Knoxville's 360 Nationals Decided By Inches In A Wheel Banging Finish

Aaron Reutzel was just two corners away from taking his second straight 360 Knoxville Nationals Championship Saturday night at the world famous Knoxville Raceway, but a two car crash behind him in turn two caused a red flag situation. With the rules calling for a two lap "green, white, checkers" finish the race was back in doubt and the large crowd was treated to an amazing finish that they will be buzzing about for days to come.

Let's start this story with the B-Main event where the top four finishers would complete the twenty-four car field for the championship feature. Anthony Macri subbing for an injured Tyler Courtney in the #7BC would start next to his father's #39, now with Justin Sanders at the wheel, from the front row and it would be Macri getting the advantage on the opening lap. Christopher Thram would spin in turn two after that first lap and it didn't look good for Rico Abreu who had started seventh, but had slipped to tenth after that first half-mile. 

Rico's luck would change though following the restart and he would start gaining positions one by one in this eighteen lap prelim. As the laps clicked away, Abreu had moved to fifth and when he sailed by Brady Bacon with four laps to go, Rico was now in the show finishing fourth behind Macri, Austin McCarl and Sanders and they would be the final four starters in the night's headliner.

You will see why I had to give you this context soon.

During the break the race track would be groomed and prepped to perfection and soon we were lined up for thirty laps of racing with the two favorites, Aaron Reutzel and Brian Brown starting from the front row. Reutzel would take the lead on the opening lap and Brown was able to stay close, but only for the first two circuits before Aaron started to drive away. Friday's qualifying night winner Parker Price-Miller was running third and he would stay within ten car lengths of Brown as the leader put more and more distance on his challengers.

Brian Brown - Barry Johnson photo

The first few lapped cars did not present a challenge to Reutzel who was flying around the cushion on both ends, but as he close in on Jamie Ball and Justin Sanders who were racing for position, the leader's momentum was broken when Sanders checked up in front of him in turn two. Brown had been a full straightaway back and this would allow him to cut that margin in half, but after recovering from the slip Reutzel was right back up to speed and that half straightaway lead with just six laps remaining seemed to be insurmountable.

The only caution of the race would wave with four laps remaining for two drivers who were having issues at opposite ends of the speedway. Sanders had slowed with magneto issues for the second night in and when he couldn't get off the high line exiting turn two he slowed up next to the guardrail while limping down the back stretch. At the same time young Tanner Holmes, who had started tenth and who was battling Zeb Wise for fifth also stopped on the apron of turn one with apparent engine problems.

With lapped traffic no longer a factor this one looed like it would be Reutzel's for the final four laps and a check of the realignment found Rico Abreu in tenth after having started last in twenty-fourth. With the wave of the green Reutzel warded off a run from Brown and was again pulling away from the field. This restart was not a good one for Garret Williamson though as he had lined up third only to lose that position back to Price-Miller in turns one and two with Ryan Timm's also slipping by the young driver from central Missouri. As the white flag waved Reutzel had this race well in hand and was just about to reach turn three for one last time when Kaleb Johnson and Williamson would make contact in turn two.

Williamson's car would flip high in the air and into the catch fence while Johnson would go for a
tumble as well. And with the red flag coming out Reutzel would come to a stop just under the stand where he would have seen the checkers if not for the crash. The wait was extended as the track crew made repairs to the catch fence and your leader now had to come up with his plan to try to hold off one of the best drivers ever to race here at Knoxville. 

Later Brown would note that he had seen Reutzel's crew chief giving him signals as to where he should go on the restart, but that it would have been what he expected from the leader anyway as the green flag waved on the two lap dash for the checkers. Oh yes, and did I mention that with both Johnson and Williamson out of the mix that Rico was now up to sixth?

Reutzel would enter turn one in the middle to protect against a slider from Brown and as they raced into turns three and four it was hard to concentrate on the leaders because Rico was making an amazing run down the back stretch to get to third with the white flag about to wave. Brown would have a good run off the bottom of turn four and was ready to throw a slider at the leader, but when Reuztel again entered turn one in the middle, Brian went straight to the cushion and pulled even with Aaron down the back stretch.

