So unless Springfield's Turkey Bowl gets pushed back again next weekend my 2020 racing season is over and usually I would say that I am putting a "wrap" on it, but I guess that I felt that the title above was more appropriate. Given all that happened this past year I am grateful that I was still able to attend fifty-nine nights of racing at twenty-three different tracks in six states and this total is only five nights less than what I was able to achieve in 2019. (Sunday November 29th edit as I actually was able to go to the Turkey Bowl on the Holiday weekend. The stats here have been updated to reflect that final trip of the 2020 season)
Yes, our sport was pretty much shut down from mid-March all the way through April and it was disappointing to see all of those great Spring special events fall by the wayside as we sat and wondered if there would be any racing season at all. Once we reached the month of May some of our area tracks were able to run events with no fans in the stands and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend seven events during the month, some of them as one of the announcers for the live pay-per-view broadcast that allowed the promoters to get the season started without completely going into the hole.
Once the stands were open, while each track did their best to host a crowd while still observing "social distancing", promoters were blessed with good weather through the remainder of the schedule with very few events rained out along the way. I have not verified this with any promoter, but from my observations it appeared that crowds were bigger than what I had seen at similar events last year and that would make sense since the sport was not up against some of its stiffest competition:
- No new release movies
- Reduced amount of kid activities
- No small town festivals
- No minor league baseball games
I am sure that you can add several other items to that list such as no Hawkeye football in September and most of October, but you get the point. A night at the races was about the only thing that you could do as a family and it was nice to see good crowds at most of the races that I was able to attend. Hopefully those people had a great time and will continue to mark their calendar with a night at the races more of a priority over some of those other things once they come back in 2021.
Of course that is assuming that we can all "come back" to a sense of normal in 2021. It is exciting to see the schedules coming out for next season and yes, I will start compiling those soon for the Calendar page on Positively Racing, but to get back to normal these vaccines that are set to roll out soon will need to be widely distributed and effective. In my wrap up of 2019 I went on to ask several questions for 2020 and you can re-visit those by clicking here. My only question for next season at this point is, will the virus still have a major effect on the sport?
Let's hope not.
I opened my 2020 list of races with the Sniper Speed IMCA Stock Car Tour event on February 22nd at the Kennedale Speedway Park in Kennedale, Texas, and race night number two did not come until May 8th when Cory Benge gave me a great seat in the back of his pickup in the tech area in the infield of the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis.
For the first time that I can remember Knoxville did not lead the way as far as nights in attendance as I was at 34 Raceway in Burlington eight times this season to top the list. I made the two hour and forty-five minute drive to Stuart for seven nights of action while I went to Donnellson and Knoxville six times each. I loved the five nights of quarter-mile racing at Davenport and one of my biggest disappointments of the season came when the Sprint Invader show there was rained out just before hot laps. I went to three nights each at Moberly, Farley and Oskaloosa and two nights each at Memphis, Tipton and Columbus Junction. My one-time tracks for 2020 were West Liberty, Dubuque, East Moline, Vinton, Boone, Marshalltown, Granite City, La Crosse and Springfield.
I always have the goal of attending at least one track a year for the first time ever and in 2020 I was able to get to three new tracks. Of course Kennedale was one of them to open the year and I have to admit that Christine and I were a bit uncomfortable being part of a capacity crowd at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, on May 22nd. I definitely want to go back there again soon when it will be fun to be a part of a big crowd because that place is definitely on the rise.
As it looks like it will turn out now, I masked up my 2020 season with my third new-to-me track by making the long trip to Burnside, Kentucky, to see the Lake Cumberland Speedway. The first thing that I noticed when I pulled into the facility was the unique bleachers that had the highest pitch to them that I have ever seen. My friend and Positively Racing colleague Ed Reichert had saved me a seat in his usual top row spot and I could feel my knees start to wobble as I climbed to the summit. No doubt that it was a spectacular view and please know that I never felt like the bleachers were unstable, but after about ten minutes I told Ed that I just couldn't do it and I moved down to the third row where I was still plenty high enough to see all of the action.
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| This picture doesn't do it justice. It was steep! |
Not to sound like a "regionalist", but I am spoiled by what we get to see here in the Midwest. All six divisions qualified and with 102 cars that took just under two hours to complete. Then they started the heats straight up with the feature lineups being set by the heat race finishes and so I saw a lot more chasing than I did racing. I was thrilled when the race order had the Super Late Models up first that saw Cameron Marlar lead all forty laps to take the win. It did get interesting with eight laps to go when Marlar closed in on Danny McLaughlin and Iowa's Tegan Evans who were racing side-by-side for position and that allowed Tyler Carpenter to get to Marlar's back bumper. However, when Tyler slapped the turn two wall trying to squeeze by on the outside it knocked off his spoiler and caused a caution for debris that then gave Marlar a wide open track for the final four laps.
Victor Lee went flag-to-flag to win the Modified feature and after four tries to start the Crate Late Model main I decided to call it a night after five and a half hours of bleacher time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the new track but it did not go down as one of my favorites for the season. Here are a few that did stand out in chronological order:
Over 200 cars and a stock Car feature that was a thrill a minute at Memphis
Knowing that I will see a great track and a well presented show by promoter Mike VanGenderen is the reason I traveled to Stuart so often in 2020 and the season opener definitely stood out.
Three exciting Late Model features in one night at Davenport!
Even though it was moved to July the annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway was again spectacular and in 2021 this will be a two night event.
When I see a thriller it sends a chill down my spine and when Rico Abreu went from third to first on the final lap at Knoxville I was a tinglin'!
I am not a fan of the qualifying procedures for either of the national Dirt Late Model series, but when you put them on a well prepared quarter-mile at Davenport, you still get an excellent show.
A fitting farewell to the IMCA Summer Series and a tribute to the Ironman at his hometown track
Yes, I know that I am biased, but Shiverfest was awesome this year
Perfect weather, a huge car count and a well prepared track made for an excellent Turkey Dash!
If you found your way to today's Back Stretch by clicking the link from the Positively Racing Facebook page I would love to see your list of favorite races from 2020 in the comments there, or you can put them in the comments here as well.
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| A full moon rises over the 22nd Annual Shiverfest |
Christine and I made the tough decision yesterday to cancel our Thanksgiving trip to Texas to see our kids and grandkids, but we are oddly comforted by making that decision as well. Here's hoping that you all stay safe, be healthy and hopefully we can all be back at race tracks sitting side-by-side rather than six feet apart in 2021.
Keep checking in here as on Monday and Tuesday we will have the final All Iowa Points stories for the Four Cylinders and the Sprint Cars. We still have the state point standings for Missouri and Texas to wrap up and after those two are complete we will put up our "Best of the Midwest" standings for 2020. Then over the Holidays will we update our popular. Cumulative All Iowa Points standings for all nine active divisions.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope to see you often during the offseason here on the Back Stretch!
