Courtney Consumes Bacon For Friday Feature Win at 360 Nationals

Yes, I just did that and I came darn close to being able to use the word "Sizzles" in the headline for the second night in a row! Brady Bacon looked unstoppable through the first eight laps of Friday night's main even at the Knoxville Raceway until he caught the back of the field. Struggling to get around Tyler Lee who was also running the leader's preferred line around the bottom of the historic half-mile, fellow front row starter Tyler Courtney closed fast and after they both disposed of Lee, Courtney made the pass on lap eleven of the twenty lap event.

Tyler Courtney closes in on Brady Bacon - Barry Johnson photo

He too would then open up a seemingly insurmountable advantage only to have lapped traffic give him fits allowing Bacon to come roaring back and as they split the slower car of Evan Semerad, Bacon almost beat Courtney to the bottom in turn one. Once "Sunshine" closed the door though, this one was over as Courtney would score the win over the "Macho Man" in the non-stop event. Ryan Timms was the star of the night from a points standpoint as his third place run, up from the seventh starting spot, will put the young star on the pole for Saturday night's finale. Anthony Macri finished where he started in fourth and Brian Brown closed out the top five.

Tasker Phillips was the Hard Charger coming from eighteenth to finish sixth, young Austin Wood slipped from third to seventh, five-time 360 Nationals champion Terry McCarl is still getting it done in eighth, J.J. Hickle was ninth while Levi Hillier was tenth. The night's quick qualifier Sam Hafertepe Jr. slipped from eighth to eleventh while the defending 360 Nationals champion and crowd favorite Rico Abreu won the B-Main and then finished thirteenth.

Tyler Courtney - Barry Johnson photo

Barry Johnson photo

Friday Notes......Tonight's top five qualifiers Hafertepe, Timms, Brown, Kerry Madsen and Josh Schneiderman came out 2nd, 30th, 5th, 12th and 1st respectively. Madsen would come out of the B-Main while Schneiderman was one spot shy of a transfer out of the B......Courtney gave a preview of things to come going from fourth to first in the first set of turns in the first heat, a race that he would then win going away.......Timms would be the only driver on either night to start sixth and take a heat race win taking the lead on lap five of eight in heat two.....The third heat race was stacked with the defending 360 track champion Phillips, Whit Gastineau, Parker Price-Miller, Bacon, Abreu and Brown starting in the first three rows with only four to advance. PPM would join Abreu in the B-Main where he passed Schneiderman late and then raced from 24th to 12th in the feature.....A three car battle for the final transfer position in heat four was a good one where Sean McClelland tried to hold off Anthony Macri and Kerry Madsen through some tight quarters racing. Macri would prevail leading to his top five run in the main event......The first two starts of the fifth heat were very ragged and called back, but once underway there would be no catching sixteen-year-old Evan Semerad who would score the win......With a threat of weather possibly popping up in the area, track officials kept things moving with the final checkers waving at 9:44 p.m.......Ryan Timms and Aaron Reutzel will bring the field to green from row one in Saturday's finale. Other notable A-Main qualifiers include sixteen-year-old Austin Wood as the Californian comes back to his Iowa roots, along with sixty-one-year-old National Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Terry McCarl. A tip of the hat as well to hometown hero Ryan Leavitt and ASCS regular Kyler Johnson who made it in as the twentieth driver on the points list.....That leaves defending champion Rico Abreu in the B-Main where you can bet he will look to put on a show as it will be Knoxville Night In America on Saturday! 

Ryan Timms - Barry Johnson photo

Scelzi Sizzles; Reutzel Tops Points List After 360 Nationals Opener

During hot laps for Thursday night's opener of the Knoxville 360 Nationals Gio Scelzi's Chili's sponsored car #77 sounded terrible and was obviously not up to speed posting the 45th best lap of the 53 entries. With a 360 cubic inch engine on loan from the team of Pacific Northwest stalwart Trey Starks and no viable option to change to, the team went to work and diagnosed a spark plug issue that was taken care of in time for qualifying. As the 26th car out to time, Scelzi posted the 13th best lap and the team went back to work on fine tuning the borrowed powerplant.

