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Murray County Speedway sanctions four IMCA divisions in 2011 

SLAYTON, Minn. (Dec. 9) – Three IMCA divisions return, while a fourth sanctioned class will be new to weekly race pro­grams at Murray County Speedway in 2011. 

IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks are back in action on the 3/8-mile dirt oval, while the Mach-1 Sport Compacts see their first action at Slayton. 

“As a board, we sat down and talked about what sanctioning body would work best for us,” said promoter Josh Schafer, president of the five-member Murray County Racing Association. “The main thing we liked about IMCA was the communication. It’s unbelievable. When you call them you always get a response within 24 hours. That’s very im­portant, particularly for our drivers and for our tech inspectors.” 

Tentative opening night will be Friday, May 20. The point season continues through August, with a special event to be sched­uled in September. 

“We share a lot of drivers with Jackson Speedway, which runs on Saturdays, and Redwood Speedway, which is a Sun­day night track,” Schafer said. “We’re starting a point fund for the divisions that run at all three tracks and will announce more information about that after we get the details worked out.” 

A former WISSOTA driver, Schafer started his own career in a 4-cylinder cruiser class similar to the Sport Compacts. Friend and 1992 IMCA Stock Car national champion Dennis Terning helped build the ride that carried Schafer to a track title. 

“IMCA has the same theory with this class that Dennis had back in the day and I believe the Sport Compacts will be successful here, too,” he said. “We’re building one now that we’ll give away to a young driver aged 14 to 18 or 21 by drawing at mid-season. Anybody eligible who wants to start racing can sign up and all the winner will have to buy is their helmet, firesuit and safety equipment and they’ll be ready to go racing.” 

When weather conditions permit next spring, banking will be upped to 10 percent in both sets of turns and the back­stretch will be widened out of turn two. 

Points earned at Murray County will apply in IMCA’s ButlerBuilt Northern Region for Modifieds and in Probe Industries Northern Regions for Stock Cars and for Hobby Stocks. 

IMCA last sanctioned Modifieds at Slayton in 1996, the Stock Cars in 2000 and the Hobby Stocks in 2002. 

“It’s good to have Murray County back. Their rules for the Modifieds, Stocks and Hobbies were already similar to ours and it’s good to see them working with other sanctioned tracks,” said IMCA Vice President of Operations Brett Root. “That makes sense for the tracks and is cost effective for racers who don’t have to make changes to their cars to race at different tracks every night.”