First though let's go back to Thursday when I was able to get out of work early enough to make the two hour drive over to the Spoon River Speedway near Banner, Illinois, for the UMP Summer Nationals. I have had an interesting "relationship" with this track as over the years I will tell you that it is one of my favorites, but my last two trips had produced a couple of snoozers where the track locked down leading to the equivalent of a high-speed freight train. Guess that just goes to show you that even the best tracks can have an "off night" now and then so you should always be willing to give them a second chance, a motto that I need to keep in mind when I tell you about my Friday night stop.
The weather was absolutely perfect for racing at Spoon River, including a light breeze blowing from behind the grandstands, and the race fans turned out in fine fashion filling the grandstands and overflowing the parking lot. I waited in line for about ten minutes to buy my ticket and I enjoyed chatting with Tyler Gilmour who races a Street Stock on Saturday nights at the Peoria Speedway. Tyler looks a lot like his father Jeff did back when he was racing a Street Stock down at 34 Raceway in the mid 80's and they would always pull in from Keithsburg, Illinois, with a sharp looking car. Jeff was actually inside already and saving seats for Tyler and his friend, so I had a chance to say "hi" to an old friend from my weekly announcing days as I settled into a seat just behind them. Gary Lee had spotted me though and told me to come up and join him in some seats higher up and I couldn't resist especially since the new grandstands at the Spoon sit right on top of the front stretch.
Gary had been in the pits earlier taking pictures, many of which that you can find on the Positively Racing Facebook page and he was able to catch me up on the drivers that I did not recognize in the solid field of 44 Late Models and 28 Modifieds. As usual the track tonight was very racy from top to bottom throughout the qualifying heats and last chance races making for an enjoyable night of action. The track was still multi-grooved come Late Model feature time, but it didn't matter much as Dennis Erb Jr. went flag-to-flag to score the $10,000 win in convincing fashion. Billy Moyer was never really challenged for second either, but the race for third was definitely entertaining as Bobby Pierce, edged out Mike Marlar, Kevin Weaver and Brandon Sheppard for the spot.
I would have loved to have stayed for the Modified main event, but since it was 10:30 and knowing how tough it can be to get out of here when there is a big crowd I decided to head for home and luckily I was one of the first cars to find an opening to the exit road. Nick Hoffman from North Carolina was the $1,000 winner of the Mod main event and I will be checking my schedule for the rest of the year to see if I can make a return trip to Spoon River. Something that I was not thinking after my last two visits.....
After taking care of some things at work, Christine and I were on the road by 10 a.m. on Friday looking at what would normally be a six hour drive to Kalamazoo where the local track, the Kalamazoo Speedway, had a weekly Friday night of pavement Late Model action on tap. I have only been to one track in Michigan before and that was the Galesburg Speedway, another paved track, so instead I had my sights set on the I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa where the American Ethanol Late Model Tour was scheduled for Friday night.
Obviously we did not get on the road soon enough though as stop and go traffic around the south side of Chicago along with a couple of areas of road construction on I-94 in Indiana turned our six hour drive into eight hours and we arrived at my daughter's house just past seven local time. After a quick hug and kiss, I changed clothes, dropped the girls off at a restaurant and then headed out to the speedway knowing that I was going to be very late arriving. I thought about taking the exit to the track in Kalamazoo as I drove by it at 7:40, but a quick check of Dirt On Dirt revealed that 40 Late Models were on hand at I-96 Speedway so I pushed on figuring that I would at least get to see the B-Main and the feature.
It was 8:35 when I pulled into a fairly full parking lot, gathered my things and went to the ticket window and I was surprised to hear that the race on the track was a make-up feature for the IMCA Modifieds that had been washed out a couple of weeks back. The race was under caution and the announcer made some comment hoping that there would be some cars left for the regular program that was still to come. There were twelve cars in the restart lineup and they were just a few laps into the 25-lap distance. At least five cautions later there were just eight cars remaining and mercifully the checkers waved on lap 25 with A.J. Ward taking the win.
