Deer season has arrived and it sounds like a war zone here on the edge of town. Several have gathered in my back yard obviously believing they are safe here. The deer that is....
The UMP Summer Nationals will return to Iowa in 2013 for at least one night when "The Hell Tour" makes a stop at 34 Raceway near Burlington for a $10,000-to-win event. The Tour will take on a new look this go round expanding to six weeks of racing but will apparently have "off nights" every Monday and Tuesday along the way. It will be interesting to see if that strategy keeps more drivers on the Tour, or if the weekly time off is too tempting for some to head home and stay there. Either way it will be great to have the Summer Nationals back at 34.
It's official, Ryan Duhme and Timmy Current more commonly known as "The Darkside" will take on the promotional reigns at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton next season and they will also have the assistance of previous promoters Al and Kathy Dlouhy. Sounds like a very promising combination! Current was the 2011 All Iowa Points Stock Car champion and then raced just a few times last year during his rookie season of race promoting. We wish them all the best and I look forward to a few trips north next season that, as always, will include a stop at the Tipton Happy Joe's before heading out to the track.
The big money is definitely coming out for the IMCA "type" Modifieds next season as Simmons Promotions announced that they will run the "After Market" Nationals at Farley on July 3rd and 4th. The Modifieds will be racing for $10,000-to-win and the Sport Mods will be gunning for a hefty $5,000 top prize at the event that, given the title I would guess will be just like Marshalltown's $10,000-to-win WORLD Nationals where no crate motors will be allowed. These two huge events will generate plenty of discussion right up to race weekends where you can bet that both will draw some hefty car counts.
While the professional promoters put on the big money events, I'm still considering throwing my hat back in the ring with the autumn Sunday afternoon series that I talked about a few entries ago. Now I just need to find a track to do it at and a couple sponsors who would want four or five weeks worth of exposure.....
One of the new tracks that I visited in 2012 was the beautiful Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California and over the Thanksgiving weekend the track hosted a big money Street Stock event. Surprisingly it only drew a car count in the forties with all but three of the pre-entries being from California. Those other three drivers pulled all the way in from Iowa as Andy Boeckman, Stac Schroeder and three-time defending All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion Devin Smith all made the trip and while all three were competitive they all faced several challenges that kept them from finishing at the front. Schroeder made the following post on the WhoWon.com Stock Car forum to summarize the trip:
"This race was at the Perris Auto Speedway, in Perris California. One hour east of Los Angeles. The class rules were almost identical to the IMCA hobby stock except we had to weigh 3300lbs, no compression limit on a 360ci engine, and any dot tire not wider than an 8 inch tread pattern.
Each night they run a two lap qualifying session and on Friday Andy qualified second, he missed the track record by .049!!!! Devin was 3rd and I was 6th out of the 41 cars present. All three motors broke on Friday night. Devin won his heat with a broken connecting rod in the motor!!!! I was leading my B-main and broke a timing chain. Andy was in the A doing very well and broke the pin in the front of the cam and the bolts worked themselves out.
We spent the entire day Saturday working on engines in a parking lot. Andy had bent valves, and needed a cam pin. He replaced valves and the cam pin. I got lucky and had no bent valves and replaced the timing chain. Andy bought a motor from a local racer for Devin and we swapped heads for it and fixed multiple bent valves. All three cars were running by 5pm. and ready to qualify that night.
Saturday night brought another qualifying session where Devin qualified 5th, Andy 2nd, and I set fast time out of the 43 cars present. Devin and I won our B-mains, and Andy transferred in from his heat to the A-main. In the A-main Saturday, Andy started 10th or 12th I think, I started 16th, while Devin was right behind me starting 18th. Devin was very fast with the bought engine, but got hot and headed for the pits around lap 6 or 7. He then worked his way back up in the top ten very quickly to get a flat. He again went back out, was back up in the top ten, but got collected in a pile up which put a hole in his radiator. I broke a rocker arm on around lap 4 and continued on 7 cylinders. I was up to 8th and broke another timing chain??!! Andy made it into the top 3, but his car got extremely tight and he fought it through the corners. He blew a RF tire with 7 laps to go, and went back out and made his way back up to 6th in 6 laps!!!
All 3 cars were very fast thanks to Andy and at one point we were all in the top 8. The track promoter, and all of his crew couldn't have been any nicer to us. I can't tell you how many times someone came up to me and shook my hand and thanked us for coming. This probably was the best experience I have ever had at a race track as far as that is concerned. They really cared we were there to race for them!!!!
Not sure if any California racers will read this, but on behalf of myself, Andy and Devin, we have to really thank Luke Dodd, (car #3, and a native IOWAN), he opened his beautiful transmission shop to us to work on our cars. He gave me a new timing chain, provided us with valves and a cam pin for Andy, and sold us an engine that Devin made fly!!! Without Luke, there is no way all three cars would have been competing again on Saturday night!! THANKS LUKE!!!!
Congrats to the winner Linney White, he helped us weeks in advance with suggestions for gears, lead placement, and suspension help. He won both nights and pocketed $7500.00 dollars!!!!!! Awesome payout for a hobby stock race!!!
Lastly, another big thanks to 1-800-LOANMART for putting the race on, and also the gift cards which we were not expecting for gas money home!!
Overall, all 3 of us, and all that came with us had a great time and we are already making plans to return next year!!
STAC SCHROEDER #51"
It was a frustrating college football season for me in 2012 as my three favorite teams, Iowa, Tulsa and whoever is playing Notre Dame are a combined 13 wins and 23 losses as we head into the final weekend of the regular season. Hopefully Tulsa can bump that win total up by one more today in the Conference USA championship game and my dilemma come January will be to pull for another National Champion from the Southeast Conference, or to actually cheer, cheer for ol' Notre Dame......uggh.
Is it just me or are the schedules for next season coming out earlier than they have in the past? The World of Outlaw Late Models released its 2013 slate yesterday and it is good to see Independence booked for a Monday, August 5th event.
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