Tuesday Notebook: April 29, 2014

The four-race weekend that I had hoped for ended up being just two, but they were two good ones at Bloomfield and West Liberty. I was all set to head out the door around 1:30 on Sunday to make the drive to Fairbury until one last look at the radar revealed some new thunderstorm development moving from south to north. It was the right decision to stay home as the race was eventually rained out and a few hours later we had some excitement in our neighborhood as lightning struck a tree just across the street from our home.

This cut off low pressure system is supposed to keep things cool, damp and breezy through most of the week putting the first appearance of the Late Models at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa in jeopardy on Wednesday night. Hopefully things will improve by the weekend and everybody can get their shows in as we head into the month of May. My primary target for the weekend will be on Sunday night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models will converge on the Quad City Speedway in East Moline for the Hershel Roberts Memorial.

A few items of note as I scanned the results from this past weekend.....

Adam Gates made the five and a half hour pull from Cedar Rapids to Granite City, Illinois, payoff by winning the $1,000 to prize for the Hornet feature at Tri-City Speedway Friday night. Thirty-eight cars signed in including one driver who pulled all the way down from Muskegon, Michigan. Looks like Austin Kaplan was there as well driving Josh Modde's #30x out of Des Moines, but he failed to qualify for the feature.

I know that the division that a driver chooses to run in is often dictated by that driver's budget, but I love it when drivers who enjoy success in one support division move on, or "graduate" to another. Nick Roberts of Des Moines made the move from Sport Mods to Modifieds in 2014 and it did not take him long to score his first feature win as he won the season opener at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City on Saturday night. Another driver who has switched classes in 2014 is Devin Smith of Lake City, Iowa. The driver who has won or shared the All Iowa Points Hobby Stock championship each of the last four years has moved on to the Stock Car division and has already posted a couple of top-five finishes. I would be surprised if his first Stock Car win does not come soon.

Honestly I have been shocked at some of the low car counts that I have seen here in the early season. Usually numbers like this are found during the dog days of summer when drivers might be low on funds and decide to take a month or two break before returning to action in late August or during the Fall specials season, not at the season opening events when you typically see some of your highest car counts of the year. A track in eastern Iowa opened up this past weekend with just thirty-eight cars in five classes while another in Wisconsin only drew thirty-three in four divisions. Down near Kansas City the Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg reopened after a two-year hiatus and despite paying a weekly purse of $1,000-to-win for the Modifieds only fourteen drivers showed up on Saturday night. And this was after nearby Valley Speedway that also races on Saturday nights dropped the division after only get six Modifieds each of the past two weeks.

If the car counts are this low now, I shudder to think of where they will be come summertime.

The Iowastockcars forum board got all fired up again this weekend with the all be it brief return of Johnny Oberthein and his post "This and That Observations". I equate Johnny's "raceaholic" persona to the villain in pro wrestling who you don't know whether you should love him or loathe him. He does make some good points and I truly believe that he wants to see the sport succeed, but he just has a way of grating on you after awhile. One thing that he loves to do is to provide some vague statistics that would support a point that he wants to make, but when you challenge those statistics or ask for further details he comes back with "we should respect each others opinions." Case in point from his latest which has now grown to three pages of back and forth he states "Hornet/4cyls continue to grow with 4 area tracks getting 20 or more cars a week" and of course there is no way to challenge him on that statement without it somehow being construed as an attack on him personally. 34 Raceway in Burlington has averaged just under 22 cars in each of the division's three appearances so far, but I would have no clue what other three tracks he might be referring to. and then again, who knows what his definition of "in the area" would be? The fact that I am even writing about this shows the effect that he has on the board, much more entertaining though than the rookie Sport Compact driver threatening to claim an entire car so that he can learn about the setup secrets of a successful driver!

