"It's a beautiful night for racing!"
My wife Christine knows that I would say this if it were 95 degrees and so humid that you could cut the air with a knife, or if it was 40 degrees with snow flurries skittering through the air. As long as there is a race to be at, the weather doesn't really matter becuase it is a beautiful night!
But for this Tuesday night, it actually is going to be "a beautiful night" with temps in the low 80's and no chance of rain as the annual Dubuque County Fair kicks off in fine fashion with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds and the IMCA Northern Sport Mods. All of this, plus the great fair food and entertainment for just ten dollars, so I hope to see you there tonight!
As we close out the month of July this coming weekend let's take a quick look at the All Iowa Points standings. In the Late Models, three-time champion Rob Toland (2004, '06 & '07) is looking to add to his list and holds a 13-point edge over both Luke Goedert and Darrel DeFrance. This past Saturday night Toland towed out to the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City and scored a win on the big half-mile, something that caught my eye since Toland is much more comfortable on his Quad City area short tracks.
After starting slow, Chris Abelson has come on strong and now seems to be well on his way to his third straight All Iowa Points Modified title as he is 45 markers in front of Kelly Shryock. Veteran driver Ricky Stephan has surged into third while early season leaders Kyle Brown and Ricky Thornton Jr. have faded. Jacob Murray is also poised to post his best AIP finish ever as he now sits in fourth.
It is a two car race in the Limited Modifieds as defending champion Tony Olson leads Tyler Soppe by 11 points and in the Stock Cars three-time defending champion Damon Murty just this week took the lead away from Mike Nichols. Nichols is only three points back though and both Derek Green and 2012 Stock Car champion Donavon Smith are still in the hunt.
A month ago it looked like a sure bet that Shannon Anderson would collect his fifth All Iowa Points Hobby Stock title, but Cody Nielsen has now closed to within just 12 points of Anderson and with Shannon's regular Friday night track, the Iowa State Fair Speedway, closing out its schedule this Friday night this race could get real interesting.
Brandon Setser continues to lead the Four Cylinder division and this past Saturday night he did what a true All Iowa Points championship contender would do when his normal Saturday night track in Maquoketa cancelled early. Setser loaded up and went to Burlington where he won the feature at 34 Raceway to keep his point lead in double digits over defending champion Jay DeVries.
The Sprint Car battles are interesting and it is normally the "month of money", August, that determines who will be the champions in each. In the 410's Danny Lasoski is enjoying a double-digit lead on his way perhaps to his second straight, and seventh overall AIP championship. California transplant Tim Kaeding leads the 360 standings and he looks like he will be hard to beat while in the 305's the race is wide open. Two-time defending champion Clint Benson just took the lead away from Tyler Drueke while Christian Bowman, Robby Wolfgang and Devin Kline are all within seven points of the top.
The July 25th update was sent to the Webmistress last night, so check the Points page at Positively Racing soon for the upload where you will find the full rundown for all divisions so that you can see where you, or your favorite ranks in the racingest state in the country!
A few other notes from this past weekend......
Kirby Schultz is a new name in the IMCA Late Model ranks who recorded his first top-five finish this past weekend. Some tracks list him as being from Albia, Iowa, which to me seems to be an odd place for a new Late Model driver to spring up from while another listed him as being from Albion. This would make more sense since it is near Marshalltown, a track that will "pick up" the Late Models on Friday nights in August. So which is it?
Jon Sheets of Nevada, Missouri, made his ULMA Late Model debut on Saturday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland and he did it in fine fashion by taking the win over the usual strong field of cars. Sheets has had some moderate success in a Modified over the years and he has now set the bar high for his futuire Late Model endeavors!
Speaking of setting the bar high, how about the announcement from I-80 Speedway promoter Joe Kosiski that the 2017 Silver Dollar Nationals will pay a whopping $53,000 to the race winner? This race started out by paying out a $25,000 top prize, all in silver dollars, back in 2011 and has grown exponentially with Jonathan Davenport taking the win this past weekend. Much of the success can be attributed to the qualifying method that shuns time trials and instead uses a double heat race format that includes an inversion for the second set. This format obviously sells tickets and pay-per-view subscriptions at a rate that allows for not only the big money paid out to the winner, but the solid purse all the way to the bottom. Yet one driver who we already know from this past January hates a format where he actually has to "race" to win was again panning the system in an interview this past weekend. The funny thing is that not only with the Silver Dollar Nationals, but also with the shows in Tucson plus the Knoxville Late Model Nationals that does still qualify , but then (shockingly) has the nerve to invert the heat races, the cream still always rises to the top.
Weather permitting, I will hopefully get a chance to see if Shane Clanton will fare better under his normal format when the World of Outlaws Late Models pair up with the MOWA 410 Sprints this Thursday night at the Quincy Raceways.
With Jeff Gordon returning to action and with it being Tony Stewart's final race at one of his favorite tracks I went ahead and recorded the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. It only took me about twenty minutes to watch though as Kyle Busch dominated in another event where there was little to no passing and the highlight, to me at least, was the ceremonial lap that Gordon and Stewart took side-by-side following the checkered flag. Unfortunately there were very few rans there to salute these two legends of our sport as the attendance was once again paltry at best. Yes, it was a hot and steamy day, but can you imagine just how many fewer people would have been there if not for the draw of Gordon and Stewart? Here is an interesting article written by Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star and I hate to say it, but NASCAR just might be better off by cutting ties with this event. It was a great "gimmick" when it began, but even the most loyal NASCAR fan will admit that the Brickyard has never produced good racing.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of two drivers who have passed away this week. Both Dave Farren and Gary Wilson provided me with many memories over the years, both on and off the track. Rest in peace gentlemen.
Jonathan Davenport's win at I-80 has pulled him back to even in the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model points that uses a system where the winner's purse determines the point scale and it remains clear that Dirt Late Model racing clearly has a "big three" that everybody else is just chasing right now. Hope to see you tonight in Dubuque!
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