion and national rookie of the year,” noted IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder. “Last season that ended up being the same driver but with a new crop of talented rookies combined [Read More]

Canyon success continues for Thornton at Copper on Dirt

By Lonnie Wheatley PEORIA, Ariz. (Feb. 28) – Ricky Thornton Jr. added another IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified triumph to his impressive early season total during the Friday Copper On Dirt program at Canyon Speedway Park. After winning four of six features in Winter Challenge Series action, Thornton picked up right where he left off by leading all the way to take the checkered flag ahead of reigning track champion Jason Noll. Thornton drew the pole start and jumped out to an immediate lead in the 25-lap feature. Logan Drake and Mike Wedelstadt, making their first starts of the year, challenged but to no avail as the field waded through three yellow flags. The seventh starting Noll then took over second to put the pressure on Thornton but fell short in the closing laps. Thornton earned $600 for the win. The rest of the top five included Drake, Wedelstadt and Ryan Roath. Saturday’s program was rained out. Feature results – 1. Ricky Thornton Jr.; 2. Jason Noll; 3. Logan Drake; 4. Mike Wedelstadt; 5. Ryan [Read More]

Mid-America Modified Championship rescheduled to March 20-22

BATESVILLE, Ark. (March 3) – Winter decided it wasn’t ready to give up after all. As a result, the Mid-America Modified Championship special at Batesville Motor Speedway has been rescheduled to Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 20-22. Promoter Mooney Starr said the two-week postponement would allow for optimum track conditions and a better shot at good racing weather. IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds will race for $1,500 to win in Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying events all three nights at Batesville. Features pay a minimum of $200 to start. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Jet Racing Central Region and Allstar Performance State points will be awarded each night. An early entry fee of $100, good for all three nights, can be paid by Saturday, March 8. More information about the Mid-America Modified Championship is available by calling 870 251-0011 or 870 613-1337, and at the www.batesvillemotorspeedway.net website. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. each day. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 [Read More]