Turkey Teasers and Michigan Points

Yes, I have now used the root word "tease" in the title of my two most recent blogs.

Rumors, rumors and more rumors going around right now and while I feel that I have some very good sources even one of them this morning backed off of a statement that he had made last week so while I was dumb enough to be coy on a racing forum, I will hold on to my "information" until it is actually announced. But hey, that doesn't mean that I can't tell you about some of the other things that people are saying!

One of the hottest rumors on the street right now is the potential sale of the Farley Speedway to Jason Rauen and Joel Callahan and then what their plans would be going forward. I must say that the sell of Farley seems to pop up each year and, while I am pretty confident that a transaction is being discussed, until the papers are actually signed everything is just speculation. With Farley being the base of the Simmons Promotions operation it then makes one wonder what the situation is at the two fairground tracks that are leased for weekly racing. I have been told by a reliable source that an agreement has already been signed at West Liberty, but I have no word on Dubuque.

My feelings on it all are this. Running three tracks including some big money specials each year and for as long as he has, Keith Simmons has given as much, if not more to the sport of dirt racing in this area than anybody. And despite this the man gets more negative snipping from people on the internet and social media than any other promoter. No matter how this all plays out it is my hope that he is happy and very satisfied with his accomplishments, because he should be. I will update further when I have solid information.

We knew that with the closing of the track at the Iowa State Fairgrounds there would be some changes in central Iowa and two of them have been officially announced. Stuart Speedway will now switch to Friday night racing action after being the only Sunday track in the area for several years. And, as expected, the Late Model division will be added to the weekly program at the Marshalltown Speedway apparently replacing the Mod Lites.

Race night changes are going on as well up in north central Iowa and southern Minnesota as the Hancock County Speedway in Britt will go back to Friday night racing under new promoters in 2017. Fairmont Raceway will move to Saturday nights, perhaps a bit in deference to Britt's move, but mainly because the Jackson Motorplex will no longer run its Saturday night IMCA program going back to one night of weekly racing in 2017 on Fridays with the Sprint Cars being the main focus, while a couple of stock car classes will run in support.

It is almost like musical chairs in the region at this point, but I am assuming that Algona will continue to stick with Thursday and it remains to be seen whether or not Spencer will continue to race weekly on Friday. One thing is for sure, there are still no shortage of options in that region!

It was no surprise, to me at least, that the National Sprint League announced that they would not be running any races in 2017 and while they leave the door open to a possibility of returning someday I do not see that happening as long as there are weekly races at Knoxville, Badlands and Jackson. The NSL learned that it was next to impossible to get the 410 drivers in this region to race extra nights beyond their weekly shows, especially if those events were scheduled mid-week or on Holiday weekends. In other words, run a show at 34 Raceway in early April before the regular season opens at Knoxville and you get forty cars, but run a show on a Thursday night in July at Britt and get eighteen or on a Sunday of Memorial Day weekend at Des Moines and get fourteen. The upper Midwest already had a couple of good regional series for the 410's in the IRA and MOWA. They will continue.

Apparently 48% of the country doesn't think that the other 47% of the country is smart enough to turn on a TV, read a paper or view social media. That means that our chances are slim that we will all pull together and do better for 100% of the country.

Last Tuesday during Dirt Late Model Live on Dirt On Dirt commentator Ben Shelton listed 2016 Deery Brothers Summer Series Champion Tyler Bruening as a potential World of Outlaws Late Model Rookie-of-the-Year candidate in 2017. For the past few years Tyler has made the trip down to Florida to race with the big boys during Speedweeks at Volusia and perhaps a solid showing there in a few months could lead to a run at the full WoO schedule. Other drivers mentioned were Donald Bradsher, Donald McIntosh and G.R. Smith.

When Brandon Sheppard announced a few weeks ago that he was leaving the Best Motorsports Team to drive his own family's equipment in 2017 absolutely nobody would have predicted that World of Outlaws champion Josh Richards would be his replacement. Likely the Driver of the Year in 2016 Richards has driven the Rocket house car for his father Mark Richards for years, so now the question is who will step into that stout ride in 2017? And, which series will the Best/Richards team follow next year?

