Modified Thriller Highlights Midwest Madness In Spencer

Just a few weeks ago we were wondering if it was ever going to rain again in eastern Iowa as the first half of June was the driest on record in several locations. Now we are wondering if it is ever going to stop raining and the good news is that the forecast for the upcoming Independence Day weekend is looking nice. The weather has forced me to make some longer than normal road trips to get a show in here and there and on Tuesday night I finally made it to the Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway in Spencer for the first time ever and with that, I have now been to every active "oval only" track in the state of Iowa!

The third of five nights on the 2021 Midwest Madness Tour would draw in an interesting mix of 165 cars in five divisions and not only would the night allow me to visit a track for the first time, it would also allow me to see several drivers in person for the first time, names that I had only read in the results before. Even though it is a county fair facility, it has more of a "state fair" feel to it with a huge covered grandstand featuring stadium seats plus a big open bleacher seating section toward turn four. The track looks to be about 4/10th-mile with decent banking and it stayed multi-grooved all night producing some great racing, especially in the thirty lap IMCA Modified main event.

After two turn one cautions, the third try would get the race underway with some "Sioux City Excitement" Chris Abelson getting out to an early lead. Another Sioux City driver and a rookie in the Modified division for 2021, Cody Thompson would make his way up from sixth to mount a challenge and on lap seventeen they would race down the back stretch wheel-to-wheel with Abelson down low and Thompson to his right. Neither driver gave an inch as they charged into turn three and while Thompson was able to catch the cushion, Abelson slid sideways and nearly made the save before having to stand on the brakes to keep from clipping the third place car of Jeremy Mills who was taking evasive action. 

On the restart Thompson's high line looked like it would allow him to pull away from the field, but when the caution waved on lap twenty the race would change again. Thompson would take a low line into turn one on the restart before drifting to the cushion in turn two and that would allow Kyle Brown to drive underneath him and take the lead down the back stretch. Back to the cushion Thompson would battle back though only to have Brown come up to block his momentum down the straightaways. As the green flag waved to indicate two laps to go, Thompson was able to squeeze between Brown and the universal barriers exiting turn four, even knocking the right edge of his rear spoiler down as he took the lead.

One last caution would soon follow though as Wisconsin's Marcus Hoeppner spun in turn one and we were now poised for a green, white, checkers restart. This time Thompson did not drift to the cushion in turn two, but Brown still had a run and he would drive under the leader in turns three and four squeezing Thompson out to the barriers down the front stretch and under the white flag. When Cody went a bit too high entering turn one, Kyle took advantage and would lead down the back stretch and the large crowd would come to its feet as Thompson made one last high line charge. Brown knew it was coming going to the cushion to block, so Thompson tried to cross him over only to come up just a car length short at the checkers.

What a race! 

Jeremy Mills had the best seat in the house in third and he was the first to stop and congratulate Brown in victory lane. Another recent Sport Mod graduate, Dakota Sproul from Hays, Kansas, started twelfth and finished fourth while Kelly Shryock passed Lucas Lamberies on the final restart to finish fifth. Another driver who has moved up to the Modifieds from the Sport Mods in the past two years, the Wisconsin based Lamberies had come from the twenty-third starting spot and was the reason for the first caution when he spun in turn one on the first try at starting the race.

The twenty lap Sport Mod feature set the tone for the evening as the first of five with Nebraska's Justin Svoboda and local driver Gregg Hamman swapping the lead early. Svoboda would take control following a lap five restart and it was then that I noticed that Matthew Looft was racing in the fifth position. That was notable because Looft had started from the outside of the ninth row after transferring from a B-Main and his march to the front would continue picking up two positions on lap twelve before taking the second spot with six laps remaining. 

The leader was a sitting duck now and Looft would drive under Svoboda in turn two to take the lead on lap sixteen then cruise on in for the impressive win. Cory Hoogland dropped Svoboda to third in the closing laps, Alec Fett would finish in fourth with Cam Reimers coming from the seventh row to take fifth.

Front row starters Damon Richards and David Smith would swap the early lead in the twenty-five lap Stock Car headliner with Smith then leading the field who had mostly settled on the bottom groove. Young phenom Dallon Murty was the first to try the high line while running fourth, but when he had no luck that was not a good sign and it looked like this would be a catfish parade. Derek Green had other ideas though as he soon stepped to the outside and after a couple of laps he started to have some success and was now coming to the front quickly. On lap ten Green sailed around Smith for the lead and only a caution on lap sixteen, one that he might have had a hand in when the lapped car of McCain Jennings spun on the back stretch, would slow Green's drive to victory lane.

The battle for second over the closing laps was fantastic with six cars in tight formation. Justin Luinenberg would prevail to claim the runner-up finish just ahead of Richards and Murty made a nifty move in the final turns to go from sixth to fourth, Smith would compete the top five.

With 32 events on the schedule it was bound to be a long night and thank goodness both the Sport Compacts and the Hobby Stocks would run each of their features green to checkers.

Drake Bohlmeyer drew the pole for the ten lap Compact finale and he was never challenged cruising to the win. Jaedon Erickson chased him in for second, Jeffrey DeLonjay appeared to make the long tow from Quincy, Illinois, payoff with a third pace finish, but he was disqualified when he failed to report to post-race tech. That would put Zach Bohlmeyer in third, Logan Kelly fourth and Kaytee DeVries in fifth.

Josh Sidles started on the front row of the Hobby Stock finale and he would close out the night with a dominating performance to take the win. Cory Probst moved from ninth to second, but he could not track down Sidles to make a challenge while Luke Ramsey came from twelfth to third. Current All Iowa Points and IMCA National Points leader Daniel Wauters had a tough night pulling out numbers as he started from the back of his heat and from twelfth in the feature, but the eastern Iowa driver passed a lot of cars on the night finishing fourth in the feature while Drew Barglof was fifth. 

The final checkers waved at 11:30 and believe me it would have been much later than that if not for the fact that Mike Van Genderen was serving as the Race Director for the night. The Midwest Madness Tour continues tonight at the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta before closing out on Thursday at the Stuart Speedway with the annual Ron Little Memorial. 

Plenty of action on the schedule for the Independence Day weekend both with weekly shows and specials so make sure that you get out and support the track of your choice. Stay safe and we will see you again soon on the Back Stretch.

Boone Does It Again, Race While Most Cannot

I have eight Saturday night tracks that are closer to my southeast Iowa home than the 180 mile trip to the Boone Speedway and that is why I seldom find my way to the Home of the IMCA Super Nationals for a weekly show. Each time that I do though I sit there and wonder why I don't come here more often. From purely a car count standpoint Boone is rivaled only by the Eagle Raceway in this region and with the lure of getting a night in to do some testing prior to the Super Nationals, you just really never know who might show up on any given Saturday night. I am a huge fan of that scenario, something that I have really missed over the past few years at one of my favorite tracks since they made the decision to go unsanctioned. Add in the fact that they have the equipment to "farm the track" in record time, or on this night save the track after a showtime shower, and the Boone Speedway is an ideal weekly show where the fast guys start mid-pack.

