It was cold, it was windy, it was even a little wet around the edges, but that did not stop the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway Wednesday night. While a light rain fell during hot laps, only a few sprinkles would dot the rest of the show even though a more steady rain was falling within miles both east and west of the track. Despite these less than ideal conditions a fair number of fans showed up to watch a field of cars that exceeded my expectations and the action definitely kept my mind off of the weather for most of the two hour and forty minute show.
The class without a home, the Dirt Trucks were on hand tonight with a respectable field of thirteen and they would be the first feature to hit the track. It looked as though they were racing for big money though as they flared out four-wide at the start with contact sending Brett Moyer for spin in turn two on the opening lap. On the restart the mad scramble resumed and this time it got ugly as contact with Eric Lundstrom turned Tony Moro nose first into the guardrail at the flagstand and, with Lundstrom still digging, Moro's truck went for a wild set of barrel rolls sending parts and pieces flying everywhere. When it finally ended there was a hush over the crowd as Moro, now in full view, sat motionless for a few seconds as the safety crew arrived, but there was soon a great sense of relief as the veteran driver and former promoter of the Iowa State Fair Speedway climbed out of the mangled mess under his own power.
As the track was cleared it was the only time that I felt really cold on the night, especially since the wind seemed to pick up at about the same time. Once back to racing the drivers settled in and it would be long-time Stock Car driver Steve Jackson wheeling one of Lou Sipolt's Mediacom Xtream sponsored trucks to a flag-to-flag victory. Brad Moyer would chase him the distance in second, Sipolt was third, Anthony Moro, the grandson of Tony finished fourth and Andrew Clark picked up the fifth spot when Corey Stout suffered a flat tire on the final lap.
It took several years to catch on, but now with groups of drivers traveling in from more than seventy miles away the IMCA Sport Compact class had a field of sixteen sign in, the most that I can ever remember for a weekly show here and the field was stout with several drivers who have proven that they can find their way to victory lane. There seems to be a new sheriff in town though and his name is Daniel Fellows as the rookie driver started in the third spot, went to the lead off turn two in the opening lap and then maintained a comfortable advantage through the entire five mile distance to win his third feature over the past five nights after also taking the checkers in Eldon and Quincy. Fellow Keokuk drivers Jake Dietrich and Josh Barnes finished second and third with Barnes, the defending IMCA Super Nationals champion, driving Barry Taft's #57 this night. Ottumwa's Brandon Housley was fourth while West Liberty Raceway regular Cody Van Dusen completed the top five. Another Liberty regular, Levi Heath was racing in third at the mid-race point when he pulled to the infield with mechanical issues.
The Stock Car field was a bit light with twelve, but as regular fans of the Southern Iowa Speedway know, eight, twelve, eighteen or a full field of twenty-four, you are always going to get your money's worth when the division is on the track and once again the Stock Cars delivered the race of the night with a thrilling three-car battle that wasn't decided until the final lap. Defending track champion Louis Lynch would lead the first of 18-laps before division rookie Dustin Griffiths powered by on lap two. Griffiths had started seventh so his early charge was impressive, but so too was the run by Mike Hughes who had come from tenth to second in just a couple of laps around the fast and smooth half-mile. Derrick Agee would lock in as well and the three leaders would break away from the rest of the field that was having their own battles all the way to the back with no drivers lagging behind.
With Griffiths hugging the bottom Hughes showed patience waiting for a mistake, but when the rookie did not make one Hughes made a couple of tries at the next groove up. The challenger had to be careful though because Agee was there to steal the second spot if the new groove was not successful and after a couple of tries Hughes settled back in on the leader's rear bumper. Entering turn one with just three laps to go, Griffiths pushed just a bit in turn one and that was the opening that Hughes was looking for as he stuck a nose under the leader and pulled even going down the back stretch. Griffiths held his ground though and they would continue to run wheel-to-wheel through three and four and down the front chute with Dustin still scored the leader by a nose on lap sixteen.
With Agee waiting to pounce just behind the lead duo, Hughes nosed ahead going down the back stretch and Agee followed him into second as the white flag waved. When Hughes left the bottom open entering turn one on that final lap, Agee dove for the opening and he would pull even with the new leader, but only momentarily as Hughes fought him off and then finished off a thriller in victory lane. Agee finished second, Griffiths will win here this year, but not tonight as he was third, Todd Reitzler had caught the front three and would have been in the mix had there been a few more laps while Jason See filled out the top five.
Jason McDaniel snared the lead from the outside of the front row on the opening lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature and the chase was on as Curtis Van Der Wal settled into second. A caution on lap eleven when division rookie Matt Beal slowed on the back stretch bunched the field once again and when McDaniel blocked Van Der Wal's charge on the restart, Carter VanDenBerg used the high line to drive into second. There would be no keeping up with McDaniel on this night though as "Mighty Mouse" would drive away once again over the final five laps to take the win. It looked like something went amiss on VanDenBerg's car in the final three laps as he would fade to fourth behind Van Der Wal and Logan Anderson while Austin Paul edged out Colton Livezy for fifth at the checkers.
Todd Inman scratched after hot laps and Shawn Ritter dropped a motor in his heat race leaving a nine car field to start the IMCA Modified feature with eight of the drivers more than capable of taking the win. Hunter Marriott and Colt Mather would complete the opening lap side-by-side before Mather would get the advantage on lap two. It would be a high speed chase from there as Todd Shute was also in contention before a caution for debris waved with just two laps remaining. Both Marriott and Shute would have hopes of challenging the leader on the restart, but Mather was just too strong as he drove away for the opening night win at his home track. Marriott went second, Shute third, Cayden Carter started ninth and finished fourth ahead of Andrew Schroeder and Kelly Shryock who was behind the wheel of a yellow #21 car for the night.
Only the die hard fans stuck around for the final feature of the night as the temperature was now 44 and the wind was whistling from the north, straight into the grandstand. With both Dustin Griffiths and Danny Thrasher moving up to the Stock Cars, the Hobby Stock field at Osky could be wide open this year, that is unless many-time IMCA National Champion Shannon Anderson decides to make it his Wednesday night home once again in 2017. Anderson started third, drove under pole-sitter Steve Allen exiting turn two to take the lead on the opening lap and then drove away to win the 15-lap finale unchallenged. Two other drivers who have not been regulars here for the past few years, Eric Stanton and Bill Bonnett finished second and third while Aaron Martin and Scott Shull completed the top five.
Even with the long red flag the six division show wrapped up by 10:10 p.m. and while the car count tonight was nothing to brag about, I do think that it was encouraging to see just how many drivers did come to compete on a night when it would have been real easy to say, "no, I'm staying home." It also appears that Osky will pick up a few more drivers on at least a semi-regular basis as half-milers who no longer have the state fairgrounds to race at look for another venue. Racing action continues next Wednesday night May 3rd and announcer Tony Paris guarantees that it will be warmer. Then, on Wednesday May 10th, the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will join the program at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
Knowing that I cannot attend any races this weekend anyway I told my friends and colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele that this would be the LAST race that I would sit at in cold and windy weather this Spring. It was a safe declaration because the weather just has to improve as we head into May, but let me tell you this. If your local track is able to beat the weather this weekend, take the chance, bundle up and head on out because you just might be rewarded with a good night of action like we were Wednesday night.
Always know that you can gets wrap ups from Osky, Marshalltown and Boone in Dick and Joyce's 4dFan Report at Positively Racing! And thank you for reading the 1,000th post of the Back Stretch.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Tuesday Notebook: April 25, 2017
The news that Dale Earnhardt Jr. plans to retire at the end of the 2017 season should come as no surprise to NASCAR fans. Frankly I was surprised that he didn't retire during this past off season after sitting out the final events of the year due to symptoms from multiple concussions and even though he came back to try to win a Cup championship, it does not look like that is going to happen. Hopefully he can win a race or two before hanging up his helmet, but most of all I don't want to see him take any hard hits. Junior is a great personality and will continue to generate revenue away from the track in retirement.
The big question now is what will this do to NASCAR to lose its most popular driver? Will Junior Nation continue to come to the track in 2018, or will they stay at home and maybe watch it on television instead? NASCAR will likely see a bump in attendance for the remainder of this year as fans will want one more chance to cheer on Earnhardt, but after that the bottom just might fall out.
The announcement that the World Racing Group is punishing the LaSalle Speedway and promoter Tony Izzo Jr. for allowing the Best Motorsports Team to compete in a DirtCar sanctioned event during the Thaw Brawl while still under suspension for "tiregate" was more of a shocker to me. The track has long been UMP sanctioned, but the tone of this press release indicates that this will never happen again as apparently WRG had warned Izzo about allowing Josh Richards to compete even though the claim was that the Best Motorsports Team had "sold everything out" to another team prior to the event. The track actually posted a picture of the hauler on Facebook the day of the race with the comment "Josh Richards and the Best Performance Motorsports team pulling in!" Richards went on to win the MARS/ALMS sanctioned event, two regional series under the wing of World Racing Group, on Friday night while Saturday's finale was cancelled due to cold and rainy conditions.
Okay, so first of all MARS is in the news again in a manner that can't be good for them, and the punishment to Izzo is significant in that the opening weekend doubleheader for the UMP Summer Nationals "will move to an alternate facility". Recall that this is the weekend that has previously been held at the Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, but was moved to LaSalle when Cedar Lake decided to run a $50,000-to-win Modified event instead. It will be interesting to see what alternate facility will be willing to step up at this late date to take this weekend as not only does it come at the normal financial risk of running any event, but the track could also suffer a backlash of drivers and fans who are in support of Izzo in this situation. His Sixteens Race Promotions was also going to have the June 29th Summer Nationals date at the Sycamore Speedway and even though it is not specified in the press release one would have to think that it will be taken away from Izzo as well.
LaSalle's next event is a Thursday, May 18th Lucas Oil Late Model Series event and then Izzo is the promoter the following night as the Lucas Series moves to the Luxemburg Speedway in Wisconsin. The IMCA One Night Stand event has grown significantly at LaSalle the past couple of years so perhaps you will see a couple of more IMCA shows on the schedule there going forward, or you never know, this all might get resolved with no actual date changes taking place. It will be interesting to follow though! As of this writing the Summer Nationals schedule at the UMP website does not show any changes.
The promoter of the Gateway Dirt Nationals, Cody Sommer, was seriously injured when the steering column on his pickup truck broke and he struck the wall while packing the track at the Mansfield Speedway in Ohio Sunday night. The truck was reportedly going around 50 mph at the time of the incident and rolled several times after hitting the wall. Fortunately Sommer and a passenger were both wearing seat belts and both were transported to a nearby hospital.
IMCA Racing today shared a picture of Lance Borgman, the Sport Mod feature winner last Saturday night at the Eagle Raceway. Borgman is holding one of those big winner's checks for the photo and it is in the amount of $250. This of course has prompted several comments of how bad the purse is, that the track should be boycotted and one comment that says "probably why his face says "your kidding right"".Here's the interesting thing to me though, Borgman was the best of a 52 car field in the weekly show. That's right, I didn't mis-type it, five-two, fifty-two Sport Mods signed in and Lance Borgman knew going in that the feature paid $250 to win. How do I know that? Well for one he has raced there and won at Eagle often in the Sport Mod class the past couple of years after a solid career in the Stock Cars and, two, it is very easy for anybody to know what the weekly purse is at Eagle because it is easily found on their website.
I wonder if those who are commenting realize that Eagle Raceway currently boasts one of the most successful weekly racing programs in the country with full fields requiring a B-Main in all five divisions and, this past Saturday night, even a C-Main in the Sport Mods. Yes, the track sits smack dab between the two largest cities in Nebraska, Lincoln and Omaha, but there are plenty of other tracks across this country that are in or near large population bases that do not even come close to these types of car counts. And in fact, some are struggling just to stay open with (as a completely made up but fairly accurate comparison) ten in this class, eight in another, five in this one and twelve in their most economical class. So why is Eagle so successful? Well, I for one believe that the purse structure has something to do with it, so here the link once again, pull it up and let's explore.
While some of you might not agree, or more likely don't want to hear this, the Sport Mod class was developed to be a support class, an opportunity for drivers to get some experience or "seat time" for them to then move on to the Modifieds or some other "higher" division. It could also serve as a good fit for a driver who is on a tight budget to go out and have some fun every Saturday night as well and with $250-to-win and $50-to-start this purse seems to support those intentions. So why do 52 drivers show up for that kind of purse? Does the purse itself actually encourage competition?
The other item that I want you to look at is the Modified purse. That's right, it only pays $400-to-win and the only reason that there aren't a bunch of people making smartass comments on that one is because IMCA Racing screwed up and put Borgman's picture on that post as well instead of Modified winner Clint Homan holding his check. But did you look at the full payout? It pays $150 just to start the Modified A-Main for a weekly show at Eagle, that is more than some special events that offer up four figures to the winner! There were 28 IMCA Modifieds in action at Eagle Saturday night, so bitch all you want Facebook jockeys, the formula is working and perhaps it is time that some other tracks do the same. Yes, I have seen tracks who have Modified car counts under ten guarantee $100-to-start without much success, but this just can't be a temporary thing it has to be a commitment and it won't just "magically" work overnight.
If a track were to reduce its Sport Mod purse and increase the Modified purse to what Eagle pays the complaining would be relentless, just check Facebook for examples, but would those more experienced/successful Sport Mod drivers who want to be paid more money move into the Modified class? With those drivers now out of the Sport Mods, would more beginners or low budget racers not only fill the void, but overflow it? Eagle Raceway is one glowing example of a weekly racing purse and how it influences car counts. How is your track doing?
Speaking of Sport Mods, let's shine the light on four drivers who are enjoying some early season success in our area. Colton Livezy won his second feature in a row at the CJ Raceway on Friday night and then followed it up with a win on the half-mile at Eldon on Saturday. With his win at the Quad City Speedway on Sunday night Dustin Schram now has three victories on the young season. On the weekend following the news that he plans to retire at the end of the 2017 season Tony Dunker scored wins on Friday night in Donnellson and Sunday night in Quincy. And of course nobody is as hot in any division as Tyler Soppe is right now as the Sherrill, Iowa, driver won his seventh feature of the young season Sunday night at a seventh different track, the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway.
After sweeping a weekend doubleheader at the I-80 Speedway two weeks earlier, Canadian Thomas Kennedy won another winged 360 Sprint Car feature at the Park Jefferson Speedway Saturday night.
Craig Dollansky dove Wayne Modjeski's #14AJ car to a ninth-place finish at the IRA Sprint Car show at the Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday night. Bill Balog was the winner.
Eric Bridger was well on the way to his first win ever at the Knoxville Raceway when his 305 engine went up in smoke with just a few laps remaining. Kevin Hetrick, who jumped from the 305's to the 410's for the 2016 season, returned to the 305 class and took the win.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago after Lee County's season opener that Keokuk's Daniel Fellows looked like a driver who would find victory lane in this his first season driving a Sport Compact. It didn't take long as Fellows won on Saturday night in Eldon and again Sunday at Quincy.
I am hoping that the weather cooperates tomorrow so that the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa can kickoff it's 2017 campaign. I will probably need to stay out of the Sport Mod pits :)
After that I have a wedding to attend, so here's hoping that all of you can find a dry place to enjoy some racing action over the coming weekend and thank you for taking a look at the Back Stretch!
The big question now is what will this do to NASCAR to lose its most popular driver? Will Junior Nation continue to come to the track in 2018, or will they stay at home and maybe watch it on television instead? NASCAR will likely see a bump in attendance for the remainder of this year as fans will want one more chance to cheer on Earnhardt, but after that the bottom just might fall out.
The announcement that the World Racing Group is punishing the LaSalle Speedway and promoter Tony Izzo Jr. for allowing the Best Motorsports Team to compete in a DirtCar sanctioned event during the Thaw Brawl while still under suspension for "tiregate" was more of a shocker to me. The track has long been UMP sanctioned, but the tone of this press release indicates that this will never happen again as apparently WRG had warned Izzo about allowing Josh Richards to compete even though the claim was that the Best Motorsports Team had "sold everything out" to another team prior to the event. The track actually posted a picture of the hauler on Facebook the day of the race with the comment "Josh Richards and the Best Performance Motorsports team pulling in!" Richards went on to win the MARS/ALMS sanctioned event, two regional series under the wing of World Racing Group, on Friday night while Saturday's finale was cancelled due to cold and rainy conditions.
Okay, so first of all MARS is in the news again in a manner that can't be good for them, and the punishment to Izzo is significant in that the opening weekend doubleheader for the UMP Summer Nationals "will move to an alternate facility". Recall that this is the weekend that has previously been held at the Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, but was moved to LaSalle when Cedar Lake decided to run a $50,000-to-win Modified event instead. It will be interesting to see what alternate facility will be willing to step up at this late date to take this weekend as not only does it come at the normal financial risk of running any event, but the track could also suffer a backlash of drivers and fans who are in support of Izzo in this situation. His Sixteens Race Promotions was also going to have the June 29th Summer Nationals date at the Sycamore Speedway and even though it is not specified in the press release one would have to think that it will be taken away from Izzo as well.
LaSalle's next event is a Thursday, May 18th Lucas Oil Late Model Series event and then Izzo is the promoter the following night as the Lucas Series moves to the Luxemburg Speedway in Wisconsin. The IMCA One Night Stand event has grown significantly at LaSalle the past couple of years so perhaps you will see a couple of more IMCA shows on the schedule there going forward, or you never know, this all might get resolved with no actual date changes taking place. It will be interesting to follow though! As of this writing the Summer Nationals schedule at the UMP website does not show any changes.
The promoter of the Gateway Dirt Nationals, Cody Sommer, was seriously injured when the steering column on his pickup truck broke and he struck the wall while packing the track at the Mansfield Speedway in Ohio Sunday night. The truck was reportedly going around 50 mph at the time of the incident and rolled several times after hitting the wall. Fortunately Sommer and a passenger were both wearing seat belts and both were transported to a nearby hospital.
IMCA Racing today shared a picture of Lance Borgman, the Sport Mod feature winner last Saturday night at the Eagle Raceway. Borgman is holding one of those big winner's checks for the photo and it is in the amount of $250. This of course has prompted several comments of how bad the purse is, that the track should be boycotted and one comment that says "probably why his face says "your kidding right"".Here's the interesting thing to me though, Borgman was the best of a 52 car field in the weekly show. That's right, I didn't mis-type it, five-two, fifty-two Sport Mods signed in and Lance Borgman knew going in that the feature paid $250 to win. How do I know that? Well for one he has raced there and won at Eagle often in the Sport Mod class the past couple of years after a solid career in the Stock Cars and, two, it is very easy for anybody to know what the weekly purse is at Eagle because it is easily found on their website.
I wonder if those who are commenting realize that Eagle Raceway currently boasts one of the most successful weekly racing programs in the country with full fields requiring a B-Main in all five divisions and, this past Saturday night, even a C-Main in the Sport Mods. Yes, the track sits smack dab between the two largest cities in Nebraska, Lincoln and Omaha, but there are plenty of other tracks across this country that are in or near large population bases that do not even come close to these types of car counts. And in fact, some are struggling just to stay open with (as a completely made up but fairly accurate comparison) ten in this class, eight in another, five in this one and twelve in their most economical class. So why is Eagle so successful? Well, I for one believe that the purse structure has something to do with it, so here the link once again, pull it up and let's explore.
While some of you might not agree, or more likely don't want to hear this, the Sport Mod class was developed to be a support class, an opportunity for drivers to get some experience or "seat time" for them to then move on to the Modifieds or some other "higher" division. It could also serve as a good fit for a driver who is on a tight budget to go out and have some fun every Saturday night as well and with $250-to-win and $50-to-start this purse seems to support those intentions. So why do 52 drivers show up for that kind of purse? Does the purse itself actually encourage competition?
The other item that I want you to look at is the Modified purse. That's right, it only pays $400-to-win and the only reason that there aren't a bunch of people making smartass comments on that one is because IMCA Racing screwed up and put Borgman's picture on that post as well instead of Modified winner Clint Homan holding his check. But did you look at the full payout? It pays $150 just to start the Modified A-Main for a weekly show at Eagle, that is more than some special events that offer up four figures to the winner! There were 28 IMCA Modifieds in action at Eagle Saturday night, so bitch all you want Facebook jockeys, the formula is working and perhaps it is time that some other tracks do the same. Yes, I have seen tracks who have Modified car counts under ten guarantee $100-to-start without much success, but this just can't be a temporary thing it has to be a commitment and it won't just "magically" work overnight.
If a track were to reduce its Sport Mod purse and increase the Modified purse to what Eagle pays the complaining would be relentless, just check Facebook for examples, but would those more experienced/successful Sport Mod drivers who want to be paid more money move into the Modified class? With those drivers now out of the Sport Mods, would more beginners or low budget racers not only fill the void, but overflow it? Eagle Raceway is one glowing example of a weekly racing purse and how it influences car counts. How is your track doing?
Speaking of Sport Mods, let's shine the light on four drivers who are enjoying some early season success in our area. Colton Livezy won his second feature in a row at the CJ Raceway on Friday night and then followed it up with a win on the half-mile at Eldon on Saturday. With his win at the Quad City Speedway on Sunday night Dustin Schram now has three victories on the young season. On the weekend following the news that he plans to retire at the end of the 2017 season Tony Dunker scored wins on Friday night in Donnellson and Sunday night in Quincy. And of course nobody is as hot in any division as Tyler Soppe is right now as the Sherrill, Iowa, driver won his seventh feature of the young season Sunday night at a seventh different track, the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway.
After sweeping a weekend doubleheader at the I-80 Speedway two weeks earlier, Canadian Thomas Kennedy won another winged 360 Sprint Car feature at the Park Jefferson Speedway Saturday night.
Craig Dollansky dove Wayne Modjeski's #14AJ car to a ninth-place finish at the IRA Sprint Car show at the Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday night. Bill Balog was the winner.
Eric Bridger was well on the way to his first win ever at the Knoxville Raceway when his 305 engine went up in smoke with just a few laps remaining. Kevin Hetrick, who jumped from the 305's to the 410's for the 2016 season, returned to the 305 class and took the win.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago after Lee County's season opener that Keokuk's Daniel Fellows looked like a driver who would find victory lane in this his first season driving a Sport Compact. It didn't take long as Fellows won on Saturday night in Eldon and again Sunday at Quincy.
I am hoping that the weather cooperates tomorrow so that the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa can kickoff it's 2017 campaign. I will probably need to stay out of the Sport Mod pits :)
After that I have a wedding to attend, so here's hoping that all of you can find a dry place to enjoy some racing action over the coming weekend and thank you for taking a look at the Back Stretch!
Monday, April 24, 2017
Dubuque Delivers Another Dandy; Kay Takes Deery Prize
I have often stated here that the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway is one of my favorite tracks of any that I have seen over the past forty years and Sunday night's 2017 season opener featuring the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models did nothing to diminish that thought. As the third event of the weekend for the series the car count was down from the previous two nights where the field was in the mid-thirties, but the twenty-one drivers who closed out the Highway 20 Challenge did so on a track that was wide, smooth and fast allowing for plenty of action on this beautiful April evening.
Joel Callahan and Joe Zrostlik would bring the field to green for the fifty-lap headliner and when Callahan charged to the cushion in turns three and four on the opening lap he turned completely sideways in front of the field. Contact from fourth-starting Jesse Sobbing would straighten him out, but both drivers faded into the field with Sobbing dropping to eighth as the initial lap was scored. Zrostlik would lead laps one and two before the seventh starting Cayden Carter sailed by him on the outside on lap three.
Carter would open up a full straightaway advantage as the field sorted out behind him with Justin Kay coming from the outside of row four to take second around lap fifteen. As Carter closed in on traffic running in his preferred high line, Kay ate into that lead at a fast pace and on lap twenty he was within a couple of car lengths of the leader. As Carter had to use a different line to get around Travis Denning and Darrel DeFrance, Kay went to the low side and powered off the bottom of turn four to take the lead on lap twenty-one only to have Carter come charging back to lead lap twenty-two by a nose.
