I thought about staying home and watching the Hawkeyes. But
I don’t get an opportunity to go to the Iowa State Fair Speedway often, the
weather was as good as it has been for awhile, and it was a Thursday night in
early April. This would kick off the IMCA Frostbuster weekend and I could
always record the Hawks on DVR and watch them win it all later so it was off to
the races!
Despite the late winter promoter Mick Trier had the racing
surface on the historic half-mile in darn good shape for the opening night of
the four-race swing and while the car counts were nowhere near what the event
had last year, it was a solid field of local favorites and long distance
travelers with drivers from Canada, North Dakota, Wisconsin and North Carolina
on hand. Those who are trying to identify some kind of trend in the car counts
need to remember that last season we had already experienced about three weeks
of “pre-summer” by this time giving everybody the itch to get their car ready
and go racing, while this year we have had about three days of “pre-spring”
when it is actually supposed to spring! There is your trend, folks!
The IMCA Stock Cars would be the first of six main events to
hit the track with Mike Johnson fighting off early challenges from Gary Bass
and Tommie Killen to maintain the lead. While the battle was tight upfront I
had my eye on Damon Murty who had started twelfth after dominating the first
heat race of the night. Murty, who won last Friday night in Donnellson at the
first race in Iowa for 2013, was steadily working his way toward that lead pack
and when the caution waved on lap seven for a spinning Rich Vogt, “The Chelsea
Charger” would line up fourth for the restart.
Steve Hill would spin in turn two on that restart and then a lap later
the caution would wave again for Hill who this time had slammed into the concrete
wall in turn three.
 |
| Damon Murty earned his second win of the young season in the IMCA Stock Car feature - Barry Johnson photo |
Once back to racing Johnson did his best to hang onto the
lead, but Murty drove by him with six laps remaining. This one was not over
though as another driver had charged from deep in the pack and had taken over
second in the closing laps. Jeff Anderson looked like an “also ran” during his
heat race putting him on the tenth row for the main event, but the veteran
driver looked like the former champ that he is in the feature and as the white
flag waved he still had the leader within striking distance. Murty was flawless
though over that final lap as he picked up his second checkered flag in the
young season with Anderson not far back in second. Nathan Wood slipped by both
Bass and Johnson in the final two laps to secure third while Johnson and Bass
completed the top five.
 |
| Jeff Anderson (78) made a big charge to the front passing Mike Johnson late for second - Barry Johnson photo |
Rick Gladson started on the outside of the front row and
moved to the lead at the drop of the green in the Sport Mod feature with
fourth-starting Carter VanDenBerg in hot pursuit. VanDenBerg was able to pull
even with Gladson a couple of times through the early laps, but could not quite
clear him for the lead. A caution on lap eleven bunched the field and on the
restart the two drivers who won heat races, Doug Smith and Glen Gladson tangled
in turn two. Gladson did not stop and would restart in fourth while Smith
retired to the pit area with handling problems. Once back to green Rick Gladson
was in control for the final four laps as he would post the win on his hometown
track while VanDenBerg repeated his runner-up finish from last Friday night at
Donnellson. Blain Peterson, who was also in action tonight in his Hobby Stock,
would finish in the third spot, Glen Gladson would hold on to fourth and
Wisconsin visitor Tracy Wassenburg passed Jack Housley coming to the checkers
for fifth.
 |
| Carter VanDenBerg (7) applied the early pressure, but Rick Gladson (77) went wire-to-wire for the Sport Mod win - Barry Johnson photo |
The IMCA Modifieds were up next for twenty fast laps on the
big half-mile with Todd Shute pacing the field through the early laps. The 2008
All Iowa Points champion looked strong until lap six when smoke started to pour
out the back of his #5 car due to apparent rear end issues. As Shute slowed and
pulled to the pits Jeremy Mills took over the point and gradually put some
distance on the rest of the pack. With Mills now a full straightaway out front
the battle for second was the one to watch as young Cayden Carter and Carolina
star Kyle Strickler swapped the position back and forth around a lapped car
with three laps to go. Mills would post the win in dominating fashion as Carter
held off Strickler to finish in second. Jake Durbin would pick up fourth place
money at the pay window as Jay Noteboom ran fifth. Ricky “Racer” Stephan, Scott
Davis and Randy Havlik were next in line.
 |
| The roulette wheel landed on 10 for Jeremy Mills as he ran away with the Mofified payoff - Barry Johnson photo |
Eight Dirt Trucks would take to the track next with former
Late Model and Sprint Car driver Tony Moro muscling his way to the front to
take the win over Ed Nelson.
