It was a festive evening Friday at the West Liberty Raceway. The sun was shining, a crisp wind was blowing from the northwest, the perfect direction to keep any dust off of the fans here and the fairgrounds were full of cars, trucks, vans and RV's that had brought a ton of race fans anxious to see the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars in their first ever appearance here. For many of those fans it would be their first time here as well and early on they saw exactly what those of us who have been here often know about the big half-mile. It was wide, smooth, fast and multi-grooved. Unfortunately though, for the final half of the night's finale, the track locked down on the bottom not allowing that final thrill that would have topped off a perfect evening.
A solid field of twenty-seven Sprints timed in with the veteran Jac Haudenschild establishing the new track record with a scorching lap of 15.737. This was the "Wild Child's" first night in the Wood/Stenhouse #17 after Joey Saldana had been let go this week and who knows, if he would have kept the car up front through the end of the night Haudenschild might have made a better case to stay in the ride longer, but after starting sixth in the feature he faded to 16th at the checkers.
Carson McCarl, making his first ever start with a 410, was the first car out to qualify and announcer Johnny Gibson tongue-in-cheek loudly proclaimed his first lap to be a new track record to the delight of many of the fans who may not have realized that it had eclipsed a mark previously established by Darren Miller in a Late Model. McCarl's time held up though for fourth quick, but when Daryn Pittman passed him for second in the first heat race it left him out of the dash and he lined up seventh for the 25-lap feature. The youngster spun though in turn two of the opening lap of the main event sending him to the rear for the restart and after a couple of laps he slowed and pulled to the infield finishing 24th.
Shane Stewart and Jason Johnson started from the front row and it would be Stewart who who slide up in front of Johnson off two to hold the lead on the opening lap. Drivers were using all of the track early, especially Sheldon Haudenschild who was using the high line to move from ninth to sixth in the first handful of laps, but then suddenly the bottom became the dominant groove. Johnson made one run at Stewart one line higher pulling nearly even with the leader down the straightaway, but when he couldn't complete the pass that left the door open for Brad Sweet to slip under him and into second. Ian Madsen then tried to squeeze under Johnson as well coming off of turn four and contact sent Jason for a spin while Madsen's car veered hard right into the concrete ending his evening. Sparks flew from the rear end of Johnson's car as he completed the 360 degree spin and continued on allowing him to restart the race in third with twelve laps completed.
Due to track conditions the Outlaws skipped their double-wide restart alignments the rest of the way and the race was slowed again on lap 15 for a smoking Logan Schuchart and on lap 18 for a stalled Clyde Knipp. Other than some scrambles near the back on restarts and a Donny Schatz pass of the younger Haudenschild for fifth this one was now a rubbered up chase around the bottom won by Stewart. A lapped car in front of the leader on the final lap allowed Sweet to make it look close in second, Johnson finished third, Pittman was fourth and Schatz was fifth. Sheldon Haudenschild was sixth, Brian Brown seventh, Brent Marks came from 15th to eighth, Paul McMahon was ninth and David Gravel completed the top ten.
The show was delayed for nearly an hour after the heats due to what was announced by the Outlaws as a fuel issue and during the last half of that time period a sheepsfoot was rolled around the surface and the grader was circling the track although I can't say that I ever saw the blade down. Then again I was chit chatting with some old friends in the bleachers to kill the time so may have missed it. I still feel that the Outlaws race format is always a prime culprit with a locked down surface because when you qualify and then start straight up there is little if any passing during the heats and with everybody running the same line it is bound to rubber up. Do any kind of an invert with passing points on the line in the heats to encourage racing and more of the track gets used making for a wider and more competitive surface come feature time. But hey, I'm just some grumpy old guy that actually prefers to see some passing even at a "big show".
Twenty-three IMCA Modifieds were a good side dish and they proved that this track could offer up some action as the opening lap of the third heat race saw the field race three by three all the way down the back stretch. That's right, there were three cars side-by-side-by-side racing for the lead while another trio was right behind them in the same formation racing for fourth.
Defending track champion Chris Zogg and two division star Justin Kay drew the front row for the 20-lap feature and one would have thought that one of those two would go on to collect the $1,000 top prize. Colt Mather had something else in mind though as he started sixth and raced his way to the front taking the lead from Zogg on lap thirteen. The only caution of the race waved for a Troy Rentfro spin with three laps remaining and on the restart Mather put an emphasis on his win by driving away from Zogg who had to fight off Kurt Kile to finish second. Kile had started tenth before finishing third, Larry Herring moved from sixth to fourth in those final three laps as Kay rounded out the top five.
All considered this was still a fun night at the races with good friends, fast cars and some entertaining racing and it was fantastic to see so many people at the West Liberty Raceway once again bringing back memories from when I was kid watching the Mississippi Valley Speedway Club action. I wondered how this crowd compared to last August when they had their free admission night here and, from all reports, filled the place. Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow get to that again?
That is all the racing that I will get to attend this weekend and I am seriously considering a Tuesday night road trip up to the Hancock County Speedway in Britt for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour. Also circled on my calendar is the annual Hogan Memorial coming up Sunday July 2nd at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
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