Last weekend the Fett family took home three IMCA sport mod victories. The patriarch of the clan, Drew, won at Hancock County Speedway in Britt, Iowa. Sons Colby and Alec won features at Boone Speedway in Iowa.
Drew, a winning hobby stock driver in the 1990s, gave up his career to see his sons succeed. When Drew built a backup car for them out of cast-off and swap-meet parts five years ago, they convinced him to drive it.
“They thought it would be pretty neat to have me out there with them,” said Drew, 57, of Thompson, Iowa. “I decided I better get into a sport mod and experience what they were experiencing — just to keep myself from being too critical of their driving.”
Drew won last weekend with a 2013 Victory Race Cars chassis and a Karl Chevrolet rebuilt Chevrolet Performance 602 engine that Alec previously blown up.
“The boys told me I would win someday,” Drew said. “I see it as a miracle. I’m old, the car is old, the engine is old, and I’m running against class acts in that division.”
Alec finished second to his father.
“Seeing Dad’s first win in a sport mod right in front of me was something not many drivers have a chance do,” said Alec, 21, of Burt, Iowa. “I had tears in my eyes on the last lap. He enjoys racing and enjoys knowing his sons are racing.”
As Drew won at Hancock, Colby took the trip to victory lane at Boone. Typically, the Fett Family — Drew and his sons — all race together.
“It is the most fun a driver can have when he’s racing with his brother and his dad,” Colby, 29, of Algona, Iowa said. “It really is a special night when all three of us are together. Not too many racers can have that.”
On Saturday, Alec joined his brother in the sport mod class at Boone. Drew opted to serve as crew member for his sons.
“Winning Friday night was great because there was a field of more than 40 sport mods and it was a chance to race in front of the World of Outlaws racers,” Colby said. “On Saturday night, I broke down, but Alec won by a straightaway. Afterward, people were shaking their heads, saying, ‘If one brother can’t do it, the other can.’”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
