Success for Stacey Mills on the racetrack came fast for the Webb, Iowa driver. The Mills family was no stranger to victory lane while Stacey was growing up, as they watched fellow Kossuth County Racing Hall of Fame inductee Denny Hovinga win races in the family-owned #10 late model. The lessons learned from Hovinga along with his father Kevin and uncle Jim, allowed Stacey to adapt to driving race cars quickly. Mills started out racing a Bomber at Alta and at the Kossuth County Raceway in 1994, scoring his first win at Algona on July 23rd.
Switching to an IMCA Hobby Stock the next season, Mills was incredible right out of the gate. Ultimately earning the 1995 IMCA Hobby Stock Rookie of the Year honor and the IMCA Hobby Stock National Championship that year, Mills captured eight wins in first season at Algona. Those feature wins were highlighted by capturing the Kossuth County Fair/Schattschneider Memorial race, the July 4th special, and the season championship feature. To end the ’95 season at Algona, Mills won the Fall Finale and Cheater’s Night.
“We started 1995 at Jackson [MN] and got claimed the second night we were there. So, we switched to Algona and raced there the rest of the year. I liked racing there a lot better. No matter whether it was Al & Peggy Schadendorf or Joe Ringsdorf running the track, we always felt welcome here,” Mills said. “After winning that first [IMCA Hobby Stock] National Championship, we were hooked on racing pretty quick.”
Obviously proving that his early success was not anywhere close to being a fluke, Mills scored six IMCA Hobby Stock wins at Algona the following year, including the Mid-Season Championship feature, ’96 Kossuth County Fair race and the Fall Finale before earning the track point championship at Algona. At season’s end, he was once again crowned the IMCA Hobby Stock National Champion.
In 1997 Mills made the jump up to an IMCA Stock Car and earned another big event trophy at the Algona track, winning the Kossuth County Fair race for the second time.
“We raced Stock Cars throughout 1997 and maybe a little the next season, before selling the car in 1998. We were busier with work on the farm and my wife, and I were starting our family. Sometimes, you just have to take care of other things in life that are important too,” he says.
Though his stint in IMCA Stock Cars was short he remembers that while racing Britt, Alta and Algona during that time, that he is proud to have won races at all three tracks in the class. “The competition in Stock Cars was incredible; there were so many good drivers then and it’s still a very competitive class.”
Mills eventually returned to racing, driving IMCA Modifieds. “I remember winning my first modified feature at Britt and my brother Jermey was right up there too that night. After I won, he nearly beat me to my car in victory lane,” Mills recalls.
His biggest IMCA Modified win came at Algona, collecting the 2014 $1000 to win Frostbuster main at the track.
“2010 in modifieds was also a big deal for us. That was the first year I was racing a Razor mod and I had Mark Noble driving my Harris chassis. I remember there were a few nights we all finished one-two-three between Noble, my brother and I. I didn’t collect a win in those finishes, but it was so cool to be in the top three racing my brother and Noble who was in my car. I had a lot of fun having Mark drive my car.”
When asked about his favorite memories, Mills goes back to his family, Denny Hovinga and the earlier days of his career. “Being around Hovinga was incredible. He trusted very few people to turn wrenches on his car, but me and brother did that a lot. Heck, there were nights he’d get claimed and my brother and I would come out of the grandstands and start taking the engine out right on the front stretch. And when Denny had to be out of the car for a time, he let me race his car. Nobody drove his car but him, but he trusted me and that meant a lot,” Mills says.
Across his career, Mills won in Bombers, Hobby Stocks, Stock Cars and Modifieds. “I really wanted to get a win in my SportMod [later in my career] so I had a win in every division I raced, but I came up little short.”
His 1995 and 1996 seasons, and the national championships will rank among the best for someone just starting their career, a career that among other tracks, started at Algona. In total, Mills was the winner of at least 19 features at the speedway, putting him just outside the top 25 in all-time wins here.
Mills joins John Pletcher, Tim Sidels, and Bruce Wickman, plus the Algona Fire Department and Kossuth County EMS as inductees into the Kossuth County Racing Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony takes place during the Kossuth County Fair Races in Algona on Thursday, August 6th. Learn more at www.kossuthmuseum.com.
