"Free Night" Packs Them In at Osky; Excellent Racing Should Bring Them Back!

With the help of some great sponsors, the Southern Iowa Fair Board and race promoter Mike Van Genderen invited anybody and everybody to come on out to the Southern Iowa Speedway Wednesday to enjoy a night of racing with free admission to the grandstand. The turnout was spectacular topped only by the big crowds that I have seen here in the past for the sprint car Challenge events hosted by Terry McCarl each August and, if they were all paying attention, the action in at least two of the features should have been enough to coax the “newbies” back out again on a Wednesday night soon.

The finish of the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock was amazing and brought the crowd to its feet, but let me see if I can paint the picture leading up to that exciting conclusion. Nineteen cars took the green flag on a track that had been dried out a bit by a stiff north wind yet still had plenty of racing room for drivers to run two, three or even four grooves. If you wanted proof of that you only needed to see the opening lap of this one as I am pretty sure that the front of the pack was five-wide going down the back stretch and when they thundered out of turn four for the first time the race for the lead was three-wide while just behind that trio the race for fourth was four-wide. Dale Porter came from the outside of row number three to stick his nose out front to officially lead lap one and Porter would pace the next mile as well before Bill Bonnett blew past for the lead on lap four. Bonnett had also made a quick move to the front having started on the inside of the fourth row and as he tried to put some distance between himself and the field the racing was hot and heavy behind him. A caution on lap eight put a pause on the action and another yellow for an Erick Knutsen spin in turn two on lap ten would set up a five-lap sprint to the finish.

Mike Hughes who won the first four features that he started this year, including three here at Osky, had spun out during his heat race forcing him to start from the absolute rear of the field in this main event. And now, with the two cautions to help close the gap, Hughes was in the top five and was ready to challenge for yet another Hobby Stock victory at his home track. With three laps to go Hughes moved to second and appeared to have a run on the leader only to have Bonnett move down to the lower groove in turn one to close the door. This was not just a two-car battle for the lead though as Porter, Dustin Griffiths, Craig Brown and Danny Thrasher were all right there looking for racing room as well with the laps clicking away. Bonnett fought off all challenges until the final set of turns when Hughes powered to his inside in turn four. The contact between the two was not a bump, but was instead more like a magnetic force as they came off of the turn seemingly locked together and when they got a bit sideways the scramble was on. Dustin Griffiths held his foot the floor and drove around the outside while Porter pulled even with Bonnett and Hughes as they broke away from each other and powered down the straightway trying to be the first to reach Ryan Bergeson’s checkered flag. Oh yes, and Craig Brown was in the mix as well but honestly I cannot tell you exactly where he was as this pack of five cars raced across the finish line with no more than a car-length and a half separating the front bumper of the winner from the rear bumper of the fifth-place car. It was obvious that Griffiths had crossed the line first and kudos to the scorers who had to sort out the rest of the top five as you could have thrown the proverbial blanket over all of them at the finish. Dustin’s teammate Dale Porter was credited with the runner-up spot, Hughes would take third, Bonnett went from first in turn four to fourth at the checkers and Craig Brown will be the fifth-place finisher that will have the smallest margin between he and the winner that you will possibly ever see other than at Daytona or Talladega. Amazing!

The IMCA Sport Mod feature was up next with Logan Anderson taking the lead on lap one. The driver from Oskaloosa, whom I believe to be a rookie to the oval tracks this season has shown steady improvement in his #9A from week-to-week, but he would be no match for the steam train that was coming up from behind him. It was obvious in his heat race that Curtis Van Der Wal wanted to impress this big hometown crowd tonight as he dominated in that one only to then find radiator issues when he returned to his pit area. With some help from fellow SportMod competitor Eric Flander, Van Der Wal and his crew went to work and his blue car with the big yellow #1 on it looked every bit as fast it did earlier in the evening coming from the fifth row to storm past Anderson on lap two. A caution on lap three delayed only the inevitable as once back to racing Curtis Van Der Wal drove away from the field to score a convincing victory. Jason McDaniel was a distant second, Carter VanDenBerg made a last lap pass of Tony Johnson to finish third while Brett Lowry filled out the top five.