Four heats for the Late Models were up next and while I was glad that I had not missed them, I was also concerned about how late it already was with apparently a full program still to run for four divisions. One of the coolest names in racing, Dona Marcoulier walked away with heat race number one and before the second heat came to the track I moved down more toward turn one to see if the viewing was any better there. Brandon Thirlby, a driver who has made his way into Illinois in the past was the class of the second heat and between races I had time to re-position myself in the bleachers off the end of turn four. From there I could see that in the past this track had been longer as the banking from the old turns three and four were still visible along with one of the infield light poles that were now outside of the current configuration. From there I watched Rusty Schlenk and Eric Spangler take wins and I can tell you that there was no doubt that I was visiting my first dirt track in the state of Michigan.
With no hat, no goggles and, well......no booth, I decided that I should get back on the highway at this point all the time wondering if track promoters ever take a moment to sit up in the stands with their crowd. Let's face it, die-hards like you (the people who would read a racing blog) and me (normally) will sit through a night of dusty racing and will come back for more in the future. But the casual fan, and scarier still the "first time" fan will not and let's face it, those people are the difference between success and failure when it comes to a weekly racing operation. And I am not just talking about this track on this night, there have been a few others closer to home this season where the promoter should have been sitting next to me to see how the fans were getting dusted even in hot laps.
I just don't remember that happening many years ago, back when track packing took a little more time and effort just before hot laps began. Just like everything else there seems to be a give and take. Now drivers don't have to burn racing fuel to pack, but there are fewer people there to watch them race. Who wins in the long run?
As I was driving back I figured that I would tray to catch the last race or two at Kalamazoo, but as I was about to enter the parking lot everybody else was leaving so instead I headed for my home for the night later learning that Rusty Schlenk had won at I-96.
It was an enjoyable weekend and while we did not settle on a venue, we definitely have some intriguing options to consider for this September of 2017 wedding. And, if you are ever in Kalamazoo and looking for a great place to eat, I will soon be the proud father-in-law of the chef at Cosmo's Cucina.
Following are some items that caught my eye while working through the results from the weekend.
With Eagle Raceway being rained out on Saturday it looks like Adam Armstrong made the trip to Webster City to race his Sport Mod. Or did he? Armstrong has raced out of Beatrice, Nebraska, for many years now, but with his third place finish at the Hamilton County Speedway as well as his fifth place run at Stuart on Sunday his hometown was listed on SpeedNet as Carlisle, Iowa. Guess we'll see where he ends up this weekend.
Jenae Gustin scored her first career IMCA Modified win on Saturday at the Independence Motor Speedway and the drivers finishing second and third were noteworthy as well. Young Brandon Maitland had his best finish yet in a Modified as the runner-up finishing just ahead of his older brother Ryan Maitland.
From young guns to a cagey veteran, Steve Holthaus was the Hobby Stock feature winner Saturday night at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah. For Holthaus it was his second win of the season and it caught my eye because of a conversation that I had with Rod Miller while at the fair races in Eldon two weeks ago. Miller, Holthaus and Jeff Larson were three of the Hobby Stock drivers who followed my old NKF Tour religiously and while they were very competitive on the track, they were the best of friends off it and Miller was asking if either of the two were still racing now fifteen years later. "The Dirty Rat", still racing and still winning!
While the UMP Summer Nationals has the attention of the Late Model fans in our area, there were some big races for the Modifieds this past weekend as well. The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) held the three-night Widow Wax "Summersota" event at the I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, running a format where drivers ran two sets of heats on each of the two qualifying nights to establish their starting spots for the third night finale. Stormy Scott was the winner and took home a whopping $15,000 top prize. Meanwhile over in Wisconsin, the IMCA Modifieds turned out in big numbers for the Cheesehead Triple Crown led off by the two-night "Clash at the Creek" at 141 Speedway. Benji LaCrosse made the cheeseheads proud by winning the $10,000 top prize there, but the big money was taken out of state at the other two as Missouri's Hunter Marriott won at the Oshkosh Speedzone and Jeff "Bone" Larson of Freeport, Illinois, was the winner at the finale in Shawano where the podium also featured two Iowans in Jay Noteboom and Kelly Shryock.
