Mueller Improves By One, Long Dominates at Donnellson's Liberty Cup

One year ago, and one night after he lost a motor to a claim at Marshalltown, Jeff Mueller accepted a challenge that would have paid him an extra one thousand dollars on top of the one thousand dollar winner's check if he could start from the tail and win the inaugural IMCA Stock Car Liberty Cup at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Mueller thrilled the crowd with his charge to the front only to come up just short on the final lap as Abe Huls captured the victory. On this night his "challenge" came in the form of a larger and tougher field of cars than a year before and with a quick move to the front, there was no stopping Mueller from sitting in victory lane at the 2009 Liberty Cup.

Mueller started eighth in the main event and within three laps he was up to third watching Missouri visitor Rick Girard and Stock Car rookie Aaron Brocksieck swap the lead in front of him. On lap six Mueller stuck his nose under Brocksieck to take the lead and while Aaron made several attempts to regain that lead over the next ten laps, Mueller would not flinch or give up that bottom groove. With three laps remaining Mike VanGenderen moved into the second spot and looked like he might be able to mount a challenge over the final laps, but there was no stopping Mueller from taking that $1,000 top prize tonight as he pounded on his roof in celebration in victory lane. VanGenderen and Brocksieck were next in line while the defending champion Abe Huls used the high groove to move from row nine to finish fourth and Darin Thye completed the top five. Huls was caught up in a first lap accident in his heat race that forced him to his pits and he then started ninth before winning the first B-Main as the thirty-three car field was whittled down to twenty-four starters.

Jeff Mueller, shown here the night before at Independence, picked up the $1, 000 top prize at the second annual Liberty Cup - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo

Although the track appeared to be locking down a bit on the bottom groove during the final laps of the Stock Car feature, several drivers made big runs to the front in the twenty-five lap finale for the IMCA Modifieds. Wyatt Lantz, Troy Cordes and Shawn Fisher crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat for the lead on lap number one before Cordes, who started fourth, established himself as the leader on lap number two. Michael Long had started fifth and followed Cordes quickly to the front taking the lead on lap number five, a lead that he would build to over a full straightaway during the final twenty laps. As Long checked out the racing behind him was very entertaining. The 2008 track champion at Lee County, Josh Foster found himself starting seventeenth after winning the first B-Main and if someone would have had a camera on him tonight they would have had a twenty-five lap highlight reel as he went high, low and anywhere he needed to be to race his way through the field and finish a distant second to Long. After starting twelfth Dusty Kraklio's advancement to the front was a little more methodical and he was closing on Foster in the final laps before settling for third. Cordes and Nate Caruth, who moved quickly from sixth to second on lap number two, rounded out the top five. It was the ninth victory of the season for Long over a stellar field of forty-four that paid a handsome $1,500.
Michael Long also picked up a big money win a few week's ago at the Dick Hogan Memorial in Vinton - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo

Despite having a $500 winner's check on the line there were no "visitors" in the IMCA SportMod division and some of the track regulars even stayed home since there were no track points on the line. The ten drivers who did show up though put on some good racing action and at the end of the fifteen-lap main even it was Jason Cook in victory lane. Cook is the defending track champion in the Stock Car class at Lee County and this year he is doing double duty by driving Donnie Fenton's #3D Sport Mod. Although he is currently ranked second in the track's current point standings, this was Cook's first-ever Sport Mod feature win and he celebrated accordingly with his crew in victory lane. Jacob Smith would be tonight's runner-up followed by Rodger Dresden and Paul Underwood. The division's current point leader Phillip Cossell left his ride at home tonight and instead drove Lonnie McCarty's #64 to a fifth place finish.

With the strong car counts in the two headline classes, including some drivers who were quite a distance from home, the second annual Liberty Cup goes into the book as another big success. The longest pull of the night belonged to Robby Rosselli who had raced his Stock Car in the Hawkeye state the past two nights after leaving his home base in Minot, North Dakota.