This was another one of those "watch the radar" days and as track after track pulled the plug due to saturated grounds and a forecast for more precipitation, by two o'clock I was down to Harlan and Boone. So my plan at that point was to start driving and by the time that I made it to Des Moines I would make a decision as to where to go depending upon how the radar looked. Just a few minutes later though that plan changed when Harlan had to pull the plug due to another shower so now I could wait until 3:15 to leave with my last backup plan being the Warren County Speedway in Indianola.

After driving through heavy rain just east of Des Moines I figured that my backup plan was no longer a possibility so I pressed on to Boone and as I arrived in town the clouds had thickened, lowered and were steadily misting as hot laps drew to a close. I waited in the parking lot as the drizzle continued listening to announcer Jerry Van Sickel talk about the death defying stunt that he will attempt here on the Fourth of July where he will, without concern for his own safety, vault himself up and over fifteen double decker busses that are scheduled to arrive in Boone sometime this week. It will be a stunning loss to the racing world if he is unsuccessful as Jerry is truly one of the most entertaining announcers that we know. I wish you the best Jerry, if only Ryan Clark were around to talk some sense into you, like he usually does.

By around 7:15 the mist had subsided and the track crew had the quarter-mile ready to race so even with weather that would have rained out most any other facility we were ready to go racing just fifteen minutes later than scheduled with 118 cars in five classes despite the threatening weather and a big money weekend for Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods up in Minnesota. Qualifying races clicked off in quick fashion and we then came to the featured event of the night, the Hawkeye Challenge, where the top four drivers in points in the five weekly classes (Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Mod Lites) were joined on the track by four Sprint Car drivers that had been invited to compete in a race where each class was to complete a certain number of laps.

The Sprint Cars would start up front and they would have to lap the rest of the field at least four times to get to their twenty-five lap target while the Modifieds I believe were set to go twenty-one laps, Stock Cars, twenty, etc., etc. It is a race that is unique to Boone for sure and on the first try at a start the Sprint Cars nearly eliminated themselves in turns one and two as Mike Johnston clipped the rear end of Joel Thorpe and then drove up and over the track taking Mike Houseman Jr. with him. The incident would eliminate Houseman and the field was again assembled to start.

There really is no way to describe this race from a keyboard as you really have no concept of who is leading who, but it is truly amazing to see just how much faster the Sprint Cars are and how patient they need to be as they pick their way through the field. I can't even imagine being in a Mod Lite and all of a sudden having a big right rear wheel of a Sprinter, nearly as tall as my car, sliding up toward me in a turn! Once restarted the race ran without incident and once both the electronic and hand scoring was reconciled it was determined that the Sprint Cars had finished one, two and three with Johnston the $1,000 winner over Ben Woods and Joel Thorpe. Johnathan Logue and Izac Mallicoat were next in line with their Sport Mods and Josh May was sixth with a Mod Lite.

Unique, yes. Crazy, somewhat, but then again they do crazy things here in Boone like Van Sickel risking life and limb as well of the love of a gorgeous celebrity just to try to out do Evel Knievel. He has so much to lose next Sunday.

It was now time to go feature racing with the now IMCA sanctioned Mod Lites up first. My Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele tell me that the Mod Lites will be included for the first time in the 2021 Super Nationals and that they will run their preliminaries during Saturday's Prelude event with last chance races and their first "Big Dance" coming on the Labor Day Monday opening night. It wouldn't surprise me to see more than a hundred of the Mod Lites here to compete for their first ever IMCA Super Nationals title.

On this night nobody had anything for Bryan Zehm who rocketed to the lead on the opening lap from his fifth starting spot and then went unchallenged over fifteen laps to take the win. The battle for second was very entertaining though as Josh May, Randy Bryan and Mike Kennedy slugged it out in three-wide fashion. May would prevail to be the runner-up and when Bryan slowed and pulled to the infield on the final lap that would put Kennedy in third. Jon Braathun recovered from issues in his heat race to come from thirteenth to fourth and Cody Yaw was fifth.

Sixty-year-old Tommy Lathrop was having the drive of his life leading the first thirteen laps of the Sport Mod feature and having seen the personable driver from Ottumwa compete often over the past few decades I couldn't help but pull for him to take the win. And, if not for a couple of late restarts, I think that he would have found victory lane, but he could not hold off Johnathan Logue who came from the twelfth starting spot to win his fourth straight here in Boone. Young Izac Mallioat would drop Lathrop to third at the checkers as Chris Burke finished fourth and another young driver, Camdan Vincent, scored his best finish yet in fifth.

Mike and Rowdee post race - Stolen from MVG's Facebook

One of the hardest working people in short track racing is Mike Van Genderen. He owns and promotes the Stuart Speedway on Wednesday nights, he is the track prep man and the race director for the RaceXR events in Vegas, Bristol and Texas and on Saturday nights he still finds time to bring his IMCA Modified and his son's Stock Car to Boone to do some racing. After doing the promoting in Corning on Saturday nights last year, MVG has been trying to get dialed back in here at Boone and on this night not only would he collect $500 as the top finishing Modified in the Hawkeye Challenge, he would also take the win in the twenty lap main event for his class. Starting eighth on the grid, Van Genderen quickly moved to the front passing Ronnie Hults on lap eight on his way to the win. Cory Sauerman was able to close the gap late and made one last look on the bottom in turns three and four on the final lap as he finished second after starting ninth. Friday's winner at Marshalltown, Paul Nagle made the podium in third with Jeremy Mills taking fourth after starting from the eighth row. Tony Hofbauer came from the sixth row to finish fifth.

Have I mentioned how much I love the weekly lineup procedures for IMCA?

After completing his victory lane interview Van Genderen nervously stayed in the field as his fourteen-year-old son Rowdee would start the Stock Car main event from the outside of row one. In just his fifth night of racing RVG had earned the spot after nearly winning his heat race and he would cross the stripe with his fellow front row starter Mike House side-by-side for the lead on lap one. House would take the point on lap two as Rowdee got a bit high and dropped to fifth, then two laps later he misjudged his entrance into turn three a bit and got into the back of Devin Smith sending both drivers for a spin. A lesson learned by a young man to keep your eye on for the future.

House would continue to lead the field after the restart, but as lap ten was scored he and Kyle Everts would make contact going down the front stretch. House was able to keep from nosing into the wall while Everts drove up and over turn one and then on to the pit area. David Smith took advantage of the situation to steal the lead and on the following lap House would spin in turn two.

Once back to green David's brother Donavon Smith would keep the pressure on throughout, but there would be no passing the eldest of the phenomenal Smith brothers from Lake City as he scored the win. Matt West would edge out Tyler Pickett for third at the checkers while Jay Schmidt filled out the top five and Devin Smith battled his way back up to sixth.