The two would charge into turn three side-by-side and when Reutzel tried to squeeze Brown up the race track, Brian turned to the left, dropped the nose and "came down the hill" now pulling even with Aaron as they exited turn four. All of this with Abreu closing fast and hoping for an opening to steal the win at the checkers. 

It was now a drag race to the checkers with Brown on the inside and as Reutzel tried to squeeze him down the track they banged wheels with neither one lifting as they raced under the checkers and thank goodness for electronic scoring as this one would have likely been too close to call with the naked eye. When the running order changed on the scoreboard the crowd went nuts as Brian Brown would take the victory by just two one-hundredths of a second over Reutzel with Rico right behind them in third........after starting last!

What a finish! 

Brown was ecstatic and Reuztel was understandably dejected, but they showed a great deal of respect for each other in their post-race comments with Brown saying that Reuztel is the smartest driver that you will ever compete against, while Aaron simply stated that Brian is the best there is at this time here at Knoxville. 

Rico Abreu started his night in the B-Main - Barry Johnson photo

Abreu, who obviously struggled on his qualifying night Thursday to land him seventh in tonight's B-Main, said that the reason why he was even here this week was to get more laps at Knoxville and that this will prepare him better for the 410 Nationals coming up here next week. As a former winner of the World of Outlaw's Ironman 55 in Pevely, Missouri, this same weekend, it was a bit of a surprise to see Rico here and in fact since this was his first time competing in this event he would officially claim the title of "Rookie of the 360 Nationals". By the way, if you get a chance to watch the highlights of tonight's Ironman, make sure that you do so.

Parker Price-Miller and Ryan Timms would complete the top five. Zeb Wise would finish sixth, Chase Randall charged from seventeenth to seventh, Sam Hafertepe Jr. was eighth, Terry McCarl was ninth and tenth went to Kerry Madsen.

The C-Main winner was Justin Henderson followed by Chris Martin while Blake Hahn made a big run from fifteenth to third. The D-Main was won by veteran driver Calvin Landis while the E-Main was captured by Missouri's Tyler Blank.

A line of strong storms will soon roll through Knoxville here at 1 a.m. on Sunday and while more wet weather is in the forecast, all hopes are that the Capitani Classic will be able to run here on Sunday night. Then the big show takes the green on Wednesday for the four night run of the 62nd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's. Hope to see you there!

Barry Johnson photo

The Law Firm Gets It Done In The Rain At Knoxville

Kudos to Jason Reed, John McCoy, the entire Knoxville Raceway crew and yes, the drivers and pit crews as well as Friday night's edition of the 360 Knoxville Nationals beat the rain, barely, and gave the race fans an entertaining feature race as well. With threatening skies and a "future radar" that showed impending doom, track officials made the call mid-afternoon to move the start time of the second qualifying night ahead by one hour and they then hustled through the program to get a final checkered flag around 9:15 p.m. just before the rain picked up the pace and canceled the feature race for the Pro Sprint Series.

With a racing surface as wide as you will ever see it here at the Sprint Car Capital of the World, the twenty lap headliner for the 360's lined up with Zeb Wise and Parker Price-Miller starting from the front row. PPM, or "The Law Firm" would snare the early lead as fourth starting Terry McCarl and fifth starting Brian Brown picked up the chase. Brown would squeeze between McCarl and the turn four guardrail to move to second on lap two before the caution waved for Alex VanderVoort who had spun in turn two.

Once back to green only three more laps would be scored before young Cam Martin hopped the thin cushion in turns three and four and went for a ride. A couple of sprinkles would be felt during this red flag and as the field tried to restart the car of Justin Sanders stumbled and stacked up the back of the pack causing front wing damage for Harli White. It was a tough break for Sanders who had set quick time earlier in the night in the Macri Motorsports #39, but had to get a win in the B-Main to make the feature.

The race would go red once again when the top five car of Clint Garner went for a wild ride after the nine-time track champion also hopped the cushion in turn four. Kerry Madsen was also involved with Garner and behind those two Shane Golobic got upside down as well and collected Lynton Jeffrey. Thankfully Clint crawled from his mangled car uninjured and during the cleanup process some light rain started to fall.

Drivers were asked to give a thumbs up or thumbs down prior to going back to green and with the track still raceable we were back underway with Price-Miller doing everything that he could to hold off Brown. As the rain picked up a bit in intensity the drivers had to guess where they could still get full traction and even the leader changed lines nearly every lap. This would keep Brown guessing and twice he would throw a slide job at the leader in turns one and two shortly after the restart only to have Price-Miller drive back to the front down the back stretch.

When lap number ten went in the books we knew that we would have an official finish as the rain started to fall even harder and PPM would start to stretch it out a bit on Brown while still searching for the most traction on a track that had to be getting slick in some spots. With four laps remaining the leader come off of the bottom from turn one and then appeared to slip in the middle line of turn two and Brown quickly closed the gap as he drove off the cushion. With a big run on the leader as lap sixteen was scored Brown threw a short slider entering turn one, but PPM was ready for it and kicked nicely off the cushion and found a good bite this time exiting turn two from the middle line to maintain the advantage.

Knowing that his chances were running out Brown tried to come off the very bottom of turn four only to get loose and nearly go off the track on the inside of the front stretch and that was all that Parker Price-Miller would need to pull away and close out one on the most entertaining flag-to-flag victories that you will ever see. Brown would settle for second as Wise battled back to third, McCarl finished fourth and Garret Williamson filled out the top five. Davey Heskin climbed from fourteenth to finish sixth ahead of Ryan Giles, Anthony Macri was eighth, Daryn Pittman finished ninth and Kasey Kahne gained seven positions to take tenth. 

Parker Price-Miller - Barry Johnson photo

The Rest of the Story.......With cloudy and humid conditions the track held its speed a bit longer for qualifying as the top three Justin Sanders, Kerry Madsen and Lynton Jeffrey came out eighth, twelfth and sixth respectively. However Madsen was the only one of those three to come from the sixth starting spot and crack the top four in their respective heat races to advance to the feature......Jeffrey may have had a chance to transfer, but he was squeezed up to the fence by Anthony Macri in turn four on lap two for the fifth spot just before the caution waved for an Alex Hill spin. Jeffrey made his feelings known to Macri during the caution and once back to green Macri would get by Ian Madsen with three laps remaining to take the fourth and final transfer position.....The fifth heat finished in thrilling fashion as Shane Golobic threw a successful slider at Alex VanderVoort in turn four coming to the checkers......Tyler Blank would do a once over exiting turn four at the start of the B-Main and when the green flag returned it was an entertaining race for the final transfer spot as Cam Martin and Ian Madsen swapped the position a couple of times. As it turned out, with his hard crash in the feature, Martin would have had just two fewer points and an intact race car if he had finished fifth.......The big news earlier in the day was that Thursday's third place finisher Scott Bogucki had been disqualified for an engine violation.....With the early finish I tinkered with the thought of making the seventy minute drive to Marshalltown to catch the features of the Dale DeFrance Memorial, but instead I decided to go back to Barry's house and watch it on Flo. Good thing as this one looks like it will go past midnight! 

As of this writing the forecast for Saturday's finale has improved with rain chances now coming later in the evening. And, with that in mind, the Knoxville Raceway will likely again be in hurry up mode to present the Championship Night of the 33rd Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. And this, courtesy of the Knoxville Raceway website, is how they will line them up:

A Main

1 8 Aaron Reutzel 486

2 21 Brian Brown 481

3 9P Parker Price-Miller 476

4 24W Garet Williamson 476

5 1K Kelby Watt 474

6 5T Ryan Timms 472

7 22K Kaleb Johnson 472

8 26 Zeb Wise 470

9 24 Terry McCarl 469

10 18T Tanner Holmes 469

11 36 Jason Martin 466

12 55 Kerry Madsen 465

13 4W Jamie Ball 463

14 2C Wayne Johnson 462

15 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 460

16 16A Colby Copeland 459

17 9 Chase Randall 451

18 2M Davey Heskin 450

19 5 Daryn Pittman 450

20 9G Ryan Giles 449

B Main

21 39M Justin Sanders 446

22 7BC Anthony Macri 443

23 21H Brady Bacon 443

24 88 Austin McCarl 442

25 22 Ryan Leavitt 442

26 3P Sawyer Phillips 439

27 24R Rico Abreu 438

28 2 Lynton Jeffrey 435

29 40 Clint Garner 434

30 24H Kade Higday 434

31 20 Justin Peck 433

32 1 Brenham Crouch 432

33 9T Kasey Kahne 429

34 8M Kade Morton 425

35 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 424

36 4 Cam Martin 423

37 17W Shane Golobic 422

38 35 Skylar Prochaska 421

39 14T Brooke Tatnell 420

40 27 Carson McCarl 420

C Main

41 83H Justin Henderson 419

42 44 Chris Martin 417

43 83T Tanner Carrick 411

44 17 Tyler Groenendyk 410

45 11N Harli White 409

46 5M Collin Moyle 407

47 6A Alex Vande Voort 403

48 99 Tony Rost 403

49 42 Sye Lynch 403

50 50YR JJ Hickle 402

51 86 Timothy Smith 401

52 41 Colton Hardy 401

53 24T Christopher Thram 381

54 1E Ian Madsen 376

55 52 Blake Hahn 365

56 15 Ryan Turner 364

57 83JR Sam Henderson 363

58 53 Joe Beaver 362

59 7A Jack Anderson 362

60 6 Dustin Selvage 360

D Main

61 70 Calvin Landis 359

62 8H Jacob Hughes 359

63 7M Chance Morton 358

64 95 Matt Covington 347

65 75X JT Imperial 347

66 98P Miles Paulus 345

67 27B Jake Bubak 342

68 18 Ryan Roberts 339

69 87J Jace Park 334

70 4J Kevin Thomas Jr. 334

71 01 Sammy Swindell 332

72 11X Ayrton Gennetten 331

73 3J Dusty Zomer 328

74 2JR Kelly Miller 327

75 35H Zach Hampton 326

76 35L Cody Ledger 326

77 77X Alex Hill 321

78 9M Liam Martin 320

79 55B Brandon Anderson 317

80 10 Landon Britt 312

E Main

81 33 Alan Zoutte 308

82 75AU Tyler Blank 304

83 83 Austin Miller 303

84 3 Howard Moore 302

85 45X Kyler Johnson 301

86 87X Shone Evans 300

87 11M Brendan Mullen 293

88 14M Jordon Mallett 290

89 6T Christopher Townsend 286

90 4C Tuesday Calderwood 285

91 G5 Gage Pulkrabek 284

92 105 Cody Ihlen 274

93 B29 JJ Beaver 273

94 41D Dan Henning 265

95 22W Aaron Werner 265

96 4CW Chris Windom 265

97 938 Bradley Fezard 264

98 14 Aidan Zoutte 264

99 T4 Tyler Graves 263

100 17N Ben Woods 229

101 4H Cody Hansen 228

102 5D Grae Anderson 216

103 1A John Anderson 209

104 84 Scott Bogucki 0

Defending Champ Aaron Reutzel Opens Knoxville 360 Nationals With A Win

Using lapped traffic to get by California driver Colby Copeland with five laps remaining, Aaron Reutzel opened up the 2023 edition of the Knoxville 360 Sprint Car Nationals with a preliminary night victory on Thursday. Reutzel held off fellow Texan Sam Haftertepe Jr. over the closing laps and while he knows that he left some points on the table, Reutzel comes out of Thursday on top of the all important point standings that will determine the lineups for Saturday night's Championship event.

Winner Aaron Reutzel - Barry Johnson photo

Copeland would ride the bottom to take the lead from the pole position while Reutzel dispatched Jason Martin and Jamie Ball quickly to go from fourth to second. The caution would wave on lap four of the twenty lap headliner when Timothy Smith spun in turn two and during the caution it was noted that Scott Bogucki had charged from fifteenth to sixth in the first two miles of the race. 

Hafertepe was also on the fly coming from a fifth row start and he would now pick up the chase in third as one more lap would be scored before Tasker Phillips spun and then tipped over onto his side in turn four. Once back to racing and with Copeland still glued to the bottom, Reutzel was able to get up to the right rear of the leader while running the middle, but he could not make the pass as the grip was good off the bottom on both ends.

