With a late change in the weather forecast the Springfield Raceway made the announcement last Friday that they would be moving the Turkey Bowl from Saturday to Sunday and just like that my weekend plans changed. We first thought of making the trip to Plumerville, Arkansas, for Saturday night racing and then hitting Springfield Sunday on the way home, but the weather was not looking all that favorable for that plan either. So instead I decided to go to my first Hawkeye football game of the season with my son and his girlfriend who was excited to experience Kinnick stadium for the first time.
Now don't get me wrong, I had a great time before and after the game with Morgan and Em, but the actual game was just over three hours of torture in the cold and the wind as the Hawks turned in another lackluster performance that is just so hard to understand after what they did to Ohio State just two short weeks ago. The only comfort that I could take out of this game was that by sucking so bad we are making it that much harder for the Buckeyes to even be considered for the playoffs with the loss to Iowa hanging around their necks.
Two things that I noticed during the game. One, is that nearly all of the "hype" videos are now from that Ohio State game which is sad in a way because it is almost like saying "that's the best we'll ever be, so let's remember that one day and rejoice." And two is that it seemed like each and EVERY timeout also had to be a media timeout that would stretch out for sometimes as long as three or four minutes. I wish I had the stats on this because it sure seems like we have more of these now than there were when I did attend games regularly and if anybody is out there scratching their head as to why actual attendance numbers are down that just might be one of the reasons as well.
I couldn't help but to have tears rolling down my face when I was able to wave to the kids though. To have the chance to be a part of that this one time was more than worth the price of admission.
On Sunday morning Barry, Danny, Darryl and I loaded up and made the five hour trip down to Springfield excited to be able to attend the Turkey Bowl and we were surprised at how full the pits were given that the show was moved to Sunday. 166 cars in five divisions were signed in and the racing actually took the green a few minutes before the scheduled starting time of 3 p.m. The Midwest Modifieds, or a more restricted division than the B-Mods, were added to the event this year and watching their heat races unfold I couldn't help but to rue the decision. Caution after caution waved as drivers would spin and sit, spin and sit, something that these four fans are not used to seeing since the tracks that we attend primarily use the "one spin and you're in" rule. The same thing happened, although not quite to the same extent in the B-Mods, the Legend Cars and the Modifieds, plus a couple of the Late Models got into the act as well so the heat races and B-Mains took more than three and a half hours to complete.
What would a change of the rule do for this event? Well the track actually had a preview when Ottumwa, Iowa's, Tom Lathrop spun his B-Mod in turn one of his heat race, but since he is used to running at tracks with the "Lone Ranger" rule, he kept the car running and continued on even as the flagman waved the caution for the rest of the field that were still a half of a lap away from turn one.
With three of the four of us needing to go to work on Monday morning we had hoped to be headed home by 7:00 p.m. and when first the water truck and then the grader came to the track during intermission we made the tough call to leave at 6:50 without seeing any of the features. Now don't get me wrong, there are no sour apples here as we would have stayed until the very end had this been Saturday as we had planned on spending the night in Springfield. So once again I can blame Mother Nature for not allowing me to see the Turkey Bowl.
Okay, well her AND the Midwest Modifieds.
The surprise of the evening was that Ryan Gustin was there to drive both the Gressel Racing Late Model and Modified and we were all even more surprised when Barry was able to read us the results off of SpeedNet as we were nearing our destination showing that Gustin was not the winner in either class. Young Logan Martin took the win in the Late Models starting from the pole and dominating while Gustin finished second. In the Modifieds it was Mitch Keeter taking the win coming from the third row with Ryan Gillmore running second as Gustin started third and finished fourth. The B-Mod feature winner was Justin Comer as Brandon Lennox and Austen Becerra represented the tri-state area well finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
The race track was in great shape and the variety of drivers on hand was second to none with one Late Model driver, Rich Thomas, towing all the way down from Aberdeen, South Dakota. We love this event so here's hoping that it can actually be run on its intended date the Saturday before Thanksgiving in the coming years!
I am amazed at the flow of news and the release of schedules already for 2018 as the industry used to at least wait for the PRI show that is still two weeks away.
In my opinion the biggest announcement over the past seven days has to be that the Harris Clash featuring the IMCA Modifieds will be run at the Deer Creek Speedway in southeastern Minnesota on Tuesday August 7th. The event originated at the Knoxville Raceway, but when it was rained out and a make up date could not be identified back in 2016 it was then moved to the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. Now I am actually opening up Mapquest to see where the nearest IMCA sanctioned track is to Deer Creek and I do hope that is the reason why this venue was chosen; to be a neutral site located between the Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa strongholds for IMCA. Conspiracy theorists will have other ideas......
Oh yes, and the results of that map search has the Independence Motor Speedway edging out the Fairmont Raceway by just three miles 106 to 109. The Hancock County Speedway in Britt is close behind in third at 110 miles to Deer Creek.
Two tracks have come together to promote the Racesaver 305 Sprint Car drivers to race two nights a weekend as a driver that finishes in the top three at Jackson on Friday night will collect an extra $200 if he or she can win at Park Jefferson on Saturday. And the neat thing about this is that the bonus will grow each week if it goes unclaimed so it could build up to as much as $1,800. This is a nice concept that some other promoters might want to try for whatever class that they feel might work for them.
One of my "ideas" in the What I Would Do scenario at Osky would be to offer a free pit pass to any driver who won a Stock Car feature the weekend before, even to the winners at the tracks in Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Speaking of Wisconsin, given the early response from drivers thus far it looks like I will have to make friends with a promoter up that way if the Open Trailer Nationals is to become a reality. Apparently all of the drivers in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri now travel incognito with their enclosed haulers. Prove that otherwise by posting your open trailer pics on the event's Facebook page.
"The Kentucky Colonel" Steve Francis has retired from racing and will become the Technical Director for the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series in 2018. Geesh, that's one way to take the fun out racing for the long time driver.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Lake Ozark Speedway in central Missouri plans to run two nights weekly in 2018 and on Tuesday they posted the first draft of the aggressive schedule that has 40 nights of racing on it. Looks like I need to find at least one that will work for me to return to a track that I enjoyed often when we still had our house at the Lake.
Looks like we have lost a track as the Winnebago County board voted to build a stage that would put an end to the Oshkosh Speedzone.
We will either have several questions answered, or perhaps have even more questions after tonight's Late Model meeting at the Farley Palace Ballroom where rules and schedules are to be discussed.
Michael Porter Jr., the star basketball recruit at the University of Missouri who is the grandson of Arlo Becker is going to need surgery on his back and is expected to miss the rest of the season. As the projected number two pick in the NBA draft that would mean that Porter's career numbers at Mizzou will likely be just two points on one for one shooting.
Putting the Notebook up nice and early today as I have to go pick up my grandson Watson at the airport for Thanksgiving! I will probably need to give his parents a ride as well :)
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend and thank you for checking in on the Back Stretch!
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