Forty-three IMCA Modifieds headlined the event with the six heat races and three B-Mains serving as mini-features of their own as drivers hustled to try to make the show. The racing action was clean and intense with the quick quarter-mile offering up multiple grooves throughout the night only requiring some minimal manicuring during breaks that mostly went unnoticed. Twenty-six drivers would start the feature that would run in two twenty-five lap segments including a five minute pit stop at the mid-race point.
Corey Dripps would make the most of his pole position start to open a nice lead early as the fans had to choose which driver they wanted to watch make a charge through the field. There were many! Richie Gustin always seems to be fast early here and he used to bottom to go from ninth to second on lap two passing Scott Hogan who himself had moved from fifth to second on the opening lap. Hunter Marriott had started fifteenth and moved to fifth on lap thirteen while Joel Rust and Tyler Droste passed Gustin, who had hopped the cushion in turn four on lap eighteen to move to second and third. Rust had started eleventh and Droste thirteenth.
The caution waved right after that as Ryan Maitland slowed with a flat tire and on the restart Droste made a run at Dripps only to have the veteran driver fight him off. They would run that way to the mid-race checkers with Dripps, Droste, Rust and Marriott in the top four while Open Late Model star Chris Simpson had steadily made his way up from 19th to fifth. Gustin was now sixth with former Hogan winner Cayden Carter in seventh after starting 21st, Jeff Aikey was eighth, Hogan was ninth and Racer Hulin would start the second half in tenth. Did I mention that the quarter-mile was in prime race condition on this night?
Once back to green Droste found the bite that he was looking for off the low side of turn four to take the lead from Dripps while Marriott picked off a few more positions as well and on lap twenty-nine the young Missourian sailed past Droste for the lead. Ryan Maitland's second caution of the race came on lap thirty-six when he spun in turn two and that would bring the field back to Marriott who had gotten out to nearly a full straightaway gap over Droste. Only one more lap would be scored before Brandon Maitland shucked the driveshaft from his Furniture & More #2 car and I wonder if that stat will make it into Ryan Clark's notebook; all three cautions in the 2017 Hogan were needed for the same family.
As Marriott again pulled away on the restart both Gustin and Carter were on the move as Richie tried to claw his way back to the front and Cayden made a turnaround that might have gone unnoticed as in his heat race he had spun in turn one on the opening lap. With the "one and done" rule in effect Carter kept his car moving, but finished far behind in the heat race putting him on the back row of the final B-Main. It was there that he previewed his feature run as he raced his way up to third behind Marriott and Darin Duffy at the checkers to start on row eleven of the feature.
Obviously that late look at the track in the third B-Main also helped Marriott as he would cruise in to the checkers to collect a generous $3,433 in purse money and bonuses while Droste made a valiant run in second. Gustin would get back to third at the finish just ahead of Rust while Carter made it to the top five after his spin early in the night. The Late Model duo of Simpson and Aikey were next in line as Dripps finished eighth and Scott Hogan, who long ago won the inaugural event in emotional fashion, had another good showing tonight nipping Jeff Larson at the line for ninth.
While the Modifieds take top billing, the Hogan Memorial offers up extra cash in all divisions and that drew in extra drivers from near and far in the support classes as well.
I must confess that I got caught up in a concession line conversation so I missed Scott Baty's win in the Micro Mod feature, but I was back in place in time for the fifteen lap Hobby Stock main event that saw Nathan Ballard grab the lead from his front row starting spot. The red flag was needed for a scary looking wreck on lap four as Matt Brown was shuffled wide exiting turn four and slammed the front stretch retaining wall. Then when his car turned down the race track he caught the right rear of Andrew Burg turning him hard right entering turn one and when the left side tires dug in his car rolled side-to-side a couple of times before landing upright. A carburetor fire then erupted as Burg scrambled to exit the car uninjured. The defending Super Nationals Hobby Stock champion was driving a car borrowed from Jamie Songer.
Once back to racing a couple of more cautions slowed the pace with the final one setting up a green-white-checkered restart as Benji Irvine lined up behind the leader. After taking the white flag Ballard bobbled just a bit on the cushion in turn one and that allowed Irvine to pull even with him down the back stretch. Benji dove to the inside of turn three and then slid up the track trying to shut the door on Ballard, but with a little contact Irvine had to make a correction off of four and Ballard charged back under him to take a win that drove the crowd wild with some cheers to go along with the boos. Irvine gave Ballard a thumbs up in victory lane as Nathan acknowledged the boo-birds reminiscent of the legend for whom the 23rd Hogan Memorial was run in honor of, Arlo Becker who had lost his life in a farming accident less than a month ago.