With six laps remaining Copeland had put some distance on both Reutzel and Hafertepe, but when he tried to squeeze under the slower car of Smith in turns one and two, it broke his momentum and the race was back on. Reutzel closed quickly down the back stretch and when Copeland drifted up the track in turns three and four, Aaron nearly jumped the cushion as Hafertepe tried to get to the low line. When Copeland again left the bottom in turn one that allowed Reutzel, Hafertepe and Bogucki to get around him during the lap as the race long leader dropped to fourth.

Early leader Colby Copeland - Barry Johnson photo

Hafertepe would make one last run at Reutzel with three laps remaining, but when Aaron closed the door in turn one he then pulled away to score his fifth 360 win of the season here at Knoxville. Hafertepe was the runner-up just ahead of the hard charger Bogucki, Chase Randall came from twelfth to finish fourth with Copeland holding on for fifth. Ball and Martin were next in line for sixth and seventh, Austin McCarl advanced six spots to finish in eighth, Kelby Watt was ninth and Tuesday's High Limit Sprint Car Series winner Justin Peck filled out the top then.

Runner-up Sam Hafertepe Jr. - Barry Johnson photo

The Rest of the Story......The 360 Nationals use the same qualifying points format as Knoxville's 410 Nationals with 200 points dropping two point increments for both qualifying and the A-Feature while each heat race winner earns 100 points with three point increments. The difference between the two events is that only six cars are inverted in the heat races this week while eight cars will make the invert next week. You have to be in the top four in the heats to make the A-Main for that evening......Drawing a low number for qualifying is vital to your success as the track just naturally gets slower as more cars go out and tonight it would be the second driver on the track, Kaleb Johnson that would set quick time. Reutzel felt like he left points on the table here as even though he was the fourth car out to time, he had the fifth fastest qualifying lap. Bogucki on the other hand was the 38th car out for qualifying and he could only muster the 25th fastest time which is why he landed in row eight for the A-Main.....While the top ten qualifiers really struggle to make the top four in the 410 Nationals, the 360 drivers have it a bit easier needing to come from fifth or sixth into the top four......Johnson was already up to third on the opening lap of the first heat race locking himself into the A-Main where, as the top point driver making the show from the heats, he would start eighth and then fade to thirteenth in the A-Main. How important is that low pill draw? Kaleb is fourth in the points after night one.......Young Tanner Holmes was impressive as the Oregon driver went from fifth to third on a lap one restart in the second heat only giving third back to Hafertepe a lap later......Timothy Smith got sideways exiting turn four as he paced the third heat to a start and that would allow Jason Martin to go from fourth to first and take the win. Smith made a nice recovery to finish second.....The battle for third was the race to watch in the fourth heat as Copeland and Kelby Watt swapped the position a couple of times. Watt would prevail for third and those extra three points would put him second on the points list after night one......As Bogucki ran away with the win in heat five, the race for the fourth and final transfer position was a good one featuring Justin Henderson, Reutzel and Rico Abreu. Reutzel would complete the pass on Henderson at the mid-race mark and that would then put him in a position to close out the night with the win......Both Henderson and Abreu would make the transfer out of the B-Main by finishing second and third respectively. Ryan Leavitt would take the win while Kade Morton would take the final transfer in fourth.......The only two significant incidents on the night would come in the first two tries at a start of the B as seventh starting Jack Anderson slid his car up the track in turn one and backed into the wall. Amazingly everybody was able to avoid him. On the second try at a start the C-Main winner Liam Martin would get upside down entering turn one.......The final checkers waved about ten minutes prior to ten o'clock and we look forward to night number two of qualifying on Friday.

