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ALGER, Wash. (June 23, 2025) – Trey Starks has produced numerous championships and special wins throughout his racing career, but nothing stands above the moment that arrived last Saturday night at Skagit Speedway.
Starks earned his first career Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup triumph, garnering more than $111,000 that encompassed race winnings and lap money during the final night of the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series sanctioned crown jewel.
“A sigh of relief is a great way to explain it,” he said. “We’ve had years in the past we’ve been really fast, but not able to put three nights together. That was our main focus this year. We have good speed. We knew we had to start off the prelim nights strong, build points and set ourselves up for the final night.”
Starks did just that. He set quick time out of the nearly 50 competitors on Thursday during the opening preliminary night. A run from eighth to third place in a heat race and from 16 th to 11 th in the main event put him as the high-points driver.
“We had great speed,” he said. “We moved forward in the feature. We didn’t set the world on fire. It’s really tempting to try to drive through the field as hard as you can, but years of DNFs and problems when we tried too hard got us in bad positions. We reserved a little on the prelim nights in the feature, knowing you just need to make enough points to be toward that top four in overall points. You still have to move forward, but take a little less risk.”
Starks was fifth quickest in qualifying on Friday. He maneuvered from eighth to fifth place in a heat race and from 12 th to sixth place in the main event.
“We were high points the first night and high points overall after the two preliminary nights,” he said. “We did everything we needed to do to set ourselves up and we did everything we needed to do to execute on the final night. It’s really rewarding when you stick to a plan and it works out. The multiple-day events contradict what sprint car racing is about, which is driving as hard as you can for every lap and leaving it all out there. So it’s nice to show we can factor in finesse and do things with a purpose and execute.”
Starks won the final round of the pole shuffle on Saturday to garner the Dick Wilskey Pole Award for the 40-lap main event.
“The weather was a big factor all weekend,” he said. “We beat the rain just in time on Friday. It rained up until 11 or 12 Saturday afternoon. They were scrambling with the track and did a really good job. When we rolled out for the feature there was a heavy fog rolling in. You started to feel the moisture in the air. I think between the time we got everything set and pushed on the track and then doing driver intros, I think the air, the humidity, changed.
“On the start, the motor wasn’t quite running how I’d like it to. It was running smooth, but I could feel it was down on power. The moisture in the air brought moisture into the track, which had a lot of grip. When we first got to traffic the best way to describe it was overwhelming with a wall of three or four cars across the track. I just had to wait for an opening. We picked our way through traffic and the motor was still feeling lazy. I was really careful of where I put my car.
“Somewhere along the way I saw Tanner (Holmes) on the inside. At that point I wasn’t really that worried because I knew how boxed in we were in traffic. He ended up getting by on Lap 14 and led a couple of laps. When the red came out and it became an open red it was a relief because I knew we could work on it. I said to my crew, ‘Don’t worry about the race car. We need to change some of the fuel settings to get this thing running right.’ We changed the fuel settings to lean it out and I think that was the main difference. We took back off and the motor ran like it should. We hung with him and paced him for a lap and a half or so. He left the door open and I knew it was time to execute and pull the trigger. I try to pride myself – even racing for $100,000 – I’m not going to run over somebody. I put pressure on Tanner, but I left him a lane. I was able to finish it off going into turns one and two. From there I told myself I have to be aggressive in traffic because I can’t give him another shot. I tried to watch traffic several laps out and make concise decisions to not lose speed.”
Starks, who led the first 13 laps, reclaimed the top spot on Lap 18 and led the distance for his sixth triumph of the season.
“It was rewarding in the feature to have to battle back and take that one back away,” he said. “Not that it would have changed anything, but it was more rewarding than jumping to the lead early and leading every lap. It was a good race for the fans with some back and forth. We had a little drama with the open red when we had to make some changes. Just a really rewarding weekend I’d say.
“It speaks volumes to how our team operates. It’s not very often you hear of people making fuel adjustments under an open red. I knew our car was okay. If we could get our motor running the way it should we’d be fine. It was nice to know we could pivot and execute in those two minutes of the open red.”
Starks will return to Skagit Speedway this Saturday for a regular points show. He enters the event holding a 37-point lead in the championship standings.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 19 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 3 (8); Feature: 11 (16).
June 20 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 5 (8); Feature: 6 (12).
June 21 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – King of the Hill: 1 (1); Feature: 1 (1).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 6 wins, 12 top fives, 13 top 10s, 14 top 15s, 15 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.StarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts