The NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure Sophomore Season (Part Two)

We pick up the story of the second season of the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure with a July 1st event at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Unless you attended races at Vinton some twenty years ago you probably would not know that the President of IMCA, Brett Root was a pretty darn good Modified driver, especially at his home track and on this night he came up just a half car length short of taking the feature win.

Jackson Fights Off Root; Rohde Holds Back Temeyer For NKF Tour Wins At Vinton

Vinton, Iowa – A tacky multi-grooved race track provided for plenty of action as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure visited the Benton County Speedway here Thursday night. Vern Jackson of Waterloo fought off a variety of challenges over the final laps to win his first career NKF Tour Modified feature, while Jason Rohde of Fayette captured the win in the Hobby Stock headliner.

Jackson fought a miss in his engine all night long, but a second place run in his heat and a great redraw put him on the front row of the twenty-lap main event. Jackson grabbed the early lead with Brett Root in hot pursuit. While Root was looking for a clear path to pass the leader, several drivers made valiant charges to the front. First it was Arlo Becker who started twelfth and was quickly up to third before blowing a tire just a few laps shy of the finish. Next it was Tim Folkerts who came from sixteenth to get under Root for second with just two laps to go before his motor let go. On the final lap, the seventeenth starter, Bruce Hanford, joined the battle for the lead working the inside groove while Root made one last charge on the high side. At the checkers it was Jackson by a half car length over Root who was only a few feet ahead of Hanford. Randy Trefz and Jack Mitchell completed the top five of this action-filled event.

The Hobby Stock fifteen-lap feature did not go well for most of the NKF Tour regulars. Blaire Benzing hooked bumpers with early leader Mike Hiller sending both of them to the rear, while point contenders Rod Miller and Jeff Larson tangled in turn three on lap six with Miller taking a roll with Larson jumping over top of him. One traveler did have a good night though as Jason Rohde fought off a late challenge from Todd Temeyer to take the win. Temeyer took the runner-up spot followed by Chris Schares in third. Jerry Dedrick came from deep in the pack to finish fourth while Laverne Schutterle rounded out the top five.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Arlo Becker, Atkins 2. Russ Olson, Cedar Rapids 3. Brett Root, Waterloo 4. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton

2^nd Heat – 1. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 2. Vern Jackson, Waterloo 3. Doug Firgard, Hudson 4. Jan Messer, Manchester

3^rd Heat – 1. David Brown, Kellogg 2. Randy Trefz, Vinton 3. Tim McBride, Evansdale 4. Duane Peterson, Beaman

A-Main – 1. Jackson 2. Root 3. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 4. Trefz 5. Mitchell 6. McBride 7. Olson 8. Firgard 9. Tim Folkerts, Albia 10. Becker 11. Brown 12. Messer 13. Peterson 14. Ed Thomas, Waterloo 15. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 16. Dick Covington, Vinton 17. Jensen

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Chris Schares, Jesup 2. Todd Temeyer, Independence 3. Frankie Dulin, Vinton 4. Jason Rohde, Fayette

2^nd Heat – 1. Stoney Leonard, Ladora 2. Rod Miller, Eldon 3. Jeff Larson, New Hampton 4. Terry Dulin, Vinton

3^rd Heat – 1. Mike Hiller, Dunkerton 2. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 3. Tim Swope Jr., Evansdale 4. Heath Evens, Independence

B-Main – 1. Brad Forbes, Waterloo 2. Jim Aschenbrenner, Waterloo 3. Laverne Schutterle, Ladora 4. Jerry Dedrick, Vinton 5. Jay Schwamann, Ft. Atkinson 6. Steve Kesl, Elberon 7. Larry Franken, Washburn 8. Rob Olson, Cedar Rapids 9. Ryan Higdon, Vinton 10. Dave Kincaid, Cedar Rapids 11. Guy Stacy, Rowley

A-Main – 1. Rohde 2. Temeyer 3. Schares 4. Dedrick 5. Schutterle 6. T. Dulin 7. Franken 8. Olson 9. Aschenbrenner 10. Benzing 11. Larson 12. Kesl 13. Hiller 14. Evens 15. F. Dulin 16. Miller 17. Schwamann 18. Leonard 19. Swope Jr. 20. Forbes

I don't have one of his Modified on file, but here is a shot of Vern Jackson winning Pro Stock races in the early 1990's

Next up for the NKF Tour Modifieds were two nights of racing as the support class for the UMP Summer Nationals at Farley and Knoxville. It was an opportunity for us to not only race on a "big stage", but also to communicate the non-racing mission of the Tour to large crowds. The story and results for Farley follows and for whatever reason I do not have the story from Knoxville saved, but the results from the Knoxville Raceway website are copied below.

Chapman Stops Dripps For First Toyota NKF Tour Victory At Farley

Farley, Iowa – Dan Chapman used the inside groove of the Farley Speedway to perfection Monday night to earn his first career National Kidney Foundation of Iowa Heartland Tour for a Cure Modified feature win. The Tour ran in support of the UMP Late Model Summer Nationals event that saw Billy Moyer earn his tenth victory.

Defending NKF Tour champion Corey Dripps snared the lead from his front row start in the twenty-lap Modified headliner with Robbie Verbeck in hot pursuit. Chapman, who had started seventh, quickly worked his way into second using the low groove on the high speed racetrack. After making a couple of unsuccessful bids for the lead, Chapman was able to shut the door on Dripps on lap eleven for the top spot. Verbeck showed some late strength after getting by Dripps for second and showed his nose to Chapman on the outside. The leader then made a wise decision and moved back to the cushion for the final two circuits to hold off Verbeck for the win. Dripps came home third followed by Bob Dominacki and Ron Barker.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Bob Dominacki, Bettendorf 2. Ron Barker, Dubuque 3. Dan Chapman, Clarence 4. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls

2^nd Heat – 1. Robbie Verbeck, Annawan IL 2. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 3. Kevin Pittman, Waterloo 4. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls

3^rd Heat – 1. Darin Thye, Burlington 2. Scott Nesteby, Asbury 3. John Bull, Rock Island IL 4. Jamie Aikey, Cedar Falls

B-Main – 1. Jed Hurst, Dubuque 2. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 3. Rick Johnson, Independence 4. David Boyd, Columbus Jct. 5. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 6. Brett Root, Waterloo 7. Vern Jackson, Waterloo

A-Main – 1. Chapman 2. Verbeck 3. Dripps 4. Dominacki 5. Barker 6. Aikey 7. Pittman 8. Dan Bohr, Decorah 9. Hurst 10. Nesteby 11. Tim Folkerts, Albia 12. Bull 13. Todd Ihde, Decorah 14. Russ Olson, Cedar Rapids 15. Schram 16. Johnson 17. David Brown, Kellogg 18. Jackson 19. Mitchell 20. Boyd 21. Hanford 22. Jensen 23. Thye 24. Max Dunlap, Zearing 

NKF Tour Modified Results from the Knoxville Raceway

Modifieds Heat one: 1. 74, Mark Noble 2. M2, Scott Megonigle 3. 10m, Jeremy Mills / 4. 11D, Darin Thye 

Heat two: 1. 31, Corey Dripps 2. T28, Todd Ihde 3. 19, Rick Gustin / 4. 77, Dean Wray 

Heat three: 1. JD1, John Krajicek 2. 18K, Joe Kosiski 3. 69, Kenny Schrader / 4. 42, Mark Wyman 

Heat four: 1. 3D, Tim Donlinger 2. 35, Eric Lundstrom 3. 41, Danny Wallace / 4. 312, Mike Collins 

Heat five: 1. 96, Johnny Saathoff 2. 10, John VanDenBerg 3. 3x, Kevin Cale / 4. 1+, Bill Davis 

Heat six: 1. 92s, Jeff Stephens 2. B3, Russ Olson 3. 7II, Mike Hejna / 4. 12, Eric Fullenkamp 

B Main one: 1. 21x, John Anderson / 2. Darin Thye 3. Bill Davis 4. 5m, Jack Mitchell 

B Main two: 1. 1, Dan Chapman / 2. Dean Wray 3. Eric Fullenkamp 4. 18, Tim Folkerts 

B Main three: 1. 3, Kelly Shryock / 2. Mark Wyman 3. 03, Jeff Gorman 4. 61, Bruce Hanford 5. 2m, Mike Meyer 6. Al Hejna 

B Main four: 1. Mike Collins / 2. 27, John Bull 3. D1D, Brad Dubil 4. 2G, Gordy Grubb 5. 18J, Jon Schwartz 6. 2R, Rod Monson 

A Main: 1. Scott Megonigle 2. Mark Noble 3. Tim Donlinger 4. Russ Olson 5. Johnny Saathoff 6. John Krajicek 7. John VanDenBerg 8. Jeff Stephens 9. John Anderson 10. Kenny Schrader 11. Kelly Shryock 12. Corey Dripps 13. Tim Folkerts 14. Todd Ihde 15. Mike Collins 16. Jeremy Mills 17. Rick Gustin 18. Mike Hejna 19. Danny Wallace 20. Bruce Hanford 21. Eric Lundstrom 22. Dan Chapman 23. Joe Kosiski 24. Kevin Cale. Lap Leaders: Noble 1-8; Megonigle 9-20

After spending Monday and Tuesday night with the Modifieds, Chad and I loaded up and headed for Alta on Thursday where once again just the Hobby Stocks would be on the card at BVR.

Schmitt Survives Wild Final Laps To Win Toyota NKF Tour Race At Alta

Alta, Iowa – There was plenty of action to witness Thursday night as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure Hobby Stocks made their annual visit to the Buena Vista County Fair, especially in the final laps of the twenty-lap race.

Rod Miller, who had made the five hour tow from Eldon, jumped out to the lead of the main event with Rod McClurg and Phil Hauge in hot pursuit. On lap nine, Dan Hanselman put his car into second and began to challenge Miller for the lead, but a flat tire sidelined the Algona driver on lap twelve. On the restart Hauge was able to slide by Miller for the top spot on the fourteenth circuit and it looked as if he would cruise the rest of the way for the victory. As the leader came out of turn four to pick up the white flag, his right rear tire blew. Brian Schmitt and Mark Hill, who had been waging quite a battle for the second spot, were now racing for the lead. Schmitt was able to nose ahead of Hill on the final lap for the win just before the tenth place car of Jeff Larson ended the race with a red flag after crashing through the cement barrier on the backstretch. With the official finish reverting back to the white flag lap for those drivers who had not yet crossed the finish line, it was a break for Hauge who placed third with McClurg fourth and Miller fifth.

The NKF Tour Hobby Stocks have a doubleheader up next on the schedule as they will be at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison on Wednesday, July 21^st, and the following night, July 22^nd, the Hobby Stocks will be at the Greenbelt Speedway in Eldora.

Results

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Rod Miller, Eldon 2. Mike Albertson, Audubon 3. Kim Law, Carnavan 4. Jeff Danielson, Duncombe

2^nd Heat – 1. Rod McClurg, Pocahontas 2. Phil Hauge, Manson 3. Jeff Zehr, Manson 4. Brian Schmitt, Wall Lake

3^rd Heat – 1. Jeff Richardson, Laurens 2. Randy Andreason, Lytton 3. Ron Jensen, Jackson NE 4. Doug Barglof, Sioux Rapids

4^th Heat – 1. Dan Hanselman, Algona 2. Mark Hill, Cherokee 3. Jason Mickelson, Storm Lake 4. Jim Mitchell, Webster City

B-Main – 1. Roger Tripp, Marathon 2. Jeff Larson, New Hampton 3. Robert Norem, Ocheydan 4. Terry Duitsman, Sioux City 5. John Briggs, Sutherland 6. Randy Lawrey, Marcus 7. Doug Ockerman, Cherokee 8. Jerry Plagman, Alta

A-Main – 1. Schmitt 2. Hill 3. Hauge 4. McClurg 5. Miller 6. Danielson 7. Tripp 8. Jensen 9. Lawrey 10. Larson 11. Richardson 12. Duitsman 13. Mickelson 14. Zehr 15. Ockerman 16. Barglof 17. Law 18. Briggs 19. Hanselman 20. Albertson 21. Plagman 22. Mitchell 23. Andreason 24. Norem

The next event on the schedule would be a unique one as the NKF Tour would run a "co-sanctioned" event with Todd Staley's United States Modified Touring Series, or the USMTS at the Crawford County Speedway. Now keep in mind that in 1999, while the USMTS featured the best Modified drivers in the country as they do today, the rules were pretty similar to the weekly rules that were being run around the Midwest. A pairing like this would not really work here in 2021, but on this night Bruce Hanford was the best of the Tour regulars while Rick Gustin and Tim Folkerts also cracked the top twelve. This was also back when the track in Denison was a big, fast half-mile.

