The Scoop
CHUCK CARMIN – RACING HIS OWN HOMEBUILT IMCA MODIFIED
Posted on: Monday July 14, 2025
Seymour, Wisconsin’s Chuck Carmin wheels an IMCA modified he built himself on the local dirt tracks in 2025.
In 2025, you’d be hard pressed to find an IMCA modified competitor in Wisconsin who builds his or her own chassis and races it.
Chuck Carmin has bucked that trend. The soon-to-be-42-year-old Seymour, Wisconsin resident competes with a chassis he built by himself one season ago. The transplant from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula moved to northeastern Wisconsin and found a job in the area so he could race more frequently. “I simply wanted to make a change and do some more racing,” said Carmin, who is a North Dakota native. “There is so much racing down here, and it’s good, quality racing, too.”
Carmin lives one mile from Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. “I wheeled a sportmod for my first couple of years down this way,” Carmin explained. “For me, it was a great way to get a lot of seat time against some great drivers in the sportmod class. I did that with the goal of being to work my way eventually into an IMCA modified, which we are running this year.”
Chuck Carmin (23) takes the high line in IMCA modified action at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. (danlewisphoto.net)
On the surface, one would think Carmin is most definitely bringing a knife to a gunfight every time his No. 23 racer rolls into the pits. After all, how can a homebuilt chassis compete with the popular brands like Rage, Razor, MB Customs, Lethal or any other of the big name chassis builders?
According to Carmin, most of those roller chassis from a handful of these chassis manufacturers these days can cost as much as $40,000 to $50,000. If you’re talking a new, turnkey modified you can expect to spend upwards of $80,000 to $85,000.
What’s Carmin’s price tag on his car, complete with a new motor and transmission? “I have built this IMCA modified for $25,000,” Carmin explained. “I don’t have a network of people to lean on for technical advice – and that’s maybe where some of those larger chassis manufacturers can provide more tech support per se. Many of them put really good drivers in their cars that can provide them some really good feedback. If I had to go and buy a $50,000 roller chassis, I can tell you I wouldn’t be doing this.”
Obviously, that’s one of the true “cons” of running your own homebuilt stuff is that you don’t have anyone else to bounce ideas off of. “But one of the pros of running my own stuff is I don’t have to wait to get my car fixed because I’m able to make things like control arms, tubes and plates and whatever myself,” Carmin explained. “I build all of that stuff. I don’t have to go to a vendor. A lot of the rest of the parts are built by Chad Wehrs at Wehrs Machine & Racing Products.”
Carmin pointed to a recent wreck on a Saturday night at Shawano Speedway. By making his own bolt on parts, he was able to make it back out to race the following Friday night at Outagamie Speedway. In recent years, Carmin has forged a friendship with a couple of other modified drivers who’ve built and run their own modifieds – Jay Matthias and “Racin’ Jason” Czarapata. “I get along with those guys pretty well because we’re all sort of the same mentality,” Carmin pointed out.
When he lived and raced in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula some years ago, Carmin helped turn around the racing program at the Upper Michigan state fairgrounds race track in Escanaba. He was very much a hands on promoter, and learned the craft of track preparation. “I’ve certainly been on both sides of the fence on this racing deal as both a driver and a promoter,” Carmin admitted. “The U.P. Culture up there was more asphalt than it was dirt when I moved up there. I went up there and tried to revive the dirt track racing scene in Escanaba. I think we have brought some stability to the racing scene at least in that region.”
Carmin points to B mod car count average close to 20 at Escanaba, for example. “I think they are in that 85 to 90 total cars weekly average or close to that, so that’s a step in the right direction,” Carmin said.
Back to the track prep aspect. Carmin has lent a hand at Shawano Speedway, assisting Cody Hudson and others on occasion with the track preparation on the half-mile. “Truth be told, track prep is a very underappreciated part of our sport,” Carmin said. “There is nothing easy about it at all. To do it right, it takes four or five days a week to work that racing surface and get it right. It’s not a “just show up on a Saturday” deal. You’ve got to get there on race day around 9 or 10 o’clock on the morning and truly babysit that surface all day long. You’ve also got to watch the weather really close. Where tracks get in trouble sometimes is maybe they don’t water enough during the day, and then they maybe water too much at the end. That’s where I had pretty good luck with what I did at Shawano this year.”
So what does Carmin consider a “good night” when he’s racing his IMCA modified? “To me, if I can earn a top ten finish by passing some cars and putting the car back into the trailer in one piece is what I call a good night,” Carmin admitted. “Towards the end of last year, I had several races where I’d start maybe 19th and I was able to work my way up through the field to either eighth or ninth. I led most of a feature at Shawano last year and wound up 3rd there. This year it seems like more of a struggle and I haven’t done as well.”
Like many other local racers, Carmin does not race weekly anywhere. Part of that is he often travels out-of-town occasionally for his job. According to Carmin, a driver can get better when he or she isn’t running the same track every week because it forces you to make adjustments. “As far as the tracks around here go, I really do enjoy the racing surface at Luxemburg,” Carmin explained. “It’s got really good clay, and I really like the shape of that track with the banking. I really loved Oshkosh Speedzone when it was around, too. And when I’ve run Seymour this year the racing surface has been pretty good there, too. I really give them credit for stepping up their track prep game this year. It seems like the racing grooves at Seymour have really begun to widen out quite a bit.”
