By Greg Soukup
Finally!!! Last year’s IMCA Sprint Car Racesaver Nationals was plagued by poor weather threats. With the forecast worsening as the weekend loomed closer, officials decided to run both the Friday and Saturday races on Friday with the finale being run on Saturday.
Sadly, as the 27 sprints were on the track Saturday a light drizzle began to fall. As the liquid sunshine became actual rain the cars were pushed off in an attempt to save the racing surface. The rain kept falling and the cars were sent to their pits as the officials made up their minds as to the best course of action to take. Unfortunately, Mother Nature’s wrath won out and the call was made to run the 2025 finale during the Thursday festivities which normally had an extended practice session coupled with qualifying heats for the Race Jugs Race of Champions.
Well, just 369 days later, Thursday saw the race take place at Eagle Raceway. 2 of the drivers that had qualified in 2025 were unable to return for their chance at the $13,000 top prize so 3 teams were added to the field bringing the total on the track to 28. After the practice session was completed the cars were brought onto the racetrack and brought to their positions for the 3-wide start to the 35 lap contest.
Carson Bolden took advantage of having started on the pole to lead lap 1 in the B2 with Joey Danley’s 14X second, Kevin Ramey third in the 7M and 2026 track champion in fourth. Ramey got past Danley on lap 2 to take over the second spot. Gullion also passed Danley to move up to third place on lap 6. Ethan Barrow’s #14S slowed on lap 11, bringing out the yellow flag and the Eastep Wheels Choose Cone to set up the Delaware restart. The top 4 for that were Bolden, Gullion, Ramey and Danley. Stu Snyder got a good restart, jumping his #5 up to third with Ramey maintaining fourth place. The 24B of Johnny Boos stopped coming out of turn 4 for another caution. The Choose cone top 4 were Bolden, Gullion, Snyder and Danley. The restart saw Gullion make his best shot at Bolden, pulling alongside him in turns 3 and 4 but was unable to make the pass. Lap 21 saw the 56 of Bill Johnson and Trevor Serbus came to a stop in the infield in turn 2 setting up a single-file restart. Ramey regained fourth place again on the restart but lost the position to the 12 of Tyler Drueke, previous champion of the IMCA Sprint Car Racesaver Nationals on lap 23. Owen Carlson slowed and eventually stopped on the front stretch with 9 laps remaining. Snyder got under and past Gullion with 8 to go but lost the position back to him the next time around. Snyder and Drueke both passed Gullion with 6 laps left to move up to second and third, respectively. Drueke then passed Snyder the next lap to grab second and set his sights on Bolden. Gullion again moved up to third with 4 circuits left. Bolden was not to be denied and held Drueke off to win by two thirds of a second with Gullion third and Jake Bubak’s 74B fourth after making a last lap pass of Snyder.
Nothing gives me greater pleasure than interviewing the winner after the race. That went 16 year-old Carson Bolden of Quinlan, Texas. When I pulled up to his pit he came over with a grin that threatened to split his face in two! I kidded him by saying “All it takes to win is to be interviewed by me earlier in the week” to which he replied, “Must be!” I then asked him what it was like, having to wait a whole year to get the win. He said “It was crazy early in the year. Tough racing just to get to this one race. It’s been on my bucket list forever, just to come race it. But to win it is a whole different level of excitement for me right now. We didn’t get the best start but came off of turn 2 with the lead. I saw Adam Gullion once to my inside and I want to thank him for racing me clean. I ran a little bit different line, but it worked so I’ll take it. I was really excited by the challenge. I didn’t feel the best but the car was good enough to be able to maneuver around the track. There are a lot of people that help me get to the track and I have to thank them for making this win possible and I want to say All Glory to Jesus.” Carson’s sponsors include KR Promotions LLC, Rick Murray Electric, Binz Aquatics, Advanced Fabricators, Smiley's Racing Products, Baxter Motorsports, Donita Morris, Whitehorse Tuning And Dyno LLC, Pro Design, Chad Vos, Russell Shoulders, Bryan Shoulders, Speedway Motors and Brad Alexander.
The final competition of the night was the qualifying heats for the Race Jugs Race of Champions. There were 2 sets of 3 heat races to determine the lineup for the actual A Feature to be held Saturday. Winners of each heat were awarded 1 point, second place received 2 points, third place got 3 points, etc. with the low point driver garnering the pole position for the race.
Tonight is the Friday portion of the weekend with heats and features to determine who will fill the first 3 rows of the 27 car, 3-wide start for Sunday’s Big Dance.
Pit gates open at 3 P.M. with pit passes costing $30.
Front gates open at 4:30 PM adult admission being $20, youths 6-12 are just $5 and kids 5 and under are free.
Hot laps begin at 5:00 with racing at 6:00.
RESULTS:
IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car 28 Entries 2025 MAKEUP MAIN EVENT 35 Laps 1. B2-Carson Bolden[1]; 2. 12-Tyler Drueke[10]; 3. 91-Adam Gu lion[5]; 4. 74B-Jake Bubak[11]; 5. 5-Stuart Snyder[6]; 6. 35L-Gaige Weldon[21]; 7. 14-Joey Danley[3]; 8. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[17]; 9. 25X-Gunnar Pike[8]; 10. 17XX-Lee Goos Jr[26]; 11. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[22]; 12. 4X-Jason Danley[25]; 13. 11JJ-Taylor Velasquez[28]; 14. 74C-John Carney I[2]; 15. 14N-Nick Barger[24]; 16. 24B-Johnny Boos[14]; 17. 74-Daniel Estes Jr[15]; 18. 1M-Kevin Ramey[4]; 19. O7-Owen Carlson[7]; 20. 10X-Trevor Serbus[27]; 21. 56-Bill Johnson[9]; 22. X-Dylan Waxdahl[18]; 23. 2N-Colby Stubblefield[20]; 24. 14S-Ethan Barrow[23]; 25. (DNS) 34DD-Brady Donnohue; 26. (DNS) 46-Peyton White; 27. (DNS) 25-Chase Brewer; 28