If he does stick with his plan to retire, Brian Birkhofer could not have scripted a better way to close out his stellar driving career with a last corner pass of Scott Bloomquist to win the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals on Saturday night. And, as always, Birky provided a great victory lane interview as well. Brian did hint that he might someday return to racing, but for now he is going to stick with his plans and enjoy his family as his sons grow up.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Brian since he was a young teenager coming to the track with his father Dave Birkhofer who was a pretty darn good Late Model driver in his own right. Starting out in the Street Stock division Brian steadily graduated up the ranks until he became a winner on the "national" Late Model level. To me he is still that exuberant kid that I have known for nearly thirty years so to hear him say that he is retiring from the sport was a jolt back to the reality that these guys who I would still describe as "young drivers", are now more accurately described as "veterans".
This thought hit home with me on two other occasions this past weekend. First, when announcer James Essex referred to the #50 out of Coralville as "the veteran Denny Eckrich" and the second when I stopped to talk with Sprint Car driver Ryan Jamison at 34 Raceway Saturday night. Just like Birkhofer, I have watched these two drivers since they started racing as teenagers and all these years later I still think of them as just still getting their start in the sport with bigger and better things still to come for each of them. In reality though each of them will tell you that the peak of their racing career came several years ago and that makes me really scared to take a hard look in the mirror and see just how old I am.
Brian, even if you never turn a wheel again, you have firmly planted yourself as one of my all-time favorites not only for your talents on the track, but for your genuine personality off of it as well! All the best on wherever life leads you, and your family....
I am disappointed to say that I missed Birky's last two wins after watching him run third at Knoxville on Thursday night, but I did get to see two other pretty good nights of racing at two other tracks on what was likely my last three-day race weekend of the season. Friday night proved why the 4/10th-mile oval at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, is one of of my favorite tracks as in the final race of the night the IMCA Stock Cars were still able to race six-wide during their feature. Yes, it is a great race track, but given its location and the surrounding population base it has been proven that it is not capable of supporting a weekly show, so for those of you who have been hopping on Facebook and saying something to the extent of "Great show, wish they would race in Memphis weekly", I would encourage you to stop trying to push for something that just will not work. Instead let me take you back to what came to my mind three years ago while driving home from another good night at Memphis. I'm not sure what Chris Eggers is planning to do with Bloomfield in 2015, but perhaps it is time to take a serious look at this concept?
I do know that I am looking forward to getting back down to Memphis for at least one of the nights of the Fall Nationals on October 17th and 18th. And who knows, maybe I will be able to make it another three-race weekend by going to the Darkside Fall Bash in Maquoketa on Sunday October 19th.
This past Saturday night I was at 34 Raceway in Burlington for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders Season Championship. A very nice field of 33 winged 360 Sprints were in attendance and it was Jon Agan who wrapped up the points championship after winning both his heat and the Budweiser Shake Up Dash. Agan seemed to be on his way to a clean sweep leading the feature race from the start until his right rear tire went flat during a caution on lap fourteen and he would watch the rest of the race from his trailer as Tony Shilling took the win and the runner-up position in the points chase. As one of the two announcers with the Invaders it has been my pleasure to get know Agan better this season and it was good to see him earn the crown. I was however a bit disappointed for him as the flat tire took away his opportunity to also become an All Iowa Points champion as finishing third or better in Saturday's feature would have jumped him ahead of Gregg Bakker in the 360 Sprint standings. It is the first AIP title for Bakker who is from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and with Agan finishing a close second you have to go back to 2008 for the last time that an Iowa-based driver won the 360 championship in Jody Rosenboom of Rock Rapids.
It has been a pleasure to join Bill Wright on the mic for the Invaders the past two years and at this point, due to increased travel responsibilities with work, I am looking at going back to being his "as needed" substitute rather than his regular partner in crime. Who knows though, a lot is going on in the world of Sprint Car racing right now and my plans could change once schedules are released and reviewed.
Saturday's show at 34 was also a National points race for the Mod Lite division with twenty-six of the little speedsters signing in for the $1,000 top prize. The roster included two drivers from Delaware, Ty Short and Nick Nash, who were driving cars provided by the Halcomb Racing Team and while the visitors were strong finishing second and sixth respectively, it was central Iowa driver Mike Morrill who dominated for the win.
I am torn as to what to do with the Mod Lites going forward in regard to the All Iowa Points. I am finishing up my second year of including them in the tabulations, but since we essentially have two sets of rule packages between the Mod Lites and the Micro Mods, it makes it where one can't run competitively, or at all with the other. So for now I am leaning toward reducing my work load and not tracking the division any more until one of the sets of rules prevails.
The young man who will be the 2014 Mod Lite All Iowa Points champion, Dan Keltner, along with his brother Josh are featured in a nice article in this month's Speedway Illustrated magazine. Dan was in the stands at 34 watching the action Saturday night as he has purchased a Sport Mod and you just might see him in it at one of the upcoming Fall specials in the area.
The CJ Haulers race truck division made its first ever appearance away from its home track in Columbus Junction Saturday night as nine trucks took to the high banks at 34 Raceway. Jacob Brown took the win and one of the trucks was driven by one of 34's owners/promoters Amy Laue. For having little or no track experience Amy kept it straight and improved her lap times throughout the evening although she knows that she is no threat to ever become the "best" race car driver in her household. Husband Jeff won several Late Model features during his career, and he had a big smile on his face watching his wife get some track time at the facility that they and their family have operated the past several years.
