By Jerry Mackey VINTON, Iowa – Sunday, May 31 will be an open practice session for all racers from 4-7 p.m. Pit gates will open at 3 p.m. at The Bullring located on the Benton County Fairgrounds in Vinton. The point racing season will open on June 7 with fans being allowed to attend the races. The racing action will get underway on June 7 with warmups slated to take to the track at 4:30 p.m. with racing to follow at 5 p.m.
By Jerry Mackey VINTON, Iowa (May 24) – With fans watching on big and small screens, Chris Simpson held off Cayden Carter in winning the IMCA Modified feature on opening night Sunday at Benton County Speedway. The headliner of the night was the 25-lap IMCA Modified feature, which provided great racing on the perfectly prepared track and a battle to the checkered flag. Simpson, driving a Doug Cue-owned car, started on the pole position, led the race early and appeared to have control of the race until fourth starting Carter began to reel him. Carter raced to the white flag on the rear bumper of Simpson and set up a side-by-side drag race down the back chute as the checkered flag was about to be waved. Simpson shot off the high side of turn four and held off Carter at the finish line taking the win by half a car length. Ethan Braaksma followed across the stripe in third. Simpson’s victory paid $1,000 and put him on the ballot for the Fast Shafts All-Star [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa – Four IMCA divisions will be on the track, on the big screen and on pay per view when Benton County Speedway opens for the season this Sunday, May 24. IMCA Modifieds run for $1,000 and a spot of the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot at The Bullring while IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods both chase $400 top checks and the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature pays $300 to win. IMCA.TV broadcasts the event, which features the first All-Star ballot qualifier of the year in Iowa. No grandstand seating will be sold and a maximum of 10 people admitted with each car in the pit area. Security will be on the grounds to enforce social distancing. All social distancing guidelines must be followed. Face masks are optional. BCS will be using My Race Pass pre-registration for this event, which is now available by visiting https://www.myracepass.com/tracks/1151/registrations/2726. A portable Drive in Theater will be set up in front of the grandstand entrance in the grandstand parking area. The race program will be live shown live on [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa – The track where Corey Dripps started his racing career nearly 30 years ago is the same track he’ll promote in 2020. Dripps and his father Rick, partners in Specialty Racing Promotions Inc., will be in charge for their first full season at Benton County Speedway. They’d promoted a single event, the season-ending Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour show, at Vinton, the traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division, last September. “We went home that night excited about a lot of things. That race gave us a great head start going into this year and things couldn’t have worked out better for us,” said Dripps, a long-time IMCA Modified driver. “Benton County Speedway is the first track I ever watched a race at. It’s the first track I ever raced at (in a pro stock, in 1992) and it’s the first track where I won a race. It’s always been special to me.” Nicknamed The Bullring, the quarter-mile dirt oval hosts the April 2 Frostbuster special before the first regular Sunday night [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa – The final checkers fly this weekend at Benton County Speedway for the 10th annual Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour. IMCA Modifieds race for $1,500 to win in their Saturday, Sept. 28 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying feature. Also on the card at Vinton are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. In addition to special series points for the Modifieds, IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, regional and E3 Spark Plugs State points will be awarded. Pit gates open at 2 p.m., the grandstand opens at 4 p.m. and hot laps are at 4:30 p.m. with racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $15 for seniors, $12 for students and military, and free for kids ages five and under. Pit passes are $30. Saturday’s race program will be broadcast by IMCA.TV. More information is available by calling 319 429-6931. Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour top 20 point standings – 1. Richie Gustin, Gilman, 276; 2. Joel Rust, Grundy Center, 242; 3. Kelly Shryock, Fertile, 226; 4. [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa (July 3) – That $4,908 check was great. But taking home the winner’s trophy from the 25th, final and record-breaking Hogan Memorial, Cayden Carter said, was priceless. Carter led all but nine laps and the last 36 times around the track in the 50-lap IMCA Modified main event Wednesday night at Benton County Speedway, beating Jeff Aikey to the stripe by three car lengths. When the checkers flew, it signaled the end of one of the longest running specials for IMCA Modifieds. A track record 153 cars, including 44 Modifieds from seven states, saw action in front of a very full grandstand. “Winning this race means a lot to us,” said Carter, born a month and a half before the first annual event and who’d also won the Hogan in 2013. “This has always been a big race for us. I didn’t want the money. I wanted the trophy. You can’t buy that.” Aikey had started 13th and battled back and forth with Joel Rust before settling into second with six laps left. Carter [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa (June 27) – Lapped cars didn’t bother Joel Callahan. He figured if he had to get past them, so did everybody chasing him for the lead in Thursday’s Deery Brothers Summer Series main event at Benton County Speedway. Callahan made the most of four restarts before midway of the 40-lap IMCA Late Model tour feature after starting ninth, reeling in Jeff Aikey and leading the last 16 circuits for the $2,000 victory, his Deery career sixth and first since July 7 of 2016. “It’s always good to win. We had a good car and the cautions helped. It seemed like every caution I was able to gain a couple spots,” Callahan said following the county fair show victory. Aikey, winner of the previous tour race at Maquoketa Speedway, had started from the pole and set a blistering pace in the early going. Cautions erased his big leads, however, and Callahan was already sitting in second when the fourth of those yellow flags waved on lap 18. Both had to work their way around [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa – A quarter-century of memories will be shared and a tear or two shed before the final checkers fly for one of the longest running events in the history of the IMCA Modified division. The 25th and final Hogan Memorial is Wednesday, July 3 at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. With lap money and the mid-way leader’s bonus, the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier could pay the winner more than $5,000. “The Hogan has been a premier Modified event for many years and rightfully so,” said IMCA President Brett Root. “It’s one of those events every IMCA Modified driver wants to win. Winning the Hogan is one of those rare career highlight-type victories.” The event got its start in 1995 as the Dick Hogan Memorial Mid-Season Championship. It was renamed the Hogan Memorial following the death of Dick’s wife Janet. The Hogans’ son Scott won the inaugural Modified race in 1995. After adding trophies from the 2005, 2006 and 2010 events, he leads all drivers with four career victories. Special recognitions and presentations [Read More]
VINTON, Iowa – The Deery Brothers Summer Series headlines blue ribbon fair week entertainment next Thursday, June 27 at Benton County Speedway. The 50-lap $2,000 to win, minimum $300 to start main event marks just the fourth visit by the IMCA Late Model tour to Vinton. Pit gates open at 5 p.m. and the drivers’ meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:45 p.m. with racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $15 for adults, $5 for kids and free for youngsters ages five and under when accompanying a paid adult. Pit passes are $30. Also on the Benton County Fair program are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. Darrel DeFrance of Marshalltown has competed at all 492 events in the series’ 33-year history and won the first Deery event held at Vinton in 1988. Rob Toland of Colona, Ill., was the Deery winner at Benton County in 2005 and Jeremiah Hurst of Dubuque led the way to the checkers when the tour made its much anticipated [Read More]
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (June 19) – Add another Deery Brothers Summer Series event at Independence Motor Speedway to the growing list of rainouts. Tonight’s IMCA Late Model tour race at Indee has been canceled due to rain and resulting conditions. No make-up date has been announced. Next up on the Deery schedule is the $2,000 to win event at Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Thursday, June 27. Pit gates open at 5 p.m. for the county fair show. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.
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