By the third heat race the engine was humming right along as Gio started fourth and finished second to Tanner Holmes to qualify for the night's A-Main and, as luck would have it, his point total to that point would land him on the pole position in the standard eight car invert for those who were able to transfer from the five heat races.

Scelzi would outrun fellow front row starter Ryan Leavitt into turn one to take the point and he would open a sizeable advantage until he started to encounter traffic on lap eight. Kyle Larson had moved from fourth to second at that point and as the leader struggled to get past Kaleb Johnson, Larson quickly closed in on Scelzi. Finally after a couple of laps Gio cleared Johnson, and the car in front of him, as Larson now faced the same struggle only to have the lone caution of the race wave on lap twelve when the left rear tire exploded on the #8 of John Carney II.

Gio Scelzi - Chuck Stowe Images

With an open race track and just eight laps remaining the restart would likely tell the story here, but as both Scelzi and Larson drove to the bottom through turns one and two, Chase Randall went to the middle and drove around the outside of Larson to take second. Kyle would battle back to regain the spot with five to go, but while they tussled Scelzi had hustled out to a full straightaway advantage. 

As those final laps clicked away, quick qualifier on the night Aaron Reutzel had worked his way past Randall for third and was now closing fast on Larson and as they came off of turn four to take the checkers Reutzel would edge out Larson to finish as the runner-up to Gio Scelzi. Once viewed as a bit of a villain here at Knoxville, I was amazed to hear the crowd actually cheering the final lap pass over the driver that was once everybody's hero. Randall would finish in fourth followed by James McFadden in fifth. Corey Day started tenth and finished sixth, Justin Peck advanced from twelfth to seventh, Justin Henderson was eighth, Brock Zearfoss ninth and Ryan Leavitt was the best of the locals finishing out the top ten.

Chuck Stowe Images

Thursday Notes.....A favorable draw for qualifying order is a big step toward success in both the 360 and 410 Nationals, but on this night it wasn't as critical as the top five qualifiers Aaron Reutzel, Justin Henderson, James McFadden, Riley Goodno and Daison Pursley went out 17th, 24th, 52nd, 22nd and 6th respectively. Although if you asked him, I'm sure that Ryan Leavitt would say that being the third car out was a nice start to his evening.....Kyle Larson was the 37th car to trip the clock in qualifying and he posted a solid sixth quick time that landed him on the inside of row three for the first heat with the six car invert. The top four would transfer out of each heat and at the drop of the green Larson had to check up twice behind Texan Christopher Townsend and he would drop to eighth on the opening lap. This would normally be a bad sign, especially in an early heat race, but the track was already wide and Larson would race his way back to fourth by the checkers......As the sixth starter in heat three, McFadden picked up the fourth spot as lap one was scored slamming the door on Jace Park as they raced down the front stretch.....The fourth heat had a great battle for the final transfer position as Brock Zearfoss and Riley Goodno swapped the position mid-race and in the final laps they closed on the third place car of Kade Morton. In the end it would be Goodno who would have to make a transfer from the -B-Main....A very slow pace coming to the start of heat five allowed Daison Pursley to jump from sixth to fourth on the opening lap and he then had to hold off a charge from Sawyer Phillips mid-race....The only flip of the night would come at the start of the B-Main where Skylar Prochaska swung wide from his eleventh row starting spot and passed several cars down the front stretch. But entering turn one he would run up over the back of Ben Brown sending Prochaska's car hard into the outside guardrail where it then collected young Jack Thomas. Thankfully both drivers walked away without injury......The top ten in points after night one are Reutzel, McFadden, Henderson, Larson, Scelzi, Randall, Pursley, Goodno, Day and Leavitt with the other half of the field set to go tonight. 

Aaron Reutzel - Chuck Stowe Images

Abreu and Brown Triumph During Weiler's Tribute To The Lasoski Family At Knoxville

Saturday was a special night at the Knoxville Raceway and not just because it would be the final tune up for both the 360 and 410 Nationals. Spearheaded by one of Knoxville's favorites Brian Brown, this night would be a tribute to his uncle Danny Lasoski and his grandfather George Lasoski who at ninety years of age proclaimed this as being one of his proudest moments at the legendary facility where his family has played such a significant role in building that legend.

