It was a night that had been anticipated since last October. That was when promoters Terry and Jenni Hoenig held a meeting for area Late Model drivers to announce a unique "series" of events for the IMCA Late Model division that would culminate in a Deery Brothers Summer Series event on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend where a driver who had supported the Late Model events at Lee County could win $5,000 rather than the standard $2,000 winner's purse for a Deery race. If that wasn't enough of an incentive the ten race schedule in Donnellson would pay a healthy $1,000-to-win and $150-to-start each night due to the support of several sponsors, many of them directly associated with one of the Late Model teams that would likely compete. Former LCS promoter and long-time driver/owner Lynn Richard played a major role in pulling this all together and Late Model fans and drivers had six months to get prepared for The Pilot Grove Savings Bank/Ideal Ready Mix "Drive for Five".
Thirty-three IMCA Late Models helped jam the pits at Lee County Speedway with a total of 114 cars for the season opener Friday night. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the car count in the Miller Lite IMCA Modifieds with twenty-nine drivers in attendance and as I scanned the roster it looks to me like at least twenty-two of those cars should be here on a weekly basis. On Thursday evening an unexpected blob of showers tracked across the southeast corner of Iowa and dumped nearly an inch of rain on the speedway. The extra moisture played havoc with the surface that is usually immaculate, but on this night the drivers had to navigate a rough track as they tried to start the season with a top points paying feature win.
Tom Darbyshire sprinted out to a hefty advantage during the early laps of the Late Model feature while the rest of the field sorted themselves out well behind him. It was no surprise that it was the two Quincy hotshoes, Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel, who emerged from the pack and gave chase. When the caution flag waved on lap ten for a flat left rear tire on Jay Johnson's mount, Darbyshire's lead was wiped out and the race was on. For the next ten laps the large crowd was treated to an entertaining battle for the point as Burgtorf repeatedly tried to slingshot by the leader on the bottom groove and finally, with just four laps remaining, Burgtorf made it stick and took the lead down the front straightaway. Darbyshire tried to fight back on the outside in turns one and two and pulled nearly even with Burgtorf coming out of the corner as they quickly closed on the soon-to-be-lapped car of Tony Fraise. As Darbyshire tried to maintain his run on Burgtorf, Fraise was in his groove and the two made contact sending Fraise for a complete spin in the middle of the backstretch. Tony kept the car fired allowing the green flag to stay out and that was all Burgtorf needed as he pulled away over the final laps for his third straight feature win paying four figures. Darbyshire, whose trucking company that he operates along with his wife Sheila is one of the presenting sponsors of the series, finished in the second spot with Frankel not far behind in third. Terry Schlipman had another impressive run in Tom Goble's #69 as he started tenth and finished fourth while Curt Martin made the trip down from Independence to finish fifth.
For the past two years Michael Long has been winning about everything in the area running in the USRA and UMP type Modifieds, and in 2009 he has teamed up with Jim Gillenwater to compete in the IMCA Modifieds at the Lee County Speedway. Long served notice on Friday night that he just might be ready to dominate here as well as he started eighth and powered past Tyler Cale on only the third lap on his way to a convincing win. Young Nate Caruth from Ames slipped by Josh Foster and Cale late in the race to finish second while Rich Smith coasted across the line in fifth after dumping his driveshaft on the final lap.
The IMCA Stock Car feature was another great battle between good friends Jason Cook and Jeff Mueller. Mueller made several attempts to pass Cook using the bottom groove, but just could not find enough of a grip to grab the lead as Cook, the defending track champion in the Stock Cars, captured the opening night victory. Mueller was a car length back in second and John Oliver Jr., who was right there ready to pounce if the leaders made a mistake, settled for third. The race had a unique incident early on as then leader Abe Huls jumped the cushion in turn three and spun out. His brother Doug Huls was running mid-pack and, in his attempt to avoid Abe, he slid sideways and his wheels dug into the tack surface and the car rolled over onto its top. The banking then caused Doug's car to roll back the other direction where it ended up on all four wheels. After track officials checked on the condition of the driver he fired it up and took his place at the tail of the field for the restart. This drew a big cheer from the crowd and one fan even told promoter Terry Hoenig that he would add a fifty dollar bill to the winning purse if Doug could come back to win the race. Abe fared better though as he came back to finish fourth ahead of Chris Webb while Doug picked up a lot of new fans with his unusual seventh place finish.
The IMCA Sport Mods had a solid field of fifteen for opening night and the feature winner was decided literally by inches. Thad Gaylord picked up the lead from the start, fought off a mid-race challenge from Todd Holman and appeared to be headed to an easy win. Holman had other thoughts as he mounted one last run pulling even with Gaylord coming out of turn four looking for the checkers. At the line it was Gaylord by a bumper over Holman with Philip Cossell, Jacob Smith and Derek Coleman not far behind. It was an emotional win for Gaylord as he noted that his wife of ten years this day was not here to witness it as she was home with a sick child. You can bet that they were very excited when they got the call from Thad about the opening night triumph.
Doug Fenton was the 2007 Hobby Stock Track Champion here and he set the tone for a return to the throne by going flag-to-flag for the fifteen-lap feature win. 2006 champ Dan Wenig gave Fenton a challenge and crossed the line second followed by John Oliver Jr. who had started on the eleventh row. The official finish though was shuffled in the tech area as both Wenig and Oliver, along with the fourth place car of Derek Kirkland were disqualified due to assorted issues in the rearends of their cars. This moved Rob Wilsey from fifth to second and sixteen-year-old Derek St. Clair wound up third. Speaking of former Hobby Stock track champions, the 2008 titleist Dean Kratzer had a rough start as he dropped out early with a flat tire.
The Lee County Speedway returns to action next Friday night May 1st and the Late Model "Drive for Five" returns on May 8th. Check out the full schedule that also includes Midgets and Sprint Cars, plus my favorite event "Shiverfest" at http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/.
Race fans, if you would like to catch the videos of Tommy Elston's Late Model races this season go to www.richardrealtyauction.com and click on the Team 15 link.
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