The Lee County Speedway returns to action tonight, Friday July 3rd, with a program that features four different classes than were in action at the Liberty Cup. The IMCA Late Models will be the headliners along with the Mid America 305 Sprint Cars, Hobby Stocks and the Four Cylinder "Wild Things". For more info on the remaining schedule at the track that concludes with the 11th Annual "Shiverfest" on October 24th, go to http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/.

Toland and Irvine Take Wednesday Wins at Independence

The IMCA and the Independence Motor Speedway served up the perfect combination Wednesday night with the Deery Brothers Late Model Summer Series and night number two of the Great American Shootout for the Stock Cars. Forty Late Models were on hand along with a stellar and diverse field of fifty-one Stock Cars, and the drivers did not disappoint as they raced hard throughout the night with minimal cautions.

Just making the twenty-four-car feature field for the Stock Cars was impressive and the parity of the field was obvious as despite only one caution in the thrity-five lap distance the leaders never did have to negotiate through lapped traffic on the 3/8-mile oval. Local favorite Jarod Weepie drew the pole and used it well to take the early lead while a fierce battle for second was being waged behind him. Brian Irvine, Jeff Joldersma and Mike Nichols ran three-wide for four straight laps before Irvine finally gained an advantage using the bottom groove. A consistent winner here with three victories already in 2009, Irvine then went to work on Weepie for the lead with Nichols and Joldersma still not far behind. This three-wide battle lasted for four straight laps early in the Stock Car feature. Brian Irvine is on the inside, Jeff Joldersma in the middle and that's Mike Nichols riding the cushion - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo

On lap twelve Irvine drove to the inside of turn three pulling even with Weepie and when the two of them made just a bit of contact that was all that Nichols needed as he rode the cushion around both to become the new leader. Irvine settled into second and once again used the low line to chase down a leader and on lap eighteen he was able to drive past the former IMCA Stock Car National Champion Nichols. The only caution of the 30-lap event came on lap 27 when John Oliver Jr., Damon Murty and Steve Meyer got together in turn four and the field was lined up double-file behind the leader for the restart. As Irvine pulled away to take the $1,000 victory, the race for second through sixth became intense as Joldersma prevailed to take the runner-up honors a car length ahead of Justin Temeyer. Wisconsin driver Jesse Colwell who had started fourteenth passed Nichols in the final two laps to finish fourth and another Wisconsin shoe John Heinz was just inches behind Nichols at the stripe to finish sixth.

After the solid performance that the Stock Car drivers provided, the pressure was on "the boys of Summer" and as usual they delivered with a 50-lap finale that had plenty of action and just one caution period on lap seven. At that one and only break in the action it was front row starter Rob Toland out front, but the driver to have been watching during that first seven circuits was defending IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel. Frankel had problems during his heat and did not finish forcing him to start thirteenth in the second B-Main. In that twelve-lap race he drove through the field and finished in the fourth and final qualifying position earning him a start on the outside of row ten in the main event. In the feature it took him just seven laps to move up to the tenth spot and on lap thirteen Frankel moved into the top five.

Meanwhile back up front, the race for the lead was very entertaining as it took Terry Neal only two laps after the restart to take the lead from Toland only to have Rob battle back to regain the advantage on lap twenty. Ten laps later, once again Neal used the very bottom line out of four to drive under Toland and into the lead as they started to work in lapped traffic. Frankel was now up to third using a line that was just a bit higher than anyone else and he was coming. With around ten laps remaining Frankel drove around the outside to take second from Toland and it looked as if he was within striking distance of the leader Neal if he could quickly dispatch the lapped cars of T.J. Criss and Darrell DeFrance. Now keep in mind that the Deery Series does not use the layover flag so when DeFrance and Criss went side-by-side for a few laps in their own battle for position, it blocked off Frankel's groove and his momentum was lost.