With the help from several great sponsors including the headliner Weiler that now employs over 900 people in this community of 7,500 along with the presenting sponsor the Iowa Lottery that has embraced short track racing here in 2026, some big money was on the line and that would bring a whopping field of 45 410's and 57 360's on what turned out to be a beautiful evening here in central Iowa.

Just making the show would be an accomplishment on this night, especially in the 360's as several of the 410 stars also unloaded their lesser powered wagons to get dialed in for the 360 Nationals that takes place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Young Cam Martin would lineup on the pole for the twenty lap headliner with Brian Brown, replacing his usual #21 with the Lasoski family #33, on both of his rides tonight starting to his outside.

Chuck Stowe Photo

Contact mid-pack in turns one and two would cause Joe Beaver to slow before one lap was scored so it would be the second try at a start that would see Martin sprint to the early advantage over Brown. That lead duo would put some space on the rest of the field until lap eight when the right rear tire on Corey Day's #14 would blow out and that would bunch the field back together. Three laps following the restart Brown would get a run on Martin down the back stretch and drive under him for the lead on lap eleven only to have Cam put a slider on the veteran in turn two to reclaim the point on the next lap. 

Once Brown regained his momentum he would again use that high to low line in turns one and two to drive past Martin with four laps to go just before the caution waved again for a flat tire, this time for point leader Kade Higday who was racing in fourth at the time. And just to show why we love this sport so much, the crew from one of his closest contenders in the point race, Tasker Phillips, was right there in the work area ready to help get the tire changed and allow Higday to get back to the track before the green flag waved for the final time in this one.

Two more young stars would now take up the chase on Brown, but neither Chase Randall or Ryan Timms could mount a challenge on Brian Brown who posted his first win at Knoxville since July of 2025. Randall finished second in what should be a confidence booster during a challenging season for him in the High Limit series while Timms came from fourteenth to finish third. Cam Martin would hold on to the fourth spot while James McFadden cruised from fifteenth to fifth. 

Uncle Danny Lasoski and Grandpa George Lasoski join Brian Brown in victory lane - Chuck Stowe photo

Brown was asked in victory lane if he would keep the #33 on the car for the Nationals and he said that if he would do that if he could get a win in the 410's as well where he would start from the pole for twenty-five laps. This one would go non-stop and in the early laps Brian would have to ward off the challenges of Chris Martin to maintain the lead and by lap fifteen "Black Jack" looked like he would be cashing in his #21 this week for the 33 until Rico Abreu picked up his pace.

The defending 360 Nationals champion, Abreu had started seventh and he was now visibly faster than everybody else regardless of what line he was running through the turns. By the time he got to second Rico was still more than a half straightaway behind Brown with just six laps to go, but he quickly erased that and drove between a lapper and Brown exiting turn four to take the lead on lap twenty.

There would be no catching him after that as Abreu put the exclamation mark on a great evening at the track to score the win with Brown taking the runner-up spot. The battle for position behind them stayed hot right to the checkers with Austin McCarl taking third over Kerry Madsen while Aaron Reutzel passed Martin on the final lap to finish fifth after starting eleventh. 

Chuck Stowe photo

Knoxville Knotes.......Reutzel was entered in both divisions, but after posting a stout qualifying lap in the 360's he was announced as being too light at the scales disallowing his time and placing him at the back of a heat race. He would instead park that car for the night and after a heat race win in his 410 he stated that he did not know that the 360's would run three qualifying laps and that left him two pounds light at the scale.....There were some "lineup" items of note on this evening with the first coming during the third heat of the 360's when announcer Blake Walker pointed out that all nine drivers were from the state of Iowa. Now that might not seem very noteworthy for a track located in the central part of Iowa, but when you consider that only 24 of the 57 entries were Iowans, that would have some Iowa Lottery odds associated with it to get nine of them in the same heat race......With drivers qualifying within thousandths of seconds of each other, then having to finish in a transfer position through the heat races with the feature lineup then determined by an invert draw, what were the odds that Brian Brown would land on the front row of both features on this night? Then add in the fact that the Martin brothers, Cameron in the 360's and Chris in the 410's would join him would be another longshot. And, finally, consider this. The crew chief on Chris Martin's #44? Non other than Danny "The Dude" Lasoski...... Put Rico Abreu on The Dude's shoulders and they still weren't as tall as the eight foot trophy that was waiting for the winner of the 410's. 