The big money for the Modifieds shifts to Iowa this weekend as the Farley Speedway hosts the annual Aftermarket Nationals Thursday and Friday night with $10,000 going to the winner in an event where no crates are allowed. Then on Sunday night one IMCA Modified driver could win as much as $5,000 at the 22nd Annual Hogan Memorial at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. The Hogan is one of my favorite events to attend and with the holiday weekend date this year the turnout should be phenomenal, so make sure that you get there earlier if you want a seat! For me though, the July 3rd date does not work due to other commitments so I will have to check in the next day to hear about all of the action. Or perhaps my friend Ryan Clark will text me updates? Hint, hint....
As we head into this long weekend make sure that you check the Specials Calendar at Positively Racing to not only make your short term plans, but to map out the rest of your 2016 season as well. And, as always, we remind you to always verify that the event that you are planning to attend is still running even if it is a bright and sunny day out as there were a couple of interesting cancellations this past weekend. The United Rebel Sprint Series event at the WaKeeney Speedway in Kansas was cancelled on Sunday due to the wheat harvest and Friday's weekly show at the Kankakee Speedway in Illinois was cancelled early in the afternoon due to a power outage. Apparently ComEd was working in the area and notified the track that their power would be out until at least 3:30 making it impossible to fill the water truck and prepare the track. So they pulled the plug on the event, pun intended.
There also might have been changes to the schedule since the track first released their plans for the season such as at 34 Raceway near Burlington where this Saturday night's weekly show has been cancelled to let everybody enjoy the holiday and recharge for the second half of the season. Or at the Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma, where three weekly shows over the next three months have been removed from the schedule. Hopefully these breaks in the action will be healthy for both the fans and drivers.
Last week I noted that two tracks in Iowa had shut down for the year already and I was surprised at how many people asked about, or discussed this point over the following days. One was Blackbird Bend Speedway that tried to reopen again after being wiped out by the Missouri River flooding a few years ago and the other was the Frontier Race Park in Fort Dodge. Yes, I should have been more clear on what is going on in Fort Dodge as while their weekly show was terminated in May, they are still going to run a couple of previously scheduled special events. The first one was last night with the USRA Iron Man Series that by a report on Facebook drew less than forty cars across the three classes No race story has been released as of this writing, and the USMTS will run there on July 20th.
Two more tracks in the Midwest have closed the gates for the season this week. The Oberlin Speedway in Kansas announced that, effective immediately, they are shutting down. "Due to lower than needed car counts and local fan base, we just cannot continue." And this week on the Vermilion County Speedway website in Danville, Illinois. "Weekly racing action has been suspended for the foreseeable future. Please check back here of find us on Facebook to keep updated on when we will be racing again." I hate to say it, but judging solely on the car counts I have to think that these will not be the last announcements like this in 2016. While some people want to argue that crates and lower costs for drivers are the answer I feel that it goes much deeper than that with multiple issues contributing to the downturn with some of those being next to impossible to overcome. It is all about the overall product that you present and if you put ten cars on a track that are essentially equal and don't pass each other, then nobody but friends and family are going to come and watch them "race", especially if they have to eat dust from hot laps on through the night.
I don't believe that racing is dying, that is proven by the crowds that I saw in Spoon River Thursday night, at Independence a week ago and at the fair races in Eldon, but it has reached a point where it might not be able to "live" at all of the places that try to host it on a weekly basis right now. For you young fans who may not remember, racing was on a downturn back in the late 70's as well and many, including me, will credit Keith Knaack and his introduction of the IMCA Modified as the driving factor for the resurgence of the sport at the short track level. It allowed tracks that had gone dormant to reopen in the 80's with the lower cost Modifieds as the premier class and the sport hit a level over the next three decades that we now can obviously no longer maintain. Some weekly tracks will shut down or go to a "specials only" calendar and racing will pull back for a bit until a promoter, or promoters figure out what that next spark will be to bring drivers and fans back to the track.