Evening update: Not more than two hours after I posted this entry it was announced that Brandon Sheppard will be the driver of the Mark Richards Racing Rocket house car in 2017. So essentially, the two teams traded drivers.

The ride jumping continues in the world of Sprint Car racing as well kicked off a week or two ago when Kerry Madsen replaced Danny Lasoski in the Muddy #2 car. That left the Matt Wood Racing #17w looking for a driver and the rumor is that Joey Saldana may be able to bring some motors and sponsorship money from the Roth Motorsports Team that is scaling back to put the Wood team on the World of Outlaws circuit. Nothing official yet on that one though. What is official though is that Austin McCarl will replace Craig Dollansky in the TKS Motorsports ride in 2017. No word on what Dollansky has planned and that means that the two drivers who finished one-two in National Sprint League points in 2016 are currently ride shopping.

Last week I was saddened to hear of the passing of Burlington's Jim Hollenbeck, a long-time competitor at 34 Raceway and a track regular when I announced there from 1982 though 1989. He was a good driver, had a fantastic personality and was always willing to help out young drivers such as Bobby Mincer and his son Ed Hollenbeck to name a couple. He will be missed by all who had the chance to get to know him both at and away from the track.

Don't forget that the Turkey Bowl is on the schedule now for this Saturday November 26th at the Springfield Raceway in Missouri!

With my daughter living in Michigan I can see myself getting to a race or two up there each year so this past weekend I pulled up the results from the dirt tracks in the state over 2016 and gave them the same 5-point scale treatment that I give the All Iowa Points and found the following. You might not think of it in that way, but Michigan has some of the best weekly UMP Late Model racing in the country with several of the tracks needing to run a B-Main at most of their shows. When it comes to Modifieds they are split between UMP and IMCA with a couple of tracks running both but calling the IMCA-style rules the "Michigan Dirt Modifieds" and, with winged Sprint Cars, one track runs the 360's weekly while the Sprints On Dirt (SOD) and the Great Lakes Super Sprints (GLSS) keeps the open wheel fans pretty pleased by having at least one race at each facility during the season.

In the Late Models Ryan VanderVeen was the top point getter with eleven feature wins along the way. David Mielke was the best of the UMP Mod drivers with 18 feature wins and his point total was four more than the best of the IMCA group, A.J. Ward who had 22 wins on the season. And with four wins, Chase Ridenour scored the most points for the Sprint Car drivers.

The full standings for all three divisions follow. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

