My “research project” of closing the gap from when I stopped compiling the All Iowa Points in 1999 to when I resumed in 2006 took another step this past week when I completed the 2001 season. Once again I want to thank my colleague Barry Johnson for the use of his Hawkeye Racing News archives to do this project.
The 2001 Late Model race was a good one with Rob Toland (“future” champion in 2006 & 2007) leading through most of the season before a late flurry by Denny Eckrich earned the Coralville driver his first All Iowa Points championship. With sixteen feature wins and thirty-seven “top-five finishes” Eckrich edged out Toland, who also had sixteen wins, by just six points. Jeff Aikey was not far back in third, eight-time and defending champion Gary Webb finished fourth while Darrel DeFrance completed the top five. The Pro Stock champion from the year before, Jeremiah Hurst, finished in the sixth position, Gary Russell and Joe Kosiski tied for seventh while Quincy regulars Terry Schlipman and Mark Burgtorf rounded out the top ten.
In the Modified chase Dubuque’s Ron Barker broke away from the pack in July and cruised to his second straight and fourth overall AIP title. Barker picked off eighteen feature wins on All Iowa Points paying tracks and he had eleven more top five finishes (50) than any other Modified driver. A rookie in the division, Brad Pinkerton of New Sharon, won fifteen features and edged out Bob Dominacki (1983 Street Stock Champion) by three points to finish in the second spot. Sioux City’s Ricky Stephan was another three points behind Dominacki in fourth while Darin Duffy rounded out the top five.
With the defending champion Hurst stepping up to Late Models, the Pro Stock/Limited Late Model chase was wide open and it was Hazel Green, Wisconsin, driver Dan Shelliam who scored the championship with ten wins and twenty-seven top fives. Shelliam’s chief rival at Farley and Dubuque, Jeff Tharp, finished in the second spot while Jeff Franck of Winthrop finished third. Omaha drivers Leon Zeitner and Jody Krug completed the top five.
The Stock Car race saw the same two drivers on top of the chart with Jeff Anderson taking his second All Iowa Points championship while future champ (2006 & 2007) Brian Blessington was the runner-up. The point spread decreased significantly though from 95 in 2000 to just 19 in 2001. Anderson racked up twenty-one feature wins on his way to the 2001 championship while Blessington tallied sixteen victories. Scott Carlson was amazing running the Pro-Am division in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska as he won twenty-six times and finished fourth once to take third in the final point standings. Northeast Iowa driver Kevin Bidne finished fourth while southeast Iowa’s Brant Fuhs was fifth.
Kris Walker won the 1999 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock championship, slipped to fourth in 2000, and then returned to the top in 2001 for his second AIP title. Walker picked up twenty feature wins on the season to propel him to a 25-point edge on runner-up Shane Monson. Damon Murty finished in the third spot, Steve Holthaus drove the big block in for fourth while central Iowa competitor Bill Bonnett wound up fifth.
Two drivers from Garner topped the Limited Modified list in 2001 as Ed Green captured the AIP title ahead of Lance Gardner. Green’s eleven feature wins and thirty-two top-fives gave him a sixteen-point edge over Gardner. Defending champion Larry Cook settled for third, Brian Wendel of Clarence was fourth while Gary Dreyer, who piloted his car using hand controls, finished fifth.
The two sprint car divisions were diversely different as the race in the 410’s was pretty much decided at the end of April while the 360’s went down to the final race of the year. Terry McCarl dominated once again in the 410’s scoring twice as many points as runner-up Don Droud Jr. McCarl scored fifteen feature wins as part of his thirty-two top-five finishes on his way to his fourth straight, and now seventh (and counting) All Iowa Points championship. World of Outlaw stars Danny Lasoski and Mark Kinser finished third and fourth while Dennis Moore Jr. completed the top five. In the 360’s, a victory on the final weekend of September at the Jackson Speedway gave Jake Peters his second straight AIP championship by just one point over Randy Martin. Matt Spies was just two points from the top in third, 1995 AIP Hobby Stock Champion John Schulz was fourth and Bobby Mincer filled out the top five.
A full rundown of the 2001 All Iowa Points can be found on the Points page at PositivelyRacing.com
With the research on 2001 now complete, I have moved on to 2002 and since most of the early season events were lost to weather that year I am already into mid-June. Just like this past year (2010) when tracks like Boone and Algona escaped the rain and ran every week while others lost several shows, there were a few tracks that somehow avoided the early season cancellations in 2002 and that may have an interesting effect on the outcome of that year although right now it looks like we will have several repeat champions. As of mid-June Denny Eckrich is looking to repeat his Late Model title, Ron Barker leads the Modifieds while Jeff Anderson and Brian Blessington are playing catch up in the Stock Cars with Mark Elliott out front. Kris Walker leads Shane Monson and Darrin Walch in the Hobby Stocks while Ed Green is back on top in the Limited Mods. Terry McCarl is the man to beat again in the 410’s and Clint Garner holds a big lead in the 360’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment