I had the chance to get to know the father son duo of Rick and Corey Dripps back in 1998 when Corey would become the first ever Modified champion on the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure and I have enjoyed our friendship ever since. They are a hard working pair, never shy about taking on a new project such as the Dirt Knights television show and more recently the promotion of their home track, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. They can be brash and outspoken, but for me that is part of their charm and character and it has served them well as they complete their first full year of promotion at the Sunday night quarter-mile.
Usually I would have been up here four or five times already, but with the virus wiping out the early part of the season, a couple of Sunday night Sprint Invaders in Missouri and two rainouts when I had planned to make the trip, just like last year my one and only Dripps promoted event that I would see this season would be the finale of the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour schedule. Last year, in their first ever event promotion, Rick and Corey made some great decisions with foul weather closing in, but on this night the only challenge that the weather would provide would be a stiff south breeze that would suck the moisture out of the racing surface.
I had a chance to talk with Corey before the races and I asked him how the year had gone and he was quick to say that there had been a lot to learn. He said that knowing how he was as a young driver it has definitely helped him to understand why all decisions, no matter how good or bad, are going to be questioned, but you make your best call and move on. It is never easy to take over a solid operation and in this case to live up to the long time tenure of promoter Mick Trier, it was a high bar and one that Rick and Corey work hard each and every week to reach and hopefully push a little bit higher.
I was impressed with how Corey ran the Drivers' Meeting prior to the night's action and at the end he made one thing very clear. If you had an issue with anything that happened during the evening he wanted you to find him in the infield after the races to discuss it and he would do his best to work it out in a fair and reasonable manner. Definitely sounding like a long-time and still active driver who wants to put on the best show possible for his fellow drivers. Hopefully I will be able to make it up to Vinton more often in 2021 to support those efforts!
Now let's get to the racing!
The Hobby Stock division was up first in the feature lineup with fourteen cars going fifteen laps. Jake Benischek would take the lead from his third starting position and 2020 track champion Kaden Reynolds made a big early move as well coming from seventh to second. Benischek was able to ward off Reynolds for the first three laps before Kaden made his move and he would then pull away to take the win in the non-stop event. Benischek would be the runner-up ahead of pole-sitter Matt Brown. Michael Kimm would hold down the fourth spot and Jacob Floyd recovered from mechanical issues early in the night to take fifth after starting from the final row.
The Sport Compacts were up next and they too would run their twelve lap feature race from green to checkered with this year's track champion William Michel leading the entire distance after starting from the front row. Adam Gates edged out Zeke Wheeler in a photo finish for second while Chris Claypoole and Jacob Morris filled out the top five. Michel made the long pull in from Columbus Junction every Sunday night to win his title.
After two straight feature races with no cautions, odds were good that we wouldn't make it three and the Sport Mods had their share of issues. The first of five cautions flew on lap three and on that restart current All Iowa Points leader Brayton Carter drove around the outside of his cousin Dylan Van Wyk to take the lead. Helped out a bit by four more restarts over the final eleven laps, Van Wyk kept the pressure on Carter whenever the race was green, but he could not get back the lead as "Speedy Bray" picked up another win on what has been an astounding 2020 season. Joe Docekal made a big charge up from twelfth to finish third, but perhaps the story in this one was the performance of Matt DeJong.
Making his first ever dirt track start while subbing for his young son Maguire who is out for several weeks to recover from a planned surgery on his jaw, Matt pulled out his old driver's suit from when he did some road course racing during his college days and, after making sure that it would still fit, he and Jason Hall brought the car out to Vinton for his dirt track debut. One thing is for sure, his luck of drawing is good as he started up front in his heat race and stayed in the top four for the redraw where he then drew the outside of the front row. This in itself should have been enough to rattle somebody who has not raced dirt before, but Matt was smooth and steady bringing the #30m home for a fourth place finish and, as he noted in a message to me afterward, a new found appreciation for what his son has been able to accomplish already in his young career. In other words, Dad is not going to be so hard on him going forward.
Oh yes, and Brett Thomas edged out Brian Kauffman at the checkers in a close battle for fifth.
The IMCA Stock Cars were up next and with no Murtys in tonight's lineup, in this class at least, this one was wide open and ripe for a new face in victory lane. Only one caution waved in this fifteen lap event and that came before a lap could be scored when Bryce Carey and Tyler Titus tangled in turn two. On the next try at a start outside front row starter Michael Peterson rocketed out to the lead and you would have never known until he revealed the fact in victory lane that this would be his first career feature win in a Stock Car. Peterson was dominant winning by nearly half of a lap over Shawn Ritter and Jay Schmidt. Justin Temeyer ducked to the infield before the green flag waved in his heat race, but he and his crew figured out the problem as he charged from eleventh to fourth and Marshalltown's David Atcher came from tenth to fifth in a rare appearance for him at Vinton.
The $1,000-to-win Dirt Knights IMCA Modified feature would close out the night and in 2020, if Tom Berry Jr. is going to start from the front row, you can bet that it will then be a race for second. Berry's Razor chassis was dialed in again tonight leaving Troy Cordes trying to maintain the quick pace early in this thirty lap affair. A caution on lap eleven for Kevin Hurst's spin in turn two brought Berry back to the field and on the restart Cayden Carter would move to the second spot. But Carter too found out quickly that it was impossible to keep up with Berry and as the laps clicked away that battle for second was definitely the one to watch as Carter, Cordes and Jeff Aikey diced it up in, and through lapped traffic.
After the checkers waved over Berry, who continues to stretch out his lead in the All Iowa Points, you had to wait a bit before Aikey crossed in second ahead of Carter and Cordes. Aikey's protege' Kollin Hibdon finished in the fifth spot just ahead of two California drivers Cody Laney and Dylan Thornton.
Dallon Murty who now leads his father Damon by just one point in the August 30th update of the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars, made his Modified debut tonight in one of Kyle Brown's previous rides and the youngster appeared to have a win locked up in his heat race until the final laps when he clipped the track tire marking the entrance to turn one and spun out of contention. This took him out of the redraw and landed him in the 27th and final starting position for the main event where he made up eleven spots to finish in sixteenth.
The final checkers waved at ten minutes before 9 p.m. making this a sub three hour show from the start of hot laps, always a plus especially on a Sunday night! A big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps for the hospitality and to announcer Jerry Mackey for his welcome, and kind words about Positively Racing.
This was the final event of the season at Vinton and the 2020 racing schedule has ended at several other area tracks as well. However, the 2020 Fall Specials season in the upper Midwest kicks into full swing this Labor Day weekend and continues all the way through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so make sure that you get out and enjoy as much action as possible!
And, as always, keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!
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