In my most recent ramblings I talked about a race-day weather scenario that would make a promoter's stomach churn and turn. Now take that same situation and have it on a mid-week show where you are offering up $10,000 to the feature winner and you can imagine what kind of a day Keith Simmons had as he prepped for Tuesday night's Open Late Model Shootout at the Farley Speedway. Just like last Friday in Donnellson the rain fell all round the race track and likely cut into both the car count and the fan count, but in the end both counts were not too bad leaving you wonder just how big of a show this could have been. And, for those who braved the threatening weather, they were treated to a very entertaining show with plenty of action and drama.
The fifty-lap Late Model feature story can best be told by giving you a rundown of the ten caution periods during the event and the circumstances that surrounded them:
Lap 2 - Shortly after pole-sitter Chad Simpson shot out to the lead seventh row starter Jason Rauen stopped his car near the opening in the wall in turn two so that he could duck into his pit. Whatever they did out there worked well as within twelve laps (and three more cautions) Rauen would be all the way up to the top five.
Lap 5 - Denny Eckrich, who earlier in the night put himself behind the eight-ball when the right front of his nose piece folded under on his first qualifying lap, had his night come to an end when his drive-train let go.
Lap 7 - Debris on the frontstretch. Jill George was very impressive earlier in the night as she held off both Bill Frye and Will Vaught to finish second to race winner Curt Martin in qualifying heat race number two, but disaster struck during the cool down lap as her motor went up in smoke. Veteran driver Pete Parker loaned his car to Jill so that she could run the feature and she pulled in during this caution.
Lap 14 - Brian Birkhofer had looked like the man to beat all night long. He was three tenths of a second faster than everybody else in qualifying, he was the only one of the four fastest qualifiers to come from row two and win his heat race and, in the dash, he started sixth and finished third in six laps. In the early portion of the feature though it was Birky chasing Chad Simpson and with each restart Chad was able to put some distance on perhaps the hottest driver in the sport at this time. The chase came to an end though on this caution as Birkhofer pulled to the highside of turn four and coasted to a halt. He then drove to his outside pit area, but never did return. Only fourteen of the original twenty-four starters took the green for the restart and one of them was Jill George who had returned to the track six laps down after seeing the rate of attrition.
Lap 16 - Now running second once again, front row starter Will Vaught checked up and stopped with a flat right rear tire. He ducked into his pit and was able to return in time for the green flag. The caution though was actually for Jake Meier who had stopped on the opposite end of the track. Meier also stopped in his pit and returned for the restart.
Lap 19 - The "curse on the second-place car" continued as Billy Moyer went up in smoke in turn one ending his night. On the restart Andy Eckrich was now in second and was doing everything he could to get around Simpson, not only to lead the race, but to escape the curse!
Lap 21 - The curse strikes again!!! With Eckrich slightly ahead of him racing through the turns, the right front tire goes down on Chad Simpson's #25. He makes repairs and returns to the track for the restart. Andy Eckrich is the new leader and nobody wants to be in second. But then again, this is racing, so who really does want to be in second??
Lap 29 - Up to now the longest green flag run of the night comes to a screeching halt when Jason Rauen decides that he wants to make another pit stop and parks near the opening in turn two.
Lap 33 - While running fifth and working the very bottom groove of turns one and two, Curt Martin gets sideways and collects the sixth-place car of Jeremiah Hurst. Both drivers duck into the infield for a quick check over before returning for the restart. During this caution period Billy Moyer gestures to Billy Moyer Jr. to come to the pits and call it a night. The younger Moyer ended up driving his backup car that just happened to be the Late Model that had been prepped and painted for Cup star Denny Hamlin to use in the rained out "Prelude to a Dream" event at Eldora.
Lap 40 - Hurst coasts to a halt under the flagstand with a flat right rear tire. By now both Vaught and Simpson are back in contention and will restart side-by-side behind the leader Eckrich. And, with the "Lucky Dog" rule in effect, Jill George has now made up all six of her laps and will restart tenth, just ahead of Hurst.
The final ten laps went caution free as Vaught made one quick bid for the lead only to see Eckrich then pull away for his first win of 2009 and the biggest paycheck of his young career. Vaught held off Simpson for second with Jeff Larson and Jake Meier rounding out the top five as the checkers waved at 11 p.m.
The $500-to-win Stock Car feature had its share of issues as well unknowingly serving as a precursor to the caution-filled Late Model finale. Three of the fifteen cars scheduled to start scratched prior to the 15-lap event and during the parade lap pole-sitter Kerry Dake made a hard left into the infield with audible motor issues. He would return to the race after a lap one caution. In that first lap Scott Pratt had moved quickly from seventh to fourth, but one lap after the restart hard contact between he and Matt Picray ended Pratt's night with a broken rear end. On the seventh lap as Kevin Brame had a motor let go in turn one, Shane Oberbroeckling got upside down exiting turn two bringing out the red flag. Shane would be checked out by medical personnel after slowly climbing from the car under his own power.
On the restart one of the cars in the double row behind leader Greg Gill fired earlier and made contact with Gill sending the entire field for a scramble. Doug Yates hit the outside wall, but was able to continue while David Brandies was not as fortunate as he retired with front end damage. Matt Bennett also headed for the pits leaving us with seven cars for the final eight laps. With Gill out front the race heated up for second where Wayne Hora and Andrew Burk made contact on lap nine sending both cars for a spin and another caution. The race went green from there as Gill picked up the win with Sean Rupp in second and Matt Picray third. Dake recovered to finish in the fourth spot while Burk tallied a top five in fifth.
The next "Tornado Tuesday" featuring the Late Models racing for $10,000-to-win will be at the Farley Speedway on July 7th just prior to the World of Outlaw sanctioned "Gopher 50" up the road at Deer Creek Speedway in southeast Minnesota. The West Liberty Raceway has a "Tornado Tuesday" set for August 4th, so Late Model fans get out and support these two big mid-week special events!
Finally, I have to mention how much I enjoyed listening to the announcing duo of Eric Huenefeld and Jerry Mackey. Eric is one of the top young talents in the booth and Jerry still delivers even after taking the past several years off while living in the land of no fried pork tenderloins, California. Mike Becker even snuck in a few comments, but apparently there were only two microphones available, otherwise the fun would have went up exponentially.
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