A couple of thoughts before I get to the real reason that I am writing a blog this morning. .....
If you don't listen to Track Talk on the Racin' Boys each Saturday morning you are missing the most informative and entertaining racing talk show in the Midwest. This morning's show featured a heated discussion between Scott Traylor, Kirk Elliott and Lloyd Collins about the young kids driving full-sized race cars. Traylor firmly believes that a minimum age of 16-years-old should be enforced across the board and both Collins and Elliott took the counterpoint today. You can listen online every Saturday morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and for those of you who may have come here from the Racin' Boys forum today looking for the All Missouri Points click here.
Donny Schatz won the World of Outlaw Sprint Car feature at Spencer last night and Steve Kinser finished third. Noteworthy that this was Kinser's first top-five finish at an All Iowa Points track this season. There have been years when Kinser has ranked in the top five in the final All Iowa Points despite only running the Outlaw shows and the Nationals.
How about the car counts at the Yankee Dirt Classic at Farley last night? 48 Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds and 56 Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models filled the pits showing that the Yankee is back to its "big show" status that it enjoyed for years. The Deery series has suffered through some events that had lower than expected car counts this season most recently being 34 Raceway's Pepsi USA Nationals. That event, now a one-day show paying $5,000-to-win, seems to still get compared to when it was the two-day $10,000-to-win finale of the series had just 27 cars sign in this year. But it was postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to two inches of rain from the remnants of hurricane Isaac, plus there were two other IMCA-type Late Model events already schedule for that Sunday night. Yes, the counts were down on the Deery Series this year, but at some of the IMCA weekly tracks the Late Model counts were up this year proving that you need to study the whole picture before declaring a class dead.
For news from the Yankee make sure to check in with our colleague Brian Bries.
Speaking of car counts I was surprised to see that a whopping 52 Late Models checked in to do battle on the tiny bullring at Belle-Clair Speedway Friday night. This was the first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model visit to Belleville, Illinois, and the event was tagged the "Photobilly 50" in honor of track photographer Billy Haffer who lost his life in a traffic accident here in Iowa back in August. Brandon Sheppard put his short-track experience to good use as he wheeled one of the Rocket house cars to his first career WoO Late Model victory worth $12,550. Veteran Billy Moyer finished second followed by Shannon Babb, Darrell Lanigan and central Illinois competitor Kyle Logue. The Outlaws move across the river to what will now seem to be a long and specious I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri tonight and perhaps top the sixty count for race cars.
Racing lost a fan, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, lost a legend yesterday when Coach Bob Evans passed away at the age of 87. Evans came to town in 1956 to become the high school football coach where he posted a 202-91-4 record over thirty-three years including a a team in 1963 that was unbeaten, and more incredibly unscored upon. And even before that his Mount Pleasant Panthers won 40 straight games between 1957 and 1961.
It was his passion for football and the results that he posted on the field that made him a legend and those of you who are my age or older will also remember him as the color commentator for Frosty Mitchell's play-by-play of Iowa Hawkeye football for several years. Evans retired from coaching in 1988 turning the job over to one of his assistants Bob Jensen who continues to coach the team today. Only two coaches over the past fifty-seven years, amazing.
His love of football never faded, but when Lynn Richard convinced him to come along with him to the racetrack several years back, Coach Bob found another passion in short-track dirt racing. Evans was a fixture around the Richard Realty & Auction Late Model and he quickly made friends with other competitors and their crews. I had the pleasure of knowing Coach since 1975 and even though I did not play football for him, he was very supportive of the other sports that I participated in as the school's Athletic Director as well. But my relationship with him became very close soon after he found racing and began reading the Hawkeye Racing News from cover to cover. Bob loved racing, he loved being around the people of racing and over the past several years we would never be in the same room or arena without talking for several minutes about racing. And most of the time, his old football friends had to wait for their turn.
When I heard last week that Coach Evans was now in the Park Place nursing home I told myself that I needed to stop by and see him soon. It was not soon enough though and I will regret that for some time. Rest in Peace Coach, you can watch every football game and every race you want now and I know that you will have that big smile on your face the entire time.
It is going to be a beautiful night for racing, go find your smile as well.
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