Just Another Wednesday Night In Oskaloosa

Stock Cars in a three-wide photo finish for a feature win. Hobby Stocks running in a tight pack of eight for the lead over the final five laps of their main event. Actually having to wait a few minutes after hot laps to start exactly on time at 7:30 and then having the final checkered flag wave comfortably before ten o'clock. Just another Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa and the reason that we see many of the same faces there each week. Perhaps you should join us sometime?

The IMCA Stock Cars were given first billing on this night and despite the fact that a few of the regulars were missing, including point leader Damon Murty who was likely in the field taking advantage of the perfect spring weather, there was still a solid field of twenty that took the green for eighteen laps of action. Usually the Stock Cars see very few caution flags, but on this night they just couldn't get going as after Daniel Hilsabeck crossed the line to get lap number one in the books three cars sat in turn four to bring out the caution. On the restart a five car tangle in turn one made the caution appear again and on the next try Daniel Gordon spun in turn one requiring yet another restart.

Each time it was Hilsabeck, who you have normally been finding in competition with the USMTS Modifieds over the past few years, leading the field back to green again tonight driving the #77N that used to be driven by Jeff Neilsen. This time the back of the field behaved and as Hilsabeck raced down the back stretch with the lead Cayden Carter, Nathan Wood and Zack VanderBeek went three wide for second. Foreshadowing at its best.

VanderBeek would prevail and grab that second spot where he would then set his sights on Hilsabeck and, as announcer Tony Paris pointed out, these two guys are more accustomed to seeing each other wheel-to-wheel in Modifieds rather than in full fendered rides. Hilsabeck was able to ward off the challenge until lap ten when VanderBeek took away the bottom groove and moved to the front bringing his "Kelderman's Komets" teammate Carter with him into second. Wood would take away third from Hilsabeck two laps later and as the laps clicked off it was Carter trying to respectfully get under his teammate while Wood waited for a mistake.

As the leaders took the white flag Mike Brown spun in turn two and knocked the utility tire out of place requiring one more caution flag that would now setup a green-white-checkered scenario. With the leaders all working the bottom line throughout the race it was a surprise to everyone when Carter went to the high side in turns one and two on the restart and what looked like a mistake when Wood pulled even with him on the back stretch soon looked like a stroke of genius as Cayden pulled even with VanderBeek on the exit of turn four. Sensing someone to his outside Zack appeared to push a little further out down the front straightaway and that allowed Wood to get under him as the lead trio came to the white flag in a three-wide formation.

VanderBeek would shut the door on Wood going into turn one and Carter once again lost some ground working the high line in one and two so again it was VanderBeek leading the way down the back stretch with Wood in his tire tracks and Carter next to Wood on the outside racing into turn three. Cayden again found some traction on that top groove to pull even with VanderBeek coming off of four and Wood would get a run off the bottom to make it a three car drag race to the checkers.

I have the good fortune of having a seat saved for me each week by my good friends Dick and Joyce Eisele and that seat is probably about twenty feet beyond the start finish line. Even with that angle I can usually tell who is leading when they cross that invisible stripe, but as these three Stock Car drivers powered beneath the flagstand I had absolutely no idea who had won let alone who had finished second in this amazing finish. So we all had to wait for the official word from the scorers that Cayden Carter was the winner with Zack VanderBeek second and Nathan Wood third. Actually I also had to check the scoreboard to see that Daniel Hilsabeck and Mike Hughes had finished fourth and fifth because I will still trying to believe what I just saw. Oskaloosa photographer Carroll Hoover captured the moment with this fantastic picture near the finish line.

Cayden Carter on the oustide for the win, Zack VanderBeek in the middle for second and Nathan Wood (52) as close as any third-place finisher may ever be - Carroll Hoover photo used with permission

To provide the full story on the Hobby Stock feature I first must take you back to the three heat races where the top four cars in each would make the twelve-car invert for the main event. In the first heat a great three-car battle for the lead went south fast on lap four when Dale Porter got into the left rear of leader Brad Stephens exiting turn four. Porter backed off and Stephens recovered after getting sideways, but that allowed Kyle Dirks to zip by on the inside to take the lead. Perhaps thinking that it was Dirks who had loosened him up in four, Stephens tagged Dirks in turn two sending him for a spin and when Porter could not avoid contact Dirks rolled over onto his top. Stephens was sent to the pits while the #00 of Dirks was towed back to the pit area, done for the night.

Up and over for Kyle Dirks (00) as Dale Porter (10) tries to avoid contact - Barry Johnson photo

Midway through the second heat the caution waved when Bill Bonnett went for a spin in turn two and with the yellow both he and Dustin Griffiths who was determined to have also been involved were sent to the pit area. And in the third heat Mike Kincaid appeared to have the race well in hand when he suddenly spun on his own in turn four on the final lap although he sill recovered to finish fourth and land on the outside of row two for the main event.