Still plenty of racing to be found in our area this weekend and throughout the month of October. I have a wedding to go to on Saturday night, but Friday and Sunday are still possibilities. Looks like it is going to get chilly again this weekend so bundle up and get on out to the track of your choice. We hope to see you there on the Back Stretch!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Plenty of Friday Night Action at Memphis
Yes, there were bigger events going on to the north, south and west, but I would find it hard to believe that those shows featured any better racing than what myself and my PR.com colleague Ryan Clark saw on Friday night at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis. It was the first of two nights of racing this weekend for the seldom used gem in northeast Missouri as this was the "Grand Championship" event that was weathered out back in March and weather conditions for this weekend could not have been better as 133 cars in five divisions filled the pit area.
A couple of the things that I love about these late season shows are the changes that drivers are making in regard to what division they are racing in giving us a preview for next year and the drivers that pull in from long distances to do some racing against competition that they do not see throughout the rest of the year. There were a few noteworthy instances of each and I'll share those with you after a quick summary of each of the night's five main events.
The Sport Mod division was the most populated with 34 cars and they were the first feature to take to the track around 10:15. Curtis VanDerWal loves the wide racing surface here at Memphis and when he starts on the front row it is going to be next to impossible to beat him here. As VanDerWal raced out front on his own the action behind him was intense with contact sending drivers in the top five for spins on a couple of occasions. In the end it was a pair of Oskaloosa, Iowa, drivers going one-two with VanDerWal taking the win over young Brayton Carter who made his way up from a fifth row start. Bobby Anders, Tony Dunker and Brandon Dale completed the top five.
The Hobby Stock feature had a similar story line as the 2014 track champion at Moberly, Tim Dawson held a lead through the majority of the distance while there was a mad scramble going on behind him for second on back. Dawson would take the victory ahead of another Oskaloosa-based driver Steve Allen, Brandon Symmonds and Dustin Griffiths were next in line while Adams County Speedway regular Luke Ramsey of Bedford, Iowa, completed the top five.
A solid field of eighteen Sport Compacts were on hand and with Austen Becerra and Adam Gates in the lineup it may have been assumed that the rest of the field would be racing for third on back. Not so! Becerra started on the front row and led early only to have Michael Grossman go screaming by. Gates then moved into challenge Becerra for second and contact between the two hindered their chances to catch Grossman. Even a late restart did not change the order as Grossman was very impressive in his run to victory lane over Gates. Kimberly Abbott slipped by Becerra on that final restart to take third and Barry Taft prevailed in a three-wide battle for fifth on the final lap.
Twenty-nine Modifieds signed in with a nice mix of cars as the rules allowed for all three prevailing sanctions in the area, IMCA, USRA and UMP, to run together. Cayden Carter started up front and he would lead the race until the final two laps when tenth-starting Michael Long powered by him on the inside to score the win. Carter held off Andrew Schroeder for the second spot, Jeff Waterman was a challenger late in fourth and Ronn Lauritzen picked off several spots on the final restart to complete the top five.
The Stock Cars would close out the evening and I am not kidding you when I say that I saw at least two instances when drivers were six-wide racing for position. Yes, I said "six-wide" and this was not on a parade lap, it was at speed, something that only the Stock Car division can pull off without massive issues. Nathan Wood was an early leader before yielding to Jason Cook, and as Wood tried to regain the lead on lap eight, contact with Cook would cut down the right front tire on Wood's #52 car. Cook was working the extreme bottom line on both ends and while it was faster in turns one and two, the top side was the way to go in three and four. On the final lap Cook went low and Mike Hughes went high into turn three and, when Cook got a little nudge from behind, that was all that Hughes needed to get the advantage as four cars passed under the checkers four-wide in a thrilling finish and we had to wait for announcer Tony Paris to give us the official results. Hughes, driving Damon Murty's backup car, won by a nose with Jason Cook, Cayden Carter and John Oliver Jr. next in line. Shane Paris was right behind that quartet in fifth.
I had originally established a personal curfew of eleven o'clock, but with the warm weather and the wide race track it was not a tough decision to blow off that curfew and the final checkers waved at 11:55 over that amazing Stock Car finish. Well worth one less hour of sleep!
Austen Becerra has been the dominant Sport Compact driver in the area this season and he did double duty tonight as he brought out his new Sport Mod ride that he will apparently drive in 2015. Becerra looked great in his heat race starting fourth and then racing to the win, but his feature race was one to forget as after two solo spins he was sent to the pits to prepare for his Sport Compact effort. Austen will be the 2014 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder champion this year and don't be surprised if he is the top rookie contender in the Sport Mods in 2015.
Jake Wenig has been a winner in both a Hobby Stock and a Stock Car and on this night he was in a Sport Mod. Jake looked fast during hot laps, struggled in his heat, and then hit the turn one guardrail hard in the B-Main to end his night. His father Dan Wenig was behind the wheel of Jake's Stock Car tonight.
Carter VanDenBerg also entered his Sport Mod in the Modified class tonight and was competitive in both.
Matt Greiner was back behind the wheel of a Stock Car tonight driving the Dopler #57 car.
As mentioned above, Stock Car winner Mike Hughes was driving Damon Murty's backup car and the two of them were in a thrilling three car battle with Cayden Carter during a heat race when the transmission suddenly locked up on Murty's car. He would then become the crew chief for the remainder of the night for Hughes who ironically suffered mechanical issues with his own Hobby Stock throughout the night.
Along with Luke Ramsey, Adams County Speedway in Corning Modified regular Keven Parman made the trip east to Memphis.
Jacob Reiter and Cody Cleghorn each made the long pull from Des Moines with their Sport Compact cars.
The Grand Championship continues tonight at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis and the track will be back in action on Friday and Saturday October 17th and 18th for the annual Fall Championships. I hope to make it back down for at least one of those nights in mid-October!
Tonight I am looking forward to the Season Championship event for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway in Burlington. It will also be a National points event for the Mod Lite division, plus Stock Cars, Four Cylinders and the CJ Haulers will be in action as well.
It will be another beautiful night for racing so get on out and enjoy the show in your area!
A couple of the things that I love about these late season shows are the changes that drivers are making in regard to what division they are racing in giving us a preview for next year and the drivers that pull in from long distances to do some racing against competition that they do not see throughout the rest of the year. There were a few noteworthy instances of each and I'll share those with you after a quick summary of each of the night's five main events.
The Sport Mod division was the most populated with 34 cars and they were the first feature to take to the track around 10:15. Curtis VanDerWal loves the wide racing surface here at Memphis and when he starts on the front row it is going to be next to impossible to beat him here. As VanDerWal raced out front on his own the action behind him was intense with contact sending drivers in the top five for spins on a couple of occasions. In the end it was a pair of Oskaloosa, Iowa, drivers going one-two with VanDerWal taking the win over young Brayton Carter who made his way up from a fifth row start. Bobby Anders, Tony Dunker and Brandon Dale completed the top five.
The Hobby Stock feature had a similar story line as the 2014 track champion at Moberly, Tim Dawson held a lead through the majority of the distance while there was a mad scramble going on behind him for second on back. Dawson would take the victory ahead of another Oskaloosa-based driver Steve Allen, Brandon Symmonds and Dustin Griffiths were next in line while Adams County Speedway regular Luke Ramsey of Bedford, Iowa, completed the top five.
A solid field of eighteen Sport Compacts were on hand and with Austen Becerra and Adam Gates in the lineup it may have been assumed that the rest of the field would be racing for third on back. Not so! Becerra started on the front row and led early only to have Michael Grossman go screaming by. Gates then moved into challenge Becerra for second and contact between the two hindered their chances to catch Grossman. Even a late restart did not change the order as Grossman was very impressive in his run to victory lane over Gates. Kimberly Abbott slipped by Becerra on that final restart to take third and Barry Taft prevailed in a three-wide battle for fifth on the final lap.
Twenty-nine Modifieds signed in with a nice mix of cars as the rules allowed for all three prevailing sanctions in the area, IMCA, USRA and UMP, to run together. Cayden Carter started up front and he would lead the race until the final two laps when tenth-starting Michael Long powered by him on the inside to score the win. Carter held off Andrew Schroeder for the second spot, Jeff Waterman was a challenger late in fourth and Ronn Lauritzen picked off several spots on the final restart to complete the top five.
The Stock Cars would close out the evening and I am not kidding you when I say that I saw at least two instances when drivers were six-wide racing for position. Yes, I said "six-wide" and this was not on a parade lap, it was at speed, something that only the Stock Car division can pull off without massive issues. Nathan Wood was an early leader before yielding to Jason Cook, and as Wood tried to regain the lead on lap eight, contact with Cook would cut down the right front tire on Wood's #52 car. Cook was working the extreme bottom line on both ends and while it was faster in turns one and two, the top side was the way to go in three and four. On the final lap Cook went low and Mike Hughes went high into turn three and, when Cook got a little nudge from behind, that was all that Hughes needed to get the advantage as four cars passed under the checkers four-wide in a thrilling finish and we had to wait for announcer Tony Paris to give us the official results. Hughes, driving Damon Murty's backup car, won by a nose with Jason Cook, Cayden Carter and John Oliver Jr. next in line. Shane Paris was right behind that quartet in fifth.
I had originally established a personal curfew of eleven o'clock, but with the warm weather and the wide race track it was not a tough decision to blow off that curfew and the final checkers waved at 11:55 over that amazing Stock Car finish. Well worth one less hour of sleep!
Austen Becerra has been the dominant Sport Compact driver in the area this season and he did double duty tonight as he brought out his new Sport Mod ride that he will apparently drive in 2015. Becerra looked great in his heat race starting fourth and then racing to the win, but his feature race was one to forget as after two solo spins he was sent to the pits to prepare for his Sport Compact effort. Austen will be the 2014 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder champion this year and don't be surprised if he is the top rookie contender in the Sport Mods in 2015.
Jake Wenig has been a winner in both a Hobby Stock and a Stock Car and on this night he was in a Sport Mod. Jake looked fast during hot laps, struggled in his heat, and then hit the turn one guardrail hard in the B-Main to end his night. His father Dan Wenig was behind the wheel of Jake's Stock Car tonight.
Carter VanDenBerg also entered his Sport Mod in the Modified class tonight and was competitive in both.