Scott Bogucki - Barry Johnson photo

33rd Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank Night #1 Points courtesy of KnoxvilleRaceway.com

1. Aaron Reutzel 483

2. Kelby Watt 472

3. Ryan Timms 470

4. Kaleb Johnson 470

5. Tanner Holmes 467

6. Jason Martin 464

7. Jamie Ball 461

8. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 460

9. Colby Copeland 457

10. Chase Randall 449

11. Scott Bogucki 448

12. Austin McCarl 440

13. Ryan Leavitt 440

14. Rico Abreu 433

15. Brenham Crouch 430

16. Justin Peck 429

17. Kade Higday 429

18. Kade Morton 423

19. Tasker Phillips 420

20. Justin Henderson 414

21. Chris Martin 410

22. Tyler Groenendyk 410

23. Tanner Carrick 409

24. JJ Hickle 402

25. Colton Hardy 401

26. Tony Rost 399

27. Timothy Smith 397

28. Blake Hahn 363

29. Jack Anderson 362

30. Jacob Hughes 359

31. Dustin Selvage 358

32. Chance Morton 358

33. Calvin Landis 357

34. JT Imperial 345

35. Ryan Roberts 337

36. Sammy Swindell 330

37. Ayrton Gennetten 329

38. Kelly Miller 322

39. Cody Ledger 321

40. Liam Martin 318

41. Brandon Anderson 315

42. Alan Zoutte 303

43. Howard Moore 300

44. Kyler Johnson 299

45. Christopher Townsend 284

46. Tuesday Calderwood 283

47. Gage Pulkrabek 282

48. Cody Ihlen 272

49. Tyler Graves 261

50. Aaron Werner 260

The Kid Is In Kontrol At Davenport

For the past few years the Davenport Speedway has been able to capitalize on literally being in between two of the biggest events in Late Model racing; the Silver Dollar Nationals and the Prairie Dirt Classic. And by scheduling the Tuesday night show as a MARS series race, it has made for an interesting roster with drivers from both the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series converging on the track that more and more drivers have proclaimed to be their favorite. Plus, with the MARS sanctioning you would add in a few of their points contenders as well and the result has been some fantastic racing. In fact, the 2021 version of this event was named the Dirt On Dirt race of the year when Hudson O'Neal edged out Jonathan Davenport for the victory. 

The Hoker 50 was once again scheduled in that prime location here in 2023, however when the XR Super Series shifted a two-day $100,000-to-win event originally scheduled for an April date at the Off Road Speedway in Norfolk, Nebraska, to this Monday and Tuesday in July, that would peel off nearly all of the current national stars of the sport. Also, if you want proof that the MARS Series is truly a regional effort, four of the top ten in series points were not in attendance at Davenport likely because it was a Tuesday night and at a track that is on the edge of its region. Note that I used the word "current" above, because in the twenty-four drivers that were in action here, there were at least a couple who will likely be national stars in the very near future. Most notably the two that would finish the fifty laps in first and second.

Young Drake Troutman has been wowing fans along the UMP Summer Nationals trail in 2023 as the Pennsylvania driver made his way west and while he showed a great deal of speed nearly every night, the results just weren't falling in to place the way that he wanted. Shredded tires while either at the front or making a big run through the field, jumping the cushion while leading at Quincy or getting caught up in other drivers messes, Troutman did not pick up a win on the Summer Nationals despite dazzling the fans who were perhaps seeing him for the first time. Even here at Davenport's Summer National stop "The Kid" earned some new fans in June when he went from third to first on the final to win his heat race so on this night it would come as no surprise to see him go the distance to pick up the $10,000 top prize. 

Troutman was right where he wanted to be when he drew the outside of row one for the Hoker 50 as he was a rocket off the cushion on both ends. Frank Heckenast Jr. would try to maintain the quick early pace, but the bottom had not come in yet and after Jake Little slid off the top of turn four on lap nine, Garrett Alberson would move to second. With his Roberts Racing Team based here in the Quad Cities, Alberson was the only national tour regular in the field on this night and after setting quick time earlier, he was nipped on the final lap of the first heat race by Heckenast to finish third and drop him out of the redraw. But Garrett was quick again now coming from seventh to second and he was trying to find a line that was better than Troutman's rim ride.

Some drama for the MARS series point leaders would play out just before the mid-race mark, first when points leader Jason Feger exited the speedway under green on lap twenty-two and then just two laps later championship contender Ryan Unzicker slowed on the speedway to draw a caution. All four tire were still up on the #24 and he would still be in the work area when the field came back to green with twenty-six laps remaining. Chris Simpson would move to second on this restart, but soon found out that he could not keep up with Troutman and the caution would wave again on lap thirty-two when Matt Furman and Justin Duty both slipped off of the turn two banking.