Jones Fights Off Many Challengers; Ziegman Tops Hobby Stocks At Denison

Denison, Iowa – Ron Jones of Zimmerman, Minnesota, started up front and stayed there throughout the entire thirty-lap Modfied feature as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure raced in conjunction with the United States Modified Touring Series at the Crawford County Speedway Wednesday night. Odeboldt’s Joel Ziegman also went flag-to-flag to win the NKF Tour Hobby Stock event in front of a large crowd.

Jones started on the outside of row one and jumped to the lead at the drop of the green. Tim Donlinger was the first to apply the pressure on the leader, pulling alongside Jones on several occasions. Steve Kosiski soon joined the battle for the lead along with Ken Schrader who was at the wheel of John Logue’s #69. The race for the top spot really got interesting when Mark Noble, who started in the twenty-third position moved into fourth on lap fifteen. Noble’s amazing charge ended soon after that with mechanical woes and a few laps later Donlinger suffered the same fate. That left Kosiski and Schrader to hound Jones over the final laps with the Minnesota Modified star successfully holding off the challengers for the win. Kosiski was the runner-up followed by Schrader, Bruce Hanford and John Krajicek.

There was no touching Joel Ziegman in the NKF Hobby Stock main event as the talented young driver drew the pole position and kept the second place car of Nick King a safe distance back the entire event. Dan Hanselman finished in the third spot with Jim Mitchell and Mike Grantham rounding out the top five.

 

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Ken Schrader, Concord NC 2. John Anderson, Omaha NE 3. John Krajicek, Denison 4. Kelly Shryock, Story City

2^nd Heat – 1. Ron Jones, Zimmerman MN 2. Tim Donlinger, Rochester MN 3. Marty Thompson, Mineral IL 4. Dann Olson, Braham MN

3^rd Heat – 1. Darin Thye, Burlington 2. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 3. Jon Schwartz, Omaha NE 4. Rick Gustin, Marshalltown

4^th Heat – 1. Jeremy Mills, Marathon 2. Aaron Larson, Hubbard 3. Gary March, Sioux City 4. Dan Mueller, Griswold

5^th Heat – 1. Steve Kosiski, Omaha NE 2. Jerry Warner, LaVista NE 3. Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie MN 4. Don Doeblin, Omaha NE

1^st B-Main – 1. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 2. Mark Dotson, Cameron MO 3. Schwartz 4. Red Monson, Harlan 5. Jeff Stephens, Arion 6. Lonn Schluetter, Atlantic 7. Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie MN 8. Mike Collins, Omaha NE 9. March

2^nd B-Main – 1. Shryock 2. Myer 3. Wally Wagner, Sioux City 4. Craig Reetz, Dunlap 5. Olson 6. Mueller 7. Damian Smith, Osceola NE 8. John Nicholson, Omaha NE 9. Mike Johnson, Council Bluffs 10. David Brown, Kellogg

A-Main – 1. Jones 2. Kosiski 3. Schrader 4. Hanford 5. Krajicek 6. Shryock 7. Warner 8. Gustin 9. Anderson 10. Myer 11. Stephens 12. Tim Folkerts, Albia 13. Mills 14. Donlinger 15. Wagner 16. Dripps 17. Dotson 18. Reetz 19. Noble 20. Olson 21. Thompson 22. Schwartz 23. Thye 24. Monson 25. Larson 26. Max Dunlap, Zearing

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Rod Miller, Eldon 2. Dan Hanselman, Algona 3. Jason Blunk, Vail 4, Joel Ziegman, Odeboldt 5. Adam Ulrich, Deloit

2^nd Heat – 1. Mike Grantham, Clarksville 2. Jim Lampe, Carroll 3. Jim Mitchell, Webster City 4. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 5. Nick King, Kiron

A-Main – 1. Joel Ziegman 2. King 3. Hanselman 4. Mitchell 5. Grantham 6. Blunk 7. Benzing 8. Miller 9. Jason Minnehan, Churdan 10. Donovan Smith, Lake City 11. Craig Daringer, Persia 12. Jon Ziegman, Odeboldt 13. Denny Mohr, Denison 14. Jim Lampe 15. Dennis Plain, Sac City 16. Larry Stark, Webster City 17. Doug Daringer, Harlan 18. Ulrich 19. Joe Lampe, Carroll

After fighting rainy weather through the first half of the season, the temperatures were now on the rise in late July as the NKF Tour Hobby Stocks returned to the Greenbelt Speedway in Eldora. It was quite an inspiring night and an emotional victory lane as Jerry Dixon scored the win.

Dixon Sizzles In NKF Tour Visit To Eldora

Eldora, Iowa – The temperature, and the racing, was red hot at the Greenbelt Speedway Thursday night as Jerry Dixon of Webster City captured the Hobby Stock feature win during the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure event presented by Toyota.

Blaire Benzing and Dan Hanselman started on the front row of the main event with Hanselman snaring the lead at the drop of the green. Benzing applied the pressure early, but Hanselman began to slowly pull away until mid-race mechanical problems forced him to slow and retire to the pit area. Benzing took over the top spot from there, but Jerry Dixon was not to be denied as he darted to the inside of Benzing two laps later to take the lead and the win.

It was Dixon’s first NKF Tour victory and it was very special to him and his family. Afterwards, Jerry donated a $50 bonus from Pig Daddy’s Sports Bar in Buckeye, Iowa, right back to the Foundation to continue research and assistance programs for individuals and families, like his own, that have been affected by kidney disease. Econo Stock feature winner Greg Hanson also donated his $50 bonus to the National Kidney Foundation of Iowa.

The Toyota NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure continues on Thursday night, July 29^th, at the Hamilton County Fair in Webster City with both the Modifieds and the Hobby Stocks in action.

Results

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Mike Henely, Fort Dodge 2. Jeff Danielson, Duncombe 3. Jerry Dixon, Webster City 4. Dan Hanselman, Algona 5. Bryce Sommerfeld, Fort Dodge

2^nd Heat – 1. Ryan Griffith, Webster City 2. Rod Miller, Eldon 3. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 4. Jim Mitchell, Webster City 5. Mike Grantham, Clarksville

A-Main – 1. Dixon 2. Danielson 3. Henely 4. Benzing 5. Mitchell 6. Griffith 7. Rodney Slagle, Eagle Grove 8. Grantham 9. Dennis Plain, Sca City 10. Duane Peterson, Beaman 11. Sommerfeld 12. Justin Hoversten, Radcliffe 13. Hanselman 14. Kit Hovey, Fort Dodge 15. Todd Jansonious, Carroll 16. Mark McNeece, Albion 17. Miller 18. Mike Hiller, Dunkerton

During the first season of the NKF Tour we had two championships that were decided well before the final race on the schedule. At this point during the sophomore season Tim Folkerts held just a six point lead over Bruce Hanford in the Modifieds and in the Hobby Stocks we had a tie for the lead between Rod Miller and Blaire Benzing with a Thursday Fair date at the Hamilton County Speedway next on the schedule.

Logue Shakes Off Gustin; Hanselman Breaks Jinx For Toyota NKF Tour Wins At Webster City

Webster City, Iowa – John Logue of Boone and Rick Gustin of Marshalltown put on an entertaining battle in front of a sweltering crowd at the Hamilton County Fair Thursday night during the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure Modified feature with Logue prevailing for the $1,000 victory. The NKF Tour Hobby Stock feature saw Dan Hanselman of Algona race away for his first career Tour victory.

Temperatures near one hundred made it a tough night for drivers and spectators alike, but once the sun faded away behind the trees the racing action heated up. Gustin started on the outside of the front row for the twenty-lap Modified headliner and moved to the lead at the drop of the green. Logue quickly moved to second and began to challenge for the lead using the low groove of the tacky half-mile speedway. Logue nosed his car into the lead at the stripe on lap five, but Gustin fought back to pace the field the next lap. Logue again found the bite down low and tookover the lead for good on lap seven. Gustin mounted one last challenge with five laps to go, pulling even with the leader down the frontstretch, but when he jumped the cushion in turn three, that was all the room Logue needed to take the win. Gustin held off Rich Lewerke for second with new NKF Tour point leader Bruce Hanford fourth, and Jason Toppenberg fifth.

Dan Hanselman has been running near the front of several NKF Tour events recently only to have the bad luck gremlins jump up and bite him with either mechanical woes or flat tires. On this night, those gremlins could not take the heat and stayed home as Hanselman lead from the drop of the green to the checkers for the victory. Jim Mitchell chased him all the way for a second place run while Ryan Griffith made a last lap pass of Doug McCollough to finish third. Roger Caquelin completed the top five.

The Toyota NKF Tour Hobby Stocks return to the Hamilton County Speedway on Thursday night, August 26^th, in support of the NAPA Winner Series race for IMCA Stock Cars.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Jason Toppenberg, Ames 2. Max Dunlap, Zearing 3. Greg Subbert, Britt 4. Bruce Hanford, Davenport

2^nd Heat – 1. John Logue, Boone 2. Jeremy Mills, Marathon 3. Rick Gustin, Marshalltown 4. Terry Buenting, Fort Dodge

3^rd Heat – 1. Rich Lewerke, Garner 2. Carl Allbee, Grand Junction 3. Jamie Aikey, Cedar Falls 4. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton

A-Main – 1. Logue 2. Gustin 3. Lewerke 4. Hanford 5. Toppenberg 6. Aikey 7. Tim Folkerts, Albia 8. John Nielsen, Coon Rapids 9. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 10. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 11. Buenting 12. Todd Suhr, New Hampton 13. Allbee 14. Scott Olson, Ellsworth 15. Jim Clavin, Fort Dodge 16. Dick Manske, Algona 17. Al Tordoff, Alden 18. George Gilliland, Lehigh 19. Dunlap 20. Mills 21. Greg Elliott, Webster City 22. Subbert 23. Mike Korte, Palmer 24. Jensen 25. David Brown, Kellogg

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Ryan Griffith, Webster City 2. Bryce Sommerfeld, Fort Dodge 3. Dan Hanselman, Algona 4. Grant Moline, Manson

2^nd Heat – 1. Jerry Dixon, Webster City 2. Jim Mitchell, Webster City 3. Roger Caquelin, Dows 4. Kit Hovey, Fort Dodge

3^rd Heat – 1. Allen Dixon, Webster City 2. Tom Alexander, Webster City 3. Jeff Danielson, Duncombe 4. Gerald Gatewood, Webster City

4^th Heat – 1. Michael Henely, Fort Dodge 2. Dog McCollough, Webster City 3. Dennis Plain, Sac City 4. Rodney Slagle, Eagle Grove

A-Main – 1. Hanselman 2. Mitchell 3. Griffith 4. McCollough 5. Caquelin 6. Sommerfeld 7. Alexander 8. Danielson 9. A. Dixon 10. J. Dixon 11. Hovey 12. Slagle 13. Brian Stein, Woolstock 14. Dean Flaws Jr., Carlisle 15. David Smith, Lake City 16. Buck Plain, Webster City 17. Rod Miller, Eldon 18. Denny Dixon, Webster City 19. Brett Smith, Madrid 20. Rick Speck, LeGrand 21. Gatewood 22. Bobby Schaffer, Clarion 23. Moline 24. Jason Mallicoat, Boone 25. Henely 26. D. Plain 27. Andy Bryant, Clemons 28. Jamie Odor, Fort Dodge

Bert McDaniel and McDaniel Racing Enterprises supported the NKF Tour as a Contingency Sponsor all four years and he also put up extra cash at the Tour's opener in 1998. Here is Bert in action in his IMCA Stock from the early 1990's.

The 3rd Annual Budweiser Hobby Stock Nationals were up next at the Lee County Speedway and once again this would be a two night show with Qualifying and heat races on Monday night, and Last Chance races and the $1,000-to-win main event on Tuesday. In 1998 the NKF Tour Modifieds ran a full program on Tuesday night only, but this year promoters Terry and Jenni Hoenig made it a two night format for the Mods as well paying them $900 to win in order to keep the Hobby Stocks as the featured division. One hundred and two cars in the two divisions signed in and let's just say that the title sponsor of the event had plenty of its product consumed during the post-race party on Monday night!

Meyer Takes $1,000; Cale Prevails At Lee County’s Budweiser Nationals 

Donnellson, Iowa – Have you ever been to a dirt track race where the winner leads every lap? Well that definitely was not the case at the Lee County Speedway Tuesday night as the lead swapped hands like a hot potato in both main events. In the Hobby Stocks, Ryan Meyer of Mount Pleasant kept the big money close to home by winning the $1,000 top prize for the Budweiser Hobby Stock National title and it was hometown driver Kevin Cale holding off a host of challengers to win the Modified main event. Both races were a part of the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure presented by Toyota.

Seventy-one Hobby Stocks turned out Monday night to begin the qualifying process that narrowed the field to twenty-four for the forty-lap main event. Pole-sitter Dan Jones paced the first five laps before Meyer, who is the current track point leader at Donnellson, tookover the top spot on lap six. Jones came back to lead laps nine through twelve before Meyer re-established himself as the front runner on lap thirteen. While the top two cars diced back and forth John Richardson and Rick Metcalf were right behind them looking for racing room. Metcalf held a narrow lead on lap sixteen, while Richardson moved to the point for lap eighteen. Meyer came back to lead the next two laps before Richardson re-gained the top spot for the next ten laps. It would be the most laps lead for the entire race. Metcalf moved past Richardson on lap thirty and looked like he might be able to put some distance on his challengers, but Meyer came right back to take the point for laps 35 and 36. Metcalf had it by a nose on the 37^th circuit, but Meyer moved back to the front and shut the door for the final three laps for the thrilling victory in a race that saw eleven lead changes among four drivers.

“We’ve been doing this (the Budweiser Hobby Stock Nationals) for three years now, and those northern guys kept coming down to kick us,” Meyer told the excited crowd. “We weren’t going to have that happen this year.” Metcalf finished a car-length back in second followed by quick qualifier Tim Bradley in third. David Vass finished in the fourth spot with Roger Krieger completing the top five. Jones and Richardson both saw their top five runs go by the wayside with flat tires.

The NKF Tour Modified feature set the tone for the Hobby Stock thriller as John Bull of Rock Island, Illinois, and Donnellson’s own Kevin Cale waged an entertaining battle switching the lead back and forth six times in the first twelve laps. Right behind them you had Russ Olson, Tony Fraise, Tim Folkerts and Mark Burgtorf all looking for racing room making for a very exciting race. As the laps wound down Burgtorf moved into the second spot and really put the pressure on Cale for the lead. Burgtorf was able to pull alongside the leader three times in the final four laps, but Cale was able to hold him off for the $900 victory. Burgtorf was right behind in second followed by Bull, Folkerts and Vance Wilson.

The Toyota NKF Tour Modifieds and Hobby Stocks have two more stops scheduled for Donnellson. The first one will be on Saturday, September 11^th, as they run with the Deery Brothers IMCA Late Model Summer Series, and the second one will be the 1999 Tour finale on Saturday, October 23^rd.

3^rd Annual Budweiser Hobby Stock Nationals Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

Qualifying – 1. Eddie Strickland, Galesburg IL 18.615 2. Kevin Cale, Donnellson 18.766 3. Matt Stalder, Washington 18.814 4. John Bull, Rock Island IL 18.853 5. Russ Olson, Cedar Rapids 18.960 6. Tony Fraise, Montrose 18.992 7. Jason Krigbaum, Hannibal MO 19.010 8. Steve Grotz, Quincy IL 19.025 9. Tom Goble, Burlington 19.082 10. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 19.084 11. Mark Burgtorf, Quincy IL 19.111 12. John VanDenBerg, Oskaloosa 19.111 13. Darin Thye, Burlington 19.276 14. Bruce Thuleen, Denmark 19.287 15. Max Dunlap, Zearing 19.332 16. Lynn Monroe, Memphis MO 19.350 17. Tim Folkerts, Albia 19.437 18. Vance Wilson, Bowling Green MO 19.466 19. Paul Lawson, Fort Madison 19.483 20. Jeff Gerhardt, Niota IL 19.493 21. Jim Roach, Kahoka MO 19.563 22. Denny Banks, Washington 19.564 23. Brad Ford, Mount Pleasant 19.667 24. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 19.747 25. Jeff Richards, Hamilton IL 19.762 26. Terry Meyers, Quincy IL 19.851 27. Mark Widmar, Ottumwa 19.879 28. Andy Krieger, Burlington 20.264 29. Bill Vantiger, Yarmouth 20.344 30. L.Z. Coleman, New London No Time 31. Todd Holman, Ottumwa No Time

1^st Heat – 1. Krigbaum 2. Thye 3. Monroe 4. Hanford   2^nd Heat – 1. Folkerts 2. Burgtorf 3. Gerhardt 4. Thuleen  3^rd Heat – 1. Roach 2. Wilson 3. Goble 4. Dunlap  B-Main – 1. Holman 2. Hanford 3. Lawson 4. Banks 5. Ford 6. Thuleen 7. Schram 8. Coleman 9. Meyers 10. Vantiger

A-Main – 1. Cale 2. Burgtorf 3. Bull 4. Folkerts 5. Wilson 6. Fraise 7. Holman 8. Hanford 9. Monroe 10. Banks 11. Goble 12. Stalder 13. Roach 14. Ford 15. Gerhardt 16. Coleman 17. Dunlap 18. Schram 19. Thuleen 20. Olson 21. Strickland 22. Lawson 23. Krigbaum 24. Thye

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

Qualifying – 1. Tim Bradley, Montrose 20.136 2. Dan Jones, Waterville 20.269 3. Curtis Faul, Dallas City IL 20.439 4. Jason Rohde, Fayette 20.464 5. Ryan Meyer, Mount Pleasant 20.478 6. Rick Metcalf, Selma 20.627 7. Russell Fett, Montrose 20.725 8. Junior Boyer, St. Lucas 20.730 9. Jim Mitchell, Webster City 20.731 10. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 20.752 11. Paul Lawson, Fort Madison 20.828 12. John Richardson, Fort Madison 20.832 13. Jason Buck, Danville 20.851 14. Dean Kratzer, Fort Madison 20.855 15. Louis Lynch, Lancaster MO 20.880 16. Jody Dodson, Fort Madison 20.882 17. Jerry Bliesener, Burlington 20.883 18. Harley Hill, Wayland MO 20.886 19. Ross Buffington, Winfield 20.886 20. Brandon Derry, New Hampton 20.905 21. Lynn Panos, Protivin 20.915 22. David Vass, Eldon 20.923 23. Mike Jones, Waukon 20.952 24. Cory Richards, Burlington 20.959 25. Jason Fleer, Quincy IL 20.984 26. John Oliver, Burlington 20.998 27. Scott Buehneman, Keswick 21.030 28. Rod Miller, Eldon 21.041 29. Jason Wenke, Donnellson 21.067 30. Eddie Dieker, Plainville IL 21.088 31. Shawn Whiting, Burlington 21.093 32. Tony Happs, Alexandria MO 21.094 33. Ryan Griffith, Webster City 21.151 34. J.R. Miller, Keosaqua 21.156 35. Mike Grantham, Clarksville 21.197 36. Roger Krieger, Burlington 21.209 37. Andy Davis, Douds 21.212 38. Jeff Larson, New Hampton 21.216 39. Scott Donlan, Burlington 21.220 40. Michael Casey, Keokuk 21.235 41. Rodger Dresden, Keokuk 21.264 42. Chris Webb, Biggsville IL 21.310 43. Paul Underwood, Ottumwa 21.311 44. Lorne Parks, Ottumwa 21.322 45. Jeff Wellington, Columbus Jct. 21.337 46. Tim Gebel, New Hampton 21.339 47. Brandon Bandstra, New Sharon 21.380 48. Tory Reicks, Waucoma 21.406 49. Tim Tucker, Lomax IL 21.520 50. Tony Becerra, Carthage IL 21.550 51. Bill Crowell, Alexandria MO 21.574 52. Dave Breuer, Burlington 21.602 53. Jim Oliver Jr., West Burlington 21.609 54. Darrow Lillie, Burlington 21.667 55. Bill Shaffer, Burlington 21.669 56. Doak Allen Jr., Burlington 21.677 57. Curtis Doyle, Danville 21.784 58. Michael Marks, Morning Sun 21.860 59. Scott Peitz, Mount Pleasant 22.000 60. Rick Coats, LaGrange MO 22.024 61. Jim Gillenwater, Keokuk 22.056 62. Josh Walker, Mystic 22.076 63. Richard Wagy, Quincy IL 22.109 64. Eric Flander, What Cheer 22.163 65. David Cloke, Burlington 22.345 66. Dave White, Burlington 22.520 67. Fred Hemmie, Donnellson 24.127 68. Dan Wilson, Burlington 24.925 69. Andy Krieger, Burlington No Time 70. Kurt Burmeister, New London No Time 71. Jack Broeg, Burlington No Time

1^st Heat – 1. Richardson 2. Vass 3. Bliesener 4. Bandstra  2^nd Heat – 1. Boyer 2. M. Jones 3. Griffith 4. R. Miller  3^rd Heat – 1. J.R. Miller 2. Mitchell 3. Parks 4. Wenke  4^th Heat – 1. Derry 2. Benzing 3. Lynch 4. Dieker  5^th Heat – 1. John Oliver 2. R. Krieger 3. Gebel 4. Panos   Quick Six Dash – 1. D. Jones 2. Rohde 3. Meyer 4. Metcalf 5. Bradley 6. Faul   1^st B-Main – 1. Bliesener 2. Bandstra 3. Reicks 4. Donlan   2^nd B-Main – 1. Griffith 2. R. Miller 3. Gillenwater 4. Happs   3^rd B-Main – 1. Breuer 2. A. Krieger 3. Wenke 4. Larson   4^th B-Main – 1. Gebel 2. Webb 3. Whiting 4. Dieker   1^st Last Chance – 1. A. Krieger 2. Donlan 3. Larson 4. Wenke 5. Hill 6. Crowell 7. Cloke 8. Marks 9. Panos 10. Reicks   2^nd Last Chance – 1. R. Miller 2. Whiting 3. Webb 4. Dieker 5. Oliver Jr. 6. Flander 7. White 8. Peitz 9. Walker 10. Hemmie

A-Main – 1. Meyer 2. Metcalf 3. Bradley 4. Vass 5. R. Krieger 6. Derry 7. M. Jones 8. A. Krieger 9. Benzing 10. Faul 11. Breuer 12. Bliesener 13. R. Miller 14. Rohde 15. Larson 16. Mitchell 17. J.R. Miller 18. Panos 19. Richardson 20. D. Jones 21. Boyer 22. Griffith 23. John Oliver 24. Gebel

Here is a snippet from the Back Stretch following this event

The 3^rd Annual Hobby Stock Nationals at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson was quite a show. The Modified feature saw six lead changes in thirty laps with Kevin Cale prevailing, while the $1,000-to-win Hobby Stock feature saw eleven lead changes in forty laps with Ryan Meyer taking the win. An adult ticket for the show was eight dollars, which translates to just forty-seven cents per lead change

We were coming down the home stretch of the second season for the NKF Tour and since we had some early season rainouts there were a couple of events that were added to the schedule for late in the season, including one that continues to this day as well as our first race outside of the state of Iowa.

