A couple of months into the 2000 racing season I made the decision to stop compiling the All Iowa Points. The fact that I was very busy and in the midst of the third year of the running the NKF Tour was the primary reason for making that decision. But there was also a level of frustration given the way that results were being edited out of Hawkeye Racing News that sealed the deal. Ten years later, and with a gap from 1999 through 2005 when I do not have the All Iowa Points champions tabulated, I figured that a few missing results here and there were much better than nothing and with the help of Barry Johnson’s archives I am now working on filling in that gap.
Today I completed the 2000 racing season, a season that will be remembered as the year that we lost two superb promoters in Al Frieden and Albert Scott. A year that ended in triumph for Gary Webb as he captured the NASCAR National Championship on the strength of fifteen straight wins at the Dubuque Speedway, and year that saw the “Final Sunset” as Sunset Speedway in Omaha ran its final race ever with Joe Kosiski taking the win. Take a few moments and re-live the past by going to the Points page at Positively Racing and seeing where your favorites of then, and now, ranked in the final rundown of the 2000 All Iowa Points.
For Webb it was a return to the top of the All Iowa Late Model Points, a position that he held for five straight seasons (1993 – 1997) before being bumped by Steve Boley in 1998 and Chris Smyser in 1999. As usual Gary could be found at just about any Late Model event in the Midwest as evidenced by a victory in a Late Model special at Interstate Speedway just across the state line from Sioux City. It was one of the twenty-four feature wins that Webb captured on AIP tracks during the season and this would be his eighth championship overall with titles in 1980 and 1981 as well. Webb’s eight championships ties him now with Ed Sanger (1969, ‘70, ‘71, ‘72, ‘73, ‘75, ‘76 and ‘83) for the most All Iowa Points titles of all time. Will Webb break that tie in 2001? I hope to start working on that year beginning this weekend.
Late Model runner-up Steve Boley tallied sixteen wins on AIP tracks as he claimed the NASCAR All Star Series title in 2000. Joe Kosiski, the 1992 AIP Late Model champion, used his victory at “The Final Sunset” to tie Jeff Aikey for third while Kyle Berck completed the top five. Rick Wages was sixth, Mark Burgtorf seventh, Darrel DeFrance eighth, Darren Miller ninth and the 2000 Deery Brothers Summer Series champion Mike Smith was tenth.
Ron Barker notched fourteen feature wins and earned the 2000 NKF Tour points title on the way to his third All Iowa Points Modified championship. Barker had won the title in 1997 and 1998 before yielding to Troy Folkerts in 1999. The Dubuque driver was also the 1984 All Iowa Points Street Stock champion. Ricky Stephan finished just seven points behind Barker for the 2000 Modifed title while Jeff Walker took third. Rich Lewerke ended up fourth while Bob Dominacki, the 1983 AIP Street Stock champ, took fifth.
The Pro Stock division was still going pretty strong at tracks in east central Iowa while western Iowa and eastern Nebraska tracks were hosting strong fields of Grand National Late Models. These two divisions were combined to determine and All Iowa Points champion and it was Jeremiah Hurst who earned his second championship in the division. John Anderson and Tom Hanson tied for second, Jeff Fallon ranked fourth and Dan Helm, who was nearly unbeatable at Aledo, finished fifth. Sadly the driver who finished tenth in the final standings, Dwight Wrich, lost his life from injuries sustained in a late season accident at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison.
The most dominating driver of the 2000 All Iowa Points racing season was Jeff Anderson of Atlantic who won forty feature races on the way to his first AIP Stock Car championship. Anderson beat out future two-time champ (2006 & 2007) Brian Blessington by 95 points with Dana Wells taking third. Scott Bloemke and Scott Carlson tied for the fourth spot in the final standings.
With fourteen feature wins and a string of consistent top-five finishes Randy Embrey of Granger claimed his first All Iowa Points Hobby Stock championship matching the feat that his father Larry accomplished in 1990 and 1993. Brian Schmitt finished thirty points behind Embrey in second while Damon Murty finished third. Defending (1999) champion Kris Walker took fourth and the 2000 NKF Tour points champion Dan Hanselman ranked fifth.
The year 2000 will go down as the first year that the Limited Modified division points were tabulated with Larry Cook of Fort Dodge being the inaugural champion. Alex Webner, Lance Gardner and Ryan Ruter were next in line while Brian Wendel was the top eastern Iowa driver in fifth.
Terry McCarl dominated the 410 Sprint Car division with sixteen wins and more than twice as many points as runner-up Danny Lasoski. The 2000 All Iowa Points championship would be McCarl’s third straight and fifth overall at the time, and when you add in his 2009 title he now has six and counting. As I fill in the gap from 2001 to 2005 McCarl may just surpass the eight championships of Gary Webb and Ed Sanger.
In the 360 ranks it was Jake Peters earning his first AIP championship edging out Ryan Jamison by just seven points. Gordy Vogelaar ranked third ahead of mid-season leader Tim St. Arnold while Dusty Ballenger completed the top five.
A full rundown of the 2000 All Iowa Points can be found at Positively Racing and work will begin soon on the 2001 season. Check back here on the Back Stretch for updates.
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