The next handful of laps were a battle of the two primary grooves around the banked 3/8th-mile as Carter pounded the cushion and Kay hugged the rail with Cayden leading by no more than two car-lengths at the loop. Carter's night almost came to a sudden end though on lap twenty-eight when Lyle Klein smacked the turn three wall just in front of the leader who had to take evasive action as the first caution of the race waved.
Following a lap twenty-nine caution for DeFrance, Carter would bring the field back to green with Kay and Jake Neal side-by-side behind him and when Carter went to the bottom in turn one to block his challenger, Neal would fly by both of them off the cushion of turn two and down the back stretch to take the lead. The leading rookie-of-the-year candidate on the Deery Series, Neal would open up a ten car length lead as Kay disposed of Carter, but once into second Justin would again chase down another cushion rider by taking the short way around.
Kay would take the lead from the Omaha, Nebraska, driver on lap thirty-nine and he would then show his versatility as he himself moved up to the cushion for several laps as he approached a couple of lappers on the bottom. Neal was able to stay close over the final laps, but he was unable to mount a challenge as Justin Kay proved that he is still the man to beat at Dubuque. Matt Ryan was flat out flying around the top during the final fifteen laps as he finished third after starting fifteenth. Chad Holladay passed Carter on the final lap to finish fourth while Cayden held on for fifth. Jeremiah Hurst was sixth, Luke Merfeld seventh, Zrostlik faded to eighth, Sobbing was ninth and Saturday's winner at Independence Richie Gustin was tenth.
Dubuque Deery Notes......Five "official" lead changes among four drivers and many more taking place within a lap! Yes, there will occasionally be a flag-to-flag winner in this series that uses a draw and redraw format, but as a fan I will always prefer this to the "qualify and then start the fast guys in front" format that now almost every other Late Model series has gone to......There were two notable absentees from tonight's roster. All-time series wins leader Jeff Aikey was missing after what I assume was a DNF the night before in Independence where he was credited with a 22nd place finish. And defending Deery series champion Tyler Bruening was a no show after being disqualified the night before for an illegal rear axle housing......Kay was also the winner on Friday night at Farley, but took the night off on Saturday.....The Summer Series point chase seems to be wide open at this point as Luke Goedert entered the night as the leader, but could only muster an eleventh place finish at a track where he is usually more competitive. Don't be surprised if Jake Neal now sits atop the standings with the next event coming on Mother's Day May 14th at the Quad City Speedway.....It was great to see Gary Webb racing in the top five for the first fifteen laps after starting third. Webb was nearly impossible to beat here at Dubuque for a couple of seasons back in the 1990's and he would hug the bottom the entire distance on this night finishing in 16th.....I heard that Jeremiah Hurst and Jesse Sobbing had a run in at Farley on Friday and in the Casey's Pizza redraw tonight they swapped numbers back and forth with "my buddy" being used once or twice. As it turned out they were just trading the four and the five although with Sobbing ending up with the four he was the driver aimed at Callahan when he went sideways on the opeing lap. So I guess that Hurst "wins" that one after all......If you were wondering if Keith Simmons is still alive and well following the ownership change, the answer is "yes" and he still knows how to groom a fantastic racing surface here in Dubuque!
There was one bright spot and two black eyes when it came to support class action. The IMCA Modifieds provided fans with a nice preview to the Late Models by using every inch of the race track and by having just two cautions in their twenty-lap distance. Bryce Garnhart would lead the field early only to have Kenny Kostenbader take over on a lap four restart. Garnhart would chase him the rest of the way as the Freeport, Illinois, driver would win his first Dubuque Speedway feature. Including Kostenbader all of the top four had to cross a state border to get to the Speedway tonight as Garnhart from Shannon, Illinois, was second, Hunter Marriott from Brookfield, Missouri, was third and Jeff Larson, also from Freeport, finished fourth. Mark Schulte was the best of the Iowa drivers in fifth.
The IMCA Sport Mods had what appeared to be competitive field of twenty set to go for fifteen laps, but when pole sitter Andy Turpin spun in front of the field in turn four on the opening lap it must have set the storyline as nine cautions would wave, six of them for single car spins. The race ran green for two consecutive laps on laps three and four, then had a "long" run of three green flag laps for ten, eleven and twelve before closing out with two more laps under green before the checkers waved for Tyler Soppe. It was the seventh win at seven different tracks already for Soppe in 2017, taking this one after drawing the outside of the front row. Jerry Miles came back from mechanical issues in his heat race to finish second after starting sixteenth, Jarrett Franzen started tenth and finished third, Ryan Duhme who wasn't even able to run his heat race started last and finished fourth while Justin Becker was fifth.
Only four Outlaw Four Cylinders signed in with one of them breaking during the heat and another losing a motor midway through the feature. Dylan Flogel was the fastest of the four anyway so it was good that he ended up in victory lane.
A big thank you to the new ownership group and promoter Ed White for the hospitality and as always it was nice to visit with Kevin Feller, Doug Haack, Jerry Mackey and Kevin Yoder.
Next up, weather permitting, the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday. Let's hope that the Back Stretch stays dry!
Joel Callahan and Joe Zrostlik would bring the field to green for the fifty-lap headliner and when Callahan charged to the cushion in turns three and four on the opening lap he turned completely sideways in front of the field. Contact from fourth-starting Jesse Sobbing would straighten him out, but both drivers faded into the field with Sobbing dropping to eighth as the initial lap was scored. Zrostlik would lead laps one and two before the seventh starting Cayden Carter sailed by him on the outside on lap three.
Carter would open up a full straightaway advantage as the field sorted out behind him with Justin Kay coming from the outside of row four to take second around lap fifteen. As Carter closed in on traffic running in his preferred high line, Kay ate into that lead at a fast pace and on lap twenty he was within a couple of car lengths of the leader. As Carter had to use a different line to get around Travis Denning and Darrel DeFrance, Kay went to the low side and powered off the bottom of turn four to take the lead on lap twenty-one only to have Carter come charging back to lead lap twenty-two by a nose.
The next handful of laps were a battle of the two primary grooves around the banked 3/8th-mile as Carter pounded the cushion and Kay hugged the rail with Cayden leading by no more than two car-lengths at the loop. Carter's night almost came to a sudden end though on lap twenty-eight when Lyle Klein smacked the turn three wall just in front of the leader who had to take evasive action as the first caution of the race waved.
Following a lap twenty-nine caution for DeFrance, Carter would bring the field back to green with Kay and Jake Neal side-by-side behind him and when Carter went to the bottom in turn one to block his challenger, Neal would fly by both of them off the cushion of turn two and down the back stretch to take the lead. The leading rookie-of-the-year candidate on the Deery Series, Neal would open up a ten car length lead as Kay disposed of Carter, but once into second Justin would again chase down another cushion rider by taking the short way around.
Kay would take the lead from the Omaha, Nebraska, driver on lap thirty-nine and he would then show his versatility as he himself moved up to the cushion for several laps as he approached a couple of lappers on the bottom. Neal was able to stay close over the final laps, but he was unable to mount a challenge as Justin Kay proved that he is still the man to beat at Dubuque. Matt Ryan was flat out flying around the top during the final fifteen laps as he finished third after starting fifteenth. Chad Holladay passed Carter on the final lap to finish fourth while Cayden held on for fifth. Jeremiah Hurst was sixth, Luke Merfeld seventh, Zrostlik faded to eighth, Sobbing was ninth and Saturday's winner at Independence Richie Gustin was tenth.
