The Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders definitely had a theme going on Wednesday night. Thirty-four cars signed in to do battle for an opportunity to compete in the night's thirty-four lap feature that paid $1,200-to-win and $334-to-start at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Sure, all the other stuff was pre-planned, but when Richard Brod towed in late from Downers Grove, Illinois, to bump the count up one more from the thirty-three that were already on the lineup sheet, well it just made for a perfect headline.
As part of the announcing quartet for the evening I did not take my usual notes so this entry of the Back Stretch will be a bit different than usual. Nowhere near as good as when Ryan Clark broke from form the other day, but I did not want this event to slide by without making at least a few observations.
If you have any interest at all in Sprint Cars and have not yet seen the Sprint Invaders this year then you need to check the remaining schedule and make sure that you circle at least one event to attend. Yes, I am biased since I now work with the Association, but even if I were still a casual observer I would have no trouble seeing the strong car counts and the great racing that was really set in motion during 2012 and that has continued into this season. Other than the trip north to Independence where the car count was still a respectable twenty-three, the Invaders have averaged right around the thirty mark all season and you just really never know who is going to be the man to beat before the show starts. Last night at 34 Raceway Dustin Selvage jumped out to an early lead that grew quickly, but then disappeared almost as fast when defending series champion Ryan Jamison found the low groove to his liking and reeled him in. And, if you were able to pull your attention away from that battle for a moment you would have been entertained by the runs being made from deep in the field by Jarrod Schneiderman, Russ Hall and Australian visitor Jamie Veal.
Selvage and Jamison swapped the lead back and forth following the pit stop break on lap twenty and it was the youngster from Indianola who would prevail to take the victory driving the Phillips Floors #7K that he races weekly at Knoxville. Usually you would see Dustin aboard Kenny Bragg's #73 at a Sprint Invader event, but that car is still down after popping a motor at Donnellson on June 20th. Hall, the current point leader, seems to be gaining confidence with each event and as a driver who has shown flashes of brilliance in the past, Russ is now performing with more consistency as he drove from the ninth row to get by Jamison in the closing laps to finish second on Wednesday night. Jamison, Veal and Schneiderman completed the top five and you can click here for the full story and results from Bill W.
The Invaders double up on county fairs next week running Thursday night July 11th at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton, then on Friday night July 12th they return to the Lee County Fair in Donnellson. I will have to miss those two events due to other commitments, but I am really excited about catching up with the Invaders again when they go to the Jacksonville Speedway on Friday July 19th. It has been several years since I have been at the racy little quarter-mile and I look forward to a great night of action there.
Three different types of Vintage Cars, midgets, super modifieds and sprint cars also ran at 34 Raceway Wednesday night and it was my pleasure to be able to interview Al Samberg during their heats. Al was one of the original five men who built the track when it became obvious that the old fairgrounds track in Burlington was going to be swallowed by the new freeway back in 1965. "Mel and Kenny (Jackson) called me up and said let's go build a race track," quipped Samberg, "but I told them that I had to finish cutting the grass first." Al spent many years behind the microphone at the track as well with two of his most memorable lines, to me at least, being "that little piece of bleached cloth" for the white flag and "Morning Sun, the two that is coming up".
Mod Lites and Four Cylinders were also in action Wednesday night and while other tracks consistently draw ten or fewer of these cars for their races, they seem to flock to 34 Raceway with 23 and 22 in the pits respectively tonight. Those who know me well know that I was not a big fan of the Mod Lite division until a year ago when I watched them run four and five wide at 34 Raceway and that one night made me a fan of the division. So much so that I began tracking them in the All Iowa Points for the first time in 2013 and it was current point leader Josh May who pulled all the way down from Desoto to take the win here Wednesday night as once again the Mod Lites raced three, four and even five-wide around the high banks of 34 Raceway. My theory on the Four Cylinder car count at 34 is that there are no "ringers" in the field and therefore everybody feels that they have a chance to win, although the way Austen Becerra ran away from the field on this night he might soon be considered a "ringer" as well. You can find the full results for each of these two classes here.
It was another fun night at 34 Raceway and it is always entertaining to roam the catwalk with Rich Adams, Dan Workman, Kenney Dixon, Norm Gegner and Bill W. Thanks to Jeff and Amy Laue for their hospitality, a great race track and for teaming up with J&M Displays of Yarmouth to top off the night with a beautiful fireworks display. It was a great way to start off the Independence Day weekend and here's hoping that all of you have a safe and happy Holiday!
See you on the Back Stretch!
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Babb Overpowers Shirley for Summer Nationals Win at Quincy
Shannon Babb and Brian Shirley waged a thrilling
door-to-door battle mid-race and it was Babb who prevailed to score the win in
the 40-lap main event as the UMP Late Model Summer Nationals “Hell Tour”
returned to the Quincy Raceways on Tuesday night. Steven DeLonjay posted his
sixth win of the season at his hometown track outrunning a solid field of cars
on hand for the Summit Modified Nationals event and Tony Dunker continued his
dominance of Quincy’s IMCA Sport Mod division winning the “King of the Bullring”
title and the $1,003 top prize.
Thirty-seven Late Models filled the pit area outside of the
banked quarter-mile oval and after four heat races, a C-Main and a B-Main the
twenty-two car feature field was set with Brian Diveley and Brian Shirley
bringing the field to green on the front row. The first attempt at a start was
nixed though when Clint Kirkham stopped in turn two before a lap could be
scored and on the second attempt at a start Diveley would beat the field into
turn one only to have Shirley use the high side to vault to the lead down the
back straightaway. Diveley and Sunday night’s Hell Tour winner in Lincoln,
Bobby Pierce settled into second and third with Shannon Babb racing in
fourth. A caution on lap three slowed
the pace as track regulars Michael Long, Jerry Lierly and Rickey Frankel
tangled in turn four and that would turn out to be the last caution of the race.
As Shirley started to pull away following the restart, Babb
went to work driving by Pierce on lap five and then blowing past Diveley for
second on lap six. The distance between the top two slowly faded and as Shirley
approached the first couple of lapped cars Babb made his move to snatch the
lead away from the defending Summer Nationals champion. The race winner here on
a blistering hot night last year, Shirley was not about to give in as he came
right back to challenge and, as they tried to put a lap on Lierly, Shirley
nosed ahead for the lead on lap twenty-one. With Lierly down low the lead duo
literally raced full throttle, door-to-door into turn one both getting almost
completely sideways on the topside of turn two and when Shirley made just a bit
of contact with the lapped car on the exit of turn two that was all that Babb
needed to regain the advantage.
As Babb stretched out his lead over the closing laps,
Shirley found himself having to hold off a late charge from the youngster
Pierce and when the checkers waved it was Shannon Babb notching his 78th
career Summer Nationals win by a full straightaway over Shirley and Pierce. Diveley
would finish in the fourth position with current Hell Tour point leader Brandon
Sheppard coming from the sixth row to finish fifth. Defending track champion
Jason Perry finished in the sixth position, Kevin Weaver was seventh, eighth
went to Tyler Reddick, Randy Korte was ninth and Denny Woodworth completed the
top ten.
Shirley has served as the crew chief for Tim Lance as the
Peoria driver chases the entire schedule and in selected events Brian also
enters the backup car #48. Dustin Griffin, Rusty Schlenk, Mark Burgtorf and
Jason McBride earned provisionals for the main event with Griffin scoring the
best finish of those four in fifteenth. Iowa City native Matt Furman, who now
lists Columbus, Ohio, as his hometown raced his way into the main event by finishing
second to Michael Long in the B-Main and then advanced from his 18th
starting spot to finish in eleventh. Non-qualifiers included the father and son
teams of Terry and Tanner English, and Terry and Lake Knutti. Joseph Joiner of
Milton, Florida, made his first-ever appearance at Quincy but did not qualify.
Joiner has won in seven of his last eight starts at his home track Southern
Raceway in Milton and his brother, Joshua Joiner, was on hand to cover the
action for Dirt On Dirt. Todd Frank of Mellen, Wisconsin, had set out to follow
the entire Summer Nationals schedule, but those plans may have changed after he
took a hard tumble in turn one after taking the checkers in qualifying. It was
his second time to get upside down after doing the same at Granite City on June
21st. The Summer Nationals moves on to Jacksonville tonight (July 3rd)
before providing the fireworks at the LaSalle Speedway on Thursday night. Don’t
forget that the Tour makes its one and only Iowa appearance on Saturday night
July 13th at 34 Raceway near Burlington.