I'm pumped up now and ready to roll for two weeks of Sprint Car racing at Knoxville with the 360 Nationals getting underway this Thursday night. Check in for coverage right here on the Back Stretch!

Thanks to Chuck Stowe for giving us permission to use his fine photography with this entry!

Simpson, Larson, Hefty and Crist Display Blue Ribbon Performances at Dubuque County Fair

I love it when a county fair charges one admission price at the gate and then allows you to take in the night's grandstand entertainment as you choose. And, when that entertainment for the evening is Dirt Track Racing it is an opportunity for the sport that we love to be exposed to people who otherwise would never even give it a chance. This has been the format used by the annual Dubuque County Fair for many years now and as we settled into our seats just prior to hot laps on Wednesday night I watched two young ladies in front of me marvel at how the cars were sliding through the turns in hot laps. They stuck around through the opening ceremonies and then a couple of heat races before moving on to other activities that the fair had to offer and they were soon replaced by three teenagers who actually set their phones aside and watched while the green flag was out.

That trio disappeared after intermission and once the features started a larger group of teens converged in front of us and the one with a racing t-shirt on was explaining to the others what was happening and who to keep an eye on. I'm not sure how successful he was as the group soon formed a circle and was having a lively conversation about topics other than the racing going on in front of them, but even if they eventually look upon the race track as a place to gather with friends on a Sunday night here, that would be a plus. My point is that if just one of those random "visitors" to the races on this night at the fair makes a point to return to the track in the future, then that is a win for our sport and just one of the many reasons why I enjoy coming to the races at the Dubuque County Fair.

The Karl Chevrolet Premier Late Model Series would be the headliner's on this night with a $3,000 top prize up for grabs while the Modifieds drew in some out of towners with a $2,000 to win incentive and the Hobby Stocks raced for a hefty $1,000 winner's check, and yes, the pun is intended.

The Crown Vics though would be the first feature to the track and Will Schmidt would lead the opening lap in his noticeably numbered 80085 before yielding to the third starting Ross Crist. Derrick Dean who started fifth would soon move in to challenge with the lead duo pulling away from the rest of the field, and while Dean was able to slip a nose under the leader on a couple of occasions Crist would hold on to earn his ninth victory of the season and deny Dean his twelfth triumph. Rob Culbertson started tenth and finished third, Ethan Kammerude who scored a convincing heat race victory earlier in the night moved from sixth to fourth while Jacob Welter filled out the top five after starting from eighth.

The Crown Vic feature would go green to checkers, twelve laps without incident. Unfortunately we did not see anything close to that clean performance in the remaining three features.

It was not that long ago when Dubuque would struggle to hit double digits in the car count for the IMCA Hobby Stock class, but this division has really grown recently and twenty-two drivers, mostly track regulars with a few nearby visitors made up tonight's twenty-two car field for fifteen laps. One lap would be scored before a stack up ahead of him in turn one would force Jared Miles to spin to avoid contact and he would be sent to the rear of the field, a true victim of circumstance.

Once back to racing Kyler Hefty would lead the way just ahead of a torrid battle for second behind him that would lead to the second caution of the race on lap five. Matt Bennett was running second and appeared to get high exiting turn four. This would force Carson Butt to make a quick move the left taking him across the nose of Dalton Weepie's #3 and sending Butt for a spin down the front stretch. As Butt was sent to the back of the field for the restart, Bennett would join him there as well after a visit to the pit area and we would go back to racing.

Blaise Watters who had drawn the #11 after an impressive heat race win would now be Hefty's primary challenger, but only three more laps would be scored before Reegan Merkes would go for a spin in turn one and this time Jared Miles could not avoid contact ending his evening with a damaged radiator. 

One more lap would go in the books before Brandon White's spin in turn two and on this restart Watters would go to work on the leader pulling alongside Hefty and actually nosing him out for the lead on what would have been lap twelve if not for a two car pileup behind them in turn three between Kyle Jared and Mark Neis.

