The final event on my 2017 racing schedule is this Saturday November 18th with the eleventh running of the Turkey Bowl at the Springfield Raceway in southwest Missouri. This event is traditionally scheduled on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but the past several years cold weather has prompted the promoters to push the event back a week. In fact last year I called it "The Big Tease", but as of right now everything is looking good for this Saturday with sunny skies, temperatures in the low 50's and a northwest wind that is supposed to die down as the sun begins to set. Late Models, Modifieds, B-Mods, Legend Cars and Midwest Mods are on the schedule with hot laps scheduled for 2:20 p.m. and racing to follow. Perhaps we'll see you there!
Even though I still have a race to go to this weekend, it is already time to start looking ahead to 2018 with several tracks and series already posting their schedules.
New owners Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt have released what they are calling the "basic schedule" for 34 Raceway near Burlington, one that looks very similar to what the track presented in 2017. A new addition will be two nights of figure eight racing that will be held on the front stretch and infield apron of the 3/8-mile oval. Jessi have been around figure eight events at small fairgrounds in Illinois and she tells me that the car counts are solid and that the action is non-stop. Other slight changes include the All Star Sprints date moving from early June to July 29th and the date for the annual Slocum 50 sliding back one week to April 21st. This mega Late Model event will now be part of the MLRA series and the change is to align with the tour's schedule where they will run at the Lucas Oil Speedway on what would have been the traditional event date of April 14th. While I am glad that the Slocum will now be an MLRA show, I am not happy about the date change as we already have a wedding "Save The Date" card in hand for the 21st making it the first time that I will miss a Slocum 50. If you have never attended before make sure that you take my place that night!
34 Raceway's schedule also shows a March 31st date for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models, similar to what the track opened with last year. However, I am being told that the fate of the Late Models in IMCA is a bit up in the air right now with a promoters meeting scheduled for tonight. If any news is shared with me I will follow up with a Notebook addendum either Thursday or Friday.
I have watched the first two episodes of the return of the Dirt Knights on MavTV and the show again gives an informative and entertaining look behind the scenes of Modified racing featuring Executive Producer Corey Dripps as well as Cody Bauman, Hunter Marriott, Jason Wolla and Johnny Scott. Event proposals have gone out to promoters in Iowa looking for tracks to run a Dirt Knights race in 2018 and it makes me wonder if this is in addition to, or taking the place of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour.
As of right now we are still around a net zero when it comes to tracks opening and closing for 2018 as this week it was noticed that the US 30 Speedway in Columbus, Nebraska, is closed and the property is up for sale. While in Kentucky, the Paducah Raceway that sat idle this past season will spring back into action next season. The Atchison County Raceway in Kansas went back and forth this past week first announcing that negotiations with an interested party had fallen through before coming back a few days later stating that a new potential promoter had come to the table. Look for the news to continue to be mixed though as several tracks, including a couple close to home, remain in limbo for 2018.
The Jackson Motorplex will join the Knoxville Raceway as a track that will only run Sprint Car divisions weekly in 2018 with Winged 360's and 305's plus non-wing 360's on the weekly schedule. The track has been including IMCA sanctioned classes for several years now, even racing two nights a week in 2017, but this year it will only be the Sprints on Fridays at Jackson. And, in an interesting move, the Fairmont Raceway announced this week that it will return to its more traditional Friday race night for 2018, so race fans along I-90 can choose the style of racing that they like best between the tracks that are about thirty miles apart.
I was happy to see that Gendel Promotions and Mike Van Genderen had his contract extended through the year 2020 at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. This 3/8-mile D-shaped track tucked into the southeast corner of Iowa is one of those hidden gems that nearly always produces great two and three-wide racing and with Van Genderen on the Raceceiver you know that it will be a well run and efficient program. The track traditionally starts early with the Spring Extravaganza in late March and closes out late with Shiverfest at the end of October giving you plenty of chances to check the place out in 2018.
Steve Sinclair and SLS Promotions are playing Santa Claus to Sprint Car fans already here in November as this week they announced the return of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series to two facilities that have not been on the schedule for some time. SLS will take the Outlaws to the Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon, Missouri, on Friday May 4th and then will go to the Farley Speedway on Friday June 22nd. The Outlaws also announced this week that they will be at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway on Wednesday May 30th for an event that just might have to be circled on my calendar.
Another program that I enjoy watching on MavTv is the IMCA Racing Rewind and this week the featured event was the Mark Martin Foundation Race for Hope 74 that was held in late September at the Batesville Speedway in Arkansas. Recall that this was the event that offered up a very generous purse from top to bottom yet drew less than a hundred cars causing many to scratch their heads as to why. In fact, in his victory lane interview Ricky Thornton Jr. hoped that next year's race will draw more cars, but if you take a look at the brief aerial views of the pit area, you might understand why.
While I want nothing but the best for this great event, I couldn't help but wonder if that same weekend would be a good date for the Open Trailer Nationals giving those Modified drivers who are perhaps more on a budget an alternative. This event that is still in its developmental stages now has its own Facebook page where drivers can have their eligibility proven by having a fan, or themselves post a picture of the car on an open trailer. It has also been decided that a significant portion of every ticket, camping reservation (mostly tents), VIP Suites (if there are any at the track that hosts) and pit passes sold will go toward the purse for this prestigious event. No Pay Per View! If you want to watch it, you have to be there in person and you will want to be there early to watch the pit road parade where you will actually be able to see the cars as the drivers arrive. If you would like to help build upon this dream, give the Facebook page a "like" and start posting photos of racers and their open trailers.
I want to thank all of you who took the time to read the All Iowa Points story for 2017 as it has become the fifth highest viewed post in the history of the Back Stretch! Make sure that you continue to check in here on a regular basis during the offseason as I will try to keep you up to date on all of the changes and news items that will shape our 2018 season.
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