From IMCA
BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 8) – An event record 759 cars have been registered for the 22nd annual I.M.C.A. Speedway Motors Super Nationals.
That’s 34 more than the previous record of 725, established in 2001. This is the fourth straight year the Super Nationals car count has topped 700, with 718 last year and 716 in 2002.
“We had more than 200 drivers pre-registered so we expected to be at or above what we had in 2003,” said Brett Root, I.M.C.A.’s vice president of operations. “Considering the first Super Nationals in 1983 had 38 cars running in one class (the Modified division), it’s amazing how big this event has become.”
New event marks were set Monday with 177 Stock Cars, 153 Hobby Stocks and 49 Late Models. Tuesday’s total of 25 Sprint Cars was just two off the record and nine more than last year, putting the total car count for the first two days at 404. The 355th Modified driver registered at 4:10 p.m. today, equaling the 2003 number for the division and putting the overall number at 759.
Fifty-nine Modified drivers have already signed up for Dirt Works Ron Efkamp Memorial Race of Champions qualifying heats Thursday and Friday. Twenty-two states are now represented in the Modified field, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
“We already know we’re going to be getting a couple more Modified drivers tomorrow,” I.M.C.A. Public Relations Director Bill Martin said. “We were adding up the numbers in the scorers’ booth when the cell phone rang and it was a driver from Oklahoma, telling us he’d just pulled out of the driveway, was headed to Boone and that we should save some low numbers in the draw Thursday for him and a buddy. We got another call just before hot laps started from a Minnesota driver letting us know he had a flat tire on the way but was going to do his best to get here and race yet tonight.”
The winners of 40 heat races advance to one of two qualifying features this evening, with the top four finishers in each of the features starting on the inside row of Saturday’s main event.
The front eight in the middle row qualify Thursday, the front eight on the outside row on Friday. The last three rows of three will be determined by last-chance races on Saturday.
First up on this evening’s card are final qualifiers for the Stock Cars, with the outside row of 10 to be set.
Jason Noll of Phoenix, Ariz., drew the one pill and will start on the pole in tonight’s first Modified heat.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Trevis Underdahl of Blooming Prairie, Minn. He drew 450, the highest possible number.
BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 8) – An event record 759 cars have been registered for the 22nd annual I.M.C.A. Speedway Motors Super Nationals.
That’s 34 more than the previous record of 725, established in 2001. This is the fourth straight year the Super Nationals car count has topped 700, with 718 last year and 716 in 2002.
“We had more than 200 drivers pre-registered so we expected to be at or above what we had in 2003,” said Brett Root, I.M.C.A.’s vice president of operations. “Considering the first Super Nationals in 1983 had 38 cars running in one class (the Modified division), it’s amazing how big this event has become.”
New event marks were set Monday with 177 Stock Cars, 153 Hobby Stocks and 49 Late Models. Tuesday’s total of 25 Sprint Cars was just two off the record and nine more than last year, putting the total car count for the first two days at 404. The 355th Modified driver registered at 4:10 p.m. today, equaling the 2003 number for the division and putting the overall number at 759.
Fifty-nine Modified drivers have already signed up for Dirt Works Ron Efkamp Memorial Race of Champions qualifying heats Thursday and Friday. Twenty-two states are now represented in the Modified field, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
“We already know we’re going to be getting a couple more Modified drivers tomorrow,” I.M.C.A. Public Relations Director Bill Martin said. “We were adding up the numbers in the scorers’ booth when the cell phone rang and it was a driver from Oklahoma, telling us he’d just pulled out of the driveway, was headed to Boone and that we should save some low numbers in the draw Thursday for him and a buddy. We got another call just before hot laps started from a Minnesota driver letting us know he had a flat tire on the way but was going to do his best to get here and race yet tonight.”
The winners of 40 heat races advance to one of two qualifying features this evening, with the top four finishers in each of the features starting on the inside row of Saturday’s main event.
The front eight in the middle row qualify Thursday, the front eight on the outside row on Friday. The last three rows of three will be determined by last-chance races on Saturday.
First up on this evening’s card are final qualifiers for the Stock Cars, with the outside row of 10 to be set.
Jason Noll of Phoenix, Ariz., drew the one pill and will start on the pole in tonight’s first Modified heat.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Trevis Underdahl of Blooming Prairie, Minn. He drew 450, the highest possible number.
