The IMCA Modifieds took center stage Saturday night at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway, the final night of two for the Rumble On The River, and the feature race came right down to the wire with Darin Duffy stealing the $3,000 win from Mark Schulte. Luke Goedert, Scott Busch, Joe Bonney and Brett Marshall were also winners as the 2017 season came to a close at the wide high-banked 3/8th-mile oval.
Thirty laps would be the distance for the Modified headliner with Schulte going to the lead from the pole position. Fellow front row starter Travis Denning went to the topside only to give up the second spot to fifth starting Jason Schueller. With both drivers hugging the bottom Schulte and Schueller were pulling away from the field until the caution waved on lap eight when Rob Toland got sideways in turn one and collected four others.
On the restart Kenny Kostenbader made a run at the leaders, but he soon faded as Denning again picked up the chase in third. Bryce Garnhart was running fourth until Darin Duffy swept by him on the outside and when Denning sailed around Schueller for second with nine laps remaining, suddenly Schulte was the only one of the top five still running the bottom. The caution waved a lap later though for debris and on the restart drivers scrambled to decide what line they should be using to try to catch Schulte.
The leader appeared to be on his way to victory, but another caution for debris on lap 26 would set the stage for a thrilling finish as Schueller and Duffy lined up side-by-side behind Schulte for the final restart. When the green flag waved Duffy went to the top and steadily picked up ground and, if you have never been to Dubuque before, there is quite a difference in the distance around this place from the bottom to the top.
As the white flag waved Schulte and Duffy crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat and on the final lap Duffy again worked the cushion to perfection on both ends of the speedway to sweep past Schulte off of turn four and win by two car lengths. Schulte would have to settle for runner-up pay, not too tough of a pill to swallow at $2,500 while Schueller held on for third. Denning used the high side for nearly every lap to finish fourth while Garnhart completed the top five.
Sport Mod ace Tyler Soppe was impressive behind the wheel of the #116 Modified normally driven by George Spence III as he came from deep in the pack to win a Last Chance race early in the evening. Soppe then started the A-Main from thirteenth and raced his way up to seventh at the checkers in the stout field.
A nice field of twenty-one Late Models were a part of tonight's program as well with Luke Goedert leading the way from the drop of the green. Goedert's short way around the track was putting some distance on Dan Shelliam who was chasing around the top before the caution waved on lap nine for Luke Merfeld who had been racing in the top five. On the restart a lot would change in just the one lap that would be scored before the caution waved again for two separate incidents. Racing into turn three Joel Callahan door slammed Dirk Hamilton sending Callahan for a spin while just ahead of them the second place car of Eric Pollard spun coming out of turn four. The fifth-place car of Ryan Dolan clipped Pollard knocking down the right front on Dolan's car brining his night to an early end..
Once back to green Goedert again pulled away until he closed in a on three cars racing for position at the back of the field. Showing great patience Goederrt worked carefully through the traffic over four laps of racing allowing both Shelliam and Terry Neal to cut the lead to just a couple of car lengths. With eight laps remaining Goedert cleared traffic and then left his challengers behind to take the $1,000 victory. Shelliam and Neal were next in line as Doug Nigh and Dirk Hamilton completed the top five.
The Sport Mods had a tough night with multiple cautions interrupting what could have been a pretty good race up front. Justin Becker would lead the first three laps before a debris caution would unleash the yellow fever. Jacob Arp would spin in turn two on lap four and following the restart Scott Busch would slip under Becker for the lead on lap six. Right after giving up the lead Becker would spin in turn four, but apparently a caution for debris had been called just before allowing Becker to restart from the second position.
A four car pileup would slow the race on the restart and two laps later Darren Clendenen spun in turn three. On this restart Nic Coates and Tyler Soppe lined up behind Busch and when the green waved Soppe tried to get to the bottom entering turn one. Coates was already there though and did not yield and the two seemed to turn into each other until they ground to a stop at the exit of turn two. Both drivers would hustle into the infield to change flat tires before restarting at the rear and one more lap was scored before Cody Calam spun in turn three.
Under track rules the lap count would click up one more with each caution so the race would officially restart with ten laps down and ten to go and this time we would actually get five laps of racing in. Troy Bauer was able to get under Busch coming off of turn two, but the leader shut the door and Bauer had to back off to keep from spinning them both. Jarrett Franzen had raced into the top five from the seventh row, but with smoke pouring from the back of his car it finally came to a stop on the back stretch with the scoreboard now showing sixteen laps scored.
When two cars couldn't make it to the green flag for the restart the lap counter moved to seventeen and it would be a three-lap race to the checkers that would see Scott Busch hold on for the feature win. Bauer would take second as Jaden Fryer came from nowhere in the final laps to take third. He had started in the sixth row. Tony Olson would finish in the fourth position while Jerry Miles was fifth.
The Stock Car feature was an official's nightmare as the seven car field all clamored for the bottom line with nobody willing to even try the top. Brett Wenzel who had made the tow in from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, (Keep 'er Movin') started on the pole and essentially dared somebody to go around him on the outside by hugging the inside guardrail. Jesse Owen would spin on lap three and on the restart Greg Gill would take up the challenge on Wenzel. After trying the next line up unsuccessfully Gill then tried to squeeze under the leader and he would spin with three laps remaining to cause the caution. The race went downhill from there. Owen would spin again in turn four with two laps to go, but perhaps due to the low car count he was allowed to stay in the race. On this restart Joe Bonney got a run on Wenzel and entered turn one door-to-door with him entering turn one. Tim Schneider then tried get under Wenzel and contact would send the leader for a spin off of turn two.
The drivers circled the track for several laps until the field was reset with only Wenzel going to the rear behind even Cory Murphy who had completed a couple of 360's while racing well behind the field and had just returned to the track from the infield. Bonney would bring the group back to green, but as the white flag was waving for the leader first Schneider would spin in turn three and Wenzel would get dumped again, this time by Kyle Merkes exiting turn four. Mercifully the checkers would then wave along with the caution with Bonney officially leading just one lap to take the win. Owen would be credited with second, Merkes third, Murphy fourth and Wenzel fifth.
Coming to the track after the Sport Mods and Stock Cars the Sport Compacts reset the mood by going flag-to-flag for ten laps with Brett Marshall taking a convincing win. John Campbell was more than a half-lap behind in second while Brian Marshall was third.
All in all it was an entertaining night of racing that wrapped up early with the final checkers waving not long after 9 p.m. On Sunday I will get my pavement racing fix in for the year by attending the National Short Track Championship finale at the Rockford Speedway. Look for Doug, Kevin and I on the Back Stretch.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Five Drivers Win Six Features On A Busy Night In Memphis MO
The race cars just kept rolling in as the sun started to set on the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis Friday for the first of two nights of racing on a beautiful Fall weekend in northeast Missouri. The final count was 136 cars in six divisions and the racing was high, wide and handsome on a well prepared racing surface.
The Hobby Stock division would be the first feature pulled from the six pack with Aaron Martin grabbing the lead for the opening lap. Mike Hughes would take it away on lap two before the caution waved for a Christian Huffman spin on lap three as he was racing in third. On the restart Hughes would pull away before a grinding crash in turn three brought out the red flag on lap seven. Heather Baum barrel rolled her car at least three times and thankfully she climbed out of the damaged Hobby Stock uninjured.
Once back to green Hughes would maintain about a five car length advantage over Martin as he completed the win, Martin would hold off Nick Ulin to finish second as Tim Dawson and Jamie Songer completed the top five.
A stout field of twenty-three Sport Compacts would be up next for twelve laps of racing with Jake Benischek taking the lead from the pole position. The four cylinders would flare out to four wide racing down the straightaways as drivers tried to improve their positions until the red flag waved when Cody Cleghorn smacked the guardrail in turn one and went upside down. Cleghorn was okay, but the railing needed some time to repair and after the delay Benischek brought the field back to green. Jadon DeLonjay's spin would slow the field on lap five and William Michel was turned by Nicholas Van Hemert on lap seven, but once back to green Benischek would keep Brandon Reu a few car-lengths back as he closed out the flag-to-flag win. Reu would be the runner-up ahead of eighth starting Barry Taft in third, Chuck Fullenkamp came from the fifth row to take fourth and Brandon Housley took fifth.
Forty-three Sport Mods from all over the region were in action and with the depth of talent on hand it was difficult just to make the twenty-four car cut for the 18-lap main event. After a three win weekend last week Austen Becerra had to be considered the pre-race favorite and when he drew the outside front row of the feature that pretty much sealed the deal. Austin Howes had other ideas though as he drove around the outside of Becerra coming off of turn four for lap two, but the pass was negated when three cars tangled just behind them in turn three.
Not only is Becerra fast, he is smart as well and following the restart he moved up the track in turn four to take away Howes' line and maintain the lead until another three-car dust up in turn four on lap five. Another caution for a flat tire on Tim Plummer's car slowed the field mid-race and it was now apparent that Logan Anderson was on the move. Anderson had started twelfth and was now in the top five and he would then make his way up to second before the final caution waved with three laps remaining when Brett Lowry and Austin Kaplan tangled in turn one.
On the restart Anderson did his best to stay with the leader, but there would be no stopping Becerra who made it four wins over the past eight days with two of them paying four figures. Anderson was impressive in second, Brandon Lennox started ninth and finished third, Brayton Carter came from the back of the field after changing a tire during the first lap caution to take fourth while Howes drove the Obsession Race Cars #49 to fifth.
A mix of eleven Late Models signed in, but only eight of them would start the twenty-lap main event with pole starter Tommy Elston taking the lead in his Crate. Cayden Carter would be there to challenge in his IMCA car and he would put a nice slider on Elston in turn three to take the lead on lap two. It was all over but the shouting from there as Carter then cruised to the win over Sam Halstead, Kevin Blackburn and Derek Liles.
Twenty-nine Stock Cars were on hand, some of the best in the region and as they always seem to do here at Memphis the division put on some of the best racing of the night. I kid you not, during a late restart in one of the heat races they raced six-wide through turns one and two without a single hint of contact and when a driver like Damon Murty has to come from the B-Main you know that the competition is stout!