There was no catching Neal now as he went on to victory, his third in three visits to Indee in 2009, and Toland was able to get back around Frankel with five to go to take home the runner-up honors. The Quincy-based Frankel surely picked up some new fans here tonight with his third-place run while the top two in points Ray Guss Jr. and the point leader Jeff Aikey completed the top five. Terry Neal makes the winning pass of Rob Toland - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo

Indee Notes......The Stock Car field featured drivers from all four corners of the state of Iowa, plus representatives from Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Illinois.....Trent Murphy made an impressive run from row eleven to finish eight in the main event.....Dustin Smith who was claimed the night before by Wisconsin driver Larry Karcz returned the favor claiming Wisconsin's Colwell here tonight.....The second heat race was a thriller as the top five never had more than five car lengths from the nose of the leader to the tail of the fifth-place car throughout the entire eight lap distance with Oliver Jr. taking the win ahead of Weepie and Colwell while Smith and Abe Huls were forced to one of three B-Mains......Jeff Wollam was running second in the third heat when his right rear tire went flat on the final lap.....Wisconsin's Mark Schuenemann was the benefactor when Phil Holtz spun out of the third spot on the final lap of the fourth heat.....The three drivers who came up one position short of transferring out of the B-Mains were all pretty solid as Jeremy Christians, Dan Mackenthun and Jason Cook watched the feature from the pits......Ed Sanger was running a strong second in the first Late Model heat when he slipped off the banking exiting turn four and slammed the guardrail in front of the grandstand.....After several years in the Modifieds Chad Lerch is now a rookie competitor in the Late Model division and it looks like he will be making some noise there. Lerch was a heat race winner at the Deery show in West Union that was cut short by rain and will be made up on July 14th, and tonight he ran in the top five for the first half of the main event before Guss Jr., Aikey and Jay Johnson shuffled the rookie back to seventh.....

Rookie Late Model pilot Chad Lerch in action at Indee - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo

Guss was behind the wheel of the #58 all night, the car normally driven by Hershel Roberts......Brian Harris drove the Dirt Late Model Magazine's Legends Series car tonight, but was unable to get qualified.....The Independence Motor Speedway crew, along with some assistance by a new turn two official, did a fantastic job putting on a well organized and well presented program that started right on time at 7 p.m. and concluded with a checkered flag at 9:50 p.m........It was great to see my long-time friend Kevin Kemp as I checked in for the night. Kevin has handled the scoring duties at Indee for several years now and Positively Racing's own Ryan Clark (In Staging) did a great job on the microphone keeping the large crowd up to speed on who all these visiting drivers were and where they were from.....Sitting high atop the new grandstands gave me the feel that I was visiting a track for the first time despite the fact that I have been here many times over the years. I will look forward to returning to Independence soon.

The "Back Stretch" will be down in Donnellson tonight (Thursday July 2nd) for the second annual Liberty Cup featuring IMCA Modifieds ($1,500-to-win), IMCA Stock Cars ($1,000-to-win) and IMCA Sport Mods ($500-to-win). Make sure that you click on the two race ads on the home page at http://www.positivelyracing.com/ as the IMCA Late Models will be running for $1,200-to-win this Saturday night the Fourth of July at 34 Raceway in Burlington, then on Wednesday July 8th the World of Outlaw sprint car drivers return to the high-banks of 34 Raceway! We invite you to attend both events and while you are in the area stop in and grab a bite to eat at the Finish Line Restaurant in nearby New London. You can get more info on this great racing themed restaurant by clicking their ad on the homepage as well.

Halfway Through The 2009 Season; A Quick Look at the All Iowa and All Missouri Points

As we get set for a busy racing weekend around Independence Day, let's take a quick peek at the All Iowa and All Missouri Points at the mid-point of the 2009 racing season.

In Iowa it is still Illinois based drivers that are making noise at the front of the Late Model standings. Mark Burgtorf of Quincy still leads the way over East Moline's Kevin Blum. Terry Neal of Ely is the first Iowa driver in third while the 2008 IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel of Quincy is fourth.

The Modified standings stretch out a bit over the past two weeks as point leader Jeremy Mills has been on quite a tear including double feature wins this past Sunday night in Mason City. He now leads second place Max Corporan by a commanding thirty-two points, the equivalent of more than six feature wins. Adam Larson is in third with a pair of driver who call Hinton home, Jay Noteboom and Reese Coffee completing the top five.

