The promoter silly season continues, with the latest change at Independence Motor Speedway. Mike Van Genderen will team up with Dana Benning to promote the Iowa dirt track. The duo hopes to make good use of Van Genderen’s prowess of preparing dirt tracks.
“We’ve been talking about improving track conditions,” Van Genderen, of Newton, Iowa, said. “Keeping moisture in the track, keeping dust down, and make Indee a multi-groove racetrack is our main goal.”
Benning and Van Genderen also hope to make other improvements.
“We’ll seek marketing partners to give more incentive to the drivers to race at Indee,” said Van Genderen. “The atmosphere will improve, and when it’s better for the drivers, we’ll get more people in the stands. The Monday-night shows will showcase the place, and that will encourage more fans to come.”
Indee will become the fourth track Van Genderen promotes at. He also steers Iowa dirt ovals Bloomfield Speedway and Stuart International Speedway, as well as Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri.
“I am fortunate to live no more than two hours from any of the four tracks I will be promoting,” Van Genderen, of Newton, Iowa said. “I’m in the middle of all of them.”
Both Van Genderen and Benning pledged to never have a partner while promoting a racetrack, but Van Genderen acknowledged the benefits of teaming up.
“Dana is better at some things and I am good at other things,” Van Genderen said. “So, the partnership makes sense.’
Van Genderen will prepare the track and serve as race director. Benning will handle sponsorship, bookkeeping, and greeting fans and racers on race night.
The 2023 schedule for Independence Motor Speedway consists of 10 Saturday-night shows and four on Mondays. The track will host six IMCA-sanctioned divisions — late models, modifieds, stock cars, hobby stocks, sport mods, and sport compacts — on a regular basis. The track’s season opens on April 15.
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.