Several drivers were making their first trip into Quincy as
twenty-eight UMP Modifieds were on hand for the twelfth points-paying event on
the 2013 Summit Modified Nationals Tour as David Wietholder and Matt Goulden
earned the front row for the thirty-lap main event. Wietholder took command
from the outset and it wasn’t long before Steven DeLonjay disposed of Goulden
and took up the chase on the leader. The two track regulars can usually be
found racing for the lead here on Sunday nights and, to the chagrin of
Wietholder, Tuesday night’s results went the same way as they as have been
going on Sundays this year as DeLonjay made his move in traffic and then pulled
away over the final eleven laps to end up in a familiar place here, victory
lane.
Wietholder would settle for the runner-up honors, Goulden
was consistent in third, Rusty Griffaw finished where he started in fourth and
Jim Black did the same in fifth. Michael Long, doing double-duty on the night
finished in the sixth position just ahead of Owensboro, Kentucky, driver Tyler
Nicely. Shawn Deering finished in eighth ahead of the current Modified
Nationals point leader Ray Bollinger and DeSoto, Missouri, driver Michael
Stuckey was tenth. Defending Summit Nationals champion and NASCAR personality
Kenny Wallace finished in eleventh.
When we pulled into the parking lot for this event last year
the temperature was pegged at 104 degrees. Tonight was much different with
temps in the low 80’s and a high cloud cover and that may have contributed to
the “Clear Day Rain Delay” track conditions as it took a lot of extra effort to
get the track rolled in before racing could get underway with the first heat
race taking the green around 8:45 p.m. On the first lap of that Sport Mod heat
race it appeared that something broke on the right front of Bobby Anders’ car
entering turn three and he drove up the track clipping the left rear of Chris
Larson who was racing to the cushion at full speed. The contact caused Larson’s
car to bicycle and when he hit the cushion his #67 went into a series of
violent rolls that were enhanced by the drop off going over the top of turn
three. It was one of the worst rollover accidents that I have ever seen for a
Modified, especially considering that this is just a quarter-mile race track.
Larson who was alert and talking with officials was removed from his car on a
back board and was then transferred to the local hospital. Later in the evening
it was announced that he had been treated for a “banged up shoulder” and had
been released which drew a nice round of applause from the large crowd on hand.
With the late start and the two delays for the rollover
incidents the Late Model feature took the checkers at about 11:40 so we headed
to the gates rather than staying around for the high-paying Sport Mod main event
that had drawn in nineteen cars including long distance travelers Nick Roberts
and Austin Heacock. From track reports I see that Tony Dunker held off Abe Huls
to take the win. One of the top IMCA Stock Car drivers in the region, Huls
drove Rich Wagy’s #55 for the second time this week while another of the
track’s top Stock Car shoes Terry Houston was also in competition driving the
#27 normally wheeled by Chandler Owens. Brandon Dale, Charles Van Zandt and Joe
Bliven rounded out the top five.
While the late night was not ideal I will say that the extra
moisture in the track did produce some exciting racing action throughout the
evening including the thrilling first corner charge of Shirley and Babb on lap
twenty-two that absolutely made the trip worthwhile.
Tonight (Wednesday) you will find me at 34 Raceway just west
of Burlington as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will
headline the racing action that will be topped off by a big fireworks display to
kickoff the Independence Day celebration. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Bruening, Murty and VanDenBerg Headline All Iowa Points Leaders at Mid-Season
After battling through the wettest Spring on record we have
reached the mid-point of the 2013 racing season around Iowa and while a couple
of drivers appear headed for yet another All Iowa Points title, three or four divisions
may see first time champions. That is, of course, if the trends of the first
half of the season hold true to the end.
Ray Guss Jr. was the early leader in the Late Model division
as the Hall of Famer is looking for his fifth straight and eighth overall All
Iowa Points title, but has now dropped to the fourth position at mid-season.
Young Tyler Bruening sits atop the current rankings while perennial contender
Todd Cooney moved from fifth to second this past week. Veteran driver Darrel
DeFrance is now third as all of the top three are looking for their first AIP
championship. Current Deery Series point leader Brian Harris ranks fifth.
Jesse Sobbing has been the All Iowa Points Limited Modified
champion the past three years and early in the season he looked like a solid
top ten contender during his rookie year in the Modified division. That soon
changed though when the wins started to add up and on the strength of eight
victories so far Sobbing has vaulted to the top of the standings ahead of early
leader Richie Gustin. Bad early season weather in northwest Iowa hampered Sioux
City’s Chris Abelson, but he has come on strong as of late to move into the
third position ahead of Jimmy Gustin and J.D. Auringer. And the driver to watch in the second half
just might be Ronn Lauritzen who jumped all the way up to sixth from 17th
last week.