Will it be a new "class" of cars? Doubtful, we have too many of them now and I still do not understand the recent trend of putting undersized cars on full-sized race tracks. See if paragraph number ten of this entry summarizes how you feel about a division or two that you see at your local track each night. I think that the anwsers are out there, but until we "pull back" enough, drivers and fans alike will not be accepting of those answers so I guess we will wait and see what happens. And, if you would like to discuss those with me sometime, stop by and say "hi" and we will have a conversation face-to-face rather than arguing about it on the internet.
Okay, so let's get back to the "positive" outlook here as one of the most interesting promotions of the year starts tonight at the Rockford Speedway where the high-banked paved quarter-mile has been covered with dirt and will host the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars tonight followed by the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models tomorrow night. I would have loved to be able to make the trip over but with the three hour drive during the middle of the work week I will instead take advantage of one of those conveniences that many hail as being beneficial to the sport, while others do not, and watch the highlights of the main events the next morning on the internet. In other words I won't be buying a ticket there because I know that I at least have another option to watch soon after, but at least I will be supporting a couple of other races instead unlike many fans who will stay in the comfort of their home and watch on pay-per-view, a service that has coincidentally blown up over the past several years making one wonder if there is any correlation, but I digress. Then on Saturday night Rockford will keep the dirt in place for one more night and has invited all Big 8 Late Model, Mid-American Stock Car and Area Sportsman drivers to bring their pavement cars out to race on the dirt. Now we have seen dirt cars on pavement before, but I don't recall having the pavement cars on dirt and as a nice incentive the "Dream 33" will pay $2,333-to-win and $200 to start. It will be interesting to see how many drivers take the challenge.
My racing plans are limited to before the Independence Day weekend gets underway as we have a very special birthday to celebrate at our household on Friday. So for tonight I am watching the radar to make sure that the precipitation now in central Iowa falls apart as predicted so that I can return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa and then tomorrow night I am planning a trip to the Davenport Speedway for night number one of the Iowa Governor's Cup event. Once we get through the next two days the weather for the three-day weekend looks great so get on out there and support the sport that we all love.
I will see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
| Missouri Points | ||||
| Late Model | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Justin Wells | Aurora | 43 |
| 2 | . | Aaron Marrant | Richmond | 39 |
| 3 | . | Dustin Mooneyham | Aurora | 36 |
| 4 | . | Dustin Hodges | Fulton | 32 |
| 5 | . | Jesse Stovall | Galena | 31 |
| 6 | . | Jon Melloway | Hallsville | 31 |
| 7 | . | Chris Smyser | Lancaster | 29 |
| 8 | . | Cole Wells | Galena | 29 |
| 9 | . | Gordy Gundaker | St. Charles | 22 |
| 10 | . | Michael Kloos | Trenton IL | 22 |
| 11 | . | Brantlee Gotschall | Nevada | 21 |
| 12 | . | Cody Holtkamp | Holts Summit | 21 |