                                                     National Kidney Foundation of Iowa

Heartland Tour for a Cure

Presented by Toyota

1999 Remaining Schedule

 

Day  Date                   Location                                                                     Divisions        

Thurs Aug 5                Algona Raceway, Algona                                           Mods, HS

Thurs Aug 26              Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City               HS Only

Sun Aug 29                 Mercer County Speedway, Aledo IL                          Mods, HS

Sat Sept 4                    34 Raceway, Burlington                                             HS

Sun Sept 5                   34 Raceway, Burlington                                             Mods

Sat Sept 11                  Lee County Speedway, Donnellson                            Mods, HS

Sat Oct 2                     Tipton Speedway, Tipton                                           Mods, HS

Sun Oct 3                    Hawkeye Raceway, Blue Grass                                  Mods, HS

 

Sat Oct 23                   Millenium Finale, Donnellson                                    Mods, HS

 

We will wrap up the Sophomore Season of the NKF Tour in Part Three, coming soon here on the Back Stretch.

The NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure Sophomore Season 1999 (Part One)

The first season of the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure was considered a big success raising more than $13,000 in funds for the NKF of Iowa and creating an unmeasurable amount of publicity and awareness to the struggles of those affected by kidney disease. It was always my hope that if hearing about the Tour, or attending one of its events motivated just one person to sign an Organ Donor card and that this would someday lead to one life being saved, then every minute spent on this project was well worth it.

Every promoter that hosted an event in 1998 asked to be on the schedule again in 1999. How many short track racing series can make that claim? For the second season we would still limit ourselves to Iowa tracks despite the fact that promoters in Illinois and Missouri had called to ask about taking the Tour out of state. We were working with the Iowa affiliate of the NKF and at this point they wanted to keep it within the state. 

After having two sponsors sign on for $10,000 each in 1998, my brother-in-law Loni Woodley was again successful in getting the Industrial Lifts division of Toyota to sign on for a $15,000 title sponsorship and we would use that to post the Point Funds for 1999 at $10,000 for the Modifieds and $5,000 for the Hobby Stocks. As part of our founding agreement the NKF of Iowa had the sole responsibility of pursuing and securing primary sponsorship for the Tour and they still had hope of getting a second sponsor where the funds would have went directly to the NKF. Unfortunately that did not happen even though they thought that they had a lead on several locally based corporations.

While I was proud of he money that we raised in the first year of the Tour I knew that the bulk of it came from that second title sponsor, so I wanted to come up with a way to increase the revenue for the Foundation at each event through the sales of t-shirts and sweatshirts and with the remaining half of the 50/50 drawing. In 1998 the Executive Director of the NKF of Iowa, Jodi Enger was in charge of those grandstand side activities with help of volunteers from the US West Pioneers. While she gave it a great effort, Jodi soon found out just how tough it was to travel many miles to different race tracks across the state and it especially became hard for her to make those shows that had to be rescheduled due to weather.

Therefore on several race nights we did not have anybody selling shirts, passing out flyers with information on kidney disease, or working with the volunteers to maximize the funds in the 50/50 drawing. In fact there were a couple of nights where we did not have any volunteers so the track promoters would set us up with their people to conduct the drawing. I knew that to fulfill the goals of this project, beyond what we were doing with the racing, that I needed to come up with a better plan and for the 1999 season his name was Chad Menke.

I had become friends with Chad while doing play-by-play of his high school basketball games with the Mount Pleasant Panthers in the mid 1990's, he was one of those star athletes that you had to remind him that he was a star. He was Third Team All State in football his senior year, one of the leading scorers on the basketball team and part of the 1994 3-A State Champion 4 x 100 Relay Team. He was modest about his accomplishments and mature beyond his years and in 1999 knowing that he only had a part-time job as he was finishing up his college years I knew that he would be the right man to lead the grandstand side of the NKF Tour.

Of course I had to pitch the idea to him because his other part-time job was pretty cool as part of the team that worked with head groundskeeper Larry Putney in keeping the real turf at Kinnick Stadium immaculate. Chad was a race fan so I wanted to make sure that he understood that this job would mean that he would be under or behind the grandstand for most of the night, selling NKF Tour apparel, passing out information about the National Kidney Foundation, encouraging fans to sign an Organ Donor Card and organizing the volunteers to maximize the funds to be brought in through the 50/50 drawing. Once the drawing was completed he could pack up the equipment and watch the feature races, but that would be it. 

I needed someone dependable, somebody that I knew would be at as many races as he possibly could be at given his schedule at school and at Kinnick. I needed somebody who was outgoing and personable, someone that would not shy away from a conversation with anybody, young or old. I needed a leader, somebody who would have to organize and train a different group of volunteers each race night, volunteers that may not have been all that interested in being there in the first place. And most of all I needed somebody that I could trust as this "employee" would some nights be handling well over $2,000 in cash and I didn't want to have to question whether or not it was all accounted for at the end of the night.

Tim Folkerts captured the 1999 NKF Modified Tour opener at Bloomfield - Barry Johnson photo

There was no doubt in my mind that Chad Menke met all of those requirements and when he accepted the position for a "salary" of $100 per night to be paid from the entry fees that we collected from the drivers each night, I was thrilled to know that not only did I have the person that would now fulfill the non-racing goals of the Tour, I also had a friend to spend all that time on the road with me as the schedule for the Sophomore Season would grow to twenty-four race nights.

Before I continue, I want to tell one more story about Chad and how we have teamed up in another manner over the years. For several seasons in the late 90's and early 2000's I had the honor of doing the play-by-play broadcasts of the Iowa Boys State Basketball Tournament on our local radio station KILJ in Mount Pleasant. The station would sell sponsorship packages that would include at least twelve games during the week and we would then pick the first round games that had any local interest, and then knowing that we would do all four Championship games we would fill in as many of the eight semi-final games as needed. I am quite the microphone hog when it comes to doing basketball play-by-play so if I have someone doing color I want them to be as concise and informative as possible. Some of my favorites were former Iowa Wesleyan head coach Al Magnani and the man who has been doing color for several decades now on KILJ, one of my former coaches Kent Bennett. But they were not always available for every game in the schedule for the week so I would have Chad sit in with me on those games.

They were usually the games that really had no local interest to our station that is tucked into the southeast corner of the Iowa so I knew that we would have to keep the call lively in order to retain an audience and give the sponsors their money's worth. Chad would wear the other headset with the microphone turned off just to be a spectator, but when one of the games started to turn into a blowout, without even giving him a warning I started to cue him up for some random comments as my sidekick "Statmaster". Now note that it wasn't "The Statmaster" it was just "Statmaster", much like it isn't "The Batman", it's just "Batman", something that we briefly took the time to explain during a thirty second timeout. 

Chad and I at Knoxville in 2018

Chad was a pro, his comments were short, witty and yes they even included some actual stats from time to time due to the great information that the staff at the State Tournament regularly provided to us broadcasters and back at the station they were actually getting phone calls asking who this Statmaster was, a name that we never did reveal on air over the years. For me the most memorable game of this schtick came in 2001 when, for whatever reason, we were doing the 2A first round game between AGWSR and Maple Valley/Anthon-Otho. By the fourth quarter the game was well out of hand with AGWSR leading by around thirty points and during a pair of free throws Statmaster challenged me to stop using the initials and start calling the leading team by the actual towns that made up the consolidated school. For the rest of the game it was now a rapid fire rendition of Ackley Geneva Wellsburg Steamboat Rock each time I needed to identify a player from that team, or give the score, and the person running the board back at the station told us afterwards that he had taken at least ten calls over those final five minutes of the broadcast with people saying how much fun that was to listen to. I guess you actually can jazz up a game that ends in a score of 76 to 43 if you just have a little fun with it.

The other big move that I made, with the approval of Jodi Enger of course, was a new strategy in regard to how we would get volunteers to come help on race night and to be extra motivated to do so. For each race on the schedule I would reach out to the most local Dialysis Unit, describe what we were doing with the Tour, and ask if they could send out some volunteers on race night to help us out. And, if they did send some help, the money raised in that night's 50/50 pot would go directly to that Dialysis Unit in the name of the National Kidney Foundation of Iowa. What a change that this made in regard to the education and fundraising goals of the Tour! Now we had experts there to answer any questions that people had in regard to kidney disease and the importance of being an organ donor, plus our volunteers were not only motivated to sell more 50/50 tickets, but they were often finding that some of those purchasing the tickets were their own friends and acquaintances who just happened to be race fans. We would now have that local connection that had been missing for the most part during the first season.

For the most part it was very easy to get volunteers from the local Dialysis Unit to come out and help, but believe it or not we still had some events where we could not get anybody to volunteer. In those cases Chad would be in charge of working with someone at the track to conduct the raffle with half of the funds then being sent to the NKF of Iowa.

Earlier I had promised that there would be no more pictures of printed documents, but for some reason the electronic files of the Newsletters that I was still mailing out are not on the Backup file from that computer being used way back in 1999. So I break that promise now with Volume 2 Issue 1 of the newsletter that gives a brief description of each event that was on the schedule as of February 3rd. Sorry for the small print, but I had a lot say about an exciting season that was soon to begin.

In that Newsletter you can see that our posted Point Funds had grown nicely for the Sophomore season and that we were also going to have an Attendance Fund to reward those drivers who made the commitment to compete in 75% of the events held for their division. I would be using the $100 fee paid by each of the participating Contingency Sponsors as well as Entry Fee money as needed to get that amount to at least $1,500 to be shared equally by each qualifying driver.

Once again Al Uhrhammer and Jerry Dixon wanted to be the first race on the schedule and we were booked in as the support classes for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event on Saturday April 3rd. But for the second year in a row, Mother Nature had other ideas. Following is how I described it that next week in the Back Stretch within the Hawkeye Racing News.

It was supposed to start on Thursday and last all weekend, but it didn’t come until late Friday and early Saturday. The skies cleared and despite a muddy infield it looked as if the Iowa racing season was going to kickoff with a “bin-buster” as promoter Al Uhrhammer described it. Cars were lined up at the pit gate and early arriving fans were already staking their claim to the choice seats as they watched Uhrhammer, Gary Pederson, Jerry Dixon and others work feverishly to try to make the infield passable. As the four o’clock hour arrived the drivers and crews lined up at the pit shack anxious to claim the few driest spots for their haulers while the southern sky began to darken. It really didn’t look that ominous until a rumble of thunder quaked through the sky, a sound that seemed to last for minutes.

Thankfully the rain began slowly giving everybody time to gather their belongings and head for shelter just before it “cut loose” with bolts of lightning and sheets of rain that left no doubt that this show would not be happening this night. It rained, and rained hard, for about fifteen minutes and then it was over as the storm tracked on to the north, but the damage was already done. The season opener for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models and the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City had been washed away for the second straight year. In 1998 the event was rescheduled for a Thursday night in May, but once again Mother Nature threatened all night long producing a small crowd to watch a great field of cars. This year, as of this writing, the event will not be rescheduled. If you were there, or if you met many of the haulers heading the other direction on your way to Webster City, you too felt the disappointment of knowing just how big this show was going to be. Oh well, I guess that four-letter word will always be a part of this sport that we love.

The weather wasn't much better two weeks later.

The National Kidney Foundation Toyota Heartland Tour for a Cure event scheduled for tonight (Friday) at the Bloomfield Speedway has been postponed due to rain, cold and snow. The event will now be run this Sunday, April 18^th, with an early starting time.

“We have been hearing from drivers from all over the Midwest,” commented Joy Evans, public relations director for the speedway, “and that is why we are going to run during the afternoon on Sunday. This will give the fans and drivers making a long trip an opportunity to get home at a decent hour Sunday night.” Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. with hot laps at 1:00 p.m. and racing at 1:30. NKF Tour Modifieds and Hobby Stocks as well as the IMCA Stock Cars will be in action with the weather forecasted to be partly cloudy with a high in the low 50’s.

We all know what a dirt track is going to be like after a cold and wet Spring, especially when a show on Friday is being moved to Sunday due to cold and snow. It was "Cowboy Up" conditions for sure, but a great field of cars was in the pits and the Sophomore season of the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure was underway.