Chuck Carmin with his wife Kristi. (Chuck Carmin photo)
When it comes to his pit crew, most of the time it’s just Chuck and his wife Kristi. “She keeps me sane, and she really does a lot of those little things for me during the week,” Carmin admitted. “I couldn’t do it without her support.”
Carmin plans on delving into the world of pavement late model racing a bit in 2026. “We’ve got an asphalt car we’re going to get involved with down the road,” Carmin explained. “We will be doing some stuff with Field Filler Motorsports next year, running with the WIR ¼ mile division. During Covid, I actually did quite a bit of Iracing on the pavement tracks and did fairly well with that. Wisconsin historically is huge with asphalt late model racing, so I figure why not give it a try?” Carmin also plans a trip to compete at Norway (MI) Speedway yet in the month of July.
Carmin’s team of marketing partners includes Gehm’s Club 117, Renegade Racing, Extreme Enterprises, NU SKIN by Kristi Carmin, M & B Shock Service and www.renegadeparts.net.
2025 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 7/14/25)
(Tracks included, but not limited to: Outagamie Speedway, Gravity Park USA, Luxy Raceway, 141 Speedway, The Hill Raceway, Plymouth Dirt Track & Shawano Speedway. We’ll also include feature wins by N.E. Wisconsin drivers scored at other tracks, including out-of-state and series victories. These include both IMCA sanctioned & non-sanctioned wins)
LATE MODELS
Andy Karl 4
Mike Mullen 3
Nick Anvelink 2
Taylor Scheffler 2
Troy Springborn 1
Lukas Postl 1
Joel Bennett 1
Mitch McGrath 1
Brett Swedberg 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
Justin Schmidt 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Benji LaCrosse 6
Johnny Whitman 5
Konnor Wilinski 3
Jesse Cullen 3
Lucas Lamberies 3
Matt Klenz 2
Tanner Janke 2
Joel Seegert 2
Cole Czarneski 2
Ethan Braaksma 2 (141 Clash)
Todd Dart 2
Race Van Pay 2
Skyler Woods 2
Marcus Hoeppner 1
Tony Wedelstadt 1
Geoff Jeche 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
Brian Mullen 1
Kevin Feck 1
Steve Schneider 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
Steve Mueller 1
Joel Crowbridge 1
Kelsey Wedelstadt 1
IMCA STOCK CARS
Tyle Wilson 8
Cole Czarneski 6
Mike Mullen 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Jeremy Christians 4
Rod Snellenberger 4
Luke Lemmens 3
Mark Hoeppner 2
Dylan Stedjee 1
Nick Buckarma 1
Trent Nolan 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Phil Mott 1
Trentin Bell 1
Tyler Schrimpf 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Nate Michonski 1
Caden LeMieux 1
Marcus Yarie 1
Devin Snellenberger 1
Shannon Guelette 1
Shawn Kilgore 1
Vern Stedjee 1
Troy Muench 1
Aaron Karcz 1
Travis Welch 1
Josh Mroczkowski 1
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 6
Brian Konitzer 3
Tim Warner 3
Tommy Rindt 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Jake Carpenter 2
Ryan Schmidt 2
Max Oreskovich 2
Cole Slezewski 2
Jay Schaalma 2
Dylan Schmidt 2
Craig Dorner 2
Travis Schmidt 2
JJ Vanderloop 2
Cory Kemkes 1
Dustin White 1
Cole Thomas 1
Jordan Jahnke 1
Jim Zdroik 1
Jeffery Teske 1
Spencer Long 1
AJ Springborn 1
Cole Magnin 1
Robert Wittkopf 1
Nick Kresbach 1
Tim Jorgenson 1
Colton See 1
Bernie Reinhardt 1
Jared Spaulding 1
Trevin Veeser 1
Matt Urban 1
Dan Jung 1
Randy LeMieux Jr. 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Paul Diefenthaler 6
Derek Moede 5
Trey Van Straten 5
Jeff Richards 4
Ryan Sullivan 2
Shannon Guelette 2
Mark Hoeppner 2
Dave DeGrave 2
Cory Romenesko 1
Austin Steinke 1
Jason Piron 1
Danny Gracyalny 1 (Eagle River)
Garrett Geyer 1
Phillip Wuesthoff 1
Kyle Gennett 1
Jacob Ambrosius 1
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 5
Jeff Muehlbauer 4
Jake Richards 2
Brian Gilles 1
Maverick Ruh 1
Tyler Wilson 1
Jeff Steenbergen 1
Bristol Hitsman 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
Brian Watzka Jr. 6
James Reese 6
Skyler Bork 4
Adam Broehm 3
Cody Booth 3
Shawn Bangart 3
Dalton Nelson 2
Thomas Schulte 2
Brad Wedde 2
Clint Malueg 2
Tanner Westphalt 2
Scott Schlafke 2
Seth Collar 1
Ben Schulte 1
Missy Clark 1
Chase Ertel 1
Brett Deprez 1
Jeffrey Meyer 1
Scott Blanke 1
Ricky Kaufert 1
Taylor Junk 1
Justin Finlan 1