		Michigan Points
		Late Model	Final 2016
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Ryan Vanderveen	Six Lakes	107
2	.	Eric Spangler	Lake City	88
3	.	Dona Marcoullier	Houghton Lake	86
4	.	Rich Neiser	Fruitport	69
5	.	Brandon Thirlby	Traverse City	49
6	.	Kyle Borgman	Muskegon	46
7	.	Zack Olger	St. Johns	44
8	.	Travis Stemler	Ionia	43
9	.	Scott Baker	Ionia	42
10	.	Bill Bray	Spring Lake	32
11	.	Rusty Schlenk	McClure OH	28
12	.	Andrew Terrill	Sanford	26
13	.	Josh Knoll	Barryton	26
14	.	Kevin Reeve	Hanover	24
15	.	David Hilliker	Midland	23
16	.	Nick Kurtz	Greenville	23
17	.	Rich Bell	Sheffield IL	20
18	.	Ryan Lanphierd	Midland	20
19	.	Steve McClees	Muskegon	20
20	.	Greg Gokey	Buckley	19
21	.	Derrick Hilliker	Midland	18
22	.	Logan Arntz	Vestaburg	18
23	.	Sammy Epling	Perry	18
24	.	Steve Fairbanks	Twin Lake	17
25	.	Carl Ries	Blanchard	16
26	.	Curtis Roberts	Coleman	16
27	.	Scott Phillips	Marlette	16
28	.	Tyler Norton	Midland	16
29	.	Chad Anklam	Freeland	15
30	.	Rick Stout	Stanton	14
31	.	Ed Reyes	Muskegon	13
32	.	Rachel Carpenter	Laingsburg	13
33	.	Adam Erickson	Traverse City	12
34	.	Bry Sloan		12
35	.	Josh Borton	Crystal	12
36	.	Kyle Roberts		12
37	.	Chad Finley	Lansing	11
38	.	Steven Hilliker	Midland	11
39	.	Chris Brindley	West Branch	10
40	.	Jeep Van Wormer	Pinconning	10
41	.	Kevin Nelson Jr.		10
42	.	Alex Hupert	Augres	9
43	.	Dean Huizenga	Belmont	9
44	.	Isaac Wolfgang	Breckenridge	9
45	.	Chad Foster	McBain	8
46	.	J.T. Anderson	Cadillac	8
47	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	8
48	.	Rodney Laney	Auburn	8
49	.	Kris Patterson Jr.	St. Johns	7
50	.	Tom Dusen	Muskegon	7
51	.	Renton Hurley		7
52	.	Brandon Overton	Appling GA	6
53	.	Brian Ruhlman	Clark Lake	6
54	.	C.J. Heskett	Muskegon	6
55	.	Garrett Wiles	Hubbardson	6
56	.	Torrey Ahrens		6
57	.	Billy Moyer Jr.	Batesville AR	5
58	.	Brad Mann	Dewitt	5
59	.	Dave Hartman		5
60	.	Frank Seder	Alger	5
61	.	Graeme Short		5
62	.	J.R. Hotovy		5
63	.	Phil Ausra	Dowagiac	5
64	.	Ryan Unzicker	El Paso IL	5
65	.	Rob Taylor	Muskegon	5
66	.	Nate Hurley		5
67	.	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood IL	4
68	.	Jesse Playter	Greenville	4
69	.	Shawn Reed		4
70	.	Chad White	Steveville	3
71	.	Derek Thebo		3
72	.	Jason Feger	Bloomington IL	3
73	.	Jeramy Lange		3
74	.	Jon Henry	Ada OH	3
75	.	Larry Zander		3
76	.	Merv Hudson	Alger	3
77	.	Mike Spatola	Manhattan IL	3
78	.	Paul Tucker	Cedar Springs	3
79	.	Dan Wilson		2
80	.	Jeremy Tulick	Cadillac	2
81	.	Kenny Playter	Saranac	2
82	.	Michael Luberda		2
83	.	Rick Eckert	York PA	2
84	.	Ryan Kent	Greenville	2
85	.	Shane Clanton	Zebulon GA	2
86	.	Taylor Scheffler	Waukesha WI	2
87	.	Josh Haynes	Fostoria OH	2
88	.	Blaine Hendrick	Sheridan	1
89	.	Jason Playter Jr.	Saranac	1
90	.	Mike Nelson		1
91	.	Milt Montgomery	Sheridan	1
92	.	Scott Wennell		1
93	.	Vincent Ashton		1
94	.	Bob Shirk	Holton	1
95	.	Kenny Wilson	Muskegon	1
96	.	J.C. Witherspoon		1
97	.	Keith Finkbeiner		1