Getting the feature started was a chore though as on the first try both Jeff Mueller, driving Corey Strothman's #C4, and Johnny Spaw spun in turn one. Then, on the second try, a multi-car melee in the back half of the field left Jason See with a badly damaged car sitting in the middle of the back stretch. A flat tire under the caution sent pole-sitter Brandon Jay into the work area moving Abe Huls up to the pole for the third try and he would lead the opening lap. Lap two would test the score keepers as Nathan Wood squeezed under Huls coming off of turn four and Dustin Griffiths had the momentum off the top side to make it three wide at the stripe with Wood's low line prevailing to take the lead on lap three. Huls would try to keep pace as Wood continued to hug the bottom while both Spaw and Mueller picked their way to the front . Spaw moved to second and twice over the final five laps he would pull even with Wood entering turn three but he couldn't make it stick on the second groove and the current All Iowa Points Stock Car leader Nathan Wood would take the win over Spaw, Mueller, Huls and Griffith.
Twenty-three Modifieds would close out the evening with twenty-laps of feature racing with pole-sitter Kyle Brown setting a fast pace. Cautions would slow the field three times during the first half of the race, on lap four for a Tyler Shaw spin, on lap seven when Andrew Schroeder went over the top of turns three and four and on lap ten when young Colton Prevo spun in turn three. After starting eighth Cayden Carter was now poised to challenge Brown and when he had a big run off of turn two on lap fourteen Carter threw a slider at Brown entering turn three. Kyle countered with a crossover move exiting turn four to retain the lead and the caution then waved again a lap later when Justin Fuller went over the top of turn three.
Robert Thompson spun and sat in turn two on the restart so when they tried it again Carter nailed the cushion perfectly in turns one and two allowing him to drive under Brown going down the back stretch and this time he was able to make it stick in turns three and four to take the lead. One more caution for Jerad Fuller's spin came with three laps remaining and on the restart there was no staying with Carter who scored his second win of the evening. Brown had to settle for runner-up pay, Jardin Fuller made a nice run on his hometown track finishing third, Bruce Hanford was fourth and Jeff Waterman completed the top five.
The track held a practice session during the afternoon and the racing surface was re-worked and watered before the night's action. That made for a later start than planned, although the delay was well worth it for the track that was provided, but with the large field, the two rollovers, guardrail repair and more cautions than what we are used to seeing here the final checkers flew just past midnight. You can bet that won't be the case tonight as the racing is scheduled to start an hour earlier with hot laps at 6 p.m. so if you are in the area I would highly recommend your attendance!
I will be headed a different direction though with tonight's show putting me closer to my Sunday target of the National Short Track Championships in Rockford and as of right now I am trying to decide between three different events. Check in tomorrow morning to see which Back Stretch I was prowling.
Go racing tonight!
The Hobby Stock division would be the first feature pulled from the six pack with Aaron Martin grabbing the lead for the opening lap. Mike Hughes would take it away on lap two before the caution waved for a Christian Huffman spin on lap three as he was racing in third. On the restart Hughes would pull away before a grinding crash in turn three brought out the red flag on lap seven. Heather Baum barrel rolled her car at least three times and thankfully she climbed out of the damaged Hobby Stock uninjured.
Once back to green Hughes would maintain about a five car length advantage over Martin as he completed the win, Martin would hold off Nick Ulin to finish second as Tim Dawson and Jamie Songer completed the top five.
A stout field of twenty-three Sport Compacts would be up next for twelve laps of racing with Jake Benischek taking the lead from the pole position. The four cylinders would flare out to four wide racing down the straightaways as drivers tried to improve their positions until the red flag waved when Cody Cleghorn smacked the guardrail in turn one and went upside down. Cleghorn was okay, but the railing needed some time to repair and after the delay Benischek brought the field back to green. Jadon DeLonjay's spin would slow the field on lap five and William Michel was turned by Nicholas Van Hemert on lap seven, but once back to green Benischek would keep Brandon Reu a few car-lengths back as he closed out the flag-to-flag win. Reu would be the runner-up ahead of eighth starting Barry Taft in third, Chuck Fullenkamp came from the fifth row to take fourth and Brandon Housley took fifth.
Forty-three Sport Mods from all over the region were in action and with the depth of talent on hand it was difficult just to make the twenty-four car cut for the 18-lap main event. After a three win weekend last week Austen Becerra had to be considered the pre-race favorite and when he drew the outside front row of the feature that pretty much sealed the deal. Austin Howes had other ideas though as he drove around the outside of Becerra coming off of turn four for lap two, but the pass was negated when three cars tangled just behind them in turn three.
Not only is Becerra fast, he is smart as well and following the restart he moved up the track in turn four to take away Howes' line and maintain the lead until another three-car dust up in turn four on lap five. Another caution for a flat tire on Tim Plummer's car slowed the field mid-race and it was now apparent that Logan Anderson was on the move. Anderson had started twelfth and was now in the top five and he would then make his way up to second before the final caution waved with three laps remaining when Brett Lowry and Austin Kaplan tangled in turn one.
On the restart Anderson did his best to stay with the leader, but there would be no stopping Becerra who made it four wins over the past eight days with two of them paying four figures. Anderson was impressive in second, Brandon Lennox started ninth and finished third, Brayton Carter came from the back of the field after changing a tire during the first lap caution to take fourth while Howes drove the Obsession Race Cars #49 to fifth.
A mix of eleven Late Models signed in, but only eight of them would start the twenty-lap main event with pole starter Tommy Elston taking the lead in his Crate. Cayden Carter would be there to challenge in his IMCA car and he would put a nice slider on Elston in turn three to take the lead on lap two. It was all over but the shouting from there as Carter then cruised to the win over Sam Halstead, Kevin Blackburn and Derek Liles.
Twenty-nine Stock Cars were on hand, some of the best in the region and as they always seem to do here at Memphis the division put on some of the best racing of the night. I kid you not, during a late restart in one of the heat races they raced six-wide through turns one and two without a single hint of contact and when a driver like Damon Murty has to come from the B-Main you know that the competition is stout!
Getting the feature started was a chore though as on the first try both Jeff Mueller, driving Corey Strothman's #C4, and Johnny Spaw spun in turn one. Then, on the second try, a multi-car melee in the back half of the field left Jason See with a badly damaged car sitting in the middle of the back stretch. A flat tire under the caution sent pole-sitter Brandon Jay into the work area moving Abe Huls up to the pole for the third try and he would lead the opening lap. Lap two would test the score keepers as Nathan Wood squeezed under Huls coming off of turn four and Dustin Griffiths had the momentum off the top side to make it three wide at the stripe with Wood's low line prevailing to take the lead on lap three. Huls would try to keep pace as Wood continued to hug the bottom while both Spaw and Mueller picked their way to the front . Spaw moved to second and twice over the final five laps he would pull even with Wood entering turn three but he couldn't make it stick on the second groove and the current All Iowa Points Stock Car leader Nathan Wood would take the win over Spaw, Mueller, Huls and Griffith.
Twenty-three Modifieds would close out the evening with twenty-laps of feature racing with pole-sitter Kyle Brown setting a fast pace. Cautions would slow the field three times during the first half of the race, on lap four for a Tyler Shaw spin, on lap seven when Andrew Schroeder went over the top of turns three and four and on lap ten when young Colton Prevo spun in turn three. After starting eighth Cayden Carter was now poised to challenge Brown and when he had a big run off of turn two on lap fourteen Carter threw a slider at Brown entering turn three. Kyle countered with a crossover move exiting turn four to retain the lead and the caution then waved again a lap later when Justin Fuller went over the top of turn three.
Robert Thompson spun and sat in turn two on the restart so when they tried it again Carter nailed the cushion perfectly in turns one and two allowing him to drive under Brown going down the back stretch and this time he was able to make it stick in turns three and four to take the lead. One more caution for Jerad Fuller's spin came with three laps remaining and on the restart there was no staying with Carter who scored his second win of the evening. Brown had to settle for runner-up pay, Jardin Fuller made a nice run on his hometown track finishing third, Bruce Hanford was fourth and Jeff Waterman completed the top five.
The track held a practice session during the afternoon and the racing surface was re-worked and watered before the night's action. That made for a later start than planned, although the delay was well worth it for the track that was provided, but with the large field, the two rollovers, guardrail repair and more cautions than what we are used to seeing here the final checkers flew just past midnight. You can bet that won't be the case tonight as the racing is scheduled to start an hour earlier with hot laps at 6 p.m. so if you are in the area I would highly recommend your attendance!
I will be headed a different direction though with tonight's show putting me closer to my Sunday target of the National Short Track Championships in Rockford and as of right now I am trying to decide between three different events. Check in tomorrow morning to see which Back Stretch I was prowling.
Go racing tonight!
Friday, September 29, 2017
Harrison and Unzicker Open Mod-Mania Triple At Tri-City
Two of the hottest drivers in UMP racing, and perhaps the entire Midwest, went to victory lane Thursday night as the Tri-City Speedway just across the river from St. Louis kicked off three straight nights of "Modified Mania". Mike Harrison has likely wrapped up the 2017 UMP Modified National points title and his victory was likely just icing on the cake while Ryan Unzicker may need to win again on Friday, Saturday or both in order to reel in current point leader Rusty Schlenk as he chases the UMP Late Model championship.
Fifty-six Modifieds signed in for the evening with Group qualifying setting the lineups straight up for eight heat races where only the winner advanced. One C-Main helped fill out the field for two B-Mains where eight drivers from each filled out the 24-car field for the 30-lap main event. Mike Harrison was one of a couple drivers who were able to win from somewhere other than the pole position and when fast qualifier and first heat race winner Nick Hoffman spun the wheel the #3 landed Harrison on the pole for the feature.
Michael Long started on the outside of row one and he did his best to stay even over the first two laps until Harrison eased ahead and started to build a lead. Long would keep the leader in sight and traffic soon came into play during the non-stop event. The driver to watch was Late Model star Bobby Pierce who had his own #32 Modified on the move after starting eighth, but by the time he moved to third both Harrison and Long had more than a straightaway lead on him plus there were two or three lapped cars separating them as well.
