Bob Sargent and Track Enterprises brought in Kenny Schrader
and Kenny Wallace to the Peoria Speedway last Wednesday for NASCAR night and a
large crowd came out for the three division program. Even though these two guys
are not among the top contenders each week in Nextel Cup, they definitely are
capable of holding their own with the short trackers on dirt and they have
always been two of my favorites because of their charisma and personality.
As the track prep crew was putting the finishing touches on
a perfect racetrack (more on that later), Wallace and Schrader came out to the
frontstretch to talk to the crowd and preview the evening. I’ve had the
pleasure of working with these guys before at the Lee County Speedway in
Donnellson and the best thing that you can do is introduce them, ask one
leading question and then step out of the spotlight as Kenny and Kenny can
definitely take it from there! Wallace “interviewed” himself by asking, and
then answering his own questions telling about how he had torn up his Late
Model the night before at Fairbury. Since he had done the damage, he wanted to
show that he could fix it and he was proud to say that he was ready to go in
both the Modified and Late Model divisions this night. Schrader noted that he
tears up enough stuff as it is on his Late Model, so he would just be competing
in one class at a track that he had never raced at before. Kenny said that, as
much as he had been around the short tracks of the Midwest, it was hard to
believe that the Peoria Speedway had been around for so long and he had not yet
raced on it. Both drivers then reminded the enthusiastic crowd that the next
heroes of the sport could be racing right here every Saturday night and
encouraged them to support the grassroots of racing as much as possible. The
stage was set for an entertaining evening!
Peoria is one of the Midwest tracks that is now using the
Track-Lock system and if that is what helped make this one of the best prepared
tracks that I have seen this year, then I say get this stuff on every dirt
track! I was really skeptical about how the night would be with a twenty-five
mile an hour wind blowing out of the south, but when we arrived just before hot
laps it was obvious that the track crew had taken the time to get plenty of
water into the surface. Plus, it was nice to see a dirt track that wasn’t
riddled with sheepsfoot holes. Now I’m the first to admit that I know
absolutely nothing about track prep, but I’ve been around the horn enough to
say that I see very few tacky racetracks that also have sheepsfoot holes in
them. Is there a correlation between the two of them? Heck if I know, but I’m
sure that somebody will pull me aside and set me straight if I’m wrong!
Three and four-wide action was a common occurrence in the
qualifying heats as Wallace won the Modified third heat and Schrader came from
fourth early to pass Roger Rebholz in the final laps for the second heat win in
the Late Models. The Modified twenty-lap main was up first with local stud
Billy Tuckwell grabbing the early lead. Wallace stayed right with him and as
the two leaders approached lapped traffic on lap twelve, Wallace rode the
cushion around Tuckwell off turn four for the lead. Had the caution not come
out a lap later it would have been really interesting to see if Kenny would
have been able to negotiate the lapped cars better than Tuckwell and a
fast-closing Butch Weisser, but with open track ahead of him there was no
beating Wallace over the final seven laps. Chuck Barnes Jr. and Mike Mosher
completed the top five while Gary Cook Jr. started seventeenth and finished
sixth.
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| Kenny Wallace in action at Quincy in 2013 - Barry Johnson photo |
After a quick victory lane interview where he honored the
local hero Tuckwell, Wallace hurried back to the pits to climb aboard his JEGS
sponsored Late Model and start sixteenth in the thirty-five lap finale. The
race would have just one caution on lap two as Rebholz spun in turn three
collecting both Shane Allen and Kenny Wallace. Fortunately the damage was only
cosmetic for Wallace as he would continue and put on a good show to finish
eighth. Front row starters Dennis Erb and Ed Dixon left the field in their wake
as Erb would lap all the way up to the sixth-place car of Rusty Griffaw by the
checkers as he earned the $1,500 top prize. Dixon stayed within a straightaway
throughout the race, but could never mount a challenge as he finished second.
The race to watch was for third as Tim Lance, Wes Steidinger and Schrader
slugged it out for several laps before finishing in that order.
For Erb it was his second win in two nights as he also
topped the field on NASCAR night in Fairbury and a continuation of his spring
time success that included a World of Outlaw win in Wisconsin. A few years back
we were at a race in Tennessee where the announcer was giving the nicknames of
each driver as he introduced the feature line-up. When he came to where the #28
was starting he said, “and they call him……Dennis Erb”, which just cracked me up
for some reason. Now I understand that Dennis has picked up the nickname “the One
Man Band” and it must be suiting him well. With Shannon Babb running near the
top of the World of Outlaw points this year, look for Erb to be the man to beat
in the UMP Summer Nationals.
A big “Thank You” to Bob Sargent, Sherrie Hamilton and
everybody at the Peoria Speedway for putting on a spectacular show Wednesday
night. The track was perfect, the racing action was non-stop and we were on the
road home before 9:30 p.m. I look forward to returning to Peoria on Monday June
25th for their stop on the Summer Nationals tour.
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