Kyle Strickler Repeats Harris Clash Triumph

The two winners went flag-to-flag and were virtually unchallenged, but there was plenty of racing to watch behind them at the Harris Clash Thursday night. With 115 cars in the pits at the Knoxville Raceway this event continues to be one of the biggest one-night shows you will find anywhere in the country.

Defending Harris Clash Modified champion Kyle Strickler started alongside rookie (for the division) sensation Jesse Sobbing on the front row for the 25-lap headliner and when Strickler went straight to the lead it was fourth-starting Kevin Stoa who tried to keep pace. On lap three though Stoa slid completely sideways in turn two, made the save by driving up into the infield and returned to the racing surface on the back stretch losing many positions in the process. With Stoa’s misfortune the driver from North Carolina, Strickler, opened up more than a straightaway lead and was not even slowed when he started working traffic. Meanwhile, as we have seen him do several times already this year, Richie Gustin made a big early run after starting deep in the pack. The winner of the first B-Main, Gustin started seventeenth and by the completion of the second lap he was quickly up to seventh. Following the fourth time around the historic half-mile Gustin was in fourth only to find the top three already well ahead of him.


Kevin Stoa (98) saves it from a spin in turn two as Dylan Smith drives by - Barry Johnson photo

The top six cars were pretty spread out when the caution waved on lap nineteen as the fifth-place car of Jeremy Mills slowed to a stop in turn four. Gustin was now up to third and with the Delaware style restart where he would start next to Sobbing right behind the leader, the crowd anticipated that Gustin might be able to mount a challenge on Strickler. When the green flag waved though, it was Sobbing who moved to the second spot as Strickler again pulled away from his competition. With Todd Shute and Randy Havlik right there as well this one turned into a battle for second and as Strickler secured his second straight Harris Clash title it was Gustin who made the pass of Sobbing late to be tonight’s runner-up. Sobbing, Havlik and Shute completed the top-five.

Despite Gustin’s run from seventeenth to second, the hard charger of the race was driver/promoter Mike VanGenderen who came from the twenty-second starting spot to finish sixth.  Luke Wanninger finished in the seventh spot, Mark Elliott was eighth, ninth went to Dylan Smith and Scott Dickey had a nice run up from eighteenth to tenth.

With Strickler reportedly purchasing a crate engine just this week, and with many of the other top finishing drivers also using the “truck motor” combination, the discussion over whether or not the crates are getting too much of an advantage from a rules standpoint has multiplied tenfold today on social media. I will never pretend to be a rules guy, or to know what chassis is the hottest, etc., so I will not even attempt to comment other than to say that the proof is in the pudding. If it appears that drivers are going to the crate because the rules package gives them a competitive advantage, rather than because of the other compelling reasons to use a crate motor, then perhaps those rule allowances need to be adjusted. Unless of course the ultimate goal is to have a vast majority of drivers running crate motors…..

Modified Notes….As evidence that the Clash still has a wide reaching appeal there are still drivers making extremely long road trips for probably just one night of racing in Central Iowa before returning to their home tracks either the next day or Saturday. Mitch McGrath brought his sharp looking #74 over from suburban Milwaukee, won the third B-Main and then ran a respectable 15^th in the main event. Steve Stultz made the trip all the way in from Peoria, Arizona, drew the pole position for the third heat race and then dumped the driveshaft before he could even reach turn one on the start. His crew was able to make repairs and Stultz was able to get some laps in at Knoxville finishing 11^th in the second B-Main. …..Tim Ward who is from Mesa, Arizona, but who has based himself in southeast Nebraska the past two seasons, came up just inches short of qualifying for the main event as Cayden Carter completed a nifty crossover move exiting turn four on the final lap of the fourth B-Main……Josh Gilman started twelfth in the first B-Main and had to make a banzai move on Steve Stewart going into turn three the final time to score the second and final transfer position……That first B-Main got off to a rough start when former Harris Clash champion Clayton Christensen hopped the wheel of Lance Schlicher’s car and went for a tumble. Making things worse for Christensen, being a former winner he had a starting spot secured for the feature even if he would have just pulled in after a lap or two…..Eric Dailey made the most of his former champion provisional starting 25^th and finishing 11^th……I didn’t see how it started, but I did see Chris Abelson’s car high in the air and upside down before it slammed to the ground roof first between turns three and four during hot laps. After several minutes of concern it was good to see Abelson climb out of the car under his own power.


Mitch McGrath (74) races under Jason Murray - Barry Johnson photo

The IMCA Sport Mod division continues to be a suitable support class at the Harris Clash as forty-five drivers made their way to Knoxville to get one of only two chances a year to race this division here. Similar to their big brothers the Modifieds, there was no real drama as far as the lead was concerned during the twenty-lap feature as Doug Smith started on the front row and pulled away from pole-sitter Matt Lettow and the rest of the field to score the convincing win. A couple of late restarts brought the field back to Smith and entertaining battles for the positions just behind him allowed the leader to pull away each time. Former Sport Mod Clash winner Jared Timmerman started ninth and got up to second late only to have Paul Nagle get back around him in the final two laps to tally the second spot. Timmerman would then have to hold off Austin Kaplan to finish third while Lettow rounded out the top five.  Tyler Gross started inside row nine and charged up to sixth at the checkers. Kyle Prauner of Norfolk, Nebraska, was seventh, Eric Elliott came from the eleventh row to run eighth, ninth was Carter VanDenBerg and Ben Kates filled out the top ten.

It was a treat to sit in the air-conditioned press box as I tried to give as much assistance as I could to Bob Wilson who had to input a bunch of drivers who had not pre-entered for the event into the track’s Live Results section on the website. It was literally feature time before we felt like we had everything caught up and corrected, but at least this time I was able to watch the races while Bob did all of the computer entry. Another plus to sitting in the booth was to hear the banter between announcers Jerry Vansickel and Jason Price both on, and off the microphone. It was another huge and impressive night of racing and Modified fans should definitely mark The Harris Clash on their calendar when it is scheduled for 2014.

For more Positively Racing coverage of the Harris Clash check out the 4dFan Report.

After a short night of sleep it is another road-trip tonight as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing. Sprint Invaders converge on the Jacksonville Speedway. Enjoy your weekend of racing!