Matt Greiner was back behind the wheel of a Stock Car tonight driving the Dopler #57 car.
As mentioned above, Stock Car winner Mike Hughes was driving Damon Murty's backup car and the two of them were in a thrilling three car battle with Cayden Carter during a heat race when the transmission suddenly locked up on Murty's car. He would then become the crew chief for the remainder of the night for Hughes who ironically suffered mechanical issues with his own Hobby Stock throughout the night.
Along with Luke Ramsey, Adams County Speedway in Corning Modified regular Keven Parman made the trip east to Memphis.
Jacob Reiter and Cody Cleghorn each made the long pull from Des Moines with their Sport Compact cars.
The Grand Championship continues tonight at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis and the track will be back in action on Friday and Saturday October 17th and 18th for the annual Fall Championships. I hope to make it back down for at least one of those nights in mid-October!
Tonight I am looking forward to the Season Championship event for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway in Burlington. It will also be a National points event for the Mod Lite division, plus Stock Cars, Four Cylinders and the CJ Haulers will be in action as well.
It will be another beautiful night for racing so get on out and enjoy the show in your area!
Friday, September 26, 2014
Crashes Punctuate Late Model Nationals Opener at Knoxville
Opening night of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model
Nationals featured all of the great racing that I have come to expect from this
event that includes deeper inverted starts than you normally see at big shows,
but it also had three of the hardest Late Model accidents that I have ever seen
in person. Thankfully all three drivers walked away uninjured.
The night started on a low note for one the event’s
favorites as Billy Moyer broke during his first of two laps of qualifying. And,
rather than pulling out the backup car and starting from the rear of his heat
race, the native of nearby Des Moines chose to regroup and focus on Friday
night where he could still lock himself into Saturday’s big finale.
Knoxville is unlike any other in that you must race your way
in. A fast qualifying lap does not land you in the first or second row of your
heat race. It does give you a good start in the points that you must accumulate
throughout the night to get into the championship event on Saturday, but as the
fastest qualifier you will start eighth in your heat and you must “race” your
way into the top three to make the main event on the qualifying night. The fans
love it and the track pays the drivers nicely for their efforts.
Dale McDowell would be Thursday’s fastest qualifier and he
did so with one extra lap as it was ruled that he was impeded by the slower car
of Lyle Zanker as their group of four were on the clock. McDowell actually
dropped to ninth at the start of the first heat race before he started working
his way forward, and while he might have caught him anyway, the third and final
transfer spot fell into his grasp when Shannon Babb suffered mechanical issues
with four laps remaining.
The start of the second heat race was a wild one as when
Jimmy Mars poked his nose up a row through the middle as the green flag waved,
he made contact that sent Andy Eckrich sideways and then over into a wild
series of barrel rolls down the front stretch. Flagman Doug Clark scrambled to
the back of his perch as the tumbling car nearly joined him and wheels and
other parts were flung high into the air. It was fortunate that the catch fence
did its job and that the safety equipment did as well as Andy emerged uninjured
and walked back to the pit area. John Blankenship would go onto win this one
while Chase Junghans was able to keep his smoking car ahead of Dennis Erb Jr.
over the closing laps to finish third. Damage from the initial contact with
Eckrich forced Mars to the infield mid-race.
Brandon Overton made the trip up from Georgia for the first
time and he found the Knoxville Raceway to his liking as he dominated the third
heat race ahead of veterans Earl Pearson Jr. and Vic Coffey.
The fourth heat was a thriller from start to finish as
Jonathan Davenport hooked the cushion off turn four to drive around A.J. Diemel
on the final lap to take the win. Eddie Carrier Jr. came from the fourth row to
finish in third.
And if the finish of that heat wasn’t worth the price of
admission then the fifth heat should have taken care of you as Mike Marlar,
Frankie Heckenast and Brian Birkhofer went three-wide into turn three on the
final lap of the fifth heat. It was Marlar’s stumble on the cushion that
created the excitement, but he recovered nicely to fight off Birkhofer at the
checkers. This came shortly after Birkhofer was locked in a tight battle with Scott
James for fourth where James spun with three laps remaining.
The sixth heat saw two race cars destroyed in two separate
incidents. Early in the race Lucas Oil racing series Rookie-of-the-Year leader Jason Hughes got crossed up entering turn three and shot straight up the track head on into the guardrail. The accident was eerily similar to the one that took the life of sprint car driver Steve King here during the 2006 Nationals and I held my breath until Jason climbed out of the angled race car under his own power.
This heat was loaded with talent including Eckert, Lanigan, Bloomquist, Ziegler, Owens, Feger and more and once back to green the racing was intense. Jimmy Owens was holding down the third and final transfer spot when Jason Feger had a run on him coming off the topside of turn four. As Owens came up the track the two made contact and then one of two things happened. Either something broke on the steering of Feger's car or he took exception to the top line being closed off as his car turned to the left hooking Owen's car and turning him sideways at the fastest point on the speedway. Just like Andy Eckrich's car earlier, Owens' #20 tipped over and went for a series of barrel rolls before settling upside down near the turn one guardrail.
It took a few moments, but Jimmy crawled out of the car and then had a microphone in front of him asking what happened. The normally reserved Owens replied quickly "Freakin' Idiot"......or a much more colorful "F" word.....and the interviewer wisely pulled the microphone away.