David Smith too would watch his young son Mike start the Hobby Stock feature as he completed tech inspection from the infield and with a year or two of experience already under his belt this one would turn out better as Mike charged from the eighth starting spot to take the win. I had made an early exit to get started on the drive home, but could still hear Van Sickel's call as I filled up at the Casey's across the street. I just hope that it won't be the last time that I hear his voice. Oh Doctor.......

Shaun Wirtz, Matt McDonald, Solomon Bennett and Luke Ramsey were the top five in the Hobby Stock finale.

It is always a pleasure to watch a night of racing with Dick and Joyce Eisele and Warren and Carol Busse and always remember that if you are looking for the stories of race nights in Oskaloosa, Marshalltown and Boone you can find them on the 4dFan Report. Here is Dick and Joyce's take on last night. And surprisingly Boone was not the only track in Iowa to race last night as the rain missed Indianola as well and my backup plan would have still been in play if needed.

A family reunion with the chance to spend four days with my grandkids will keep me busy over the Holiday weekend, but before that I am considering another road trip that could take me to Spencer for the first time ever on Tuesday before a return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Wednesday.

Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!

 

Cooney Rules Cresco; Panos, Hovden and Larson Score In Front of a Mighty Howard County Fair Crowd

Three hours and ten minutes for the drive up. Two hours and fifty minutes of racing from the start of hot laps at 6:30 to the final checkered flag at 9:20. Three hours and twenty-five minutes for the drive home with the delay due to torrential rains over the final twenty-five miles. All on a Thursday night where I would still get up for my morning workout and be ready for a conference call at work at 8 a.m. Most people, including my racing friends would consider that to be "crazy", but this was a special whirlwind road trip for me. It was my first return to an event that was so special to me over a four year run from 1998 through 2001 and if the 17-part series on the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure didn't catch your attention over the winter, I do hope that you will take some time to check it out now beginning with this first "chapter" 

In it you will see that the first person to ever book one of our events was Tom Barnes and The Mighty Howard County Fair and in each of the three following seasons Tom would be the first to book the Fair's date into the schedule. We had so much fun coming to Cresco each year for one of the best county fairs that you will find anywhere and amidst all of the people we made some great friends on the Tour who called Cresco their hometown and, or their home track. Two of them, Steve Holthaus and Jeff Larson, were there last night and if not for the 8 a.m. conference call the next morning I would have went to the pits afterwards to track them down. Believe me, I knew that one Hamms would lead to another and that it would be impossible for me to break away in a reasonable amount of time, so instead we will need to have that reunion some other time in the near future!

My original plan for the night was to head for the Spoon River Speedway in Canton, Illinois, for a UMP Summer Nationals show, but when rain pushed that back to Wednesday July 7th I decided to check the weather for a potential trip to Cresco. At three o'clock future radar showed storms developing right over Cresco around race time and then pushing south, but I wasn't about to let "future radar" keep me home and when I arrived at the fairgrounds just prior to 6:30 The Mighty Howard County Fair was bustling with activity. There were lines at every food vendor, the carnival was hopping and there were lines at both the ticket window and the entrance to the grandstands for the night's featured attraction, the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series Late Models proudly supported by USRA sanctioned Stock Cars, B-Mods and Hobby Stocks.

I bought my ticket and set a blanket down to claim a seat before heading out to find something good to eat and by the time I returned midway through hot laps the crowd had pretty much filled the grandstands. Hearing Les Askelson again on the P.A. made it official, it was great to be back at The Mighty Howard County Fair!

The track was nice and racy during heat race action and with some extra moisture added and packed in on the high side during intermission we were ready for four feature races with the B-Mods up first for twenty laps. Dayton Swatek and Dom Mueller would bring the field to green but it would be third starting Jason Schlangen who would take the lead on the opening lap. The hometown favorite, Schlangen was dominant in his heat race and tried to open up another big early lead before the caution waved on lap three for an Adam Mietzner spin.

On the restart Brandon Hare found the cushion to his liking and passed at least four cars in turns one and two as he continued his march to the front after starting eighth. Sixth starting Dan Hovden would follow and we soon had a great three car battle for the lead with Schlangen trying to ward off challenges from both high and low. Hare would sail around the outside of Schlangen in turn two to take the lead on lap twelve while Hovden would use the low side to drop the former leader to third.

That low line would prove to be the better one two laps later as Hovden took the point on lap fourteen and three laps later the caution would wave when Jett Sorenson stopped on the front stretch with a broken left tie rod. On the restart Hare would again try to the top for some momentum, but when he slipped a little too wide he gave up several spots so at the checkers it would be Hovden taking the win over Troy Hovey, Schlangen, Ben Moudry and Hare. While Hovden had started the race from sixth, he actually went too high in turn one on the opening lap and had dropped to fourteenth going down the back stretch so his drive to the win was even more impressive than the stats would show.

The SLMR Late Models would go green next for thirty laps with Darrel DeFrance and Jeff Tharp earning the front row after each were impressive moving toward the front in their heat races and earning those passing points. Tharp would lead the first two circuits, but Todd Cooney was on a mission tonight and flew around him on the outside of turn four to take the lead. After sitting out most of 2020 with health issues that he had experienced prior to the pandemic, Cooney is back and getting faster each night it seems as he tried to pull away from the field. Another veteran driver, Dave Eckrich would not let him out of his sights though and as the duo worked traffic mid-race Eckrich was within five car lengths of the lead before the chaser drifted high in turn four and lost a lot of ground.

That miscue would be the difference on this night as after recovering Eckrich gradually closed the gap once again and as the green flag waved signifying two laps to go he took a look under the leader entering turn one. Cooney would fight off that challenge and after taking the white flag Eckrich would again make a run on the bottom in turns one and two. There would be no mistake from Cooney though as he would hold his line and take the $3,000 victory. Dave's brother Andy Eckrich would be a distant third, Tharp would hold on for fourth while series point leader Justin Kay finished fifth after starting seventh. Last week's winner at Eldon, Chad Holladay was sixth, Jason Rauen finished seventh, Jason Hahne moved from thirteenth to eighth, DeFrance fell to ninth and Jeff Aikey rounded out the top ten.

Fifteen laps of Hobby Stock action was up next with B.J. Dahl leading the way early before Steve Larson powered by on the bottom of turns one and two on lap four. Josh Ludeking would be the man on the move coming from eighth and he be Larson's primary challenger late in the race, but Larson would hold him off on a green, white, checkers restart to take the win. After winning his heat race in fine fashion earlier in the night, former NKF Tour champion Steve Holthaus would finish in third with Paul Seabrooke and Austin Hoeft taking fourth and fifth.

Stock Cars would close out the evening for eighteen laps of non-stop action with pole-sitter Lynn Panos opening up a big lead while Kevin Donlan and Dillon Anderson raced side-by-side for several laps battling for second. This left both Brady Link and Mitch Hovden looking for racing room behind them and by the time Hovden cleared Donlan and Anderson for second on lap ten, Panos had nearly a full straightaway advantage.

