BERNARD, Iowa — A high school freshman took fellow IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock drivers to class this season.
Karter Miles, 14 years old and the latest member of the Bernard, Iowa’s Miles racing family to find dirt track success, is rookie of the year in IMCA’s B & B Racing Chassis Northern Region.
He won once and had another 26 top five finishes in 50 outings, racing regularly at four tracks and making single starts at four others.
“Being competitive racing against older drivers in big fields of cars was just awesome. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Miles, a freshman at Cascade High School. “Being 14 and being able to run with stuff we built ourselves, and not the most expensive stuff, and win regional rookie of the year was really special.”
The youngest son of Stock Car veteran Jerry Miles, who will race for a 40th season in 2025, Karter finished third in points at Davenport Speedway and Maquoketa Speedway – brother Jordan was track champion at both – third at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway and ninth at East Moline Speedway.
Brothers Jared and Kodey also race, in Northern SportMods and Stock Cars, respectively, and the family travels in multiple trailers before pitting together once they get to the track.
Team Miles builds its own cars and motors and Karter kept up that tradition, putting together an old homebuilt car of Jordan’s for his first season.
“The Hobby Stock is fun and it’s kind of a beginner class,” he said. “We tried to go for rookie of the year and once I got to the lead, we just kept going. We raced as many nights as we could to keep the points up.”
A consistent top five runner almost from opening night, Miles got career win number one in his 42nd start, on Aug. 11 at Dubuque.
“I told my dad I was getting one this year,” he said. “I think it actually came a little earlier than I expected and I had no words (in victory lane). I didn’t know what to say.”
Miles has already checked Boone Speedway off his bucket list, racing at both the NAPA Auto Parts Double Down Prelude and the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
He played baseball and football and is now on the Cougar high school wrestling team.