Alberson would get back to second on this restart and Simpson's race would come to an end when he pulled to the infield with twelve laps remaining while running fourth. One lap later the caution would fly again for Furman who was in the same predicament as before and once back to green both Alberson and the ninth starting Bob Gardner would drive under the leader racing into turn one. Troutman's bite off the cushion was phenomenal though as he flew back around both of them on the back stretch and the question now was whether or not the young driver could close this one out without a mistake.

With the cushion now pushed to the very top of the banking on both ends, all it would take would be just a slight miscalculation to drop the right rear off the top and lose several positions, or worse yet to completely slide over the banking and fall to the back. With the luck that Troutman has had here in the Midwest over the past six weeks, that had to be going through his mind, and that showed a bit in the closing laps as he entered the turns a bit lower and then "grabbed" the cushion out of turns two and four. This allowed Alberson to close the gap and even show the leader his nose a few times in the closing laps, but Drake would keep his cool and close out the flag to flag run with the big win.

Alberson would be just a couple of car lengths back in second while Gardner appeared to have made up some valuable MARS points on Feger and Unzicker with a third-place finish. However, in post-race tech Gardner was disqualified for a deck height violation dropping him to the end of the running order. This would move Jeff Larson up to third with Heckenast in fourth and, after starting from twenty-third, Justin Kay would wind up in the top five. Only nine cars, including the disqualified Gardner, would finish the race. 

Drake Troutman's ride ready for action

IMCA Modifieds and the track's Outlaw Stock Car class would run in support on this evening. In the twenty lap main event for the Modifieds, young Charlie Mohr would control the first seventeen laps before the trio of Brad Dierks, Chris Zogg and Matt Werner converged on him. It was an entertaining four car battle for the lead when, with just two laps to go Dierks would drive under Mohr to take the lead and as Charlie tried to battle back, he would drop two more spots as the white flag waved.

Chris Zogg would charge to the outside of Dierks entering turn three on the final lap, but Brad would have the bite exiting turn four to take the win by a car length over Zogg. Werner, who had started ninth, would finish in third ahead of Mohr and Scotte Lemke.

Tony Von Dresky would lead the way early in the fifteen lap money race for the Stock cars until lap six when he would be joined by Nick Hixson and Jeff Struck Jr. for a three car battle for the front. Hixson would take the point on lap seven and, as Von Dresky tried to grab the cushion in turn one to mount a comeback, he would drop off the top and slip to fourth after recovering. Struck would then make his move to the front on lap eight and two laps later Hixson would exit the track while still running second.

The checkers were just about to fly for Struck when two cars tangled in turn one, so the caution waved instead. On the restart Von Dresky tried to make a run at returning to the point over the final two laps, but Struck was just too strong as he scored his fifth win of the season. Von Dresky finished second, third goes to Landen Chrestensen, Joe Bonney finished fourth and Cary Brown completed the top five.

As always the Davenport Speedway crew presented an efficient and entertaining program that wrapped up just before 9:30 and they can all take a break now as the Mississippi Valley Fair takes over the facility until racing returns on Friday August 11th. And don't forget about the World of Outlaws Late Model tripleheader here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday August 24th, 25th and 26th.

Tonight I make the trip up to the Dubuque Speedway for the annual appearance by the Sprint Invaders, plus some big money on the line for the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Then on Thursday night I will take in the sights, sounds and racing action of the Louisa County Fair at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. Look for me trying to choose from one of the many fantastic food options at these fairs!

Wise Scores All Star Win at 34 Raceway

Near prefect weather for late July greeted racers and fans alike as the Tezo's All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars pulled in to 34 Raceway west of Burlington, Iowa, on Friday night. And even with a bit of chill in the air after the sun went down, the final twenty laps of the main event heated things back up with some thrilling moves and a late race pass for the win.