Believe it or not it is just a coincidence that I follow up comments on a guy who advocates the growth of Four Cylinders with this next topic, but I thought that Ron Meyer made some great points that were backed up with some believable numbers in his April 27th entry to "The Rest of The Dirt" titled "Turbulence" in regard to support classes (he uses a different term for them) that do not appeal to the general fan and how that may be one of the reasons for more and more empty seats at weekly shows. I must admit that I made the conscious decision several years ago to focus on specials in part due to this.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature was cut short at 24-laps on Friday night at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma when officials determined that track conditions were too "locked down" and abrasive on tires. Joey Saldana took the win that jumped him up to the top of the point standings. Sammy Swindell took the win at I-55 in Pevely on Saturday night.

Following are the All Missouri Points through the month of April.

		Missouri Points
		Late Model
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Shane Essary	Galena	16
2	.	Vance Wilson	Bowling Green	15
3	.	Randy Korte	Highland IL	13
4	.	Tim Manville	Highland IL	13
5	.	Darrell Mooneyham	Aurora	11
6	.	Terry Phillips	Springfield	11
7	.	Dwight Niehoff	Lockwood	10
8	.	Michael Kloos	Trenton IL	9
9	.	Cole Wells	Galena	8
10	.	Mike Vanderiet Jr.	Mexico	8
11	.	Tony Jackson Jr.	Lebanon	8
12	.	Jim Moon	Mount Auburn IL	7
13	.	Ron McQuerry	St. Albans	7
14	.	Zeke Langley	Ashland	7
15	.	Jake Williams	Lockwood	6
16	.	Jesse Stovall	Galena	6
17	.	Jim Shereck	St. Charles	6
18	.	Tommy Cordray	Browning	6
19	.	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood IL	5
20	.	Denny Woodworth	Mendon IL	5
21	.	Jeremy Payne	Springfield	5
22	.	Steve Sheppard Jr.	New Berlin IL	5
23	.	Tommy Weder Jr.	Woodward OK	5
24	.	Bobby Maggard Jr.	Springfield	4
25	.	Chris Brown	Spring TX	4
26	.	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville IL	4
27	.	Dewayne Kiefer	St. Genevieve	4
28	.	Ethan Young	Harrisonville	4
29	.	Jeff Roth		4
30	.	Jon Melloway	Hallsville	4
31	.	Jon Binning	Warrensburg	4
32	.	Justin Asplin	Birch Tree	4
33	.	Ryan Gustin	Marshalltown IA	4
34	.	Alan Westling	Fulton	3
35	.	Brian Diveley	Springfield IL	3
36	.	Chad Simpson	Marion IA	3
37	.	Chad Zobrist	Highland IL	3
38	.	Greg Kimmons	Pleasant Plains IL	3
39	.	Jimmy Mars	Elk Mound WI	3
40	.	Ken Rumble		3
41	.	Mark Voigt	Marine IL	3
42	.	Mike Hammerle	St. Charles	3
43	.	Payton Looney	Republic	3
44	.	Steve Leach	Stanton IL	3
45	.	Brad Looney	Republic	2
46	.	Brian Schutt	Lebanon	2
47	.	Chase Junghans	Manhattan KS	2
48	.	Chris Cox	Jefferson City	2
49	.	Garrett Essary	Galena	2
50	.	John Gardner Jr.	Germantown IL	2
51	.	Kenny Mudd	Winfield	2
52	.	Larry Winn	Columbia	2
53	.	Scott Weber	Festus	2
54	.	Shannon Babb	Mowequa IL	2
55	.	Trace Westling	Fulton	2
56	.	Travis Dickes	Madison NE	2
57	.	Chuck Comer	Joplin	1
58	.	John Driskell		1
59	.	Jason Zobrist	Highland IL	1
60	.	John Driskill		1
61	.	Kevin Coyne	Kingsville	1
62	.	Kyle Beard	Trumann AR	1
63	.	Scott Schmitt	Tonica IL	1
64	.	Terry Gallaher	Hannibal	1
65	.	Will Vaught	Seneca	1

