State Points Are Up; Iowa, Missouri and Illinois

Now that we have a couple of weeks of the racing season in the books the first listing of the All Iowa Points are now up on the Points page at Positively Racing. Each week I try to get to all of the racing results for a weekend by Monday night so that I can then send the updated standings to our webmistress Sue who has a goal of having those new standings up by Wednesday of each week. This means that occassionally a track will not have their results up in time to be included for that week. For example, this past weekend the results for both Algona (4/7) and Mason City (4/8) appeared on SpeedNet Direct about an hour after I sent off the update. Therefore, in the current All Iowa Points standings you will not see those drivers and their points, however they have now been tabulated and you will see them in the next update that will be posted each week.

Hopefully we have some events to tabulate from this weekend as Mother Nature wiped out everything but I-80 Speedway on Friday night and she is a threat to sweep all of the Saturday and Sunday events on the schedule. I am unable to go racing tonight (Saturday) due to other plans, but do hope to make it down to Quincy on Sunday night for the Northern All Star Late Model event. And, if rain takes out that one, then both Vinton and East Moline will be very attractive options. Here's hoping that all the tracks can beat the weather the remainder of the weekend.

Following are the current All Illinois Late Model Points as well as the current All Missouri Points for the four divisions that we track in the Show Me state. The new version of blogger does not allow pasting of spreadsheets like it used to, or I just haven't figured it out yet. So my apologies for the sloppy formatting!

All Missouri Points: Late Models

1	Brad Looney	Republic	9
2	Jesse Stovall	Galena	6
3	Scott Weber	Festus	6
4	Chris Hawkins	Neosho	5
5	Dewayne Kiefer	St. Genevieve	5
6	Jack Sullivan	Greenbriar AR	5
7	Jason Russell	Henley	5
8	Terry Phillips	Springfield	5
9	Tim Ratajczyk	Columbia IL	5
10	Chris Lapp	Barnett	4
11	Jason Bodenhammer	Centerview	4
12	Justin Wells	Aurora	4
13	Ron McQuerry	St. Albans	4
14	Will Vaught	Seneca	4
15	Jake Griffin	Quincy IL	3
16	Jason McBride	Carbondale IL	3
17	Jon Binning	Warrensburg	3
18	Ken Essary	Galena	3
19	Rusty Schlenk	Jackson MI	3
20	Tony Jackson Jr.	Lebanon	3
21	Andrew Johns		2
22	Jon Kirby	Russelville AR	2
23	Justin Russell	Henley	2
24	Ken Rumble		2
25	Kevin Coyne		2
26	Rick Lebow	Galena	2
27	R.C. Whitwell	Tucson AZ	1
28	Shane Essary	Galena	1
29	Steven Clancy	Odessa	1
30	Vance Wilson	Bowling Green	1

All Missouri Points: Modifieds

1	Rusty Griffaw	Festus	10
2	Jeremy Payne	Springfield	8
3	Mark Miner	St. Louis	8
4	Terry Schultz	Sedalia	8
5	Erik Maggard	Brighton	7
6	David Wietholder	Liberty IL	5
7	Dean Wille	Warrensburg	5
8	Jeremy Greenwalt	Potosi	5
9	Jeff James	Stanton IA	5
10	Johnny Bone Jr.	Pea Ridge AR	5
11	Mike VanGenderen	Newton IA	5
12	R.C. Whitwell	Tucson AZ	5
13	Ron VerBeek	Oskaloosa IA	5
14	Shay Woods	Humeston IA	5
15	Terry Phillips	Springfield	5
16	Tony Jackson Jr.	Lebanon	5
17	Bobby Pearish	Joplin	4
18	Jackie Dalton	Carthage	4
19	Jason Russell	Henley	4
20	Justin Neuman	Crocker	4
21	Kent Nations		4
22	Mickey Burrell	Fair Grove	4
23	Mike Henson		4
24	Robby Arnold	Paragould AR	4
25	Rodney Sanders	Happy TX	4
26	Ron Keith	Shawnee KS	4
27	Steven Glenn	Hamilton	4
28	Tim Setzer	Archie	4
29	Brent Holman		3
30	Brent Thompson	Park Hills	3
31	Chad Lyle	Oak Grove	3
32	Danny Crane	Columbia	3
33	Hunter Marriott	Brookfield	3
34	Kenny Wallace	Concord NC	3
35	Lucas Lee	Paris TN	3
36	Robbie Bryant	Willard	3
37	Tim Hancock	Mt. Olive IL	3
38	Brad Buck	Paragould AR	2
39	Cody Conner		2
40	Colson Kirk	Urbana	2
41	Conrad Miner	St. Charles	2
42	Darren Shaw	Lathrop	2
43	Glenn Bratti	Springdale AR	2
44	Jim Body	Diamond	2
45	Michael Lee	Paris TN	2
46	Paul Bauman		2
47	Robbie Reed	Mexico	2
48	Tim Karrick	Basehor KS	2
49	Tyler Brown	Stoutland	2
50	Zack Vanderbeek	Oskaloosa IA	2
51	Aaron Marrant	Orrick	1
52	Doug Wood	Festus	1
53	Jamie Ragland	Lebanon	1
54	Jason Estes	Winston	1
55	John Allen	Chanute KS	1
56	Jonathan Rowan	Jackson TN	1
57	Kasey Nations	Park Hills	1
58	Rick Conoyer		1
59	Steve Muilenberg	Sparta	1
60	Steven DeLonjay	Quincy IL	1
61	Todd Wilson	Spickard	1
62	Zachary Sanders	Kearney	1

All Missouri Points: Limited Modifieds

1	Kris Jackson	Lebanon	20
2	Shawn Strong	Republic	10
3	Scott Drake	Webb City	9
4	Chad Clancy	Smithville	8
5	Trevor Hunt	Liberty	7
6	Truman Asher	St. Joseph	6
7	Aaron Marrant	Orrick	5
8	Adam Hemby	Puxico	5
9	Jeff Stotts	Trenton	5
10	Mike Floyd	Holts Summit	5
11	Mike Higley	Tecumseh KS	5
12	Mike Tanner	Kansas City	5
13	Scotty Martin	Independence	5
14	Shane Blair		5
15	Bobby Maggard Jr.	Republic	4
16	Eddie Gross		4
17	Josh Sissom	Cape Girardeau	4
18	Michael Stake	Phillipsburg	4
19	Nic Bennett	Grain Valley	4
20	Ryan Middaugh	Fulton	4
21	Ted Ballinger	Halfway	4
22	Tyler Droste	Waterloo IA	4
23	Brett Shields	Mount Ayr IA	3
24	Dewayne Hobbs	Halfway	3
25	Greg Swearingem	Bismarck	3
26	Gunner Martin	Blue Springs	3
27	J.C. Morton	Springfield	3
28	Jeremy Chambers	Oswego KS	3
29	Jerry Lankton	Lampe	3
30	Jim Piercy Jr.	Nixa	3
31	Jon Melloway	Hallsville	3
32	Scott Tracer	Rector AR	3
33	Tyler Lewis	Columbia	3
34	Andy Beauchamp	Springfield	2
35	Chad Staus	Otterville	2
36	Clay Hale	Cameron	2
37	Craig Roden	Montgomery City	2
38	Jacob Ebert	Oak Grove	2
39	Jason Billups	Holt	2
40	Kenny Harris		2
41	Tim Gage	Campbell	2
42	Zane Blanchard		2
43	Bill Schaar	St. Robert	1
44	Casey Greubel	Lacona IA	1
45	Cole Fowler		1
46	Darin Claxton	Warensburg	1
47	Jason Otto	Richland	1
48	Jesse Sobbing	Glenwood IA	1
49	Jeff Frowhitter		1
50	Patrick Mahnken	Fulton	1
51	Steve Muilenberg	Sparta	1
52	Tim Eaton	St. Joseph	1
53	Wes Bestgen	Osborn	1
54	Colt Pruente		1

All Missouri Points: Sprint Cars

1	Dustin Barks	Farmington	5
2	Jonathan Cornell	Sedalia	5
3	Tommy Worley Jr.	Bismarck	5
4	Chad Ely	Adelaide AUS	4
5	Rod Crabdree	Desloge	4
6	Terry Gray	Memphis TN	4
7	Brian Brown	Grain Valley	3
8	Jimmy Hurley	Springfield IL	3
9	Tim Crawley	Benton AR	3
10	Anthony Nicholson	Bartlett TN	2
11	Jimmy Bridgeman	Farmington	2
12	Kyle Bellm	Nixa	2
13	Eddie Gallagher	Piperton TN	1
14	Kasey Burch	Farmington	1
15	Tyler Blank	California	1

All Illinois Points: Late Model
 

1	Michael Kloos	Trenton	24
2	Ryan Unzicker	El Paso	13
3	Bobby Pierce	Danville	12
4	Kevin Weaver	Gibson City	11
5	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin	10
6	Scott Schmitt	Tonica	9
7	Brent Kreke	Highland	8
8	Chad Zobrist	Highland	8
9	Justin Reed	Quincy	7
10	Matt Bailey	Quincy	7
11	Kevin Cole	Christopher	6
12	Kyle Logue	Cisco	6
13	Ryan Little	Springfield	6
14	Brian Birkhofer	Muscatine IA	5
15	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville	5
16	Dewayne Kiefer	St. Genevieve MO	5
17	Jason Feger	Bloomington	5
18	Jimmy Mars	Menomonie WI	5
19	Ray Guss Jr.	Milan	5
20	Shannon Babb	Mowequa	5
21	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	4
22	Frank Heckenast Jr.	Orland Park	4
23	Todd Malmstrom	Moline	4
24	Bobby Bittle		3
25	Dustin Griffin	Quincy	3
26	Gary Webb	Blue Grass IA	3
27	Jason McBride	Carbondale	3
28	Mark Burgtorf	Quincy	3
29	Mark Voigt	Marine	3
30	Matt Weidner	Highland	3
31	Scott Bull	Fairbury	3
32	Terry Babb	Decatur	3
33	Craig Smith	Godfrey	2
34	Frankie Martin	DuQuoin	2
35	Jim Moon	Zionsville IN	2
36	John Beck	Springfield	2
37	Kent Robinson	Bloomington IN	2
38	Mike Cothron	Moline	2
39	Mike Schulte	Summerfield	2
40	Rick Eckert	York PA	2
41	Rick Salter	Albers	2
42	Billy Laycock	Marine	1
43	Daryn Klein		1
44	Greg Kimmons		1
45	Michael Long	Quincy	1
46	Nate Beuseling	Coal Valley	1
47	Rodney Melvin	Benton	1

Murphy Jr. Dominates In Slocum 50 At 34 Raceway

Mike Murphy Jr. powered past Jay Johnson on lap seven and never looked back as he captured the 4th Annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway near Burlington Saturday night. Stop number two on this year's Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models, the race pays tribute to the late Brent Slocum who lost his life in a pit area accident here several years ago.

Johnson raced to the lead from the pole position and started to open an advantage before the race's only caution waved on lap three for Sam Halstead who had spun in turn three. Murphy, who started eighth was on the charge and he moved to second soon after the green flag returned. The Quad City area driver got a nice run off of turn four as the lead duo clicked off lap six and he then threw it hard into the low groove in turn one. Finding a bite on the tacky surface, Murphy drove by Johnson for the lead and then seemed to be on a mission to put everybody else a lap down.

Tyler Bruening soon moved by Johnson for second and Joel Callahan was on the fly from row six to take over the third spot mid-race. The battle to watch at that time was back in fifth as sixth cars including Tom Bowling Jr., Charlie McKenna, Ray Guss Jr., Andy Eckrich, Mark Burgtorf and Justin Kay were racing two-by-two-by-two swapping positions nearly every lap until first Bowling and then Guss emerged from that pack.

Coming from the eighth row it appeared that Guss may have been the fastest car on the track after passing Bowling and then Johnson for fourth, but he was not catching Murphy who was more than half a lap ahead of him. Even slower traffic could not slow him much as Murphy lapped all the way up to the sixth-place car just as he cruised under the checkers for the $3,000 win. Bruening was more than a straightaway back in second with Callahan closing on him in third. Guss Jr. recovered from a tough night at Farley the night before to take fourth while last night's winner of the Deery Series opener, Andy Eckrich came home fifth. Andy had started next to Ray in row nine.

Slocum Memorial Notes......Thirty-seven Late Models were in attendance with the long distance traveler being Karl Getzschman who made the trip over from Council Bluffs. Getzschman has returned to racing after about a ten year hiatus as he raced the old Limited Late Model division in eastern Nebraska......Jeff Aikey was the last car on the lead lap finishing sixth after starting on the outside of row ten.....Ray Guss Jr. suffered motor problems the night before at Farley, but was loaned the spare motor from Nate Beuseling's team to compete tonight.....Murphy collected an extra $100 on lap 38 in memory of Jeremy "Honus" Wagner, a crew member for Colby Springsteen who lost his life in an automobile accident a month or two ago.....The Deery Series decided to not have any provisional starters at the first two events on the 2012 schedule, where in the past they used the previous year's points to set provisionals in the opener and then the points after night one for the second race. The regular provisional system will be back in play at next Saturday's race in Webster City......A big thanks to Brad Stevens and his entire crew who work with sponsors and donors to put extra money on the line for the drivers in honor of High Five Racing Team driver Brent Slocum. Their goal is to raise enough to make the 5th Annual event pay $5,000-to-win and $500 to start in 2013.....A steady mist during hot laps and some of the early heats, plus the cool temperatures made for a very fast racetrack with little or no dust all evening.

That tacky racing surface was exactly the kind of track that Jayson Dittwsorth likes and he proved it again with a win in the 305 Sprint Car feature. Josh Schneiderman was putting the heat on Dittsworth for the lead before a caution waved for Shane Quam who had socked the wall in turn four on lap nine. On the restart Donnie Steward was able to push Schneiderman back to third, but Steward was unable to mount a challenge on Dittsworth who put the Olson Brothers Custom Shop Special back in victory lane. Steward and Schneiderman were next in line with Alan Ambers and Daniel Bergquist completing the top five.

Nick Wilkerson and Adam Gates were side by-side for the lead with two laps to go in the Four Cylinder feature, but when Gates slammed the door on the low groove into turn one, Wilkerson had to stand on the breaks and he killed the motor bringing out the caution. From there Gates ran the final two laps without challenge as he took the win followed by John Whalen, Bradley Stevenson, Daytona Fenton and Casey Mehaffey.

The Mod Lite feature had a tough time getting started with a rollover on the start followed by two more early cautions for the twenty-six-car field. Once they settled down though it was all Mike Morrill as the Altoona driver took the win over Josh May, while Randy Bryan came from 15th to finish third. Greg Rossell and Evan Epperson filled out the top five.

A big thanks to track announcer Rich Adams for sharing some mic time with yours truly tonight and to new Lee County Speedway promoter Dewain Hulett who also entertained the crowd. Donations are now being accepted for Dewain's zip line that will run from the judges stand to the start-finish pole.

The Sprint Invaders 360 c.i. Sprint Car series will headline the racing action next Saturday night April 14th at 34 Raceway.

Stud Girdles Not Allowed! Gustin Inherits Frostbuster At Osky

I am not mechanical at all so before last night I would have thought that stud girdles were something that would be marketed to gentlemen in retirement homes. The men are the desired minority at those places you know. But now I know that stud girdles are something used to stabilize your valve-train and that they are not legal under IMCA Modified rules. Why do I now know that? Because the young man who had appeared to have won his first first-ever race in the division was disqualified in the tech area at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa following the opener of the five-night Frostbuster swing through Iowa.


Andrew Schroeder, known as the “Kool-Aid Kid” here at his home track, had graduated from the B-Mod division and was very impressive winning the first of six IMCA Modified heat races here Wednesday night. The youngster then pulled the number one pill for the re-draw to start the main event on the pole, a definite advantage on a night where a stiff east wind and the pounding of 125 race cars had sucked nearly all of the moisture out of the track surface. At the drop of the green the goal was to get to the bottom groove as soon as possible evidenced by fellow front row starter Richie Gustin’s choice to tuck in behind Schroeder before they even reached the flagstand.