		Michigan Points
		Modified	Final 2016
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	David Mielke	Gladwin	125
2	.	A.J. Ward	Ionia	121
3	.	Myron DeYoung	Stanton	106
4	.	Greg Smith	Montague	78
5	.	Chad Bauer	Farwell	68
6	.	Gary Vandermark	Lowell	55
7	.	Evan Shotko	Coopersville	49
8	.	Roy Harvey	Mt. Pleasant	49
9	.	Collin Thirlby	Traverse City	47
10	.	Jeff Erickson Jr.	Muskegon	47
11	.	Jeff Kohn	Sheridan	47
12	.	Jacob Poel	Spring Lake	46
13	.	Brenten DeYoung	Crystal	45
14	.	Aaron Morey	West Olive	43
15	.	Heath Grizzle	Drasco AR	38
16	.	Matt Valiquette		38
17	.	Chad Wernette	Sheridan	35
18	.	Steve Shellenberger		35
19	.	Andy Sprague	Muskegon	31
20	.	Tommy Beezley		30
21	.	Curt Spalding		29
22	.	Joe Rokos	Interlochen	29
23	.	John Hammerle	Muskegon	26
24	.	Matt Szecsodi	Clio	25
25	.	Tim Wilber		25
26	.	Josh Lomaugh		23
27	.	Kody Johnson	Vestaburg	21
28	.	Corey Bevard		20
29	.	Garrett Rons		20
30	.	Kevin Cavanugh	Muskegon	20
31	.	Matt Sprague		20
32	.	Lonnie Dalgord	Escanaba	19
33	.	Zeke McKenzie		19
34	.	Austin Wonch	Stanton	18
35	.	Dave Baker	Grand Rapids	18
36	.	Larry Passenier	Muskegon	17
37	.	Craig Vance	Midland	16
38	.	Drew Wilkerson	Ravenna	16
39	.	Mitchell Hunt	Greenville	16
40	.	Pat Richer	Bark River	16
41	.	Shaun Warner	Clare	15
42	.	Brody Bowser	Stanton	14
43	.	Randy Theys	Algoma WI	14
44	.	Steven Pena		14
45	.	Ted Cooper	Whitehall	14
46	.	Vern Buskirk	Elwell	14
47	.	Brian Ruhlman	Clark Lake	13
48	.	Ken Zeigler	Ovid	13
49	.	Chuck Carmin	Gladstone	12
50	.	Troy Marciniak	Muskegon	12
51	.	Chris Cohoon	Auburn	11
52	.	Cody Bauer	Farwell	11
53	.	David VanGuilder		11
54	.	Toby Steele	Beaverton	11
55	.	Derek Poland	Muskegon	10
56	.	Rusty Zeigler	Ovid	10
57	.	Chad Spencer	Kingston	9
58	.	Darrell Gagnon	Gladstone	9
59	.	Rick Gokee		9
60	.	Tim Dalman		9
61	.	Brady Hollenbeck		8
62	.	Brent Banning	West Branch	8
63	.	Chaz Pray	Clio	8
64	.	Jimmy Hale Jr.	Clio	8
65	.	Joe Fowler	St. Charles	8
66	.	Mike Epplett	Muskegon	8
67	.	Richard Swan		8
68	.	Todd Matheson	Clio	8
69	.	Aaron Raby	St. Louis	7
70	.	Bob Baldwin	Hartford	7
71	.	Bob Pohlman		6
72	.	Jared Guinn	Hudsonville	6
73	.	Michael Tarlton		6
74	.	Rich Robinson Jr.	Mt. Pleasant	6
75	.	Steve Langdon		6
76	.	Ben Godlewski	Sussex WI	5
77	.	Bill Workman Jr.	Muskegon	5
78	.	Bobby Stremme		5
79	.	David Schmidt		5
80	.	David Stremme		5
81	.	Derrick Neitling		5
82	.	Fran Berube	Cornell	5
83	.	Gavin Hunyday	Fenton	5
84	.	Jerid Bissen	Muskegon	5
85	.	John DeYoung Jr.	Stanton	5
86	.	John Taylor	Shepherd	5
87	.	Mark Pifer		5
88	.	Mike Andrews		5
89	.	Ray McCallister	Weidman	5
90	.	Steve Fairbanks	Twin Lake	5
91	.	Brian Shaw		4
92	.	Fred VanEvey		4
93	.	Jeff Cade	Buckley	4
94	.	Joel Dick		4
95	.	Larry Cade	Buckley	4
96	.	Paul Johnson	Arcadia	4
97	.	Rich Neiser	Fruitport	4
98	.	Russ Franks		4
99	.	Tim Sooy	Stanton	4
100	.	Tom Stark		4
101	.	Stan Dodds	Rothbury	4
102	.	Jim Waldfogel	Leroy	4
103	.	Alvie Haynes	Mt. Pleasant	3
104	.	Brad Roberts	Stockbridge	3
105	.	Brian Brindley	West Branch	3
106	.	Buster Peyton		3
107	.	Chad Maurer		3
108	.	Chris Barton		3
109	.	Chris Lassila		3
110	.	Cory Ruesink	Lowell	3
111	.	James Gokee Jr.		3
112	.	Mark Gagnon	Gladstone	3
113	.	Mike Peterson		3
114	.	Raymond Hutson Jr.	Shepherd	3
115	.	Scott Payton	Gaylord	3
116	.	Tanner Pray	Clio	3
117	.	Todd Sherman	Churobusco IN	3
118	.	Lucas Krick		3
119	.	Brad Bates	Twin Lake	3
120	.	Allen Oyer	Mancelona	2
121	.	Clayton Smith	Taylor	2
122	.	Daryl Lehn	Traverse City	2
123	.	Derek Passenier		2
124	.	Jason Holmes	Kenosha WI	2
125	.	Jeff Davis		2
126	.	John McClure		2
127	.	Kory Maurice		2
128	.	Mike Roe		2
129	.	Roger Flinn III	Ionia	2
130	.	Shawn O'Connor		2
131	.	Terry Shank	Sheridan	2
132	.	Travis Fisher	Fenwick	2
133	.	Derek Saur		2
134	.	Josh Grabe	Muskegon	2
135	.	Ben Hidy		1
136	.	Blake Spaulding		1
137	.	Brad Wilson	Muskegon	1
138	.	Brandon Ordway		1
139	.	Calvin Stemler		1
140	.	Chris Olson	Gladstone	1
141	.	Erny Gingerich		1
142	.	Frank Marshall		1
143	.	Jason Hoogerhyde	Allendale	1
144	.	Jeff Champagne		1
145	.	John Pearson		1
146	.	Rich Young	Midland	1
147	.	Ryan Flagel		1
148	.	Ryan Ordway		1
149	.	Shannon Fisk		1
150	.	Tom Conrad Jr.		1

