My racing weekend that just ended was a bit on the frustrating side. How was yours?
For the past several months I have had Friday June 27th circled on my calendar for the return of the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars to nearby 34 Raceway in Burlington, but just eight days before that circled date I learned that I would have to travel to the east coast for business that day. I searched real hard for a set of flights that would still get me back into Burlington by mid-evening following a meeting that ended at noon Central time in Baltimore, but hey we do live in southeast Iowa so that was just not even a possibility. To enjoy my hobby I must have my job and it always comes first, but it was still hard to know that as I landed in Cedar Rapids around 9:30 Friday night the Outlaws were not far down the road from my home.
My son Morgan was able to attend and reported to me via text that the crowd was as large as he has ever seen at 34 and with another solid car count of 34 Outlaw Sprints along with 24 305's and 16 of the limited Midgets, the threatening weather forecast obviously did not chase anybody away. Donny Schatz extended his point lead with the victory, but his win was overshadowed by the scary accident involving Brad Sweet who had his car literally break in half just ahead of the driver compartment reportedly after hitting the track tire that protects where the concrete wall begins in turn three. It is amazing in this day and age that nobody seems to have any video of the crash that occurred while Sweet was racing Terry McCarl for the second spot. Morgan said that he feared the worst when he saw the crash and somehow Sweet not only escaped without injury, but he went on to win the following night at Beaver Dam. Full pits and a full grandstand will hopefully result in another visit to 34 Raceway by the Outlaws in 2015.
While I was on my business trip I was contacted by Kevin Feller with Simmons Promotions asking what my schedule was for the weekend. Announcer Jerry Mackey was fighting an illness and Kevin wanted to know if I could fill in for Jerry for the weekend. Obviously Friday at Farley was not a possibility, but I did say that I would be able to work at West Liberty on Saturday and in Dubuque on Sunday. Filling in for Jerry Mackey is no easy task as he is one of the best in the business, but I wanted to do whatever I could to help out, especially since the SPI family is always so quick to welcome me in for the night. Jerry called me on Saturday afternoon and said that while he was feeling better and would be there to test out his sea legs so to speak, he would count on me to handle the bulk of the duties for the evening. That made things even better as it was fun to work with Jerry, not just for him, something that I have not had the opportunity to do in the past.
With weather threatening, the SPI crew and the nice field of drivers did everything they could to get the show in but came up just two features short when the rain started to fall at 8:50 p.m. So that will leave the Modifieds and the Late Models to run double features sometime in the near future with the exact dates to be announced. One thing that I wanted to note was the cooperation shown by drivers in the Sport Compact, Sport Mod and Stock Car divisions who came to the track after the first shower to try to pack it in so that the rest of the show could be completed. These drivers had already run their features and could have easily just loaded up their cars and headed for home, but instead there they were back out on the track trying to complete the show for the fans. I wish that I would have written down all of the names of those who did this as it was a fantastic gesture and I would love to be able to single them out.
Don't forget that there will be no racing at West Liberty this Saturday July 5th, but the track will be back in action on Tuesday night July 8th with the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models in town. The IMCA Modifieds will also be in action as a support division and with twenty-six cars in attendance this past Saturday night, you would be challenged to find a stronger field of weekly IMCA Modifieds than they have at West Liberty.
My anticipated trip to Dubuque on Sunday night was cancelled early afternoon, but when I saw on Facebook that Bobby Hansen was going to be running at Vinton I checked the radar and decided to make the trip. The weather looked fine until I was ten miles from the track as an isolated shower had started building to the west. Several heat races were completed before that one clipped the track and despite a brief downpour, promoter Mick Trier and track manager Dana Benning were not about to throw in the towel. After letting the moisture settle for just a bit they put the sheeps foot out and then race cars and within about thirty minutes we were back to racing on a wide and fast surface.
With seven divisions on the card it was a busy night and as the Stock Cars rolled onto the speedway for the first feature the clouds were darkening again to the west and a check of the radar did not look good. Damon Murty prevailed in a tight battle with Scott Pippert and as Ryan Clark quickly interviewed Murty in victory lane I walked to my car to move it closer to the grandstand and to grab an umbrella. In the time that it took for me to do this the Sport Compact feature was completed and I expected the Sport Mod feature to be coming onto the track next. That was when the move of the night was made as it was decided to move the twenty-lap Late Model feature up one position in the program since the crowd had paid an extra two bucks for their appearance and since they are not there every week.
