VINTON, Iowa — Record-setting racers and first-time kings and a queen are among the 2024 national champions announced today by IMCA.
Mike Nichols’ 13th IMCA Sunoco Stock Car crown is the most all-time in IMCA while Cory Dumpert’s sixth straight IMCA Sunoco Late Model title sets a new record for the sanctioning body in its modern (1979-) era.
Kaylee Richards became the first driver to win both a national championship, in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts and Lady Eagle award. Other first-time national champs were Lee Goos Jr. in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car and Jeff Shepperd in the Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMods.
Matthew Looft’s Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod title was his career seventh, Dillon Raffurty’s Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite crown his career fourth. Chaz Baca went back-to-back in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and Cory Probst topped the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock standings for the second time.
A 30-time feature winner, Nichols complemented his latest national title with EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region and Crawford County Speedway, Interstate Speedway, Park Jefferson Speedway and Shelby County Speedway track titles. He’s also the all-time IMCA wins leader with 657 and the career track title leader with 51.
Dumpert was track champion at Boone County Raceway and Off Road Speedway, and state champion in Nebraska. He totaled 15 feature wins this season.
Richards became IMCA’s first female driver to win a national crown since Jena Barthelmes, also in the 4-cylinder class, in 2007, while topping point standings for the 290 female drivers who competed in IMCA.
Track champion at Concordia Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway and the Nebraska State champion, Richards is married to 2017 Sport Compact and 2022 Hobby Stock national champion Dillon Richards, making them IMCA’s first husband and wife team of national champions.
Goos and Shepperd both took the next step up the podium after runner-up finishes in national points races last year.
Eight-time feature winner Goos was track champion at I-90 Speedway and at Jackson Motorplex.
The 11th different Southern SportMod national champion in as many years, Shepperd scored 13 feature wins and the Cotton Bowl Speedway track title.
Looft’s 33 feature wins paved the way to Arlington Raceway, Kossuth County Speedway and Murray County Speedway crowns. The two-car star also ruled Stock Car standings at Arlington.
Raffurty, the only national champion the STARS Mod Lites have known under the IMCA banner, paced points at Electric City Speedway and Valley Speedway, as well as Missouri State standings. His 30 wins this season included his IMCA career 100th.
Another career-type season saw Baca finish with 28 wins, Shaw Race Cars Western Region and Arizona State laurels, as well as Central Arizona Raceway and Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway Modified and Show Low Stock Car track titles.
Probst’s 29 division-best feature wins made the difference in what came down to a three-way battle for the Hobby Stock crown with Mike Smith and Cody Williams. The 2020 national king also earned B & B Racing Chassis Northern Region and Arlington Raceway and Redwood Speedway track championships.
The first Utah driver to earn Junior National Champion honors, Payce Herrera raced to 24 feature wins on his way to national and Southern Region rookie of the year honors, plus Diamond Mountain Speedway track and Utah State honors.Â
Chris Zogg won a career-first championship in the Razor Chassis North Central Region. Jake Nightingale and Myron DeYoung repeated in the Jet Racing Central Region and DeVilbiss Racing Eastern Region, respectively, while William Gould reigned in the GRT Race Cars South Central Region for the seventh time.
Zogg was a 13-time winner as well as Davenport Speedway track and Iowa State champion. Nightingale had half a dozen wins plus the Kansas State crown to show for his on-track efforts.
DeYoung finished with seven wins in extending his streak of at least one year a year to 30 consecutive seasons. He was the track champion at I-96 Speedway and the Michigan State champ.
Gould’s 10 wins this season included his career 200th in the division. He was also the state champion in Texas.
Bo Partain and Nathan DeRagon made history as the first drivers from Arizona winning EQ Cylinder Heads Stock Car and B & B Racing Chassis Hobby Stock Regional titles.
Partain was a 14-time feature winner while DeRagon, five years removed from his regional rookie of the year season, made 20 visits to victory lane. He was track champion at Central Arizona Raceway, Cocopah Speedway and Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway, and the Arizona State champion.
National Rookies of the Year were Jacob Mallet Jr., Modified, Anthony Roth, Late Model; Brady Donnohue, Sprint Car; Colby Fett, Stock Car; Tyler Johnson, Northern SportMod; Cameron Gaston; Southern SportMod; Tracen Glick, Mod Lite; and Johnny Thomas, Sport Compact.
A five-time feature winner, Mallet became the first Shaw Race Cars Western Region ROY to earn the national rookie prize since Scott Pounds in 1993. He was also the California State champ.
Roth, who already has an IMCA regional rookie of the year plaque hanging on his wall, won nine features and paced points at U.S. 30 Speedway. Donnohue totaled three wins and hustled to the Huset’s Speedway track title.
Also the top rookie in the EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region, Fett counted his first career start in The Class Too Tough To Tame among seven checkers in 2024. The 15-year-old Johnson topped Deuce of Clubs Thunder Raceway track and Arizona State standings.
Gaston is also the Southern Oklahoma Speedway track and Oklahoma State champion. Glick, at 14, is the youngest driver to earn national rookie honors this season.
Thomas had 10 feature wins on his way to national runner-up honors. He was track champion at Beatrice Speedway and at Park Jefferson Speedway.
Modified Regional rookies of the year were Jace Whitt in the North Central, Tyler Harr in the Central, Bradley Mitchell in the South Central and J.C. Wilson in the Eastern.
Whitt won four features while Wilson had seven checkers and Northwest Florida Speedway and Florida State crowns to show for his first sanctioned season.
Cutter Spalding also collected six wins and the Texas State championship on his way to the Stock Car Southern Region ROY while Karter Miles won once in becoming just the second 14-year-old rookie of the year in the B & B Racing Chassis Northern Region for Hobby Stocks.
IMCA honors all champions and rookies of the year during the national awards banquet Saturday, Nov. 30 at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln, Neb.
Congratulatory letters and invitations to the Nov. 29 champions’ reception at the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed are being mailed this week.