Carter, Hidlebaugh, Griffiths, Porter and Woods Are Cool At Osky

I am finding that as I get older there are certain sights, smells and sounds that will suddenly take me back in time to a moment that had been previously hidden in my memories and that is why I am going to use the word "cool" to describe Wednesday night's racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. 

After buying my ticket and checking out the line at the concession stand, I started to climb the center steps up into the grandstand and that is where the memories hit me. It was like going back in time when I was climbing those same steps at the age of sixteen on a night when Billy Moyer was racing in the Sportsman division and Brian "Fireball" Roberts hit a light pole in turn two knocking out the lights and ending the racing early. On the drive back to Mount Pleasant lightning filled the sky ahead of us and that was when the Goodyear blimp suffered heavy wind damage while moored for the night in my little hometown.

I have climbed those steps into the grandstands at Oskaloosa probably at least once a year since 1979 and it is still so "cool" to me each time that I do it!

This was a beautiful sunny day in Southern Iowa, but the temperatures were deceptively "cool" and for the second night in a row I saw some younger people who are either woefully unprepared, or have a much higher tolerance for being cold than I do! On Tuesday night as I was pulling two coats and a blanket out my car before going into 34 Raceway, a young family of four walked by all wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts. No coats in hand, no blankets, nothing and when the sun went down I can tell you that I needed everything that I had taken in with me. For the adults, hey that's no problem, if you can ride out a fifty degree night in shorts and a t-shirt, more power to you. But what about your kids? I am guessing that the family of four did not make it through the whole show.

Here at Osky there were several people that went with the shorts, but nearly all of them also had a coat on or in hand as once again it became quite "cool" as the sun went down and we were ready for feature racing here on night two of the 2023 season at the Southern Iowa Speedway.

The Sport Compacts were up first with eight of the nine cars on hand making the start for a ten lap feature. As they usually do, the Compacts would go green to checkers with the pack of eight being pretty equally matched with Tyler Haring leading the opening lap. Third-starting Garrett Porter would snare the lead on the second lap, but he could not build much of an advantage as last week's winner Shane Barnes worked his way to the front after starting fifth.

By mid-race Barnes was up to second and as Porter appeared to start getting off the gas earlier to protect the bottom entering turns one and three, the top four including Haring and the ageless veteran Bob "Gabby" Hayes were stacking up behind him. After completing lap eight, Porter left just enough room on the bottom for Barnes to pull even and now the race was on as Porter went back to staying on the gas now on the outside of Barnes.

The two would race side-by-side under the white flag and while Barnes would have the advantage off of turn two and down the back stretch, Porter was able to battle back on the outside in the final set of turns and he would win the drag race to the checkers by a few feet to score the victory. Haring and Hayes would chase them in finishing third and fourth respectively while James Haring filled out the top five.

The Sprint Car ten lap main event would be next and with perennial favorite Jonathan Hughes loaded up and headed home with mechanical issues following his heat race, that would put the spotlight directly on last week's winner Ben Woods. Tyler Graves had other ideas though as he raced out to a solid lead through the first three laps. However, the leader would then spin on his own in turn to bring out the caution and handing the lead over to Woods. Once back to green there would be no catching Ben as he cruised to another win with Doug Sylvester several car lengths back in second. After restarting seventh, Graves would claw his way back to third followed by Nathan James and Tim Folkerts.

There were a couple of new faces in the field of nine Stock Cars and one of those would go flag-to-flag to take the win in the sixteen lap main event. Miciah Hidlebaugh drew the pole position and warded off persistent challenges from fellow front row starter Dustin Griffiths to take the win in his sharp looking #72H. Todd Reitzler prevailed in a race-long battle with Steve Byers to finish third while Austin Meinders filled out the top five.

Stock Car Winner Michiah Hidlebaugh - Carroll Hoover Photo

There is no doubt that the Southern Iowa Speedway hosts some of the fastest Sport Mods in the region and tonight's sixteen lap headliner would prove that out once again. Two-time and defending All Iowa Points Champion Logan Anderson would jet out to the early lead, but he would have another former AIP Champion hot on his heels in Brayton Carter. The lead would change hands on lap four and soon the former winner at the Bristol Motor Speedway, who was also the opening night winner here last Wednesday night, Maguire DeJong would move to second and take aim at Carter. Earlier in the night, during their heat race, DeJong was able to catch and pass Carter late in the race to take the win and as the laps ticked away here in the feature, DeJong was looking for a repeat.

As Carter worked the bottom, DeJong went to the cushion and on several occasions was able to draw nearly even with Brayton through the apex of the turns. But Brayton's drive off the bottom at the exit of turns two and four would allow him to pull a couple of car lengths on Maguire and that scenario would repeat itself over the final five laps with Carter taking the victory over DeJong. Anderson would follow them home in third, multi-time track champion Curtis Van Der Wal finished fourth while division rookie Casen Keller was impressive holding on to fifth after starting up front.

Brayton Carter on the gas - Carroll Hoover Photo

The Hobby Stocks, twenty-three cars strong would close out the evening for fourteen laps with veteran driver Brad Stephens taking the early lead. Jesse Williams was there to challenge as the race was slowed by a pair of early cautions and on the second restart Dustin Griffiths would perhaps apply some of the knowledge that he had gained while running in the Stock Cars just a few minutes before.

Working the high line while most everybody else ran low, Griffiths sailed around both Williams and Stephens to take the lead on lap four and the 2014 All Iowa Points Champion then pulled away to take the win. Williams continues to improve and is knocking on the door to victory lane finishing second on this night. Aaron Martin took third-place money, Austin Barnes finished fourth and Keaton Gorden wrapped up the top five.

The final checkered flag waved at 9:46 on this cool (in more ways than one) evening and I made it home in time to watch Keegan Murray and the Kings lose a tough one at home to the Warriors. Not cool. It was good to see Kevin Babcock and Jack Miles, but it was odd to be at Osky without the Eiseles and the Busses. Hopefully we see them again when things warm up a bit!

An annual weekend with some of my high school friends will have me away from the track until Sunday when I hope to make it to the Adams County Speedway in Quincy where the UMP Modifieds will be featured racing for $1,000-to-win. Ditch the shorts, grab your coats and get on out to the track of your choice this weekend!