Tim Folkerts and Kenny Johnson Top NKF Tour Lid-Lifter

Bloomfield, IA – After three season opening rainouts, the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure for Modifieds and Hobby Stocks finally got a show in at the Bloomfield Speedway. This event was originally set to run on Friday and the persistent rain and cold temperatures that caused the delay until Sunday left the large field with a soft and bumpy racetrack.

Front row starters Bruce Hanford and Chris Eggers battled for the point early in the twenty-lap Modified feature with Eggers getting the advantage. Folkerts, who started third, moved past Hanford and then put the pressure on Eggers who allowed Folkerts to slip by on lap seven. Eggers tried to fight back, but his race was soon over as the transmission let go on the #97. As Folkerts pulled away with Eric Fullenkamp comfortably in second all eyes were drawn to an exciting five-car battle for third. Tony Fraise prevailed at the finish with Jack Mitchell and Kevin Cale rounding out the top five. Only one caution slowed the action despite the rough conditions.

Rod Miller paced the first three laps of the Hobby Stock headliner before Kenny Johnson charged from the sixth starting hole to grab the lead and the win. Hometown driver Ed Altheide came from twelfth to finish second while Randy Hemsley came all the way from eighteenth to finish third. Miller and Blaire Benzing, who made the trip all the way down from Waterville, rounded out the top five.

The Toyota NKF Tour continues on Wednesday night, April 21^st, at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat- 1. Tim Folkerts, Albia 2. John Schulz, West Burlington 3. Scott Boles, Mt. Pleasant 4. Tim McBride, Evansdale

2^nd Heat –1. Eric Fullenkamp, Eldon 2. Kevin Cale, Donnellson 3. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 4. Todd Holman, Agency

3^rd Heat – 1. Chris Eggers, Lancaster MO 2. Tony Fraise, Montrose 3. Bill Livezy Jr., New Sharon 4. Lynn Monroe, Memphis MO

4^th Heat – 1. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 2. Troy Folkerts, Albia 3. Jim Roach, Kahoka MO 4. Andy Krieger, Burlington

1^st B-Main – 1. John Bull, Rock Island IL 2. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 3. Rocky Fosdyck, Selma 4. Casey Schram, Rock Island IL 5. Bruce Thuleen, Denmark 6. Ken Bryant, Ottumwa

2^nd B-Main – 1. Max Dunlap, Zearing 2. Jeff Gerhardt, Niota IL 3. Casey Lancaster, Oskaloosa 4. Randy Foote, Stanton

A-Main – 1. Tim Folkerts 2. Fullenkamp 3. Fraise 4. Mitchell 5. Cale 6. Roach 7. Boles 8. Schulz 9. Troy Folkerts 10. Holman 11. Lancaster 12. Bull 13. Dunlap 14. Livezy Jr. 15. Fosdyck 16. Jensen 17. Schram 18. Gerhardt 19. Hanford 20. Eggers 21. Foote 22. Monroe 23. McBride 24. Krieger

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Kenny Johnson, Douds 2. Ryan Lundy, Knoxville 3. Larry Sample, Ottumwa 4. Shannon St. Clair, Montrose

2^nd Heat – 1. Ed Altheide, Bloomfield 2. Louis Lynch, Lancaster MO 3. Jeremy Dooley, Promise City 4. Lorne Parks, Fremont

3^rd Heat – 1. Paul Underwood, Ottumwa 2. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 3. Mike Hughes, Rose Hill 4. David Craig, Ottumwa

4^th Heat – 1. Rick Metcalf, Selma 2. Rod Miller, Eldon 3. Jason Reed, Melcher 4. Jeff Griffiths, Ottumwa

B-Main – 1. Brad Tursic, Ottumwa 2. Randy Hemsley, Oskaloosa 3. John Oliver, West Burlington 4. Steve Baskett, Centerville 5. Mike Shelton, Ottumwa 6. Randy Greenfield, Ottumwa 7. Theresa White, Selma 8. Reggie Small, Milton 9. Ron Downing Jr., Ottumwa 10. Joe Crafton, Drakesville 11. Mike Crafton, Drakesville 12. Jack Donlan, Burlington

A-Main – 1. Johnson 2. Altheide 3. Hemsley 4. Miller 5. Benzing 6. Metcalf 7. Dooley 8. Craig 9. Parks 10. Lynch 11. Sample 12. Griffths 13. White 14. Shelton 15. Lundy 16. St. Clair 17. Greenfield 18. Downing Jr. 19. Hughes 20. Underwood 21. Baskett 22. Reed 23. Tursic 

The show that we had scheduled for Saturday the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson also fell to weather and following is what I had in that week's Back Stretch.

After rainouts at Bloomfield and Donnellson on Friday and Saturday, the NKF Tour finally was able to run its first event of the season at Bloomfield on Sunday afternoon. A nice field of thirty-five Modifieds and thirty Hobby Stocks joined a solid bunch of IMCA Stock Cars on a cool, breezy, but sunny day. The heavy rains and cold weather left the track very soft and despite several efforts to make it a smooth surface, the track continued to ridge up. All of the drivers handled the conditions very well and put on some excellent racing with very few cautions given the conditions. Tim Folkerts was the class of the field as he drove away from Eric Fullenkamp to take the Modified feature win. Tony Fraise finished third coming out of an entertaining five-car battle for the spot also involving Jim Roach, Jack Mitchell, Scott Boles and Kevin Cale. Afterwards Roach asked me “who that blue number five was, he sure raced me clean”. When I told him that it was former IMCA SuperNational champion Jack Mitchell he raised his eyebrows and said, “no wonder.” Roach and Mitchell are just two of the drivers who plan to follow the ’99 Tour and they will get several chances to race clean with each other near the front of the pack. Kenny Johnson held off a mid-race challenge from Blaire Benzing to take the Hobby Stock win and with the next NKF Tour event at Oskaloosa, Johnson could become an early favorite in the Tour point race. Ed Altheide came from twelfth to finish second with Randy Hemsley racing his way from twenty-second to third. Rod Miller, who plans to follow the ’99 Tour nailed down fourth with Benzing, who towed over 200 miles to Bloomfield from Waterville, finishing fifth.

Kenny Johnson opened the 1999 NKF Tour for Hobby Stocks with a win at Bloomfield - Barry Johnson photo

Wet weather was still in the area three days later, but the NKF Tour was once again featured at Southern Iowa Speedway's season opener. 

Danny Wallace, Mike Hughes Dodge Raindrops For Oskaloosa NKF Wins

Oskaloosa, Iowa – You would have sworn that the Southern Iowa Speedway had a roof on it Wednesday night as heavy rain fell all aroundthe area, but not on the track as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure visited the half-mile oval. The “roof” leaked a few times and the wind howled as a hearty crowd watched Danny Wallace and Mike Hughes capture wins on the opening night of action at Oskaloosa.

Gordy Grubb, who won the first-ever NKF race right here a year ago, paced the first lap of the Modified main event before yielding to Tour regular Bruce Hanford on lap two. The Quad City area driver’s lead was short-lived though as Wallace rode the highside to the lead on lap four. Current NKF Tour point leader Tim Folkerts took up the chase on Wallace, but could not track him down before the checkers flew. Defending NKF Tour Modified champion, Corey Dripps, came from eleventh to finish third in the non-stop race with Grubb and John Schulz rounding out the top five.

The Hobby Stock feature kept the die-hard race fans warm with a tight five-car battle for the lead throughout. Kris Walker kept his #18 out front despite constant pressure until lapped traffic on lap nine gave Mike Hughes the break he needed to slip past Walker for the win. Walker held back NKF Tour point leader Kenny Johnson at the stripe to finish second with Scott Buehneman and Randy Hemsley next in line.

The Toyota NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure will take four weeks off and let the weather straighten out before returning to action on Tuesday, May 18^th, at Hawkeye Raceway in Blue Grass, Iowa.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 2. John VanDenBerg, Oskaloosa 3. Matt Girdley, Vincent 4. John Schulz, West Burlington 5. Dave Farren, Des Moines 6. Jim Roach, Kahoka MO

2^nd Heat – 1. Danny Wallace, Des Moines 2. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 3. Richard VonKrog, Toledo 4. Todd Holman, Agency 5. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 6. Roger Baxter, Oskaloosa

3^rd Heat – 1. Tim Folkerts, Albia 2. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 3. Gordy Grubb, Oskaloosa 4. Randy Schroeder, Sigourney 5. Mike VanGenderen, Newton 6. Mike Busch, Des Moines

B-Main – 1. Troy Folkerts, Albia 2. Bill Davis Jr., Des Moines 3. Glen Ridgway, Eldon 4. Ron VerBeek, Oskaloosa 5. Eric Fullenkamp, Eldon 6. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 7. Ron Barker, Dubuque 8. Rod McLaughlin, Oskaloosa 9. Chris Eggers, Lancaster MO 10. David Brown, Kellogg 11. Max Dunlap, Zearing

A-Main – 1. Wallace 2. Tim Folkerts 3. Dripps 4. Grubb 5. Schulz 6. Hanford 7. Farren 8. Schroeder 9. Schram 10. Girdley 11. Troy Folkerts 12. VanGenderen 13. VonKrog 14. Mitchell 15. Fullenkamp 16. Baxter 17. Davis Jr. 18. Roach 19. VerBeek 20. Holman 21. Ridgway 22. Busch 23. Jensen

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Randy Hemsley, Oskaloosa 2. Scott Buehneman, Keswick 3. Tommy Lathrop, Ottumwa 4. Rod Miller, Eldon 5. Jimmy Gustin, Des Moines

2^nd Heat – 1. Lorne Parks, Fremont 2. Kenny Johnson, Douds 3. Phil Hamilton, Oskaloosa 4. David Craig, Ottumwa 5. Mike Shelton, Ottumwa

3^rd Heat – 1. Bill Bonnett, Knoxville 2. Kris Walker, Oskaloosa 3. Paul Underwood, Des Moines 4. Brandon Hess, Oskaloosa 5. Jeff Danielsen, Duncombe

4^th Heat – 1. Mike Hughes, Rose Hill 2. Damon Murty, Chelsea 3. Dave Seddon, Melcher 4. Nick Kanselaar, Oskaloosa 5. Mary Blackford, Knoxville

B-Main – 1. Jason Reed, Melcher 2. Raymond Moore, Delta

A-Main – 1. Hughes 2. Walker 3. Johnson 4. Buehneman 5. Hemsley 6. Parks 7. Gustin 8. Underwood 9. Seddon 10. Miller 11. Craig 12. Hess 13. Hamilton 14. Shelton 15. Lathrop 16. Brandon Bandstra 17. Moore 18. Steve Shepard 19. Blackford 20. Bonnett 21. Murty 22. Reed 23. Danielsen 24. Kanselaar

And here is some more info from the show at Osky

It was as if there was a roof over the Southern Iowa Speedway last Wednesday night as the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure was able to squeeze in its show during the season opener at Oskaloosa. The track experienced just a little more than a sprinkle around five o’clock as heavy thunderstorms developed just east and south of the track. In fact as we were driving into town we had to have the wipers on high just to see and what a surprise it was to see that the conditions on the other side of Osky were much better.

A solid field of cars was on hand in all three divisions, but I know of at least five drivers who did not make a long tow due to the ominous forecast and colorful radar. Just goes to show that you can’t always trust a forecast, in fact as I type this on Monday afternoon, the forecast calls for nearly a one hundred percent chance of rain, but it is sunny and the nearest rain is still in Oklahoma. The ”roof” leaked a couple of times during the evening and just when it looked like the track was about to be too wet for any more racing, it would stop and if you looked straight up in the sky you could see the moon.

The NKF Tour Hobby Stock feature saw five cars battling for the lead over the last three laps. Mike Hughes used a lapped car to his advantage to overtake race-long leader Kris Walker with two to go for the win. The NKF Modified main went non-stop with three early lead changes. Danny Wallace was the first to break from the pack and he opened up a nice advantage before Tim Folkerts broke free who also put some space on the field before Corey Dripps, who started eleventh, sprung free. That’s the way they finished with Folkerts opening up a solid early point lead on the Tour. The next event for the Toyota NKF Heartland Tour will be the Illowa Challenge at Hawkeye Raceway near Blue Grass on Tuesday night, May 18^th. The NKF Modifieds will be looking for a $1,000 top prize while the NKF Hobby Stock feature winner will take home $300.