With third-starting Kyle Strickler close behind, the lead trio put some distance on the rest of the field, but even with that cushion neither Gustin or the North Carolina driver Strickler dared to step out of line to make a bid on Schroeder. The kid was smooth and on a few occasions even pulled away from his two challengers who have graced victory lane at many IMCA Modified main events over the past few years. On this night though, the division rookie would win in his first outing with Gustin in second and Strickler in third. Mark Elliott and Lance Arneson also finished where they started in fourth and fifth respectively.

That is until those stud girdles were discovered on Schroeder’s #02 car giving Gustin the win and sliding everybody up one position putting Ronn Lauritzen into the official top five. A tough pill to swallow for Schroeder, but after making the corrections look for him to bounce back strong in the track’s regular season opener next Wednesday night April 11th.

The SportMod feature was dominated by the defending IMCA Northern Sport Mod National champion as Brian Lariviere of Wichita, Kansas, started inside of row three and powered to the point on the opening lap. He then cruised the remaining fifteen circuits to a convincing victory. Pole-sitter Clint Luellen settled for second while Ty Luellen charged from thirteenth to third. Racer Hulin took fourth and John VanDenBerg used the knowledge of his hometown track to come from row eight to finish fifth.

John Heinz started on the pole of the Stock Car main and took the lead at the drop of the green while fifth-starting Jeff Mueller surged to second on the opening lap. It looked like Mueller would mount the challenge on Heinz, but Wisconsin driver Justin Jacobsen and J.C. Howell of Texas had other ideas as they soon relegated Mueller back to fourth. Jacobsen was able to get to the back bumper of Heinz on a few occasions, but was not able to mount a challenge as the driver from Green Bay registered the win in his first appearance at Oskaloosa. Jacobsen took second, Kyle Harwood muscled his way up to third at the finish with Howell and Mueller completing the top five. Both Howell and Mueller said “hi” to Harwood on their way back to the infield following the checkered flag.

The Hobby Stock feature saw some great door-to-door action for the lead between Shannon Anderson and Bill Bonnett. Anderson would lead the first lap by a nose before Bonnett took over on lap two. With Bonnett hugging the bottom line, Anderson went up one car-width further on the track pulling even with the leader while Eric Stanton waited patiently for racing room right behind those two. As the leaders crossed the stripe on lap ten, Anderson was ahead by inches and the caution waved just after that lap was scored. This gave the lead to Shannon for the restart and he was able to hold back both Bonnett and Stanton over the final five laps for the victory. Stanton would finish as the runner-up followed by Bonnett, Danny Thrasher and Justin Hook. Hook, who won the first heat race, was apparently dinged in the tech area following that event as he started the main event dead last in the nineteen-car field.

It was a great way for new promoter Mike VanGenderen and his crew to open the season with a full pit area including numerous cars and drivers from Canada as well as states mentioned above. It was no surprise to me that this opening show was presented in a coordinated and professional manner by this “rookie” promoter as VanGenderen has a unique combination of experience that he is bringing into this role. Not only is he a very successful driver in both a Modified and a Stock Car, but he has also been working at racetracks when he wasn’t driving serving as a flagman, a pit steward and as the “guy on the raceceiver”. He also knows how to assemble an experienced and talented crew as evidenced by some of the faces that I saw in the flagstand, on the raceceiver and wearing “IMCA Official” shirts. Regular season weekly action begins here next Wednesday night and continues through the end of August and I think that it is safe to say that an IMCA National Championship in at least one division might just pass through Osky in 2012. The second leg of the half-mile portion of the Frostbuster Five will run under less threatening weather conditions in Des Moines tonight, so get out there if you can and catch this very diverse field of competitors. Then we go short-trackin’ for the weekend Friday night in Marshalltown, Saturday in Boone and Sunday in Vinton. The weather forecast looks good except for a slight chance of rain during the day on Saturday. But if any track knows how to avoid a rainout, it is the Boone Speedway. Just check their record over the past few years!

My next action will be this Saturday night when the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models comes to 34 Raceway near Burlington for the annual Brent Slocum Memorial event. Perhaps I’ll see ya there!

New Sanction? No Problem For Reed at Quincy

The Quincy Raceways made the move from running the IMCA Late Model package with spec head engines to the UMP Super Late Models for 2012, but the change was not too big of a step for the defending Late Model track champion as Justin Reed topped a diverse field at the "Bullring on Broadway" in Sunday's season opener.