Dubuque Deery Notes......Five "official" lead changes among four drivers and many more taking place within a lap! Yes, there will occasionally be a flag-to-flag winner in this series that uses a draw and redraw format, but as a fan I will always prefer this to the "qualify and then start the fast guys in front" format that now almost every other Late Model series has gone to......There were two notable absentees from tonight's roster. All-time series wins leader Jeff Aikey was missing after what I assume was a DNF the night before in Independence where he was credited with a 22nd place finish. And defending Deery series champion Tyler Bruening was a no show after being disqualified the night before for an illegal rear axle housing......Kay was also the winner on Friday night at Farley, but took the night off on Saturday.....The Summer Series point chase seems to be wide open at this point as Luke Goedert entered the night as the leader, but could only muster an eleventh place finish at a track where he is usually more competitive. Don't be surprised if Jake Neal now sits atop the standings with the next event coming on Mother's Day May 14th at the Quad City Speedway.....It was great to see Gary Webb racing in the top five for the first fifteen laps after starting third. Webb was nearly impossible to beat here at Dubuque for a couple of seasons back in the 1990's and he would hug the bottom the entire distance on this night finishing in 16th.....I heard that Jeremiah Hurst and Jesse Sobbing had a run in at Farley on Friday and in the Casey's Pizza redraw tonight they swapped numbers back and forth with "my buddy" being used once or twice. As it turned out they were just trading the four and the five although with Sobbing ending up with the four he was the driver aimed at Callahan when he went sideways on the opeing lap. So I guess that Hurst "wins" that one after all......If you were wondering if Keith Simmons is still alive and well following the ownership change, the answer is "yes" and he still knows how to groom a fantastic racing surface here in Dubuque!
There was one bright spot and two black eyes when it came to support class action. The IMCA Modifieds provided fans with a nice preview to the Late Models by using every inch of the race track and by having just two cautions in their twenty-lap distance. Bryce Garnhart would lead the field early only to have Kenny Kostenbader take over on a lap four restart. Garnhart would chase him the rest of the way as the Freeport, Illinois, driver would win his first Dubuque Speedway feature. Including Kostenbader all of the top four had to cross a state border to get to the Speedway tonight as Garnhart from Shannon, Illinois, was second, Hunter Marriott from Brookfield, Missouri, was third and Jeff Larson, also from Freeport, finished fourth. Mark Schulte was the best of the Iowa drivers in fifth.
The IMCA Sport Mods had what appeared to be competitive field of twenty set to go for fifteen laps, but when pole sitter Andy Turpin spun in front of the field in turn four on the opening lap it must have set the storyline as nine cautions would wave, six of them for single car spins. The race ran green for two consecutive laps on laps three and four, then had a "long" run of three green flag laps for ten, eleven and twelve before closing out with two more laps under green before the checkers waved for Tyler Soppe. It was the seventh win at seven different tracks already for Soppe in 2017, taking this one after drawing the outside of the front row. Jerry Miles came back from mechanical issues in his heat race to finish second after starting sixteenth, Jarrett Franzen started tenth and finished third, Ryan Duhme who wasn't even able to run his heat race started last and finished fourth while Justin Becker was fifth.
Only four Outlaw Four Cylinders signed in with one of them breaking during the heat and another losing a motor midway through the feature. Dylan Flogel was the fastest of the four anyway so it was good that he ended up in victory lane.
A big thank you to the new ownership group and promoter Ed White for the hospitality and as always it was nice to visit with Kevin Feller, Doug Haack, Jerry Mackey and Kevin Yoder.
Next up, weather permitting, the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday. Let's hope that the Back Stretch stays dry!
Friday, April 21, 2017
Five New Winners In Donnellson
The thermometer showed temperatures in the fifties, but with a stiff and moist breeze blowing from the east it was a night where only the hardcore racers and fans would come out for the second night of weekly racing at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. As usual though the track was wide and multi-grooved producing five new winners on Friday night.
The IMCA Sport Compacts would start the night off with 15-laps of action as Barry Taft snared the lead from the outside pole position. With four cars racing hard just behind for second Taft would maintain a nice margin until Jake Dietrich broke from that pack and started to chase him down. A late caution brought the field together and when that battle for second picked up once again Taft pulled away to score the win while Josh Barnes edged out Dietrich for second. Brandon Reu came from the fifth row to finish fourth while Kimberly Abbott completed the top five.
Ten of the eleven UMP Pro Late Models would start the A-Main as Derek Sammons was forced to scratch after slamming the turn three guardrail on the opening lap of his heat race earlier in the night. Derek Liles would lead the opening lap by a nose over Gunnar Frank and after Frank drove around him for the lead on lap two Liles would spin in turn four to bring out the caution. On the restart both Sam Halstead and Todd Frank would slip by the younger Frank with Halstead moving to the lead and then pulling away from the field. However, when Chase Frank spun for the second time in the race, that caution would set up a green-white-checkers finish with Todd Frank and last week's winner Denny Woodworth poised to challenge. The elder Frank would throw a slider at Halstead in turn four coming to the white, but Sam was patient and drove right back under Frank to maintain the lead and secure the victory over Todd Frank. Tommy Elston slipped by Woodworth on the final lap to post a third place finish and Liles got by Brian Crebo on the final lap to get back to fifth.
When the green flag waved on the IMCA Stock Car feature the second row of Jeremy Pundt and Abe Huls flared out to make it four-wide entering turn one with front row starters Les Blakely and Corey Strothman. Pundt would find the bite on the very bottom to take the lead going down the back straightaway and he would drive away to a convincing win in the non-stop twenty lap race. Huls was trying to keep pace in second when he smacked the guardrail in turn three ending his night on lap eight so it would be Jason Cook who claimed runner-up honors just ahead of Jason See, Strothman and John Oliver Jr. In victory lane Pundt, tongue in cheek, thanked Jeff Mueller for going to Marshalltown as there have been many nights over the past few years when Jeremy and others were chasing Mueller here at Lee County.
Mitch Boles would lead the opening lap of the 20-lap headliner for the IMCA Modifieds only to have Dennis LaVeine drive by on lap two. Jeff Waterman moved quickly up from fifth to second and he would go to work on the leader using the high line to get the advantage on lap six. A caution for Boles on lap fifteen erased a nice lead, but Waterman was again able to drive away over the final five circuits to get the win ahead of LaVeine. Blake Woodruff back up a convincing heat race win earlier in the night by starting sixth and finishing third, Bobby Six came from the fifth row to go fourth and division rookie Dakota Simmons filled out the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mods would close out the evening with eighteen laps of feature action as Austin Howes would lead the opening laps before the caution waved as Brandyn Ryan spun and collected Dave Kraus in turn three. Howes would be able to hold back Tony Dunker for a lap following the restart, but Dunker was on the fly taking the top spot on lap four and then pulling away for the feature win. Howes would fight off Logan Anderson to finish second, a big improvement for Anderson who did not finish his heat after fighting handling problems. John Oliver Jr, would take fourth as Brandon Dale finished in fifth.
Weekly racing continues at the Lee County Speedway next Friday night when it just has to be warmer! Then, on Thursday May 4th, the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models return to Donnellson for another night of Super Late Model action on one of the drivers' favorite tracks. Thank you to Tony Paris for giving me the opportunity to fill his spot on the microphone while he coached his son Tyson's baseball team to a win tonight and a special thanks to Dan Workman who does a fantastic job with all of the "extras" that an announcer needs to do for the fans and the sponsors.
With a social commitment on Saturday night my next action will come on Sunday as the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Models close out a three-race weekend at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
The IMCA Sport Compacts would start the night off with 15-laps of action as Barry Taft snared the lead from the outside pole position. With four cars racing hard just behind for second Taft would maintain a nice margin until Jake Dietrich broke from that pack and started to chase him down. A late caution brought the field together and when that battle for second picked up once again Taft pulled away to score the win while Josh Barnes edged out Dietrich for second. Brandon Reu came from the fifth row to finish fourth while Kimberly Abbott completed the top five.
Ten of the eleven UMP Pro Late Models would start the A-Main as Derek Sammons was forced to scratch after slamming the turn three guardrail on the opening lap of his heat race earlier in the night. Derek Liles would lead the opening lap by a nose over Gunnar Frank and after Frank drove around him for the lead on lap two Liles would spin in turn four to bring out the caution. On the restart both Sam Halstead and Todd Frank would slip by the younger Frank with Halstead moving to the lead and then pulling away from the field. However, when Chase Frank spun for the second time in the race, that caution would set up a green-white-checkers finish with Todd Frank and last week's winner Denny Woodworth poised to challenge. The elder Frank would throw a slider at Halstead in turn four coming to the white, but Sam was patient and drove right back under Frank to maintain the lead and secure the victory over Todd Frank. Tommy Elston slipped by Woodworth on the final lap to post a third place finish and Liles got by Brian Crebo on the final lap to get back to fifth.