Pierce made up that ground during the final ten laps with Nick Hoffman following and while those two were able to track down Long they could not catch Harrison as he collected the $3,000 opening night victory. Pierce would finish in second, Hoffman passed Long on the final lap for third while Kenny Wallace was fifth. Sixth went to David Wietholder, Shannon Babb started his Modified in fourth but dropped to seventh at the checkers, Danny Schwartz was eighth, Brent Mullins was ninth and Rick Stevenson finished tenth after starting eighteenth.
Joining Babb and Pierce, Iowan Chris Simpson also did double duty on the night as he drove Kelly Kovski's car #10K, but Simpson dropped out of his B-Main while racing outside of a transfer spot.
Babb and Tim Manville made up the front row for the 30-lap Late Model headliner and the two waged quite a battle through the opening laps with Babb racing down low and Manville primarily banging off of the cushion. Manville was ahead by a nose on lap one, Babb was scored the leader on lap two and Manville came back to secure the lead on lap three. The caution would then wave for debris and on the restart Ryan Unzicker would take the second spot away from Babb and pick up the challenge for the lead.
Manville did his best trying to pinch off Unzicker, but he could not keep his car glued to the bottom and on lap twelve Unzicker would takeover the lead. As the laps clicked away Manville would stay within striking distance should a mistake ever come, but Unzicker has been on a winning streak lately and mistakes are far and few between from the #24 as Ryan cruised to the win and the $2,000 winner's check. Manville defended his home turf nicely as the runner-up with Chris Simpson in third. Babb faded to fourth as Bobby Pierce finished fifth, sixth went to Frank Heckenast Jr. while Tony Jackson Jr. drove Raymond Merrill's #12M to a seventh-place finish after starting twelfth. Jason Feger was eighth, Rusty Schlenk was ninth and Daryn Klein completed the top ten.
In his Late Model Pierce had to battle back all night after an unfortunate turn of events during qualifying. He was the first of three cars in his group to come to the track to take two laps on the clock and just as he was completing his first lap the caution waved for the second car on the track that had coasted to a stop on the back stretch. As Pierce and the third car circled the track under caution, the disabled Late Model was pushed to the pits, but just before the green flag was about to wave again Pierce pulled to the infield with a flat right front tire. With no official qualifying time Bobby started seventh in the second heat and raced his way up to second at the checkers to earn a big round of applause from the fans who, let's face it, never get to see a run like this under the UMP race format.
There is a stellar field of cars here at Tri-City and the car count might even grow tonight and Saturday, but that format is a big reason why I will head back north tonight to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, for night one of two for the Jerry Barrickman Memorial. Perhaps I will see you there!
Fifty-six Modifieds signed in for the evening with Group qualifying setting the lineups straight up for eight heat races where only the winner advanced. One C-Main helped fill out the field for two B-Mains where eight drivers from each filled out the 24-car field for the 30-lap main event. Mike Harrison was one of a couple drivers who were able to win from somewhere other than the pole position and when fast qualifier and first heat race winner Nick Hoffman spun the wheel the #3 landed Harrison on the pole for the feature.
Michael Long started on the outside of row one and he did his best to stay even over the first two laps until Harrison eased ahead and started to build a lead. Long would keep the leader in sight and traffic soon came into play during the non-stop event. The driver to watch was Late Model star Bobby Pierce who had his own #32 Modified on the move after starting eighth, but by the time he moved to third both Harrison and Long had more than a straightaway lead on him plus there were two or three lapped cars separating them as well.
Pierce made up that ground during the final ten laps with Nick Hoffman following and while those two were able to track down Long they could not catch Harrison as he collected the $3,000 opening night victory. Pierce would finish in second, Hoffman passed Long on the final lap for third while Kenny Wallace was fifth. Sixth went to David Wietholder, Shannon Babb started his Modified in fourth but dropped to seventh at the checkers, Danny Schwartz was eighth, Brent Mullins was ninth and Rick Stevenson finished tenth after starting eighteenth.
Joining Babb and Pierce, Iowan Chris Simpson also did double duty on the night as he drove Kelly Kovski's car #10K, but Simpson dropped out of his B-Main while racing outside of a transfer spot.
Babb and Tim Manville made up the front row for the 30-lap Late Model headliner and the two waged quite a battle through the opening laps with Babb racing down low and Manville primarily banging off of the cushion. Manville was ahead by a nose on lap one, Babb was scored the leader on lap two and Manville came back to secure the lead on lap three. The caution would then wave for debris and on the restart Ryan Unzicker would take the second spot away from Babb and pick up the challenge for the lead.
Manville did his best trying to pinch off Unzicker, but he could not keep his car glued to the bottom and on lap twelve Unzicker would takeover the lead. As the laps clicked away Manville would stay within striking distance should a mistake ever come, but Unzicker has been on a winning streak lately and mistakes are far and few between from the #24 as Ryan cruised to the win and the $2,000 winner's check. Manville defended his home turf nicely as the runner-up with Chris Simpson in third. Babb faded to fourth as Bobby Pierce finished fifth, sixth went to Frank Heckenast Jr. while Tony Jackson Jr. drove Raymond Merrill's #12M to a seventh-place finish after starting twelfth. Jason Feger was eighth, Rusty Schlenk was ninth and Daryn Klein completed the top ten.
In his Late Model Pierce had to battle back all night after an unfortunate turn of events during qualifying. He was the first of three cars in his group to come to the track to take two laps on the clock and just as he was completing his first lap the caution waved for the second car on the track that had coasted to a stop on the back stretch. As Pierce and the third car circled the track under caution, the disabled Late Model was pushed to the pits, but just before the green flag was about to wave again Pierce pulled to the infield with a flat right front tire. With no official qualifying time Bobby started seventh in the second heat and raced his way up to second at the checkers to earn a big round of applause from the fans who, let's face it, never get to see a run like this under the UMP race format.
There is a stellar field of cars here at Tri-City and the car count might even grow tonight and Saturday, but that format is a big reason why I will head back north tonight to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, for night one of two for the Jerry Barrickman Memorial. Perhaps I will see you there!
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Wednesday Notebook: September 27, 2017
My original plan for tonight was to be in Batesville, Arkansas, for the big IMCA Modified show, but there is just no good direct route from southeast Iowa to there.
So last week's Notebook post sort of went viral.....well at least as "viral" as any Back Stretch entry has before and I received several compliments at the track this past weekend. Kyle Ealy called it the most negative column that he had ever read, and coming from Kyle Ealy that was a compliment! This week though I just don't have that anger as I haven't had time to troll the idiots who might have been track bashing this past week, although I was told about one guy who was demanding results from an area track shortly after they had been completed on Facebook and when someone asked him why he didn't just go and pay his ten dollars his reply was that he would never go to the races there anyway. Begs the question then, so why would you need the results so bad?
The big announcement at 34 Raceway Saturday night was that the sale of the track to Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt is all but finalized and that the Laue, Parrish and Bowling families who have operated the facility for the past eleven years are happily retired. Brad and Jessi have been the driving force behind the annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway so they do have promotional experience and, as Brad mentioned after being introduced at the drivers' meeting, "you all like me now!" During her announcement Amy Laue cautioned everybody to give Brad and Jessi a few weeks to get settled in to their new roles before bombarding them with questions and suggestions, so there really is no new news to report and I will look forward to hearing their plans, but......
Just like I did when the Gobles took over the Quincy Raceways a few weeks ago, I will go ahead and throw out a few suggestions that may be right or wrong, they are simply based upon my opinion.
1. Cut back on the number of classes. At least three that were rotated in and out this year consistently drew less than ten competitors a night. Tell them now that they are not coming back in 2018 and it will give those drivers time to decide if they want to sell what they have now and race in one of the classes that will stay, or make plans to tow somewhere else next season.
2. Contact Larry Kemp and ask him what he did several years ago to take the cupping out of the banking. Back in the 1980's the track had gotten to the point where the top groove was dominant just as it is now and Larry made changes during the offseason that brought the track back to life with two and three wide racing.
3. After doing #1 it should be easier to start your races later with hot laps at 7:00 and racing at 7:30. And, if you are really good at clicking off an efficient show, change that to 7:30 and 8:00 during July and August because it is just not economically feasible to move the grandstands to the back stretch so they are not facing the sun.
Otherwise I have to agree with the statement that Brad made on several occasions Saturday night, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Speaking of Quincy Raceways, Jason and Robert have weathered the early storm of social media controversy after announcing that the Late Models would not be included for at least the rest of this season, and the tide has turned positive after their first four nights of racing. Today on Facebook they posted this picture of the track's scoreboard that supposedly had been unusable this season due to assorted problems. Apparently the purchase of some new light bulbs did the trick, something that the new owners could swing now that the bottom line is looking better. Quincy races every Sunday through October 22nd!
I had hoped to get up to the Davenport Speedway this past Friday night for their Iowa Governor's Cup event that paid $5,000 to Modified winner Justin Kay and $2,000 to Sport Mod winner Austen Becerra, but Christine had other plans for me. That event served as a spring board for both drivers as Kay then went to West Liberty on Saturday night and came from the back of a B-Main to win the 100-lap Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model finale while Becerra made it a triple for the weekend by winning at 34 Raceway on Saturday and at Quincy on Sunday. In that Sport Mod feature at Davenport Friday you had Becerra, the 2014 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder Champion in first, Tyler Soppe the soon-to-be 2017 All Iowa Points Limited Modified Champion in second and Tony Olson the 2015 and 2016 All Iowa Points Limited Modified Champion in third. By the way, they are the top three in the current standings as well, plus the driver who is currently on top of the Illinois standings, Dustin Schram finished fifth.
I was thinking just how impressive it was for the Schneiderman brothers, Josh and Jarrod, to finish one-two in the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders season championship at 34 Raceway Saturday night until I took a look at the results from the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City from that same night. The Smith brothers from Lake City, Dustin, Devin and Donavon finished first, second and third in the Stock Car main event while Doug took the checkers in the Sport Mod feature! I did though get to meet the next generation of Schneiderman speeedsters when Josh was joined by his son Bryar in victory lane.