Richie Gustin raced to the early lead and continued to hold it through two restarts. On lap eight Todd Cooney moved into challenge and he and Gustin swapped a couple of slidejobs on each other that had the crowd oblivious to the approaching storm. Cooney held the lead through two more cautions and then with four laps remaining Justin Kay found the bite that he was looking for on the low line of turns one and two and with two laps remaining Kay inched into the lead just as the sprinkles started to fall. Cooney was not giving up though and as the white flag waved he had pulled nearly even with Kay and the top two IMCA Late Model drivers in the business right now raced wheel-to-wheel through turns one and two and down the backstretch. Perhaps the spot of rain made the difference as the bottom groove that Kay had used to takeover the lead just a minute earlier was no longer the fastest as Cooney steamed around the cushion and raced under the checkers by a full car-length to take the thrilling win. Kay was second, Charlie McKenna was not far behind in third, John Emerson came from tenth to fourth and Jerry King finished fifth.
The rain did ease up enough for the Sport Mods to get a few laps of racing in before the skies opened up and the rest of the night was lost with four more features to be made up next week. A big thanks to Trier, Benning and Clark for their hospitality and it was also great to see my longtime friend Kevin Kemp who handles the scoring duties at the Benton County Speedway. Yes, it would have been nice to see the whole show, but thanks to a late change in the schedule I got to see what I made the 110 mile trip for. Thanks Mick!
No racing for me Tuesday night as I celebrate my wife Christine's birthday. She still hasn't officially told me what age she will claim to be tomorrow, but I know the truth and my little "trophy wife" of twenty-five years will always be younger than me! On Wednesday I hope to be at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa for night number one of the Stock Car Shootout and then on Thursday night it is on to the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders. Here is hoping that we can all get out and enjoy some complete shows in the week ahead!
Monday, June 30, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Sheppard Dominates Around Lake Peoria
Rain the day before made the infield at the Peoria Speedway resemble a lake and once again there was rain in the forecast as event number eight of the 2014 UMP Summer Nationals "Hell Tour" took the green on Monday night. The fact that the show even went on as scheduled is a tribute to the track crew for getting the racing surface in the best condition possible and I am guessing that a few people in the large crowd may have had some issues navigating some of the soft spots in the parking lot after the event!
The best racing of the night was seen in the four qualifying heats as Brandon Sheppard made a mid-race pass of Jim Moon using the high side to win the first Late Model heat race. The second heat was a classic between two crowd favorites as Ray Guss Jr. running the cushion and Shannon Babb riding a lower line went at it throughout the ten lap distance. Babb would pull even at times, but Guss maintained the edge until the final lap when Babb had the momentum entering turn three. As Shannon drifted up a bit to shut the door in four, Ray used a crossover move off the cushion to drive back under Babb and win the drag race back to the line by a mere inches. The crowd was hushed as they waited for Scott Shults to announce the official results and frankly, with these two, I think you would have heard cheers no matter who was the winner.
Bobby Pierce dominated the third heat race, but it was fun to watch Jason Jaggers use the high line to move from fifth to second over the final five laps. Many in the big crowd, including myself, would have thought that it would be another "Jason", Jason Feger who would have been making that move but the "Highside Hustler" stayed low and his fifth-place run would send him to the B-Main. Finally the fourth heat saw Brian Shirley walk away from Hell Tour point leader Ryan Unzicker and Billy Drake.
Two heats for the Summit Modified Summer Nationals and two Hornet heats were then contested before action shut down for forty minutes and the track was graded, watered and packed. That forty minute break was plenty of time for one gentleman who was sometimes seated in the front row near the entrance of turn one to continue to patronize the beer stand and when racing resumed he was primed for action.
The Late Model B-Main was another good race as local driver Bo Brockway and Feger pulled away from the rest of the pack and waged a side-by-side battle throughout with Brockway up high and Feger down low. Only the top two would transfer, so that took a little of the drama out of the race up front and even more from the multi-car tussle for third that often went three-wide with Steve Thorsten, Rich Bell, Evan Fink, Dennis Vandermeersch, Todd Bennett and Scott Schmitt all involved. But it was all still very entertaining to watch and the drinking man was now standing halfway between the bleachers and the fence cheering them all on. Brockway, a driver that I was not familiar with at all, held off Feger for the win and it was monumental enough that they brought him back out to the front stretch, got him out of the car and even interviewed him in victory lane as he posed for pictures. Something that I have not seen for the winner of a B-Main since like the 1970's, but hey it was impressive that he fought off the persistent challenges of the much better known Feger. Fink would prevail in that great battle for third, but that would only get him a seat atop his trailer to watch the feature race from. At least he was seated.
It was now feature time and the drunk fan was being asked by those behind him if he would kindly sit down as, after all, if you paid twenty-five dollars to get in the last thing that you want to do is have to look through some dumbass who has decided that he personally has the power to will whomever it is that he is rooting for to victory by simply standing at the fence and pumping his fist. Finally, just as the twenty-five lap UMP Modified feature was set to take the green, one of his buddies got up, put his arm around him and somehow convinced him to sit down so that everyone could see.
Jeff Curl and David Wietholder would bring the field of twenty to the green and like a moth to a flame the special fan hopped up out of his seat and reclaimed his position standing near the fence, much to the amusement of myself and those around me as we really weren't that effected by his presence, but you could see the frustration level growing for those who were. Curl would lead the first three laps before Wietholder would drive around him on the outside to take the point. Curl stayed close though and as the leaders started to work lapped traffic mid-race he closed the gap to a car length, but on lap thirteen disaster struck for the challenger as he got into the back of a lapped car causing it to spin in front of him and Curl stopped as well in turn two to bring out the caution.
With Curl now headed to the rear for the restart, drunk guy's friend again convinced him to sit down for a bit and it was now Mike Harrison who was putting the pressure on Wietholder. The leader was working the middle groove, while Harrison was kicking off the cushion and while the challenger was able to stay close over the final laps he could not mount a serious challenge as Wietholder celebrated the $1,000 win. Erik Bruce finished in the third spot, Charley Hess was fourth and Matt Goulden completed the top five while Curl fought his way back up to tenth at the checkers.
Conversations became more heated and there was some definite posturing going on with our turn one bleachers sideshow as the Late Model feature field took shape for their forty-lapper and as Shirley and Sheppard brought the field to the green it was Sheppard who rode the middle groove in turns one and two to take the advantage. With the front of the field starting to spread out and the dust flying I found my attention being pulled to the escalating situation to my right where we now had drunk guy standing, quite wobbly, in his now normal position and drunk guy's friend was now laying on his stomach just a couple of feet away from the frontstretch fence, perhaps in an effort to get his friend to also lay down and stop blocking the view of those behind him? If so, it was a gallant effort! However, laying on the ground near the fence must not be acceptable as a very large security guy was soon on the scene and was telling the friend to get back into the bleachers as the caution flag waved for a slowing Scott Schmitt on lap twenty.
Everybody was seated for the restart, but when drunk guy again came to his feet at the drop of the green somebody had finally had enough and punches started flying. Surprisingly though it was the drunk guy's friend who was involved in the fracas while his buddy stood and cheered for whomever, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him. Fortunately the caution waved again a lap later for a spin in turn four as that way I could watch this without the guilt of missing the race. The fight was short-lived though as the security guy rushed in, picked up the drunk guy's friend and carried him toward the exit. The comedic finale of this all came though when drunk guy finally realized that his friend was being forcibly removed and somehow got his wobbly legs to execute a hilarious "sprint" in front of the crowd that had my entire section cracking up, something that you would have had to have seen in order to appreciate. The security guy was soon back and I was pleased to see that he just checked with the others involved to make sure that they were alright rather than removing them as well. They would now get to watch the rest of the race without the distraction.
There would be no catching Sheppard on this night as for the sixth time in eight races on the 2014 Tour the winner would come from the front row. Tonight though it wasn't because the track wasn't wide and racy as drivers often went two and sometimes three-wide, once right in front of the leader that allowed the second place car of Brian Shirley to close the gap for a moment before Sheppard found an opening and powered through. With nine laps remaining Shirley clipped the turn three wall and that allowed Bobby Pierce to slip under him for second and despite a caution with just two laps remaining the order would not change as Sheppard scored the flag-to-flag win over Pierce, Shirley, Ryan Unzicker and Shannon Babb.
Despite the forty minute intermission, and thanks to running the Hornet feature last on the schedule, we were on our way home at 9:22 on a Monday night making for a pretty decent trip to the heart of UMP country for a Summer Nationals event. Depending upon some other factors I might catch up with the Hell Tour one more time this go around when they visit 34 Raceway in Burlington on Saturday July 12th.
And race fans always remember, when everybody sits, everybody sees!
See you again soon on the Back Stretch!
The best racing of the night was seen in the four qualifying heats as Brandon Sheppard made a mid-race pass of Jim Moon using the high side to win the first Late Model heat race. The second heat was a classic between two crowd favorites as Ray Guss Jr. running the cushion and Shannon Babb riding a lower line went at it throughout the ten lap distance. Babb would pull even at times, but Guss maintained the edge until the final lap when Babb had the momentum entering turn three. As Shannon drifted up a bit to shut the door in four, Ray used a crossover move off the cushion to drive back under Babb and win the drag race back to the line by a mere inches. The crowd was hushed as they waited for Scott Shults to announce the official results and frankly, with these two, I think you would have heard cheers no matter who was the winner.
Bobby Pierce dominated the third heat race, but it was fun to watch Jason Jaggers use the high line to move from fifth to second over the final five laps. Many in the big crowd, including myself, would have thought that it would be another "Jason", Jason Feger who would have been making that move but the "Highside Hustler" stayed low and his fifth-place run would send him to the B-Main. Finally the fourth heat saw Brian Shirley walk away from Hell Tour point leader Ryan Unzicker and Billy Drake.
