Four Drivers Repeat, Three Return to the Top and Two Drivers Earn Their First All Iowa Points Title in 2015

With more than 2,400 drivers earning points across nine divisions one might think that there would be plenty of turnover at the top of the All Iowa Point standings from year to year. That was definitely not the case in 2015 though as seven of the nine champions have been before with two of the winners posting repeats and, with all due consideration to Pat Riley the man who coined the phrase, two more drivers are three-peat champions in 2015.

Justin Kay continued to dominate the Late Model division in the state of Iowa this season as the driver from Wheatland captured his third straight AIP title by a large margin of 69 points over runner-up Matt Ryan. Keep in mind that the points work on a 5-point scale so Ryan would have needed to win 14 more features to erase the difference. Kay picked up 26 feature wins this season as part of 46 top five finishes and over the past three seasons Justin has won an amazing 76 Late Model feature races. Following up four straight titles for Ray Guss Jr. only two drivers have been the AIP Late Model champion over the past seven years. Matt Ryan had his best season to date placing second in the final standings with 11 feature wins and 34 top-fives while the 2003 champion Jeff Aikey climbed into a tie for third with Todd Cooney in the final standings. Aikey won 12 features on the season while Cooney had a bit of an off year by his standards winning nine feature races. Andy Nezworski who actually lead the standings early in the season filled out the top five.

2015 Late Model Champion Justin Kay - Barry Johnson photo

He had several challengers at the mid-season mark, but there would be nobody who could stay with Damon Murty over the second half of the season as “The Chelsea Charger” earned his third straight All Iowa Points Stock Car championship. It was a 67-point bulge for Murty at the end bolstered by an amazing 13-point day when he finished second in the day race and second in the night race at Marshalltown before loading up and making the 130-mile drive to Farley where he then won the Stock Car feature at the Yankee Dirt Classic. That win was one of 24 on the season for Murty as he finished in the top-five 53 times. There was a log jam second through fifth as those four drivers were separated by just five points. David Smith and his 11 feature wins edged out three time champion Brian Blessington (8 wins) by just one point for second, Mike Nichols (26 wins) was just two-points behind Blessington in fourth and just two points further back was the 2012 Stock Car champion and two time Hobby Stock champ Donavon Smith in fifth.

2015 Stock Car Champion Damon Murty - Barry Johnson photo

The 2015 IMCA Modified National Champion is also this year’s All Iowa Points king as Chris Abelson of Sioux City earned his second straight state title. Abelson’s AIP title was never in doubt as he held a 98-point advantage over the runner-up and his 249 point total was the most in any division in 2015. Thirty-six feature wins and 57 top-fives will do that for you! Kelly Shryock stayed closer to home this season and had a great season with fifteen feature wins and his second career runner-up finish in the All Iowa Points. Kyle Brown made a big surge in the October specials to move into the third position in the final standings while J.D. Auringer and Jesse Dennis tied for fourth.

The fourth repeat champion of 2015 is Mike Benson of Papillion, Nebraska, as he captured the 305 Sprint Car title for the second year in a row courtesy of his strong Friday night finishes at Des Moines and his Saturday night showings at Eagle. Benson’s 17 top-five finishes were four more than any other driver and the southeast Nebraska based driver scored four feature wins on the season. Matt Moro had five feature wins and finished in the second spot while Trevor Grossenbacher made a late season charge into third in the final standings after winning five feature races as well. Two up and coming second generation drivers, Tyler Thompson and Robby Wolfgang, rounded out the top five.

305 Sprint Champion Mike Benson - Barry Johnson photo

The other two Sprint Car divisions saw champions from long ago return to the top of the AIP standings as Danny Lasoski won the 410 title and Justin Henderson took the 360 laurels. Lasoski had an incredible season winning both the Knoxville track title and the National Sprint League championship on the strength of nine feature wins and 31 top-five finishes. This is the sixth All Iowa Points Championship for “the Dude from Dover” but his first since 1993 and with his first championship coming in 1986 Lasoski sets a new record for the longest span between his first and most recent AIP title in the same division at 29 years. Merv Chandler also has AIP titles that are 29 years apart, but his accomplishment came in two different divisions with the 1984 Modified title and the 2013 Four Cylinder championship. Twelve time champion Terry McCarl had to settle for the runner-up position, Dusty Zomer and Tim Kaeding tied for third while last year’s runner-up Ian Madsen was fifth. With several changes on the landscape for the 410’s in 2016 it will be interesting to see how that effects the All Iowa Points chase next season.

410 Sprint Car Champion Danny Lasoski - Barry Johnson photo

Justin Henderson did double duty racing both a 410 and a 360 at the Knoxville Raceway and only hitting the road a couple of nights. He was still able to finish sixth in the final 410 AIP standings and his 53-point total was enough to edge out defending champion Gregg Bakker by just three points to win the 2015 All Iowa Points 360 Sprint Car Championship. Five feature wins and fourteen top-five finishes propelled the South Dakota native to his second AIP honor as Henderson was also the champion back in 1997.  Skylar Prochaska finished in the third position while three-time champion Jack Dover was fourth and Ian Madsen also carded a fifth in the 360 division.

360 Sprint Car Champion Justin Henderson - Barry Johnson photo

Shannon Anderson was another driver who returned to the top of the All Iowa Points standings in his division as he recorded his fourth AIP title over the last eight seasons. Anderson racked up 28 feature wins as part of 53 top-five finishes in 2015 and easily outdistanced runner-up Nathan Ballard. A winner on both the dirt and pavement, Ballard had his best season to date winning 24 features while Cody Nielsen of Spencer edged out early season leader Austin Luellen by one point for third. Eric Stanton ranked fifth in the final standings.

Hobby Stock Champion Shannon Anderson - Barry Johnson photo

The closest battle of the 2015 season was in the Limited Modified division where four drivers entered the Fall Specials season with a good shot at winning the title and it took until the third weekend in October before Tony Olson secured his first All Iowa Points championship. With 48 top-five finishes Olson actually had the same, or one fewer than the other three contenders, but his 27 feature wins carried him to the title. Clint Luellen had another great season winning 19 feature races, but he would come up just short of winning his second straight AIP championship while Doug Smith and Nick Meyer finished third and fourth. Quincy’s Joey Gower, who sat atop the standings early in the summer before his home track suffered through a full month of rainouts, held on for the fifth spot.