Thirty-three drivers signed in for the All Star's portion of the show with qualifying, four heats, a Dash and the B-Main setting the twenty-four car field for thirty laps with $7,000 waiting for the winner. After watching the Dash it looked like three-time series champion Aaron Reutzel would be the odds on favorite coming from the outside of row one, but it would be pole-sitter Jamie Veal racing out to the early lead.

Four early cautions would interrupt the action, the first coming on lap three when Connor Morrell slowed, but did not turn into the infield. Just prior to that a low riding Austin McCarl had slipped by Reutzel for second and on the restart he would go to work on the Aussie Veal. As the two crossed the line side-by-side on lap five it would be McCarl out front by an inch with the caution waving again for Ryan Timms who had just executed a three hundred and sixty degree spin in turn four..

So it would now be McCarl bringing the field back to green with just one more lap scored before the fourth place car of Lachlan McHugh did a 360 in turn four and then on lap nine Ayrton Gennetten spun off the top at the exit of turn two to keep from clipping the uke tires protecting the start of the back stretch wall.

Thankfully the race would go green to checkers from there and the nice sized crowd was treated to some great racing action, especially up front in the closing laps. McCarl was rolling the bottom and while Reutzel was able to almost pull even with the leader in the corners while running the middle, Austin would rocket away down the straightaways. At the mid-race point Zeb Wise joined the battle and he had the Rudeen Racing #26 milking what was left of the cushion that had pushed all the way to the top in turns one and two and that was very high, especially at the exit of turn four.

It took some time for Wise to snatch second away from Reutzel and lap by lap he was closing on McCarl, again pulling nearly even with him in the turns only to have the leader race away down the straights. On lap twenty Wise would be in the lead exiting turn four only to have McCarl use his speed down the back stretch to drive low into turn three and then drift up the track in four to close the door on Wise. Several in the crowd came to their feet as this sequence was repeated on the next lap and this time McCarl would stay up top in turns one and two now finding the rubber that would allow him to pull away from Wise once again.

After fending off Zeb's challenge in spectacular fashion, Austin now appeared to be heading for a victory, but on lap twenty-seven he get a bit too high in turns one and two dropping the right rear over the top of the banking for just a split second. Wise would pounce at the opportunity and take the lead down the back stretch and when McCarl tried to get back to the front with a slider in turn four, both Wise and Reutzel were able to slip under him to drop the former leader to third. Reutzel would keep the pressure on Wise over the final three laps, but there was no stopping Zeb as he picked up his fourth All Star win of the season and this now makes it eight winners in eight ASCoC events here at 34 over the years.

Reutzel and McCarl would both talk about "what could have been' during their podium interviews, Veal finished fourth and Buddy Kofoid took fifth. Parker Price-Miller advanced from fourteenth to six, but the Hard Charger of the race would be Chris Windom who finished seventh after starting from the outside of row eleven. Kerry Madsen, Cole Macedo and Riley Goodno would fill out the top ten. The All Stars now head east a couple of hours to make a long awaited return to the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton, Illinois, on Saturday night.

The Window World 305 Sprint Cars ran in support of their bigger engine brethren with Brandon Worthington scoring a clean sweep winning both his heat and the fifteen lap feature. A Saturday night regular in the Pro Series division at Knoxville, Worthington makes his way down to 34 Raceway whenever he gets the opportunity and he would go unchallenged after starting from the pole position and dealing with three restarts. Track point leader Cody Wehrle raced his way up from sixth to finish as tonight's runner-up while the other front row starter Nathan Murders ran a solid race in third. Des Moines driver Mike Johnston finished in fourth while Colton Fisher, subbing for Noah Samuel in the #41 tonight, nipped Nick Guernsey by inches at the line for fifth. 

34 Raceway gets back to weekly Saturday night action next week on July 29th and their next Sprint Car special comes on Friday, August 25th, when the IRA series returns to town.

After a busy stretch of seven races in eleven nights, I am going to take a few nights off now before another three straight next week. On Tuesday we head for the Davenport Speedway for the MARS Late Model show. Wednesday the Sprint Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair where there will also be some big money on the line in the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Then on Thursday night I hope to be at the Louisa County Fair in Columbus Junction where it will be the Battle on the Levee at the CJ Speedway.

Stay cool, stay hydrated next week and I hope to see you on the Back Stretch!