At Kennedale Speedway Park in Texas, a routine Saturday night dirt race on July 25 turned into something nobody in the stands had seen before. During an IMCA Stock Car feature, driver Demetrius Carter was black-flagged for hitting Mike Nichols under caution on the back straightaway. Carter did not go to the pits. He drove into the infield to speak to track promoter James Lopez instead.

Lopez told him to go back out and race. Officials black-flagged Carter again. Carter went back to Lopez, who sent him back out a second time. That is when flagman Kevin Fry reached his limit.

Fry refused to wave the green flag, and over the radio, he told Lopez he would not restart the race until Carter left the track. Lopez’s response was this:

“Well, I guess you need to get off the flag stand then.” And Fry’s reply was, well, interesting.

“Okay, deuces,” he said, dropping a cold line before quitting mid-race.

Fry, who’s been a flagman for almost 30 years, bundled his flags, walked down the steps, and left the facility. The race stopped entirely, and Fry later explained what led to the black flag being raised. Carter’s son Austin had made contact with Nichols earlier in the race, but both continued without issue. Then Demetrius Carter, Austin’s father, decided to settle it himself.

“He decided to take it upon himself to hit the 63 under caution on the back straightaway,” Fry told the Hammer Down Racing Report.

“And I saw that 100%. And then the Race Director said the same thing. He saw it too. So we were going to black-flag and DQ him from the race for hitting while under caution. That’s been our rule all year long.”

A rule the promoter had just publicly ignored. Twice. In front of the entire field. However, just days later, Lopez posted a lengthy apology to the track’s Facebook page.

“Last Saturday we had a major breakdown in the communication process between the tower and myself in the infield,” Lopez wrote. “I brought Rick Stearnes in to be my race director. I gave him authority to make decisions, and during the incident I failed to communicate better with him in the tower and make the decision to let the car in question continue to race. I accept that error.”

Lopez also laid out how things would work going forward. Race Director Rick Stearnes would hold final authority over all black flags, disqualifications, and lineups. Lopez would step back from on-track decisions entirely.

“Moving forward, Rick will make all the final decisions on black flags, disqualifications, lineups and oversee the racing program each night,” he wrote.

The apology was not just about patching things up with the fanbase. Lopez had a much bigger problem sitting in front of him.

What IMCA Can Actually Do

Kennedale Speedway Park runs under an IMCA sanction. That sanction is essentially a franchise agreement, and the rulebook is clear about who holds authority once racing begins.

For this authority outside the ambit of NASCAR, the core principle for promoters is direct: “We take you out of the rules-making business to free up more of your time to be in the promoting business.”

Once the green flag waves, all authority sits with race control. The Race Director, flagman, and tech inspectors make the calls. The promoter handles logistics, marketing, and facilities. Nothing more.

The rulebook states that “any interpretation or deviation of these rules is left to the discretion of the officials. Their decision is final.” Only officials have the right to stop a race or enforce penalties.

Lopez violated a sanctioning body’s operating agreement. The consequences IMCA can enforce are serious. The most immediate is pulling points sanctioning from the track. Without IMCA points, drivers have no reason to come there

What comes after is that the car counts drop and ticket sales are next. Beyond that, IMCA can refuse to renew a track’s annual charter, void race results from the official national database, freeze prize money, or deploy corporate staff to strip a promoter of on-site authority on race day.

The most severe outcome is a personal suspension, banning a promoter from entering pit areas at any IMCA-sanctioned event nationwide.

Lopez’s public apology, published just eight days after the incident, suggests he understood exactly what was at stake. Kennedale is his operation. The IMCA sanction is what keeps it running.

Fry walked off a flag stand to protect the integrity of the race. Lopez had to apologize publicly to protect everything else.