IMCA hobby stock driver Brayden Wood may be a rookie, but he’s already got two wins to his credit. But for as much as he’s experienced the highs of the sport, he found a new low, too, all in one weekend.
It started on Friday, with a trip to victory lane at CJ Speedway. He had earned his biggest check yet, $1,000. Easy come, easy go, as that money would evaporate on Monday at Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway.
On the second lap of the feature, Wood was moving through the field when another car slid into his car’s left rear. That sent him toward the infield, where the right of his hobby stock smacked a tractor tire.
“That big tire tore up my car pretty good,” Wood, of Sigourney, Iowa, said. “A lot of people don’t believe in [infield tractor tires] because they want to save cars from being damaged. But if the tires weren’t out there, racers would cheat the racing surface. So, I can see both sides of the issue.”
Wood was not hurt. He sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat with a RaceQuip harness. Wood wore a Zamp helmet paired with a HANS device.
His hobby stock, though, needs some work. It dates back to 1999, built by Ray Knipe. While nearly 30 years old, Wood, along with his father, Nathan, and grandfather, Deke, rebuilt the car, with just about only the frame remaining original. Fortunately, it will stay original after the wreck.
To straighten out the corners, the Woods used a NAPA porta ram. They replaced the car’s door, dash and fenders. Then, they beat out the nose and checked the suspension for damage.
Today, they’re ready for action at Southern Iowa Speedway. Brayden Wood hopes to return to CJ Speedway on Friday and run wherever the rain doesn’t hit for the rear of the weekend.
“I am trying to get the most nights of racing in that I can to see if I could be in the running for the IMCA rookie of the year,” Wood said. “Keeping the car in great condition, getting 20 good finishes, needing a track championship and dodging rainouts make it tough to be rookie of the year.”
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.
