Veteran Orvedal a steady competitor in IMCA Hobby Stock division

Brad Orvedal’s racing career started way back in 1982 in the bomber class at Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon.

“I won a feature the second night I drove the car,” the Fargo driver said.

He then stepped away from driving after a half-season in 1982. All the way until 2015.

His life circumstances changed in 2014 when his wife, Jean, died in November of that year. She did not want him getting injured behind the wheel of a race car so he stepped away in the 1980s.

“She didn’t want me to get hurt in the car, and I didn’t have the money,” Orvedal said. “I was unsupervised after 2014.”

It wasn’t that Orvedal wasn’t involved in racing during those other years, he just wasn’t driving. He worked as a tech inspector for more than a decade, and also built and owned a hobby stock car driven by Tim Shiek for several years. But in 2015, he felt the urge to get back behind the wheel.

“It was getting to the point, ‘I want to drive too,” Orvedal said.

Shiek retired as Orvedal didn’t want to fund two cars. The 61-year-old took over the driving and he’s been a mainstay in the IMCA Hobby Stock at Red River Valley Speedway, Norman County Raceway and Buffalo River Speedway ever since.

Orvedal has  three track championships to his credit – two at Buffalo River and one at Norman County. Since 2016 he has 11 feature wins in the class.

“I just enjoy getting out there and running,” Orvedal said. “I build my motors, build my transmission, build my rear ends – I build my entire car except for the chassis itself.  I know everything about this car. It’s like clockwork. If something starts acting up, I know exactly what it is right away.”

One thing Orvedal has been in recent years is incredibly consistent. In 137 starts since then, he has 97 top five finishes with four feature wins.

His 2024 campaign saw 18 top fives in 27 starts and one feature win.

“I struggled with the car,” Orvedal said. “I ended up finding some stuff that was wore out in the back, and I didn’t find it until the end of July.”

After that discovery, the early returns on the car were positive after an early trip to a doubleheader at Nodak Speedway in Minot.

“I was very happy with the improvements I had made,” Orvedal said.                       

This summer has been more of the same steadiness for Orvedal, with nine top fives in 14 starts. He was a season-best second at Red River Valley on May 9. Despite that, he says it’s been a struggle getting the handling down on the 3XL machine.  He’s been working more with Corky Thomas on getting the car to work better on a wet track.

His goal is to reach 30 shows this year – difficult with the rainouts and less and less hobby stock shows being scheduled locally.

“I want to race more this year,” Orvedal said. “I’m planning on going to Minot, and the track in Bottineau has eight nights scheduled, two Saturdays each month. I’m going to try and race more. I’ve never broken into the top 10 in North Dakota state points in IMCA, and I’d like to.”

Driver Profile

Brad Orvedal

IMCA Hobby Stock #3XL

Age: 61

Residence: Fargo, N.D.

Sponsors: M&J Auto Parts, Johnson and Shock Excavating, Boss Automotive, Dynamic Auto Solutions Minot, Demon Decals North