I though that we would see Hovden cut into that lead, but instead he had to deal with a renewed challenge from Donlan for second and that would allow Panos to walk away with a convincing and popular victory with the large crowd. Hovden would prevail in the battle for second over Donlan while Link would finish fourth ahead of Tom Schmitt.

It was invigorating to be back at a county fair race with fans young and old filling the stands and enjoying the action. And from my experience at The Mighty Howard County Fair twenty years ago, I knew that it would be well worth the Thursday night road trip! Thank you Tom Barnes for being the first to book the NKF Tour each year. Thank you Lynn Panos, Kevin Donlan and a few others who were in action tonight for racing with the Tour twenty years ago and for still going strong today. Thank you Steve Holthaus and Jeff Larson for being two of the most inspiring people that I have ever met, I am sorry that I did not come over to say "Hi".

Next time my friends!

Tonight's Sprint Invader show at the Davenport Speedway has been washed out for the second year in a row and hopefully southeast Iowa can avoid another drencher today, tonight and tomorrow so that the Invaders can run at 34 Raceway Saturday night. If they race, I hope to see you there.

 

Strothman, Banks, Heckart, Wauters and Staley Beat The Storm At CJ

I had a plan for Friday night and I was already a half hour into the drive when I started to reassess. With the Lee County Speedway already canceled as of early afternoon the possibility that some of those cars might swell the field at the CJ Speedway started to change my mind and once I realized that I would be able to watch the feature highlights on YouTube the next day of my original destination (which I just did, it was good race), I decided that being two hours closer to home and being able to catch up with several friends in Columbus Junction was a better option for me. The decision was made, so after wasting away an hour at the Riverside casino I earmarked my four dollars of winnings to go toward my tenderloin for the night and headed to the track.

While a decent field of cars filed in I was a bit surprised that only two Donnellson regulars, Jared Heule and Jason Cook made the trip and perhaps that was because of the storms that were still in the forecast to develop over southeast Iowa after nine o'clock. Promoter Larry Richardson was aware of the forecast as well and the show was moved along at a sharp pace with features ready to hit the track around 8:45. 

The Sport Compacts were up first and the twelve lap event would include two of the top ten drivers in the state right now in Cristian Grady and Logan Clausen, but it would be front row starter Alex Hayes that would jump out to a big lead. Defending track champion Cody Staley started ninth and was the driver on the move passing Jared Heule for second at the mid-race mark, but he had nearly a straightaway to make up on Hayes.

Just three laps later Staley was on the rear bumper of the leader and ready to pounce when the caution came out for Heule who had spun in turn two. On the restart both Staley and Grady were dead even with Hayes as they took the green so starter Doug Haack called it back and on the second try Hayes was able to lead the pack into turn one. He would hold off the challenges for one more lap, but it would be Staley taking the lead coming to the white and he would go on to victory over Hayes and Grady. Clausen picked up the fourth spot while Darin Smith came from eighth to finish fifth.

Tylar Heckart - Photo stolen from Cory Benge's proud Dad Facebook post

The Sport Mods were the largest class of the night with seventeen and they also had the most issues come feature time with four cautions and one red flag to clean up fluids on the track over the first five scored laps. Brendan Schultheis had lead lap one before yielding to the fourth starting Tyler Heckart and once the yellow fever had subsided the driver from Ottumwa was well in control and this would be Heckart's first win after taking a couple of years off. Current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson found himself restarting at the back of the field early and he would rally to pass Troy Philpott late for second. Colton Livezy would take fourth after starting from the fifth row and Todd Hansen filled out the top five.

The Hobby Stocks would go fifteen laps non-stop and this class too would feature the current All Iowa Points leader in Daniel Wauters. Wauters is also the current National points leader for the IMCA Hobby Stocks and he would have to work hard to add to his win total tonight. After nearly spinning in turn two on the opening lap and falling back to third, pole-sitter Dan Kessler would come charging back to lead the field to the stripe and set the pace. Randy Lamar would keep the heat on Kessler as Wauters moved from fifth to third and the move of the race came on lap six.

As Lamar got loose exiting turn two he would have three handfuls of steering wheel trying to recover as Wauters charged by on the outside. Then, when Kessler went to the middle entering turn three Wauters went to the cushion and the two drivers from Tipton were side-by-side in turn four. It wouldn't be a true Hobby Stock race without some rubbing, but Wauters was able to keep his car off the wall exiting the turn and he would take the lead on lap six. Kessler tried to keep pace, but Wauters would pull away for his eighteenth win of a season that is not yet halfway finished. Jared Miller would chase Kessler in for third, Lamar would hold on for fourth and Jacob Floyd was a distant fifth.

The Modifieds were up next for twenty laps with Kyle Madden showing the way early on. Brandon Banks started fourth and was soon closing in to challenge for the lead throwing a perfect slider on Madden in turns one and two to take the point on lap six. With Banks pulling away Jarrett Brown was working hard to get by Madden for second and then trying to close the gap, but he would come up about five car lengths short at the checkers as Banks scored his second straight victory here at CJ. Madden would join the podium in third with Dakota Simmons and Dalton Simonson next in line.

Those little green blobs on the radar were now starting to grow and when the Stock Cars completed their parade lap the lightning started to flash as if on cue. Corey Strothman who has apparently had some bad luck here thus far in 2021 landed on the pole of the lineup that had the top ten qualifiers inverted by average points and he opened up a nice lead in the opening laps. The only caution of the race came on lap three when contact from Austin Kemper sent Johnny Spaw for a spin in turn two and both drivers were sent to the rear of the fourteen car field.

Once back to green Strothman was able to drive away as the battles for position behind him entertained the crowd and with the lightning increasing the checkered flags waved over the winner Strothman. Adam Bell came from ninth to second, Kirk Kinsley passed Shane Richardson late to finish third and Richardson settled for fourth after starting eleventh. Spaw would battle back to complete the top five.

With a nice crowd on hand on this sultry June evening I hustled out to my car to beat the rush and as I was driving out of town my phone popped up with a weather alert stating that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning had just been issued for Louisa County. It is always nice when a race program can beat the weather!

A big thanks to Larry Richardson and his entire crew for their hospitality and a special thanks to announcer Jerry Mackey for his kind words about Positively Racing. I hope to be back at CJ sometime before then, but you want to mark your calendar for Thursday August 19th as that is when the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series event has been rescheduled for at CJ Speedway. The Late Models have been rained out twice over the past two seasons here so hopefully the third time will be a charm. Also, the final race of the 2021 season in the state of Iowa is currently scheduled for here on Saturday November 6th with the annual Turkey Dash.

