From Snow To Go; Hogan Takes Spring Extravaganza at Donnellson

On Monday there was four inches of snow on the 3/8th-mile oval at the Lee County Speedway. On Friday there were nearly one hundred race cars across five divisions racing around that oval that, for the most part, stayed raceable due to the hard work of owner Dave Sapp, promoter Mike VanGenderen, and the entire speedway crew. With the sponsorship support of local contractor Mohrfeld Electric a solid purse was on the line for the early season opener and it was Modified driver Scott Hogan who took the $1,000 top prize back home with him to Vinton.

Some of Sunday's snow still lingered around the Lee County Speedway on the March 29th opener

VanGenderen spent all day Monday moving the snow off of the track and into the infield, then focused his attention on the pit area that can sometimes be a problem after wet weather and with some support from Mother Nature over the next four days the effects of last Sunday's snowstorm were minimized more than perhaps even Sapp and VenGenderen thought they would be. There was still plenty of effort needed throughout the event though as the equipment would take to the track after each heat race to try to keep the holes from expanding and that worked well until the Modified feature. With the featured division running high speed laps and and setting the right rear tires hard in the corners, the track had no chance to remain smooth and the final portion of the race got pretty wild. But just after the checkers waved over Hogan, the tractors were back out on the track to give the Hobby Stocks and the Sport Compacts the best surface possible for their main events.

The Sport Mod division ran the first feature of the season with pole-sitter and former track champion Jim Gillenwater taking the early lead. Clint Luellen had made the long pull in from Minburn and he was not about to follow the local guy as he made the pass for the lead on lap two. Cautions on laps three and seven slowed the field with the caution flying again on lap ten when the now fourth-running Gillenwater stopped in turn two. With six laps remaining Luellen had Carter VanDenBerg and defending track champion Tony Dunker restarting just behind him and he was able to open up a bit of a lead as those two battled for second. VanDenBerg cleared Dunker for second with four laps remaining and then gradually reeled in Luellen who took the white flag and then drove into turn one much higher than he had in previous laps. VanDenBerg charged to the inside and pulled even with the leader, but Luellen was able to nose ahead again down the back stretch. Again VanDenBerg made a charge to the inside through the final set of turns and Luellen maintained his composure and his momentum on the high side to edge out his challenger by a car-length at the finish line. Dunker was not far behind the lead duo for third, Brett Lowry came from twelfth to finish fourth and Brad Iverson was fifth after starting tenth.

The IMCA Stock Cars had a tough time getting started as on the second try Nathan Wood hopped the wheel of Jeremy Pundt and ended up in the turn one guardrail. Under the caution pole-sitter Jim Lynch pulled to the pit area moving Todd Reitzler up from row three to the pole for the next start. Damon Murty shot to the lead from the outside of Reitzler and Jason Cook latched onto Murty chasing him in second. With the rest of the field scrambled up from the earlier scuffles this one was all about Murty and Cook as the multi-time Lee County Speedway track champion Cook did everything he could to overtake the visitor Murty. Even with some rough spots causing the cars to move around, I don't think these two even touched once showing that they are two of the best in the division anywhere and the fans enjoyed every second of it as Murty held on to take the win. Unfortunately it looked as though Cook's motor went up in smoke just as he crossed the finish line in second. Reitzler was a distant third, John Oliver Jr. took fourth and Chris Wibbell was a lap down in fifth.

J.D. Beal and Scott Hogan drew the front row of the Modified finale and after a dominating performance in his heat race it was apparent that Hogan was the man to beat. Hometown speedster Tyler Cale moved quickly from sixth to second, but his challenge to Hogan ended on lap seven when he tagged the guardrail in turn one. From that point on nobody was able to stay with Hogan and the veteran driver who has indicated that he will not be racing anywhere for points this year started his season of fun with a $1,000 victory. Car builder Jacob Murray held off Brandon Rothzen to finish second, defending track champion Jeff Waterman was fourth and Steve Stewart advanced up from tenth to finish fifth.

