Two stories from the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) stop at the Quincy Raceways Sunday night. First, the race......
It was an absolute perfect night to watch the 410 Sprint Cars at the quarter-mile oval on the east side of Quincy as the sun was bright, skies were clear and, while it had a bit of a chill to it, the wind was out the north meaning that the inevitable dust that is stirred up by the winged warriors was swept away from the large crowd in attendance. Racing started shortly after 6 p.m. with passing points from the three heat races used to set the dash and the first sixteen feature qualifiers from the twenty-seven car field.
Many time IRA Sprint Car champion Billy Balog stormed to the win in the opener while in the second heat Joey Moughan made a last lap pass of Korey Weyant to take the win. The thrill of victory quickly blazed out though as just as Moughan took the checkers his motor blew and the talented driver from Springfield, Illinois, would be a spectator for the remainder of the evening. Three-time MOWA champion and current point leader Jerrod Hull would dominate the third qualifying heat after starting from the front row.
With Moughan scratched for the evening it was just a five car pole dash tonight and with Balog starting on the front row he was the odds on favorite. Jimmy Hurley had other ideas though as his low-line setup worked to perfection mid-race and he drove under Balog in turns one and two on lap three to take the lead and the eventual win.
Five cars would transfer up out of the night's B-Main and Bret Tripplett gave a sign of things to come as he passed Matt Harms early and then ran off for a dominating win. Harms, Russ Hall behind the wheel of the Northrop Garage #83, Andy Baugh and Ben Wagoner would all transfer.
Following a half hour intermission to groom the wide racing surface, the twenty-five lap main event took to the track shortly before nine o'clock with Hurley and Balog leading the field to green. Hurley's low line had the advantage over Balog's cushion ride on the first two laps and when Balog had a run off the top side of turn four on that second lap he tried get under the leader entering turn one. Contact from Balog sent both cars into a spin and while Hurley's #35 came to a complete stop, Balog was able to stay in the throttle, complete the 360 degree spin, and avoid being hit by the remainder of the field as the caution waved.
Under series rules, only the cars stopped on the track during a caution are sent to the rear so, after being pushed off once again, Hurley expressed his displeasure with Balog by nearly driving over his left front wheel as he circled his way to the back of the field.
Racing was short-lived on the restart as on lap four Jeremy Standridge jumped the cushion in turn three and took a tumble over the banking and out to the concrete barriers protecting the staging area. Thankfully he emerged from the wild ride uninjured.
Once back to green Jerrod Hull made his bid slipping under Balog for the lead on lap five only to have the invader from Wisconson regain the advantage on the following lap. That lead was growing until Chris Urish slipped past Hull for second and as Balog worked traffic, Urish who won here in Quincy on July 6th, was closing in.
The caution waved again on lap thirteen when the #2 car of A.J. Bruns ended up in the guardrail at the exit of turn two. Series announcer Dewain Hulett, who is celebrating his 40th birthday today by the way, had to fill in what I had missed stating that the incident resulted as Balog was putting a lap on Bruns.
On the restart Urish proved that he was now the fastest car on the track as he drove by Balog for the lead as Hull and Terry McCarl were now also in contention. The track was now black and fast around the rim where all of the leaders were running and when the white flag waved Balog made one last effort to get a run on Urish entering turn one. The cushion could not hold him in turn two though as Balog slipped off the top and spun to a halt bringing out one last caution as he saw the runner-up check slip through his hands.
McCarl took a run at the middle groove entering turn one on the final restart, but there was nothing there and Urish once again celebrated heartily in the Quincy Raceways victory lane. Hull padded his point lead by finishing second, McCarl did something that I was personally pulling for (more on that in a minute) by finishing third, Paul Nienheiser came from ninth to finish fourth and Ryan Bunton drove the Phillips Floors #7K car in for fifth. Hurley made a big run back through the field to finish in sixth and B-Main winner Bret Tripplet was the official hard charger of the race as he started seventeenth and finished seventh.
The MOWA Sprint Cars still have four dates remaining on their 2014 schedule so if you want to see a solid base of series regulars who are often joined by some intriguing visitors make sure that you get out to seem them.