The Limited Modified division is guaranteed a new champion
as none of the past winners (Sobbing, Kevin Sather, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Gustin,
Wyatt Lantz, Mike Kleinhesselink, Ed Green and Larry Cook) are competing regularly
in the division this season. The young
man to beat at mid-season is Carter VanDenBerg of Oskaloosa who has opened up a
22-point advantage in the point system that rewards five points for a win and
one point for a fifth-place finish. Three straight rainouts at their home track
of Quincy has hindered Tony Dunker and Bobby Anders as Doug Smith has settled
between the two of them in third while Benton County Speedway regulars Danny
Dvorak and Joel Rust are tied for fifth.
Damon Murty has been one of the top Stock Car drivers in
Iowa for many years, but an All Iowa Points title has eluded him in the past as
he often misses several nights of the season while taking care of his farm,
something that is obviously much more important! Murty came out of the gate
faster than ever in 2013 and has already scored twelve feature wins, but can a
big lead early withstand a late run from his competition? John Emerson has
burst onto the scene and is currently in second on the strength of nine wins
and seven runner-up finishes while Jason Cook has returned to running three
nights a week in style as he ranks third. School is out for the summer and high
school administrator Nathan Wood is making his move joining the top five this
week in fourth while Norman Chesmore is almost quietly having a great year in
fifth.
The Hobby Stock points race has been back and forth lately
between two drivers and after winning two features on one night at Boone this
past Saturday two-time champion Shannon Anderson is back out front leading
Chris Luloff. Three-time defending champion Devin Smith lurks in third as the
top three are starting to distance themselves from the rest of the pack. Dustin
Griffiths and Benji Irvine make up the top five at mid-season.
Most four cylinder drivers won’t even start thirty-two races
this season. Current All Iowa Points leader Merv Chandler has already posted
that many top-five finishes though as he appears headed to his second straight
championship in the division to go along with his two AIP Modified titles in
1984 and 1985. As he usually does on the track as well Bill Whalen Jr. is
chasing Chandler in second while Megan Lappegard is again having a fine season
in third. With four feature wins in the past week that boosted his total up to
eleven on the season, Adam Gates moved from ninth to fourth at mid-season while
Quad Cities racer Aaron Hitt is in fifth.
Familiar faces are on top of the standings in all three
Sprint Car divisions at mid-season. Terry McCarl has more AIP titles than any
other driver in any division and this would be his twelfth championship if he
is able to hold off the rest of the winged warriors including Mark Dobmeier who
is now in second. It would be the sixth championship for Dobmeier if he should
win it as one of these two drivers have ranked at the top every year but one
since 1998. Wayne Johnson was the only driver to break that domination winning
the 410 title in 2005. It has been eleven years since his first AIP 360 Sprint
championship, but Clint Garner is again the man to beat each Saturday night in
this division at Knoxville. Jon Agan and
Russ Hall who also run the Sprint Invader shows may be able to score enough
points to catch him though in the second half. Two former AIP champs are tied
at the top of the 305 standings midway through 2013 as 2008 305 Sprint Champion
Donnie Steward and 2009 360 champion Mike Boston each have 19 points. This is a
race that is definitely too close to call as the top seven drivers are all
within five points, or one feature win from the top of the sheet.
Josh May and Andy Hennigar have set themselves apart from
the rest of the Mod Lite drivers in the first year of All Iowa Points tracking
for this division while the next three in line, Chase Flatt, Mike Morrill and
Evan Epperson are separated by one point each.
The All Iowa Points have crowned mythical state champions in
three or more divisions since 1967 and are exclusively found on the Points page
at www.PositivelyRacing.com where
an explanation of the points system as well as the tracks included can also be
found. The full rundown for each division is updated weekly during the season
and the June 24th Mid-Season update will be posted soon if it has
not been already. The 2013 All Iowa
Points season is currently scheduled to end on Saturday October 26th
with the annual running of “Shiverfest” at the Lee County Speedway in
Donnellson.
Monday, June 24, 2013
All Illinois and All Missouri Points At Mid-Season
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)