After six races in seven nights I am now due for a break so my next action will come next Friday and Saturday June 25th and 26th for a Sprint Invaders doubleheader. Friday night we will be on the quarter-mile at the Davenport Speedway and on Saturday it is back to the Invaders home track at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Get on out and support the sport!

Busy Qualifying Night Sets The Stage For Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel At Stuart

It was a busy Tuesday night of racing action at the Stuart Speedway as eight drivers in each of three divisions, the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks, locked themselves in to tonight's Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel. The quick quarter-mile was in prime racing condition on the night producing plenty of three and four wide action with eight of the ten feature races running green to checkers!

Four-wide Sport Mods from left to right Josh Appel, Chris Burke, Mike Dullard and Colby Heishman - Barry Johnson photo

Two qualifying features for the Sport Mods were up first with the top four finishers in each locking in to Wednesday's $2,500-to-win Dirt Duel. In this first twenty lapper rising star Izac Mallicoat would lead the way for the first eight laps before falling victim to a perfect slide job from third starting Dylan Van Wyk. A rash of three cautions in the final half of the race kept the field bunched together and while Van Wyk went relatively unchallenged to take the win, the battle behind him was intense running three-wide to determine the final three transfers and in the end it was Colby Fett coming from ninth to second, Cam Reimers from eighth to third and Jake Sachau held on for fourth. Mitchell Morris came up one spot short of a transfer after starting tenth.

The second Sport Mod qualifying feature was a classic battle between two drivers from east of I-35 as Shane Paris and Brayton Carter seemed to never be more than a car length apart from each other most of the race. Switching lines and throwing sliders at each other saw Paris hold the advantage at the line the first sixteen laps, but when Carter was finally able to complete the pass with three to go he would pull away to claim the win. Paris will regroup for Wednesday after his runner-up finish while current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson chased them in for third. Brett Vanderheiden made it a three car battle for the lead in the early laps and he would make the show in fourth while Missouri's Tim Eaton finished in the fifth position.

There were four cautions in the first Sport Mod feature and three in the second, but the remaining eight races would all go green to checkers as promoter Mike Van Genderen kept the track in prime condition with some well timed watering on another day that saw high temperatures and low humidity here in central Iowa.

The first qualifier for the Stock Cars saw young phenom Dallon Murty start from the pole position and while he would lead all twenty laps, it was far from a "walk away". Minnesota's Derek Green kept the heat on Murty and on lap seventeen he had a big run off the top of turn four. As Murty went around the slowing car of Bill Atcheson on the outside, Green aimed for the inside and as Atcheson started to edge toward the infield Green had to go even lower thus pinching off his momentum and ending his one best shot at making a run at the leader. Dallon would take the win over Green with his father Damon Murty coming home in third. Illinois traveler Abe Huls would lock himself in finishing fourth while Michael Jaennette will have to go through the qualifying process tonight after finishing in fifth.

The second Stock Car main belonged to Chanse Hollatz as the driver from Clear Lake started from the pole and stayed just ahead of Elijah Zevenbergen the entire distance. The battles for the final two qualifying positions kept the crowd's interest in this one as close quarters action included some beating and banging with drivers trying to lock in for Wednesday's $3,000-to-win finale. At the checkers it would be Buck Schafroth taking third after starting from eighth. Eastern Iowa veteran Joe Zrostlik would take the final transfer in fourth and Missouri hot shoe Austin Bouzek will have to qualify again tonight after finishing fifth.

Twenty-five Hobby Stocks signed in so the two qualifying races was more about the opportunity to start in the first four rows for tonight's $1,500-to-win Duel as unless some more drivers show up tonight, all will run the finale. Jack Phillips would lead the first two laps in the first qualifier before Dylan Nelson took the lead. Nelson had started fifth, but he wasn't the only driver on the move as Jeremy Purdy was riding the high line coming from eighth to challenge for the lead. Purdy would drive around Nelson to take the lead on lap seven and he would hold it to the checkers to take the win. Nelson was the runner-up while Jason Kohl capped off a frustrating night where he was taken out a couple of times by qualifying in third. Eric Stanton would finish fourth with Tom Killen Jr. fifth.

There was no touching Braden Richards who paced the field for all eighteen laps to win the second Hobby Stock qualifier. Aaron Rudolph was not far back throughout, but could never mount a challenge as he finished in second and Brandon Cox finished where he started in third. Tanner Dixon found redemption as he came from twelfth to finish fourth after being black flagged while leading his heat race due to fuel spilling out of his car. Solomon Bennett filled out the top five.

Sport Compacts and Mod Lites ran full shows on Tuesday night and in the twelve lap Sport Compact feature Braxton Wallace picked up his first career feature win in dominating fashion winning by more than a straightaway over Mark Smith who had worked his way up from seventh. Owen Richards crossed the line in third, but after he failed tech that moved Andrew Mills into the third spot. Harold Robb Sr. and Curtis Masterson would complete the top five. 

Bakersfield, California, driver Kaden Cochrun dominated the Mod Lites on this night winning both the heat race and the feature without a challenge. The Raffurtys from Kansas City, Dillon and Michael finished second and third respectively with Josh May and Nathan Wolfe completing the top five.

There was still some bonus racing to be had as the Manufacturer's Race for both the Sport Mods and the Stock Cars would complete the evening. Izac Mallicoat would charge from fourth to the front early in the Sport Mod event, but there was Brayton Carter coming up fast on the top line after starting eighth and he would cruise to the lead on lap four. It was all Carter from there as the defending All Iowa Points champion held his second victory lane photo, including a dog no less, on the night. Mallicoat, Dylan Van Wyk, Cory Pestotnik and Jake Sachau were the top five.

Can anybody beat the Murtys in the Stock Cars? It will be a tough task tonight as father and son, Damon and Dallon finished first and second in the eighteen lap Manufacturer's Race and it wasn't easy as Damon had started fourth and Dallon came from seventh. Michael Jaennette came from eighth to third, early race leader Bob Daniels finished fourth and Derek Green had another impressive run in fifth.

After all of the action on Tuesday, you definitely do not want to miss Wednesday's finale of the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel at the Stuart Speedway with hot laps at 6:45 and racing to follow. And if you are not able to attend in person, you can also tune in at RaceXR. IMCA Modifieds and the Outlaw Mini Mods will be there tonight as well.

I will be filling in for Tony Paris who will be off calling some harness racing so, just like when I grab the mic at a Sprint Invaders show, the notebook will be left in the car. It will come back out on Thursday though when I have to decide between two great shows available to fans in southeast Iowa. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars will be at 34 Raceway in West Burlington and the Hoker Trucking SLMR series will bring Late Models back to the Super Half-Mile in Eldon for the first time in many years. Two "must see" shows on a Thursday night within forty-five minutes from my home, have I mentioned how lucky I am to be a race fan in Iowa?

Get out and support the tracks of your choice! 