When the green flag waved on the IMCA Stock Car feature the second row of Jeremy Pundt and Abe Huls flared out to make it four-wide entering turn one with front row starters Les Blakely and Corey Strothman. Pundt would find the bite on the very bottom to take the lead going down the back straightaway and he would drive away to a convincing win in the non-stop twenty lap race. Huls was trying to keep pace in second when he smacked the guardrail in turn three ending his night on lap eight so it would be Jason Cook who claimed runner-up honors just ahead of Jason See, Strothman and John Oliver Jr. In victory lane Pundt, tongue in cheek, thanked Jeff Mueller for going to Marshalltown as there have been many nights over the past few years when Jeremy and others were chasing Mueller here at Lee County.
Mitch Boles would lead the opening lap of the 20-lap headliner for the IMCA Modifieds only to have Dennis LaVeine drive by on lap two. Jeff Waterman moved quickly up from fifth to second and he would go to work on the leader using the high line to get the advantage on lap six. A caution for Boles on lap fifteen erased a nice lead, but Waterman was again able to drive away over the final five circuits to get the win ahead of LaVeine. Blake Woodruff back up a convincing heat race win earlier in the night by starting sixth and finishing third, Bobby Six came from the fifth row to go fourth and division rookie Dakota Simmons filled out the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mods would close out the evening with eighteen laps of feature action as Austin Howes would lead the opening laps before the caution waved as Brandyn Ryan spun and collected Dave Kraus in turn three. Howes would be able to hold back Tony Dunker for a lap following the restart, but Dunker was on the fly taking the top spot on lap four and then pulling away for the feature win. Howes would fight off Logan Anderson to finish second, a big improvement for Anderson who did not finish his heat after fighting handling problems. John Oliver Jr, would take fourth as Brandon Dale finished in fifth.
Weekly racing continues at the Lee County Speedway next Friday night when it just has to be warmer! Then, on Thursday May 4th, the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models return to Donnellson for another night of Super Late Model action on one of the drivers' favorite tracks. Thank you to Tony Paris for giving me the opportunity to fill his spot on the microphone while he coached his son Tyson's baseball team to a win tonight and a special thanks to Dan Workman who does a fantastic job with all of the "extras" that an announcer needs to do for the fans and the sponsors.
With a social commitment on Saturday night my next action will come on Sunday as the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Models close out a three-race weekend at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
Thursday, April 20, 2017
USMTS Cage Match Goes To Thornton Over Scott
The 1/5th-mile high banked bowl at the Atchison County Raceway in northeast Kansas is known as the "The Cage" and when the United States Modified Touring Series comes to town once a year it is definitely a battle as the Modified stars wage war on the shortest track that they will see. Twenty-five drivers signed in on this sunny but cool Thursday evening and the fifty-lap feature event truly lived up to the billing as Ricky Thornton Jr. out dueled Johnny Scott in the closing laps to take the win.
Scott lined up on the pole position alongside his brother Stormy and it would be Stormy who would set a quick early pace. The first of six cautions waved on lap thirteen when Mike Densberger slowed on the back stretch and during that caution the leader would go to the pit area with apparent suspension issues. This would turn the lead over to Johnny Scott who would have his hands full with the winner of last year's Cage Match, Cade Dillard. Dillard had delivered a nasty slider on Josh Blumer earlier in the race to get to third and he was stalking Scott to perhaps do the same only to have a pair of cautions on lap 21 and lap 26 take away his opportunities.
When Dillard jumped the cushion following a restart Ricky Thornton Jr. pounced to take over the second spot and he would then apply the pressure on the leader, especially after a lap 36 restart. Scott had been riding the cushion like a pro since assuming the lead, but when he stumbled a bit on lap 45 that allowed Thornton to get a run on him and Ricky nosed ahead for the first time on lap 46. Scott came back to regain the lead on lap 47 only to have Thornton muscle past him again the following circuit, but before the white flag could wave the final caution would fly as Chase Junghans spun in turn four.
Scott would pull alongside Thornton under caution to express his thoughts on that last pass for the lead and when the green flag waved for the final two laps Thornton pulled away as Scott had to deal with Zack VanderBeek. If there would have been a few more laps it would have been interesting to see if VanderBeek's low line would have prevailed as Thornton would score the win after starting from the fourth row while VanderBeek moved from twelfth to second with most of those positions gained in the final fifteen laps. Scott fought off Joe Duvall to finish third while unofficially I had Darron Fuqua edging out Cade Dillard at the line for fifth. Duvall was impressive coming from the eighth row.
Talking with USMTS president Todd Staley briefly during the intermission I agreed with him that this facility was something special and while I have been to a couple of other tracks as short as this one, neither were as wide or as banked as the Atchison County Raceway. The layout of the facility is a good one and the public address system was better than 90% of the tracks that I attend. The track raced all the way through the month of October in 2016, so I will do my best to get back down here again later this season and you can bet that I will be back here when the USMTS returns in 2018.
The local E-Mod division ran in support with just ten cars on hand, but on this track you don't notice a short field near as much. Chris Mercer would lead the main event for the first seventeen laps of the twenty-lap feature only to be passed late by Josh Monson who would then take the win. Monson's car is apparently available to rent here at ACR as the car number itself was $130 and it had "Phil's Rent-a-Wreck" and "Rent Me" on the side, along with "AVIS" on the sun shield. Mercer finished second, Kory Myers was third followed by Billy Spillman and Ben Stockton.
The cars and stars of the USMTS now move to the Lakeside Speedway in KCK on Friday night before heading north a bit to the I-35 Speedway in Winston, Missouri on Saturday night. It was great to see the entire Staley family once again as well as PR man Jeff Nun and we thank them for their hospitality!
Next up, a night on the mic along with Dan Workman at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
Scott lined up on the pole position alongside his brother Stormy and it would be Stormy who would set a quick early pace. The first of six cautions waved on lap thirteen when Mike Densberger slowed on the back stretch and during that caution the leader would go to the pit area with apparent suspension issues. This would turn the lead over to Johnny Scott who would have his hands full with the winner of last year's Cage Match, Cade Dillard. Dillard had delivered a nasty slider on Josh Blumer earlier in the race to get to third and he was stalking Scott to perhaps do the same only to have a pair of cautions on lap 21 and lap 26 take away his opportunities.
When Dillard jumped the cushion following a restart Ricky Thornton Jr. pounced to take over the second spot and he would then apply the pressure on the leader, especially after a lap 36 restart. Scott had been riding the cushion like a pro since assuming the lead, but when he stumbled a bit on lap 45 that allowed Thornton to get a run on him and Ricky nosed ahead for the first time on lap 46. Scott came back to regain the lead on lap 47 only to have Thornton muscle past him again the following circuit, but before the white flag could wave the final caution would fly as Chase Junghans spun in turn four.
Scott would pull alongside Thornton under caution to express his thoughts on that last pass for the lead and when the green flag waved for the final two laps Thornton pulled away as Scott had to deal with Zack VanderBeek. If there would have been a few more laps it would have been interesting to see if VanderBeek's low line would have prevailed as Thornton would score the win after starting from the fourth row while VanderBeek moved from twelfth to second with most of those positions gained in the final fifteen laps. Scott fought off Joe Duvall to finish third while unofficially I had Darron Fuqua edging out Cade Dillard at the line for fifth. Duvall was impressive coming from the eighth row.
Talking with USMTS president Todd Staley briefly during the intermission I agreed with him that this facility was something special and while I have been to a couple of other tracks as short as this one, neither were as wide or as banked as the Atchison County Raceway. The layout of the facility is a good one and the public address system was better than 90% of the tracks that I attend. The track raced all the way through the month of October in 2016, so I will do my best to get back down here again later this season and you can bet that I will be back here when the USMTS returns in 2018.
The local E-Mod division ran in support with just ten cars on hand, but on this track you don't notice a short field near as much. Chris Mercer would lead the main event for the first seventeen laps of the twenty-lap feature only to be passed late by Josh Monson who would then take the win. Monson's car is apparently available to rent here at ACR as the car number itself was $130 and it had "Phil's Rent-a-Wreck" and "Rent Me" on the side, along with "AVIS" on the sun shield. Mercer finished second, Kory Myers was third followed by Billy Spillman and Ben Stockton.
