If you are a regular visitor to the Back Stretch you will have already seen over the past few weeks the updated cumulative All Iowa Points Standings for each of the nine divisions and updating this information at the end of each season is always an interesting task. I don't recognize a "rookie of the year" in each division due to the fact that a driver can sometimes race in a division for some period of time and if they never achieve a top five finish, then they wouldn't have any points for that time period. Or, like in the case of Carter VanDenBerg, after a full season of racing a Sport Mod in 2014 he closed out the year racing a Modified and finished fifth twice so he had points in that division as well. In 2015, his true rookie season in a Modified, VanDenBerg finished 19th in the All Iowa Points, but since he also had points for the class the year before, well let's just say that if he raced out west and I didn't know any better I wouldn't have recognized him as a "rookie".
So anyway, first let me give you the top "new points earners" in each division for 2015 and then move on to my observations from this exercise.
In the Late Models the top new points earner was Arizona native R.C. Whitwell who drove Al Humphrey's car here in the Midwest this season. Obviously Whitwell is not a Late Model "rookie", nor is Humphrey's familiar orange car #6 new to the scene. Whitwell finished tied for 32nd in the 2015 standings and the first true rookie Late Model driver would be Cayden Carter in the 72nd position in the standings. Of course Carter also was a regular this year in the Modifieds (10th) and in the Stock Cars (23rd) so moving down the list the next four names that I had to add to the Excel file this year were Ben Seeman, Bill Hoover, Robbie Jorgenson and Gabe Umbarger all of which I believe have raced in the division prior to 2015, but just had not placed in the top five in a feature race until this year. Michael Kloos dropped into Quincy a couple of nights this year, Tyler Andreason made the trip east from Grand Island in 2015, Jared Landers won at Knoxville and Chad Becker is a WISSOTA veteran who raced in our area this season and that brings me finally to the first two drivers who were truly Late Model rookies and who were not racing in other classes as well this year and they are both from Dubuque. Eric Pollard and Lee Kinsella.
In the Modifieds the top new point earner was Brian Irvine who ranked 38th in this year's standings. Irvine was a consistent winner in the Stock Car division over the past several years and in fact ranks 41st in the Cumulative Stock Car standings from 2000 through 2015 so this is a true example of what I believe most fans view as stair-step process when it comes to divisions. The next newcomer would be recent Late Model competitor Justin Zeitner in 76th before you get to former Sport Mod driver Jon Plowman in 97th.
The Limited Modified division had five new points earners in the top 65 this season with 2014 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder Champion Austen Becerra leading the way in 36th. Ryan Jenkins of Omaha ranked 40th while last year's AIP Mod Lite Champion Dan Keltner was 45th. Former Hobby Stock driver Aaron Osweiler was 53rd and Quad City area racer Jared Waterman was 66th.
Former Hobby Stock racers Chris Mills (28th) and Chris Luloff (36th) were the top two newcomers to the Stock Car standings and two more Hobby Stock "graduates" Tyler Pickett and Brandon Pruitt ranked 69th and 70th respectively. You also had semi-regular USMTS Modified competitor Daniel Hilsabeck getting his first Stock Car points ever in 46th.
In the Hobby Stock ranks, where one might expect to see quite a few "rookies" score well in the standings, you instead have to go to a tie for 56th on the list to find the first "newcomer" and that was four time All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion Jeff Anderson who drove his son Shannon's second car during the second half of the season. South Dakota's Michalob Voeltz and pavement racer Braxton Franks were the only two "rookies" to crack the top 100 in the Hobby Stock points and am I the only one that finds that to be somewhat concerning?
On a bit smaller scale the same concern is raised with the Four Cylinders where Chateau Raceway regular Blake Dorweiler was the best newcomer in 24th, followed by Nebraska City's Kyle Owen (35th), the Quad Cities' Jeff Powell (39th) and Omaha's Lindsey Thiesen in 50th.
In the Sprint Cars Brad Loyet's nine points were his first ever in a 410 and ranked him 23rd out of 55. A true rookie to the division after running Stock Cars and Late Models, Ryan Giles was the top newcomer to the 360 ranks but he was 42nd on the list and in the 305's while 360 converts Trevor Grossenbacher (3rd), Robby Wolfgang (5th) and Casey Abbas (7th) ranked ahead of him, former IMCA Stock Car driver Michael Johnston was a true Sprint Car rookie in 10th.
What these stats suggest to me is that what many would have in the past considered to be "starter" divisions such as the Hobby Stocks, Four Cylinders, and even Stock Cars have instead become divisions where drivers stay, even if they are very successful, because it fits their budget. So, after making that hypothesis, I will now look back to the 2014 final All Iowa Points Standings to see who, if any, of the top drivers moved on to another division in 2015.
Nobody in the top 100 of the Modifieds moved on to a Late Model, other than Cayden Carter, but that really is no longer expected since Modifieds have become the premier division at the majority of the tracks in our region. In the Limited Modifieds ninth ranked Ben Kates made the big jump to following the USMTS Modfied series this year and as mentioned before Carter VanDenBerg was impressive in his new IMCA Modified. Jon Plowman was tied for 17th last year and he made the move to A-Mods as did 25th ranked Cory Crapser.
In the 2014 Stock Cars ninth-ranked Jarrett Franzen switched to a Limited Modified this year, a division that he also competed in part-time before and then other than Cayden Carter I don't see anyone in the top 50 that made a move. In the Hobby Stocks 14th ranked Mike Hughes who also raced a Stock Car successfully in 2014 and was a former Modified driver did make a full-time move to the Stock Car ranks in 2015 and 17th ranked Jason See raced a Stock Car in 2015. You then drop to 46th on the list where Matt Petrzelka made the move to a Sport Mod this past season.
In the Four Cylinders you had the 2014 champ Austen Becerra who was this year's best rookie in the Limited Modifieds. 11th ranked Aaron Hitt also made the move to that division along with 15th ranked Gage Neal. Ramsey Meyer (21st) also moved on to the Sport Mods, but that means that only four of the most successful 50 Four Cylinder drivers from 2014 moved on to another class in 2015. So obviously the Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Four Cylinders have become more of a "fits my budget" class rather than a stepping stone onto the next level.
Whether or not that is good or bad is up for you to decide, but that is why when my good friend Craig Allender, aka Fasttrackfan, starts a thread on the Iowastockcars.com forum asking who is changing classes in 2016, there is little or no response.
Three huge events coming up this weekend and I wish that I could be at all three of them! First of all the ninth annual Turkey Bowl at the Springfield Raceway looks like it will finally get some decent weather on Saturday following two straight weeks of cold and wet conditions and that will be the final event in the area for 2015 so get on down there if you can. It will also be the final event for the 2015 All Missouri Points and the final standings will be posted here next week.
Second, who would have ever envisioned a couple of months ago that the Iowa Hawkeyes would not only be playing in the Big Ten Championship game, but also for a spot in the College Football Playoffs?! I have been critical of Kirk Ferentz over the past couple of years and I am very glad that he has made me look like an idiot for saying anything negative, plus it has been an absolute joy to watch Mount Pleasant's own Henry Krieger-Coble gain notoriety each and every week. If I had not already booked my flights and purchased my race tickets I would be heading to Indianapolis this weekend.
And even though I hate missing both of those big events, I am very excited to attend my first ever Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida, this coming weekend. So check back in with me next week here on the Back Stretch to see how drivers such as Ty Majeski, Christopher Bell, Rico Abreu and Chase Elliott fared in short track pavement racing's biggest event.
GO HAWKS!
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