Two heats for the Summit Modified Summer Nationals and two Hornet heats were then contested before action shut down for forty minutes and the track was graded, watered and packed. That forty minute break was plenty of time for one gentleman who was sometimes seated in the front row near the entrance of turn one to continue to patronize the beer stand and when racing resumed he was primed for action.
The Late Model B-Main was another good race as local driver Bo Brockway and Feger pulled away from the rest of the pack and waged a side-by-side battle throughout with Brockway up high and Feger down low. Only the top two would transfer, so that took a little of the drama out of the race up front and even more from the multi-car tussle for third that often went three-wide with Steve Thorsten, Rich Bell, Evan Fink, Dennis Vandermeersch, Todd Bennett and Scott Schmitt all involved. But it was all still very entertaining to watch and the drinking man was now standing halfway between the bleachers and the fence cheering them all on. Brockway, a driver that I was not familiar with at all, held off Feger for the win and it was monumental enough that they brought him back out to the front stretch, got him out of the car and even interviewed him in victory lane as he posed for pictures. Something that I have not seen for the winner of a B-Main since like the 1970's, but hey it was impressive that he fought off the persistent challenges of the much better known Feger. Fink would prevail in that great battle for third, but that would only get him a seat atop his trailer to watch the feature race from. At least he was seated.
It was now feature time and the drunk fan was being asked by those behind him if he would kindly sit down as, after all, if you paid twenty-five dollars to get in the last thing that you want to do is have to look through some dumbass who has decided that he personally has the power to will whomever it is that he is rooting for to victory by simply standing at the fence and pumping his fist. Finally, just as the twenty-five lap UMP Modified feature was set to take the green, one of his buddies got up, put his arm around him and somehow convinced him to sit down so that everyone could see.
Jeff Curl and David Wietholder would bring the field of twenty to the green and like a moth to a flame the special fan hopped up out of his seat and reclaimed his position standing near the fence, much to the amusement of myself and those around me as we really weren't that effected by his presence, but you could see the frustration level growing for those who were. Curl would lead the first three laps before Wietholder would drive around him on the outside to take the point. Curl stayed close though and as the leaders started to work lapped traffic mid-race he closed the gap to a car length, but on lap thirteen disaster struck for the challenger as he got into the back of a lapped car causing it to spin in front of him and Curl stopped as well in turn two to bring out the caution.
With Curl now headed to the rear for the restart, drunk guy's friend again convinced him to sit down for a bit and it was now Mike Harrison who was putting the pressure on Wietholder. The leader was working the middle groove, while Harrison was kicking off the cushion and while the challenger was able to stay close over the final laps he could not mount a serious challenge as Wietholder celebrated the $1,000 win. Erik Bruce finished in the third spot, Charley Hess was fourth and Matt Goulden completed the top five while Curl fought his way back up to tenth at the checkers.
Conversations became more heated and there was some definite posturing going on with our turn one bleachers sideshow as the Late Model feature field took shape for their forty-lapper and as Shirley and Sheppard brought the field to the green it was Sheppard who rode the middle groove in turns one and two to take the advantage. With the front of the field starting to spread out and the dust flying I found my attention being pulled to the escalating situation to my right where we now had drunk guy standing, quite wobbly, in his now normal position and drunk guy's friend was now laying on his stomach just a couple of feet away from the frontstretch fence, perhaps in an effort to get his friend to also lay down and stop blocking the view of those behind him? If so, it was a gallant effort! However, laying on the ground near the fence must not be acceptable as a very large security guy was soon on the scene and was telling the friend to get back into the bleachers as the caution flag waved for a slowing Scott Schmitt on lap twenty.
Everybody was seated for the restart, but when drunk guy again came to his feet at the drop of the green somebody had finally had enough and punches started flying. Surprisingly though it was the drunk guy's friend who was involved in the fracas while his buddy stood and cheered for whomever, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him. Fortunately the caution waved again a lap later for a spin in turn four as that way I could watch this without the guilt of missing the race. The fight was short-lived though as the security guy rushed in, picked up the drunk guy's friend and carried him toward the exit. The comedic finale of this all came though when drunk guy finally realized that his friend was being forcibly removed and somehow got his wobbly legs to execute a hilarious "sprint" in front of the crowd that had my entire section cracking up, something that you would have had to have seen in order to appreciate. The security guy was soon back and I was pleased to see that he just checked with the others involved to make sure that they were alright rather than removing them as well. They would now get to watch the rest of the race without the distraction.