There is also a new champion in the Four Cylinder division as Jay DeVries of Spencer earned points in an amazing 64 races this season winning six features where there were ten or more cars in the field. Kimberly Abbott became the first female track champion at three different tracks in 2015 and finished second in the All Iowa Points while Sioux City’s Cody Thompson was third. Brandon Setser and Kaytee DeVries tied for the fourth spot while two-time champion Nate Coopman was sixth.

For a full rundown of the standings for each of the nine divisions and to see how your favorite driver ranked in 2015 visit the Points page at www.PositivelyRacing.com

Grumpy On a Wednesday

I am feeling a little grumpy today so let's see if typing a few things out helps my attitude or not.

I am glad that I was at a race on Sunday rather than watching the race from Talladega on television! Never mind who a fan likes, or doesn't like, that was absolutely no way to end a race and even though Talladega is always my first choice when I make the decision to attend a NASCAR race, they are going to have to prove to me that they have things figured out there before I would ever consider buying a ticket again. So there NASCAR, I wasn't a "regular" customer by any means but for now I am no longer a customer until you straighten yourselves out.

It will be a darn shame if Kevin Harvick repeats as champion this year given what he did on that final restart. Knowing all of the circumstances and with video both in-car and out, how NASCAR cannot see that his little right turn into Trevor Bayne was not intentional is just beyond me. The NBC announcers did everything they could to dance around the issue, I understand that, they are a "partner" and even the one blog that I follow on NASCAR, Dave Moody's The Godfather's Blog had this entry with the word "Commentary" in the title even though Dave himself does not offer an actual opinion on what happened. Instead he quotes the drivers and officials and their opinions.

I have heard others say "only Harvick knows if he did it on purpose or not" and that makes me grumpy because I think that thousands, if not millions (how many people actually can get NBCSN?) know.

Some non-racing stuff has me grumpy as well.

The Farce Round of the Iowa High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs takes place on this Wednesday night. No, that is not a typo, I meant to say "farce" rather than first because with 32 teams qualifying for the playoffs at least half of the games tonight are nothing more than a money grab by the Association. When the playoffs expanded from 16 teams per class to 32 a few years back the reasoning was that more teams deserved to get in especially in Class A and 1A and 2A where there are more teams, but rather than just doing it in those three classes where it might have made practical sense they also applied it to Class 3A, where now half of the 64 teams would qualify, and in Class 4A where two thirds of the 48 teams would "move on".

So tonight, even in little Class A, we have a 3 and 6 team squaring off against an undefeated team, while in Class 4A we have a one win Davenport North team taking on undefeated Bettendorf. That's a "playoff" game? Seriously?

The saving grace is that someone has made the Athletic Association come back to their senses and this is the last year that 32 teams will qualify for the playoffs asnext year it will go back to 16, so at least I won't have that to be grumpy about in 2016.

Finally, I will always try to stay out of politics here, and I want you to know that I can't ever recall voting a straight ticket so I pick and choose my candidates on their integrity and their ability to lead more so than whether they have an R or a D next to their name. But what really makes me grumpy is when journalists fail to to do their jobs and ask the appropriate questions of the candidates when they make a blanket statement or advance a promise. And as I listened to the news on the radio Monday morning I heard a sound bite from a candidate that just made me shake my head.

So at the risk of not getting a "Like" from my friend Craig Allender, I had to wonder this. When Hillary Clinton says "We have to win this election so that we can start to rebuild the middle class", why doesn't someone ask what she will do differently than what the current administration has been doing for the past eight years do deliver on its campaign promise eight years ago to rebuild the middle class?

And yes, if I stayed home to watch the Republican debate tonight, some of the stuff they promise would make me grumpy as well, especially if somebody doesn't step up and ask the simple question of "Nice idea, how will you go about making that happen?" But instead I will be freezing my butt off watching my nephew in a playoff game that is actually legitimate as Tipton (7-2) plays at Williamsburg (6-3), so that probably won't help my attitude either.

Unless of course the Raiders win!

Thursday Update: So just how much of a farce was the First Round of the Iowa High School Football playoffs? Following is the average margin of victory for the 16 games played with each Class:

4A - 30.1 points
3A - 21.3 points
2A - 26.1 points
1A - 27.1 points
A - 25.1 points
8-Man - 34.9 points

Shame on yourselves Iowa High School Athletic Association, I hope that the extra revenue was worth it!

A Beautiful Sunday In The Dells

After thoroughly enjoying another successful Shiverfest on Saturday night I convinced my lovely wife Christine to get up early on Sunday and join me for the four hour drive north to Wisconsin for the First Annual Falloween 150 at Dells Raceway Park. This would be my first trip ever to the picturesque paved oval and we arrived just in time for the opening ceremonies on a bright sunny day where temperatures were pushing sixty degrees.

The facility was beautiful and the track is very wide with some nice banking in both the corners and the straights although the preferred line is definitely around the bottom. We were happy to spot my friends Kevin Feller, Doug Haack and Ed Reichert joining them in perfect seats in the aluminum stands high above turn one. A very nice field of more than 30 Super Late Models were on hand as well as 20+ Late Models and two divisions of Bandits although it appeared that several of the "regular" Bandits also ran in the "outlaw" Bandit feature.

Now granted, we were not here in time for qualifying so perhaps that is when I could have satisfied my need to know the driver's names and hometowns, but as the races rolled off the two announcers were much more conversational than informative as it was nearly impossible to hear what names were given over the motors. Even when the Super Late Model feature field was announced trackside no hometowns were given, something that I would think would be interesting even to the track's regular fans who might not know where some of these drivers pulled in from for today's special event.

Thankfully Ed, who is now a contributing writer here at Positively Racing with his One Fan's Travels, had been able to gather some names of the Late Model drivers earlier in the pit area plus Kevin dialed in Race Monitor to find those that even Ed could not come up with and I can give you a bit of a summary on that 50-lap preliminary race without just listing a car number.

Nick Nolden would race out to the early lead and stretched it out to a full straightaway before the caution waved on lap twenty-one. A second caution waved a lap later and on the restart Jesse Bernhagen was able to slip past Nolden for the lead. After looking so dominant early on I thought that Nolden might be able to mount a comeback, but even with cautions on laps 38 and 48 there was no touching Bernhagen who had started the race from the seventh position. Nolden would take the runner-up honors followed by Garrett Goodwin, Grant Griesbach and Dave Edwards.

The 150 lap Super Late Model finale had a tough first half. As the drivers were warming up their tires even before forming up for a start Andy Monday had a wheel come off sending him for a spin and his afternoon ended before it even started. Once under green it was pole-sitter Alex Prunty outdragging Ty Majeski into turn one to take the lead until lap nine when Dan Lensing tangled with Duke Long on the back stretch. The contact tore all of the front body work off of Lensing's car as he got hooked together with Long who spun in turn three, Then, as the field slowed, apparently Cory Jankowski and Brandon Hill were trading pleasantries when Jankowski slammed on the brakes causing Hill to plow into him from behind in turn one. The busted radiator on Hill's car left a long stream of fluid through turns one and two as he angrily drove his car into the infield and I would assume that it was one of Hill's crew members who then threw something at Jankowski's car as he drove down the back stretch under caution.

The cleanup process seemed to take forever as the shadows grew longer and the temperatures began to drop and finally after running in the oil dry we were able to get back to racing. A brief caution on lap 23 would give Majeski the opportunity to go work on Prunty for the lead and after a few laps of gradually making up ground on the second groove Majeski would take the lead around the outside on lap 28. On lap 64 the fifth place car of Dalton Zehr would spin down the front stretch to cause a caution and then on lap 67 Dennis Prunty got into the back of Mike Litchfield sending him for a spin in turn two as they raced for fourth. Litchfield who had started 13th on the grid was put back into the fourth spot for the restart when Prunty "tapped out" taking the blame for the caution and it would be him that would restart at the rear.

Eight laps later the caution would wave again for the ten minute mid-race break and since the first half had taken quite a long time I asked my wife if she was ready to head for home. Now keep in mind that this fantastic woman puts up with me going to more than sixty races a year and while she will sometimes join me, this was actually her first race of 2015. So I guess that it should not have been a surprise when she said, "We drove three thousand miles to come up here, why wouldn't we stay for the end??" So despite the fact that her mileage was off just a tad, she was absolutely right so I went out the car and grabbed us an extra blanket for the final 75-lap segment.

During the break both Litchfield and Dennis Prunty were interviewed and while Litchfield first praised Prunty for his sportsmanship, Prunty shortly after said the he was clearly under Litchfield and that he should have stayed up, "but whatever, we'll get him back". The driver currently running in third-place, Andrew Morrissey, was also interviewed and he felt that if he could wrestle second away from Alex Prunty that he might just have the car that could beat Majeski here this afternoon. Very prophetic!

On the restart Morrissey did take away second from Alex Prunty and he then tried to keep pace with the leader Ty Majeski. Majeski was able to maintain about a five car length cushion on his challenger, even as the leaders worked traffic, but when the lap counter clicked below 25 Morrissey started to close that gap. As Majeski tried to go around the lapped car of Jeff Storm, Morrissey took the chance of tucking in behind Storm in the lower groove and when Majeski couldn't make the pass of the lapper he soon found himself side-by-side with Morrissey. With just 15 laps remaining Morrissey got a nice run off of turn four and not only passed Majeski for the lead, but also jumped to the outside of Storm to put him a lap down and that would prove to be the winning move for the driver from DeForest, Wisconsin.

Majeski would hold on for the second spot ahead of Litchfield, Skylar Holzhausen would come from tenth to fourth and Dennis Prunty came from the back of the field to complete the top five. With the second half of the race running off in green to checkers fashion we were still on our way home around 5:30 making for a long day of driving and an enjoyable afternoon of racing at a track that, if I am ever in the area again on a race day, I would definitely go back to.

I have not yet had a chance to watch the Talladega race that I recorded on Sunday, but after seeing the highlights this morning I must say that I will find it very hard to be a Kevin Harvick fan going forward. Given the entire set of circumstances and, after seeing the video, how NASCAR cannot believe that his right hand turn into the left rear fender of Trevor Bayne was not intentional is about the stupidest ruling that I have seen in some time. I guess tearing up a lot of other people's equipment is worth it to "advance" in the Chase, so how do you like the format now? 

Shryock, Mueller and Carter Headline Shiverfest at Donnellson

The weather was quite a bit chillier than predicted, but that did not stop drivers and fans from enjoying one last race in the state of Iowa for 2015 on Saturday as the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson hosted the annual "Shiverfest". The pits were full with 162 cars in five divisions and the drivers as always came through in grand fashion by filling bags full of candy for the young trick-or-treaters prior to the racing action.

The Modified division had the strongest car count with 45 and after five heats, a C-Main and an A-Main the top 24 qualifiers were set to go for twenty-five laps. The first try at a start saw a five car pileup in turn four, but after that mess was cleaned up Cayden Carter would use the pole position to snare the early lead. As Kelly Shryock and Bruce Hanford battled for second, Carter would put some distance on them only to have his lead erased when the caution waved on lap five for a wandering track tire in turn four.

On the restart Shryock established himself in second and began to pressure Carter for the lead. With Shryock making a run on the top side, Carter slid up the track in turn four to block that line so the veteran driver calmly turned down the track and made the pass on the inside just after lap seven was scored. Those two would then set a blistering pace leaving the third running Hanford far behind and when lapped traffic came into play late in the race, things heated up. Carter would throw a big slide job on the leader in turns three and four to lead lap 21 only to have Shryock go low in turn one to regain the lead. A lapped car in the lower line blocked Carter from trying the same move a lap later and that would allow Shryock to put a couple of car lengths on his challenger and to secure the $1,000 win.

Carter would settle for second with Hanford over a straightaway back in third while Carter VanDenBerg and Jeff Waterman completed the top five. Tommy Elston who started on the front row with Carter would hold down the sixth spot with St, Louis area driver Joe Walsh moving up from eleventh to seventh. Earlier in the evening former NASCAR driver Ken Schrader ran third in his heat race, but after he failed to make weight Schrader opted to park his car #9 for the remainder of the evening.

Several of the best Stock Car drivers in the region were on hand tonight and they produced another thrilling main event as the top six cars were all within striking distance during the final half of the 22-lap race. Similar to the Modified feature, John Oliver Jr. raced out to a comfortable lead in the opening laps while the battle raged on behind him, but when a track tire was punted onto the speedway on lap eight the caution waved and brought Oliver back to the field. Oliver held true to his low line and maintained the lead for two more laps before Ray Raker spun in three and on the restart Oliver had Jeff Mueller trying to wedge under him for the lead.

After a couple of failed attempts on the inside, Mueller tried one groove higher than Oliver and he was able to pull even with the leader on lap fourteen. As Oliver and Mueller raced side-by-side for the lead over the next three laps Damon Murty Mike Hughes and David Brandies were right behind, plus Cayden Carter was now finding some speed on the cushion at both ends. Mueller finally nosed ahead of Oliver with five laps remaining, but it now looked like Carter was going to ride that high line to the front as he took over third with two laps to go. However, when Carter caught a little too much of the cushion in turn three, he had to keep the car from turning right into the guardrail and that would end his chances to take the win.

Oliver was right there and ready to pounce on any mistake, but none came as Jeff Mueller took the win after starting from the inside of the fifth row. Oliver would hold down second with Hughes in third, Carter dropped back to fourth at the checkers as Brandies and Murty crossed the stripe in close order running fifth and sixth. Northeast Iowa driver Brian Mahlstedt who was in the hunt for the lead early finished in the seventh spot while Hobby Stock driver Dustin Griffiths looked pretty comfortable in Roger Kelderman's #33z normally wheeled by Zack VanderBeek finishing eighth.

Speaking of Griffiths, it was a pretty darn good night for the driver from Ottumwa as before his ride in the Stock Car Dustin placed his own Hobby Stock car #10G in victory lane in the 15-lap Hobby Stock main event. Starting eighth Griffiths gradually made his way to the front of the pack and when race leader Jacob Keiser slowed with a mechanical issue, Griffiths was happy to take over with just three laps remaining. August Bach would chase home the winner in second with Justin Lichty, Bill Bonnett and Nick Ulin rounding out the top five as Keiser faded to eighth at the checkers.The race was red-flagged on lap two when Norwalk's Benji Clemons lost his battle with a track tire and wound up upside down in turn two.

The Sport Mod division was well populated tonight as well with 39 cars requiring four heats, a C-Main and a B-Main to set the field for the 20-lap headliner for the division. Fourth starting Jacob Beal sent the field scrambling when he spun in turn three of the opening lap and once the race stayed green it was Sean Wyett leading the way. The caution waved on lap thirteen for a three-car tangle involving Dave McCalla, Kyle Anderson and Erick Knutson and on the restart Tony Dunker made a run at the lead using the high line in turn three.

Wyett fought off that challenge, but as he entered turn three the next time the leader had Brayton Carter attacking on the low side as Dunker again rode the cushion and with just six laps remaining Wyett now found himself in third. The caution waved again a couple of laps later as Trevor Fecht may have been helped around by Austin Paul in turn three as they battled for fourth and one lap later the caution waved again for debris.

On the restart with three laps remaining, McCalla went for a hard trio of rolls in turn one and he soon climbed out of the car under his own power. Following the red flag break Dunker tried to make another run at the lead, but there would be no catching Brayton Carter who took the win over Dunker and Wyett. Brandon Lennox was in the mix late finishing fourth after starting thirteenth and newly crowned All Iowa Points champion Tony Olson completed the top five. Early in the night Eric Flander was unable to complete a lap in either hot laps or his heat race due to mechanical issues, but they must have figured things out as he came from the back of the C-Main to transfer to the B-Main where he raced his way up to fifth. That would start the Barnes City driver 21st in the main event and he ran out of laps coming up to seventh at the checkers.

Thirty-one Sport Compacts signed in for action and it was this year's track champion Kimberly Abbott who earned the pole position for the 15-lap main event. Josh Barnes would start to her outside in row one and it would be Abbott taking the point at the drop of the green. Caution hit the speedway on lap two as Bryerson Tharp stopped in turn two and it would be Barnes who would get the jump on the restart to take the lead from Abbott. The young lady would fight back with gusto though and in the closing laps with lapped cars that might have appeared to be more like stationary speed bumps shaking things up Abbott would draw nearly even to the leader. Using one of those lapped cars as pick though, Barnes was able to dismiss the challenge of Abbott with two laps to go and the driver from Keokuk would then close it out to secure the win. Abbott would take the second spot while Jake Benischek, the driver who swept the Fall Extravaganza here two weeks ago, finished in third. Fourth and fifth would go to two former track champions here at Lee County, Darin Smith and Brandon Reu.

It was once again a great way to close out the 2015 racing season in Iowa with Shiverfest and it is good to see that promoters Dave Sapp and Mike VanGenderen have maintained the traditions that have made this a great event since 1999, even adding a few extra touches of their own. Did you notice that despite the fact that the other Fall specials in the area over the past four weeks paid more money, Shiverfest still draws the most cars? It is truly an event that you want to mark on your calendar year after year!

Looking ahead to 2016 at Lee County, Sapp will take a step back from being the track owner as the fair board will take over the operation with Mike VanGenderen still on hand to be the promoter. The track will also add a new Crate Late Model division to the weekly show as it was reported that seventeen drivers were in attendance at the rules meeting for the new division held late in the morning on Saturday.

I can guarantee you that trick-or-treaters score more loot at Shiverfest than any other place, and this shows only half of the drivers that were participating!

It is just past the midnight hour as I post this one to the Back Stretch so now it is off to bed for a quick night of sleep before an early morning road trip into Wisconsin for the "Falloween" event to be held at the Dells Raceway Park near Wisconsin Dells. Will I see you there on the paved Back Stretch?

A Look Back to Shiverfest 2001

Coming up this Saturday night, October 24th, the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson will continue a tradition that started in 1999 with the running of "Shiverfest". This is always one of my favorite events of the year for two reasons. One, is that I had a hand in getting it started in the first place as former promoters Terry & Jenni Hoenig scheduled the initial event as "The Millennium Grand Finale" and then together we promoted "Shiverfest" until the Honeig's sold the speedway a few years back to Dave & Yvonne Sapp. The second reason is that this race continues to be a "fun" event, with hay rack rides for the kids courtesy still of Harry Hoenig as well as trick-or-treating with fantastic involvement from the drivers. There is no "big money" on the line and with no entry fees and a regularly priced pit pass the pit area often swells to the limits as drivers want one last chance to go racing before the off season sets in.

It is a great event and one that, if you haven't been to before, you will want to attend and I am guessing that like many others after you do so, you will be hooked!

I didn't know it for sure back in 2001, but the third running of "Shiverfest" would be the final race ever for the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure. A traveling series for Modifieds and Hobby Stocks that I had started in 1998 was closing out its second straight season where the Iowa chapter of the Foundation had failed to deliver on the sponsorship dollars that were promised and, for the second straight year, the Tour's $18,000 in point fund money was going to be coming out of my own pocket.

That's right, fourteen years ago not only did Tour Modified champion Darin Thye earn a $3,000 point fund check, but Bruce Hanford collected a $1,000 "Southern Bonus" on top of his regular point fund check as well. Now compare that to the point fund paid out this season by the Hawkeye Dirt Tour. The 2001 NKF Tour Hobby Stock champion Rod Miller even scored a $1,000 point fund check.

To this day I still have drivers recall memories of racing on the Tour and the fun that they had all while helping to educate people about the early warning signs of kidney disease and the importance of being a signed organ donor. Each event also raised money for the local dialysis units to improve the lives of those who were fighting kidney disease.

Just like the drivers, I would love to do it all again, but this time that sponsorship money would have to be in escrow before that first race ever took to the track! Anybody interested? ;)

Make sure that you have this Saturday's "Shiverfest" on your schedule and following is a look back to the 2001 event, and the finale of the NKF Tour.

Hanford, Johnson and Miller Among Shiverfest Winners At Donnellson

Donnellson, Iowa  – For the second straight year Mother Nature blessed the racers and fans at the Lee County Speedway’s Shiverfest event with sunny skies and warm October temperatures producing an evening full of fun and action. Bruce Hanford, Greg Johnson, Jeremy Miller, David Sugars and the team of Jeff DeLonjay and Herb Murray all found victory lane, while Darin Thye made a stellar run to edge out Dan Chapman for the NKF Heartland Tour Modified championship.

The Heartland Tour Modified finale had plenty of drama with three drivers in the hunt for the Tour championship, two drivers contending for the $1,000 Southern Bonus and two more drivers fighting it out for the $500 Northwest Bonus. Tony Fraise came from the second row to lead lap one of the twenty-lap race before title contender Dan Chapman eased past on lap two. With a win Chapman would force point leader Darin Thye to finish second to earn the Tour championship and with Thye starting in row nine, everything was looking good for the Clarence, Iowa, driver. As Chapman pulled away Thye fought his way to the front and on a lap ten caution he found himself in the seventh spot for the restart. The yellow also wiped out Chapman’s lead and he now had to deal with the 1999 Tour champion Bruce Hanford. Hanford applied the pressure and on lap fourteen moved by Chapman for the lead. With Chapman now in second Thye needed to finish in fourth to tie and third to win, and with just three laps remaining he was able to get by Boone McLaughlin for that third spot. At the checkers it was Hanford taking the win and the $1,000 Southern Bonus, Chapman was second and Thye was third giving the Burlington driver the Tour championship by four points. The third title contender, John Bull, had problems early and wound up fourteenth at the finish. Kevin Pospisil’s 18^th place run was good enough to earn the $500 Northwest Bonus and Deb Jacobsmeier from the Mt. Pleasant Wal Mart store pulled out the chip of Craig Reetz for the $1,000 Wal Mart Feature Winner’s Bonus.

Cody Townsend and Jim Lampe were early leaders in the NKF Hobby Stock feature before Travis Sherwood took the point on lap four. Greg Johnson stayed with the leader and on the final lap he was able to takeover the top spot down the backstretch for the lead and the victory. Sherwood was the runner-up with Tony Becerra third. Mike Jones came from eighteenth to finish fourth while Jeff Soper completed the top five. Rod Miller of Eldon was crowned the 2001 NKF Hobby Stock champion after the event.

Jeremy Miller powered away from Jim Lynch for the win in the Stock Car main event. Jason Cook, Brad Holtkamp and Phil McClure filled out the top five. In Roadrunner action David Sugars came from third to first on the final lap for the victory, while DeLonjay and Murray held off the persistent challenge of Jarrod Richie and Jason Heck for the Buddy Car checkers.

Shiverfest must again be considered a complete success as over $2,000 was raised for the Southeast Renal Dialysis Units in Mt. Pleasant, Burlington and Keokuk.

Results

Heartland Tour Modifieds

1^st Heat – 1. Tom Goble, Burlington 2. Tony Fraise, Montrose 3. Darin Duffy, Hazleton 4. Jamie Aikey, Cedar Falls

2^nd Heat – 1. Bruce Hanford, Davenport 2. Dan Helm, Milan IL 3. John Bull, Rock Island IL 4. Gary Dreyer, Fowler IL

3^rd Heat – 1. Dan Chapman, Clarence 2. Jim Roach, Kahoka MO 3. Jack Stotts, Trenton MO 4. Kelly Bartz, Quincy IL

4^th Heat – 1. Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis 2. Cory Richards, Burlington 3. Jeff Gerhardt, Niota IL 4. Troy Cordes, Dewar

Scott’s Quality Seeds B-Mains

1^st – 1. Darin Thye, Burlington 2. Ron Barker, Dubuque 3. Jim Lynch, Bloomfield 4. Dan DeMey, Denison 5. David Holder, Clarence MO 6. Jon Orwig, Chariton 7. Jon Passick, Waterloo 8. Jim Powell, Hannibal MO 9. Michael Irwin, Keokuk

2^nd – 1. Paul Lawson, Fort Madison 2. Dave Hemsted, Lone Tree 3. Kit Hovey, Fort Dodge 4. Joe Hooper, Camp Point IL 5. Robbie Kincade, Trenton MO 6. Kevin Pospisil, Worthington MN 7. Jardin Fuller, Memphis MO 8. Charles Baker, Labelle MO 9. Michael Larson, Hannibal MO 10. Darin Weisinger, Mendon IL 11. Jim Kuhlmeier, Fort Madison

A-Main – 1. Hanford 2. Chapman 3. Thye 4. McLaughlin 5. Barker 6. Lynch 7. Fraise 8. Duffy 9. Roach 10. Gerhardt 11. Goble 12. DeMey 13. Stotts 14. Bull 15. Dreyer 16. Hemsted 17. Hovey 18. Pospisil 19. Aikey 20. Richards 21. Lawson 22. Cordes 23. Bartz 24. Helm 

Heartland Tour Hobby Stocks

1^st Heat – 1. Bobby Greene, Tracy 2. Jim Lampe, Carroll 3. Ben Cloke, Douds 4. Matt Burgtorf, Quincy IL

2^nd Heat – 1. Greg Johnson, Burlington 2. Rod Miller, Eldon 3. Cody Townsend, Bloomfield 4. Robbie Rains, Bonaparte

3^rd Heat – 1. Gary White, Hamilton IL 2. Rodger Dresden, Keokuk 3. Travis Sherwood, Ottumwa 4. Kirk Kinsley, Wapello

4^th Heat – 1. Tony Becerra, Carthage IL 2. Kris Walker, Oskaloosa 3. Jeff Soper, Alexandria MO 4. Chad Krogmeier, Burlington

Scott’s Quality Seeds B-Mains:

1^st – 1. Bruce Summers, Hamilton IL 2. Tim Breuer, Oquawka IL 3. Rocky Fosdyck, Selma 4. Robert Kephart, Donnellson 5. Zach Sobaski, Washington 6. Patrick Profeta, Hamilton IL

2^nd – 1. Mike Jones, Waukon 2. David Breuer, Burlington 3. Mark Holt, Memphis MO 4. Robert Warner, Fort Madison 5. Bob Lynch, Ottumwa 6. Steve Landgrebe, Oskaloosa

A-Main – 1. Johnson 2. Sherwood 3. Becerra 4. Jones 5. Soper 6. Lampe 7. D. Breuer 8. Walker 9. Greene 10. Krogmeier 11. Cloke 12. Miller 13. T. Breuer 14. Fosdyck 15. Kinsley 16. Burgtorf 17. White 18. Holt 19. Rains 20. Mike Hiller, Dunkerton 21. Tim Staley, Muscatine 22. Summers 23. Townsend 24. Dresden

Stock Cars

A-Main – 1. Jeremy Miller, Batavia 2. Jim Lynch, Bloomfield 3. Jason Cook, Mt. Pleasant 4. Brad Holtkamp, Mt. Pleasant 5. Phil McClure, Floris 6. David Boyd, Conesville 7. Ryan Meyer, Wayland 8. Jim Redman, Lockridge 9. Harley Hill, Wayland MO 10. Josh Walker, Mystic 11. Jerry Pilcher, Ottumwa 12. Mike McClure, Bloomfield 13. Jerry McElderry, Altoona 14. Matt Greiner, Washington 15. Dennis Harwood, Mt. Pleasant 16. Lonnie Taylor, Bloomfield 17. Ryan Reece, Columbus IL 18. Mike Walrod, DeSoto 19. Jeremy Dooley, Plano 20. Randy McClure, Eldon 21. Chris Hawkins, Drakesville 22. Bert McDaniel, Eldon 23. Don Kanselaar, Centerville

Buddy Cars

A-Main – 1. Jeff DeLonjay/Herb Murray 2. Jarrod Richie/Jason Heck 3. Lance Stott/Paul Kropf 4. Tim Gerleman/Ray Tedrow 5. John & Jenni Peterson 6. Roger & Jeremy Brockett 7. Kris Smothers/J.J. Fleck 8. Jeff & Darren Skow

Road Runners

A-Main – 1. David Sugars 2. T.J. Newberry 3. Ed Balmer 4. Chris Wibbell 5. Richard Bank 6. David Burdette 7. Justin Hamilton 8. Jim Wilsey

Early Schedules Create Conversation

If you visit our Calendar page at Positively Racing you will see that we still have several special events yet to run in our region to close out the 2015 season. However, with the early release of three different schedules I am already compiling the schedule for 2016 and each of these three early schedules are causing some conversation in both the Sprint Car and Late Model fan base, plus one major Modified show is likely effected.

As it heads into its second season Tod Quiring's National Sprint League is smack dab in the middle of a couple of major showdowns in the world of winged sprint car racing. Other than the fact that the 81 Speedway in Park City, Kansas, announced this week that the "Air Capital Shootout" will be the first event for the inaugural National Sprint League 360 National Tour on the final weekend in March, we are still waiting on additional dates, both national and regional, as the NSL squares off with the ASCS in the battle for 360 supremacy. Meanwhile, in the 410 ranks, it is now clear to see that the NSL is standing tall with the Knoxville Raceway as the historic oval now faces an upstart challenge for Saturday night sprint cars and their fans from the Badlands Motor Speedway, formerly known as Husets Speedway, in Brandon, South Dakota.

The unusual release this week of a partial schedule that had more than twenty events listed, but at just two tracks Knoxville and Jackson, made more sense once I looked up the Badlands website for the first time. With Quiring now a principal at the facility, the Jackson Speedway in south central Minnesota will now race weekly on Friday nights with Sprint Cars only, 410's and 360's, while they will continue to run a Saturday night show consisting of five IMCA sanctioned divisions. Those Friday night races will now run in tandem with Knoxville's Saturday night program with the incentive being that drivers who run at all of the NSL shows will be racing for more money each night than will the drivers who do not race the entire series.

That incentive has created quite a buzz on the Hoseheads forum board with one argument being that it is not fair for drivers who only have the budget to race at either Knoxville or Jackson and not both although it is quickly defended by pointing out that, without the incentive, drivers are racing for the some money at Knoxville as they did in 2015. As I typed in the NSL schedule I wondered why the NSL would not make an appearance there until May 21st, knowing that Knoxville usually kicks off its season the final weekend in April, but then would be there nearly every regular season race night after that including the August 27th season championship event. That question was answered as soon as I popped open the Badlands schedule showing their Sprint Car opener on, you guessed it, Saturday night May 21st.

It should be noted that, like Jackson, Badlands will be racing two nights weekly with 305 Sprints and Street Stocks joining the 410's on Saturday nights while the weekly Sunday show will feature 360's, Micro Sprints and Hobby Stocks. So essentially adding two more nights of weekly racing in a region that we noted as possibly having too much going on already with weekly shows on every night but Monday.

Anyway, the question I now have is this. What other tracks will be included on the NSL schedule? Will we get to have them back to 34 Raceway in Burlington in early April, the track that did such a great job with the League's inaugural event this season? This year we knew that Saturday nights were off limits from late April through August so as to not compete with Knoxville and so the NSL had Friday night stops scheduled at Eagle, Jacksonville, Moberly, Park Jefferson, I-80 and Fairmont, but in 2016 those Friday dates will be reserved for Jackson from mid-May through Labor Day. Essentially the "National" Sprint League is now a two-track point fund with some early and late season shows at other venues to be added.

Earlier the League indicated that it would have over 150 regional events scheduled for the 360's by December 10th so that drivers can then meet then membership deadline of December 15th so look for plenty of press releases over the next eight weeks from PR pro Bill Wright.

