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!