It was a colorful front row with Gina Greubel's  hot pink car and Bobby Greene's new ride painted green and orange, but it was the hatchback of Mike Kincaid that would race to the lead at the start of the fifteen lap event. The field was separated a bit with the lead pack of four putting a gap between the next group of five and on lap six Craig Brown used the outside line to drive around Kincaid for the lead. By lap ten though that second group had caught up to the lead pack and I couldn't help to think that I was getting a dirt track style preview of what you will see at Talladega this coming weekend with a tight pack of cars racing together using three different lines around the speedway.

When the lapped car of Dave Seddon blew a right front tire within that pack it forced him up into the turn four guardrail and Jamie Songer went for a spin as well to create a green-white-checkered restart. Unlike Talladega though these drivers appreciate the opportunity to put the car on the trailer afterwards in one piece because their budgets require it and the pack raced the final two laps to the checkers without incident to see Craig Brown take the win over Dale Porter who had started the race from the tenth position. Travis Bunnell was impressive racing up from eighth to third, Mike Kincaid was fourth and Derek Hodges completed the top five.



Sport Compact winner John Whalen - Barry Johnson photo

John Whalen has a new car and it is a fast one as he held off a strong challenge from Trent Orwig mid-race to win the IMCA Sport Compact main event. Orwig will maintain his point lead by running second, Bill Whalen Jr. was third followed by John Girdley and Curt Myers. Oliver Monson made the long pull down from Clear Lake and finished in sixth.



Brett Lowry dominating at Osky - Barry Johnson photo

Jason McDaniel would lead the first three laps of the Sport Mod headliner before a caution waved for an Ashton Johnson spin in turn two. On the restart as he was being challenged by Brett Lowry coming off of turn four, a puff of smoke would see McDaniel slow and then pull to the pits handing the lead over to Lowry. There would be no stopping Lowry from there as he opened up a full straightaway advantage before taking the checkered flag for the win. Point leader Curtis VanDerWal picked his way up from eighth to finish in second and Brayton Carter must have paid attention to what his brother did earlier as he used the high line to pass Logan Anderson in turn four on the final lap to finish in third. Fifth-place went to Cory VanZante.

The ten car field of Modifieds closed out the evening for eighteen laps of racing around the fast half-mile oval with Kyle Brown leading the first seven. Andrew Schroeder drove under Brown for the lead and brought Cayden Carter with him into second and while Carter again tried to find some of that high-side magic he could not make the pass of Schroeder who secured the win. Brown followed Carter in for third as two more second generation drivers Brandon Banks and Scott Dickey rounded
out the top five.

Andrew Schroeder (02) holds off Cayden Carter to win the IMCA Modified main event - Barry Johnson photo

The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will join the program at the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night May 6th and while the long range forecasts at this point don't sound good, just remember that long range forecasts usually change as often as you should be changing your underwear.

How's that for a closing line? See you on the Back Stretch!

Familar Faces In Victory Lane At Quincy Raceways

Rains from the previous two days had promoter Kenny Dobson and his crew scrambling to see if they could get the facility in shape for racing Sunday night, but with hard work, sunny skies and a northerly breeze that still had a bit of a chill to it the decision was made at noon that the show would go on for night number two of the 2015 season at the Quincy Raceways. The saturated grounds did not allow for normal track preparations and that showed early as that sun and wind had dried out the surface creating quite a bit of dust, but as the night went on the moisture came to the surface at the quarter-mile oval was in near perfect condition come feature time with drivers finding racing lines high, low and even in between.

IMCA Sport Mods started out the menu of five feature events for the evening and with this being the second points night of the season the lineups were set using the standard average points inversion method and that created plenty of action throughout the 18-lap distance. Austin Howes would lead the opening lap only to have Nathan Bringer takeover on lap two. Bringer got in a few nights late last season, but 2015 is his rookie campaign and he is already looking quite impressive just adding to the strength of this division here at Quincy Raceways.

Bringer did his best to protect the bottom only to have Joey Gower sneak by on lap six and three laps later the race was slowed for the first time by Cody Henderson's spin in turn two. The restart saw a three-wide battle for second as Tony Dunker made his way toward the front and the caution waved one more time on lap thirteen when Mike Goodwin spun in turn two. The final restart again saw a mad scramble for position behind the leader and that allowed Joey Gower to ease away over the final five laps to score the victory. Dunker would hold off Bobby Anders for second while Bobby Six made a late pass on Tanner Klingele to finish fourth.

The IMCA Stock Cars were up next and again an inverted start created plenty of action and drivers were not shy about putting a fender to each other as I don't know if any of the twelve starters escaped without at least a little bit of body damage. Andrew Hustead who has moved from the Hobby Stock class up to the Stock Cars would lead the first trip around the speedway before Jerry Jansen and Jake Powers pulled even with him making this a three-wide race for the lead for the next two laps. And if that wasn't exciting enough both Jim Lynch and Abe Huls joined the mix and as the lead pack exited turn four on lap four they were five-wide with Lynch going form fourth to first using the extreme bottom line.

When some of that fender banging happened in the next two laps Beau Taylor was able to move up to second, but he too had suffered damage and on lap six Taylor pulled to the infield with a flat tire. The caution waved on lap nine when William Dahl's Dodge and Jerry Jansen's Ford got locked together in turn two and on the restart Lynch and Huls would lock into a classic Stock Car battle where both wanted the inside line and while there may have been a bit of rubbing, it was just good hard racing. Huls had made his way under Lynch and even though the leader did his best to pin the challenger down the race track, Huls held his line and the two ran door-to-door for two laps. On lap thirteen as Lynch charged hard into turn one and pitched it sideways in an effort to take away that bottom lane, he got sideways and actually bicycled the car for a split second and if not for Huls taking evasive action to the high side, contact from Huls would have likely sent Lynch for a tumble.

The caution waved and following another caution for Derek Sammons on the restart Lynch would head to the pit area. Once back to racing it was now Huls comfortably out front with Hustead chasing him in second and as the leader took the white flag Hustead spun on his own in turn four bringing out one last caution. Lynch would rejoin the field for the green-white-checkers restart and as the checkers waved it was Huls taking the win followed by Powers and Jansen. Lynch crossed the line in fourth, but he had lost a lap or two in the pits so he was scored ninth leaving Hustead and Jeremy Buss to complete the top five.

UMP Late Models and Modifieds were next and both divisions use a format where heat races are aligned straight up by qualifying times and then the first heat winner rolls a die to see how many cars will be inverted for the feature lineup. On this night both Mark Burgtorf (Late Models) and Michael Long (Modifieds) rolled a one placing them on the pole position for their respective main events. Anybody who has been at the Quincy Raceways over the past decade knew what that meant.

Burgtorf would get a challenge early from opening night winner Justin Reed before caution waved for Bobby Regot's spin down the front stretch on lap six. On the restart Denny Woodworth pulled even with Reed and as that battle for second played out Burgtorf checked out. Lapped traffic would allow Reed to get back to within striking distance late in the race, but the thirteen time track champion Mark Burgtorf would not make a mistake as he put the Rick Frankel owned car #33B in victory lane. Reed was second, Keith Pratt started sixth and finished third ahead of Woodworth and Brian Diveley.

The winner of the Modified feature was essentially decided at the initial drop of the green flag as Michael Long powered to a full straightaway advantage by lap six. Long's only instant of concern came on lap thirteen when the soon to be lapped car of Frankie Wellman spun right in front of the leader in turn two and on the restart Long again left the field in his wake. Cautions on laps eighteen and twenty-two only delayed the inevitable as Michael Long was dominant in victory. Rick Conoyer who actually had the fastest qualifying lap earlier in the evening only to suffer a flat tire in his heat race battled back to to pass David Wietholder on the final restart to finish second. Conoyer had started the race in the fifteenth position. Wietholder ended up third followed by Steven DeLonjay and Shawn Deering.

IMCA Sport Compacts would close out the night with first week winner Kimberly Abbott starting in the eighth position for the fifteen lap event. Spencer Coats who battled mechanical issues all night appeared to have them solved as he paced the opening lap only to have Seith Woodruff nose him out at the line on lap two. Woodruff and Coats would race side-by-side for the next three laps before caution waved for Jerry Bown who was up against the wall at the exit of turn four. While under caution the gremlins again plagued Coats and he sputtered to the pit area while another top contender Trent Orwig coasted to a halt and his car had to be pushed off the track. On the restart Abbott powered around the outside of Woodruff to take the lead and the current All Iowa Points leader would go the rest of the way to record her second straight win here at QR. Woodruff was a solid second ahead of Brandon Lambert, John Girdley and the sharp looking #11 of Darin Weisinger Jr.

Ironically the final checkered flag waved at 9:07 p.m., the exact same time as the night before in Boone, and once again I was home earlier than I had expected. A big thanks to Kenny Dobson, Mary and Larry Loney, Jack Walbring, Doug Miller and Brian Neal for their hospitality and remember that you can always keep up on the action at Quincy Raceways by checking in with my colleagues Neal and Danny Rosencrans at Positively Racing. The track is just getting started with their Sunday night slate of racing plus they have several special events on the schedule for 2015 that you won't want to miss!

Lightning Fast Race Night At Boone

With four of the five features being captured in flag-to-flag fashion, if you are one of those race fans that only focuses on the lead you might have been disappointed with the racing at the Boone Speedway Saturday night. However, if you would have glanced back in the field you would have been amazed at the three, four and even five-wide action going on just behind the leader, action that on more than a few occasions had me saying "wow" under my breath and I told Joyce Eisele that it is easy to see how somebody can become addicted to this place.

With the weather the way it was I had no plans to go racing Saturday night, but when some potential plans fell through for the evening around three o'clock I decided to check to see if anybody was still racing and of course Boone was. The place seems to have a umbrella over it as in the past several seasons there have been many nights where it would stand to reason that every track in the state would be rained out only to have Boone still up and running and on this night I was going to take advantage of it. The two hour and forty-five minute drive allowed me to purchase that last wristband for VIP access to the booth in order to stay out of the chilly breeze just as the first heat race of the night was on the track at 6:30. As expected the show ran off in the most efficient manner possible and with the track conditions staying racy throughout, no "farming" was needed and the final checkered flag waved at 9:07. So if not for a quick stop at Casey's to fuel up I would have been home just before midnight! Amazing......

The Mod Lite feature was the first of five to hit the speedway with veteran driver Jimmy May joining Bryan Zehm on the front row. May grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and despite the race being interrupted by a pair of Ace Montgomery spins on lap five and lap eight, May would go unchallenged to win the fifteen-lap event. The winner's son, Josh May, was the big mover of the night working his up from a fifth row start to pass Cory Dennis exiting turn four on the final lap to finish second. Dennis was followed in by Zehm while Joel Keenan held down fifth.

Eighteen laps of IMCA Sport Mod action was up next with Brian Eppert going from the pole to lead the opening lap. Sixth starting Brandon Williams got shuffled over the top of turn three to draw a caution on that first lap and on the restart Eppert pulled away a bit before a three-car tangle in turn four that was triggered when Jake Sachau got sideways on lap six. Andy Tiernan and Sam Wieben were now in position to challenge Eppert following the restart and on lap nine Wieben nosed under Eppert coming off of turn four to take the lead. Having started tenth Wieben was definitely one of the fastest cars on the track and as he pulled away from Eppert and Tiernan their battle continued on for second. With five laps remaining though contact between the two would leave Eppert facing the wrong direction in turn one and while he was sent to the back of the pack for the restart, Tiernan was directed to the pit area.

One last caution waved with two laps remaining when Jake McBirnie got pinched out of a four-wide battle for position, but that did not keep Sam Wieben from easing on to victory. Jonathan Logue started off a pretty good night for his family by taking the runner-up position, defending All Iowa Points Champion Clint Luellen came from eleventh to finish third, Randy Roberts was fourth and Ben Wilson took fifth. Brandon Williams who restarted at the rear of the twenty-four car field following his first lap incident charged all the way back up to sixth at the checkers.

IMCA Hobby Stocks were on track next for twelve laps that was slowed only once for debris on the front stretch on lap two. That debris was a bumper and with all of the fender rubbing, door banging action in this one it was amazing that there was just one caution. Solomon Bennett started on the outside of row one and stayed ahead of the action building just enough of a lead that when Andrew Burg finally made his way into second with two laps remaining he did not have enough time to close the gap. Bennett would be a very happy first-time winner while Burg, who started the race in the sixth row, would have to be happy with second. Pole-sitter Daniel Hagen finished in the third spot ahead of Aaron Rudolph and Cody Gustoff.

A pair of early cautions slowed the IMCA Modified feature where there would be no stopping John Logue from going flag-to-flag for the victory. The veteran driver started on the pole and when his fellow front row starter Devon Havlik went too high into turn one that was all that Logue needed to secure a lead that he would never relinquish. Kyle Brown would hold off challenges from a couple different drivers during the race to finish in second while Russ Dickerson found the high line to his liking late in the race to get back up to the third spot, the same position from where he started the race. Jimmy Gustin would take the fourth-place paycheck while Scott Davis wound up fifth.

And to close out the evening with an action packed eighteen-lap event that went non-stop, it was the IMCA Stock Cars. Jay Schmidt pulled out to a sizable lead as drivers went four-wide behind him and once Trent Murphy emerged from that pack he began to reel in the leader. Murphy would put a nose under Schmidt coming off of turn four to the white flag and on the final lap Murphy drove his #25 deep into turns three and four in an effort to intimidate Schmidt, but Jay calmly went just a little bit higher in turn four, maintained his momentum and held on to win by a couple of car lengths at the checkers. Tyler Pickett was impressive in third ahead of Wayne Gifford, who came from twelfth and Hot Rod Richards.