While the already released Sprint Car schedules definitely have an air of calculated planning behind them, the one national touring Late Model schedule that has already been announced will create a scramble for some traditional September events here in Iowa. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has switched the order of the two events that have traditionally followed the World 100 giving the Knoxville Raceway the earlier date that they wanted to hopefully lock in better weather in mid-September for the Late Model Nationals and to give the Brownstown Speedway in Indiana the chance to have the fans in that region to take a weekend off and reload their wallets before heading out to another major Late Model event since the south central Indiana track is only a couple of hours from Eldora. No spite, not a calculated move to damage another track, just a national series doing what they felt best for two of their premier shows. They did not consider what else was going on in the region, nor should they have.

What this does now is to put the Knoxville Late Model Nationals on the traditional weekend used by both the Farley Speedway for the Yankee Dirt Classic and the Marshalltown Speedway for the Modified World Nationals. The dilemma for the Yankee is more clear cut as I believe nine Late Model drivers raced at both events on separate weekends this year and even more importantly it is the Dirt Late Model fans that would be in high demand if the two were running head to head. For Marshalltown, it might not be a problem and promoter Toby Kruse may stick with the same weekend thinking that it won't have much of an effect on his fan base with the Late Model show running just an hour south of his Modified headliner. However, by this time last year the 2015 schedule for the Marshalltown Speedway had been released, so perhaps his options are still being weighed.

Yes, it will be an interesting off season compiling the new schedules as they are being released and what I have for 2016 so far can be seen below.

Update: About five hours after this entry of the Back Stretch was posted, a spokesman for Simmons Promotions Kevin Feller posted this message on the iowastockcars.com forum board. "With Knoxville Raceway moving there Late Model Nationals race to the date the Yankee has had for 38 years, SPI has decided to move to a new date so fans will be able to attend both events.The 39th Annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic will be Wednesday,August 31,2016 thru Saturday,September 3,2016.The Liberty 100 at West Liberty Raceway will be now on Friday and Saturday ,September 23rd and 24th. More news on these events and 2016 race schedule will be posted in the future."

At this point it looks like I will be taking the coming weekend off from racing as my son and his wife return home from Texas for the weekend, although if they end up with other plans on Saturday night you might just catch me in Memphis, Missouri. Next week I look forward to Shiverfest at the Lee County Speedway on Saturday and then perhaps another scenic drive to Wisconsin for the "Falloween 100" at the Dells Raceway Park on Sunday.

And finally, in case you didn't notice, we have welcomed Ed Reichert to our Positively Racing family of writers so make sure that you check into One Fan's Travels often!

Special Events Calendar
* Schedules subject to change without notice. PositivelyRacing.com is not responsible for the accuracy of this schedule.
Day	Date	Track	Location	Event
Friday	April 29	Tri-City Speedway	Pontoon Beach IL	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Saturday	April 30	Macon Speedway	Macon IL	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Friday	May 13	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	May 20	Oshkosh Speedzone Raceway	Oshkosh WI	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Friday	May 20	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	May 21	LaSalle Speedway	LaSalle IL	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Saturday	May 21	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	May 21	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	$100,000 Silver Shootout
Friday	May 27	Lucas Oil Speedway	Wheatland MO	Show Me 100 - Lucas Oil Late Model Series
Friday	May 27	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	May 28	Lucas Oil Speedway	Wheatland MO	Show Me 100 - Lucas Oil Late Model Series
Saturday	May 28	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	June 3	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	June 4	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	June 17	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	June 18	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	June 24	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	World of Outlaws and NSL Sprint Cars
Saturday	June 25	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	July 1	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	July 2	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	July 2	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Sunday	July 3	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Friday	July 8	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	July 9	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	July 15	Tri-City Speedway	Pontoon Beach IL	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Saturday	July 16	Lucas Oil Speedway	Wheatland MO	Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Friday	July 22	I-80 Speedway	Greenwood NE	Silver Dollar Nationals
Friday	July 22	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	July 23	I-80 Speedway	Greenwood NE	Silver Dollar Nationals
Saturday	July 23	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Friday	July 29	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	July 30	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Wednesday	August 10	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	56th Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's
Thursday	August 11	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	56th Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's
Friday	August 12	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	56th Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's
Saturday	August 13	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	56th Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's
Friday	August 19	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	Gold Cup: Winged 410 Qualifying Night
Saturday	August 20	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	Gold Cup: Non-Winged 410 Qualifying Night
Sunday	August 21	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	Gold Cup Championships
Saturday	August 27	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	National Sprint League 410's
Thursday	September 1	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	Jackson Nationals - National Sprint League 410's
Friday	September 2	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	Jackson Nationals - National Sprint League 410's
Saturday	September 3	Jackson Speedway	Jackson MN	Jackson Nationals - National Sprint League 410's
Thursday	September 15	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals
Friday	September 16	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals
Saturday	September 17	Knoxville Raceway	Knoxville IA	Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals
Saturday	September 17	Badlands Motor Speedway	Brandon SD	National Cheaters Day Competition

Fourth 'Fest Feature For Fredrickson

Taking the lead from Ty Majeski on the final restart, Dan Fredrickson of Lakeville, Minnesota, captured his fourth win in the Oktoberfest 200 at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in front of a huge sun baked crowd on Sunday. The event was also the final race of the 2015 schedule for the ARCA Midwest Tour and while he faded to third at the checkers, Majeski still had a reason to celebrate by capturing the series title.



Johnny Sauter receives some pre-race advice from his children

Twenty-eight cars would line up for the 200-lap event on the paved 5/8th-mile oval with Florida's Dalton Zehr and Griffin McGrath from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, starting from the front row. While at the back of the grid you would find the third fastest qualifier on Saturday Johnny Sauter who had accepted the challenge to start from the rear for the chance to win an additional $5,000 if he could then win the race.

With Zehr setting the early pace, Sauter would quickly pick up nine positions in the first ten laps. And, by lap twenty as Zehr led Jim Sauter Jr., McGrath and Ty Majeski, Johnny Sauter had already cracked the top ten. Sauter Jr. would then slip by Zehr the following lap to become the race leader. McGrath was looking strong in third until lap thirty-five when an obvious miss in the motor caused him to slow and eventually pull to the pits six laps later and that would leave just fourteen cars on the lead lap before the competition yellow waved on lap fifty.

With all drivers required to pit at least once during the event, only the second place car of Zehr and the sixth-place car of Dan Fredrickson would make that stop among the leaders during this first caution as Johnny Sauter had already made his way up to fourth. Fredrickson who started 19th picked up the pace once he was passed by Sauter on lap ten and had followed him toward the front during the first quarter of the event.