The cars and stars of the USMTS now move to the Lakeside Speedway in KCK on Friday night before heading north a bit to the I-35 Speedway in Winston, Missouri on Saturday night. It was great to see the entire Staley family once again as well as PR man Jeff Nun and we thank them for their hospitality!
Next up, a night on the mic along with Dan Workman at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Wednesday Notebook: April 19, 2017
Tonight's season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa has been postponed to next Wednesday night due to the morning rains and the threat of more to come this afternoon and evening.
I was the co-promoter of the Shiverfest event held in late October at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for twelve years and I was reminded this weekend why I am thankful that I am no longer involved in promoting. Sure, when the weather was nice it was a lot of fun and I made a few dollars along the way, but when the weather threatened there was a lot of stress involved and if the show was still able to be run I would usually lose those few dollars that I had made before. To make matters worse though was all of the second guessing that you would get, no matter what decisions were made, by people who, granted, individually did have something at stake. Were they going to burn up a tank of gas or not to make the trip? Might they not be able to make it for a Sunday rain date? Would the pits be muddy or the track be rough causing them issues? I understood that the decisions we were making might keep somebody from being able to attend, or to compete, and it might cost somebody an extra twenty, fifty, maybe even a hundred bucks for an event that we all knew would have been better had if it had been able to be run under sunny skies and warm conditions.
The frustrating factor for me though was how those people never seemed to be able to take a step back and consider whether or not the decisions that were being made were actually for the good of "most" rather than just considering themselves.
Promoters are often accused of being greedy, but you will never hear that from me. On at least three occasions we made the decision to run the event under less than ideal conditions KNOWING that we would lose money, because as an annual event that also raised money for the local dialysis units we knew that if we didn't have it this year that it would be more difficult to maintain the momentum that we had with the sponsors, drivers and fans who were also willing to make the commitment to participating each year.
Let me tell you this, nothing is more disheartening than to go to all of the work involved in promoting and presenting an event where you lose money only to then have the Monday morning quarterbacks of the world then suggest on the internet all of the things that you should have done differently. I decided that I didn't need it anymore so I walked away, and as I mentioned earlier that decision was reaffirmed this past weekend when I watched the entire situation with the Slocum 50 unfold all the way from the Monday before the event, when the weather forecast gave little hope to it even happening, to still today where some people continue to stoke the flames. The funny thing to me though is that those who I see that are still commenting today weren't even at the event!
More than two thousand people were in attendance Saturday night and most of them went home thoroughly entertained. Yes, they would have liked to have seen more cars, but the race itself was entertaining and had all the star power that anyone should expect for an open late model race at a facility in Iowa other than Knoxville. And hopefully the fact that there were two thousand or more happy people leaving 34 Raceway and the Slocum 50 Saturday night, it will be enough motivation for those who poured their hearts into the promotion of this event to do it again next year and not, like me, walk away.
So making the relatively safe assumption that there will be a 10th Annual Slocum 50 in 2018, where does the Slocum Foundation go from here? When I step back from the situation I completely understand what the MARS series did this past weekend. They were looking out for their drivers all of which had to make at least a five hour pull up to Iowa and they made the call that was best for them. After all they need the support of those drivers for the rest of the season. I do question though if they considered that this was a $10,555-to-win show and the circumstances that surround it. I would think that this is the sort of signature event that a regional tour would want to keep their hands on. You can bet that a true commitment to the event will be part of the conversation when Brad Stevens talks with other series about 2018.
My choice would be to have it as part of the MLRA schedule. I know that the series was disappointed to lose a $10,000-to-win show from their 2017 schedule when the new owner at the Mid-America Speedway reversed course and closed up shop in January so they would likely welcome a high paying event, plus they get up this direction a couple of times already so a driver who commits to running the series already knows the trip. Since the series is sponsored by Lucas Oil, it would be my guess that the Lucas Oil Speedway would work with the Slocum 50 so that its two-day show would not be on the same weekend which was one of the contributing factors to the lower car count this year in the first place. As I was thinking about this on Sunday the only draw back that I could think of would be that the big name drivers would not like the MLRA's race format where they draw for heats and then use passing points for the feature. However, after reading Ed Reichert's report from Friday's MLRA show, I see that this is, sadly, no longer a concern.
I would vote for keeping the Corn Belt Clash involved as well since they already co-sanction some events with the MLRA and do have a few drivers who follow the entire CBC schedule, all of whom were on hand Saturday night. Or, perhaps the show can go it alone as a UMP sanctioned event and they could use any fees that would usually go to a series to bump the start pay up to $1,000. After all, as you could tell from Saturday's roster, the names that you would expect to see for a $10,000+ top prize were there, but with that comes the double-edged sword where drivers who feel that they will have a tough time cracking the top ten against such a stout field will not attend. The four figure guarantee just to start will help to alleviate that.
For me, and for many others though it doesn't matter what they do, I will be there to support it again.
As I usually do at this point of the week I will now tell you the events that I have on my upcoming schedule and, as I mentioned last week, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to be at any other number of races going on in the week ahead. I share this info with you to encourage you to attend these events and, if not the same ones that I am going to, I always hope that you go to the tracks of your choice. That is why I just never understand why some people on race forums, Twitter, Facebook or other forms of social media seem to take such great pride in telling people where they will not, or did not go and why. Seems rather narcissistic to me.
Thursday night I hope to get my first "new track" in for the season with a visit to "The Cage" at the Atchison County Raceway in northeast Kansas for the United States Modified Touring Series show. USMTS president Todd Staley described it like this today on his Facebook page. (Sorry about the format change below, that is what I get for copying and pasting from Facebook and being too computer illiterate to fix it!)
"This track is the smallest track on the USMTS schedule and provides the most excitement and really is a grueling track to race on. You are plum wore out after a fifty lap race on this track as there is so much action happening all the time. For people that say it is to small to race on Daniel Hilsabeck came from 21st last year and got 3rd so there is plenty of room for racing action. One thing we hear all the time in the series is I can't race with these guys and their million dollar budgets well here is a perfect race that has nothing to do with money and more about talent of driving on a small racy track. In 2016 we had a ten lap race that took one minute and 30 seconds to run. You cannot even walk to the bathroom and use the facility and be back in time to catch one lap lol. Last year 25 mods checked in for the racing action and all cars started the main event so this year we hope to see more in attendance and really give this place a shot. Joe Duvall told me he would rather race 3 nights here than go to those big old half miles. So make your plans now to come be part of the cage match this Thursday night at Atchison County Raceway in Atchison, KS you will not be disappointed."
Friday night, if the schedule works out, I will be filling in for Tony Paris on the microphone for week number two of the regular season at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then, after sitting Saturday night out for another commitment, I have a choice to make for Sunday. Do I try to pull off a "double" by heading up to Rockford for the annual Spring Classic during the afternoon before making the trip to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series that night? The amount of alcohol consumed at Saturday's "commitment" may be the deciding factor!
A few years ago as Pay Per View was coming onto the scene one of their selling points to promoters was that the online exposure would result in more people actually attending their events in the future. I would be interested in seeing statistics on how that is working out.
Defending UMP Modified National Champion Mike Harrison is well on his way to adding another crown to his collection as he won his sixth feature race of the young season at the Tri-City Speedway on Friday night and then made it seven for seven on Saturday at the Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Illinois.
As Harrsion's streak continued another one came to an end on Saturday as Tim Hancock Sr. was a DNF in the UMP B-Modified main event at the Macon Speedway. In 2016 Hancock won each and every feature race in the division at the quarter-mile bullring. Cody Stilwell was the new face in victory lane.
After chasing Mike Harrison on Friday night, Josh Harris of Utica, Kentucky, traveled north to the Peoria Speedway where he collected the $2,064 top prize at the Gary Cook Jr. Memorial.
I know that I have some Back Stretch followers who also enjoy the sport of basketball. The top high school recruit for 2017 is Michael Porter Jr. who has signed with the University of Missouri. Porter's mother is Lisa Becker Porter who is originally from Atkins, Iowa, and is the daughter of long-time racer and promoter Arlo Becker. The 6'10" Porter is already being projected as the number one pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The current leader in the All Time All Iowa Points for Limited Modifieds Tony Dunker has announced that he will hang up his helmet at the end of the 2017 season. Steve Eighinger of the Quincy Herald Whig has this fine story on "The Black Hat".