The Stock Cars were up next and on the opening lap pole-sitter Carl Yaw got sideways in turn one sending the field scrambling. Kris Walker and Jeff Joldersma were collected with Walker losing his rear bumper and when all cars remained in motion the caution for the debris allowed everybody to restart in their original positions. The opening laps of this one were reminiscent of the Hobby Stock main event as the field was tightly bunched at the front running two-by-two-by-two-by-two. It literally looked like they were still lined up for a start, but just setting a fast pace as the lead eight raced through turns one and two on lap three and the large crowd was absolutely loving every minute of it. Alan VanGorp would be credited with leading lap one while Rich Vogt would be scored as the leader for the next three-laps despite having Joldersma racing just to his inside for all three of those trips around the half-mile. Nathan Wood emerged from the group to take the point on lap five with Jason Minnehan soon following him into second.

Minnehan kept the heat on Wood with Joldersma and Derek Kirkland just behind and when the caution waved for a spinning Vogt on lap fourteen we were all set for a four-lap dash to the finish. Wood would fight off the immediate challenge once back to green and his route to victory got a bit easier when Joldersma and Minnehan locked into a battle for the second spot. On the final lap, that race for second heated up even more in turn two when both Minnehan and Joldersma got crossed up allowing Kris Walker to go driving by and it would be Walker who would chase Nathan Wood across the line at the finish. For Wood this victory has been a long time coming and I believe that he said during his victory lane interview that it was his first win in over year, surprising for one of the drivers who is almost always running in the top five wherever he goes. The hometown crowd loved the turn of fortune that put Kris Walker into second at the finish while Derek Kirkland took third ahead of Corey Stout and Jason Cook.

Scott Dickey has been bad fast in each of his appearances at the Southern Iowa Speedway in 2013. His problem though is that his luck has been terrible and he has not been able to be around at the finish of most of those races. With the IMCA weekly show line-up method in force tonight, all that previous bad luck landed Dickey on the pole-position for the 18-lap Modified finale and there was nobody that could keep up with the second generation driver from Packwood. They tried though. First it was Casey Greubel giving chase in second before a lap five restart allowed Cayden Carter to take over that runner-up spot. Another caution on lap thirteen brought the field back to Dickey and he again pulled away on the restart while Jacob Murray, Todd Shute and Jesse Sobbing raced across the stripe three-wide for second. A lap later Greubel spun in turn four sending several cars scrambling and when Greubel’s rear-end clipped a track tire on the apron his car tipped over onto its top to bring out the red-flag.

I wondered what was going through Scott Dickey’s mind at that point knowing that he again had a dominant race car, but also knowing just how several nights had ended for him here before. Once back to green Dickey hit the loud pedal and he drove away again to put a healthy #40 into victory lane for the first time this season. Murray and Sobbing continued their tight battle for second with Sobbing taking control of the position on the final lap as Murray drifted high. Todd Shute would come home in the fourth position while Cayden Carter completed the top five as the final checkers of the night waved at 10:15 p.m. For more complete results make sure to visit the 4dFan Report at Positively Racing.

If you are going to let people in for free you want to make sure that you put on a show that will inspire them to come back again soon and plunk down the money at the ticket window to see it. Mike VanGenderen and his crew, announcers Tony Paris and Dan Workman, the Fair Board’s concessionaires and especially the drivers did just that tonight. Here’s hoping that we see many of those new faces back at the track throughout the remainder of the 2013 season!

The evening started out hot, but a stiff north wind cooled off the crowd including "72fan" Warren Busse who came well-prepared for the changing conditions.

The action continues tonight (Thursday) here in southeast Iowa as a $1,000-to-win IMCA Late Model feature headlines the Wapello County Fair racing on the Super Half-Mile in Eldon. Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts will also be in action with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:00. Hope to see you there!