Going back to the last completed lap Hefty would bring the field back to green with Carson Butt now back in the mix moving to the third spot and looking to make it a three car battle for the lead only to have his right rear tire go flat coming to the white flag. That sixth and final caution would give us a one lap shootout where Kyler Hefty was able to hold off Watters to take the win. Lukas Short started from eighth and finished third, division rookie Jaice Tuttle came from seventh to fourth and Matt Bennett battled his was back to the front for a top five finish. A tip of the hat as well to Leah Wroten who struggled with mechanical issues earlier in the evening to start from twenty-first and raced her way up to sixth.

The IMCA Modifieds would fare a bit better with only three cautions over twenty laps, and none of them that added to the storyline other than the restart on lap two when early leader Charlie Mohr stumbled on the cushion entering turn one allowing former National Champion Jeff Larson to go flying by and take a lead that he would not give up the rest of the way. The battle to watch in the closing laps was for second as Matt Gansen fought off the charge of Jed Freiburger, who had started eleventh, to take the runner-up position while Mohr and Austin Stamm completed the top five.

I want to take a moment here to recognize Jed Freiburger, who I hope is very well known around his home tracks, but perhaps is a bit of an unknown outside of northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. Freiburger has been in the top ten of the All Iowa Points each of the past four seasons, finishing as high as third in 2024 and he looks to make that five straight as he currently ranks fourth in the 2026 standings. Back in early June he had a victory well in hand at the IMCA Summer Nationals in Independence before a late caution left him vulnerable to a couple of drivers who had been searching for a better line than the leader and on this night he drew the back of the field in a stout nine car heat race where he dug his way up to the fourth and final redraw spot where he then drew the eleven for the feature. Fair warning, if the #6 from Dubuque finds his way to your track, he will be one to watch!

Twenty-four of the twenty-six Premier Late Models would close out the evening for thirty laps with Jerry King and Nick Marolf bringing the field to green. The initial start was waved off as Marolf was shuffled back to fifth before the flag stand and on the second try he would fare much better racing to the early lead. The first of seven, yes seven cautions would wave on lap two for a driver at the back of the field drilling an infield tractor tire and on this restart Chad Simpson would ride the tall cushion in turns one and two to perfection to charge from fifth to second with his sights now set on Marolf and the lead.

That same high line momentum would propel Chad to the front on lap four and the caution would wave again for debris on lap five. The longest green flag sequence of the event would see Simpson starting to have to deal with a lapper in his preferred line but before Marolf and others could use that to their advantage another caution waved on lap thirteen for driver who had spun in turn two. I will continue to protect the innocent here, except for the lap twenty caution that unfortunately saw an end to Nick Marolf's second place run as he slowed on the high side and then pulled to the infield during the caution.

Two spins by drivers and two more debris cautions would slow the action over the final half of the race and to exacerbate the issue there seemed to be several extra laps under caution where perhaps the series officials were either verifying the realignment or giving drivers extra time in the pits to return, but who didn't, and finally after thirty laps in thirty-eight minutes the checkers waved over Chad Simpson for the $3,000 victory. The eventual battle for second was a spicy one if you happened to be watching them earlier as C.J. Horn and Jeff Tharp had actually nearly wrecked each other while racing for third.

Tharp was on the charge after starting thirteenth and he was driving for the bottom entering turn three when Horn went for that same piece of real estate. Neither driver gave an inch and the right side of Tharp's car actually climbed up the left side of Horn's and they stayed that way for several yards before disconnecting and getting back on the throttle. Under one of those extended cautions there was likely plenty of sign language going on between the two of them and it even looked like there was some slight contact as they weaved to keep the tires cleaned off. Or, who knows, perhaps they were just letting each other know that the damage to both cars was surprisingly minimal given the circumstances!

Tharp would get to second late and on the final restart he was able to pull even with Simpson in turn two only to have Chad pull away in the closing laps. Still it was an impressive run for Tharp in second as Horn settled for third. Early contender Matt Ryan held down the fourth spot while J.D Auringer rallied from fourteenth to fifth.

Even with the multiple cautions, an on-time start of hot laps at 6:30 and a well run program overall still had us on the road at 9:55 and the Dubuque County Fair mid-week show will remain on my "to do" list for years to come!

Next up for me will be both the 360 and 410 Nationals at Knoxville with an opportunity to announce a night at Vinton, plus the long awaited return of the Winged Sprint Cars to Marshalltown in between the two mega events. I will be looking for you out there on the Back Stretch!

