"I have never seen this many people at a race before."
My wife Christine does not go to a lot of races with me and while she actually has been to events that drew much larger crowds at Knoxville and Daytona, I completely understood the true meaning of her statement as we sat amongst the large crowd gathered at the Benton County Speedway for the 20th running of the Hogan Memorial Sunday night. This wasn't NASCAR's most famous facility or the World Capital of Sprint Cars, this was a county fairgrounds facility located in the small Iowa town of Vinton and it was obvious that this was not a just another race night, it was a happening! And we were thrilled to be a part of it.
This event celebrates the family aspect of short track racing, not only amongst the competitors themselves, but of those who enjoy the sport from the grandstand side as well and we loved sitting with three and perhaps four generations of fans where the adorable youngsters were cheering hard for grandpa during the Micro Mod feature and were still completely involved when the other divisions were on the track as well with "number nineteen" being their chosen hero for the Modified main event. Perhaps the young ladies were smitten with Richie Gustin's good looks during on-track introductions?
As we have seen him do so often in the past, Gustin made a strong move immediately following the drop of the green going from fifth to second in the first two laps of the forty-lap finale for the Modifieds. J.D. Auringer had started on the outside of the front row and he had already began to pull away as Gustin took up the chase, but soon Gustin had to contend with a couple of challengers for his position. Hunter Marriott who had started right behind Gustin in seventh was the first to apply the pressure and he made the pass for second on lap fourteen as the leader, Auringer started to work lapped traffic a straightaway ahead. Dan Chapman who had started ninth right behind Marriott had chased the Missouri driver toward the front and just before the mid-race mark he too was able to work past Gustin to take the third position.
The caution waved following lap twenty for the mandated five minute pit stop and while other drivers and crews tried to make adjustments to help get them to the front, Auringer had his crew put some fuel in the car and grab him a cold Mountain Dew to refresh the driver a bit. After all, there was no sense messing with the car that was so obviously dominant in the first half of the race. The two drivers who made the biggest moves in the opening segment, Mike Jergens and Troy Cordes, likely did not do much to their cars either as Cordes had come from sixteenth to eighth and Jergens had moved from seventeenth to ninth as they enjoyed the halftime break.
Once back to racing Chapman was able to put a nose under Marriott and as they battled for second Auringer again put a few car-lengths on the field as he cruised around the track using a line that was about two-thirds of the way up in the turns. After a few laps Marriott established himself in second while Jergens continued his march toward the front working the extreme bottom of the quarter-mile. Perhaps the fastest car on the track at this point, Jergens worked past Gustin for fourth with about eight laps to go but he was still nearly a straightaway back from the lead trio and with no cautions or any issues created by lapped traffic he would run out of laps before he could advance any further.
Lapped cars did come into play in the final five laps, but Auringer was cool as could be and had no trouble completing the flag-to-flag victory that would net him more than $3,500 in prize money. Marriott, a first-time qualifier for the Hogan, continues to show that he will be a contender in big shows as he finished second ahead of the veteran Dan Chapman who took third. Jergens was impressive coming from the ninth row to finish fourth while Gustin completed the top five. Finishing sixth through tenth were Cayden Carter, Kyle Brown, Jeremy Mills, Troy Cordes and Joe Docekal. Twenty-six of the forty-five IMCA Modifieds that entered took the green and among the non-qualifiers were long distance travelers Scott Drake of Joplin, Missouri, Joey Franklin of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Lance Mari of Imperial, California. I was very surprised that there was not a single entry from the state of Wisconsin as there are several drivers that usually venture down this way when the big money is up for grabs.
While the Modifieds take center stage at this "happening", the Hogan family and everybody who helps them organize this event also secure additional sponsorship money for the support divisions and that draws in extra drivers there as well.