There would be no catching Sheppard on this night as for the sixth time in eight races on the 2014 Tour the winner would come from the front row. Tonight though it wasn't because the track wasn't wide and racy as drivers often went two and sometimes three-wide, once right in front of the leader that allowed the second place car of Brian Shirley to close the gap for a moment before Sheppard found an opening and powered through. With nine laps remaining Shirley clipped the turn three wall and that allowed Bobby Pierce to slip under him for second and despite a caution with just two laps remaining the order would not change as Sheppard scored the flag-to-flag win over Pierce, Shirley, Ryan Unzicker and Shannon Babb.
Despite the forty minute intermission, and thanks to running the Hornet feature last on the schedule, we were on our way home at 9:22 on a Monday night making for a pretty decent trip to the heart of UMP country for a Summer Nationals event. Depending upon some other factors I might catch up with the Hell Tour one more time this go around when they visit 34 Raceway in Burlington on Saturday July 12th.
And race fans always remember, when everybody sits, everybody sees!
See you again soon on the Back Stretch!
Monday, June 23, 2014
Weather And Other Things....
Frequent and sometimes heavy rounds of thunderstorms have played havoc with the schedules of race tracks, traveling series and race fans over the past couple of weeks. Pictures from both Husets Speedway and Rapids Speedway this week showed significant flooding, but amazingly Husets was able to recover and race last night (Sunday) with Craig Dollansky taking the win in the headline division. Flood waters from made the pit area unusable at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Saturday night, so despite a dry evening they had to cancel their show. There is nothing more frustrating than to have good race day weather, but to not be able to race due to wet grounds!
The UMP Summer Nationals continues to struggle with the weather losing their show last Thursday night at the Quincy Raceways. As I watched the radar that afternoon everything was sliding to the north of Quincy, but just before I was set to leave for the track more storms developed on the south end of the line and I decided that perhaps another option would be more wise. The rains came down and hard at the track around 5:30 p.m. putting an end to the show and at about that time my wife was very pleased that I was accompanying her to Iowa City for dinner after she would run a few errands. Good decision on my part!
The only reason that I was even considering going to Quincy late on Thursday afternoon was because of the early call made by Lee County Speedway promoter Mike VanGenderen. The track was supposed to have been hosting the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders along with the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds Thursday night, but neither the radar or the forecast was looking good around the noon hour. Knowing that drivers in both of those series would be having to make some pretty good hauls to get to the southeast corner of Iowa, VanGenderen pulled the plug on the show even before the rain started to fall at the track. There was little doubt that it was the right call and when a very heavy line of storms did come though around 3 p.m. I'm sure that there were several drivers who appreciated the fact that they were not already on the road and headed for Donnellson. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour portion of the event has been rescheduled for Monday, July 14th.
The heavy rains of Thursday left some doubt about the Sprint Invaders' Friday show at Bloomfield, but promoter Chris Eggers and his crew worked their tails off to get the place in racing condition and the word went out early that afternoon that that the show was on as scheduled. With its companion event being rained out the night before I wondered what we would have for a car count and I was very pleasantly surprised to reach thirty including several drivers making their first appearance with the Invaders in 2014. Billy Alley was one of the last cars to arrive and he was fast all night winning his heat and the dash before finishing as runner-up to feature winner Jon Agan. Alley had actually made the pass for the lead using the high side of turn two on lap fourteen, but a caution flag waving before the lap was completed put Agan back out front for the restart. Jon is posting a stellar 2014 season thus far and the current Sprint Invaders point leader showed that he was not only fast, but smart too as he moved up to Alley's higher groove in turns one and two once the green flag returned. Alley stayed close, but could not again make the pass over the final eleven laps as Agan scored his second series victory of the season.
Alley's car was getting some extra looks in the tech area as a large chunk of mud had blasted a hole through the body work on the right side of the driver compartment and fortunately it did not injure the driver. That chunk likely came from the hole entering turn three that had drivers searching for the best possible line to enter the turn at high speed without upsetting the car too much. During the drivers meeting Eggers stated that they have been having issues at the entrance of turn three and, with the heavy rains from yesterday, that hole would likely return so the drivers knew what to look for before they even hot lapped on the evening. Hopefully Chris can get that taken care of well before the Invaders return to Bloomfield on Friday August 15th to kick off a big three-day swing that should pull in another strong car count.
Corey Nelson of Eugene, Missouri, made his Invaders debut and won the B-Main before being the first car to drop out of the feature. And Justin Bucholz made his Winged Sprint Car debut after several successful seasons driving a Mod Lite. Sawyer Phillips and Trevor Reynolds were also with the Invaders for the first time this year and they will both hope for better results on their next visit. Reynolds fought mechanical issues all night and did not qualify for the main event while Phillips was making a run at the last transfer spot out of the B-Main when he hit the guardrail exiting turn two and did a few wild mid-air spins before landing right-side up on the infield. For a full rundown of the night's story and results from my colleague Bill Wright click here. The next event for the Sprint Invaders will be on Thursday night July 3rd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines and it will be my first time to announce at the legendary half-mile since working one of the Driver's Dream races many years ago. I can't remember the exact year, but it was one of the first appearances by Doug Wolfgang after recovering from his tragic accident at Lakeside Speedway.