It was now 9:20 on a Sunday night and, while I wanted to stick around for the four remaining feature races, including the Titan Wheels/Dunker Concrete "Battle of the Bullring" between the Sport Mods and the B-Mods which drew a diverse field of twenty-seven cars, I decided to head for home knowing that I had a full Monday ahead of me. Checking in with Stevie Dirt this morning it appears that this was a good decision as the 40-lap event struggled through fourteen cautions before Adam Birck celebrated in victory lane.
Always great to see Mary Loney, Jack Walbring, Brian Neal, Jake Croxton and all of the fine folks at Quincy Raceways and this coming Sunday night, September 28th, will be Fan Appreciation Night at the track. Just a five dollar bill will get you in to see another night of racing action before we move into the month of October!
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Ten days before, as I entered the pit area at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic in Farley, Terry McCarl yelled out to me "So how much does that All Iowa Point thing pay to win? Ten thousand?" I replied, "twice as much as last year" which is accurate because two times zero is nothing and that is exactly what it "pays" to win an All Iowa Points championship. Terry was joking, but the fact that he even mentioned it given all the things that he has accomplished over the years, gave me a sense of pride and brought me back to that wide-eyed teenager that I was when I started tabulating the points in the first place.
I told him that he was still two points behind Ian Madsen and that with only three 410 Sprint Car races left on the schedule at All Iowa Points paying tracks he would need to finish fourth or better at one of them, assuming that Madsen did not score any more points by running in the top five at any of them. I did remind him though that he was "The King" when it came to the All Iowa Points as his eleven championships were the most of any other driver across all divisions. T-Mac then asked "oh yeah? Who is closest?" and I told him that both Gary Webb and Ed Sanger each had eight. "Ed Sanger, huh? That guy was a stud."
The next night at the World of Outlaws show in Spencer McCarl finished twelfth while Madsen ran seventeenth, so no change in the points. Then on Saturday night at Deer Creek Speedway Terry finished eighth while Ian was 20th, still no change with the final All Iowa Points 410 sprint event left to be run on September 21st at the Quincy Raceways.
As I checked the Quincy Raceways website yesterday morning to confirm the start times I saw this. Among those planning to make an appearance at Quincy for the Winged Sprint Car show is multi-time World of Outlaw winner Terry McCarl – making his first appearance at Quincy since 1995 when he won an event at the Bullring. He had just spent the last two nights racing a 360 at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska so despite the mention on the website I really doubted that he would be in attendance at Quincy, but as I walked through the pits, there he was preparing his son Carson's car #27 for action.
Again Terry asked me about the points and I confirmed that he needed to finish fourth to be a co-champion with Ian Madsen and third or better to win it all. Did he really make the trip here to try to win the All Iowa Points? Surely not, Terry McCarl is a racer and a winner, he has never been the type of driver who will stay at home if there is a good show to go and compete in and you can always count on him to be a contender. I am a big fan of Ian Madsen as well, but McCarl was here and it just might have had something to do with those points that I keep that pay absolutely nothing, so I couldn't help but to root for him.
In the early laps of the feature he was running fifth and that would have left him one point shy of the AIP title. When Jimmy Hurley spun that moved Terry up to fourth, but he was being challenged hard by young Paul Nienheiser mid-race. As the laps wound down T-Mac was now solidly in fourth and it looked like the 2014 All Iowa Points would end in a dead heat, but then Billy Balog drove over the top of turn two on what was supposed to be the final lap. Just like that, it all changed and with his third place finish Terry McCarl now has one point more than Ian Madsen. It is not "official" yet as I guess that some AIP track could still throw in another 410 Sprint car show before the end of October, but the chances of that are virtually nil so the The King of the All Iowa Points, Terry McCarl, will now have a perhaps insurmountable total of twelve titles.
Over the years I have heard people say that "they don't mean anything" or that "they're stupid" and several have even questioned the method that I use to tabulate them. But I have also had fans who have told me that they love following the All Iowa Points and most importantly over the years I have had several drivers tell me that they appreciated my efforts and even a few who have said that they have used them to secure additional sponsorship money. So even though they don't "pay" anything, in a way they really do. I know that Gary Webb and Ed Sanger are both very proud of their All Iowa Points championships and it is now obvious that Terry McCarl takes great pride in his as well.
And I cannot tell you just how much that means to me......
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