I took a calculated risk Friday evening. With a solid line of rain and thunderstorms marching from west to east I had my eye on the radar from the moment that I woke up. The Frostbuster at Marshalltown was my original destination, and when that line of storms advanced east faster than what was originally predicted it looked like there might be a chance that the races could go on even after the rain passed through. But at 2:30 p.m. the word came down from M-Town that just too much drain had fallen to be able to race, so I next looked to Des Moines as it definitely made more sense to go somewhere that was now behind the line of precipitation. That plan went down the drain quickly as their cancellation announcement appeared at just about the same time as Marshalltown's.
So now it was decision time. The line of storms had now reached the Mississippi river here on the north edge of it, but the rain seemed to be straggling behind a bit as it swung back to the south and the west into Missouri. Would it hold off long enough to allow a track in central Illinois to get their show in? It was worth the risk to me so I loaded up and headed for Lincoln Speedway where the Monster Midwest Tour for UMP Late Models, along with UMP Modifieds, Mini-Sprints and Wild Things were on the schedule for opening night.
It was an interesting drive as I didn't clear the rain until I was just outside of Peoria, but each check of my Black Berry for the radar confirmed that it was still dry in Lincoln and it looked like things would hold off long enough for racing. It was only 59 degrees when I drove through Galesburg and when I reached the east side of Peoria it quickly climbed to 77 degrees, so there was no doubt that the weather was coming.
The pits were packed with race cars and the grandstands filled in as well despite the threatening weather. Thirty-six Late Models, thirty-six Modifieds, thirty-one "Wild Things" and fifteen Mini Sprints were on hand as hot laps, qualifying and racing started right on time with the first heat taking the green right after 7:30. The track could not have been in better condition and that was proven during Late Model qualifying as the first car out, Jason Feger, shattered the track record with a lap of 12.441 seconds, more than a half second faster than Earl Pearson Jr.'s old standard of 13.022.
Modified heats were up first and the first heat had an interesting front row made up of Mike Chasteen Jr. and Jeffrey Leka. The two sons of central Illinois Modified legends went at it for the first half of the eight lap event before young Leka pulled away for the win while Chasteen slipped to third behind Tommy Sheppard Sr. The second Modified heat ate up some precious time that we just didn't realize at the moment due to two spectacular accidents. First it was Mark Grosevenor who climbed the wall going into turn one and completely wiped out two of the catch fence poles. With the quarter-mile racing surface sitting on the inside of the big horse track, the catch fence in turns one and two doesn't really protect anything other than open space so officials just laid the broken poles and the torn up fence down behind the wall and we went back to racing. Two laps later Ryan Blakeman clipped the wall in turn one and when the front end snapped to the right the left side wheels dug in and he rolled hard side-to-side about four times before ending up on his side. Thankfully both drivers walked away uninjured and defending track champion Brian Lynn finally won that second heat.
The third heat saw the fathers of the front row of the first heat in action as Mike Chasteen took the win after a race-long tussle with Wes O'Dell while Jeff Leka came from eighth to finish third. The fourth and final Mod heat went to Matt Gremminger.
Late Model heats were up next with drivers aligned straight up by qualifying times with the top four advancing to the feature and the top two eligible for the redraw. It was no surprise that all four pole-sitters, Feger, Shannon Babb, Steve Sheppard Jr. and Brian Shirley, went on to wins, but there was plenty of great racing behind them to hold your attention. Young Brandon Sheppard pulled a nifty slider with two laps to go on Cory Daugherty to grab the other redraw spot in the first heat while Ryan Unzicker had to dispose of Brian Harris late to take second in heat two. Steve Lance Jr. held back a late charge from Kevin Weaver for the right to draw from heat three and in the fourth qualifier I was impressed with the charge made by Charley Hess who drove past Richie Hedrick and Dennis Erb Jr. to finish third. Brandon Thirlby also made a nice charge in one the heats to take the fourth and final starting spot to validate his long trip down from Traverse City, Michigan.
It was now 8:30 and a check of the radar showed the line of rain getting agonizingly closer as the two Mini-Sprint heats came to the track. They ran off without a hitch and next rolled out three heats of the four-cylinder "Wild Things". At 8:55 and with the rain no more than twenty miles to the west according to the radar, track officials did the only thing that I could have considered to be an unwise use of time on the night given the weather conditions as they brought the eight Late Model drivers to the frontstretch for the redraw, and what would end up being a brief interview with each of them by the track announcer. The whole process only took about eight minutes, but it was right then and there that I realized that nobody must have been checking the radar!
The two Modified B-Mains rolled to the track immediately following the interviews but, as B-Mains are prone to do, they had their fair share of cautions and took twenty minutes to complete. So at 9:25 the first of two Late Model B's hit the track as sprinkles started to fall. Three minutes later a caution waved for a spin in turn four and the rain picked up in intensity. The wind was now from the north, the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees and the once perfectly prepared racing surface quickly became a slimy mess. Having watched the radar all evening I knew that this first little shower might actually let up in a few minutes, but that there would be more to come later. Plus, with the Lincoln Speedway tucked right into a residential area of this town of 15,000, I knew that a curfew would likely be in effect so I sprinted for my car and headed for home.
Was I disappointed? Yeah, a little bit. This was, after all, a Late Model special with drivers from as far away as Michigan on hand (Phil Ausra from Dowagiac was there along with Thirlby), so perhaps a little more effort to get that portion of the show completed would have been nice. Had this been a weekly show then I would not have expected officials to shuffle the race order, such as running the Four Cylinder heats later, or slipping the Late Model B's in before the Wild Thing heats and then running the Late Model feature right after those heats. But this wasn't a weekly show and with a little more sense of urgency I do believe that the Late Model feature could have been contested before the rains came at 9:28. I have seen other promoters do it, especially in this day and age of having radars that can be put into motion on your cell phone. That being said, I will commend the crew on running an efficient program with the only "down time" being the interviews, but eliminating that would have only allowed us to get to the second Late Model B-Main.
The racing action was fantastic and I was also entertained by some of the fans who were sitting around me. The Charley Hess cheering section went nuts as he blew by Hedrick and Erb, and the good looking ladies in the Wes O'Dell shirts could drink beer with the best of them! Yes, I took a calculated risk making a 160 mile drive to the races knowing that a line of storms was going to play a factor. I'm glad I took the risk and I look forward to returning to Lincoln Speedway in the future!
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