Scott Bloomquist did what he could to get around Eckert over the closing laps but e could not get the job done and qualifying heats were in the books.
D, C and B-Main action had some drivers making big runs only to come up just short of making the transfer and the 25-lap A-Main lined up with Kent Robinson and Jonathan Davenport on the front row. Davenport was a rocket from the start and with only one caution to slow the pace he would not be seriously challenged going flag-to-flag for the victory. Darrell Lanigan started sixth and finished second ahead of Iowa favorite Brian Birkhofer, Earl Pearson Jr. shook off the announcement earlier this week that he would not be back with Bobby Labonte racing and finished fourth while Brandon Sheppard was the Hard Charger coming from 22nd to fifth at the checkers.
Action continues tonight and Saturday at what is quickly becoming the premier event in Late Model racing!
My schedule puts me in Memphis, Missouri, tonight for the "Grand Championships" and then on Saturday night I will be at the Season Championship for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway. Go the the races this weekend!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Wednesday Notebook: September 24, 2014
Just a couple of quick thoughts here late in the afternoon as I count down the hours until I arrive at Knoxville Thursday for the opening night of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals.
How will the general media react to today's announcement that the grand jury found that there was no basis to file criminal charges in the death of Kevin Ward Jr.? That was not a surprise to me at all, but this was. Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo also said that marijuana was detected in Ward's system during the autopsy and that the levels were enough to "impair" Ward's judgement.
The common assumption has been that there would be no criminal charges filed against Tony Stewart, but that he would likely end up settling out of court should a civil suit be filed by the Ward family. This new nugget of information would seem to make that unlikely as well.
Scott Traylor, are you calling Kevin Keitzman at 810 WHB right now so that you can follow up on the conversation that played out on the Racin' Boys last appearance on "Between The Lines"? It would seem like the underinformed stick and ball radio show host should be eating some crow. And he is not the only one......
If you are going to Knoxville on Saturday you should consider getting there early enough to see Iowa greats Verlin Eaker, Curt Hansen, Tom Hearst, Fred Horn, Joe Merryfield, Ed Sanger, Ken Walton and Gary Webb live at 3 p.m. upstairs at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. "Late Model 101 History" will no doubt be very informative and entertaining with these gentlemen on the panel. This group represents twenty-two of the thirty-four All Iowa Points Late Model championships between 1967 and 2000.
I look forward to spending Thursday night in Knoxville and on Saturday night the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will run their Season Championship at 34 Raceway near Burlington. In between I am hoping to make it down to Memphis, Missouri, for the first night of their two-day show this weekend as well.
The weather forecast looks perfect for the final weekend in September. Get on out and enjoy a race or two while you still can!
How will the general media react to today's announcement that the grand jury found that there was no basis to file criminal charges in the death of Kevin Ward Jr.? That was not a surprise to me at all, but this was. Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo also said that marijuana was detected in Ward's system during the autopsy and that the levels were enough to "impair" Ward's judgement.
The common assumption has been that there would be no criminal charges filed against Tony Stewart, but that he would likely end up settling out of court should a civil suit be filed by the Ward family. This new nugget of information would seem to make that unlikely as well.
Scott Traylor, are you calling Kevin Keitzman at 810 WHB right now so that you can follow up on the conversation that played out on the Racin' Boys last appearance on "Between The Lines"? It would seem like the underinformed stick and ball radio show host should be eating some crow. And he is not the only one......
If you are going to Knoxville on Saturday you should consider getting there early enough to see Iowa greats Verlin Eaker, Curt Hansen, Tom Hearst, Fred Horn, Joe Merryfield, Ed Sanger, Ken Walton and Gary Webb live at 3 p.m. upstairs at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. "Late Model 101 History" will no doubt be very informative and entertaining with these gentlemen on the panel. This group represents twenty-two of the thirty-four All Iowa Points Late Model championships between 1967 and 2000.
I look forward to spending Thursday night in Knoxville and on Saturday night the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will run their Season Championship at 34 Raceway near Burlington. In between I am hoping to make it down to Memphis, Missouri, for the first night of their two-day show this weekend as well.
The weather forecast looks perfect for the final weekend in September. Get on out and enjoy a race or two while you still can!
Monday, September 22, 2014
Urish Claims Quincy As His Favorite; McCarl Makes It Twleve
Two stories from the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) stop at the Quincy Raceways Sunday night. First, the race......
It was an absolute perfect night to watch the 410 Sprint Cars at the quarter-mile oval on the east side of Quincy as the sun was bright, skies were clear and, while it had a bit of a chill to it, the wind was out the north meaning that the inevitable dust that is stirred up by the winged warriors was swept away from the large crowd in attendance. Racing started shortly after 6 p.m. with passing points from the three heat races used to set the dash and the first sixteen feature qualifiers from the twenty-seven car field.
Many time IRA Sprint Car champion Billy Balog stormed to the win in the opener while in the second heat Joey Moughan made a last lap pass of Korey Weyant to take the win. The thrill of victory quickly blazed out though as just as Moughan took the checkers his motor blew and the talented driver from Springfield, Illinois, would be a spectator for the remainder of the evening. Three-time MOWA champion and current point leader Jerrod Hull would dominate the third qualifying heat after starting from the front row.