Horn's First Win of 2026 And Tharp's First Stock Car Victory Highlight a Fun Night in Vinton

A last minute change of plans found me making the 101-mile trip north to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday night for some IMCA weekly racing action spiced up by an appearance by the Karl Chevrolet Premier Late Model tour. I always have, and will continue to shout from the rooftops how much I love IMCA's lineup procedure for weekly racing with inverts by average points as it almost always guarantees plenty of lead changes throughout the night and with a well prepared racing surface on this hot and sunny evening, that was definitely the case. Well, except for one division.....

After winning the season opener here in April, Adam Gates has experienced some tough luck at Benton County finishing 20th twice, 16th and fourth since then so his average points landed him on the front row of the twelve lap Sport Compact feature on this night and after a convincing win of his heat race, Gates seemed poised to run away with this one. However! The racing behind his flag-to-flag run to victory would provide plenty of entertainment as drivers charged through the field.

Lukas Rick was most notable after starting scratch in the fifteen car field after exiting his heat race prematurely due to mechanical issues. Rick quickly moved to the top four bringing the tenth starting Cristian Grady with him and on lap eight disaster would strike the then third place car of Aaron Kirkpatrick.

Contact with another car would peel his rear bumper cover off of his car in turn one just before he drove off the top of turn two and spun. Without the spin, the caution would have been for the debris, but now Kirkpatrick would have to start on the tail and on the restart he would get shuffled off the back stretch and end up on his top outside of turn three.

Once back to green Gates would ease ahead while Rick, Grady, Mike Peyton and Robert Rundle slugged it out behind him and at the checkers it was Gates with the win with Grady prevailing as the runner up. Rick held down third with Rundle and Peyton completing the top five.

The twenty lap feature for the IMCA Modifieds would be up next with Dirk Hamilton setting the pace before the caution waved for debris on lap three. On the restart Troy Cordes would apply the pressure after starting fifth and on lap five Troy would charge to the front. As the leaders raced into turn three possible contact would send Hamilton for a spin, but the track official who had the better vantage point ruled that the caution would be on the former leader and rather than restarting at the rear, Hamilton would then drive to the pit area before the restart.

The tenth starting Jeff Aikey would now try to keep pace with Cordes in second only to see the leader build more than a straightaway advantage. However, when Dennis Betzer slowed with a flat tire as Cordes was taking the white flag that lead would be erased with the caution and a green/white/checkers finish. There would be no stopping Cordes though who again pulled away to score his second win of 2026 and his first of the year here at Vinton. Aikey would be the runner up with Jerry Dedrick and Jesse Belez next in line while Illinois visitor Andrew Hamburg edged out Ethan Krall by inches to complete the top five.

Fifteen laps for the Northern Sport Mods would be up next with young Gage Hilgenberg holding the lead on lap one before Tony Olson came from fifth to the lead on lap two. The caution would fly soon after that change as Harrison Horn came to a halt in turn three and after a three car scuffle on the back stretch following the restart this one would go green the rest of the way.

Ben Chapman started seventh in this one and he was gradually making his way to the front until the final five laps when he emerged in second. His younger brother Blake won a last lap thriller in his AIRS car at Tipton on Thursday night, but Ben did not want to be as dramatic taking the lead from Olson with two laps remaining to post the second win of the week for Dan and Gretchen Chapman's boys. The cousins Olson, Tony and Kyle would join him on the podium with Brett Thomas coming from ninth to fourth. Will Wolf who was sent to the pits for rough driving earlier in the night started sixteenth and finished fifth.

The twenty-five lap headliner for the Premier Late Models would be up next and I was concerned that the sun baked surface might quickly rubber down. That was not the case though as drivers ran the bottom, the top and even used the middle line around the quarter-mile throughout this one , and the final two features as well.

Pole-sitter Luke Pestka would lead the first two laps before current series point leader Matt Ryan charged by on lap three. Just after that the caution would wave for Sean Johnson and Jerry King who were sideways in turn two and following the restart it would be the seventh starting C.J. Horn taking up the chase. With Ryan running the high line on both ends and Horn grabbing the bottom, this would be a good one until C.J. was able to establish himself as the leader on lap eleven.

