The line of heavy thunderstorms that made its way across Iowa on Wednesday forced the postponement of the annual appearance by the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Southern Iowa Speedway to next Wednesday, May 17th, in Oskaloosa.
Some big events going on this Mother's Day weekend. In Illinois the UMP Late Models take center stage with the Farmer City 74 scheduled to start tonight with a $3,000-to-win program at the Farmer City Raceway. Then on Friday, it is a big one day show with $20,000 up for grabs in a race that is paying points for both the MARS East and West series as well as the American Late Model Series or ALMS. The Late Models then move to the famous Fairbury American Legion Speedway for a $10,000-to-win program on Saturday night before closing out with a $5,000 winner's check on Sunday night at the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton.
So a clean sweep of the four race weekend would yield a $38,000 haul, but one winner will collect a cool $50,000 at Farley's Super Modified weekend. Qualifying races will be held on Friday night with the big money paid out on Saturday and not only will there be a big winner in the Mods, but a Sport Mod driver may possibly fund his hobby for the year by winning the $20,000 top prize, what I believe to be the most ever paid out to this division.
Usually we see these kind of events during the preseason or the Fall specials so it will be interesting to see how things shake out as the weekly races in our region will go on as usual as well. I am hoping to catch the Thursday show in Farmer City and then on Friday I am filling in on the mic for Tony Paris who will again be coaching his hard hitting prospect Tyson Paris at a ball diamond somewhere. Graduation parties and other social commitments will keep me close to home on Saturday and, if I can swing it, I hope to wrap up Mother's Day with a race either at Spoon River or at the Quad Cities Speedway where the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be in action.
The CJ Raceway in Columbus Junction will be running a Tuesday night special each month in 2017 and their first of the season comes up this Tuesday, May 16th, with the Sport Compacts taking the spotlight for a $500-to-win event. While I know that this might not intrigue some of you, I would encourage you to check it out because when you put twenty-four of the four cylinders out there, especially with the top notch drivers that we have in the division here in eastern Iowa, you might just be surprised at how much fun the racing is. And, if you just don't want to admit that you would go to a Sport Compact special, you can always say that you were there to see the Sport Mods and the always popular Stock Cars instead! I will be looking for you Tuesday night.
A couple of tracks here in the middle of the country were brought back from the dead this past weekend, both with good success. The Lake Ozark Speedway has been dormant for the past five seasons, but under new ownership dirt track racing returned to the Lake on Saturday night with 84 cars in five classes. Austin Alumbaugh won the 360 Sprints, Chris Smyser was the Late Model winner, Ryan Middaugh took the Modified main event, Kris Jackson was the best of the B-Mods and Brian Schutt topped a 23-car field of Street Stocks. It was a good night for the revived LOS to open as the Lucas Oil Speedway about 75 miles down Highway 54 had an Open Wheel special going on so they did not run Late Models or either Modified class. So while the Sprint Car count may go up a bit from 14, the true test will be in the other divisions to see who goes to Lucas Oil and who stays at the Lake.
Three years of no racing at the Enid Speedway in Oklahoma obviously had drivers and fans alike ready to get back out to support the track as a crowd of 2,500 came out to watch twenty of the Sooner Late Model Series cars, 27 Modifieds, 39 B-Mods and six heats worth of Factory Stocks in action Saturday night. You can click here for a slide show of pictures from the big night and know that Enid is not returning as a weekly track, but is instead set to run just a six race slate of specials in 2017.
The next dormant track to set to come back to life is also in Oklahoma where the Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee will host the MARS Late Models on June 9th.
The updated National Dirt Late Model points follow and it is great to see such a tight battle among several drivers, many of whom are new names at or near the top. Enjoy your Mother's Day weekend and hopefully you can enjoy the racing of your choice!
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