Bloomfield also had some exciting racing in their regular divisions Friday night highlighted by a great battle in the Stock Car feature between Jason Cook and Derrick Agee. Those two drivers swapped the lead back and forth on three occasions over the final five laps and in the final set of turns Agee went high in turn three and then dove low in four to get under Cook and pass him by a bumper at the checkers. Corey Strothman and Nathan Wood were right there as well and would have pounced if the two leaders would have stumbled proving once again that the Stock Car class will almost always put on some of the best racing no matter where you go. A win would have been a nice birthday present for Cook who turned forty the next day, but he had to enjoy the battle with the young driver out of central Missouri. Scott Dickey shook off the gremlins that have plagued him so far in 2014 and held off Mike VanGenderen to win the Modified feature. Dickey is always fast and winning one could lead to several more in succession. Sounded like there was some extra-curricular activity at the conclusion of the Hobby Stock feature as I was walking to my car in the parking lot and Brandon Dale closed out the evening with a win in the Sport Mods.
Saturday was one of those nights when you ask your wife "what do you want to do tonight?" And she responds, "I don't know what do you want to do?" So after trading those lines two or three times I boldly said, "let's go to the races." Now my wife is the best in that while she doesn't really like to go, she seldom if ever gives me a hard time about going racing without her. She has always said that if we could get there just in time for the features and be done by no later than ten o'clock that she would go all the time and of course that's just not feasible for me, but for this one night that was the deal that I made with her. It was five dollar admission night at 34 Raceway so I told her that we would leave the house at 7:45, that I would leave my notebook in the car and that no matter where they were in the program we would leave at ten and go to Perkins for a late night dinner/breakfast.
We arrived in time for the final heat race of the night, found a nice seat near the top of the grandstands and settled in for features only on a beautiful Saturday evening. Uncharacteristically the Stock Cars had several multi-car accidents before they could even complete a lap and that kind of got things off to a slow start, but finally they settled in with Tom Bowling Jr. taking the win. The Mod Lites were up next and Dan Keltner continued his domination of that class. I'm not sure what has happened to the car counts in this class as only seven were on hand again tonight after regularly drawing fifteen to twenty the past couple of years. The Sport Mods were up next and with some of the top drivers in the region competing here each week it is no easy accomplishment for a driver to score his first career win here at 34 Raceway. Creston Williams makes the long pull down from Atkins nearly every Saturday and on this night he looked strong racing out front while drivers like Dunker, Anders and Gower, all in the top fourteen of the current All Iowa Points standings battled behind him. Williams had taken the white flag and was racing through turns one and two when Dunker spun into the infield off turn four and then stopped just shy of the front stretch to bring out a caution and set up a one lap restart. It would have been a shame if Williams had lost under these circumstances, but even though Gower and Sean Wyett went three-wide with him for the lead into turn one, Creston kept his composure and maintained the lead to the checkers.
The Four Cylinder division was up next and they went non-stop green to checkers for twelve laps with Austen Becerra chasing down and passing Ron Kibbe late to win his ninteenth feature of the 2014 campaign. No wonder that Becerra is solidly atop the current All Iowa Points for this division. The IMCA Modifieds struggled through some cautions, but the racing was good with Jeff Waterman edging by Mitch Morris for the lead with just five laps remaining to score the win. On the final lap Brandon Rothzen and Tyler Glass collided in turn three and as the cleanup exceeded the victory lane ceremonies for Waterman my self-imposed ten o'clock curfew arrived before the final event of the night, the 305 Sprint Car feature was pushed off. A promise is a promise though and we headed for the parking lot and on to Perkins knowing that if I were ever to get her to do this again, she would need to know that I would keep my word! Sounds like I missed a thriller though as Justin Newberry completed a last lap pass to score the win. For a full rundown of the night's racing check out my Positively Racing colleague Brian Neal's Midwest Racing News.
Next up for 34 Raceway will be the return of the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars this Friday night June 27th. Unfortunately for me I will be on an airplane returning from a business meeting on the east coast, but I will look forward to hearing your stories on how the night went!
As I put a wrap on this one I am watching the radar closely to determine whether or not to make the trip over to Peoria for tonight's UMP Summer Nationals event. Another night and another threat of rain for the "Hell Tour". If I don't go to Peoria tonight I will then look to go to the Marshalltown Speedway on Tuesday night for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event. What to do? What to do?