Siems and Tharp First Time Winners, Post Race Tech A Busy Place At Vinton

Two drivers added their names to the all-time list of winners at the Benton County Speedway and three top five finishers were found to be illegal during post race tech inspection on a warm and breezy night in Vinton. The added attraction for the night at The Bullring was a new Guinness Book of World Records Candy Dash at a race rack where 218 kids scooped up over 2,400 pounds of candy that had been distributed along the front stretch during intermission and believe me, there were no kids feeling sleepy in the grandstands come feature time. And while the sugar high may have had something to do with that, the fact that the racing ended at 8:50 p.m. while there was still twilight for the start of the drive home was the biggest reason. Perfect for a Sunday night of racing!

The IMCA Sport Compacts were the first of five features on the card with twelve laps the distance on the newly reworked surface. Another day of hot, sunny weather along with winds and dry humidity had sucked the moisture out of the track, plus the facility had hosted a Hairball concert (totally recommended by this writer) the night before which kept them from soaking the surface as per normal track prep. Pole-sitter Thomas Werner would lead lap one before yielding to the eighth starting Logan Clausen on lap two and as Werner tried to battle back he slipped off the top of turn one and went for a nasty barrel roll. Fortunately the safety equipment did its job and Werner was able to climb from the battered four cylinder uninjured.

On the restart defending track champion William Michel would pull even with Clausen and they would race side-by-side for the next three laps before Clausen was able to fight off the challenge. He would inch away lap by lap from there and capture his third victory on the season here at Vinton. We were here for his win at the Frostbuster and during that victory lane interview the pavement convert stated that he didn't know how often that he would come back to the dirt in 2021, but with this being his fourth win overall and currently ranked eighth in the All Iowa Points I would say that Logan has found a new home on the dirt. Michel would settle for second, Lukas Rick was a strong third, Zeke Wheeler finished fourth and Cristian Grady who is now tied for third in the All Iowa Points completed the top five.

The Stock Cars were up next and with the Murtys off racing in Mason City tonight, this one would be wide open for the ten drivers that had signed in. Scooter Dulin would lead the way from the drop of the green hugging the bottom which meant that he was staying as close to the implement tires marking the infield as possible. Jason Doyle would follow in his tire tracks for four laps before stepping to his outside and on lap six Doyle was able to power off the top of turn four to take the lead.

Jay Schmidt would make the move to second and now Dulin was racing with a broken left tie rod, likely after clipping one of those tires, but as the race stayed green he was still able to coax his lame horse around the speedway running in the third spot. With just two laps remaining something broke in the front end of Riley Hanson's car and he spun to a stop on the front stretch bring out the caution and that would end Dulin's run as well with both cars being taken back to the pits by Fisher Towing.

On the restart Doyle did his best to stayed glued to the bottom, but after taking the white flag the division rookie slipped a bit wide in turn two and Schmidt was more than happy to accept the invitation as he went on to take the win and an extra $150 from Christie Door Company for the "last lap pass for the win" bonus. Doyle who already has two Stock Car wins after coming from the Sport Mods finished in the second spot, Miciah Hidelbaugh crossed the line in third only to be disqualified in tech for illegal stock extensions putting last week's winner Leah Wroten on the podium. Shaun Bistline and Ian Huff would fill out the official top five.

The IMCA Modified twenty lap main event would be up next and despite the dry, dusty conditions this one would go green to checkers with good racing throughout. Pole-sitter Mike Burbridge would lead the way with most of the field clamoring for the bottom during the first half of the race. The lone adventurer was Kip Siems who had started sixth and seemed determined to find something in the middle groove. He was able to maintain his running spot for the first quarter of the race before something kicked in and he started to go forward.

On lap ten Siems was able to drive by Burbridge on the outside and once in the lead it might have been expected that he would move down to the bottom to protect. Instead Siems went with what got him there, staying in that middle line and while Burbridge remained within striking distance the rest of the way, he could not mount a challenge as Siems captured his first career IMCA Modified main event victory. Burbridge followed him for second, Ryan Maitland looked to be third only to be found to have Carb Spacer issues in tech sliding Troy Cordes up to the third position at the pay window. California transplant Dylan Thornton moved from ninth to fourth and Derrick Stewart was credited with fifth.

A full field of twenty-four Sport Mods were up next for fifteen laps and they would mostly go to the top side of the speedway for their preferred line. A pair of 22's, Eric Alexander and Brady Hilmer would battle it out after starting as the front row with Hilmer leading lap one before Alexander took over on lap two. When the leader would get a bit too high entering turn one on lap eight, Hilmer would get back to the front and appeared comfortable on the top now setting the pace.

The caution would fly a lap later though when Colby Heishman slowed on the front stretch and as he coasted toward the infield Duane Van Deest would drive over Heishman's left front sending the veteran driver into air momentarily and leaving a field of debris behind them. On the restart Hilmer would run out of room on the top of turn one and when he corrected several cars piled up behind leaving Alexander, Brian Kauffman, Brett Thomas, Ben Chapman and Dale Kite sitting in turn two. Hilmer would be the only car penalized though so it would be a battered #22A of Alexander bring the field back to green.

Entering turn one Brandon Tharp would make a pretty move driving under Alexander and then drifting to the cushion to take the lead and there would be no catching the hometown driver from there as his second career victory would come just eight days after his debut in victory lane at Independence. Tharp nearly had his first career win back in April here at the Frostbuster only to get caught up behind lapped on traffic on the final lap, so there were plenty of well-wishers ready to get in tonight's victory lane photo, or as announcer Ryan Clark described it, "half the city of Vinton."

Maguire DeJong chased Tharp across the line, but a later check of the results revealed that he too was disqualified for a reason not known to me at this time. So the rest of the top five would be Ben Chapman, Tony Olson, Kaylin Lopez and Joe Docekal.

The final feature of the night would be a fifteen lapper for the Hobby Stocks with an anonymous donor putting up an extra $200 for anybody who could beat Kaden Reynolds. On the first try at a start pole-sitter Dalton Weepie was turned sideways coming to the green so third starting Justin Ginther was sent to the rear for the second try. This would slide Reynolds up from ninth to seventh on the grid and after the green flag waved he was one of three drivers making big early moves to get to the front. Weepie would lead the opening lap, but he was quickly overtaken by both Brett Vanous and Jacob Floyd who were riding the rim coming from sixth and eighth respectively.

Reynolds was soon into third until lap four went he tried to throw a slider at Floyd entering turn one. His momentum was too hot though and Reynolds drifted over the top of turn two spinning to a momentary stop before rejoining the race now at the back of the thirteen car field. Vanous and Floyd continued to set a fast pace as Reynold picked his way up to mid-pack, but with four laps remaining he would overshoot turn one  and this time he would just take his car to the pits rather than returning to the surface.

Not sure if Vanous was able to collect the extra money with Reynolds not on the track at the checkers, but he should have as there was not going to be anyone catching him on this night as Floyd was a distant second. Joren Fisher drove a borrowed ride in for third, Matt Brown was fourth and Weepie wrapped up the top five.