With Moughan scratched for the evening it was just a five car pole dash tonight and with Balog starting on the front row he was the odds on favorite. Jimmy Hurley had other ideas though as his low-line setup worked to perfection mid-race and he drove under Balog in turns one and two on lap three to take the lead and the eventual win.
Five cars would transfer up out of the night's B-Main and Bret Tripplett gave a sign of things to come as he passed Matt Harms early and then ran off for a dominating win. Harms, Russ Hall behind the wheel of the Northrop Garage #83, Andy Baugh and Ben Wagoner would all transfer.
Following a half hour intermission to groom the wide racing surface, the twenty-five lap main event took to the track shortly before nine o'clock with Hurley and Balog leading the field to green. Hurley's low line had the advantage over Balog's cushion ride on the first two laps and when Balog had a run off the top side of turn four on that second lap he tried get under the leader entering turn one. Contact from Balog sent both cars into a spin and while Hurley's #35 came to a complete stop, Balog was able to stay in the throttle, complete the 360 degree spin, and avoid being hit by the remainder of the field as the caution waved.
Under series rules, only the cars stopped on the track during a caution are sent to the rear so, after being pushed off once again, Hurley expressed his displeasure with Balog by nearly driving over his left front wheel as he circled his way to the back of the field.
Racing was short-lived on the restart as on lap four Jeremy Standridge jumped the cushion in turn three and took a tumble over the banking and out to the concrete barriers protecting the staging area. Thankfully he emerged from the wild ride uninjured.
Once back to green Jerrod Hull made his bid slipping under Balog for the lead on lap five only to have the invader from Wisconson regain the advantage on the following lap. That lead was growing until Chris Urish slipped past Hull for second and as Balog worked traffic, Urish who won here in Quincy on July 6th, was closing in.
The caution waved again on lap thirteen when the #2 car of A.J. Bruns ended up in the guardrail at the exit of turn two. Series announcer Dewain Hulett, who is celebrating his 40th birthday today by the way, had to fill in what I had missed stating that the incident resulted as Balog was putting a lap on Bruns.
On the restart Urish proved that he was now the fastest car on the track as he drove by Balog for the lead as Hull and Terry McCarl were now also in contention. The track was now black and fast around the rim where all of the leaders were running and when the white flag waved Balog made one last effort to get a run on Urish entering turn one. The cushion could not hold him in turn two though as Balog slipped off the top and spun to a halt bringing out one last caution as he saw the runner-up check slip through his hands.
McCarl took a run at the middle groove entering turn one on the final restart, but there was nothing there and Urish once again celebrated heartily in the Quincy Raceways victory lane. Hull padded his point lead by finishing second, McCarl did something that I was personally pulling for (more on that in a minute) by finishing third, Paul Nienheiser came from ninth to finish fourth and Ryan Bunton drove the Phillips Floors #7K car in for fifth. Hurley made a big run back through the field to finish in sixth and B-Main winner Bret Tripplet was the official hard charger of the race as he started seventeenth and finished seventh.
The MOWA Sprint Cars still have four dates remaining on their 2014 schedule so if you want to see a solid base of series regulars who are often joined by some intriguing visitors make sure that you get out to seem them.
It was now 9:20 on a Sunday night and, while I wanted to stick around for the four remaining feature races, including the Titan Wheels/Dunker Concrete "Battle of the Bullring" between the Sport Mods and the B-Mods which drew a diverse field of twenty-seven cars, I decided to head for home knowing that I had a full Monday ahead of me. Checking in with Stevie Dirt this morning it appears that this was a good decision as the 40-lap event struggled through fourteen cautions before Adam Birck celebrated in victory lane.
Always great to see Mary Loney, Jack Walbring, Brian Neal, Jake Croxton and all of the fine folks at Quincy Raceways and this coming Sunday night, September 28th, will be Fan Appreciation Night at the track. Just a five dollar bill will get you in to see another night of racing action before we move into the month of October!
_________________________________________________________________________________
Ten days before, as I entered the pit area at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic in Farley, Terry McCarl yelled out to me "So how much does that All Iowa Point thing pay to win? Ten thousand?" I replied, "twice as much as last year" which is accurate because two times zero is nothing and that is exactly what it "pays" to win an All Iowa Points championship. Terry was joking, but the fact that he even mentioned it given all the things that he has accomplished over the years, gave me a sense of pride and brought me back to that wide-eyed teenager that I was when I started tabulating the points in the first place.
I told him that he was still two points behind Ian Madsen and that with only three 410 Sprint Car races left on the schedule at All Iowa Points paying tracks he would need to finish fourth or better at one of them, assuming that Madsen did not score any more points by running in the top five at any of them. I did remind him though that he was "The King" when it came to the All Iowa Points as his eleven championships were the most of any other driver across all divisions. T-Mac then asked "oh yeah? Who is closest?" and I told him that both Gary Webb and Ed Sanger each had eight. "Ed Sanger, huh? That guy was a stud."
The next night at the World of Outlaws show in Spencer McCarl finished twelfth while Madsen ran seventeenth, so no change in the points. Then on Saturday night at Deer Creek Speedway Terry finished eighth while Ian was 20th, still no change with the final All Iowa Points 410 sprint event left to be run on September 21st at the Quincy Raceways.