The IMCA Hobby Stock feature kept the crowd that remained warm with some wild action at the end. Erick Knutsen would hold the lead for the first five circuits before Newton driver Garrett Eilander took over the top spot. With Dustin Griffiths and Shannon Anderson battling it out for second behind him it looked as though Eilander would take the win, but when Danny Miller spun in turn two on lap ten it would set up a green-white-checker showdown. Griffths and Anderson muscled past Eilander in three-wide fashion coming off of turn two and, as the lead trio charged through turns three and four, Anderson and Griffiths did their Logano and Hamlin imitation with Griffiths going for a spin and the right real wheel coming off of Anderson's borrowed ride. Griffiths was not pleased as he climbed out of his disabled ride in turn four and then sprinted to the work area off the back stretch to express his opinion to Anderson. Once that dust up was resolved the field went back to green and this time it was Knutsen and Scott Shull who went roaring past Eilander in turns one and two. As they raced into turn three Shull ran into the back of Knutsen, then veered right and hit the guardrail head on bringing out the caution one more time. This time it was Knutsen and Jason See starting in the row behind Eilander and as the leaders negotiated turns one and two it was Des Moines driver Andy Coffman who came out of nowhere to take the lead down the back straightaway. The green stayed out and Coffman held on to take the opening night win on a track that was unfamiliar to him. Eilander would have to settle for second, Knutsen took third while See finished fourth in his first ever night of racing. Tim Pettibone who started thirteenth finished fifth.

Seith Woodruff paced a competitive field of Sport Compacts for the first four laps before Chuck Fullenkamp slipped by for the lead. Skip Dunker was the man on the move though as he picked his way up from fifth to second with the laps winding down. On the final lap Dunker first looked low on the leader through turns one and two and then he went high in three and four to pull even with Fullenkamp. The two drivers then charged to the checkers door-to-door with Dunker winning by inches much to the delight of his vocal fan base. Austen Becerra finished just behind them in third, Craig Bangert would take fourth and Brandon Lambert rounded out the top five.

Getting the track ready was one thing, but having the pits dry enough to host a field of ninety cars was perhaps an bigger accomplishment.

LCS Notes.....The unofficial car count had 22 Sport Mods, 14 Stock Cars, 21 Modifieds, 17 Hobby Stocks and 16 Sport Compacts for a total of 90.....Tyler Groenendyk returned to the Modified division but his night ended early as he hit the turn one guardrail in hot laps. The damage required two wreckers to take his #17 back to the pits.....Shannon Anderson's familiar #78 only made a lap or two in hot laps before shucking the driveshaft. Anderson would then compete in Jamie Songer's car for the remainder of the evening.....Brandon Brinton has made the move from a Hobby Stock to a Sport Mod and he made the trip down from Nevada to qualify for the second row of the A-Main.....Area drivers Vic Hastings and Mike Hornung Jr. also made their debut in the Sport Mods. Hastings has been a solid Hobby Stock competitor for several years while Hornung did double duty in the Sport Compacts.......Robert Gould of Hillsboro looked good in his Sport Mod debut.....Abe Huls had his new Stock Car working well, but pulled out with apparent motor problems while running fourth in the main event.....J.D. Beal is more commonly seen running a UMP Modified at central Illinois tracks, but tonight the Adair driver put a red #32 on the pole for the IMCA Modified main event......Mitch Morris was working for a top-five finish in the Modified main before tangling with Jeff Waterman with six laps remaining.....Richie Gustin started seventh and made a solid early move before slowing and pulling out of the event......Jeff Mueller has made the move from Stock Cars to Modifieds and looked like he was just getting some laps in tonight before pulling in.....Thad Wilson has raced a #75 car for I believe his entire career, so I had to hear it three times before I believed that it was him in the #1W. The Orion Tire Repair sponsorship was the clincher.....After being yanked following one race night in 2012 the IMCA Hobby Stocks returned to the Lee County Speedway and put on an action filled main event. There were a few area cars on hand, but the track hopes to have some of the drivers who pulled in from a distance tonight to return weekly as the division will hopefully catch on locally as well.....Jason See set the bar high finishing fourth in his first night of racing. Jason's father, Mike See was a long-time solid competitor around the area and it looks like Jason is a quick study.....Yes, there were a few with no sponsors and taped on numbers, but several of the Sport Compacts sported some of the nicest graphics that you will find in any division.

A huge thank you to Mike VanGenderen for the first class hospitality that he provided to myself and Positively Racing writers Dick and Joyce Eisele. It was much appreciated as the temperatures cooled off quickly following sunset. PR.com colleagues Brian Neal and Sue McDaniel are part of the Lee County Speedway staff that did a great job of running off this opening night special in fine fashion. Yes, it ran late with the final checkers waving at 11:40, but that was due to the extra track work that was required to provide a surface that allowed the drivers to put on a good show.

Racing continues at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson next Friday night April 5th as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will headline.

Now the waiting game happens as we keep an eye on the radar to see if tonight's (Saturday March 30th) Sprint Invaders opener at 34 Raceway will be able to take the green. The track near Burlington is ready, the facility is ready, now we just need this chance of showers to push through without consequence. Hope to see you there tonight!