Adam Papin/MDN Kyler Satran, of Minot, prepares ahead of the racing during the opening weekend at Nodak Speedway on Sunday, May 5, 2024.

Kyler Satran is one the best IMCA Hobby Stock drivers in North Dakota. He has three consecutive state titles to prove it. Yet the 21 years-old driver out of Minot has his eyes set on achieving even more on bigger stages with a goal of one day racing a late model on a circuit like the Lucas Oil Late Modified Series.

“It would be awesome to get into a late model, but that’s a long shot from now,” said Satran. “All you can do is keep working at it. I would love for my recent career to grow, just for the fact, we’ve been at it for a while and we’ve been successful. But I think we can grow and do even better.”

The results from a year ago speak for themselves.

In 2023, Satran raced in 42 features. 39 times he finished in the top ten. 36 times he finished in the top five, and he won nine times. Those wins include a feature win at Nodak Speedway and a B-main feature win at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa that each year attracts the top IMCA drivers from across the country.

He also won three track championships in the IMCA Hobby Stock class: Nodak Speedway, Williston Basin Speedway, in Williston, and Estevan Motor Speedway, in Estevan, Sask. All that success catapulted Satran to seventh in the nation in the IMCA Hobby Stocks series.

“I just hope to do as good as we did last year, or even better,” said Satran. “Give everything we’ve got. I mean, that’s all that it comes down to. We’re gonna try our best and try to win as many races as possible.”

On Nodak Speedway’s opening night, Satran made his season debut in a new class for him this season: the IMCA Northern SportMod, which is frequently a crowded class, including defending track champion Gabriel Deschamp.

“For as many cars as they’re talking about getting, it’s going to be pretty tough,” said Satran. “I guess the main thing is to keep your car clean.”

Racing two cars each night is a major challenge, and according to Satran, a key to success is just surviving every night without crashing.

“Basically, you’re trying to survive the fitness of not crashing or getting wrecked,” he said. “So it is going to be surviving through traveling and trying to last through the whole feature, and then obviously getting to the front as fast as you can.”

That adrenaline rush of getting to the front is what Satran lives for, that and having his family by his side supporting him.

“The most fun part about it is definitely the rush,” said Satran. “That and I get to do it with my family. They’re always by my side, and they stuck with me. Ever since I started, they’ve been there, so they’ve been a major part of me, my whole life . . . so I’m going to do it with them, and I get to have that adrenaline rush while I’m doing it. That’s the best part.”