It was a perfect finish to a perfect night of racing, especially to those brave fans who were bundled up in the stands and happy to head for the warmth of their cars and an early drive home. Robert Lawton and the Boone Speedway staff were the originators of the "one and done" rule and they still set the standard for running off the most efficient race program possible. This program with around 138 cars in five classes only took two hours and thirty-seven minutes to complete, less than what it took for me to make the one way trip up here from Mt.Pleasant!

One other thing that I noted tonight that I hope also catches on at other tracks is how they qualified the thirty-car field in both the Stock Cars and the Hobby Stock divisions, Three heats with the top seven moving on to the feature and then ONE B-MAIN with the top three to complete the twenty-four car field. I firmly believe that there should never be more than one B-Main as more often than not when you split the non-qualifiers into two B-Mains you will have inequity either in the quality of the field or the number due to scratches. There are tracks and at least one traveling series that I know of that would have taken the same thirty cars, ran four heats with only the top three moving on and then would have run two B-Mains with nine cars scheduled for each and had the top five or six move on. The problem is that, as I have seen it happen before, one of those B-Mains would have all nine cars start while the other one would have three scratches and all six starters would advance without even having to "earn" their way in.

When it comes to race procedures it is always wise to follow the lead of the Boone Speedway: ONE B-MAIN ONLY! If you have more than 40 cars, then run a C-Main, plain and simple.

It was great to say hi to Lawty who wondered what the heck I was doing up in his neck of the woods and as always it was great to visit with my Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele. For another take on the night's action make sure to visit the 4dFan Report.

Tonight I actually have a plan to go racing with the destination being the Quincy Raceways. It is bright and sunny and the temperature is on the rise, here's hoping that you get out to a track of your choice tonight as well.

Tuesday Notebook: April 21, 2015

"Shocking" is the description that I have seen used the most in regard to yesterday's announcement by Billy Moyer Jr. that he will take an indefinite leave from the sport of Dirt Late Model racing to focus on his personal life. To me it wasn't that big of a surprise and there have been numerous 27-year-olds, or that approximate age range, who have stepped away from racing over the years for the same reason. But when you share the same name of a Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer who is still out on the road and winning big races then it gets a lot more media coverage than it probably should.

Either way I wish the young Moyer nothing but the best and I am sure that he knows that if he should ever want to go racing again in the future that Late Model fans would be happy to welcome him back. "First Birky, then Brady and now Billy" is another common line that people are using as they want to question the future of Dirt Late Model racing. Sorry, I'm not buying into that.

One of the things that I like to do from time to time is to review the statistics on the number of hits that each of my blog posts get to see what types of races or other info draws the most readership. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to cover several big events each year such as the Knoxville Nationals, the Slocum 50, the Harris Clash and others, but more often than not it is the story on just a good ol' night of weekly racing action that gets the most hits and that is the case with my story on last Wednesday night's action at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. In just six days it has risen to number four on the most viewed post list since the Back Stretch went online back in 2008. It still trails Ryan Gustin's USMTS win at Tipton in 2013, the Combined All Iowa Late Model Points: 1967 through 1990, and Shannon Anderson's climb to the top of the All Iowa Points Hobby Stock List from 2000 through 2014 though. Of course linking all four will just allow them to pull further ahead from the rest of the pack.

CFL Lineman and IMCA Driver Brendon LaBatte - Barry Johnson photo

One of the reasons that I attribute to the readership of the Osky story is the grass root interest that there is in IMCA weekly racing and that is backed up by this story where IMCA is setting a new record this year with the number of sanctions that they have accumulated. The thing that I love about IMCA is that you can go to a special event like I did in Beatrice, or with the Frostbusters, and see drivers pull in from literally all over the place because they know that their car will meet the rules at that event. That's why a guy who plays in the Canadian Football League can pull his Stock Car all the way down from Saskatchewan and not have to worry about the track rules. You wouldn't see him pulling to a track where the "Factory Stocks" are actually running Late Model tires or where the "Street Stocks" more resemble the old Pro Stocks from years gone by.

A few years back I took a client of mine to the Wayne County Speedway in Ohio because she wanted to experience her first ever dirt track race after hearing me talk about them for several years. While she was a trooper even I wanted to leave early as it was one of the dustiest nights that I have ever experienced at a dirt track and I told her that sometimes the weather conditions (sunny, hot, windy) just make it impossible to keep the dust from flying and that we would have to try it again some other time. Good thing I didn't try to take her again this past weekend as you can see from this video where Parker Price-Miller scored the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car win. The young driver from Kokomo, Indiana, scored his first career 410 winged Sprint Car victory the week before at Fremont, Ohio, and now sits third in the current All Stars point standings.

Love or hate him, it was great to have Scott Bloomquist at 34 Raceway on Saturday night and even though he had to use a provisional to start the race and then retired early after an accident it was so cool to seem him carry a Brent Slocum High Five Forever decal on his car. The photo below has been circulating on Facebook this week, so given my renewed appreciation of the Dirt Late Model legend I had to include it here.

Rain played havoc with a lot of venues on Saturday night with some getting rained out before a car ever saw the race track while others were able to get partial shows in before the rain. It no longer amazes me, but it still troubles me to see the absolute crap that is spewed on social media by people who feel that they were somehow "wronged" by the track, the weatherman or somebody who made their evening turn out worse than what they deserved. Gone are the days where you have to call a track phone and hope that you don't just keep getting a busy signal because the weather is threatening and the poor girl in the office would rather have the phone off the hook than to tell somebody that the races are still on (because technically at that point they still are) even though it has just started raining. If you can bitch on social media, you obviously have access to a computer, so check the radar yourself, make your own decision and then take responsibility for your decision. Anybody who went to Knoxville, West Liberty, Independence, Deer Creek, etc., etc. could have done this just the same as those of us who went to 34 Raceway in Burlington did. And for those of you who wonder why a track just didn't cancel early based upon the forecast of a 70% chance of rain even before a drop of rain actually fell, just look no further than that spectacular event at 34 Raceway that nobody would have been able to enjoy if the track would have pulled the plug based upon an unfavorable weather forecast.

We are seeing more and more events being cancelled early due to weather forecasts and I have no problem with doing that. It saves the drivers and fans from making the trip and will often keep a promoter from taking a significant loss if the weather keeps people away. However, if the track does go ahead and hold the event, and you go to it knowing that it could very well rain, and that things don't always go exactly to plan when a race is threatened by rain, then please don't show your narcissism by later complaining about your inconvenience on Facebook. Thank you :)

For the first time since mid-March I have a race week coming up where I don't have one or more specific events on my calendar that I absolutely know that I am going to attend. So I am going to sit back, see what Mrs, Broeg has planned, watch the weather and then perhaps decide at the last minute if and where I will go racing. And the same scenario exists next week as well. Make sure that you get out to the track of your choice and perhaps I will see you there!

		The "Back Stretch"
		Winged 410 Sprint Points	Through 4/18
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Donny Schatz	Minot ND	52
2	.	Paul McMahan	Nashville TN	46
3	.	Shane Stewart	Bixby OK	44
4	.	Joey Saldana	Brownsburg IN	34
5	.	Brad Sweet	Grass Valley CA	31
6	.	Kerry Madsen	Knoxville IA	28
7	.	Danny Lasoski	Dover MO	27
8	.	Daryn Pittman	Owasso OK	23
9	.	Greg Hodnett	Thomasville PA	22
10	.	Terry McCarl	Altoona IA	17
11	.	Brian Brown	Grain Valley MO	16
12	.	Rico Abreu	Rutherford CA	14
13	.	Jason Sides	Bartlett TN	13
14	.	Steve Kinser	Bloomington IN	12
15	.	David Gravel	Watertown CT	11
16	.	Stevie Smith	Broken Arrow OK	11
17	.	Dale Blaney	Fowler OH	10
18	.	Danny Dietrich	Gettysburg PA	10
19	.	Tim Kaeding	San Jose CA	10
20	.	Aaron Reutzel	Clute TX	8
21	.	Brian Monteith	Phoenixville PA	8
22	.	Craig Dollansky	Elk River MN	8
23	.	Lucas Wolfe	Mechanicsburg PA	8
24	.	Tanner Thorson	Minden NV	7
25	.	Jimmy Stinson	Vandalia OH	6
26	.	Kyle Hirst	Sacramento CA	6
27	.	Kyle Larson	Elk Grove CA	6
28	.	Parker Price-Miller	Kokomo IN	6
29	.	Ryan Smith	Kunkletown PA	6
30	.	Tommy Worley Jr.	Bismarck MO	6

