A Monday afternoon change of social plans gave me the opportunity to make the trip down to the Quincy Raceways for the UMP Summer Nationals "Hell Tour" event featuring both the Super Late Models and Modifieds on the quarter-mile bullring. Without this change it would have been the first year that I can remember that I would have not been able to make at least one Summer Nationals race and this was a good one with 34 Late Models and 27 Modifieds in attendance including drivers in both that I did not expect to see.
From checking the results of the Tour I knew that Indiana's Dustin Nobbe and Australian Paul Stubber had been following the whole schedule and that Florida's Kyle Bronson had joined the group the night before in Lincoln, but I was surprised to see Texan Austin Theiss and south Georgia competitor Steven Roberts in the pits. Add in some seldom seen Illinois drivers like Brent McKinon, Billy Hough and Rick Standridge, plus Wisconsin's Cole Spacek and it was a much more diverse field than I had expected for just a short 85 mile drive from my Iowa home.
The sun was hot and there was little or no breeze allowing the track to retain moisture better than I have seen here in awhile and the race fans turned out in droves overflowing the parking lot and nearly filling the grandstands. In fact, if you took all of the people that prefer to stand at the top and had them take a seat I bet the place would have been at capacity.
The 25-lap UMP Modified Summit Nationals feature was up first and as the field got the "one to go" signal one of the pre-race favorites Nick Hoffman pulled out of line from his outside row one starting position and stopped in turn two. A push truck then gave him a lap around the speedway before he steered toward the work area, but his crew was unable to make a quick fix and the race would start without the five-time winner on this year's Tour. Texan Phil Dixon filled in Hoffman's front row spot, but it would be pole-sitter Ray Bollinger who would set the early pace with third starting Michael Long applying pressure.
Long would try low for the first couple of laps before going to the high side and on lap seven he was able to take the lead at the stripe. Long then drove into turn one on the bottom to take away Bollinger's line, but when the new leader got a bit sideways there was contact between the two as Bollinger regained the lead down the back stretch. With that contact Kenny Wallace was now able to join the battle making it three-wide through turns one and two on lap nine before Bollinger slowed suddenly with a flat tire. The caution waved and the Kewanee driver's crew quickly made the change to get him back onto the track in time for the restart.
Wallace would bring the field back to green as the leader and this would now turn into an entertaining battle of two different lines around the speedway as the former NASCAR star worked the bottom and the driver who dominates here weekly pounded the cushion. Since I was sitting down toward turn one there might have been some changes for the lead at the stripe as they came across side-by-side for the next several laps until Long clearly established himself as the leader on lap twenty. The cushion had character though and when Michael stumbled just a bit that allowed Wallace to take back the lead with three laps to go.
Long then changed his strategy a bit and instead of working way up high he would just enter the turns a car-width higher than the leader and on the final lap he was able to get a big run off two to take the lead down the back stretch. Wallace tried to come back on the bottom in three and four bringing the fans to their feet as Long took the win by no more than a car-length over Wallace. In victory lane as announcer Rick Eshelman asked the winner if it felt good to beat this kind of competition Michael stated that Wallace's high dollar operation makes it hard on this division and that he felt that he just had to beat him. Not likely the type of response that Eshelman had anticipated. Phil Dixon chased the lead duo in for third, Bollinger made a big run back up to fourth while David Wietholder came from the seventh row to finish fifth.
Forty laps would be the distance for the Late Models and to watch them fly around this place tonight was breath taking at times. Shannon Babb and Brandon Sheppard brought the field to green with Babb grabbing the point until lap four when Kyle Bronson shocked the house by driving under both Illinois short track specialists. As far as I can recall this would be Bronson's first visit to the Bullring on Broadway and he looked like he just might walk away with this one stretching his lead to a full straightaway. One jump of the cushion in turn two on lap fourteen though wiped out that big advantage and then Sheppard stormed past on lap fifteen just before the caution waved. Tyler Erb who had been running fourth had smacked the wall on the front stretch and with bars bent and body panels dragging he headed to the pit area.
Once back to action it was now a three car battle between Sheppard, Babb and Bobby Pierce as the trio raced at high speed each using different lines to try to find the advantage and unfortunately that battle was interrupted twice by cautions. On lap twenty-one when Rusty Schlenk had a flat tire and again four laps later when Brent Larson spun in turn two. That three car battle would resume and continue throughout the final fifteen laps and while Babb could stay within striking distance of Sheppard in the closing laps he could not pull even as B-Shepp scored his fourth straight win on the Tour. Babb and Pierce would go second and third while Gordy Gundaker would edge out Bronson for fourth.
It was now past 10:30 and knowing that I was not parked in an ideal position to get out of the full parking lot in a timely manner I made an old fashioned sprint to my car, proving to myself that I can even still do that, and barely beat that first wave out of the lot to get on my way home before the IMCA Sport Mods ran their feature. Taking a look at my colleague Danny Rosencrans' report from the night I see that Brandon Lennox took the win over a solid field of twenty that included a couple of Quad City visitors Chance Huston and Jarred Coppejans.
Thanks to Kenny Dobson and the entire Quincy Raceways staff for their hospitality and it is always a treat to be greeted by the smiling face of Mary Loney even though she is baking in the hot sun!
Don't forget that the Stock Car Shootout continues tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa where they had 114 cars on hand last night. You can get the Positively Racing coverage from the Eiseles at the 4dFan Report.
I have no idea where my next race will be at, time to start checking out the Calendars and you never know where you might find me on the Back Stretch.
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