A big thank you to Joe & Jim Durian for their persistence at Oskaloosa.

So this is what I get for waiting more than twenty years to archive the NKF Tour as I cannot find anything that would indicate what happened to the event that was scheduled to run at Hawkeye Raceway on May 18th, only that our next race would be the Tour's first ever visit to the Hancock County Speedway in Britt. It would also be my first time to see a race at Britt and promoters Dan & Sandy Danielson were so very friendly and easy to work with. As I have mentioned before, it made me very proud whenever our NKF Tour regulars who come into a track and beat the locals on this first visit to Britt both Tim Folkerts and Blaire Benzing did just that.

Folkerts and Benzing Top Toyota NKF Tour Mains In Britt

Britt, Iowa – Tim Folkerts of Albia made a long trip north payoff with a Modified feature win as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure visited the Hancock County Speedway Monday night. In the Hobby Stocks, it was another NKF Tour visitor in victory lane as Blaire Benzing of Waterville came out on top.

Local favorites, the Hejna brothers, Mike and Al, started from the front row in the Modified main event and with the preferred groove right around the bottom of the racetrack, it looked as if they would be tough to beat. Folkerts, the current NKF Tour Modified point leader started tenth, and steadily worked his way to the front patiently slipping to the inside of the leaders at the mid-race mark. Once out front, there was no staying with Folkerts as he cruised to his second feature win in three events on the 1999 Tour. Mike Hejna held off a late charge from Rich Lewerke to finish second with Al Hejna and Brad Gorham rounding out the top five.

Rod Miller paced the first lap of the Hobby Stock headliner before giving way to Dan Hanselman on lap two. Before Hanselman was able to settle in to the fast lane, Benzing made his move to the point on lap three and then held off repeated challenges from Hanselman to take the win. Hanselman was the runner-up followed by Paul Underwood, Miller and Shane Monson.

The Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure returns to action on Tuesday, June 8^th, at the Nordice Speedway in Decorah.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 2. Jeremy Mills, Marathon 3. Kevin Hoeft, Garner 4. Duane Peterson, Beaman

2^nd Heat – 1. Rick Schuller, Britt 2. Loren Pesicka Jr., Burt 3. Brad Gorham, Luverne 4. Todd Schaufenbuel, New Hampton

3^rd Heat – 1. Tim Folkerts, Albia 2. Mike Hejna, Clear Lake 3. Rich Lewerke, Garner 4. Al Hejna, Clear Lake

B-Main – 1. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 2. Jon Wood, Woden 3. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 4. Dick Manske, Algona 5. Larry Portis, Nora Springs 6. Derek Cink, Britt 7. Scott Davis, Madrid 8. Mike Hackenmiller, Mason City

A-Main – 1. Folkerts 2. M. Hejna 3. Lewerke 4. A. Hejna 5. Gorham 6. Hanford 7. Mills 8. Schaufenbuel 9. Jensen 10. Peterson 11. David Brown, Kellogg 12. Matt Donald, Pleasant Hill 13. Portis 14. Schuller 15. Ryan Hiscocks, Britt 16. Max Dunlap, Zearing 17. Keith Schmitz, Swaledale 18. Wood 19. Dripps 20. Hoeft 21. Pesicka 22. Manske 23. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 24. Todd Ihde, Decorah

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Dan Hanselman, Algona 2. Paul Underwood, Ottumwa 3. Shane Monson, Clear Lake 4. Rod Miller, Eldon

2^nd Heat – 1. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 2. Jason Daniels, Britt 3. Scott Anderson, Mason City 4. John Simpson, Britt

3^rd Heat –1. Ben Hoesing, Perry 2. Jeff Danielson, Duncombe 3. Kevin Long, Cylinder 4. Harold Walker, Alexander

A-Main – 1. Benzing 2. Hanselman 3. Underwood 4. Miller 5. Monson 6. Jim Mitchell, Webster City 7. James Ringham, Mason City 8. Tony Smidt, Britt 9. Hoesing 10. Gary Pesicka, Algona 11. Danielson 12. Anderson 13. Joe Latham, Mason City 14. Brad Ramaeker, Humboldt 15. Walker 16. Jim Mewes, Clarion 17. Simpson 18. Long 19. Daniels 20. Jeff Larson, New Hampton

And here is additional NKF Tour news from Britt that appeared in the Back Stretch

Maybe I need to “complain” about the weather more often. If you’ll recall last week’s Back Stretch I was dreading the fact that Memorial Day’s forecast called for a 60% chance of rain. Well guess what, amazing as it may seem, the forecast was wrong and it was a gorgeous day for racing as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure visited the Hancock County Speedway in Britt for the first time.

Dan Danielsen told me that with the forecast as it was, he did not water the track the night before, so with sunny skies and a northwest breeze, the usually fast speedway became dry slick by feature time. That did not seem to bother a couple of the NKF Tour regulars though. Current point leader Tim Folkerts started tenth and gradually worked his way to the front passing some of northern Iowa’s best along the way. It was the second win in three Tour races for Folkerts and in the other one he finished second to Danny Wallace. Bruce Hanford was also on the move nipping Jeremy Mills at the finish line for a sixth place showing after starting twentieth. The crowd was thrilled when Dash winner, and defending NKF Tour champion, Corey Dripps accepted the Modified Challenge to start at the rear in hopes of winning an extra $600. Dripps never got a chance to see what the Extreme house car could do, however, as he was caught up in a pair of early incidents and dropped out for nineteenth.

In the Hobby Stock portion of the event, “the outsiders” dominated with Waterville’s Blaire Benzing holding off Algona driver Dan Hanselman for the win. Paul Underwood made the long trip from Ottumwa to finish third, while Rod Miller made just a bit longer trip from Eldon to take fourth and pick up a slim two point lead heading into the Decorah event that was scheduled for last Tuesday. The driver who made the longest trip, however was Bob Goodman Jr. who pulled all the way to Britt from Edelstein, Illinois, which is just north of Peoria. Bob runs in the “Street Stock” classes around central Illinois and was planning to compete in the Hobby Stock class as part of the NKF Tour at Britt. Unfortunately his car was quite advanced for the IMCA-type Hobby Stocks, so he was forced to run with the Stock Cars where he picked up an eighth-place finish in the field of twenty-one. Not bad when you consider that he would have had to finish fourth or better to make as much money in the Hobby class that night.

We really enjoyed our first visit to Britt and we were impressed with the hospitality and the professionalism of promoters Dan and Sandy Danielsen, tech inspector Tim Weiland, and the entire HCS crew. We look forward to a quick return trip this year to spectate, and another NKF Tour date in 2000.

Something tells me that this was the trip where we stopped at Rookies Sports Bar in Clear Lake and had our first experience with their world famous Bloody Marys.

A few years before he became the Upside Down #1 on the NKF Tour, here is Ottumwa's Paul Underwood who made some long road trips with the Tour in 1999

Our June 8th race in Decorah was rained out and next up was a June 15th appearance at Hawkeye Raceway in Blue Grass as part of the 14th Annual Iowa Governors Cup event. Apparently we must have swapped out the originally scheduled race in May for this Tuesday night appearance and you may recall how I described promoter Verne Schumann as being a shrewd businessman who gave the Tour a couple of test runs with low purses before coming back strong in 1999. That strategy worked nicely when you see the car counts that we had for this event!

Smith and Stropes Top Large Fields At Iowa Governors Cup

Blue Grass, Iowa – The cars were out in full force Tuesday night as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure ran as a part of the 14^th Annual Iowa Governor’s Cup at Hawkeye Raceway. Rich Smith of Davenport topped a field of forty-five Modifieds to take home $1,000, while Aledo, Illinois, driver Dewayne Stropes was the best of a forty-three car Hobby Stock field for a $300 paycheck.

Pole-sitter Gary Cook Jr. paced the first circuit of the thirty-lap Modified feature before fellow front row starter John Bull slipped past on lap two. While that battle raged on, Rich Smith charged quickly to the front from his ninth starting spot. At the mid-race point Smith was up to second and on a lap fifteen restart he was able to muscle his way past Bull in turn three for the lead. Dennis LaVeine mounted a challenge to Smith using the highside of the speedway, but a late caution slowed his momentum as he slipped back to fourth. Smith held on to win his first career NKF Tour feature with Sam Davis, who started thirteenth coming home second. Bull LaVeine and Cook rounded out the top five.

In Hobby Stock feature action, Dewayne Stropes started up front and stayed there the entire twenty-lap distance to pick up his first ever NKF Tour victory. Milo Veloz was the hard charger in this one coming from the sixth row to finish second with Brian Bushong, Jeff Tharp and Don Merten rounding out the top five.

The Toyota NKF Heartland Tour has a return engagement set for Sunday, October 3^rd, at Hawkeye Raceway for the annual Gary Reinhart Memorial event.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Dale Lueth, Ottawa IL 2. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 3. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 4. Tim Folkerts, Albia

2^nd Heat – 1. Mel Rice, Davenport 2. John Bull, Rock Island IL 3. Rich Smith, Davenport 4. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls

3^rd Heat – 1. Dennis LaVeine, Burlington 2. Leland Bushong, Colona IL 3. Kevin Peters, Monmouth IL 4. John VanDenBerg, Oskaloosa

4^th Heat – 1. Mike Garland, Morrison IL 2. Gary Cook Jr., Deer Creek IL 3. Jeff Walker, Davenport 4. Jim Willert, Davenport

1^st B-Main – 1. Smith 2. Dripps 3. Sam Davis, Rock Island IL 4. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon 5. Sean Evans, Princeton IL

2^nd B-Main – 1. Walker 2. VanDenBerg 3. Willert 4. Peters 5. John Schulz, West Burlington

A-Main – 1. Smith 2. Davis 3. Bull 4. LaVeine 5. Cook Jr. 6. Dolan 7. Willert 8. Bushong 9. Peters 10. Folkerts 11. Schulz 12. Evans 13. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 14. Dripps 15. Rice 16. Lueth 17. Hanford 18. Walker 19. VanDenBerg 20. Garland

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Dewayne Stropes, Aledo IL 2. Leonard Anton, Carbon Cliff IL 3. Milo Veloz, Colona IL 4. Mike Shonts, Davenport

2^nd Heat – 1. Donovan Lodge, Cambridge IL 2. Brian Bushong, Colona IL 3. Bob Goodman, Edelstein IL 4. Don Merten, Geneseo IL

3^rd Heat – 1. Jim Harland, Buffalo 2. Jeff Tharp, Dubuque 3. Ken Etheridge, Moline IL 4. Kenny Link Jr. Osco IL

4^th Heat – 1. Quinton Waterman, Milan IL 2. Dwaine Hasson, Rock Island IL 3. Davey Elliott, Muscatine 4. Chris Lawrence, Orion IL

1^st B-Main – 1. Goodman 2. Veloz 3. Merten 4. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 5. Shonts 6. Chip Kohl, Marion

2^nd B-Main – 1. Etheridge 2. Tom Maupin, Galesburg IL 3. Dan Wiemers, Muscatine 4. Brian Brinker, Silvis IL 5. Lawrence 6. Mike Fluegel, Davenport

A-Main – 1. Stropes 2. Veloz 3. Bushong 4. Tharp 5. Merten 6. Benzing 7. Shonts 8. Etheridge 9. Harland 10. Lodge 11. Lawrence 12. Maupin 13. Jeff Larson, New Hampton 14. Wiemers 15. Rod Miller, Eldon 16. Brinker 17. Goodman 18. Anton 19. Waterman 20. Hasson  

When we lost the fair race at Eldon to weather in 1998 it would be the only show on the inaugural NKF Tour that would not be run. This year though the weather was perfect for a Thursday night at the Wapello County Fair and Tour point leaders Tim Folkerts and Rod Miller were looking forward to getting their competitors on their home turf.