In an effort to stay away from the Facebook garbage last week I instead tuned into Dirt Late Model Live on Tuesday night from Dirt on Dirt and to Track Talk with The Racin' Boys on Saturday morning, two internet shows that you too should be checking out on a regular basis. This week the two tied together a bit as on Tuesday host Michael Rigsby was interviewing Late Model driver Chase Junghans about the World of Outlaws three-day swing through his home state of Kansas and asking him questions about how great that would be if he could get a win in his home state. After a bit it dawned on me that perhaps Rigsby was confused about the actual location of Saturday's show as it was to be run at the Salina Highbanks Speedway located in northeast Oklahoma and not at the Salina Speedway in Salina, Kansas. As you can guess, that is an easy mistake to make, but during an interview on the Racin' Boys Saturday morning I really got a chuckle as it became obvious that the "big time" Late Model crowd truly was making its first trip to that region in some time. WoO point leader Brandon Sheppard had won the Friday night opener of the tripleheader at the Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City and Kirk Elliott asked him if he had ever been to the Salina Higbanks before. Sheppard said that no, he had not, but that he had been watching video of the USAC Midgets there and that it looked like a really fast place. Chances are pretty good that B-Shepp was watching video from the Belleville Highbanks since the midgets don't go to Salina, but at least somebody on the crew of the Rocket House car knew where to go on Saturday since Sheppard won again at the Salina (Oklahoma) Highbanks and then swept the weekend by winning at the 81 Speedway near Wichita.
Perhaps some of my Wisconsin readers can shed more light on this, but I am seeing once again that this past Saturday's race at the Oshkosh Speedzone might have been the last ever there. I say "once again" since I recall that being said as well last year and with just a brief look at what's going on now it appears that the current promoters made a bid to lease the speedway again in 2018 that was turned down by the county. Until it is transformed into a pond with houses built on it like Hawkeye Raceway "last ever" might not be an accurate description and I do hope that there will be racing there in the future as The Zone has been on my "to do" list for several years now. I am still looking for results from that "last ever" show this past Saturday night as the Fall Classic included Asphalt Late Models on the dirt, something very unique.
When a track does close down it always seems to make everybody start lamenting about how the sport is steadily dying, but the statistics doesn't seem to support that at least when it comes to the number of race tracks in operation. Take Wisconsin for example where The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay came back to life this year, The Outagamie Speedway picked up where the Seymour Speedway left off and TNT Speedway reopened in August after sitting idle for some time. Now, as the future of Oshkosh is uncertain, I see that Gravity Park USA in Chilton will have oval track racing on October 6th and 7th so if you hear some news this offseason that a track near you might not run in 2018, don't think that it is the end of the world. Just yet at least....Oh yeah, and I love this guy!
Knowing just how much I love the format, you might be surprised to learn that I am headed to Modified Mania at the Tri-City Speedway on Thursday night before returning to the Scotland County Speedway on Friday for the opening night of the Jerry Barrickman Memorial. Weather is looking good so get on out to a race in your area this weekend!
So last week's Notebook post sort of went viral.....well at least as "viral" as any Back Stretch entry has before and I received several compliments at the track this past weekend. Kyle Ealy called it the most negative column that he had ever read, and coming from Kyle Ealy that was a compliment! This week though I just don't have that anger as I haven't had time to troll the idiots who might have been track bashing this past week, although I was told about one guy who was demanding results from an area track shortly after they had been completed on Facebook and when someone asked him why he didn't just go and pay his ten dollars his reply was that he would never go to the races there anyway. Begs the question then, so why would you need the results so bad?
The big announcement at 34 Raceway Saturday night was that the sale of the track to Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt is all but finalized and that the Laue, Parrish and Bowling families who have operated the facility for the past eleven years are happily retired. Brad and Jessi have been the driving force behind the annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway so they do have promotional experience and, as Brad mentioned after being introduced at the drivers' meeting, "you all like me now!" During her announcement Amy Laue cautioned everybody to give Brad and Jessi a few weeks to get settled in to their new roles before bombarding them with questions and suggestions, so there really is no new news to report and I will look forward to hearing their plans, but......
Just like I did when the Gobles took over the Quincy Raceways a few weeks ago, I will go ahead and throw out a few suggestions that may be right or wrong, they are simply based upon my opinion.
1. Cut back on the number of classes. At least three that were rotated in and out this year consistently drew less than ten competitors a night. Tell them now that they are not coming back in 2018 and it will give those drivers time to decide if they want to sell what they have now and race in one of the classes that will stay, or make plans to tow somewhere else next season.2. Contact Larry Kemp and ask him what he did several years ago to take the cupping out of the banking. Back in the 1980's the track had gotten to the point where the top groove was dominant just as it is now and Larry made changes during the offseason that brought the track back to life with two and three wide racing.
3. After doing #1 it should be easier to start your races later with hot laps at 7:00 and racing at 7:30. And, if you are really good at clicking off an efficient show, change that to 7:30 and 8:00 during July and August because it is just not economically feasible to move the grandstands to the back stretch so they are not facing the sun.
Otherwise I have to agree with the statement that Brad made on several occasions Saturday night, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Speaking of Quincy Raceways, Jason and Robert have weathered the early storm of social media controversy after announcing that the Late Models would not be included for at least the rest of this season, and the tide has turned positive after their first four nights of racing. Today on Facebook they posted this picture of the track's scoreboard that supposedly had been unusable this season due to assorted problems. Apparently the purchase of some new light bulbs did the trick, something that the new owners could swing now that the bottom line is looking better. Quincy races every Sunday through October 22nd!I had hoped to get up to the Davenport Speedway this past Friday night for their Iowa Governor's Cup event that paid $5,000 to Modified winner Justin Kay and $2,000 to Sport Mod winner Austen Becerra, but Christine had other plans for me. That event served as a spring board for both drivers as Kay then went to West Liberty on Saturday night and came from the back of a B-Main to win the 100-lap Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model finale while Becerra made it a triple for the weekend by winning at 34 Raceway on Saturday and at Quincy on Sunday. In that Sport Mod feature at Davenport Friday you had Becerra, the 2014 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder Champion in first, Tyler Soppe the soon-to-be 2017 All Iowa Points Limited Modified Champion in second and Tony Olson the 2015 and 2016 All Iowa Points Limited Modified Champion in third. By the way, they are the top three in the current standings as well, plus the driver who is currently on top of the Illinois standings, Dustin Schram finished fifth.
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| Photo courtesy of D&M Photography and Design |
In an effort to stay away from the Facebook garbage last week I instead tuned into Dirt Late Model Live on Tuesday night from Dirt on Dirt and to Track Talk with The Racin' Boys on Saturday morning, two internet shows that you too should be checking out on a regular basis. This week the two tied together a bit as on Tuesday host Michael Rigsby was interviewing Late Model driver Chase Junghans about the World of Outlaws three-day swing through his home state of Kansas and asking him questions about how great that would be if he could get a win in his home state. After a bit it dawned on me that perhaps Rigsby was confused about the actual location of Saturday's show as it was to be run at the Salina Highbanks Speedway located in northeast Oklahoma and not at the Salina Speedway in Salina, Kansas. As you can guess, that is an easy mistake to make, but during an interview on the Racin' Boys Saturday morning I really got a chuckle as it became obvious that the "big time" Late Model crowd truly was making its first trip to that region in some time. WoO point leader Brandon Sheppard had won the Friday night opener of the tripleheader at the Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City and Kirk Elliott asked him if he had ever been to the Salina Higbanks before. Sheppard said that no, he had not, but that he had been watching video of the USAC Midgets there and that it looked like a really fast place. Chances are pretty good that B-Shepp was watching video from the Belleville Highbanks since the midgets don't go to Salina, but at least somebody on the crew of the Rocket House car knew where to go on Saturday since Sheppard won again at the Salina (Oklahoma) Highbanks and then swept the weekend by winning at the 81 Speedway near Wichita.
Perhaps some of my Wisconsin readers can shed more light on this, but I am seeing once again that this past Saturday's race at the Oshkosh Speedzone might have been the last ever there. I say "once again" since I recall that being said as well last year and with just a brief look at what's going on now it appears that the current promoters made a bid to lease the speedway again in 2018 that was turned down by the county. Until it is transformed into a pond with houses built on it like Hawkeye Raceway "last ever" might not be an accurate description and I do hope that there will be racing there in the future as The Zone has been on my "to do" list for several years now. I am still looking for results from that "last ever" show this past Saturday night as the Fall Classic included Asphalt Late Models on the dirt, something very unique.
When a track does close down it always seems to make everybody start lamenting about how the sport is steadily dying, but the statistics doesn't seem to support that at least when it comes to the number of race tracks in operation. Take Wisconsin for example where The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay came back to life this year, The Outagamie Speedway picked up where the Seymour Speedway left off and TNT Speedway reopened in August after sitting idle for some time. Now, as the future of Oshkosh is uncertain, I see that Gravity Park USA in Chilton will have oval track racing on October 6th and 7th so if you hear some news this offseason that a track near you might not run in 2018, don't think that it is the end of the world. Just yet at least....Oh yeah, and I love this guy!
Knowing just how much I love the format, you might be surprised to learn that I am headed to Modified Mania at the Tri-City Speedway on Thursday night before returning to the Scotland County Speedway on Friday for the opening night of the Jerry Barrickman Memorial. Weather is looking good so get on out to a race in your area this weekend!
Monday, September 25, 2017
Tatnell Wins Bill Waite Jr. Memorial, Erb Nips Simpson For Late Model Prize
With the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Cars (co-sanctioned by MOWA), Open Late Models and Badger Midgets on the card for the annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial Sunday night I made plans to be at the LaSalle Speedway and so too did many other race fans. The pits were full with 31 Winged Sprints, 28 Late Models and 26 Midgets signed in on a bright, sunny and very warm evening for late September in north central Illinois and our first stop when we arrived was at Jack Donlan's tailgater for some amazing food and lively conversation.