Defending All Iowa Points champ Kevin Sather is back on top of the Limited Modified rankings, but by only two points over Austin Kaplan and six points over Jesse Sobbing who is a rookie in this division for 2009. Scott Davis and Luke Wanninger compete the top five as these five drivers have been in the top five nearly all season. Adam Ackerman, Jake Simpson and Brett Meyer are looking to change that soon.

Dustin Smith owns a sixteen-point advantage over Kevin Opheim in the Stock Cars with Trent Murphy not much further behind in third. Andrew Burk, who I believe is still undefeated this year at Dubuque, is up to fourth with Greg Gill and Jason Ward deadlocked for fifth.

Shannon Anderson has the highest point total of any driver in any division as he leads the Hobby Stock standings by forty-four markers over Devin Smith. Chad Gentz has made the move into the third spot dropping Chris Hovden to fourth while Sioux City driver Rusty Montagne completes the top five.

The top five names in the Four Cylinders have been pretty consistent this year and at mid-season it is still Gary Peiffer on top. Jeremy Campbell has moved to second with Nathan Chandler, Nate Coopman and Brad Chandler next in line. Sioux City's Zach Ankrum is making a charge though and is now in sixth.

In the Sprint Car divisions Terry McCarl added to his lead in the 410's by defeating the World of Outlaws at Knoxville last Saturday night, Mike Boston, Jody Rosenboom and Jack Dover are locked in a three-way battle for the lead in the 360's and Bobby Mincer continues to dominate the 305 division.

On the Missouri side of the border it is again an Illinois driver leading the Late Model points as Randy Korte sits on top with Donnie Timmerman moving into the second spot this week ahead of Terry Phillips.

Behind his success at West Plains alone Shaw Walsh continues to pace the Modified standings although defending champion Tim Setzer is closing fast and is now tied for second with Tony Patterson.

The Limited Late Model division is a tight race with Kyle Berry holding a one-point lead over Shawn Rayfield while Darin Walker is only two back.

In our first year of tracking the state points in the Limited Modified division it is Belton's Brad Smith out front followed by Mickey Burrell and Blake David.

Finally, in the Sprint Cars "the Rocket" Jesse Hockett has jumped to the top followed by Randy Martin and Josh Fisher.

The complete standings for all divisions can be found on the "Points" page at www.PositivelyRacing.com

Johnson Takes Third Straight Daniel McMillin Memorial Win at Lake Ozark

The inaugural Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Tour has battled Mother Nature all season. Following a “snow out” at Oklahoma City the final weekend of March the tour then had the next few events rained out, with some of them even called off a day or two before the scheduled event due to the amount of rain already fallen and the ominous forecast ahead. On Saturday night the ASCS National Tour once again fought the weather, and on this night the drivers and the fans won, but just barely!

Fifty-three cars assembled at the Lake Ozark Speedway in mid-Missouri with drivers and crews doing their best to stay cool in the sun baked one hundred degree heat. Relief was on the way in the form of a line of thunderstorms that had developed a little over a hundred miles to the north and west around six o’clock and my night was spent keeping one eye on the racetrack and one eye on my phone’s weather radar hoping that we could somehow get this show in before the rain hit. The track crew had prepped the 3/8-mile to perfection with just the right amount of moisture in the surface and the sprint drivers were able to run from bottom to top making for six exciting heat races. Kathryne Minter surprised the large crowd by holding off local favorites Randy Martin and Jesse Hockett to win heat race number once. Brady Bacon sizzled to the second heat victory while Jason Johnson made a last lap pass of Frank Brown to win heat three and top the passing point chart earning him the pole position in the main event. The tour’s most recent winner Nick Smith was the winner of the fourth heat with Gary Taylor taking heat number five. In that race Tim Newman showed just how steep the cushion had become in turn one as he hit it wrong and went for quite a tumble rolling side-to-side at least four times. He emerged uninjured, but his ride was done for the night. Young Austin Alumbaugh held off the veteran Paul McMahan for the victory in the sixth and final qualifier.