Folkerts Brothers, Johnson Enjoy Wapello County Fair Night

Eldon, Iowa – With picture perfect weather and a large crowd of fairgoers in the grandstands, the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure enjoyed a great night at the Eldon Raceway with Troy Folkerts and Kenny Johnson picking up feature wins.

Defending Tour champion Corey Dripps put the Extreme house car out front of the NKF Modified feature race from his pole position start with pressure from fellow front row starter Ken Bryant. John VanDenBerg soon moved into second and began to mount a challenge, but it was interrupted when the fifth starting, Troy Folkerts, flew past on lap seven. Two laps later Folkerts was able to get by Dripps on the inside for the lead. Troy’s brother, Tim Folkerts, who is the current Tour point leader steadily advanced up to second from the sixth row, but he was unable to catch Troy before the checkers flew. VanDenBerg came home a solid third with Bryant edging out Danny Wallace for fourth.

It did not take long for Kenny Johnson to come from the third row to take the lead in the NKF Hobby Stock main event and once he had it, he was gone, well on his way to his second Tour win of 1999. Lorne Parks finished second with Jeff Griffiths third. The battle for fourth was a good one as David Vass, Kevin Kaller, Brad Tursic and Brandon Hess raced three and four wide over the final four laps with Tursic prevailing for fourth and Vass took fifth.

The NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure continues on Wednesday night, June 23^rd, with a trip to the Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. John VanDenBerg, Oskaloosa 2. Todd Holman, Ottumwa 3. Mike Kaller, Ottumwa 4. Denny Banks, Washington

2^nd Heat – 1. Tim Folkerts, Albia 2. Danny Wallace, Des Moines 3. Troy Folkerts, Albia 4. Bruce Hanford, Davenport

3^rd Heat – 1. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 2. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 3. Ken Bryant, Ottumwa 4. Mike VanGenderen, Newton

A-Main – 1. Troy Folkerts 2. Tim Folkerts 3. VanDenBerg 4. Bryant 5. Wallace 6. Dripps 7. Hanford 8. Eric Fullenkamp, Eldon 9. Holman 10. Banks 11. Schram 12. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 13. Jim Wubben, Moravia 14. Max Dunlap, Zearing 15. VanGenderen 16. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 17. Rocky Fosdyck, Selma 18. Kaller 19. C.J. Hamm, Eldon 20. David Brown, Kellogg 21. Greg Cox 22. Brandon Hainline, Fairfield 23. Robben Franklin, Eldon 24. Mike Vermillion, What Cheer 25. Chris Eggers, Lancaster MO

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Kenny Johnson, Douds 2. Brandon Hess, Oskaloosa 3. Jon Orwig, Chariton 4. Mike Shelton, Ottumwa

2^nd Heat – 1. Kris Walker, Oskaloosa 2. Lance Schlicher, Fairfield 3. Jeremy Dooley, Promise City 4. Robert Anderson

3^rd Heat – 1. David Vass, Eldon 2. Kevin Kaller, Ottumwa 3. Mike Hughes, Rose Hill 4. Brad Tursic, Ottumwa

4^th Heat – 1. Jeff Griffiths, Ottumwa 2. Rick Metcalf, Selma 3. Lorne Parks, Fremont 4. David Craig, Ottumwa

1^st B-Main – 1. Dennis Snakenburg, Eldon 2. Andy Davis, Douds 3. Jeff Larson, New Hampton

2^nd B-Main – 1. Tommy Lathrop, Ottumwa 2. Steve Baskett, Ottumwa 3. Rod Miller, Eldon

A-Main – 1. Johnson 2. Parks 3. Griffiths 4. Tursic 5. Vass 6. Hess 7. Kaller 8. Davis 9. Shelton 10. Miller 11. Craig 12. Schlicher 13. Larson 14. Bobby Greene, Tracy 15. Theresa White, Selma 16. Baskett 17. Lathrop 18. Dooley 19. Anderson 20. Walker 21. Metcalf 22. Orwig 23. Hughes 24. Snakenburg

Following are my comments from the Back Stretch for both the Blue Grass and Eldon events.

On Tuesday night it was the 14^th Annual Iowa Governor’s Cup at Hawkeye Raceway in Blue Grass and, despite a mass of steady rain marching east from western Iowa, a large crowd enjoyed a dry night of racing featuring a solid field of cars. In fact it was a one-night record for the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure as 45 Modifieds and 43 Hobby Stocks checked into the pit area. The twenty-car Modified feature was filled from top to bottom with potential feature winners with Rich Smith prevailing. Sam Davis marched up from the sixth row to finish second and may have been able to improve that spot by one more with a few more laps. The story-line was similar in the Late Model feature where Gary Webb made a nifty third-to-first move around Doug Nigh and Jason Bahrs early on, but then had to hold off a late charge from Randy Wages to take the win. In Hobby Stock action, it was Dewayne Stropes all the way as he dominated the solid field of twenty.

Thursday night was the NKF Tour event at the Eldon Raceway. The eighth event on the 1999 NKF Tour schedule and the FIRST one to be run on a day where there was no rain in the forecast! What a change for me, I didn’t have to even check the radar once. However, from the way it looks for Cresco’s event (scheduled for yesterday), Mother Nature will not be making it two in a row. Another great field of cars turned out for this one with forty-three Hobby Stocks and twenty-seven Modifieds. The racing action was hot all night, but unfortunately it was peppered with some wild accidents as well. Glen Ridgway took a wild tumble in his Modified during a heat race, David Cook went over about five times down the backstretch in a Hobby Stock B-main and Mike Hughes nearly left the ballpark in turn one of the Hobby Stock feature. Thankfully, all drivers escaped uninjured. Troy Folkerts moved by early leader Corey Dripps, and then held off current Tour point leader, and his brother, Tim Folkerts for the Modified feature win, while Kenny Johnson dominated the Hobby Stock field for his second Tour win and a spot at the top of the NKF Hobby Stock points. It was great to work with the Durian’s and their crew at both Osky and Eldon

The weather cooperated nicely for our return trip to The Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco and yes, Tom Barnes was once again the first to book this race into the 1999 schedule.

Hanford and Vsetecka Top NKF Tour Thrillers At Cresco

Cresco, IA – Early morning showers yielded to sunny skies producing a great race track Wednesday night as the Toyota National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure visited the Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco. Bruce Hanford of Davenport captured his first career NKF Tour Modified feature win while Charles City driver Jeff Vsetecka accomplished the same feat in the Hobby Stocks.

Pole-sitter Mike Jones paced the first two lap of the 15-lap Hobby Stock main event before yielding to Vsetecka on lap three. Ryan Smith was the man on the move after starting in the twelfth position, he moved in to challenge for the lead over the final three circuits. Vsetecka and Smith took the white flag in a dead heat, but Vsetecka was able to use the cushion in turns one and two to re-establish his lead and take the victory. Smith was a close second, followed by Brian Losen who made a late charge from his fifth row start. Jones and Jason Rohde completed the top five.

The Modified feature was a non-stop twenty-lap thriller with outside pole-sitter Brian Bronner snaring the lead at the outset. Vern Jackson and Bruce Hanford both raced to the front quickly from the third row and began to apply the pressure to Bronner for the lead. The young Lime Springs driver kept his cool and fought off several challenges from the veterans until late in the race. Lapped traffic presented an opportunity for Hanford to dive to the inside of Bronner in turn three for the lead with just two laps to go. Bronner tried to comeback on the final lap, but Hanford worked the traffic like a pro and held on for the victory. Bronner and Jackson were next in line with Dan Bohr and Jack Mitchell closing fast in fourth and fifth.

The NKF Tour Modifieds will next be in action on Wednesday, June 30^th, at the Butler County Speedway in Allison and both the NKF Tour divisions will be at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Thursday night, July 1^st.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Max Dunlap, Zearing 2. Kyle Chiglo, Rushford MN 3. Larry Schmidt, New Hampton 4. Kevin Hoehne, Westgate

2^nd Heat – 1. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 2. Brian Bronner, Lime Springs 3. Al Hejna, Clear Lake 4. Chuck Stanton, New Hampton

3^rd Heat – 1. Vern Jackson, Waterloo 2. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 3. Dan Bohr, Decorah 4. Ron Barker, Dubuque

4^th Heat – 1. Matt Girdley, Vincent 2. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 3. Owen Grube, Cambridge MN 4. Todd Suhr, New Hampton

1^st B-Main – 1. Stanton 2. Hoehne 3. Mike Hejna, Clear Lake 4. Dennis Fink, Fairbank 5. Dennis Hillson, Blooming Prairie MN 6. Larry Grube, Cresco

2^nd B-Main – 1. Barker 2. Casey Schram, Sterling IL 3. Ken Hofner, St. Annes 4. Suhr 5. Jason Weis, Rochester MN 6. David Brown, Kellogg

A-Main – 1. Hanford 2. Bronner 3. Jackson 4. Bohr 5. Mitchell 6. Chiglo 7. A. Hejna 8. Schmidt 9. Barker 10. O. Grube 11. Stanton 12. Schram 13. Hofner 14. M. Hejna 15. Dunlap 16. Hoehne 17. Brown 18. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 19. Girdley 20. Dripps

 

Toyota NKF Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Mike Jones, Waukon 2. Jeff Larson, New Hampton 3. Ryan Smith, Greene 4. Rod Miller, Eldon

2^nd Heat – 1. Brian Losen, Ridgeway 2. Blaire Benzing, Waterville 3. Dan Hanselman, Algona 4. Jason Rohde, Fayette

3^rd Heat – 1. Mel Tieskotter, Decorah 2. Lynn Panos, Protivin 3. Jeff Vsetecka, Charles City 4. Tory Reicks, Waucoma

A-Main – 1. Vsetecka 2. Smith 3. Losen 4. Jones 5. Rohde 6. Panos 7. Reicks 8. Benzing 9. Rick Stockman, Preston MN 10. Miller 11. Tieskotter 12. Hanselman 13. Larson 14. Dave Mayer, Riceville 15. Nathan Ferrie, Cresco 16. Jason Schlangen, Cresco 17. Shawn Erickson, Cresco 18. Jay Schwamann, Fort Atkinson 19. Tim Gabel, New Hampton 20. Kenny Dotzler, Cresco

The Mighty Howard County Fair had a mighty entertaining night of racing on Wednesday night featuring the NKF Tour Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. Both features went right down to the wire in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Cresco Speedway.

Four drivers had a shot at winning the Modified feature over the final three laps as things really tightened up behind a group of lapped cars racing for position. Bruce Hanford was able to slip past Brian Bronner with two laps to go and then held off the young driver from Lime Springs as well as hard chargers Vern Jackson and Dan Bohr to take the win. Hanford was very happy in victory lane saying, “finally I won one of these things”, while Bronner and his crew had one of those mixed emotion moods going on. They were very happy with their showing, but disappointed that it didn’t end up one spot better. Keep an eye on this young driver, he looks like a good one.

Ryan Smith of Greene made his first appearance at Cresco and raised plenty of eyebrows as he charged up from the sixth row to take the white flag side-by-side with leader Jeff Vsetecka. Smith had made up most of his ground in the high groove, but for the final lap he was on the bottom and Vsetecka was able to hold on for the win. It was an entertaining night of racing that took the checkered at 9:20 p.m. on a Wednesday night giving everybody a choice. They could either head for home and get a good night’s sleep before heading to a Thursday work day, or they could stick around and enjoy one of Iowa’s best county fairs. It was neat to overhear a Modified driver thanking promoter Tom Barnes for putting on such a good show afterwards in the pits, but it was even more meaningful when I realized that it was a driver who was unable to qualify for the main event. Thanks to everybody with the Cresco Speedway, we look forward to working with you again in 2000.

The June 30th event at Allison was originally scheduled to include both NKF Tour divisions, but earlier in June promoter Howard Mellinger decided to drop the Hobby Stocks. This then would been the first "Mod Only" event for the NKF Tour as they were to run in support of the NASCAR Busch All Star Tour, but after get through the qualifying events the feature was rained out.