| 13 | . | Jason Bodenhammer | Centerview | 21 |
| 14 | . | Brandon Ball | West Plains | 19 |
| 15 | . | David Melloway | Columbia | 19 |
| 16 | . | Shane Essary | Galena | 19 |
| 17 | . | Kaleb Stolba | Willow Springs | 17 |
| 18 | . | Todd McCoin | Barnett | 17 |
| 19 | . | Chris Cox | Jefferson City | 16 |
| 20 | . | Jon Binning | Warrensburg | 16 |
| 21 | . | Rusty Griffaw | Festus | 16 |
| 22 | . | Tim Manville | Highland IL | 16 |
| Missouri Points | ||||
| Winged Sprints (410 & 360) | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Jonathan Cornell | Sedalia | 59 |
| 2 | . | Joey Montgomery | Fredericktown | 31 |
| 3 | . | Brad Loyet | Sunset Hills | 22 |
| 4 | . | Tommy Worley Jr. | Bismarck | 20 |
| 5 | . | Randy Martin | California | 17 |
| 6 | . | Tyler Thomas | Collinsville OK | 16 |
| 7 | . | Tyler Blank | California | 14 |
| 8 | . | Brandon Hanks | Burlison TN | 12 |
| 9 | . | Corey Nelson | Eugene | 12 |
| 10 | . | Derek Hagar | Marion AR | 11 |
| 11 | . | Cody Baker | Lone Jack | 10 |
| 12 | . | Kasey Burch | Farmington | 10 |
| 13 | . | Jason Keith | Fredericktown | 9 |
| 14 | . | Jimmy Bridgeman | Farmington | 9 |
| 15 | . | Kyle Bellm | Nixa | 9 |
| 16 | . | Tayor Walton | Warrensburg | 9 |
| 17 | . | Joe B. Miller | Springfield IL | 8 |
| 18 | . | Tim Montgomery | Fredericktown | 8 |
| 19 | . | Kent Buckley | Farmington | 7 |
| 20 | . | Zach Daum | Pocahontas IL | 7 |
| Missouri Points | ||||
| Modified | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Jackie Dalton | Carthage | 64 |
| 2 | . | Robbie Reed | Mexico | 52 |
| 3 | . | Kevin Blackburn | Fulton | 46 |
| 4 | . | Terry Schultz | Sedalia | 42 |
| 5 | . | Matt Dotson | Hallsville | 39 |
| 6 | . | Michael Long | Fowler IL | 39 |
| 7 | . | Dennis Elliott | Mount Ayr IA | 38 |
| 8 | . | Brian Green | Pierce City | 36 |
| 9 | . | Zach Sanders | Kearney | 35 |
| 10 | . | Cory Wray | Trenton | 34 |
| 11 | . | Bobby Pearish | Joplin | 32 |
| 12 | . | Brent Thompson | Park Hills | 31 |
| 13 | . | Jody Tillman | West Branson | 31 |
| 14 | . | Billy Smith | Park Hills | 28 |
| 15 | . | Dean Hoffman | Troy IL | 28 |
| 16 | . | Eric Turner | Hermitage | 27 |
| 17 | . | Trevor Drake | Joplin | 27 |
| 18 | . | Aaron Marrant | Orrick | 26 |
| 19 | . | Mitch Keeter | Webb City | 26 |
| 20 | . | Jeff Cutshaw | Cross Timbers | 25 |
| Missouri Points | ||||
| Limited Modifieds | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Ryan Gillmore | Springfield | 86 |
| 2 | . | Kris Jackson | Lebanon | 66 |
| 3 | . | J.C. Morton | Springfield | 44 |
| 4 | . | Kodi Savage | 38 | |
| 5 | . | Jacob Ebert | Oak Grove | 32 |
| 6 | . | Joshua Stephens | Buckner | 32 |
| 7 | . | Chad Lebsock | 31 | |
| 8 | . | Logan Martin | West Plains | 30 |
| 9 | . | Andy Bryant | Fort Scott KS | 28 |
| 10 | . | Brad Smith | Belton | 27 |
| 11 | . | Aaron Scroggins | Neosho | 26 |
| 12 | . | Kyle Stolzer | St. Genevieve | 26 |
| 13 | . | Ben Solberg | Battlefield | 25 |
| 14 | . | Galen Hassler | Columbia | 25 |
| 15 | . | Randy Ainsworth | Excelsior Springs | 25 |
| 16 | . | Steve Starmer | New Hampton | 25 |
| 17 | . | Shawn Strong | Republic | 24 |
| 18 | . | Josh Russell | 23 | |
| 19 | . | Trevor Hunt | Kearney | 23 |
| 20 | . | Jeff LeBaube | High Ridge | 22 |
| 21 | . | Michael Maggard | Republic | 22 |
| 22 | . | Shane Blair | 22 | |
| 23 | . | Spencer Stephens | Buckner | 22 |
| 24 | . | Stephen Muilenberg | Sparta | 22 |
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