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!
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