		Missouri Points
		Winged Sprints (410 & 360)
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Josh Fisher	Smithton	12
2	.	Mitchell Moore	Edgerton KS	8
3	.	Randy Martin	California	7
4	.	Jerod Roller	Hernando MS	5
5	.	Joey Montgomery	Fredericktown	5
6	.	Jonathan Cornell	Sedalia	5
7	.	Sammy Swindell	Bartlett TN	5
8	.	Sean McClelland	Tulsa OK	5
9	.	Greg Wilson	Benton Ridge OH	4
10	.	Danny Lasoski	Dover	4
11	.	Dustin Morgan	Tulsa OK	4
12	.	Joey Saldana	Brownsburg IN	4
13	.	Tommy Worley Jr.	Bismarck	4
14	.	Anthony Nicholson	Bartlett TN	3
15	.	Donny Schatz	Fargo ND	3
16	.	Kent Buckley		3
17	.	Mike Goodman	Broken Arrow OK	3
18	.	Cody Baker	Lone Jack	2
19	.	Curtis Evans	Norborne	2
20	.	David Gravel	Watertown CT	2
21	.	Kasey Burch	Farmington	2
22	.	Kyle Bellm	Nixa	2
23	.	Seth Bergman	Snohomish WA	2
24	.	Terry Gray	Memphis TN	2
25	.	Tyler Blank	California	2
26	.	Daryn Pittman	Owasso OK	1
27	.	Alex Sewell	Broken Arrow OK	1
28	.	Chris Morgan	Topeka KS	1
29	.	Derek Hager	Marion AR	1
30	.	Joey Boyd	Farmington	1