Offset the narcissists and take a friend to the races this weekend. Maybe even introduce them to the Back Stretch!
I was the co-promoter of the Shiverfest event held in late October at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for twelve years and I was reminded this weekend why I am thankful that I am no longer involved in promoting. Sure, when the weather was nice it was a lot of fun and I made a few dollars along the way, but when the weather threatened there was a lot of stress involved and if the show was still able to be run I would usually lose those few dollars that I had made before. To make matters worse though was all of the second guessing that you would get, no matter what decisions were made, by people who, granted, individually did have something at stake. Were they going to burn up a tank of gas or not to make the trip? Might they not be able to make it for a Sunday rain date? Would the pits be muddy or the track be rough causing them issues? I understood that the decisions we were making might keep somebody from being able to attend, or to compete, and it might cost somebody an extra twenty, fifty, maybe even a hundred bucks for an event that we all knew would have been better had if it had been able to be run under sunny skies and warm conditions.
The frustrating factor for me though was how those people never seemed to be able to take a step back and consider whether or not the decisions that were being made were actually for the good of "most" rather than just considering themselves.
Promoters are often accused of being greedy, but you will never hear that from me. On at least three occasions we made the decision to run the event under less than ideal conditions KNOWING that we would lose money, because as an annual event that also raised money for the local dialysis units we knew that if we didn't have it this year that it would be more difficult to maintain the momentum that we had with the sponsors, drivers and fans who were also willing to make the commitment to participating each year.
Let me tell you this, nothing is more disheartening than to go to all of the work involved in promoting and presenting an event where you lose money only to then have the Monday morning quarterbacks of the world then suggest on the internet all of the things that you should have done differently. I decided that I didn't need it anymore so I walked away, and as I mentioned earlier that decision was reaffirmed this past weekend when I watched the entire situation with the Slocum 50 unfold all the way from the Monday before the event, when the weather forecast gave little hope to it even happening, to still today where some people continue to stoke the flames. The funny thing to me though is that those who I see that are still commenting today weren't even at the event!
More than two thousand people were in attendance Saturday night and most of them went home thoroughly entertained. Yes, they would have liked to have seen more cars, but the race itself was entertaining and had all the star power that anyone should expect for an open late model race at a facility in Iowa other than Knoxville. And hopefully the fact that there were two thousand or more happy people leaving 34 Raceway and the Slocum 50 Saturday night, it will be enough motivation for those who poured their hearts into the promotion of this event to do it again next year and not, like me, walk away.
So making the relatively safe assumption that there will be a 10th Annual Slocum 50 in 2018, where does the Slocum Foundation go from here? When I step back from the situation I completely understand what the MARS series did this past weekend. They were looking out for their drivers all of which had to make at least a five hour pull up to Iowa and they made the call that was best for them. After all they need the support of those drivers for the rest of the season. I do question though if they considered that this was a $10,555-to-win show and the circumstances that surround it. I would think that this is the sort of signature event that a regional tour would want to keep their hands on. You can bet that a true commitment to the event will be part of the conversation when Brad Stevens talks with other series about 2018.
My choice would be to have it as part of the MLRA schedule. I know that the series was disappointed to lose a $10,000-to-win show from their 2017 schedule when the new owner at the Mid-America Speedway reversed course and closed up shop in January so they would likely welcome a high paying event, plus they get up this direction a couple of times already so a driver who commits to running the series already knows the trip. Since the series is sponsored by Lucas Oil, it would be my guess that the Lucas Oil Speedway would work with the Slocum 50 so that its two-day show would not be on the same weekend which was one of the contributing factors to the lower car count this year in the first place. As I was thinking about this on Sunday the only draw back that I could think of would be that the big name drivers would not like the MLRA's race format where they draw for heats and then use passing points for the feature. However, after reading Ed Reichert's report from Friday's MLRA show, I see that this is, sadly, no longer a concern.
I would vote for keeping the Corn Belt Clash involved as well since they already co-sanction some events with the MLRA and do have a few drivers who follow the entire CBC schedule, all of whom were on hand Saturday night. Or, perhaps the show can go it alone as a UMP sanctioned event and they could use any fees that would usually go to a series to bump the start pay up to $1,000. After all, as you could tell from Saturday's roster, the names that you would expect to see for a $10,000+ top prize were there, but with that comes the double-edged sword where drivers who feel that they will have a tough time cracking the top ten against such a stout field will not attend. The four figure guarantee just to start will help to alleviate that.
For me, and for many others though it doesn't matter what they do, I will be there to support it again.
As I usually do at this point of the week I will now tell you the events that I have on my upcoming schedule and, as I mentioned last week, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to be at any other number of races going on in the week ahead. I share this info with you to encourage you to attend these events and, if not the same ones that I am going to, I always hope that you go to the tracks of your choice. That is why I just never understand why some people on race forums, Twitter, Facebook or other forms of social media seem to take such great pride in telling people where they will not, or did not go and why. Seems rather narcissistic to me.
Thursday night I hope to get my first "new track" in for the season with a visit to "The Cage" at the Atchison County Raceway in northeast Kansas for the United States Modified Touring Series show. USMTS president Todd Staley described it like this today on his Facebook page. (Sorry about the format change below, that is what I get for copying and pasting from Facebook and being too computer illiterate to fix it!)
"This track is the smallest track on the USMTS schedule and provides the most excitement and really is a grueling track to race on. You are plum wore out after a fifty lap race on this track as there is so much action happening all the time. For people that say it is to small to race on Daniel Hilsabeck came from 21st last year and got 3rd so there is plenty of room for racing action. One thing we hear all the time in the series is I can't race with these guys and their million dollar budgets well here is a perfect race that has nothing to do with money and more about talent of driving on a small racy track. In 2016 we had a ten lap race that took one minute and 30 seconds to run. You cannot even walk to the bathroom and use the facility and be back in time to catch one lap lol. Last year 25 mods checked in for the racing action and all cars started the main event so this year we hope to see more in attendance and really give this place a shot. Joe Duvall told me he would rather race 3 nights here than go to those big old half miles. So make your plans now to come be part of the cage match this Thursday night at Atchison County Raceway in Atchison, KS you will not be disappointed."
Friday night, if the schedule works out, I will be filling in for Tony Paris on the microphone for week number two of the regular season at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then, after sitting Saturday night out for another commitment, I have a choice to make for Sunday. Do I try to pull off a "double" by heading up to Rockford for the annual Spring Classic during the afternoon before making the trip to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series that night? The amount of alcohol consumed at Saturday's "commitment" may be the deciding factor!
A few years ago as Pay Per View was coming onto the scene one of their selling points to promoters was that the online exposure would result in more people actually attending their events in the future. I would be interested in seeing statistics on how that is working out.
Defending UMP Modified National Champion Mike Harrison is well on his way to adding another crown to his collection as he won his sixth feature race of the young season at the Tri-City Speedway on Friday night and then made it seven for seven on Saturday at the Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Illinois.
As Harrsion's streak continued another one came to an end on Saturday as Tim Hancock Sr. was a DNF in the UMP B-Modified main event at the Macon Speedway. In 2016 Hancock won each and every feature race in the division at the quarter-mile bullring. Cody Stilwell was the new face in victory lane.
After chasing Mike Harrison on Friday night, Josh Harris of Utica, Kentucky, traveled north to the Peoria Speedway where he collected the $2,064 top prize at the Gary Cook Jr. Memorial.
I know that I have some Back Stretch followers who also enjoy the sport of basketball. The top high school recruit for 2017 is Michael Porter Jr. who has signed with the University of Missouri. Porter's mother is Lisa Becker Porter who is originally from Atkins, Iowa, and is the daughter of long-time racer and promoter Arlo Becker. The 6'10" Porter is already being projected as the number one pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The current leader in the All Time All Iowa Points for Limited Modifieds Tony Dunker has announced that he will hang up his helmet at the end of the 2017 season. Steve Eighinger of the Quincy Herald Whig has this fine story on "The Black Hat".
Offset the narcissists and take a friend to the races this weekend. Maybe even introduce them to the Back Stretch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)