By Victoria Beaver

After locking up the 2017 Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway track championship, Australian native Ian Madsen is ready to hit the road with the World of Outlaws. Madsen is a two-time World of Outlaws race winner, with his most recent win coming at the AGCO Nationals at Jackson (MN) Motorplex this June.

“We’ve been gearing up to go full-time Outlaw racing the past few years,” Madsen said.

In 2017 alone, Madsen raced 90 times and collected 11 victories, mostly at Knoxville in its weekly Saturday feature.

“We’ve been committed to Knoxville on Saturdays the past few years,” Madsen said. “But outside of that we’ve run everywhere. Running with the Outlaws will give us more structure.”

During 2017 Madsen scored 21 top-10 finishes with the World of Outlaws touring series, including one win and six top fives. He was also the highest-finishing part-time Outlaw in the points race with 5,780. Madsen was almost an invading spoiler on night two of the World Finals on Nov. 3, when he came in second to series champion Donny Schatz at the Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, NC.

Madsen has proved he can race for the win on a consistent basis. In 16 races this season at Knoxville, he notched 16 top 10s, 12 to -fives, nine podium finishes, and five wins. That equates to a winning percentage of more than 31 percent.

To improve his program, Madsen knows that it's time to move up and travel with the big dogs from weekend to weekend. “

If you want to be the best, you’ve got to race with the best,” Madsen said.

Kyle Ripper will continue to act as crew chief for the driver, and they hope their chemistry will transfer to the new platform.