		Michigan Points
		Winged Sprints	Final 2016
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Chase Ridenour	Perry	34
2	.	Dustin Daggett	Grand Ledge	30
3	.	Brian Smith	Fremont OH	22
4	.	Ryan Ruhl	Coldwater	22
5	.	Shelby Bilton		22
6	.	Doug Zimmerman		19
7	.	Joe Swanson		16
8	.	Steve Irwin	Fenton	16
9	.	Chad Blonde	Litchfield	14
10	.	Brad Lamberson		13
11	.	Max Stambaugh	Lima OH	12
12	.	Ken Mackey		11
13	.	Andy Chehowski		10
14	.	Sheldon Haudenschild	Wooster OH	10
15	.	Brett Mann	Goshen IN	9
16	.	Jared Horstman	Colverdale OH	9
17	.	Kyle Sauder	Archbold OH	9
18	.	Quentin Blonde		9
19	.	Gregg Dalman	Bellevue	7
20	.	Mark Aldrich	Hillsdale	7
21	.	Tom Schinderle	Warren	7
22	.	Phil Gressman	Helena OH	6
23	.	Randy Hannagan		6
24	.	Chad Kemenah		5
25	.	Dan McCarron	Dundee	5
26	.	Danny Holtgraver		5
27	.	David Gravel	Waterford CT	5
28	.	Johnny Herrera	Albuquerque NM	5
29	.	Kyle Locke	Quincy	5
30	.	Stuart Brubaker	Fremont OH	5
31	.	Chad Goff		4
32	.	Dale Blaney	Hartford OH	4
33	.	Mike Dunlap	Wapakoneta OH	4
34	.	Sam Hafertepe Jr.	Sunnyvale TX	4
35	.	Sean Zemunik		4
36	.	Shane Stewart	Bixby OK	4
37	.	Brad Sweet	Grass Valley CA	3
38	.	Chris Durand	Port Stanley ONT	3
39	.	Jimmy Colvin		3
40	.	Joe Geibe	Sturgis MI	3
41	.	Kraig Kinser	Bloomington IN	3
42	.	Mike Astrauskas	Pierson	3
43	.	Wayne Johnson	Jenks OK	3
44	.	D.J. Foos		2
45	.	Dain Naida	Tecumseh	2
46	.	Donny Schatz	Fargo ND	2
47	.	Jess Stigier		2
48	.	Logan Forler	Boise ID	2
49	.	Roger Campbell		2
50	.	Andy Teunessen	Hastings	1
51	.	Brad Loyet	Sunset Hills MO	1
52	.	Brad Wilkman		1
53	.	Dean Jacobs		1
54	.	Jay Steinbach		1
55	.	Michael Burkin	Clyde OH	1
56	.	Robert Huisken	Marne	1
57	.	Tim Shaffer	Aliquippa PA	1