As I checked the Quincy Raceways website yesterday morning to confirm the start times I saw this. Among those planning to make an appearance at Quincy for the Winged Sprint Car show is multi-time World of Outlaw winner Terry McCarl – making his first appearance at Quincy since 1995 when he won an event at the Bullring. He had just spent the last two nights racing a 360 at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska so despite the mention on the website I really doubted that he would be in attendance at Quincy, but as I walked through the pits, there he was preparing his son Carson's car #27 for action.
Again Terry asked me about the points and I confirmed that he needed to finish fourth to be a co-champion with Ian Madsen and third or better to win it all. Did he really make the trip here to try to win the All Iowa Points? Surely not, Terry McCarl is a racer and a winner, he has never been the type of driver who will stay at home if there is a good show to go and compete in and you can always count on him to be a contender. I am a big fan of Ian Madsen as well, but McCarl was here and it just might have had something to do with those points that I keep that pay absolutely nothing, so I couldn't help but to root for him.
In the early laps of the feature he was running fifth and that would have left him one point shy of the AIP title. When Jimmy Hurley spun that moved Terry up to fourth, but he was being challenged hard by young Paul Nienheiser mid-race. As the laps wound down T-Mac was now solidly in fourth and it looked like the 2014 All Iowa Points would end in a dead heat, but then Billy Balog drove over the top of turn two on what was supposed to be the final lap. Just like that, it all changed and with his third place finish Terry McCarl now has one point more than Ian Madsen. It is not "official" yet as I guess that some AIP track could still throw in another 410 Sprint car show before the end of October, but the chances of that are virtually nil so the The King of the All Iowa Points, Terry McCarl, will now have a perhaps insurmountable total of twelve titles.
Over the years I have heard people say that "they don't mean anything" or that "they're stupid" and several have even questioned the method that I use to tabulate them. But I have also had fans who have told me that they love following the All Iowa Points and most importantly over the years I have had several drivers tell me that they appreciated my efforts and even a few who have said that they have used them to secure additional sponsorship money. So even though they don't "pay" anything, in a way they really do. I know that Gary Webb and Ed Sanger are both very proud of their All Iowa Points championships and it is now obvious that Terry McCarl takes great pride in his as well.
And I cannot tell you just how much that means to me......
It was an absolute perfect night to watch the 410 Sprint Cars at the quarter-mile oval on the east side of Quincy as the sun was bright, skies were clear and, while it had a bit of a chill to it, the wind was out the north meaning that the inevitable dust that is stirred up by the winged warriors was swept away from the large crowd in attendance. Racing started shortly after 6 p.m. with passing points from the three heat races used to set the dash and the first sixteen feature qualifiers from the twenty-seven car field.
Many time IRA Sprint Car champion Billy Balog stormed to the win in the opener while in the second heat Joey Moughan made a last lap pass of Korey Weyant to take the win. The thrill of victory quickly blazed out though as just as Moughan took the checkers his motor blew and the talented driver from Springfield, Illinois, would be a spectator for the remainder of the evening. Three-time MOWA champion and current point leader Jerrod Hull would dominate the third qualifying heat after starting from the front row.
With Moughan scratched for the evening it was just a five car pole dash tonight and with Balog starting on the front row he was the odds on favorite. Jimmy Hurley had other ideas though as his low-line setup worked to perfection mid-race and he drove under Balog in turns one and two on lap three to take the lead and the eventual win.
Five cars would transfer up out of the night's B-Main and Bret Tripplett gave a sign of things to come as he passed Matt Harms early and then ran off for a dominating win. Harms, Russ Hall behind the wheel of the Northrop Garage #83, Andy Baugh and Ben Wagoner would all transfer.
Following a half hour intermission to groom the wide racing surface, the twenty-five lap main event took to the track shortly before nine o'clock with Hurley and Balog leading the field to green. Hurley's low line had the advantage over Balog's cushion ride on the first two laps and when Balog had a run off the top side of turn four on that second lap he tried get under the leader entering turn one. Contact from Balog sent both cars into a spin and while Hurley's #35 came to a complete stop, Balog was able to stay in the throttle, complete the 360 degree spin, and avoid being hit by the remainder of the field as the caution waved.
Under series rules, only the cars stopped on the track during a caution are sent to the rear so, after being pushed off once again, Hurley expressed his displeasure with Balog by nearly driving over his left front wheel as he circled his way to the back of the field.
Racing was short-lived on the restart as on lap four Jeremy Standridge jumped the cushion in turn three and took a tumble over the banking and out to the concrete barriers protecting the staging area. Thankfully he emerged from the wild ride uninjured.
Once back to green Jerrod Hull made his bid slipping under Balog for the lead on lap five only to have the invader from Wisconson regain the advantage on the following lap. That lead was growing until Chris Urish slipped past Hull for second and as Balog worked traffic, Urish who won here in Quincy on July 6th, was closing in.
The caution waved again on lap thirteen when the #2 car of A.J. Bruns ended up in the guardrail at the exit of turn two. Series announcer Dewain Hulett, who is celebrating his 40th birthday today by the way, had to fill in what I had missed stating that the incident resulted as Balog was putting a lap on Bruns.
On the restart Urish proved that he was now the fastest car on the track as he drove by Balog for the lead as Hull and Terry McCarl were now also in contention. The track was now black and fast around the rim where all of the leaders were running and when the white flag waved Balog made one last effort to get a run on Urish entering turn one. The cushion could not hold him in turn two though as Balog slipped off the top and spun to a halt bringing out one last caution as he saw the runner-up check slip through his hands.
