BOONE, Iowa — Jorddon Braaten would prefer not to repeat what happened to him the last time he planned to compete during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s at Boone Speedway.
Braaten, a 28-year-old IMCA Northern sportmod driver hailing from Oregon, planned to make his Super Nationals debut in 2016.
Unfortunately, while having a little fun on the Sunday before the opening day of the Super Nationals, Braaten suffered an injury that derailed his plans.
“There was a live band in the pits that evening and there was one of those bouncy ball style balls out there and people were popping it up in the crowd,” Braaten explained. “For whatever reason it came my way and I grabbed it. Of course, everyone else was popping it up in the air, so I went to go kick it.
“What happened was I kicked with my right foot and my left foot slipped on the ground and I came right down on my arm. I ended up breaking my left arm right above my hand. So we had to go to the hospital that night. That was it for the week.”
So instead being a part of the action, Braaten watched the 2016 Super Nationals as a fan. It definitely wasn’t how he planned the week to go, but he made a point not to let it bother him as much as it could have.
“It was one of those things that if I’d let it bug me it would have been (disappointing), but I didn’t. I still had a really good time. I still hung out and talked to people and watched all the races,” Braaten said. “I’m just as big a fan as I am of actually racing the car, so I like watching, too.
“It wasn’t as devastating as it probably would have been for other people.”
This year Braaten is returning to Boone for the first time since his injury and he’s doing so as the most successful driver ever from the state of Oregon. He’s scored more than 80 victories during his career competing in the IMCA, including four-straight this season at California’s Siskiyou Golden Speedway.
Braaten is looking forward to heading back to Boone Speedway on Sept. 7-12 in hopes he will compete during the Super Nationals this time around.
“It’ll be nice to go out there and be able to run the whole week,” Braaten acknowledged.
Having only previously competed at Boone Speedway once, the day before he broke his arm in 2016, Braaten says he’ll be fighting an uphill battle during the Super Nationals.
Between the lack of track time and the competition level, he says it’s hard to enter the event with any expectations.
“The biggest challenge is going to be the level of competition that is going to be there,” Braaten said. “It’s one thing to be decent at home for anybody, but when you get a bunch of people who are really good all together in the same spot, it makes everything way, way harder.
“We’re not familiar with the track, I’ve only been on it once. So there is going to be learning there, and the competition is so unreal that it makes it way tougher.”
Like so many IMCA racers before him, he’s making the trip to Boone Speedway to test himself against the best in the country.
“More than anything it’s probably the biggest show out there,” Braaten said of the Super Nationals. “It’s just a way for you to be able to go and see where you stack up with the best competition out there. That’s what’s important to me.
“We want to go there and do well, but it’s hard to go there with any expectations because I don’t run with a lot of those people or on a lot of those tracks. That’s the challenge for us.”
All six nights of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s on Sept. 7-12 will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV.