Tuesday Notebook: March 20, 2018

Spring has sprung! Well at least as far as the calendar is concerned and the weather forecast has already claimed one event for the upcoming weekend. I had heard that the frost was still in the ground in central Iowa so it was no surprise when the World Nationals at the Marshalltown Speedway were pushed back to September 14th and 15th. Down here in the southeast corner of the state though the crew at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson has been able to work the race track so they are going to hold out and see what happens with the weather for the weekend. After all, we saw just how radically a forecast could change last week when a call for a sunny day with temps in the 60's all of sudden went to rain and 42 for Memphis, Missouri. Maybe Mike VanGenderen who promotes both Memphis and Donnellson can get a more positive change in the forecast for this weekend.

I like how Lee County is handling this as today on Facebook they essentially said the following. This weekend's races are ON. We have watched the weather forecast go from a 100% chance for rain to now a 20% chance, at least for Friday. We know that every weather app is different and changes by the hour, especially this time of year. So we are racing until Mother Nature actually says no.

So if you want to see some racing, and if Mother Nature ends up cooperating, the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson is the place to be in Iowa and remember that the Spring Extravaganza is two separate shows, Friday and Saturday. One is not dependent upon the other so even if Saturday isn't looking good on your weather app, don't let that keep you from attending on Friday night!

Track announcer Tony Paris has asked me to fill in for him this weekend as he is in Hutchinson, Kansas, cheering on top ranked Indian Hills in the NJCAA National Basketball tournament, but as I am typing this they have just gone to overtime in their first round game. So who knows, maybe he will be back if things don't work out.

Ray Raker's IMCA Stock Car

With no racing close to home this past weekend I made the trip down to West Burlington for the 34 Raceway car show on Sunday afternoon. The event was held at the Deery Brothers car dealership this year and had the day started out as nice as it turned by noon, it would have been held in the parking lot rather than in the expansive service area. There was a nice turnout of both cars and fans and I have a few pictures posted here.

Ray Raker's Stock Car sported some snazzy lettering by Craig Jacoba who has been making race cars look great in this area for more than thirty-five years now.

Nick Guernsey

Nick Guernsey was sporting white wall tires on his Sprint Car for the occasion.

Always great to talk with Scott Bonar of Midland Performance who fields the #50 Sprinter with a host of talented guest drivers. In case you didn't know it there is a 410 show scheduled for this coming Sunday afternoon at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Missouri, and if he gets his motor back in time Bonar will have none other than Craig Dollansky behind the wheel of the #50. Then, when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders kick off the season at 34 Raceway on March 31st it will be interesting to see who has the ride on that night.

The Midland Performance #50

Speaking of the Sprint Invaders, with both Chris Martin and Jamie Ball now following the ASCS National Tour it will be interesting to see who steps up to challenge for the 2018 Invaders championship. Defending champion Jon Agan would have to be the odds on favorite if he runs the whole schedule again this year, but on Sunday there were three drivers who had their cars on display that you should keep an eye on. Tanner Gebhardt edged out Brayden Gaylord by just four points for the Rookie-of-the-Year honors last year and both could be title contenders in 2018. Also look for continued improvement from Burlington's Daniel Bergquist who has two cars at his disposal, the 305 that he will race weekly and the 360 with the Sprint Invaders as this young driver was making some noise at the end of last season.

Brayden Gaylord

As mentioned before the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will open their season on Saturday night March 31st at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Also racing that night will be the Lee County Late Models and remember Late Model drivers, the Lee County rules packages not only allows for the Crate engine cars to compete, but there is also a setup that allows the IMCA-rules cars to race as well. So if you are looking for that first night to get your car out on the track, that will be it if Donnellson is not able to race this coming Saturday.

Tanner Gebhardt

Even with the crummy weather up here this past weekend, the Humboldt Speedway in southeast Kansas was once again able to get in all three nights of action to complete their second mega event of the season already with the King of America Modifieds. Minnesota's Lucas Schott was the best of an 82 car field to earn the crown and the $10,000 that went along with it. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second with the Scott brothers, Johnny and Stormy next in line. For the race story and full results click here and for some interesting news and notes from all three nights make sure to visit our Positively Racing colleague Ed Reichert's blog at One Fan's Travels.

Daniel Bergquist

There is a thread on 4m.net that expresses a concern about the Late Model car counts that we have been seeing and with a couple of nice paying races this last weekend drawing just 14 and 17 cars respectively it is a valid concern. Since Speed Weeks there have been 22 Late Model specials run in the United States with a "special" being defined here as being a race that is featured on the Dirt On Dirt schedule. The average winner's check at these events is $3,670 with an average car count thus far of just 19.3. One of the theories offered up on the thread is that we have way too many different "divisions" of Late Models now and in some cases a track will run two or three of them on the same night. I experienced that first hand last month when I went to Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee and only twelve Super Late Models signed in for the Iron Man series event. But there were 19 Crates and 21 Sportsman on had as well and from the grandstands you would not be able to tell the difference between the three classes as they all look like Late Models. Will the new rules package that is being implemented in eastern Iowa this year help solve this problem? I hope so, but you will have a similar scenario when the 9:1 Limited Late Models race on the same night at the Dubuque Speedway.

I mentioned before that Chris Martin and Jamie Ball were now chasing the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series and I am sure that both were hoping for a better start to the season when Martin finished 12th and Ball 18th down at the Devils Bowl speedway in Texas Friday night. Another driver who chasing the Tour for the first time this year, Roger Crockett from Oregon was the winner over defending champ Sam Hafertepe Jr.

And how about the last two winners with the World of Outlaws being Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason? Yes, Donny Schatz is still the point leader but he has two-time winner Sheldon Haudenschild nipping at his heels in second. Ian Madsen got off to a slow start in his Rookie-of-the-Year efforts, but hopefully a second place finish to Eliason last weekend in California will give him the jump start that he needed.

It was a bit of a surprise to the Sprint Car world when the Buffalo Wild Wings team announced on Monday that the entire operation was up for sale.

There is plenty of other racing in the region besides Donnellson this weekend and as always you can make your plans by checking out the Schedule page at Positively Racing. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and allow us all to get to the race of our choice this weekend!