CONCORD, N.C. — The IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s is one of the largest grassroots racing events held annually in the United States.

Taking place every September at IMCA’s home track, Boone Speedway, the event typically draws hundreds of local racers from across the country to compete for championships in six divisions.

In advance of the 2020 edition of the Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, SPEED SPORT sat down with IMCA President Brett Root to discuss the IMCA Super Nationals and how the event will change amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This is part one of SPEED SPORT’s conversation with Root. Parts two and three will be published later this week.

All six nights of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV beginning on Sept. 7 and running through Sept. 12.

SPEED SPORT: How long have you been involved with IMCA and what is your role on a day-to-day-basis?

Root: I’ve been employed by IMCA since July of 1997, so 23 years or 24 years. I oversee all of its day to day operations in all aspects, from obviously some of the rule enforcement issues, to some of the procedural issues or point system issues, all of the different departments that we have here at IMCA that essentially make us what we are as a sanctioning body. A lot of people get into the rule making aspects of it, but there’s a lot more of it than that. You know, sanctioning events and the reasoning on how we sanction and events and where we sanction events and when we sanction events to sponsorship programs and contingency programs and all of the communications that we have with essentially the three different parties of people we deal with here.

We deal with promoters who are hosting events, we deal with racers who are attending events as competitors and then we deal with sponsors who also fit into that sometimes on the race track operation side of things and the promoter side of things, and sometimes on the actual competitor side of things. So there’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of different roles that are played around here by me and the staff. Obviously, I oversee all of those aspects.

SPEED SPORT: The IMCA Super Nationals are Sept. 7-12 at Boone Speedway. Why is that the biggest event of the season for IMCA?

Root: The Super Nationals is basically a snapshot of IMCA. That’s usually the way I describe it to people. Without all of the hundreds of race tracks that are hosting IMCA-sanctioned events across the country, without the competitors competing in all of those events, an event of this size isn’t impossible. We draw so many cars in our divisions — all of which except one are competing at this event — because of the fact that there are so many of them out there. So it’s a snapshot of the size of our divisions. It’s a snapshot of the quality of our racing. It’s a snapshot of the state of IMCA in general on an annual basis. So the Super Nationals is a culmination of all of that, where we just combine all of what we deal with on a week-to-week basis into one event.

SPEED SPORT: Why do you think drivers flock to Boone Speedway to participate in the Super Nationals?

Root: What motivates racers to attend is always different. It’s always a challenge from our standpoint to keep up with what the changing perspectives can be with racing. Generally speaking, racers drive race cars because they enjoy doing it. So the competitive side of the sport is definitely one of the main attractions. Our racers know that this is essentially our biggest race of the year. So if you’re going to make a mark in IMCA racing, winning an event, there’s no bigger event than the Super Nationals. It primarily started out as a modified event and at the end of the day the modifieds are the showcase division.

With the expansion of the event over the years, we’ve seen it growing in the other divisions. So that’s what gets the numbers up there. It’s so big. I mean, again, it’s kind of a snapshot of what we’re dealing with on a weekly basis. Our racers know that a lot of the things that make the Super Nationals the Super Nationals … a lot of the things that need to be addressed have been addressed. The facility, the format, the purse, just the overall structure of everything that is involved with hosting a dirt-track racing event. All of those things are pretty well managed at this race.

SPEED SPORT: How many classes compete during the Super Nationals and what are they?

Root: We have sport compacts, hobby stocks, SportMods, stock cars, modifieds and late models. The RaceSavers sprint cars have their own event at Eagle Raceway on Labor Day weekend and they have hosted that event for a handful of years.

Our Southern SportMod division, which is primarily a regional division in and around Texas, probably the closest sanction for that division to Boone Speedway up here in central Iowa is probably eight hours away, maybe 10 hours. So logistically the racers are not concentrated around Boone Speedway in that particular division. We’ve attempted to host that division at the Super Nationals and it’s just really hard to justify for those racers to come up here and compete when it’s so far away.

Most of our other divisions are right here in the upper Midwest and have a very good concentration of race cars around it, so within a few hours of Boone Speedway there’s plenty of cars in each division essentially to make the event go.

Check back Wednesday for part two of our conversation with IMCA President Brett Root.