Justin Wacha was right there in third followed by Brett Vanous and August Bach.
The Stock Cars were up next and after the disappointment of not making the show in the Modifieds Kyle Brown wanted to salvage his night with a good showing behind the wheel of Jerry Schipper's #89 as he started from the outside of the font row for the twenty-lap race. Brown would lead the opening lap only to have Wisconsin visitor Larry Karcz drive under him on lap two. Action was intense, as it always seems to be in this division, with five drivers locked in battle for the lead and Brown would get back to the front on lap five before Karcz went for a spin on lap six.
On the restart Damon Murty would move to the front taking the point on lap seven as both Nathan Wood and John Oliver Jr. gave chase. The caution waved again with six laps remaining when Scott Bailey's car popped a radiator hose and after packing in the streak of moisture we were back to racing. Murty used the bottom in one and two and the top in three and four as Wood tried to get by him, but when Oliver started to pressure Wood for second that allowed Murty to drive away for his 87th win here at Vinton, the most of any driver all-time here, and his fifth Hogan Memorial Stock Car victory again the most of any driver in one division. Of course these stats come from the best in the business, Ryan Clark, who along with Jeff Kropf did an outstanding job of announcing the night's action.
Oliver prevailed in the race for second as Kyle Brown finished fourth and Scooter Dulin was fifth.
With some clouds building to the north the Sport Mods were shuffled to the back of the running order and for the large portion of the crowd that stuck around this one was a thriller that featured a cagey veteran up against a couple of young guns. Driving the car that his son Ben drove to victory here at the Hogan last year, Dan Chapman drew the pole position for the twenty-lap finale making his first start of the season and he would lead the first two laps before the caution waved ironically for his son Ben who had spun in turn two. And as Ben headed for the pits, Kyle Olson was penalized for "questionable driving". On the restart Australian driver Frank Packer would go to work using the low line with Chapman on the cushion and the two drivers would swap the lead at the line with Packer leading lap three, Chapman by a nose on lap four before Packer established himself as the leader on lap five.
Three cars tangled in turn two on lap twelve to cause a restart where not only did Chapman use the cushion to go back to the front, but Sam Wieben and Jake McBirnie now shuffled Packer back to fourth and started to challenge. Following a lap thirteen caution the action got intense up front as Chapman was entering the turns on the lower end of the middle groove and then drifting up to grab the cushion for a vault off turns two and four. During that drift Wieben would be able to pull even down low while McBirnie was hitting the cushion in turns one and three before driving off the turns in the middle creating a thrilling three-wide battle for the lead lap after lap.
That battle was interrupted one last time with just two laps remaining when Ethan Braaksma drove off the back stretch and when the green flag waved again that same three-wide tussle continued with the fans cheering on their favorite. After the white flag waved I thought that Wieben might slide up to shut the door on Chapman although that move would have likely given the race to McBirnie and if any of those three made contact then Joe Docekal was ready to pounce, but the youngsters raced the veteran clean and they took the checkers three-wide with Chapman winning by a nose over Wieben and McBirnie. Docekal crossed the line in fourth ahead of Kyle Bentley as cars spun and collided behind them with several failing to reach the checkers.
It was a wild ending to a fantastic night and another Hogan Memorial was in the books. Thanks to Scott and Jolyne Hogan for their hospitality as I had my wife Christine with me on our way home from celebrating her birthday along the Mississippi River in Marquette and McGregor. It was also great to see all of my racing friends and "family", exactly what the Hogan is all about, including promoter Mick Trier, Race Director Mike Van Genderen, announcers Ryan Clark and Jeff Kropf, Minnesota photographer Scott Swenson, as well as fellow race fans Brad, Bob, Mike, Warren and Carol. It was also treat to catch up with my brother Kevin Kemp who was able to watch the whole track tonight instead of just looking straight ahead and writing down numbers and it was good to hear that he shared my views on some of the issues facing weekly racing these days. I like it when racers and fans tell me that they enjoy reading the Back Stretch and it meant a lot to me to hear that last night from Kevin as well as a couple of other fans as it makes this all worth while.
The Hogan Memorial continues to shine because of the support from the racing family, not only from all of you who bought tickets last night, but also from these fantastic sponsors. Take notice and tell them "Thank you" the next time that you see them.
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