		Missouri Points
		Modified
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Mitch Keeter	Webb City	29
2	.	Jason Russell	Henley	22
3	.	Terry Schultz	Sedalia	20
4	.	Bobby Pearish	Joplin	18
5	.	Gunner Martin	Blue Springs	16
6	.	Jody Tillman	West Branson	16
7	.	Michael Long	Quincy IL	16
8	.	Zachary Sanders	Kearney	15
9	.	Trevor Hunt	Liberty	14
10	.	Dennis Elliott	Mount Ayr IA	13
11	.	Rusty Griffaw	Festus	13
12	.	David Wietholder	Liberty IL	11
13	.	Dean Wille	Warrensburg	11
14	.	Johnny Bone Jr.	Pea Ridge AR	11
15	.	Jon Sheets	Nevada	11
16	.	Cody Conner	DeSoto	10
17	.	Dean Hoffman		10
18	.	Jeremy Payne	Springfield	10
19	.	Tim Setzer	Archie	10
20	.	Brian Green	Pierce City	9
21	.	Gary Blackburn Jr.	Fulton	8
22	.	Steve Muilenberg	Sparta	8
23	.	Travis Smith	Parsons KS	8
24	.	Daryl Hay	Doniphan	7
25	.	Ken Schrader	Concord NC	7
26	.	Matthew Rodgers		7
27	.	Mickey Burrell	Fair Grove	7
28	.	Paul Reeder		7
29	.	Robbie Test	Jefferson City	7
30	.	Chris Spaulding	Wellsville	6
31	.	Jerry Lankton	Lampe	6
32	.	Justin Allen	Ashland	6
33	.	Tim Hancock	Mt. Olive IL	6
34	.	Walter Dunn	Grandin	6
35	.	Aaron Marrant	Orrick	5
36	.	Chris Nichols		5
37	.	Danny Scrogham	Peculiar	5
38	.	Dustin Casselberry		5
39	.	Jackie Dalton	Carthage	5
40	.	Jamie Daughetee		5
41	.	Jeff Asher	Ironton	5
42	.	Jerry Morgan	Fort Scott KS	5
43	.	Jesse Willard	Pleasanton KS	5
44	.	Jon Gray	Joesboro AR	5
45	.	Josh Russell	Festus	5
46	.	Kenny Wallace	Concord NC	5
47	.	Matt Eaton	Park Hills	5
48	.	Nick Pence	Raymore	5
49	.	Ray Walsh	St. Louis	5
50	.	Rob Pendegrass	O'Fallon	5
51	.	Rodney Sanders	Happy TX	5
52	.	Ronnie Woods	Mexico	5
53	.	Scott Crigler	Alton	5
54	.	Troy Grotz	Quincy IL	5
55	.	Tyler Diebert	Highland IL	5
56	.	Brent Holman	Rogers AR	4
57	.	Brent Thompson	Park Hills	4
58	.	Corey Daugherty	Blue Mound IL	4
59	.	Darren Shaw	Lathrop	4
60	.	Darwin Karau	Kasson MN	4
61	.	Keith Pratt	Quincy IL	4
62	.	Kevin Morrow	Bronaugh	4
63	.	Lucas Lee	Paris TN	4
64	.	Matt Dotson	Clark	4
65	.	Matt Mevert	Steeleville IL	4
66	.	Zack Vanderbeek	Oskaloosa IA	4
67	.	Chad Thompson	Louisburg KS	3
68	.	Greg Swaringim	Bismark	3
69	.	Jacob Poel	Spring Lake MI	3
70	.	Jeremy Rasmussen		3
71	.	Joe Bradshaw	Sedalia	3
72	.	Kevin Blackburn	Fulton	3
73	.	Logan Martin	West Plains	3
74	.	Matt Gilbertson	Montevideo MN	3
75	.	Nick Ivy		3
76	.	Robbie Bryant	Willard	3
77	.	Scottie Bough	Nevada	3
78	.	Shad Badder	Oak Grove	3
79	.	Steven Glenn	Hamilton	3
80	.	Terry Kirk	Urbana	3
81	.	Stormy Scott	Las Cruces NM	3
82	.	Ben Reed	Munford TN	2
83	.	Billy Smith	Park Hills	2
84	.	C. Cole		2
85	.	Chris Tonoli	Hermitage	2
86	.	Daniel Anders	Joplin	2
87	.	Danny DeMasters	Neosho	2
88	.	Kevin McGinnis	Edwardsville KS	2
89	.	Kyle Slagle	Pierce City	2
90	.	Lucas Schott	Chatfield MN	2
91	.	Mark Miner	Arnold	2
92	.	Ricky Horton	High Ridge	2
93	.	Rustin Miller	Houston	2
94	.	Steve Stotler	O'Fallon	2
95	.	Trevor Latham		2
96	.	Tyler Schmidt	Easton KS	2
97	.	Dylan Smith	Osceola NE	2
98	.	Craig Halderman	Holts Summit	1
99	.	Brian Bielong	Summerfield IL	1
100	.	Brock Bauman	Eureka IL	1
101	.	Chase Jones	Eldorado Springs	1
102	.	Jim Black	Bonne Terre	1
103	.	Jim Body	Diamond	1
104	.	Jim Moody	Odessa	1
105	.	John Allen	Chanute KS	1
106	.	Kameron Grindtsaff	Independence	1
107	.	Patrick Mahnken	Fulton	1
108	.	Preston Serratt	Dyersburg TN	1
109	.	Raymond Gilbert	Archie	1
110	.	Ronnie Vernon	Friendship TN	1
111	.	Rooster Griffin		1
112	.	Ryan Schaffer	Corning IA	1
113	.	Tim Galvan	Edwardsville KS	1
114	.	Tim Radford	Piedmont	1
115	.	Rick Conoyer		1
116	.	Tyler Wolf		1