Brandon Sheppard is not only one of the young guns on the UMP circuit, but he is also a Rookie-of-the-Year contender on the 2012 World of Outlaw Late Model series and when he earned the pole position for tonight's 30-lap main event, many thought that he would walk away with an easy win. Michael Long, driving the #56J that was wheeled last year by young Justin Jennings, started alongside Sheppard on the front row and ran door-to-door with him for the first three trips around the quarter-mile. Reed had started third and stayed glued to Sheppard's back bumper waiting for racing room and once Long faded a bit, Reed took over the second spot and gave chase to the leader. As the two approached slower traffic on lap thirteen, Sheppard chose the higher line while Reed went to the bottom leaving Joey Gower in the middle as they crossed the stripe three-wide.

Reed picked up the point on the following lap with Sheppard now giving chase and the next hurdle would be the battle ahead of them between veteran Ron Elbe and the kid, Jake Griffin, who were running side-by-side. Sheppard pulled even with Reed and they went two-by-two for the next couple of laps before Reed was able to squeeze between the two lappers and hold on to the lead.

The caution waved on lap eighteen as Jason Perry tangled with Gower in turn two and on the double-file restart it was Mark Burgtorf who made some noise. A multi-time track champion here, Burgtorf was making his Quincy debut in the Richard Realty #15 and he used the middle groove to go from fourth to second once back to green. Just when it looked like Burgtorf might have a run on Reed, Justin hooked up the bottom line again and opened up a four car length advantage. Burgtorf would need some traffic to track Reed down, but the laps were winding down and when that middle line started to go away Sheppard was able to make the pass on Burgtorf to finish a straightaway behind Reed who opened his title defense with a convincing win.

Matt Bailey, who reportedly still had his spec motor under the hood, came from row six to finish fourth while Long completed the top five. Jim Moon, who moved his racing operation from Indiana to Mount Auburn, Illinois, last season finished in the sixth spot. LaSalle area driver Scott Schmitt followed up a win at Belleville on Friday night with a seventh-place run here, Vance Wilson finished eighth, Ricky Frankel was ninth and Robby Warner completed the top ten. Jake Meier made the pull down from Tipton, Iowa, and finished in the eleventh position in the twenty-one car field.

The UMP Modifieds kicked off the feature racing with a thriller as defending track champion Steven DeLonjay picked his way through the field from his twelfth starting spot and then passed race-long leader Michael Long with three laps to go for the crowd pleasing win. Long was the runner-up followed by Robbie Reed, Donovan Lodge and James Leffew. The Mod field was solid with nineteen cars in attendance.

Twelve IMCA Stock Cars took the green for their fifteen-lap main event with pole-sitter Jeremy Pundt leading lap one. For lap two Abe Huls, Terry Houston, Pundt and Jerry Jansen crossed the stripe in a four-wide formation and, if not for a spin by Andrew Griffin in turn one, I would have had no idea how they scored that amazing second lap. Jansen was the leader for the restart and he would hold the advantage until mid-race when Huls powered by and then went on for the victory. Houston followed him home in second, Jansen was third with Jeff Mueller and Ty Hill completing the top five.

The IMCA Sport Mods followed the Late Model feature and, after two failed attempts at a start, Dean Kratzer would lead the first scored lap before another caution occurred. As the field took the green for the restart a bank of lights went out in turn turn making the back stretch too dark to race on so the red flag came out. Even though it was only 8:30 p.m., my lack of sleep from the night before was the deciding factor as we decided to head for home.

