IMCA old-timers triumph at Rice County Fairgrounds speedway

The weather was perfect Wednesday evening, as 45 drivers from across the Midwest kicked up the dust for the first time in over 20 years at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

The last time the track was used for high speed racing was back in the 1990s. Since then it’s been the home for Demo Derby and Enduro Series events held during the Rice County Fair, which continues through the weekend in Faribault.

The 25-lap B-Modified feature was action packed from the start, with only a couple yellow flags the whole night. The feature excitement was a continuation from a Trophy Dash run held earlier in the evening that left the crowd on it’s feet with plenty of 3-wide racing, quick passing and sliding through the turns, which left several drivers scrambling to get their cars repaired and ready for the feature run later on to wrap up the evening.

When the dust settled, Kadden Kath of Ellendale came out on top piloting the Olympic Fire Protection sponsored #83x, just a handful of car lengths ahead of New Richmond, Wisconsin, driver Shawn Kelley and his #14k Justice Brothers/Gillund Enterprises machine. Josh Mattick from Austin crossed the line in third in his #1m Cutting Edge modified after beating out Hayfield’s #15 Zach Elward following a wild spin earlier in the event.

The IMCA Old-Timers Vintage Stock Car feature was won by the #8 Ralph Earnhardt replica Chevrolet driven by Ben Behne, who just weeks earlier hit speeds over 145 miles per hour at the Milwaukee Mile with the same car.

The IMCA Old-Timers Open Wheel feature was won by long-distance award winner Henry Strube of Peoria, Illinois, who brought his beautiful high gloss black #5 sprinter to Minnesota just to compete in this historic “Rice County Fair returns to racing” event.

Up next for the IMCA Old-Timers is the opening of the Dakota Racing Museum at the Dakota County Fairgrounds in Farmington on Monday, August 5th, with a ribbon-cutting grand opening to start off the week of the fair. This will be one of the most extensive motorsports museum’s in Minnesota, featuring IMCA racing history, classic race cars and memorabilia from long-gone Minnesota raceways like REX Speedway of Inver Grove Heights, Raceway Park in Shakopee, Twin City Speedway of New Brighton, Farmington Speedway, the Minnesota State Fair Speedway, and many others from racing’s past.