I first got to know Jack when he would load up his Hobby Stock and travel with us from his home base in Burlington to many of the NKF Tour races nearly twenty years ago and more recently I had the pleasure of seeing him on a regular basis when he was the official starter for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Now living in Princeton, Illinois, though that commute got to be too much so he stepped away from that post after the 2015 season and now I always look forward to running into him at assorted Sprint Car races around the region. You won't find a nicer guy anywhere, just another reason why I love this sport so much and Jack, I look forward to seeing you again soon!
On to the racing!
The Midgets would be the first of three main events on the track and this one would be dominated by Scott Hatton. The driver from Roscoe sailed around early leader Kurt Mayhew following a lap three restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way in picking up the win over Adam Taylor and Robbie Ray.
The excitement level would ramp up considerably as the 24-car feature field for the IRA Sprints pushed off with $5,000 going to the winner of the 30-lap main event honoring the former driver Bill Waite Jr. who was from this area. Ben Schmidt and Brooke Tatnell would start from the front row with Tatnell ignoring Schmidt's slide job on the opening lap to take the lead. Track conditions made this a "slider" type of race with the fast line around the top on both ends of the quarter-mile that also has enough banking to support a well executed slide job. Even working traffic, that had mostly settled to the bottom, Tatnell had pulled away from the field, but the action behind him was scintillating to say the least as drivers were countering slide jobs with crossovers and positions changed within each and every lap.
Coming to score lap fifteen I was lucky to be watching turn three where Bill Balog attempted a two-for-one slide job diving under both Scott Thiel and Bret Tripplett, but it took too much speed to get past two cars and he could not stick it to the cushion as he slid up to the exit of turn four allowing both drivers to get back by him down the front stretch. Balog had another big run in him going down the front stretch though so again he tried to put a slider on Tripplett entering turn one, but contact in turn two would put Tripplett into the wall and upside down at the exit of turn two. Let's just say that Bret was not impressed with the situation and he was warded off by a track official when he went to make his feelings known to Balog. It should be noted that Balog also punted Kris Spitz in the heat race in the same spot bending his wing as well, not something that I am used to seeing from the seven time IRA champion.
The restart would now put Brad Loyet right behind Tatnell as Loyet had just taken away the second spot from Joe B. Miller before the red flag waved. Tatnell would again open a lead until traffic came into play and soon the top five of Tatnell, Loyet, Miller, Spencer Bayston and Carson Macedo were essentially nose to tail with each other as they raced around the top side with nearly all of the slower cars now working the bottom. This made it difficult to attempt a slide job and while Bayston was able to put one on Miller to take third, Loyet was showing patience waiting for the right time to make a run at the native Australian Tatnell. Coming out of turn four to the white flag Loyet seemed to have a big run on the leader and there was an open space on the bottom entering turn one, but he chose to stay on the top and it was a bit of a surprise when again Loyet stayed on the cushion through three and four one last time just before Tatnell took the checkers. Loyet would settle for the runner-up position followed by Bayston, Miller and the winner the previous night in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Carson Macedo.
A twenty car field of Late Models would close out the evening for forty laps of action with pole-sitter Jeremiah Hurst holding the lead on lap one by a nose over fellow front row starter Chris Simpson. Using the cushion Simpson would take the lead on lap two and would build his advantage as soon to be contenders made their way to the front. Dennis Erb Jr. had started fifth and on lap five he would takeover the second spot, but before he could gain any ground on the leader Erb was soon passed by Jason Feger for second on lap eight. As Simpson worked traffic most of the slower cars were on the bottom, but when he encountered a few that were in his groove it would allow Feger to close the gap and by mid-race Jason was in a position to mount a challenge for the lead.
On lap thirty, with Jose Parga riding the cushion in front of him Simpson went to the middle line to try to put a lap on the former Crate star and that allowed Feger to pull even with Simpson coming off of turn four. The lead duo crossed the stripe nearly even with ten laps remaining, but that scorer's call would become very important as Jay Brendle spun in turn three to bring out the caution.
Simpson would be placed out front for the restart with Feger and Erb side-by-side behind him and it would be Feger again taking up the chase in second when the green flag waved. Just two laps later though the caution was needed again as Reno Markham slowed down the back stretch and the lead trio was lined up the same way once again for the restart.
This time it would be Erb who would get to second and we would then be treated to a classic battle of two drivers each using a different line with Simpson riding around the top and Erb feathering the throttle on the bottom. Dennis would be able to pull even through the corners only to have Simpson use the momentum off the top to maintain the lead down the straightaways and that looked like how it was going to end until it happened. After running thirty-eight nearly flawless laps around the precarious top side Simpson made a mistake slipping too high coming off of turn four as the white flag waved and that allowed Dennis Erb Jr. to take the lead and, one lap later the $4,000 win by just a car-length over a dejected Simpson. Feger would be not too far behind in third as Paul Parker and Jeremiah Hurst filled out the top five.
It was a thrilling close to a fun night of racing that was well worth the nearly three hour trip and it was great to spend the evening with several of my racing friends. Yes, it got plenty dusty when the Winged Sprints were in full song, but that can usually be expected and with the final eight laps of the Late Model feature it was obvious that the track conditions were very, very good!
With favorable weather still in the forecast for the weekend ahead I am hoping to take full advantage and I will detail those plans for you when I get back to the Notebook on Wednesday. Are you making your racing plans for the final weekend of September?
See you on the Back Stretch!
I first got to know Jack when he would load up his Hobby Stock and travel with us from his home base in Burlington to many of the NKF Tour races nearly twenty years ago and more recently I had the pleasure of seeing him on a regular basis when he was the official starter for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Now living in Princeton, Illinois, though that commute got to be too much so he stepped away from that post after the 2015 season and now I always look forward to running into him at assorted Sprint Car races around the region. You won't find a nicer guy anywhere, just another reason why I love this sport so much and Jack, I look forward to seeing you again soon!
On to the racing!
The Midgets would be the first of three main events on the track and this one would be dominated by Scott Hatton. The driver from Roscoe sailed around early leader Kurt Mayhew following a lap three restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way in picking up the win over Adam Taylor and Robbie Ray.
The excitement level would ramp up considerably as the 24-car feature field for the IRA Sprints pushed off with $5,000 going to the winner of the 30-lap main event honoring the former driver Bill Waite Jr. who was from this area. Ben Schmidt and Brooke Tatnell would start from the front row with Tatnell ignoring Schmidt's slide job on the opening lap to take the lead. Track conditions made this a "slider" type of race with the fast line around the top on both ends of the quarter-mile that also has enough banking to support a well executed slide job. Even working traffic, that had mostly settled to the bottom, Tatnell had pulled away from the field, but the action behind him was scintillating to say the least as drivers were countering slide jobs with crossovers and positions changed within each and every lap.
Coming to score lap fifteen I was lucky to be watching turn three where Bill Balog attempted a two-for-one slide job diving under both Scott Thiel and Bret Tripplett, but it took too much speed to get past two cars and he could not stick it to the cushion as he slid up to the exit of turn four allowing both drivers to get back by him down the front stretch. Balog had another big run in him going down the front stretch though so again he tried to put a slider on Tripplett entering turn one, but contact in turn two would put Tripplett into the wall and upside down at the exit of turn two. Let's just say that Bret was not impressed with the situation and he was warded off by a track official when he went to make his feelings known to Balog. It should be noted that Balog also punted Kris Spitz in the heat race in the same spot bending his wing as well, not something that I am used to seeing from the seven time IRA champion.
The restart would now put Brad Loyet right behind Tatnell as Loyet had just taken away the second spot from Joe B. Miller before the red flag waved. Tatnell would again open a lead until traffic came into play and soon the top five of Tatnell, Loyet, Miller, Spencer Bayston and Carson Macedo were essentially nose to tail with each other as they raced around the top side with nearly all of the slower cars now working the bottom. This made it difficult to attempt a slide job and while Bayston was able to put one on Miller to take third, Loyet was showing patience waiting for the right time to make a run at the native Australian Tatnell. Coming out of turn four to the white flag Loyet seemed to have a big run on the leader and there was an open space on the bottom entering turn one, but he chose to stay on the top and it was a bit of a surprise when again Loyet stayed on the cushion through three and four one last time just before Tatnell took the checkers. Loyet would settle for the runner-up position followed by Bayston, Miller and the winner the previous night in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Carson Macedo.
A twenty car field of Late Models would close out the evening for forty laps of action with pole-sitter Jeremiah Hurst holding the lead on lap one by a nose over fellow front row starter Chris Simpson. Using the cushion Simpson would take the lead on lap two and would build his advantage as soon to be contenders made their way to the front. Dennis Erb Jr. had started fifth and on lap five he would takeover the second spot, but before he could gain any ground on the leader Erb was soon passed by Jason Feger for second on lap eight. As Simpson worked traffic most of the slower cars were on the bottom, but when he encountered a few that were in his groove it would allow Feger to close the gap and by mid-race Jason was in a position to mount a challenge for the lead.
On lap thirty, with Jose Parga riding the cushion in front of him Simpson went to the middle line to try to put a lap on the former Crate star and that allowed Feger to pull even with Simpson coming off of turn four. The lead duo crossed the stripe nearly even with ten laps remaining, but that scorer's call would become very important as Jay Brendle spun in turn three to bring out the caution.
Simpson would be placed out front for the restart with Feger and Erb side-by-side behind him and it would be Feger again taking up the chase in second when the green flag waved. Just two laps later though the caution was needed again as Reno Markham slowed down the back stretch and the lead trio was lined up the same way once again for the restart.
This time it would be Erb who would get to second and we would then be treated to a classic battle of two drivers each using a different line with Simpson riding around the top and Erb feathering the throttle on the bottom. Dennis would be able to pull even through the corners only to have Simpson use the momentum off the top to maintain the lead down the straightaways and that looked like how it was going to end until it happened. After running thirty-eight nearly flawless laps around the precarious top side Simpson made a mistake slipping too high coming off of turn four as the white flag waved and that allowed Dennis Erb Jr. to take the lead and, one lap later the $4,000 win by just a car-length over a dejected Simpson. Feger would be not too far behind in third as Paul Parker and Jeremiah Hurst filled out the top five.