The UMP Summer Nationals continues to struggle with the weather losing their show last Thursday night at the Quincy Raceways. As I watched the radar that afternoon everything was sliding to the north of Quincy, but just before I was set to leave for the track more storms developed on the south end of the line and I decided that perhaps another option would be more wise. The rains came down and hard at the track around 5:30 p.m. putting an end to the show and at about that time my wife was very pleased that I was accompanying her to Iowa City for dinner after she would run a few errands. Good decision on my part!
The only reason that I was even considering going to Quincy late on Thursday afternoon was because of the early call made by Lee County Speedway promoter Mike VanGenderen. The track was supposed to have been hosting the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders along with the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds Thursday night, but neither the radar or the forecast was looking good around the noon hour. Knowing that drivers in both of those series would be having to make some pretty good hauls to get to the southeast corner of Iowa, VanGenderen pulled the plug on the show even before the rain started to fall at the track. There was little doubt that it was the right call and when a very heavy line of storms did come though around 3 p.m. I'm sure that there were several drivers who appreciated the fact that they were not already on the road and headed for Donnellson. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour portion of the event has been rescheduled for Monday, July 14th.
The heavy rains of Thursday left some doubt about the Sprint Invaders' Friday show at Bloomfield, but promoter Chris Eggers and his crew worked their tails off to get the place in racing condition and the word went out early that afternoon that that the show was on as scheduled. With its companion event being rained out the night before I wondered what we would have for a car count and I was very pleasantly surprised to reach thirty including several drivers making their first appearance with the Invaders in 2014. Billy Alley was one of the last cars to arrive and he was fast all night winning his heat and the dash before finishing as runner-up to feature winner Jon Agan. Alley had actually made the pass for the lead using the high side of turn two on lap fourteen, but a caution flag waving before the lap was completed put Agan back out front for the restart. Jon is posting a stellar 2014 season thus far and the current Sprint Invaders point leader showed that he was not only fast, but smart too as he moved up to Alley's higher groove in turns one and two once the green flag returned. Alley stayed close, but could not again make the pass over the final eleven laps as Agan scored his second series victory of the season.
Alley's car was getting some extra looks in the tech area as a large chunk of mud had blasted a hole through the body work on the right side of the driver compartment and fortunately it did not injure the driver. That chunk likely came from the hole entering turn three that had drivers searching for the best possible line to enter the turn at high speed without upsetting the car too much. During the drivers meeting Eggers stated that they have been having issues at the entrance of turn three and, with the heavy rains from yesterday, that hole would likely return so the drivers knew what to look for before they even hot lapped on the evening. Hopefully Chris can get that taken care of well before the Invaders return to Bloomfield on Friday August 15th to kick off a big three-day swing that should pull in another strong car count.
Corey Nelson of Eugene, Missouri, made his Invaders debut and won the B-Main before being the first car to drop out of the feature. And Justin Bucholz made his Winged Sprint Car debut after several successful seasons driving a Mod Lite. Sawyer Phillips and Trevor Reynolds were also with the Invaders for the first time this year and they will both hope for better results on their next visit. Reynolds fought mechanical issues all night and did not qualify for the main event while Phillips was making a run at the last transfer spot out of the B-Main when he hit the guardrail exiting turn two and did a few wild mid-air spins before landing right-side up on the infield. For a full rundown of the night's story and results from my colleague Bill Wright click here. The next event for the Sprint Invaders will be on Thursday night July 3rd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines and it will be my first time to announce at the legendary half-mile since working one of the Driver's Dream races many years ago. I can't remember the exact year, but it was one of the first appearances by Doug Wolfgang after recovering from his tragic accident at Lakeside Speedway.
Bloomfield also had some exciting racing in their regular divisions Friday night highlighted by a great battle in the Stock Car feature between Jason Cook and Derrick Agee. Those two drivers swapped the lead back and forth on three occasions over the final five laps and in the final set of turns Agee went high in turn three and then dove low in four to get under Cook and pass him by a bumper at the checkers. Corey Strothman and Nathan Wood were right there as well and would have pounced if the two leaders would have stumbled proving once again that the Stock Car class will almost always put on some of the best racing no matter where you go. A win would have been a nice birthday present for Cook who turned forty the next day, but he had to enjoy the battle with the young driver out of central Missouri. Scott Dickey shook off the gremlins that have plagued him so far in 2014 and held off Mike VanGenderen to win the Modified feature. Dickey is always fast and winning one could lead to several more in succession. Sounded like there was some extra-curricular activity at the conclusion of the Hobby Stock feature as I was walking to my car in the parking lot and Brandon Dale closed out the evening with a win in the Sport Mods.