Thirty-four IMCA Sport Mods were on hand and three top contenders were essentially eliminated during the third heat race. With the large field on hand drivers needed to run in the top four to make the main event and with Jenae Gustin and Carter VanDenBerg starting at the back of the nine car line up they both had their work cut out for them just to get qualified. VanDenBerg advanced quickly and was ready to move into a qualifying spot when he went a little too hot into turn three and tagged Ryan Maitland sending him for a spin. Both drivers were sent to the rear for the restart and this allowed Gustin to move up to second at the finish behind winner Jacob Salisbury. Maitland and VanDenBerg finished seventh and eighth putting them deep in the B-Main field and when Jenae's car came up too light at the scale she too would have to run the B-Main and start from the rear.
There was plenty of talent starting in front of that trio, including defending track champion Danny Dvorak, and when the B-Main went non-stop all three, Gustin, Maitland and VenDenBerg found themselves outside of a qualifying position with Gustin making the strongest run back up to sixth.
Kurt Hogan would take the lead at the drop of the green in the fifteen-lap main event and he almost lost it when he got sideways in turn two on lap three. Kyle Olson was there to challenge and it was his contact that straightened out Hogan and allowed him to retain the lead while Olson's race would end due to a flat tire. Kyle's brother Tony Olson was also on the move early coming from the sixth row up to fourth by lap five when he suddenly found himself sliding sideways toward the infield on the front straightaway giving back several of those positions. The race stayed green though and as Brett Lowry and Sam Wieben battled for the second spot, they were also closing the gap on Hogan. With just three laps remaining the Lowry/Wieben duo caught the leader and passed him simultaneously coming off of turn two with Wieben up high and Lowry down low. That high line into turn three gave Wieben the advantage and while Lowry made one last charge off the bottom on the final lap, Wieben was able to beat him to the line to take the win. Hogan would finish in the third spot, Tony Olson came back strong to take fourth and Kip Siems moved from twelfth to take fifth at the checkers in the non-stop affair.
The IMCA Stock Car feature was the perfect appetizer for the main event and perhaps the biggest round of applause during the evening came when the winner emerged from his car in victory lane. Paul Shepherd, Michael Peterson and Curtis Roster went three-wide for the lead down the back stretch on the opening lap and when score keeper Kevin Kemp officially recorded lap one it was Shepherd out front. By mid-race most of the field had decided that the low line was the place to be and it looked as though Shepherd would cruise on to a win, but that was before Justin Stander decided that a top-five finish was not going to be good enough in front of this capacity crowd.
Stander moved up the race track and gradually made his way toward the front, but with just a few laps remaining it still looked like he would not be able to catch the leader. Perhaps just a little more push from the right foot changed that though as Stander pulled even with Shepherd going down the back stretch on the final lap and when he grooved it one last time around the top side of turns three and four Justin Stander scored his first career win in the IMCA Stock division after moving up from the Hobby Stock class. At least forty friends and family crossed over from the grandstand to join the happy winner in victory lane and you could hear the emotion in his voice as he thanked his parents and all of his sponsors. Shepherd would have to settle for runner-up honors on this night, Justin Temeyer came from ninth to third, Jay Schmidt finished fourth and Norman Chesmore completed the top five. Damon Murty, who suffered a flat tire in his heat race started twenty-first and raced his way up to seventh to earn the Hard Charger money from one of the many Hogan Memorial Sponsors.
Nathan Ballard wins a lot of IMCA Hobby Stock races on the quarter-mile asphalt track at Hawkeye Downs on Friday nights and on Sunday's he proves that he is also pretty tough on dirt here in Vinton. Ballard would lead the first three laps of tonight's Hobby Stock feature only to have Brian Happel find the bite on the bottom to drive on past and take the win. Ballard would hold off Bill Bonnett for second with Benji Irvine and Jacob Keiser next in line. Keiser was fresh off of a top-five finish way up in Fairmont, Minnesota, on Friday night.
The BCS Micro Mods were also on the card with veteran driver Don Erger completing the clean sweep winning both the heat and the feature.
I would like to thank Ryan Clark, Dana Benning, Mick Trier, Scott Hogan and all of the folks who work so hard on presenting the Hogan Memorial each year. It truly is one of the premier racing events in the Midwest and one that I hope that you will mark on your calendar for years to come! For the full results and more importantly the list of all the great sponsors who help make it happen, click here.
Hawkeye Modified Speed Week continues tonight as the XSAN Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds visits the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
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