Somebody Should Have Been Shooting This Night For a Discovery Channel Show!

My first-ever visit to the half-mile oval version of the Mineral City Speedway will be remembered for three distinct reasons:

1. A Hobby Stock feature that was decided on the final turn with the margin of victory being no more than a foot.

2. A USMTS Modified feature that was decided on the final turn coming to the checkers with a new phenom taking his fifth-straight series victory, and

3. Numbers 1 and 2 above all taking place while lightning flashed in the skies nearby and a funnel cloud was sighted less than twenty-miles away BEFORE the green flag waved for the final event of the night.

Yes indeed, all three of these things had my heart pumping and I can guarantee you that this will not be my last trip to Fort Dodge for fabulous racing action!

The Stock Car feature was up first taking the green flag at a few minutes before nine o’clock. Mark Elliott, who came to the track late after having to get out of his Modified and into his Stock Car, started on the front row alongside his brother Greg and the two went at it pretty good for the first couple of laps. Mark soon established himself as the superior Elliott on this night and then cruised on to the victory with Greg in second. Jeremy Crimmins prevailed in a tight battle with Nathan Wood for the third spot while Mike VanGenderen rounded out the top five. Steve Jackson came into the night as the Dart Ironman Challenge point leader and he finished sixth while Jason Minnehan came all the way from the ninth row to take seventh.

Mark Elliott on cruise control in the Dart Ironman Challenge Stock Car A-Main - Barry Johnson photo

With the skies growing ever more threatening, as soon at the Stock Cars pulled off the track the Hobby Stocks were on it and their twelve-lap feature took the green. But things came to a grinding halt in turn four on lap one when contact between front row starters Brett Smith and Todd Hillman sent Hillman for a spin and as the field stacked up behind him, Robert See was sent for a tumble that pretty much destroyed his racecar. Fortunately See climbed out uninjured, the track was cleared quickly and we went back to racing. Brett Smith would lead the first lap only to then yield to current All Iowa Points leader Devin Smith. Brad Ratcliff soon moved to second and took up the chase of Devin Smith and even nosed ahead of him to lead lap four only to have Smith come right back on the following circuit. Justin Nehring had started the race in eighth and was now getting the feel of the fast half-mile moving quickly toward the front and reeling in the leaders. As Smith took the white flag Nehring was within striking distance and as they raced into turns three and four for the final time Nehring drove to the inside of Smith pulling even with him as they exited turn four. The two cars were literally door-handle-to-door-handle coming to the checkers rubbing on each other all the way and as they crossed the line it was Nehring’s bumper that made it there first to take the thrilling victory. Stac Schroeder cam from row five to pick up the third spot while Ratcliff and Merle Bass completed the top five.

Justin Nehring (20N) had to pick his way through the field before his last lap heroics - Barry Johnson photo

Once again as soon as one race was completed the next one rolled to the track as the USMTS Modifieds took the green for their twenty-five-lap finale with a few sprinkles in the air. Al Hejna grabbed the lead from his pole position only to have Colt Mather drive around him on the outside of turn two the following lap. The one and only caution of the event flew on lap three when Hejna slowed with a flat right rear tire and on the restart Mather was a rocket opening up a solid lead over his pursuers. By mid-race though both Jason Krohn and Ryan Gustin were beginning to chip away at Mather’s advantage and when lapped traffic came into play Krohn was able to make his move and take the lead on lap eighteen. Gustin actually lost some ground a lap later when he got pinned behind the lapper, but the third-generation driver (on both sides of the family!) quickly recovered and slipped by Mather two laps later.

Colt Mather would set a blistering pace in the early going of the Modified main event - Barry Johnson photo

Kelly Shryock (3) would start 15th and finish 5th. Here he is racing with the always entertaining Kenny Wallace - Barry Johnson photo

The chase was definitely on now and with the wind starting to blow harder and the storm clouds closing in it felt like one huge scripted crescendo! But it wasn’t scripted, it was just some fantastic dirt track racing on a summer night in Iowa, something that we all need to take a step back and appreciate a little more often. Gustin was looking for his fifth straight series win and he wasn’t about to just follow Krohn around in the leader’s preferred groove. Over the final three laps Gustin looked low, he looked high, and he even ran some corners using a bit of both grooves and as the leaders headed into turns three and four for the final time a lapped car running the low line that Krohn preferred may have been just close enough to make a difference. Gustin kept his foot to the floor of his #19R and swept around the high side of Krohn to swipe the lead and the victory as the crowd cheered their approval. Mather held on for an impressive third-place finish ahead of Ryan Ruter and Kelly Shryock. Brad Williams was sixth, Kevin Pittman took seventh followed by Corey Dripps, Bumper Jones and Kenny Wallace.

Ryan Gustin (19R) looks to the high side of Jason Krohn (7K) in turn one on the final lap - Barry Johnson photo

As soon as the checkers flew the crowd tried to catch their breath and then quickly made their way to their cars as several people were seen on their cell phones getting reports that funnel clouds had been sighted very close to the speedway. I have never seen a crowd disperse so fast after a thrilling feature race in all of my years of attending races!

Mineral City Notes…..Despite a twenty minute break that felt like it was taking forever between the heats and the Modified B-Mains, the final checkers waved at 9:30 p.m……Shryock was the event’s hard charger coming to fifth from fifteenth….Mark Elliott’s delayed appearance on the starting grid for the Stock Car feature was due to the fact that he had just passed Dan Fetters on the final lap of the second Modified B-Main to secure the sixth and final transfer spot. Elliott found himself in that B-Main after he retired to pits with mechanical issues while leading the fourth heat race…..Tommy Weder Jr. looked like he had the first eat race win in hand before his motor let go on the final lap. He was unable to return for a B……Kenny Wallace was very entertaining early in the evening as he took on a role similar to carnival barker while encouraging early arriving fans to come and get his autograph and purchase some of his merchandise….I know that there are some readers who just could not imagine themselves going to a special event where the Modifieds are the headliner, but if you have never attended a USMTS event, you don’t know what you are missing. The speed, the competition and the ability of these drivers to make saves out of tough situations amazed me tonight proving once again that a road trip to a USMTS event is always worth the effort.

As I mentioned before this was my first visit ever to the Mineral City Speedway and I came away very impressed. This is a high-speed half-mile with plenty of racing room and drivers tonight were competitive from top to bottom. My only regret is that I never did track down promoter Kit Hovey who used to be a good supporter as a Hobby Stock driver on the old NKF Tour and who is now a supporter of our efforts here at PositivelyRacing. This place truly is “a gem in the heartland” and I look forward to returning soon!



With this visit I can once again claim that of all of the tracks in the state of Iowa that run a weekly racing programs, I have been to at least one race at them all!