		Missouri Points
		Limited Modifieds
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Chad Clancy	Smithville	21
2	.	Trevor Drake	Webb City	16
3	.	Jeff Yates	Troy	15
4	.	J.C. Morton	Springfield	14
5	.	Brad Smith	Belton	13
6	.	Chad Lebsock	Centralia	13
7	.	Chad Staus	Otterville	13
8	.	Jim Lafferty Jr.	Carlinville	12
9	.	Kris Jackson	Lebanon	12
10	.	Ryan Middaugh	Fulton	12
11	.	Logan Martin	West Plains	11
12	.	Jason Brigman	West Plains	10
13	.	Randy Ainsworth	Excelsior Springs	10
14	.	Rex Merritt	Billings	10
15	.	Andy Bryant	Fort Scott KS	9
16	.	Blake David	Fulton	9
17	.	Chris Cain	Columbia	9
18	.	Cody Jolly	Jasper	9
19	.	David Melloway	Hallsville	9
20	.	Doug Keller	St. Joseph	9
21	.	Jacob Ebert	Oak Grove	9
22	.	Toby Thompson	Mountain Grove	9
23	.	Mike Higley	Tecumseh KS	8
24	.	Shawn Strong	Republic	8
25	.	Steve Muilenberg	Sparta	7
26	.	Tim Phillips	Fort Scott KS	7
27	.	Chad Feather	Kearney	6
28	.	Chris Hawkins	Neosho	6
29	.	Craig Roden	Montgomery City	6
30	.	Kyle Stolzer	St. Genevieve	6
31	.	Matthew Rose	Liberal	6
32	.	Mike Striegel	Hermitage	6
33	.	Dean Wille	Warrensburg	5
34	.	Gene Sisco	Alton	5
35	.	James Mirts	Auxvasse	5
36	.	John Calcott	Ottawa KS	5
37	.	Kevin Morrow	Pekin IL	5
38	.	Kevin Blackburn	Fulton	5
39	.	Lennie Coats	Joplin	5
40	.	Mike Camarillo	Webb City	5
41	.	Robbie Hamlett		5
42	.	Ryan Edde	Urbana	5
43	.	Ryan Eilers	Highland IL	5
44	.	Shane Blair		5
45	.	Travis Johnson		5
46	.	Yancy Shepard	Smithville	5
47	.	Tyler Newman		5
48	.	Andrew Allen		4
49	.	Bobby Williams	Pittsburg	4
50	.	Curt Myers		4
51	.	Cody Brill	Harrisonville	4
52	.	Dakota Foster	Garner KS	4
53	.	Gene Claxton	Kansas City	4
54	.	Jeremy Pittsenbarger	Cameron	4
55	.	Jim Cameron	Cameron	4
56	.	Kelly Estey		4
57	.	Olen Stephens	Warrensburg	4
58	.	Randall Schiffelbein Jr.	Tecumseh KS	4
59	.	Rusty Forrest	Ozark	4
60	.	Scotty Martin	Independence	4
61	.	Shawn Knuckles		4
62	.	Spencer Stephens	Buckner	4
63	.	Bill Crane	Blue Springs	3
64	.	Dan Wheeler	Savage MN	3
65	.	Gary Oliver	Warrenton	3
66	.	Jack Lancaster	Hermitage	3
67	.	Jeremy Price	Gladstone	3
68	.	Jody Tillman	West Branson	3
69	.	Jon Vanminsel		3
70	.	Johnny McGinnis	Hardin	3
71	.	Josh Sissom		3
72	.	Justin Rigel		3
73	.	Michael Barrett	St. Charles	3
74	.	Mike Savage	Annapolis	3
75	.	Shawn Burns	Overland Park KS	3
76	.	Blake Ellis	Sarcoxie	2
77	.	Chad Neill		2
78	.	Chuck Melloway	Hallsville	2
79	.	Clint Baker	Meadville	2
80	.	Dan Wade	Wright City	2
81	.	Jamie Robards		2
82	.	Jeremy Greenwalt		2
83	.	Joe Walker		2
84	.	Kameron Grindtsaff	Independence	2
85	.	Kenny Shaw	Bunker Hill IL	2
86	.	Shawn Burns	Overland Park KS	2
87	.	Tony Myers	Alton	2
88	.	Truman Asher	St. Joseph	2
89	.	Adam Hall		1
90	.	Billy Street	Joplin	1
91	.	Chris Martin	Lee's Summit	1
92	.	Cory Crapser	Chippewa Falls WI	1
93	.	Dan Bimson	St. Peters	1
94	.	Cullen Thompson	Hermann	1
95	.	Derrick Mahoney	Liberty	1
96	.	Dustin Shaw		1
97	.	Jacob Bleess	Chatfield MN	1
98	.	Jason Carptner		1
99	.	Jeff Frowhitter	Dittmer	1
100	.	Jim Blaine	Oak Grove	1
101	.	Jon Melloway	Hallsville	1
102	.	Kodi Savage		1
103	.	Mike Bruner	Lake St. Louis	1
104	.	Michael Bixby	Harrisonville	1
105	.	Nic Bennett	Edwardsville KS	1
106	.	Rob Vanmil		1
107	.	Ryan Stacye	Fair Grove	1