Daytona, Rain and Chicken......

As I sit here anxiously watching the radar and hoping that everything stays east of 34 Raceway's World of Outlaws Sprint Car show I thought that I would try to calm my nerves a bit by sharing a few thoughts.

Back on April 28th I logged a blog following Talladega that included my wonder as to when a driver will finally decide that throwing a block and getting wrecked at the finish of a restrictor plate race is worse than just holding his line, mashing the gas to the floor and racing to the line even if it does mean finishing second or third. Obviously Kyle Busch doesn't buy into that theory. After destroying all of that equipment, including his JGR teammate's car of Joey Logano, and finishing 14th downright lucky to walk away uninjured, I just wonder if the thought went through his mind, "you know, second or third place with a good race car to put on the trailer and the extra points that might make the difference of me being in the Chase or not would have been a better move." My guess is that we'll see a similar situation at Talladega in October......if we are still under the green when the leaders hit the tri-oval for the final time.

For the second year in a row it seems like Mother Nature has even more wins around Iowa than Shannon Anderson, and he has 22 at last count! The latest "victory" for Ma came last night as one more storm built up over the Knoxville Raceway at 7 p.m. to wipe out the Tuesday night portion of the Harris Clash. The IMCA Modifieds will now be in action this Thursday night and hopefully most of the 105 cars in attendance will be able to make it back.

While the sun was still shining at 6:30 we ducked into a fast food franchise who has really hit a homerun with their new "grilled" chicken. I tried it the first week that it came out and I was sold! Tastes just like it came off the grill and apparently others felt the same as franchise locations were unable to keep up with demand. Well it has been a month now and I would have felt that the Management of each location would have a pretty good feel for how much grilled chicken would be needed at certain times of the day. Guess not as for the third time in the past week, and at the third different location, I was told AFTER I ordered and paid for my grilled chicken meal that they were out of grilled chicken and that it would be twenty or thirty minutes before they would have more. And in a classic bait and switch mode they would then ask if I wanted crispy or original instead. Come on now Burger King doesn't run out of burgers, Steak and Shake doesn't run out of "steak"burgers, IHOP doesn't run out of pancakes......oh well, I'll probably try it again on Thursday night!

Now that I got that of my chest I'm ready to go Sprint Car racing and as Johnny says "Burlington Iowa you wanted the best, you've got 'em four abreast, often imitated, never duplicated, the greatest show on dirt, the World of Outlaws!!!!" Hope to see you there!

Unique Sponsorship Opportunity, All Money Goes to the Drivers, Great Exposure and It Might Not Cost You a Dime!

For the third year in a row the season ending "Shiverfest" event will offer up bonus money to drivers ranked in the top 100 in either the All Iowa or All Missouri Points if they win their feature race at the event scheduled for Saturday October 24th. I just sent out the sponsorship proposal below to several prospects, but thought that I would include it here as well. If you are interested in becoming one of the sponsors for this event, or if you are a track promoter who would be interested in doing something similar at one of your late-season special events, please e-mail us at melmorris32@yahoo.com and remember that the the full standings for both the All Iowa Points and the All Missouri Points can be found on the Points page at www.PositivelyRacing.com

All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus
ShiverFest 2009
October 24, 2009

The Lee County Speedway is proud to once again present an auto-racing event in an effort to help raise funds for the Southeast Iowa Renal Dialysis Units, located in Mt. Pleasant, Keokuk, Fort Madison and Burlington. We would like to give you an opportunity to be a part of this event, the last race of the 2009 season in the state of Iowa, and in this unique sponsorship program you might just end up paying absolutely nothing to be involved!!

The "All Iowa Points" and " All Missouri Points" gather results from all race tracks in each state and awards points on a standardized point scale. This allows drivers and fans to see how they stack up against drivers that they may never compete against during the season with "State Champions" named in nine divisions in Iowa and four divisions in Missouri. The complete rankings for each division may be found online at www.PositivelyRacing.com.

The All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus program provides an opportunity for drivers who have enjoyed success throughout the 2009 racing season to earn some extra cash at "Shiverfest".
This program was introduced for the first time at the 2007 event and the result was a record car count of 214 in five divisions! In 2008 this bonus program drew in two of the top three rated Modified drivers in the state of Iowa, both of whom towed in from over 150 miles away, and the Four Cylinder State Champion Brannon Bechen made the trip in from northeast Iowa and won the feature event in that division.

Here is how the program works:

Based upon the All Iowa/All Missouri Point standings through October 19th, drivers ranked in the top ten of their division will earn the top-level "Gold" bonus if they can win the "Shiverfest" feature in their division, drivers ranked 11th through 30th will earn the second-level "Silver" bonus if they win and drivers ranked 31st through 100th will take home the "Bronze" bonus with a feature victory. Each bonus is in addition to the winner’s purse already posted for the event.

For the 2009 "Shiverfest" we would like to offer the following bonus levels per sponsor*:
Division Gold Silver Bronze
Modified $500 $350 $200
Stock Car $400 $300 $200
SportMod $300 $200 $100
Hobby Stock $300 $200 $100
Four-Cylinders $200 $150 $100

* More than one sponsor will be accepted for any one division with the bonus paid to the driver multiplied by the number of sponsors for that division.

Note: The only two divisions that will apply to the Missouri Points are the Modifieds and SportMods
　
　
During the 2008 event we awarded the Gold bonus in the Stock Cars and the Four Cylinders, the Silver Bonus in the Modifieds and the Bronze bonus in the Hobby Stocks. The SportMod feature was won by a driver outside of the top 100 in points, so in this case it would have been a sponsorship that would have cost you nothing!

As a sponsor of this bonus program you will receive the following:
-Initial Press Release announcing your involvement to area newspapers, local radio stations, Hawkeye Racing News and internet sites that cover racing in the tri-state area (PositivelyRacing, Heartland Motorsports, WhoWon, Iowastockcars, Stlracing, Racinboys, 4m and more)
-Name mentions on updated point standings released to the internet sites every other week leading up to "Shiverfest" (the earlier you sign on, the more exposure you will receive)
-A banner ad on the points page of the division(s) you are sponsoring on PositivelyRacing.com (the earlier you sign on, the more exposure you will receive)
-Four complimentary tickets to the event.
-Public address announcements prior to and throughout the event.
-Victory lane presentation of bonus to driver(s)
-Post-race press release summarizing the bonuses earned by the winning drivers.

All of this exposure and it may end up costing you absolutely nothing!

Choose a division that you would like to sponsor:

-The amount of the Gold Bonus is what you pay up front for the sponsorship
-If the race winner of that division earns the Silver or Bronze bonus we will refund you the difference after the event.
-If the race winner of that division does not rank in the top 100 of the points for either state, he or she does not win the bonus and your entire investment will be refunded!
-Sponsor three divisions and receive a 10% discount on your initial payment, or sponsor all five divisions and receive a 20% discount! And keep in mind that all of your sponsorship money goes directly to the drivers!

We hope that you will join us in presenting one of the Midwest’s most popular annual events through this unique sponsorship program.

Please e-mail us at melmorris32@yahoo.com with questions!

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