Rain Washes Away NKF Tour Modified Feature At Allison

Allison, Iowa – Scattered thunderstorms skirted around the Butler County Speedway for most of the evening Monday night, but one solid downpour that came on lap twenty-four of the Late Model feature race was enough to end the racing action. The National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure Modified main event that was the last event on the night’s schedule was washed out and will not be rescheduled.

All twenty-four drivers who were qualified to start the Toyota NKF Tour event divided the feature purse, and the Tour points, equally.

The NKF Tour Modifieds will next be in action on Monday, July 12^th, at the Farley Speedway, and Tuesday night, July 13^th, at the Knoxville Raceway in support of the UMP SummerNationals.

Results

Toyota NKF Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Russ Olson, Cedar Rapids 2. Todd Suhr, New Hampton 3. Vern Jackson, Waterloo 4. Bret Frieden, Walford

2^nd Heat – 1. Jack Mitchell, Cedar Falls 2. Kelly Shryock, Story City 3. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 4. Scott Megonigle, Cedar Rapids

3^rd Heat – 1. Kevin Pittman, Waterloo 2. Rick Ehmen, Dike 3. Steve Droste, Waterloo 4. Troy Cordes, Cedar Falls

4^th Heat – 1. John Bull, Rock Island IL 2. Corey Dripps, Cedar Falls 3. Dan Chapman, Clarence 4. Terry Johanns, Osage

B-Main – 1. Jeremy Mills, Marathon 2. Rick Gustin, Marshalltown 3. Merlin Benning, Waverly 4. Todd Ihde, Decorah 5. Ron Barker, Dubuque 6. Scott Hogan, Vinton 7. Jed Hurst, Dubuque 8. Ed Thomas, Waterloo 9. Shawn Gray, Waterloo 10. Max Dunlap, Zearing 11. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake 12. Kurt George, Charles City 13. Duane Peterson, Beaman 14. Timm Jensen, Dunkerton 15. Randy Less, Hopkington 16. Brian Robinson, Waterloo 17. Jerry King, Waterloo

A-Main – Rained Out, Purse and Points Divided Equally Between Qualified Drivers 

That completes the month of June with only six of the first ten events completed as the NKF Tour, and all of racing in the state of Iowa struggled with the weather. Stay tuned for Part Two of the Sophomore Season coming soon right here on the Back Stretch.

The NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure Opening Season 1998 (Part Three)

Welcome to Part Three of our review of the opening season of the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for Cure. I encourage you to go back and read the first two entries prior to delving into this one.

You have noticed that I have been providing pictures of the hard copy Word and Excel documents that I kept on file and I realize that may be annoying. The good news is that I have the remaining three years on my computer so if you decide to continue on with this story that information will be copied and pasted into the blog rather than in photos.

Since the Tour was getting going at about the same time that the internet was really taking off there is very little archived information on it so this process is my way of preserving the history, the memories and the friendships that were made during the four years of the NKF Tour. I hope that you enjoy it!

We have worked our way through June in the first two parts of this story and that brings us to the second half of the season with Corey Dripps and Steve Holthaus holding big leads in the point standings. On July 2nd promoter Larry Kemp welcomed the Tour in to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. When I sent out the proposals to hold an event in this first year of the Tour I figured that it was a virtual lock that I would be able to book a race at Vinton with Larry. 

While Keith Knaack gave me the opportunity to start writing for Hawkeye Racing News when I was just sixteen, Larry Kemp gave me my first job at a race track when he hired me to handle his press releases, do the lineups and maintain the point standings at 34 Raceway in 1982. He and his wife Kathleen became a second set of parents to me and his three sons, Kevin, Dusty and Clay were then of course like brothers to me. And while my day to day contact with them slowly faded away over twenty years ago, I still consider them all to be family.

Corey Dripps in NKF Tour action at his home track, the Benton County Speedway - Barry Johnson photo

I know that I am biased, but I believe that Larry is one of the best promoters in the history of short track racing and I have even lobbied a bit for him to be considered for the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. The long running IMCA Late Model Summer Series was his concept and it was started at his track, 34 Raceway in April of 1987. Most people can name the first Summer Series feature winner, Jay Johnson, but did you know that the second of what would eventually be 500 events was also run at 34 Raceway on May 19th of 1987 and the feature winner was Bruce Hanford? Just a little foreshadowing here, as Bruce would later become an NKF Tour Modified champion.

Tony Stewart hired Larry and Kathleen to run the Eldora Speedway soon after he purchased it showing just how highly regarded the Kemps were in the world of promoting. I owe a lot to the Kemps, all five of them, for the all of the fun that I have had in this sport that I love.

So back to July 2nd, 1998, and what a thrill it was to see a packed house at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, and I have to admit that I was always proud when one of the Tour regulars would come to a track that they had rarely, if ever even raced at and have success. This was a spectacular night in that regard and there is nothing better than getting a "Yeeha" from Jeff Larson in victory lane.

When I pitched the Tour to promoters I gave them the option to choose one class or the other on their own in order to get to as many tracks in Iowa as possible. Of course my preference was to have both the Modifieds and the Hobby Stocks booked for the same night and while I thought that some promoters might prefer to host the Mods only, this first season ended up having three races that were the Hobby Stocks only. 

Two of them would be up next on the schedule with the first one being the longest road trip for me making the drive up to the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta. This would be my first time ever to this race track and I came away quite impressed with the action. Knowing that his big block motor would not be legal here, NKF Tour point leader Steve Holthaus borrowed a car from Rick Stockman and he held his own with a twelfth place finish in the twenty-eight car field. It was also our first event where an apparent feature winner was disqualified in the tech area.

The next Hobby Stock only event took place at the Greenbelt Speedway in Eldora promoted by our new friend Al Uhrhammer. As you will see in the story below, it was one of those nights where it seemed like everything that could go wrong did, but in the end it was thrilling finish to the NKF Tour feature with a young Jimmy Gustin taking the win.

Honestly, I didn't know much about Corey Dripps before he and his father Rick signed in for that opening night event at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. I had not seen him race much and apparently his name had not jumped out at me as I went through the race results in previous years doing the All Iowa Points even though he had won the track championship at Vinton in 1997. I would have never even thought of him as being a contender for the NKF Tour championship, that is until I got to know him. Corey had that youthful exuberance and "devil may care" attitude, not necessarily cocky, but definitely confident and you could see that level of confidence grow with each new night on the Tour. His ability to go to so many different types of tracks, most that he had never raced at before and to perform so well was quite impressive and it was cool to say that a star was born on the NKF Tour.

Corey was so dominant that he would clinch the Modified title in winning fashion when we were able to get the rescheduled show in at the Nordic Speedway in Decorah. I recall being a bit disappointed that we only pulled in seventeen Modifieds that night, but keep in mind that the division did not race there regularly and frankly seventeen Mods on that short track provided plenty of action. In the Hobby Stocks take note of the driver who finished third as he would join the Tour as a regular the following season. Oh yes, and back to Rick and Corey Dripps, as of this writing they are preparing for their second full season promoting the Benton County Speedway in Vinton and twenty-three years later, Corey still has that same youthful exuberance that I completely admire.

Two nights later we were back on the road for a Thursday night of racing during the Hamilton County Fair in Webster City with $1,000 going to the winner of the Modified feature. At 29 the car count was not as big as I had hoped, but we definitely had some heavy hitters there including some non-Tour drivers who had made a long tow in for the night. The race was a thriller with Mike Sorenson battling back on the final lap to take the win over Kelly Shryock. Jeremy Mills who had started following the Tour early on before missing some events dominated the Hobby Stocks.

 

One of the most anticipated events on the NKF Tour's first schedule was the 2nd Annual Budweiser Hobby Stock Nationals at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Terry and Jenni Hoenig were in their first year of promoting the facility in the southeast corner of Iowa and I was so thankful that they would book the Tour for one of the biggest events on their schedule. I had known Terry and Jenni for several years as he was a former track champion in the Hobby Stocks at both 34 Raceway and the short-lived Wapello Speedway while Jenni is the daughter of the late Leonard Carlson who was a very successful car owner in southeast Iowa. I had watched her grow up around the tracks and this is a perfect example of how a young lady can find a good man at the race track!

Yes, I knew the Hoenig's, but just as acquaintances until this two-day event in August of 1998. From there we became fast friends and I will tell you more about that relationship when we get to the final race of the 1999 NKF Tour. 

Why was this one of the most anticipated races? The Hobby Stocks would get to take two laps of qualifying and run their heat races on Monday night before coming back on Tuesday for Last Chance races and a $1,000-to-win main event. Fifty-two Hobby Stock drivers would sign in for their time in the spotlight and the NKF Tour Modifieds would run a full program on Tuesday with a solid field of thirty on hand. Just as Jeremy Mills had done the race before in Webster City, Jason Rohde came back after missing some Tour races to take the big prize over the stellar field of Hobby Stocks.

Steve Holthaus knew that he would not be able to race at the Tour finale in Denison due to another engagement so he wanted to make sure that he locked down the title in the next to last event at the Butler County Speedway in Allison on August 19th and he did just that with a feature win at the newly re-opened facility.

The Allison race was held on August 19th and we would have to wait until October to close out the first season of the Tour. During that break I resigned my position as one of the announcers at the Knoxville Raceway after the final race there for 1998. It was an incredible honor to have worked with everybody at Knoxville, but there were two primary reasons why I knew that one year was enough. First, I was so excited about how the first year of the NKF Tour had progressed and I already had promoters asking me for dates, and drivers telling me that they would be following the Tour in 1999, so I did not want to have to avoid race nights at Knoxville as I built the schedule for Tour number two. Second, and more importantly though was that I knew that Knoxville deserved to have an announcer that was devoted to Sprint Car racing. Now don't get me wrong, I was then and I still am a huge fan of Sprint Cars, but as the Director of a Tour for Modifieds and Hobby Stocks I was not paying enough attention to what was going on with Winged World outside of Knoxville. The Sprint Car Capital deserved a better announcer than me and they definitely found one when they added Justin Zoch to the booth with Tony Bokhoven.

Promoter Howard Mellinger had booked us in to the Crawford County Speedway in Denison for the NKF Tour finale scheduled for October 10th and in true Howard fashion he had set the highest winner's purse of the season for the Modifieds at $1,500. Mellinger absolutely loved the sport of dirt track racing and after sponsoring Bob Hill and other drivers with his Jim Dandy Printing company, he became involved with promoting first at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City and later at the fairground facilities in both Denison and Allison. 

I have heard several people describe Howard as a man who would give you the shirt off his back, but I think that it would be more accurate to say that he would walk across ten yards of hot coals in his bare feet and then hand you a thousand dollars for being there to watch him do it. He was an enthusiastic and giving promoter, almost to a fault at times, but Howard Mellinger will always be fondly remembered by racers and fans alike here in the Midwest.

With both point championships already decided we did not have that storyline to promote, but remember that this was back in the day where there just wasn't much racing in Iowa during October and this event showed just why. Bad weather postponed the event by one week to October 17th and then when rain came that evening Howard made the bold call to go ahead and run the show the next day on a Sunday afternoon. A diverse field of thirty-eight Modifieds filled the pit area while only eighteen Hobby Stocks signed in and Corey Dripps closed out a memorable season by taking the $1,500 feature win. We also proudly presented him with his $1,500 NKF Tour championship check in victory lane. The 1998 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion Don Sanders made the long pull out from Ottumwa to finish second to Denison dominator Tracy Nielsen.

Prior to the Tour finale at Denison we ran this Thank You ad in Hawkeye Racing News

And following is the wrap up story for the Inaugural NKF Tour along with the Summary and final Point Standings with the Point Fund paid for both classes.

So there you have it, the first ever NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure is now fully archived and we had a great deal of momentum heading into 1999. I know that others who run racing series, both in the past and now, will tell you that they actually work harder from the day after that final race until the day of the first race of the next season than any other time of the year, and I can confirm that from this experience. Chasing sponsors, working with promoters to schedule sensible race dates and trying to identify areas that need improvement filled nearly every day of that offseason in order to get ready for our Sophomore Season. Stay tuned to the Back Stretch to see how it all came together!