It was a thrilling close to a fun night of racing that was well worth the nearly three hour trip and it was great to spend the evening with several of my racing friends. Yes, it got plenty dusty when the Winged Sprints were in full song, but that can usually be expected and with the final eight laps of the Late Model feature it was obvious that the track conditions were very, very good!
With favorable weather still in the forecast for the weekend ahead I am hoping to take full advantage and I will detail those plans for you when I get back to the Notebook on Wednesday. Are you making your racing plans for the final weekend of September?
See you on the Back Stretch!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Josh Schneiderman Wire To Wire For The Win, Jon Agan Takes Title At Sprint Invaders Season Championship
On a night where there were several different story lines for fans to follow along with a major announcement from the ownership of the track itself Saturday, Josh Schneiderman made his way to victory lane at 34 Raceway while Jon Agan captured his third Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders championship in the last four years.
Agan came into the night trailing point leader Jamie Ball by ten points, but when Ball got held up by a slow starting pole-sitter he dropped from third to sixth on the opening lap of heat race number one. Race leader John Schulz lost a motor with two to go though moving Ball up to the fifth and final transfer spot, a position he then lost on the final lap when Jarrod Schneiderman zipped around him on the outside of turns three and four coming to the checkers.
With Ball now headed to the B-Main, Agan felt better about drawing the fourth and final row of the third heat, a race that he would go on to win after three caution flags slowed the field. The win would pull Agan into a tie for the point lead, a tie that he knew that he would break by making the Budweiser King of Beers Shakeup Dash where he finished second to Josh Schneiderman. This would give Agan a five point adavantage heading into the feature where he would start fourth while Ball dominated the B-Main to earn the sixteenth starting spot and needing to now beat Agan by three positions to claim his first series championship.
Dave Getchell and Ryan Jamison would bring the field to green for the thirty lap season finale, but it would be the third starter Josh Schneiderman who would seize the advantage on the opening lap. The caution would wave after scoring lap two though when the fourth-place car of Paul Nienheiser went over the top of turn two and spun sending him to the back of the twenty-car field in the Midland Performance #50.
On the restart Schneiderman pulled away a bit as Jamison and Agan raced side-by-side for second with Jamison digging down low as Agan pounded the cushion. Just after Agan finally cleared Jamison for second he too would sail over the top of turn two and go for a spin forcing him to restart from the back of the field with twenty-two laps remaining. And, with Jamie Ball now running in the twelfth position Again would need to get back to within two spots of him in order to secure the title.
On the restart fans had to decide what to watch as Josh Schneiderman continued to lead while his younger brother Jarrod Schneiderman was closing quick after starting thirteenth. Or they could keep an eye on Agan as he gradually picked off positions until he was back to within three of Ball when suddenly, on lap twenty, Jamie slowed and pulled into the infield as his car had just shut off with apparent electrical issues.
With the championship now decided the focus went back to the front where Jarrod was doing his best to track down Josh until the caution waved one last time with three laps remaining as Tom Lenz spun in turn two.
On the restart the younger brother just did not have anything for the leader as Josh Schneiderman clicked off the final three laps to score his first win of 2017. Jarrod was officially the Hard Charger of the show coming from thirteenth to second, but the biggest charge of the night came from Paul Nienhesier who came back from twentieth after his lap two spin to finish in the third spot ahead of Cody Wehrle and Ryan Jamison. Tyler Groenendyk started tenth and finished sixth, Andy Krieger had a solid ride in seventh, Brayden Gaylord was eighth just ahead of the champion Agan while Tanner Gebhardt's tenth place finish was enough to edge out Gaylord for the 2017 Rookie-of-the-Year title, just another story line for the fans to follow throughout the night.
Announced at the driver's meeting earlier in the night and to the crowd at intermission, after eleven years of operating 34 Raceway the Laue, Parrish and Bowling families have sold the track to Brad Stevens. Stevens who along with his girlfriend Jessi Mynatt have headed up the the Brent Slocum Foundation and the presentation of the Annual Slocum 50 event here at 34 the past several years. In addition they will now takeover the operation of the high banked 3/8th-mile oval in 2018.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will celebrate a successful 2017 season that saw ten exciting nights of racing and no rain outs with the Awards Banquet on Saturday November 11th in Burlington.
Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Results - Season Championship Night, September 23rd at 34 Raceway near Burlington, Iowa
Randall's Performance Heat One - 1. Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis 2. Daniel Bergquist, Burlington 3. Damian Getchell, Sperry 4. Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa 5. Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington 6. Jamie Ball, Knoxville 7. Justin Bucholz, Davenport 8. John Schulz, West Burlington
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat Two - 1. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington 2. Paul Nienheiser, Chapin IL 3. Cody Wehrle, Burlington 4. Bob Weuve, Newton 5. Ben Wagoner, Emden IL 6. Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington 7. Dan Keltner, Grandview 8. John Greenwood, Woodward
Mohrfeld Electric Heat Three - 1. Jon Agan, Knoxville 2. Dave Getchell, Sperry 3. Andy Krieger, Burlington 4. Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres 5. Brayden Gaylord, Wever 6. Joe Laue, Morning Sun 7. Harold Pohren, Lowell 8. Tom Lenz, Marion
Golden Eagle Distributing Budweiser King of Beers Shake Up Dash - 1. Josh Schneiderman 2. Agan 3. Bergquist 4. Nienheiser 5. Dave Getchell 6. Jamison
B-Main - 1.Ball 2. Gebhardt 3. Bucholz 4. Pohren 5. Lenz 6. Keltner 7. Greenwood 8. Laue DNS: Schulz
A-Main - 1. Josh Schneiderman 2. Jarrod Schneiderman 3. Nienheiser 4. Wehrle 5. Jamison 6. Groenendyk 7. Krieger 8. Gaylord 9. Agan 10. Gebhardt 11. Bergquist 12. Wagoner 13. Bucholz 14, Pohren 15. Damian Getchell 16. R. Weuve 17. Lenz 18. B. Weuve 19. Ball 20. Dave Getchell
Contingencies:
Kreitz Oval Track Products: Daniel Bergquist
Pyrotect: Jamie Ball
Saldana Racing Products: Damian Getchell
Agan came into the night trailing point leader Jamie Ball by ten points, but when Ball got held up by a slow starting pole-sitter he dropped from third to sixth on the opening lap of heat race number one. Race leader John Schulz lost a motor with two to go though moving Ball up to the fifth and final transfer spot, a position he then lost on the final lap when Jarrod Schneiderman zipped around him on the outside of turns three and four coming to the checkers.
With Ball now headed to the B-Main, Agan felt better about drawing the fourth and final row of the third heat, a race that he would go on to win after three caution flags slowed the field. The win would pull Agan into a tie for the point lead, a tie that he knew that he would break by making the Budweiser King of Beers Shakeup Dash where he finished second to Josh Schneiderman. This would give Agan a five point adavantage heading into the feature where he would start fourth while Ball dominated the B-Main to earn the sixteenth starting spot and needing to now beat Agan by three positions to claim his first series championship.
Dave Getchell and Ryan Jamison would bring the field to green for the thirty lap season finale, but it would be the third starter Josh Schneiderman who would seize the advantage on the opening lap. The caution would wave after scoring lap two though when the fourth-place car of Paul Nienheiser went over the top of turn two and spun sending him to the back of the twenty-car field in the Midland Performance #50.
On the restart Schneiderman pulled away a bit as Jamison and Agan raced side-by-side for second with Jamison digging down low as Agan pounded the cushion. Just after Agan finally cleared Jamison for second he too would sail over the top of turn two and go for a spin forcing him to restart from the back of the field with twenty-two laps remaining. And, with Jamie Ball now running in the twelfth position Again would need to get back to within two spots of him in order to secure the title.
On the restart fans had to decide what to watch as Josh Schneiderman continued to lead while his younger brother Jarrod Schneiderman was closing quick after starting thirteenth. Or they could keep an eye on Agan as he gradually picked off positions until he was back to within three of Ball when suddenly, on lap twenty, Jamie slowed and pulled into the infield as his car had just shut off with apparent electrical issues.
With the championship now decided the focus went back to the front where Jarrod was doing his best to track down Josh until the caution waved one last time with three laps remaining as Tom Lenz spun in turn two.
On the restart the younger brother just did not have anything for the leader as Josh Schneiderman clicked off the final three laps to score his first win of 2017. Jarrod was officially the Hard Charger of the show coming from thirteenth to second, but the biggest charge of the night came from Paul Nienhesier who came back from twentieth after his lap two spin to finish in the third spot ahead of Cody Wehrle and Ryan Jamison. Tyler Groenendyk started tenth and finished sixth, Andy Krieger had a solid ride in seventh, Brayden Gaylord was eighth just ahead of the champion Agan while Tanner Gebhardt's tenth place finish was enough to edge out Gaylord for the 2017 Rookie-of-the-Year title, just another story line for the fans to follow throughout the night.
Announced at the driver's meeting earlier in the night and to the crowd at intermission, after eleven years of operating 34 Raceway the Laue, Parrish and Bowling families have sold the track to Brad Stevens. Stevens who along with his girlfriend Jessi Mynatt have headed up the the Brent Slocum Foundation and the presentation of the Annual Slocum 50 event here at 34 the past several years. In addition they will now takeover the operation of the high banked 3/8th-mile oval in 2018.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will celebrate a successful 2017 season that saw ten exciting nights of racing and no rain outs with the Awards Banquet on Saturday November 11th in Burlington.
Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Results - Season Championship Night, September 23rd at 34 Raceway near Burlington, Iowa
Randall's Performance Heat One - 1. Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis 2. Daniel Bergquist, Burlington 3. Damian Getchell, Sperry 4. Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa 5. Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington 6. Jamie Ball, Knoxville 7. Justin Bucholz, Davenport 8. John Schulz, West Burlington
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat Two - 1. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington 2. Paul Nienheiser, Chapin IL 3. Cody Wehrle, Burlington 4. Bob Weuve, Newton 5. Ben Wagoner, Emden IL 6. Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington 7. Dan Keltner, Grandview 8. John Greenwood, Woodward
Mohrfeld Electric Heat Three - 1. Jon Agan, Knoxville 2. Dave Getchell, Sperry 3. Andy Krieger, Burlington 4. Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres 5. Brayden Gaylord, Wever 6. Joe Laue, Morning Sun 7. Harold Pohren, Lowell 8. Tom Lenz, Marion
Golden Eagle Distributing Budweiser King of Beers Shake Up Dash - 1. Josh Schneiderman 2. Agan 3. Bergquist 4. Nienheiser 5. Dave Getchell 6. Jamison
B-Main - 1.Ball 2. Gebhardt 3. Bucholz 4. Pohren 5. Lenz 6. Keltner 7. Greenwood 8. Laue DNS: Schulz
A-Main - 1. Josh Schneiderman 2. Jarrod Schneiderman 3. Nienheiser 4. Wehrle 5. Jamison 6. Groenendyk 7. Krieger 8. Gaylord 9. Agan 10. Gebhardt 11. Bergquist 12. Wagoner 13. Bucholz 14, Pohren 15. Damian Getchell 16. R. Weuve 17. Lenz 18. B. Weuve 19. Ball 20. Dave Getchell
Contingencies:
Kreitz Oval Track Products: Daniel Bergquist
Pyrotect: Jamie Ball
Saldana Racing Products: Damian Getchell
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Wednesday Notebook: September 20, 2017
This will be a notebook entry where I will probably wish that I had just torn out the page rather than typing it into the Back Stretch as I will likely make at least a few people mad. Now, if you happen to be one of those, I want you to keep in mind that this is coming from a grumpy old man who, after having to be put under anesthesia twice over a three day period last week, was not only grumpier than usual but had more time to read through all the stuff out there on race forums and Facebook. Stuff that he would usually ignore because it more often than not just makes him mad, so with that in mind just remember that these are my opinions only. Are they right? At this point in time I think that they are, but unlike some others I am more than happy to listen to an intelligent counterpoint and I have been known to soften my stance and sometimes even change my mind, a trait that more people in this country need to have right now. So without further ado......
As I mentioned in my story from Friday night, I should not have traveled ninety miles each way to go to Knoxville. My head was pounding, I was dizzy at times and I vowed that I would never again leave the house for a race thinking that I would actually feel better once I got there. But even with all that going on I still enjoyed the racing because it is absolutely the best format there is if you are a fan that wants to see action from the drop of the green in heat one to the final checkered flag of the night. I won't go through the whole explanation other than this. Under a point system that is used at both the Sprint Car and Late Model Nationals drivers need to post fast qualifying times, then with an eight car invert they must pass cars in their heat to advance to the feature and then race hard for every spot in the feature to gain those valuable points as well, In other words, no pulling off if you are running 20th mid-race because those two points that you gain by getting to 19th might be the difference in making Saturday's main event.
This format is polar opposite to most big time Super Late Model races where you go out and set a quick qualifying time to start on the front of your heat race where an easy win then lands you on the pole of the feature which is why, when you read the race summary at the majority of these events, you will see that the winner went "flag to flag" like it was some kind of big accomplishment.
During Friday's B-Main a last lap skirmish for the final transfer position went to young Texan Tyler Erb after he successfully blocked Hall of Famer Billy Moyer who ended up in the fence in turn three. I don't fault Erb for making his car extra wide on that final lap and I am guessing that at some point over his brilliant career Moyer has had to do the same and that is why it was no more than a snippet in the Notes section of Friday's Back Stretch. Then I see this conversation that Shane Walters of Racing News had with Tyler Erb. It is a discussion of the Friday night incident with Moyer, but to frame it Erb puts himself in to my list of "I'm Fast Start Me Up Front" whiners by stating "We qualified good, but then the invert penalizes you for the most part. Everybody's the same speed and it's really hard to make up any points. You just get buried in the heat race."
Well of course this sent me to the results from both Thursday and Friday night to see just how this driver compared with others who were racing under the same format. On Thursday Erb qualified fourth in his group meaning that he would start seventh in his heat race where he then finished seventh. Just a reminder, the six cars lined up in front of him all posted slower qualifying times. How did some of the other drivers do in their heat races that night? Jonathan Davenport, Don O'Neal and Mike Marlar all started eighth and won! Josh Richards won his heat from sixth, Jimmy Owens came from eighth to second, Jared Landers advanced from seventh to the third and final transfer spot from his heat race and young Hudson O'Neal in his first ever race at the historic half-mile started sixth and finished second.
On Friday night Tyler Erb qualified eighth in his group putting him in the sixth starting spot in his heat race. Where did he finish? Sixth. Did everybody else pretty much finish where they had to start under that "penalizing" invert? Nope. Marlar and Richards won from eighth, Darrell Lanigan almost crashed in a three-wide scuffle early, but still won his heat from seventh. Second-place finishers Rodney Sanders, Jimmy Mars and Tim McCreadie all started sixth while Chris Simpson did them one better coming from seventh. Brandon Sheppard won his heat from fifth and that Hudson O'Neal kid came from fourth to win his heat. I have a few more examples, but I think you get the point. If you are going to complain about an invert penalizing you, maybe you should check to see if you were perhaps one of the few that couldn't race your way forward on either night. Then again this is a driver who races with a series that, with straight up starts in heat races, he is used to finishing where he started just as he did here at Knoxville on Thursday and Friday night.
Despite another successful event, Knoxville is getting all kinds of "suggestions" from the internet experts as to how to improve the show, so I am going to add one as well. With the car counts down into the fifties do away with the Group A & B qualifying with then six heat races and do it just like the Sprints where the drivers all qualify together and only one driver earns that valuable 200 points in qualifying. Then run your normal five heat races, each with an eight car invert, where the top four move on to the feature, the next four to the B-Main, etc. This way drivers like Tyler Erb who was actually ninth fastest overall on Thursday and 19th on the overall qualifying charts for Friday might actually appreciate the invert rather than consider it a penalty. Plus, when Marlar, Davenport, Richards, Landers, Simpson, Owens, McCreadie, the O'Neals and others go blowing by him maybe he will realize that he needs to step up his game a bit rather than complaining about the format to some blogger.
If you check out more of the Racing News coverage of Knoxville you will see another story where Jason Feger questions the track preparation leading me to think that Shane Walters needs to hang out with some happy drivers from time to time as well.
Who can I piss off next? How about my friends at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson who this past weekend held a meeting to discuss the possibilities of having an Outlaw Hobby Stock class next year. Why? Because reportedly they have had several drivers show an interest, some of them who still apparently have cars sitting around from when the class was dropped due to low car counts a few years back. Okay, so this is not a knock on the class itself, but simply the concept of adding yet another racing division period. First of all there is already a Hobby Stock class of cars in the area, so adding another rules version will just spread things out even further because we don't have just Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Stock Cars and Four Cylinders right now in the region. We have six divisions of Late Models (Open/UMP, IMCA, Crate, Darlington Limited, USRA Limited and WISSOTA), we have IMCA, USRA, WISSOTA and UMP Modifieds, we have B-Modifieds, Sport Mods, E-Mods and Midwest Mods, we have Sport Compacts and "Outlaw" Four Cylinders not to mention Trucks, Mod Lites, Mini Mods and the assortment of Sprint Car and midget classes. At least the differences in the USRA and IMCA Stock Cars are minimal enough that drivers can run both, but do you see where I am going with this? If you don't, a friend of mine on Facebook David Schlise made a comment this weekend that sums it up pretty well. "we need another class like we need a hole in the head" and that was in regard to whomever is out there pushing this thing right now.
I haven't heard how the meeting went but the first question that I would have would be can you define "several"? When the track had their meeting a couple of years ago to discuss the new Crate Late Model class there were 18 to 20 drivers who showed an interest with some having old cars still in their possession. We are still waiting for about ten of those to make their first appearance so if you have thirty-five or forty drivers who are saying that they want to have the Outlaw Hobby Stocks back then by all means move forward. But if that number is in the ten to twenty range, as history shows that is not "several" enough to add another division unless the plan is to drop one of the five classes that you already have. Oh yeah, and if you want the Crate Late Model class to grow, try using a lineup format similar to your other classes rather than the draw/redraw.
Remember, just the opinions of an over anesthetized grumpy old man! I think that Tyler Erb is one the most exciting young drivers to watch on the national Late Model scene and that the Lee County Speedway is one of the five best tracks that I have ever been to anywhere and that I am lucky to have it within twenty-five miles from home. Perhaps that is why I am holding both to a higher standard.
Next up?
Promoters, if you are shutting down your season early, or getting out of the business completely, don't go on social media and point the blame at the drama on social media as being the reason for your decision! Why? Because it only creates more drama on social media!
We get it, you work your ass off to put on a show, you have officials who make decisions that in every case are going to have someone that is going to feel like they were jobbed, Mother Nature throws a monkey wrench into things, you have lost money and all you see are people snipping at this or that so you decide that you are done. Just walk away from it, there is no need to write a missive about how social media is killing racing, its been done and all that you are going to get are a bunch of people who apparently feel that you just can't take some "constructive criticism". Because you see, that is all there really is out there, just some well informed people with nothing but good intentions who want to point out to you how you can improve your track and your racing program so that not only themselves, but the many others who should value their thoughts can benefit by attending your track after you make the changes that they suggest. And that Mr. Promoter is why they provide their feedback on a forum board, through Twitter or on Facebook rather than speaking to you personally about these issues.
Some recent valuable feedback recently found on Facebook.....
Maybe its time to be done promoting the speedway. This right here shows that you are not in it for the racers or the fans - Posted after the promoters of the Quad City Speedway announced that after the final scheduled race of the season had been completed that they would not be having any September races that they had been considering.
