"T-Mac" Repeats At Independence

Despite winning the inaugural appearance by the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at the Independence Motor Speedway in 2013, Terry McCarl had planned to leave his own car at home and serve as a crewman for his youngest son Carson who is a regular with the Invaders this season. Plans changed though when Jimmy Davies called on Thursday and asked Iowa's most successful winged sprint car driver ever if he would be interested in driving his #99 car for the evening and of course "T-Mac" agreed.

McCarl got the feel of the car in his heat race and then drove to victory in the Budweiser King of Beers Dash and after the young lady who presented him with his trophy rolled a five that placed him on the inside of the third row for the twenty-four car, twenty-five lap main event. Pole-sitter Tony Shilling vaulted to the early lead as McCarl quickly moved to second before the caution waved on lap two for an orange cone that had been kicked out into the middle of the front stretch. One more lap was put in the books before defending series champion Russ Hall had his string of bad luck on the 2014 Sprint Invaders schedule continue going for a tumble after tangling with Cole Wood in turn three.

On the restart McCarl chased Shilling into turn one only to have Mike Houseman Jr. spin before another lap was completed. On the next restart McCarl again looked to the bottom, but slid up behind the leader before the caution waved again, this time for a spinning Tasker Phillips. On this, the third restart of lap three, McCarl drove hard into turn one, cleared the leader and then slammed the door on Shilling to take control down the back straightaway and the chase was on. A lead that had grown to a full straightaway started to shrink in traffic and Shilling was getting close enough to perhaps make a bid to regain the lead before the caution waved again on lap fifteen when the third-place car of Jerrod Schneiderman spun in turn three.

As the field lined up for the restart the fans had to take note of both Chris Martin and Josh Schneiderman who had raced their way forward from deep in the pack. Martin, who started twelfth was now in third while "The Professor" Schneiderman was running sixth after starting in row eleven. When the green flag waved again though it was soon evident that nobody was going to catch the veteran driver on this night though as Terry McCarl cruised the final ten laps working traffic like a master to take the win. Shilling ran a strong second while the sixteen-year-old Martin finished third. Bobby Mincer, celebrating his 25th year of racing, finished in the fourth position while current point leader Jon Agan took fifth. Josh Schneiderman stayed close to Agan in the point race with his 21st to sixth run, but Brett Triplett was the Hard Charger of the event starting 23rd and finishing seventh. Austin Johnson, C.J. Houseman and Cole Wood completed the top ten.

Always a great interview, Terry McCarl describes his victory and thanks the fans for coming out for a night of Sprint Car racing

Non-sanctioned Modifieds and Sport Mods were also on the program and since it was not a points race the car count in each was a bit low at ten. Funny how drivers will tell you that the points don't really matter, but when it comes to a night like this...... Those ten drivers in each division put on a nice show though for the enthusiastic crowd with good battles up front in the final laps of the feature.

In the Sport Mods Lucas Lundry used his front row start to take the lead at the drop of the green and after a mid-race caution for a Colby Huishman spin, Lundry fought off the charge of Kip Siems to take the flag-to-flag win. Matt McCahan finished in the third spot, Ryan Maitland took fourth and fifth went to pole-starter Brandon Smith. (Shortly after posting this entry I learned that Brandon Smith had passed away following an accident at his race shop. Rest In Peace Brandon)

Tony Snyder would lead the opening laps of the Modified feature, but when he slipped high in turn four on lap four Vern Jackson was not going to let that opening go to waste. The caution waved on lap nine when Joe Docekal stopped on the back stretch and on the restart Darin Duffy made a nifty move to go from fifth to second off turn two and down the back stretch. Despite that big move, Duffy was still about five car-lengths back from the leader and was not making up ground until about five laps to go when he started to inch closer to Jackson. With two circuits remaining Duffy made his move diving to the bottom in turn three and the two Modified stars raced across the line in a virtual dead heat. But Jackson had just a little more in the tank as he regained the lead in turn one and two and then pulled away just a bit over the final lap to take the exciting victory. J.D. Auringer had the best seat in the house for that battle as he raced in close behind for third while Snyder and Tyler Droste were fourth and fifth.

Bill Wright and I had the pleasure of sharing the microphone with the voice of the Independence Motor Speedway Ryan Clark who does a fantastic job, not only as an announcer but as a writer, a publicist and a historian as well. And I know that Ryan will not take offense at me calling him the "current" voice of the speedway as it was also great to see longtime track announcer Jim Roper on hand last night as well. I know that both Ryan and myself learned a great deal from listening to Roper over the years!

Next up for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will be a mid-June doubleheader as on Thursday night, June 19th, the Invaders will pair up with the IMCA Modified Hawkeye Dirt Tour at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Then on Friday night, June 20th, the Sprint Cars will make the short trip west on Highway 2 to the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway. Hope to see you there!