BOONE, Iowa — Kaytee DeVries rolls into the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals presented by Casey’s at Iowa’s Boone Speedway with a lot of momentum.
DeVries, 28, is enjoying the best season of her career, having earned 16 sport compact victories through the end of August. She sits in the top five in the IMCA sport compact national standings and leads the Lady Eagle standings for female drivers across all IMCA divisions.
She also claimed a track championship this year, overcoming a four-point deficit entering the final night of racing at Iowa’s Kossuth County Speedway on Aug. 20 to earn the sport compact track title.
As if that wasn’t enough, earlier this year she became the winningest female driver in IMCA history when she surpassed stock car driver Tiffany Bittner with her 55th career IMCA victory.
“It’s been stressful,” DeVries said when recapping her season to date. “As of Wednesday (Aug. 26), I had 45 nights in. So it’s been a lot of late nights. Just trying to stay consistent.
“It’ll probably be the best I’ve ever done,” DeVries added in relation to her position in the national standings. “Last year I finished fifth in national points, but right now I’m leading the Lady Eagle points, so that’s still an accomplishment.”
All that success means she’ll be one of the top candidates to claim the Super Nationals sport compact title Tuesday evening, when she’ll go to war against the top drivers in that division from across the United States.
She knows it won’t be easy as she’ll be racing against the toughest competition she’s seen all season.
“Everybody is there,” DeVries said of the stacked field. “You’re racing with fast cars, slow cars, it’s fun. It’s really fun to be able to go down there see who you’ve been competing with in national points because most of them are there.”
Should she manage to cross the finish line first Tuesday evening, she would be the first female Super Nationals champion in any division.
“I’d probably cry if that happened,” DeVries said about potentially winning a Super Nationals title. “I’ve never made the stage at the Super Nationals, so that at least would be huge for me. Winning it would be even better.”
While winning the Super Nationals title would be important to DeVries, she says what is more important to her is being a good role model for her daughter and for other children who may want to follow in her footsteps.
“There are so many young people that want to get into it (racing),” DeVries said. “You just see how happy they are when they come down and it makes it worth racing. I have a 3-year-old daughter that every time I go out of the track she goes, ‘Mama, you bring me a trophy?’ I won 16 times with years. I’ve been trying to get her one. I got her a six foot one this year. She was pretty happy.”
All six nights of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s on Sept. 7-12 will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV.