Last year, Luke Silber moved into the modified class. This year, he bested a field of 81 modifieds, including national IMCA champ Chaz Baca, to start off the IMCATV Winter Nationals at Central Arizona Raceway on Thursday.
“I’m trying to be one of the top dogs,” said Silber, of Laveen, Arizona. “I’m trying to make a name for myself this season. I want people to know who I am when I show up.”
Mission accomplished. His meteoric rise resulted from doing what most teenagers characteristically don’t do: listen to advice. Specifically, he followed the wisdom from fellow modified driver Kollin Hibdon, of Fargo, North Dakota. Hibdon last season won 17 features among 66 races.
(For more on Hibdon, read “Kollin Hibdon: Will the Right 48 Start Pole?”)
“I met Kollin when he was a modified driver and I was driving my sport mod in 2022,” Silber said. “We became friends and today I thank him for a big part of my success.”
Hibdon was only 17 when he started mentoring Silber, who was then 15. Perhaps, teens listen to teens. Regardless, the pairing resulted in success for Silber.
“Kollin helps keep my head on straight,” said Silber. “We have long talks that were always positive. He pointed out what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and what I was doing not so good when driving, which improved my skills.”
Luke Silber hopes his first win of the season leads to more success throughout 2025. And you can bet he’ll continue driving with Hibdon’s words of advice guiding him along the way. So far, he’s got a win and fifth to start out the year.
“I was a little nervous in lapped traffic, but I overcame that,” Silber said of Thursday’s win. “Kollin said, ‘Don’t worry about who is next to you. Worry about driving your own race.’ That’s exactly what I did and what I’ll do.”
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.