Jim Sauter Jr. again set a quick pace that the now second-place car of Majeski would match and on lap 81 the young driver from Seymour, Wisconsin, would put a nose under the leader. Sauter Jr. would fight off that bid and then again six laps later when Majeski pulled even with him on the high side going down the front straightaway. Not far behind the lead duo, Johnny Sauter's amazing run to the front began to fade a bit as Jacob Goede passed him for third on lap 88 and Goede was not satisfied with that as he quickly reeled in Majeski to challenge for second as the race hit the midway mark.

Walcott, Iowa's Caleb Adrian spun off of turn two on lap 106 bringing the caution out and this time around all of the leaders pitted except for Dalton Zehr who would reclaim the point for the restart. Zehr would learn quickly that this was not his best strategy as he got loose coming to the green and dropped all the way to fifth as Majeski assumed the lead for the first time with Goede and Sauter Jr. giving chase while Johnny Sauter picked his way back into contention passing Natalie Decker. When Johnny would slip by Goede for second on lap 128 it looked like the bonus money might go his way even though his shadow Dan Fredrickson would soon follow him into third.

Zehr's fade continued as he went a lap down to Majeski on lap 138 and six laps later the Florida driver would spin down the back stretch to produce the caution that would have otherwise waved around lap 150 for one more round of optional pit stops. None of the top ten chose to pit and it would be Majeski leading Johnny Sauter, Fredrickson, Goede, Decker and Travis Sauter back to green with 44 laps remaining. Fredrickson would take second away from Johnny Sauter two laps later and he would then ride about four car lengths back from the leader for the next twenty-five laps.

As the laps wound down and with lapped traffic looming ahead Fredrickson closed in on Majeski and began to apply some pressure as the lead duo now had a full straightaway over the third-place car of Sauter. With the scoreboard set to click to just ten laps remaining Johnny Sauter slowed going down the back stretch and made the left hand turn into the infield now making the battle between Travis Sauter and Natalie Decker the race for third. As they exited turn four contact sent Travis for a spin and the caution waved one last time for what would be a ten lap sprint for all the marbles.

Both Decker and Travis Sauter were sent to the back of the nine remaining lead lap cars and it would be Majeski bringing the field back single file for the green flag. However, in what he would later describe as a vapor lock causing his car to stutter for a split second when he hit the throttle, Majeski would be passed by both Fredrickson and Goede heading into turn one. As the two Minnesota drivers raced away, Goede tried to make a run at the leader over the closing laps to no avail as Dan Fredrickson would collect his fourth Oktoberfest crown. Second would go to the 2015 Elko Speedway champion Goede while Majeski would celebrate a series championship in third. Nick Murgic drove a steady race to finish in the fourth position while the same could be said for Skylar Holzhausen in fifth. Tim Sauter qualified out of the Last Chance race, started 22nd and finished in sixth ahead of Natalie Decker, Chris Weinkauf and Travis Sauter while Caleb Adrian completed the top ten one lap down to the leader.

In other action on this warm Sunday afternoon eighteen Big 8 Series Late Model drivers were invited to participate in the JMcK 63, a tribute to John McKarns with the event to be run in three 21-lap segments and the overall winner to be determined by points from the finish in each of those segments. The opening segment was lined up by a pill draw and with Ty Majeski drawing the pole this looked like it would be a race for second until Michael Beamish squeezed past Majeski for the lead mid-race. Majeski would fight back though and pass Beamish on the outside to take the checkers in segment one as Beamish nipped Rick Schumann Jr. at the line for second and Chris Merrick finished fourth after starting tenth. Also thirteen-year-old Brody Willett of Alburnett, Iowa, whom we have seen running on the dirt this year in a Micro Mod, started fifteenth and finished eighth.

With a 13-car invert for the starting lineup of the second segment the 2015 Big 8 Series Rookie-of-the-Year, Cole Anderson, fought off a late charge from Majeski to take the win as John Baumeister Jr., Jeremy Miller and Chris Merrick completed the top five. The third segment would see the top twelve in points inverted for the start and that would land Willett on the pole although the youngster faded quickly on the start. Mike Ostdiek appeared to have the race well in hand until a late caution brought the field back to him with Ryan Kamish and Majeski now poised to challenge on the restart.

Kamish would take the point away from Ostdiek with Majeski soon settling into second and even though the overall points title was now well in hand, Majeski wanted more. As the white flag waved Majeski made a run to drive to the outside of Kamish and it would be a drag race off of turn four to the checkers with Majeski taking the win by a matter of inches at the line. Ostdiek would hold down the third spot with Miller and Merrick in fourth and fifth allowing Merrick and Kamish to place second and third in the overall payoff.

An interesting mix of twenty-three Vintage Cars definitely brought back some nostalgia, but these guys weren't just putting on an exhibition as they were racing for real! It was announced prior to the event that Rex Rossier would have a $320 bounty on him and you could see why as he easily worked his way through the field passing his brother Royce for the lead. A late caution though bunched the field together and 71-year-old Woody Pool made the move around Rossier with a couple of laps remaining to take the win and the extra cash.

While I made it here for a Thursday night qualifier eight years ago, this was my first Oktoberfest finale in thirteen years and it is good to see that nothing has changed......well except for the climate, at least on this day! When you approach the fairgrounds you have to be amazed at the number of campers and it was no surprise to me that the first open parking spot that I found was at least a good half-mile away from the speedway. Half the fans are wearing racing shirts while the rest are in Green Bay Packers jerseys, okay so maybe there were a couple of Vikings fans in the crowd as well, but you get the picture, and the smell of burgers and bratwursts fills the air. I was disappointed to learn that the pork chop sandwiches had sold out the night before showing just how big of a crowd had been here throughout the four day run, but I still made sure to get my bowl of Queen's Apples topped with hot caramel sauce and whipped cream. I will say that it was very odd to be at Oktoberfest wearing shorts and a t-shirt as the temperatures soared into the mid-80's without a cloud in the sky, but what a perfect day it was to close out "one great racing weekend" in western Wisconsin.

The drive up and back was beautiful as well riding along highway 52 and the Mississippi River between Prairie Du Chien and La Crosse, but the leaves weren't quite in full color yet likely due to the warmer than normal weather that we have been experiencing lately. Maybe I will catch them in their full glory in two weeks when I plan to make a similar trip to the Dells Motor Speedway on October 25th for the Falloween 100. Perhaps you should check it out as well!