QR Notes......Hopefully the lights came back on and the remainder of the Sport Mod feature along with the Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts were completed.......The track is starting early in April and May at 5:30 p.m. to get the kids home earlier for school and to run more of the show in the warmer temps of daylight. Little did they know that it would be 90 degrees here on April 1st and that, along with a steady breeze out of the south dried out the race track and then deposited it on the large crowd that had gathered on opening night. Once the sun went down, the wind calmed and the humidity seemed to settle the dust down making things much better in the grandstand. The track was dry, but it was pretty darn racey all night long.....Tony Dunker is doing double duty this year in the two Modified divisions and when he scratched his UMP Mod for the heat race I figured that his night in that division was done. Instead Dunker brought out his Sport Mod to run in the UMP Modified main event and, after being caught up in a couple of incidents ahead of him, he retired it to the pit area. Dunker, in that same car, was contending for the lead on that first lap of the Sport Mod feature before we left.....Tonight's roster in the UMP Late Model division was exactly what I was hoping for as it was a nearly even mix of drivers that you can expect to be here every week, and drivers that may have just "blown in" for the evening to add to their UMP National point totals. It is likely that the Late Model fans at Quincy will have at least one or two "surprise" entries in the division each week and that is why I intend to head south on Sunday nights quite often this season. I love surprises!......Weekly racing continues next Sunday night and the Northern All Star Late Model Series comes to town for its first of two spring visits to Quincy on April 15th.

The big IMCA Frostbuster week is next up on my schedule as I hope to take in the opener this Wednesday night April 4th at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. From there it goes to Des Moines on Thursday, Marshalltown on Friday, Boone on Saturday and Vinton on Sunday. Maybe I'll see ya there!

The Disciple Opens Federated Auto Parts With A Win At I-55

For those of you who made a visit to the Back Stretch yesterday between 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. you know that my original plan of stopping by the Cedar County Raceway car show and then heading on north to Farley was wiped out when the Deery Brothers opener was postponed due to wet grounds. That blog entry is now gone as with that news a quick decision was made to head south to Pevely, Missouri, where the track on I-55 that is now named Federated Auto Parts Raceway was set to open its 2012 season under near perfect weather conditions for the last day of March.

Racin' Down The Road's Danny Rosencrans and his grandson Keagan hopped in with me in Taylor and the remaining two and a half hours of the trip flew by as Danny told us stories about the dirt track in Keokuk that closed down for good in 1977. Amazing that I lived just forty-five miles north and never once attended a race there, something that I now regret.

When we arrived at the track at 6:15 the temperatures were in the high 70's and there was a long line waiting to buy tickets as the first session of hot laps were just taking the green. The announcer, Meuer, was giving the car counts as we waited in line and we were a bit surprised that only 18 UMP Late Models were on hand for the opener, but the UMP Modifieds made up for it with a whopping field of 36 cars. There were also 26 AARA Sportsman, 21 Pro Fours and 6 Pure Stocks, a division that has been brought back to the track after having the past few years off.

The three Sportsman heat races struggled with numerous cautions and took just under a half hour to complete and then it was time to turn the Late Models loose on the high-banked oval. Dewayne Kiefer and Michigan's Rusty Schlenk started on the front row with defending track champion Jeff Johns right behind and when the field took the green flag it didn't take long for the huge crowd to slide to the edge of their seats. Kiefer and Schlenk waged a high-speed door-to-door ballet swapping the lead back and forth with Johns making it a three-car formation on two occasions and when it was all over the crowd roared its approval as Schlenk took the victory. Meuer waited a moment for the other drivers to finish and then quipped, "okay, that's all for tonight, see you next week!"

I have been going to races for way too many years, but it is still amazing when that first Late Model heat race hits the track. The speed, the mud clods flying, the roar. And then to have it be such a stellar battle just reminds you why you love this sport so much. That two minutes made the four hour drive worth it, right there!

Ron McQuerry ran off with the second Late Model heat race while Scott Weber, who was subbing for Randy Korte in the #00, passed Dave Jumper for second on the final lap and in less than fifteen minutes Late Model qualifying was complete.

If you've noticed that I'm giving you how much time passed you can probably guess where this is heading. The Modified heats were pushed back to last on the schedule when the lineups had to be re-done at the last minute and, since it was the only class that would require Last Chance races, both the Pure Stock and the Pro Four features were then moved ahead of those two Modified consolation races. Numerous cautions, one-by-one realignments, a four cylinder pickup truck rollover and a delay for a malfunctioning scoring monitor dragged out the program before the Late Models returned to the track for the their twenty-five lap main event.