It was another great Sunday night of family fun at the Bullring and a big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps, Ryan Clark and all of the friendly faces at Vinton for their hospitality. Don't forget that the Sprint Invaders make their long anticipated return to the Benton County Speedway on July 4th, just another of the many special nights of racing on the schedule for the quarter-mile oval.

Next up for me will be two nights of action at another of my favorite tracks, the Stuart Speedway for the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel this Tuesday and Wednesday. Hope to see you there!

Macedo and Westbrook Get Down and Dirty With Late Race Heroics at Knoxville

If you only looked at the thermometer in your car on Saturday you would have thought that the weather was the same as it had been all week, hot and muggy. But a front had moved through overnight on Friday and while the temperature remained the same in the low 90's, a drier air mass accompanied by a steady northwest breeze had settled in literally sucking the moisture out of the world famous Knoxville Raceway. The conditions were a challenge for not only the Dunkin family, who have been weaving their track prep magic in to the big half-mile for decades, but also for the drivers with the World of Outlaws and the track's weekly 360 division. And while it was one of the dustiest night races that I have ever been to at the Knoxville Raceway the Dunkins, and the drivers prevailed with an entertaining night of action including two late passes for the win.

The eighteen lap feature for the 360's would be up first with Carson McCarl and Ryan Giles bringing the field to green. McCarl would win the drag race into turn one, but as he went to the cushion Giles took to the middle and would then set the early pace. When Giles bobbled a bit exiting turn four on lap six, McCarl pounced driving under the leader into turn one and then completed the perfect slider drifting up to the cushion to shut the door on Giles.

With this one going caution free McCarl looked like the win would be his as the gap between he and Giles grew to nearly a full straightaway with eight laps remaining and the race to watch was for third as Dylan Westbrook and Jamie Ball nearly made contact as Westbrook had to go over the cushion to take the position in turn four. Lapped traffic allowed both Giles and Westbrook to close the gap a bit, then on lap seventeen the leader nearly spun the car in turn two.

Carson was able to make the save and maintain the lead as Giles had issues of his own with smoke now coming from his car as  he exited turn two. With the top two losing significant momentum, Westbrook saw his opportunity and he would drive by Giles for second down the back stretch. As the white flag waved McCarl still had the lead, but Westbrook had the run and he would cruise through the middle of turns one and two to take the lead. McCarl would make one final dive into turn three to try to recover the lead only to come up short as the Canadian, Dylan Westbrook would take his first career win at Knoxville. 

McCarl and Giles would join him on the podium while Jamie Ball and Clint Garner would complete the top five. Roger Crockett finished sixth, Josh Higday and Kaleb Johnson were seventh and eighth, Scott Bogucki driving Christian Bowman's #15 was ninth and Ricky Montgomery filled out the top ten.

Concerns about the dry racing surface taking rubber at the end of the 360 main would lead to an hour and ten minute track prep session before the Outlaw finale and the large crowd on hand patiently waited in anticipation.

Twenty-five laps would be the distance with the top two drivers from Friday's show, Carson Macedo and Kerry Madsen earning the front row. The night before it would be Madsen leading the most laps before Macedo took the win, but when the green flag dropped on this one it would be Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing #41 sprinting to the lead hugging the bottom of the re-worked surface. The red flag would fly on lap three when Brock Zearfoss caught the guardrail in in turn four sending him for a tumble and on the restart Macedo would continue to lead while hugging the inside berm.

Madsen behind the wheel of Tony Stewart's #14 was working the middle of the track, or the top of the re-work through turns three and four and when Macedo made the slightest of errors exiting turn four he would storm around the outside to take the lead on six. Macedo would charge back on the bottom only to have Madsen shut the door entering turn three and the "Mad Man" would then open up a bit of a lead over the next five laps.

Traffic would soon come into play and Macedo would again be in contention taking the lead momentarily in turn one only to have Madsen regain the point off the top side of turn two. When the lapped car of Ayrton Gennetten came up the track though Madsen had to hit the brakes for a split second as did Macedo and that allowed both Gio Scelzi and Sheldon Haudenschild to gain ground quickly.

With Madsen maintaining the lead Macedo was now under challenge from Haudenschild with five laps remaining, a challenge that he was able to fight off as the track now appeared to lock down on the bottom, With Madsen biding his time behind traffic, Macedo was able to close the gap and with two laps to go he tried to squeeze under the leader entering turn one. If he would have pushed the issue he would have wrecked them both so the young star from California gathered it back up and waited for his opportunity.

After taking the white flag Madsen needed to keep the car glued to the bottom, but when he drifted just a bit in turn two Macedo filled the gap. A puff of smoke from tires banging appeared as Macedo took the lead and the crowd was buzzing from their second "final lap pass for the win" of the night. Madsen and Haudenschild chased Macedo to the checkers with Scelzi and Logan Schuchart completing the top five. Sixth through tenth went to Aaron Reutzel, Brent Marks, James McFadden, Parker Price-Miller and Brian Brown.

Carson Macedo in the JJR #41 - Barry Johnson photo

Knoxville Knotes......Thirty-nine 410's and twenty 360's were on hand for night two of the Brownell's Big Guns Bash.......Not surprisingly on a night like this the first car out to qualify, Gio Scelzi set quick time in the KCP Racing #18 much to the delight of the company party that was being held in the back stretch grandstands featuring live music pre-race as well as kid's games and bounce houses. I was able to enjoy the music while having a couple of cold ones with Spencer Watts, Brandon Leonard and others who were camping nearby.....With the field split into two groups of qualifying it made for an absolutely loaded second heat race that had seven of the eight drivers who had qualified for the Dash the night before. Macedo, Madsen, Brown and David Gravel would be the top four with Donny Schatz holding off Brad Sweet for the fifth and final transfer position. It would make for an uphill night for the current World of Outlaws point leader as Sweet then had to come from fifth to second in the B-Main to get qualified and he then raced from twenty-second to sixteenth in the feature......The B-Main had an ending that drew an interesting reaction from the crowd. McKenna Haase, the only female to ever win a feature race at Knoxville was running in the fourth and final transfer spot entering turn three on the final lap, but when she came down the race track a hard charging Kasey Kahne could not avoid her clipping the push bar just enough to send McKenna into a spin. The caution waved along with the checkers and when it was announced that Kahne would take that fourth and final transfer there was a smattering of applause for the former Cup star who had cut his teeth here racing weekly in 1998 at the age of eighteen. If it had been almost anybody else, I am guessing that the boo birds would have been out in full force. In an interview later Haase took the blame for the incident saying that she should not have switched lines late in the race......The Greatest Show On Dirt will hang around the state of Iowa for the week ahead with a Thursday show at 34 Raceway in West Burlington and a Friday night debut at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. Then next Saturday it is on to the Beaver Dam Raceway in southern Wisconsin......The Knoxville Raceway has an interesting doubleheader next week as the new SRX series will be in town for their second ever event after debuting last night at the Stafford Speedway in Connecticut. The "IROC-like" tour that features legendary drivers such as Tony Stewart, Helio Castroneves and Bill Elliott will practice on Friday night along with a full program for the 360's and the Pro Series. Then on Saturday night the SRX field will stage a 100-lap feature after which the track will be prepared once again for a full program of the 410 Sprints, so there will be plenty of Star Power to take in at Knoxville next weekend!

