BAKERSFIELD, California — Bakersfield Speedway has become the first California track to sanction its SportMod division with IMCA.
Regular 2012 point races for the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods begin in March and continue through September. IMCA Modifieds also return to Saturday night cards at the 1/3-mile clay oval.
“We ran a non-sanctioned sportmod division in 2011 and had a pretty good following. Our highest car count during the season was 14, which was pretty good,” said promoter Scott Schweitzer. “I decided now was the best time to sanction this class with IMCA because I can see how their division is growing.”
Introduced in 2005 at four tracks in Iowa and Nebraska, the Northern SportMod class crowned champions at 47 tracks in nine states this year.
“Both the rules and the economics of the SportMods are very important, but they’ll also be a good next step up class for us,” Schweitzer said. “We don’t have an economical next division between our hobby stocks and the IMCA Modifieds.”
He added that the SportMods could allow former competitors to get back into the sport.
“We have several drivers who used to race Modifieds and would like to start racing again,” Schweitzer said. “This division has shown it can get drivers back into racing because of its rules and cost effectiveness.”
Bakersfield has sanctioned its Modified division with IMCA since 1990. That’s the longest consecutive tenure of any track in California.
“IMCA has a long standing history with Bakersfield Speedway. It’s a great facility with an outstanding fan following and is well run and promoted by Scott,” said Brett Root, vice president of operations for IMCA. “It’s no surprise that Bakersfield is also the first track in California to sanction Northern SportMods. We expect more tracks in the state to follow their lead.”
