Hard to believe that it is the first day of November with temperatures again in the mid-70's following up a weekend that saw weather conditions more suited for the first September. With a few more outdoor races on the schedule over the next four weekends it will be interesting to see how much things change.
I visited two different dirt tracks this past weekend and I did not get to see even one of the twelve feature races that were held at the two. On Friday night I made the trip down to the St. Louis area for the final night of racing at the Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. I was able to get off to an early start to not only be ready for any traffic issues, but also to visit one of the Halloween stores in the city to get a costume for Saturday night's party. Traffic, on the way into town at least, was light so I had an early dinner at my favorite restaurant on The Hill, Zia's, and then crossed the river to arrive at the track just in time for hot laps at 7 p.m. It was the final track points night and there was a strong field of cars in all five classes including 26 UMP Late Models, 31 UMP Modifieds and 42 B-Mods.
The track was fast as evidenced by Tim Manville's quick time in Late Model qualifying that was just a tick off of the track record and I was impressed that despite the fact that a stiff southerly wind was blowing right into the grandstands there was little to no dust for the decent sized crowd to deal with. If there ever was night that the "one spin and you're in rule" during the heats was needed though it was this one as first the six B-Mod heats struggled to get through eight laps without more than one caution and then the Modifieds were perhaps even worse with at least ten cautions during their four heats. As a race fan I forget how spoiled I am to be in an area where the one-spin rule is enforced at nearly every track that I attend on a regular basis as it just eliminates some of the stoppages that were bringing my blood pressure up on Friday night. Such as when Craig Bessinger coasted down the back stretch on the opening lap of the sixth B-Mod heat and did not turn left into the infield as he would have been instructed to by an official on the Raceceiver because, if he brought out the caution like he did, he would have been sent to the pits anyway. Or when Steve Meyer Jr. got sideways in turn one while running second in the third Modified heat and spun down well into the infield, but then put the car back in gear and drove back up onto the back stretch and stopped to pull the caution. At most of the tracks that I go to, by rule, Meyer would have been sent to the pits for causing the caution while at others he would have been sent to the pits for deliberately causing a caution. On this night though he restarted at the back, seventh, and made his way back up to second to qualify for the main event.
Even the Late Models had a few cautions during their heats while, you guessed it, the four cylinder Factory Stocks ran off two heats green to checkered. The final Late Model heat took the checkers at ten minutes before ten and with two B-Mains for the B-Mods, a B-Main for the Mods, two dashes plus "just a short intermission" still to come before the first feature I decided to hit the highway for my three plus hour drive home. I love the Tri-City Speedway and the races that I have seen there have always been good, but on this night their drivers were not cooperating with them and I do hope that they might consider adopting the "one spin and you're in" rule to keep this from happening in the future. What could it hurt!?
On Saturday I was able to slip down to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson just to catch a glimpse at who all was there for Shiverfest as my wife had other plans for us during the evening. I arrived as more than 100 drivers had parked their cars on the infield for the best trick-or-treating that any kid will ever find and I then settled in to a great conversation with Doug Haack, John Vass and Dennis Krieger. We watched the parade as the cars returned to the pits to prepare for hot laps and, after one quick visit to wish my good friend Darin Thye luck as he returned to the seat of his son's Modified for the night, I went back to the car and could hear the first roar of hot laps as I was driving north. Danny Rosencrans has the race story from Shiverfest and the full results as copied and pasted into the Iowastockcars forum for SpeedNet Direct can be found here.
From the pictures that I have seen it looks as though it just might have been the biggest crowd ever at Shiverfest and from the videos that I have seen from both Speed Shift and Local Vizion it looks like the racing was once again fantastic on a track that more and more race fans are learning is one of the best anywhere. Hopefully next year I can get Shiverfest added as one of the exempted nights when it comes to the "deal" with my wife!
Shiverfest was the final race in Iowa for 2016 and thus the 50th year of the all Iowa Points is now scored complete. Look for the wrap up story here on the Back Stretch either tomorrow or Thursday and the final points will soon be up on Positively Racing. That's right, 50 years of tabulating point standings who some will tell you don't really mean anything, but if you look at the resumes of Dirt Late Model Hall of Famers Ed Sanger, Curt Hansen, Gary Webb, Ray Guss Jr. and the soon to be inducted Roger Dolan, listed right there among their other accomplishments you will find how many times that they earned the All Iowa Points championship. What future Hall of Famers won the 2016 championships? Check back here tomorrow.
Congratulations to Positively Racing colleague Eric Arnold and his wife Kara on the birth of their baby girl!
I was surprised to see that Danny Lasoski will no longer be the driver for Tod Quiring's Sprint Car team in 2017, but perhaps no more surprised than Lasoski himself. The 57-year-old driver had just won both the Knoxville Raceway and the National Sprint League championships for the second year in a row and now he will be looking for a new team to drive for. The press release from the team left the impression that the two parties had parted ways, quite a different story than what PennLive had. Despite the success you have to wonder if Lasoski's age went against him in this decision and it will be interesting to see who will be named as the replacement. It will also be interesting to see if there will be a third season of the National Sprint league as in this summary of the 2016 season there is absolutely no mention of anything ahead. Wednesday morning update: Well that didn't take long! Kerry Madsen has been named as the new driver for the Big Game Motorsports car #2. And, with this press release and its complete lack of a mention in regard to next year's plans, it pretty much confirms that there will be no National Sprint League in 2017.
Jonathan Davenport will be returning to the seat of the Barry Wright house car in 2017 following a solid campaign that, let's face it, had no chance of living up to his 2015 season, perhaps the best year ever for a Dirt Late Model driver. Davenport last drove for Wright in 2011 and will return to his original car #49 after his ultra successful stint with Rumley Motorsports.
With Sears Craftsman now backing the World of Outlaws the series wanted to have some shows near the Chicago corporate home of their sponsor. Putting dirt on Rockford for a week was definitely a spectacle and it remains to be seen if that will happen again, but it does appear that the Route 66 Speedway in Joliet will come back to life in 2017 with new dirt being added and a World of Outlaws Late Model event scheduled for October 13th and 14th next year. Promoter Sherri Heckenast also plans to run some races prior to that doubleheader at a facility that has not seen dirt track racing for at least a dozen years.
With Friday night's win at the World Finals in Charlotte Josh Richards moves back to the top of the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model standings.
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