For me it is on to Vinton tonight where I am hoping that an attempt to set a new Guinness Book of World Records for a Candy Dash doesn't take too long as it was a late return home from Knoxville last night. I will be looking for any spare Tootsie Rolls that the kids might like to share.

Car Counts, Bounties, Lineup Procedures and The Bachelor

In 1994 we made the decision to have an above ground pool installed in our backyard in part because as we were told by our Realtor (longtime Late Model driver, owner and track promoter Lynn Richard) that when you have a pool you will nearly always know where your teenagers are during the summer months. He was right on that point as our three kids and many, many of their friends got plenty of use of the pool until they all grew to adulthood and for the past ten years it has been a nice peaceful place for my wife and I to catch some rays and listen to music while floating the time away.

Since it is twenty-seven years old though, some of the items that we have not already had to replace or renew are falling apart and one of those happened last week when the hose between the pump and the filter sprung a leak that started as a pinhole and then became a full fledged gusher. Rather than transferring over a thousand gallons of water from the pool to my backyard I had to close the valves and shut things down figuring that this should be a simple case of ordering a replacement hose. After all, my pump and filter are less than ten years old and a replacement hose should be easy to find. 

A quick search of the internet confirmed that there were several places that I could order from, including Amazon, so I placed my order and paid extra for expedited shipping. The pool would be back up and running by the next evening. The next day though I received an email from Amazon stating that the part was out of stock and with the prospect of it being several weeks before it would be available, they had canceled my order and refunded my money.

My next step was to search out every pool supply place within 150 miles from home to see if anybody had the part in stock where I could just go pick it up, and perhaps tie in a race as well, but after talking to eight different places the answer was the same. "Sorry, we do not have any of those hoses in stock at this time."

So it was back to the internet and every place that I tried to place an order indicated that the part was out of stock and they expected to "have it within two to three weeks". That is similar to when you are at the airport waiting for your delayed to flight to board and they keep telling you that it has been delayed for another twenty minutes. So I went ahead and placed an order and in the meantime I am going to try to MacGyver something so that I can run the pool for a few hours a day at least to keep it from turning into a swamp.

So why did I just tell you all about my problems with getting a part for my swimming pool? It is because I have been told by several drivers and car owners that they are running into the same issues when they are trying to purchase parts for their cars. And that just may be one of the reasons why several tracks are struggling to get more than ten cars per class right now for their weekly shows.

For now I am going to buy that excuse and hope that we see an uptick in counts once the shortage of race car parts, and pump to filter hoses, become more available but in this case I am pessimistic and it may be time for some tracks to start considering a bit of consolidation. I have used the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction as an example in the past as after struggling along with six classes for several seasons, with two of the classes averaging eight cars or less, they cut loose the Trucks and Mod Lites and moved the bulk of the purse that they had been paying to those two divisions into the other four. The result? The car counts in the four remaining divisions increased over the next few seasons and in 2021 they even added a fifth class, the IMCA Hobby Stocks, that has been drawing better than I had expected in a region where nobody else runs the class.

So if you have a class where you are getting five cars a night and with no clear opportunity to double that number anytime soon, why wouldn't you consider cutting that class and putting the $635 that you are spending on them into something that would boost the car counts in your other divisions? Perhaps make it $100 to start instead of $70 to see if it makes a difference. The only way you spend that money is if more cars actually show up, but when they do that $100 check is more likely to bring them back the next week as well. I get it, making the change mid-season is tough, but as a promoter if you have a class that is plodding along with a car count under ten you should definitely take a look at what your best options are during the offseason. It may not be a popular opinion with some, but many of the race fans that I speak with have absolutely no problem with a three of four division show that is run in 150 minutes or less.

There have been "Bounties" put up on some drivers at a few different tracks already this season after said driver had won three, four or five race nights in a row. Maybe it was just my memories, but I recall a bounty being used to to try to give incentive to the track regulars as well as to attract some outside drivers in to take a shot at the extra money. In most cases the bounty would start at a certain level and then grow by a certain amount each week until the streaking driver was defeated.

With the bounties that I have seen posted so far in 2021 I have noticed a couple of quirks. At one track the "bounty" was $300, but if the driver that had the bounty on his head won he would collect the $300. That's not a bounty, that's just a $300 increase in the winner's purse. Another bounty was put up on a driver at a track where the lineup procedure virtually guaranteed that any new "bounty hunters" would start in front of the hunted. It was claimed on the first night and the hunters did not return the following week, but the hunted driver drew the front row of the feature and started his new streak. Oh well, I guess it boosted the count for a night.

Logan Anderson and Herbie The Love Bug have raced their way to the top of the current All Iowa Points Limited Modified standings. Find the All Iowa Points for all nine divisions on the Points page at PositivelyRacing.com - Barry Johnson photo

If your track uses MyRacePass and you look at the results and notice that your top five finished the feature in the same position as where they started, well........that's just not fan friendly. And it is highly unlikely that you are an IMCA weekly track.

Can you tell that I'm just a bit frustrated with racing right now? And with society as a whole actually. Yes, I will admit that I have watched The Bachelor ever since being lured in when Iowan Chris Soules was in the lead role. That of course did not turn out well in the end, but I have found it very entertaining over the years until this past season when it all just seemed so contrived. It was obvious that the Bachelor was told to keep certain women on the show for awhile because no man in his right mind would have kept "Queen Victoria" around for more than one night and when they brought in extra women after a few weeks that was the last straw for me. I am glad that I had decided to quit watching due to that because after all of the other stuff that happened, ending with the host being dismissed as another victim of cancel culture, it would have definitely made me never watch it again. And that is just one example of how stupid our society seems to be at this point.

And no, I have never watched The Bachelorette because if I wanted to see thirty men chase one woman I would just go up to the West Side Tap on a Friday night. My Mt. Pleasant area friends will understand that one.

I am hoping that my next several races will pull me out of this funk and that will start on Saturday night when I will make my first 2021 trip to the Sprint Car Capital of the World, the Knoxville Raceway for the second night of the World of Outlaws visit and then on Sunday night I will look forward to a return to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Next week I plan on taking in both nights of the Dirt Duel at the Stuart Speedway on Tuesday and Wednesday, then on Thursday night I will have a decision to make between the World of Outlaw Sprints at 34 Raceway and the SLMR East Region visit to the Eldon Raceway.

Check the schedules and get out to the track of your choice soon!