Saturday was one of those nights when you ask your wife "what do you want to do tonight?" And she responds, "I don't know what do you want to do?" So after trading those lines two or three times I boldly said, "let's go to the races." Now my wife is the best in that while she doesn't really like to go, she seldom if ever gives me a hard time about going racing without her. She has always said that if we could get there just in time for the features and be done by no later than ten o'clock that she would go all the time and of course that's just not feasible for me, but for this one night that was the deal that I made with her. It was five dollar admission night at 34 Raceway so I told her that we would leave the house at 7:45, that I would leave my notebook in the car and that no matter where they were in the program we would leave at ten and go to Perkins for a late night dinner/breakfast.
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| Features only, popcorn and a ten o'clock curfew makes my lovely wife a more willing race fan |
We arrived in time for the final heat race of the night, found a nice seat near the top of the grandstands and settled in for features only on a beautiful Saturday evening. Uncharacteristically the Stock Cars had several multi-car accidents before they could even complete a lap and that kind of got things off to a slow start, but finally they settled in with Tom Bowling Jr. taking the win. The Mod Lites were up next and Dan Keltner continued his domination of that class. I'm not sure what has happened to the car counts in this class as only seven were on hand again tonight after regularly drawing fifteen to twenty the past couple of years. The Sport Mods were up next and with some of the top drivers in the region competing here each week it is no easy accomplishment for a driver to score his first career win here at 34 Raceway. Creston Williams makes the long pull down from Atkins nearly every Saturday and on this night he looked strong racing out front while drivers like Dunker, Anders and Gower, all in the top fourteen of the current All Iowa Points standings battled behind him. Williams had taken the white flag and was racing through turns one and two when Dunker spun into the infield off turn four and then stopped just shy of the front stretch to bring out a caution and set up a one lap restart. It would have been a shame if Williams had lost under these circumstances, but even though Gower and Sean Wyett went three-wide with him for the lead into turn one, Creston kept his composure and maintained the lead to the checkers.
The Four Cylinder division was up next and they went non-stop green to checkers for twelve laps with Austen Becerra chasing down and passing Ron Kibbe late to win his ninteenth feature of the 2014 campaign. No wonder that Becerra is solidly atop the current All Iowa Points for this division. The IMCA Modifieds struggled through some cautions, but the racing was good with Jeff Waterman edging by Mitch Morris for the lead with just five laps remaining to score the win. On the final lap Brandon Rothzen and Tyler Glass collided in turn three and as the cleanup exceeded the victory lane ceremonies for Waterman my self-imposed ten o'clock curfew arrived before the final event of the night, the 305 Sprint Car feature was pushed off. A promise is a promise though and we headed for the parking lot and on to Perkins knowing that if I were ever to get her to do this again, she would need to know that I would keep my word! Sounds like I missed a thriller though as Justin Newberry completed a last lap pass to score the win. For a full rundown of the night's racing check out my Positively Racing colleague Brian Neal's Midwest Racing News.
Next up for 34 Raceway will be the return of the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars this Friday night June 27th. Unfortunately for me I will be on an airplane returning from a business meeting on the east coast, but I will look forward to hearing your stories on how the night went!
As I put a wrap on this one I am watching the radar closely to determine whether or not to make the trip over to Peoria for tonight's UMP Summer Nationals event. Another night and another threat of rain for the "Hell Tour". If I don't go to Peoria tonight I will then look to go to the Marshalltown Speedway on Tuesday night for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event. What to do? What to do?
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Invaders and HDT Rained Out; Current Late Model Rankings
Tonight's (Thursday June 19th) Sprint Invader and Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified doubleheader at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson has been washed out due to a heavy line of thunderstorms. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour portion of the event has been rescheduled for Monday July 14th setting up a true Iowa Speedweek for the Modifieds who will race another HDT event the following night in Oskaloosa, followed by the regular Wednesday show at Osky with extra money on the line and then the Harris Clash at Knoxville on Thursday. Perhaps this four day swing will draw in some more out of state drivers.
With four of the first five events on the schedule rained out, perhaps they should call it the Hawkeye Mud Tour.
As of 4:30 p.m. the Quincy Raceways has dodged the storms and tonight's UMP Summer Nationals event is still on as scheduled. So in switching to a Late Model state of mind following the current "Back Stretch" National Dirt Late Model standings through last night's "Hell Tour" event at the Spoon River Speedway.
With four of the first five events on the schedule rained out, perhaps they should call it the Hawkeye Mud Tour.
As of 4:30 p.m. the Quincy Raceways has dodged the storms and tonight's UMP Summer Nationals event is still on as scheduled. So in switching to a Late Model state of mind following the current "Back Stretch" National Dirt Late Model standings through last night's "Hell Tour" event at the Spoon River Speedway.
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