Shannon Anderson proved that he would be the man to beat on
this night with his run from the back to the front in his heat race, so when
the Hobby Stock main rolled out of staging with Anderson on the pole position
this one was essentially over from there. Curt Reed started next to the
defending IMCA Hobby Stock National Champion and did his best to keep pace
early, but Anderson was just too strong to be overtaken as he cruised to the
win. He was announced as Jeff Griffiths all night, but I am guessing that it
was actually Dustin behind the wheel of the #10G who started seventh and
finished second after passing Danny Watson late. Eric Stanton had problems that
kept him from even starting his heat race, but he came back strong to finish in
fourth after starting at the rear of the sixteen car field.
 |
| Shannon Anderson swept the Hobby Stock portion of the Frostbuster in Des Moines - Barry Johnson photo |
State Fair Speedway Frostbuster Notes…… As I mentioned
above, the car counts may have been less than many expected, but for a Thursday
night race on a cool night in early April I was more than happy with 27
Modifieds, 23 Stock Cars, 19 Hobby Stocks, 18 Sport Mods, 9 Trucks and 7 Sport
Compacts…..The second Stock Car heat had a late arriving driver come to the
track in a #01 who was obviously driving a race car for the first time and
doing it very slowly. As the field quickly closed on him going down the
backstretch on the second lap Tommie Killen was making a move for position and
blasted the black car square on the back bumper. Credit the new driver though
as with the sudden burst of speed he was able to keep it straight entering turn
three with the rest of the pack. And credit Killen as despite the impact with
the speed bump and the resulting damage to the front of his car, he was still
able to come back and win the race……The #01 car later pulled from the infield
to cross the track to the pits while a race was under green and that was the
last that we saw of it for the evening. Remember, everybody has to have a
“first night”……The second Sport Mod heat saw a white car with a #71 on the rear
quarter panel go roaring past Austin Kaplan for the win. Knowing how hard it is
to beat Kaplan anywhere, when I couldn’t catch the name of the winner on the PA
I asked Kevin Babcock who it was and he said “Glen Gladson…..but it looked like
Leon Plank”. Yes it did!......The first Modified heat may have been the race of
the night with Wisconsin’s Johnny Whitman trying to hold back the hard charging
duo of Kyle Strickler and Jay Noteboom. On the final lap Strickler dove into
turn three under Whitman and as Strickler came up the track, Whitman went too
high allowing Noteboom to get by as well…..Scott Davis has made the move out of
the Sport Mod division to the Modifieds for 2013 and he finished seventh in a
solid run tonight. Davis was announced as a “rookie” for the division a couple
of times, however I do believe that Scott raced in the Modified division
previously, long before the Sport Mods were ever thought of……Steve Hill looked
good in his Stock Car heat race finishing third behind Damon Murty and John
Heinz, and he was in contention early in the main event before his two
cautions. His bad luck continued though as his car fell off the hook of the
wrecker while in the infield and, during a caution in the Sport Mod feature
when that same wrecker tried to tow Hill’s #55 to the pits, it again dropped
off the hook in the middle of turn one......A big thanks to Mick Trier and the
State Fair Speedway staff for the hospitality to myself and to birthday boy
(today) Barry Johnson…..Frostbuster action continues tonight (Friday) in
Marshalltown, Saturday in Boone and wraps up on Sunday night at Trier’s other
track, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton.
My schedule is full for the next three nights, weather permitting, as tonight we’ll be with the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. On Saturday night the Invaders will attack the quarter-mile oval at the Davenport Speedway and while Bill Wright handles the announcing duties on that one I look forward to working with Rich Adams during the annual Brent Slocum Memorial at 34 Raceway in Burlington. With the postponement in Dubuque, the Slocum will now serve as the opener for the 2013 Deery Brothers Summer Series and a large field of cars is expected for the $5,555-to-win event. Then on Sunday night I hope to hook back up with the Frostbuster tour at the always exciting Benton County Speedway in Vinton. But for now, I have a basketball game to erase from my DVR…….hope to see you soon on the Back Stretch!
No comments:
Post a Comment