Three B-Mains with the top two transferring filled out the starting field with Jesse Hockett passing Tim Crawley mid-race to win the first one. This race is held to honor the memory of Hockett’s former crew chief Daniel McMillin and in the first two editions of the event it has been Jason Johnson in victory lane at the end of the night. Hockett would now have to start seventeenth in the race that he would like to win for his fallen friend. Young Josh Fisher ran away with the second B as Danny Wood slipped past Trey Robb late in the race for the second transfer spot, and it was Aaron Berryhill and Mitchell Moore earning the last two qualifying spots in the third B-Main.

The feature field was set and with lightning now filling the sky just to the west the majority of the crowd agonized through a twenty-five lap feature for the Crate Late Models, more on that later. Just as the sprint feature was making its parade lap at 10:30 the raindrops started to fall and when the field took the green it was an interesting mixture of residual one hundred degree heat, the cool winds from an approaching storm, the swirling dust that twenty-five sprint cars create when they are turned loose under green and large spitting raindrops. Randy Martin snared the lead in turn one and pulled away from the field as they negotiated the rain-slicked surface and when the caution waved for Gary Taylor who had stopped on the high side of turn four it looked like that would do it as the rain started to fall even harder. Several fans, including us, headed for their cars and while some left we stopped short of doing that when the raindrops suddenly slowed their pace.

The cars stayed on the track and were able to work the moisture back in and within about ten minutes they were ready to go back to racing. The raindrops were still falling as we hustled back to our seats as Tommy Bryant and Jason Johnson slipped past Martin on the restart. The next twenty-nine laps may just be the best racing that we will see all year as our attention was pulled between the thrilling battle for the lead featuring Bryant and Johnson, and the charge through the pack being made by McMahan, Hockett and Gary Wright. Johnson and Bryant slapped wheels heading down the backstretch on lap eight and the race became even more intense as they started to negotiate lapped traffic a few laps later. With eight laps to go Johnson slid up in front of Bryant to take the lead down the backstretch only to have Bryant take it right back with a bold slider in turns three and four, plus with Shane Stewart now quickly approaching the lead duo the crowd moved to the edge of their seats. Two laps later Johnson was able to make it stick with Bryant still in hot pursuit and as they crossed the stripe with four laps to go Bryant had a run on the new leader. The Conroe, Texas, driver pointed the nose of his #85 to the very bottom groove heading into turn one and when Johnson also chose that line Bryant had to jack his car sideways to keep from getting into the leader. It was a slide that he could not recover from as Bryant spun up the track and collected Mitchell Moore bringing out the caution. It was the first time that my son Morgan and I had seen Bryant in action and despite the fact he would have to settle for a twelfth-place finish after restarting at the rear, he definitely picked up at least two new fans on the night with his bold driving style.

With a clear track ahead of him there was no stopping Johnson over the final four laps as he earned $6,000 for his third straight win of the Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lake Ozark Speedway. Stewart, who started tenth and finished in second will likely retain his series point lead while Brady Bacon took home the third spot. Jack Dover was making a run on Bacon only to jump the cushion in turn four coming to the white flag allowing Paul McMahan to get by him for fourth. Gary Wright came from row seven to finish in sixth with Jesse Hockett coming home seventh after starting in row nine. One of the provisional starters Tony Bruce Jr. advanced from row twelve to finish eighth. The raindrops were still falling and the lightning flashed along with the cameras as Johnson stood in victory lane. The “Cajun Sensation” had won the race and the ASCS had finally defeated Mother Nature.

I mentioned earlier that the crowd “agonized” through the Crate Late Model feature, well that was only because of the threatening weather as their feature was a pretty good one to watch after they got two early cautions out of the way. Darin Walker has been nearly unstoppable in this division around Missouri this year and he showed why as he passed leader Aaron Heck on lap four and then pulled away to nearly a half lap lead over a pack of five that were waging an entertaining race for second. Misfortune struck Walker on lap eighteen though when he stopped on the track with a right front tire down and even though he would have to restart from the rear of the twenty-one car field you had to wonder just how far he could advance in the final seven laps. Bobby Martintoni assumed the lead on the restart and he had Bobby Dauderman all over him for the next three laps before the caution waved once again for Walker who had another flat right front tire. Dauderman would be able to get the nose of his car to the outside of the leader working through the turns over the final four circuits, but there was no stopping “the Italian Stallion” Martintoni from taking the $750 victory. Dauderman, Mike Harris, Gordy Gundaker and Rylan Dagg would complete the top five.