Schlenk and Weber made up the front row of the sixteen-car field with McQuerry and Kiefer right behind and it was no surprise when the former UMP Late Model National Champion Schlenk jumped to the early lead riding the cushion that was now so close to the wall on both ends of the speedway. Kiefer was like a slot-car tonight glued to the bottom groove in the heat race and once again at feature time, driving by Schlenk for the lead on lap three.

The one and only caution of the event waved on lap four when Matt Zimmerley spun down the back stretch and on the restart Schlenk thrilled the crowd as his rim-riding skills vaulted him back to the top spot. It took just three laps though for Kiefer to regain the advantage and he started to pull away. With nearly everybody now riding the bottom, Schlenk was starting to close back in on "The Disciple" as he began to work traffic, but when Rusty jumped the cushion in turn four on lap twelve he smacked the wall hard and nearly stalled the car before regaining his composure and continuing on.

With Kiefer now a half a lap ahead the race was for second as both McQuerry and Weber took advantage of Schlenk's hesitation to put the early leader back to fourth. But once he found his rhythm again Schlenk was able to mount a comeback and was side-by-side with McQuerry exiting turn two as Kiefer was taking the checkered flag. As that checkered flag waved, the back stretch flagman started waving his yellow flag as the three-car battle for second charged past him and, while I do not believe that it affected the outcome for second, third and fourth for McQuerry, Schlenk and Weber respectively, I do wonder if Dylan Sharp may have slowed a bit through the final turns as Andrew Johns nipped him at the line for fifth.

Twenty-five laps, one caution, and less than fifteen minutes for the Late Models and as a majority of the crowd started to head for the gates we decided to see how the Modified feature would play out rather than fighting the traffic out of the parking lot gate. The field was lined up on the front stretch and on the third lap a three-car incident in turn two brought out the caution. At 10:50 p.m., and with four hours of driving ahead of us, we reluctantly headed for the car fully satisfied with the thirty minutes of Late Model action that we witnessed and a bit frustrated with the rest. However, that can be expected sometimes on opening night and the track just off of I-55, no matter what they call it, continues to be one of my favorites.

Federated Auto Parts Notes......2011 Sportsman track champion Jeff Herzog has made the move up to a Late Model finishing 12th in his division debut.....Andrew Johns was the big mover of the night starting 14th and taking fifth......Ricky Frankel and Jason Crump were unable to start the Late Model feature after contact with the wall in separate incidents during the heats. Danny tells me that Crump was one of those rare drivers that moved directly from the Pro Fours straight to a Late Model......Troy Naeger had the Sportsman feature event well in hand until his motor blew just a few laps from the finish. Brad Paquet inherited the lead and went on to victory......Danny Ems dominated the short field of Pure Stocks and then also finished fifth in the Sportsman feature......Jacob Rexing held off a final lap challenge from Travis Bittle for the Pro Four win......Veteran Mark Miner was the leader in the Modified main when we decided to leave, but I see that fourth-starting Rusty Griffaw passed Miner for the eventual win.....Find the full results courtesy of stlracing.com right here......Kenny Wallace will be in action here next Saturday night April 7th in the Modified division and the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars roll into south suburban St. Louis on April 14th.

It was a good thing the Farley postponed early yesterday as a batch of thunderstorms built up over eastern Iowa last night and would have likely shortened the program anyway. With the additional moisture Keith Simmons and his crew are doing everything possible to try to run this evening, but make sure that you check on the status before making the trip. The same can be said for the season opener at Vinton tonight as they also picked up some rain last evening. Things are much drier down south though as the Lee County Speedway will hold their annual car show under bright warm sunshine at the Hy-Vee in Keokuk from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. today and then I plan to head on down to Quincy tonight for the debut of weekly UMP Late Model action. I wouldn't be surprised if Rusty Schlenk makes the drive up from St. Louis before heading back to Michigan and who knows what other new Late Model cars will be in the pits this evening. Also it looks like the Stock Car field should be solid as both Jeff Mueller and Jeremy Pundt have indicated that they will be on hand and Dean Kratzer will be among the IMCA Sport Mod field as that division joins the weekly card as well. Race time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Farley, Vinton or Quincy, no matter where you attend, have a great night at the races! (Note: At 12:45 p.m. Sunday I learned that the Farley event had been postponed again, this time to Friday April 6th)