McCarl took a run at the middle groove entering turn one on the final restart, but there was nothing there and Urish once again celebrated heartily in the Quincy Raceways victory lane. Hull padded his point lead by finishing second, McCarl did something that I was personally pulling for (more on that in a minute) by finishing third, Paul Nienheiser came from ninth to finish fourth and Ryan Bunton drove the Phillips Floors #7K car in for fifth. Hurley made a big run back through the field to finish in sixth and B-Main winner Bret Tripplet was the official hard charger of the race as he started seventeenth and finished seventh.
The MOWA Sprint Cars still have four dates remaining on their 2014 schedule so if you want to see a solid base of series regulars who are often joined by some intriguing visitors make sure that you get out to seem them.
It was now 9:20 on a Sunday night and, while I wanted to stick around for the four remaining feature races, including the Titan Wheels/Dunker Concrete "Battle of the Bullring" between the Sport Mods and the B-Mods which drew a diverse field of twenty-seven cars, I decided to head for home knowing that I had a full Monday ahead of me. Checking in with Stevie Dirt this morning it appears that this was a good decision as the 40-lap event struggled through fourteen cautions before Adam Birck celebrated in victory lane.
Always great to see Mary Loney, Jack Walbring, Brian Neal, Jake Croxton and all of the fine folks at Quincy Raceways and this coming Sunday night, September 28th, will be Fan Appreciation Night at the track. Just a five dollar bill will get you in to see another night of racing action before we move into the month of October!
_________________________________________________________________________________
Ten days before, as I entered the pit area at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic in Farley, Terry McCarl yelled out to me "So how much does that All Iowa Point thing pay to win? Ten thousand?" I replied, "twice as much as last year" which is accurate because two times zero is nothing and that is exactly what it "pays" to win an All Iowa Points championship. Terry was joking, but the fact that he even mentioned it given all the things that he has accomplished over the years, gave me a sense of pride and brought me back to that wide-eyed teenager that I was when I started tabulating the points in the first place.
I told him that he was still two points behind Ian Madsen and that with only three 410 Sprint Car races left on the schedule at All Iowa Points paying tracks he would need to finish fourth or better at one of them, assuming that Madsen did not score any more points by running in the top five at any of them. I did remind him though that he was "The King" when it came to the All Iowa Points as his eleven championships were the most of any other driver across all divisions. T-Mac then asked "oh yeah? Who is closest?" and I told him that both Gary Webb and Ed Sanger each had eight. "Ed Sanger, huh? That guy was a stud."
The next night at the World of Outlaws show in Spencer McCarl finished twelfth while Madsen ran seventeenth, so no change in the points. Then on Saturday night at Deer Creek Speedway Terry finished eighth while Ian was 20th, still no change with the final All Iowa Points 410 sprint event left to be run on September 21st at the Quincy Raceways.
As I checked the Quincy Raceways website yesterday morning to confirm the start times I saw this. Among those planning to make an appearance at Quincy for the Winged Sprint Car show is multi-time World of Outlaw winner Terry McCarl – making his first appearance at Quincy since 1995 when he won an event at the Bullring. He had just spent the last two nights racing a 360 at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska so despite the mention on the website I really doubted that he would be in attendance at Quincy, but as I walked through the pits, there he was preparing his son Carson's car #27 for action.
Again Terry asked me about the points and I confirmed that he needed to finish fourth to be a co-champion with Ian Madsen and third or better to win it all. Did he really make the trip here to try to win the All Iowa Points? Surely not, Terry McCarl is a racer and a winner, he has never been the type of driver who will stay at home if there is a good show to go and compete in and you can always count on him to be a contender. I am a big fan of Ian Madsen as well, but McCarl was here and it just might have had something to do with those points that I keep that pay absolutely nothing, so I couldn't help but to root for him.
In the early laps of the feature he was running fifth and that would have left him one point shy of the AIP title. When Jimmy Hurley spun that moved Terry up to fourth, but he was being challenged hard by young Paul Nienheiser mid-race. As the laps wound down T-Mac was now solidly in fourth and it looked like the 2014 All Iowa Points would end in a dead heat, but then Billy Balog drove over the top of turn two on what was supposed to be the final lap. Just like that, it all changed and with his third place finish Terry McCarl now has one point more than Ian Madsen. It is not "official" yet as I guess that some AIP track could still throw in another 410 Sprint car show before the end of October, but the chances of that are virtually nil so the The King of the All Iowa Points, Terry McCarl, will now have a perhaps insurmountable total of twelve titles.
Over the years I have heard people say that "they don't mean anything" or that "they're stupid" and several have even questioned the method that I use to tabulate them. But I have also had fans who have told me that they love following the All Iowa Points and most importantly over the years I have had several drivers tell me that they appreciated my efforts and even a few who have said that they have used them to secure additional sponsorship money. So even though they don't "pay" anything, in a way they really do. I know that Gary Webb and Ed Sanger are both very proud of their All Iowa Points championships and it is now obvious that Terry McCarl takes great pride in his as well.
And I cannot tell you just how much that means to me......
Friday, September 19, 2014
All Missouri Points Through September 13th
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