		The "Back Stretch"
		Dirt Late Model Points	Through 4/18
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Shane Clanton	Locust Grove GA	50
2	.	Scott Bloomquist	Mooresburg TN	38
3	.	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	36
4	.	Jimmy Owens	Newport TN	35
5	.	Billy Moyer	Batesville AR	34
6	.	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville GA	33
7	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	33
8	.	Randy Weaver	Crossville TN	25
9	.	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood IL	22
10	.	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin IL	22
11	.	Earl Pearson Jr.	Jacksonville FL	22
12	.	Casey Roberts	Toccoa GA	21
13	.	Donald McIntosh	Dawsonville GA	18
14	.	Jared Landers	Batesville AR	18
15	.	Steve Casebolt	Richmond IN	17
16	.	Chris Simpson	Marion IA	16
17	.	Frank Heckenast Jr.	Orland Park IL	15
18	.	Don O'Neal	Martinsville IN	14
19	.	Riley Hickman	Ooletwah TN	13
20	.	Tim McCreadie	Watertown NY	13
21	.	Brandon Overton	Appling GA	12
22	.	Billy Ogle Jr.	Knoxville TN	11
23	.	Dale McDowell	Chickamauga GA	11
24	.	Mark Whitener	Middleburg FL	11
25	.	Chub Frank	Sugar Grove PA	10
26	.	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville IL	10
27	.	Devin Moran	Dresden OH	10
28	.	Eddie Carrier Jr.	Salt Rock WV	10
29	.	Morgan Bagley	Longview TX	10
30	.	Ray Cook	Brasstown NC	10

Unzicker In A Thriller For Slocum 50 Title At 34 Raceway

It was one of those nights that you just knew could come to a screeching end at any moment. Okay, so "screeching" is not the appropriate adjective, perhaps "soggy" would be better. The weather forecast for the 7th Annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway near Burlington called for a very good chance of rain by 8 p.m. and many of the race fans in the stands, including myself, were regularly checking the radar that showed the showers and thunderstorms that had already wiped out the racing action at nearly every other track in the state inching closer and closer to the southeast Iowa facility. In fact, by 8 p.m. I had convinced myself that I should just be satisfied with watching the five heat races for the 38 Late Models in attendance because there would be no way that this show would stay dry until its completion.

Brent Slocum

And while it may sound cliche', you would have a hard time convincing me this Sunday morning that someone from above didn't have a hand in steering those storms around the speedway, so close that there was wet pavement on my way home just west of Middletown only a couple of miles from the track. Yes, someone gave all of us race fans a big High Five Saturday night and boy am I glad he did as the finish of the Late Model main event will be one that will be talked about for years to come.

Mike Fryer and Ryan Unzicker brought the field to green for the fifty-lap headliner with Unzicker riding the perilous cushion that was pushed all the way to the top of turns one and two to take command. Billy Moyer who started fifth wasted no time in making his way to the front and on lap six he drove under Unzicker to take the lead. Just as that lap was being scored the caution waved for a two car incident involving Jay Johnson and Scott Bloomquist at the entrance to turn three. Both drivers needed a provisional to start the feature and each had made some early progress before the tangle that would force them both to the pits for the remainder of the race.

On the restart Moyer again pulled away while the race for second now went to Mark Burgtorf who shuffled Unzicker back to third. Chris Simpson had started eighth and he soon joined the battle for position in the top five before the caution waved again on lap seventeen for a spin by Rich Bell when it appeared his rear end locked up going down the back stretch. The scenario of Moyer leading while others raced hard for second then repeated itself until a pair of cautions on lap twenty-six, first for a Mitch McGrath spin in turn one and then on the restart when the pole-sitter Fryer spun in turn two.

The race would go green from there and while Moyer would stretch the lead out to half a straightaway it began to slowly shrink once Unzicker moved back into second. The leader was running a line that was about three car widths off the bottom and the challenger was now finding some bite right around the bottom on both ends of the 3/8th-mile oval. With four laps to go Unzicker was able to put a nose under Moyer in turn one and that seemed to motivate the veteran driver as he again pulled away a bit on the following lap. Unzicker charged back though and pulled even with Moyer in turns one and two as they raced lap forty-nine and he again got under Moyer coming off turn four as they raced to the white flag.

Moyer took away the bottom line entering turn one and held a two car length lead as they raced down the back stretch. And that is when Unzicker made the move. Going back to the cushion in turns three and four, where he had not been since the early laps of the race, the El Paso, Illinois, driver found the bite that he need to slingshot past Moyer at the exit of turn four and beat him to the line much to the delight of the large crowd that was now standing and some even jumping in appreciation. Chris Simpson would chase the top two in for third, Jason Utter came from fourteenth to finish fourth and Chad Simpson completed the top five. Burgtorf would hold down the sixth position just ahead of Tony Jackson Jr. Garrett Alberson was a thrill a minute coming from the tenth row to finish eighth, Justin Reed was ninth and tenth went to Dave Eckrich.

Fans that stuck around after the Late Model feature saw a pretty darn good 305 Sprint Car feature as well. John Schulz would lead the first six laps of the twenty-lap finale before Donnie Steward flew by while precariously working that turns one and two cushion. Schulz tried to fight back before Justin Newberry slipped by him on on a late restart and while it would have only taken one slight miscue by Steward for things to change, that mistake never happened as Donnie Steward scored the win ahead of Newberry. Dustin Clark who originally went to Knoxville before they rained out just after 6 p.m. made the long trip down to Burlington and started at the rear of the sixteen-car field for the feature. Clark spun early, but then got into the groove and he would pass Schulz on the final lap to finish third. Cody Wehrle who challenged for the lead early would finish in the fifth position.

The Stock Car division was twenty strong and had the unfortunate task of filling the time between the completion of the second Late Model B-Main and the start of the Late Model feature. With lightning flashing to both the west and the north, plus with the radar showing a cell moving up from the south and headed right for the track the only thing that would have been acceptable to the throng of anxious race fans would have been a non-stop fifteen lapper where the winner simply waved to the crowd after taking the checkers and then driven straight to the pits as if to say "no thanks, I'll pick up my trophy later so that we can get this Late Model show in before it rains."

That was not what happened.

The first try at a start saw Dane Fenton and Brad Egbert tangle in turn four as the opening lap was being scored. It then took some time to get drivers to go in the order that they had been scored as since this was the first track points event of the season for the division officials couldn't just "let 'em go" as some of the Late Model fans were yelling. Cautions on laps eight, nine, twelve and thirteen only added to the angst despite the fact that while under green the racing up front was very entertaining as Jake Wenig fought off the challenges of both John Oliver Jr. and Tom Bowling Jr. to score the win. On any other night fans would have probably enjoyed Wenig's victory celebration of spinning a couple of donuts on the front stretch and then standing on top of his car in jubilation.

Tonight, not so much.

Oliver would finish in the second spot with Bowling in third. Andrew Hustead was impressive in his IMCA Stock Car debut at 34 Raceway finishing in the fourth spot after starting in row eight and Abe Huls filled out the top five.

Slocum Notes......The event honors the memory of personable Late Model driver Brent Slocum who lost his life in a tragic pit accident here at 34 Raceway ten years ago. Brent's close friend Brad Stevens and his large group of friends and family do an amazing job of delivering on their promise year after year to continue to make this event bigger and better. For more on Brent I encourage you to subscribe to Dirt On Dirt and read Kevin Kovac's fine feature story......The thirty-eight car field raced under the standard UMP Summer Nationals format where they qualified within heat race groups and then started "straight up" which as usual produced little passing during the five heats......Terry Phillips fought off Garrett Alberson's persistent challenges for the third and final transfer spot in the first heat......South Dakota's Mike Stadel had a pretty healthy engine fire early in the second heat. He came back to run his B-Main later in the evening but failed to qualify for the feature......Jason Utter showed signs that he could make a big run later in the night as he was the only driver to make a pass for a top three position after the first lap of a heat race when he got past Wisconsin's Mitch McGrath to finish third in heat race number four......Scott Bloomquist had a rough night all around starting during his qualifying effort when he jumped the cushion in turn one on his first lap and he then stumbled on the cushion in turn four on his second lap. This would start him sixth in the seven-car fifth heat race where he was able to move up to fourth, but he could not chase down Rodney Sanders to get qualified. In the first B-Main Bloomquist started third, dropped to fourth on the opening lap, and then moved past Alberson into third a few laps in. Alberson, the New Mexico native driving the Childress #F5 based in Louisiana, used the cushion to get back around Bloomquist late in the race for the third and final transfer spot forcing the Late Model legend to use a provisional just to start the feature where he then had the early exit. Bloomquist was definitely in the spirit of the evening though as he sported a black and white High Five Racing logo on the right side of his car......Tim Manville who, to me at least, was a bit of a surprise entrant after winning on opening night at I-55 in Pevely a couple of weeks ago, was the first B-Main winner after starting fourth. Manville would get as high as seventh in the feature before slipping back to eleventh at the finish and after the race he and Dave Eckrich traded pleasantries following some high speed contact in the closing laps......Jesse Stovall started fifth and finished second to McGrath in the second B-Main but was later an early retiree from the feature.....Young Spencer Diercks had the fastest qualifying lap overall, but he too dropped from the feature early.....For the second year in a row the event had sanctioning from three regional touring series with MARS, ALMS and the Corn Belt Clash. All three will also be in action tonight (Sunday) at the Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Illinois.

While it may not have seemed that way to the Late Model fans who were rightfully nervous about the weather, the show was presented in a fairly efficient manner as the final checkers of the night waved at 10:30. Officials not only eliminated a planned intermission that would have paid tribute to Brent Slocum, but they also moved the Late Model feature ahead of the Sprint Cars in order to beat the impending weather.

All in all another big success and I will be ready to mark my calendar when the date for the 2016 Slocum 50 is announced.