There were also eighteen UMP Modifieds on hand and their feature rounded out the night, but with the raindrops still present and with oranges and reds showing up on my radar not far to the west we decided to hit the road before their feature race closed out the night.
A big thank you to Tammy Gundaker and her pit shack staff for the fine hospitality as they were still fresh and pleasant after working for more than four hours with the hundred degree sun beating down on them. Sprint car fans, make sure that you look for this event and mark it on your calendar for 2010 to see if Jason Johnson came make it four straight.

A Business Decision

When the lights went out on lap eight of the Stock Car feature Monday night at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, I had to make a decision to stay and see how long it would take to get the lights back on so that the rest of the show could go on, or leave and get back home just before midnight. The racing had been pretty entertaining up to that point and the best was yet to come with the USMTS Modified main event to follow the completion of the Stock Car main. It was only 9:15, but with just over a two hour drive still ahead of me and with announcer Tim Trier saying there just wasn't much that they could do but wait, I felt that my boss would appreciate me being wide awake at work the next day so the decision was made and I left. Wouldn't you know it, within fifteen minutes of my departure the lights were back on and the show was concluded just before 10:30, one hour before I crawled into bed to prepare for another day at work. It truly was a "business decision".

As I mentioned the racing that I did see prior to the power outage was pretty entertaining. A nice field of thirty-one Modifieds were on hand for the Monday night show and after the first heat went single file for eight laps, the remaining three heats saw plenty of action. Kenny Wallace was strong as he held off Steven Pfeiffer to win the third heat race. Pfeiffer is from Bowbells, North Dakota, the same hometown as former University of Iowa basketball player Les "Is More" Jepsen.

The Sport Mod feature race saw Jesse Sobbing and Austin Kaplan run side-by-side for several laps as they left the rest of the field way behind. During a lap ten caution period Kaplan dropped from the event with a broken left front and the third place car of Tyler Gross retired with a flat tire. Gross had run the previous six laps with his hood blown up on his windshield area and was probably looking forward to the final five laps once the track official removed it only to have the flat tire occur. Bryan Weyer picked up the challenge on Sobbing and made one last run off of turn four coming to the checkers. Sobbing held on by about three feet at the checkers for the victory with Tommy Killen Jr., Gary Stajcar and Jack Myer rounding out the top five.

The Hobby Stock main event took five attempts and a single-file alignment before they could get a lap in and when the caution waved again a few laps later the checkers flew as well. Only mechanical gremlins would have kept Shannon Anderson from taking the win as he was chased by Rob Allison, Ray Stock Jr., Alan Van Gorp and Kenny Lofthus. Lofthus was involved in the first caution and restarted at the rear of the 22-car field.

Steve Jackson led the first three laps of the Stock Car feature and one lap after he yielded the advantage to Todd Inman, Jackson's motor let go on the front straightaway. The light went out on lap eight and even with some twilight still in the sky on the second longest day of the year, it was too dark to continue. For a full rundown on the show, including a controversial ending to the Stock Car feature as well as the story on the USMTS main, head back to www.PositivelyRacing.com and click on Tapfan's Tours. You can also check the 4D Fan Report as they should have their blog up soon.

We were treated to three fine announcers on the evening as Toby Kruse handled the Modifieds and Bucky Doren and Tim Trier split time on the other classes. Without making Tim feel old, I was telling my son Morgan last night that it was the styles of Denny Wachs (former voice at West Liberty) and Tim Trier that influenced me the most when I started announcing races nearly thirty years ago and I still enjoy hearing Tim whenever I make it up to Des Moines.

Great weekly racing and a bunch of specials coming up over the next several weeks, make sure that you check out the Calendars at www.PositivelyRacing.com