He would then start to pull away a bit, but with the back of the pack all working that same inside line, Ryan was about to pounce before a caution for Andrew Hamburg's spin in turn three took the lapped traffic out of play with eleven laps to go. One more caution would wave with six laps remaining to bunch the field, but Horn was in control and looked again like he did in 2025 when he was an eight time winner to score his first victory here in 2026. J.D. Auringer would drop Ryan to third at the checkers with Logan Duffy and Andy Nezworski rounding out the top five.

A surprise entry in the Late Models on this night was Wapello, Iowa, native Dan Breuer. Known as "The Professor" around his North Carolina tracks, Breuer is the son of Bill Breuer who was a top competitor in the 1970's and 80's while Danny, as we knew him back in the day, was no stranger to victory lane as well before he moved to the southeast to get closer to NASCAR. I wish that I would have made it here earlier in the evening to visit with him in the pits and to see what had brought him back to Iowa. His sharp looking #7 would finish in the tenth position here at Vinton.

Three of the top seven drivers in the current National Rookie-of-the-Year standings for the IMCA Hobby Stocks were in action here tonight and I will get to that storyline in a moment after I give you the summary of one of the closest finishes that you will ever see. 

Jake Kaiser would set the pace before the caution waved on lap two for one of those RoY contenders as Jaice Tuttle spun in turn two. On the restart the 2023 National Hobby Stock Rookie-of-the-Year, Tucker Richardson would take the lead from Kaiser on lap three and a few laps later the current track point leader Justin Stander slowed at the entry of turn three and was then turned by Brandon Beyer who had no place to go. Another caution would wave on lap eight and on this restart the sixth starting Dalton Weepie would put the heat on the leader.

With three laps to go Weepie would throw a slider in turns three and four causing Richardson to check up to avoid contact and he would become the new leader at the stripe. One more late caution for Tasker Timmerman's spin in turn two would create a green/white/checkers finish and after trying the high line on the first lap, Richardson drove to the bottom of Weepie in turns three and four coming to the checkers.

Yes, there was a bit of rubbing, but it was a "Hobby Stock style clean" challenge and the two cars would race under the checkers in a visual dead heat. However, in this day and age we now have transponder scoring and by a scant 0.008 seconds it would be Weepie celebrating in victory lane where he acknowledged the slider and appreciated how Richardson had raced him to the checkers. Awesome!

Joren Fisher finished in third and fourth went to row five starter Leah Wroten. Now back to that current RoY battle, Timmerman who is currently third in the standings looked to be the best of the trio on this night when he was racing in sixth before his late spin. The fourteen-year-old from Wapello that I have watched grow up in the stands at 34 Raceway over those fourteen years would have to settle for twelfth at the checkers. Bentley Long who is currently seventh on the RoY list had a top ten run going before a flat tire tagged him a with a DNF while Tuttle, who now sits in fourth of the RoY standings battled his way back up to fifth after restarting from the rear of the twenty-car field after his lap two spin.

The IMCA Stock Cars would close out the evening and they would get off to a tough start when the top two in track points, Kyle Olson and John Oliver Jr., tangled in turn one on the second lap. Both drivers were sent to the rear of the twelve car field and on the restart pole-sitter Scooter Dulin would go for a tumble of the top side of turn three. 

Thankfully the veteran driver escaped injury and once back to green it would be Brandon Tharp's night as the second row starter would dominate this one to earn his first career win in the Stock Car division right here at his hometown track. David McCalla posted his best finish of the year as well in second, Cole Suckow came from tenth to finish third, John Oliver Jr. recovered to take fourth as Tony Olson finished in fifth.

The sunset was till in full splendor as I started my drive home thrilled with the action that I witnessed here this evening! I look forward to returning on Sunday August 9th for what was to be my third turn on the microphone at BCS this season, only to have rain wipe out my first two bookings. Thanks to Rick, Kim, Corey, the entire Dripps family and their crew for another great night at the track.

Up next for me is a five night journey featuring the USMTS Modifieds on Wednesday (Park Jeff), Friday (Princeton), Saturday (Ogilivie) and Sunday (Sauk Rapids) surrounding Thursday night's return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa for the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders. Look for us out there on the Back Stretch!