You need to run the Super Late Models through September. I still have three punches on my card - Posted by a driver after the new owners at Quincy announced that they were dropping the division due to a car count that had dwindled to five at the last show. That driver was not one of the five by the way.
and what happened to 24 car guarantee for each feature not one race had 24 cars in it friday - Posted as the Shelby County Speedway announced that Saturday's portion of the Tiny Lund Memorial had been rained out. The only thing that I can think of is that a flyer for the event must have been put out there at some point showing the payout for the feature race in each class and that somehow this individual took that as the track guaranteeing that they would have at least 24 cars in every class.
And these were just three that stood out the most to me of all of the smart, intelligent feedback provided as "constructive criticism" to the promoters of their choice. Please....
Please, please, please as a reader of the Back Stretch, please do not be one of these people. I'd like to think that I attract a better class of crowd.
So now let's get to some good stuff!
Jason and Robert Goble have definitely spiffed up the Quincy Raceways in the few short weeks that they have had ownership and that was obvious as soon as I pulled into the facility for Sunday night's race for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Not only have they removed some old buildings, they have painted the ones that remain, but what made the biggest impression on me was the track preparation. Dash winner John Schulz was quick to point out that he had been to Quincy several times in the past, but on this night the track was in the best shape that he had ever seen it and the comment prompted a big round of applause from the crowd. Drivers in all divisions were able to race from the bottom to the top from the heat races all the way through the features and amazingly even with the winged sprints on hand there was little if any dust.
Jon Agan came from the sixth starting spot to take the win setting up a battle with Jamie Ball for the Sprint Invader championship this coming Saturday night at 34 Raceway near Burlington. And don't forget that the Quincy Raceways will be racing every Sunday night through October 22nd so make sure that you get down there at least once to see what's going on with the new owners.
Now back to feeling near 100% I am hoping to take advantage of this hot early Fall weather and get to at least two races this weekend. One of course will be on Saturday night with the Sprint Invaders as 34 Raceway closes out its 2017 campaign then, on Sunday evening, the Bill Waite Jr. Memorial at the LaSalle Speedway has my attention with the unique combination of Open Late Model, IRA Sprints and Badger Midgets. In addition I have convinced my wife that she needs to host one last pool party for her friends on Friday afternoon since it is supposed to be 90 degrees with my hope being that she will then release me to go racing that night as well where I will need to choose from several solid options.
Take advantage of this warm weather and attend a race of your choice this weekend and, if you have an idea that you think might make a future race there even better, introduce yourself to the promoter, shake his or her hand and let them know in person because that is really the only way that you have a chance for them to make that change.
See you on the Back Stretch!
As I mentioned in my story from Friday night, I should not have traveled ninety miles each way to go to Knoxville. My head was pounding, I was dizzy at times and I vowed that I would never again leave the house for a race thinking that I would actually feel better once I got there. But even with all that going on I still enjoyed the racing because it is absolutely the best format there is if you are a fan that wants to see action from the drop of the green in heat one to the final checkered flag of the night. I won't go through the whole explanation other than this. Under a point system that is used at both the Sprint Car and Late Model Nationals drivers need to post fast qualifying times, then with an eight car invert they must pass cars in their heat to advance to the feature and then race hard for every spot in the feature to gain those valuable points as well, In other words, no pulling off if you are running 20th mid-race because those two points that you gain by getting to 19th might be the difference in making Saturday's main event.
This format is polar opposite to most big time Super Late Model races where you go out and set a quick qualifying time to start on the front of your heat race where an easy win then lands you on the pole of the feature which is why, when you read the race summary at the majority of these events, you will see that the winner went "flag to flag" like it was some kind of big accomplishment.
During Friday's B-Main a last lap skirmish for the final transfer position went to young Texan Tyler Erb after he successfully blocked Hall of Famer Billy Moyer who ended up in the fence in turn three. I don't fault Erb for making his car extra wide on that final lap and I am guessing that at some point over his brilliant career Moyer has had to do the same and that is why it was no more than a snippet in the Notes section of Friday's Back Stretch. Then I see this conversation that Shane Walters of Racing News had with Tyler Erb. It is a discussion of the Friday night incident with Moyer, but to frame it Erb puts himself in to my list of "I'm Fast Start Me Up Front" whiners by stating "We qualified good, but then the invert penalizes you for the most part. Everybody's the same speed and it's really hard to make up any points. You just get buried in the heat race."
Well of course this sent me to the results from both Thursday and Friday night to see just how this driver compared with others who were racing under the same format. On Thursday Erb qualified fourth in his group meaning that he would start seventh in his heat race where he then finished seventh. Just a reminder, the six cars lined up in front of him all posted slower qualifying times. How did some of the other drivers do in their heat races that night? Jonathan Davenport, Don O'Neal and Mike Marlar all started eighth and won! Josh Richards won his heat from sixth, Jimmy Owens came from eighth to second, Jared Landers advanced from seventh to the third and final transfer spot from his heat race and young Hudson O'Neal in his first ever race at the historic half-mile started sixth and finished second.
On Friday night Tyler Erb qualified eighth in his group putting him in the sixth starting spot in his heat race. Where did he finish? Sixth. Did everybody else pretty much finish where they had to start under that "penalizing" invert? Nope. Marlar and Richards won from eighth, Darrell Lanigan almost crashed in a three-wide scuffle early, but still won his heat from seventh. Second-place finishers Rodney Sanders, Jimmy Mars and Tim McCreadie all started sixth while Chris Simpson did them one better coming from seventh. Brandon Sheppard won his heat from fifth and that Hudson O'Neal kid came from fourth to win his heat. I have a few more examples, but I think you get the point. If you are going to complain about an invert penalizing you, maybe you should check to see if you were perhaps one of the few that couldn't race your way forward on either night. Then again this is a driver who races with a series that, with straight up starts in heat races, he is used to finishing where he started just as he did here at Knoxville on Thursday and Friday night.
Despite another successful event, Knoxville is getting all kinds of "suggestions" from the internet experts as to how to improve the show, so I am going to add one as well. With the car counts down into the fifties do away with the Group A & B qualifying with then six heat races and do it just like the Sprints where the drivers all qualify together and only one driver earns that valuable 200 points in qualifying. Then run your normal five heat races, each with an eight car invert, where the top four move on to the feature, the next four to the B-Main, etc. This way drivers like Tyler Erb who was actually ninth fastest overall on Thursday and 19th on the overall qualifying charts for Friday might actually appreciate the invert rather than consider it a penalty. Plus, when Marlar, Davenport, Richards, Landers, Simpson, Owens, McCreadie, the O'Neals and others go blowing by him maybe he will realize that he needs to step up his game a bit rather than complaining about the format to some blogger.
If you check out more of the Racing News coverage of Knoxville you will see another story where Jason Feger questions the track preparation leading me to think that Shane Walters needs to hang out with some happy drivers from time to time as well.
Who can I piss off next? How about my friends at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson who this past weekend held a meeting to discuss the possibilities of having an Outlaw Hobby Stock class next year. Why? Because reportedly they have had several drivers show an interest, some of them who still apparently have cars sitting around from when the class was dropped due to low car counts a few years back. Okay, so this is not a knock on the class itself, but simply the concept of adding yet another racing division period. First of all there is already a Hobby Stock class of cars in the area, so adding another rules version will just spread things out even further because we don't have just Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Stock Cars and Four Cylinders right now in the region. We have six divisions of Late Models (Open/UMP, IMCA, Crate, Darlington Limited, USRA Limited and WISSOTA), we have IMCA, USRA, WISSOTA and UMP Modifieds, we have B-Modifieds, Sport Mods, E-Mods and Midwest Mods, we have Sport Compacts and "Outlaw" Four Cylinders not to mention Trucks, Mod Lites, Mini Mods and the assortment of Sprint Car and midget classes. At least the differences in the USRA and IMCA Stock Cars are minimal enough that drivers can run both, but do you see where I am going with this? If you don't, a friend of mine on Facebook David Schlise made a comment this weekend that sums it up pretty well. "we need another class like we need a hole in the head" and that was in regard to whomever is out there pushing this thing right now.
I haven't heard how the meeting went but the first question that I would have would be can you define "several"? When the track had their meeting a couple of years ago to discuss the new Crate Late Model class there were 18 to 20 drivers who showed an interest with some having old cars still in their possession. We are still waiting for about ten of those to make their first appearance so if you have thirty-five or forty drivers who are saying that they want to have the Outlaw Hobby Stocks back then by all means move forward. But if that number is in the ten to twenty range, as history shows that is not "several" enough to add another division unless the plan is to drop one of the five classes that you already have. Oh yeah, and if you want the Crate Late Model class to grow, try using a lineup format similar to your other classes rather than the draw/redraw.
Remember, just the opinions of an over anesthetized grumpy old man! I think that Tyler Erb is one the most exciting young drivers to watch on the national Late Model scene and that the Lee County Speedway is one of the five best tracks that I have ever been to anywhere and that I am lucky to have it within twenty-five miles from home. Perhaps that is why I am holding both to a higher standard.
Next up?
Promoters, if you are shutting down your season early, or getting out of the business completely, don't go on social media and point the blame at the drama on social media as being the reason for your decision! Why? Because it only creates more drama on social media!
We get it, you work your ass off to put on a show, you have officials who make decisions that in every case are going to have someone that is going to feel like they were jobbed, Mother Nature throws a monkey wrench into things, you have lost money and all you see are people snipping at this or that so you decide that you are done. Just walk away from it, there is no need to write a missive about how social media is killing racing, its been done and all that you are going to get are a bunch of people who apparently feel that you just can't take some "constructive criticism". Because you see, that is all there really is out there, just some well informed people with nothing but good intentions who want to point out to you how you can improve your track and your racing program so that not only themselves, but the many others who should value their thoughts can benefit by attending your track after you make the changes that they suggest. And that Mr. Promoter is why they provide their feedback on a forum board, through Twitter or on Facebook rather than speaking to you personally about these issues.
Some recent valuable feedback recently found on Facebook.....
Maybe its time to be done promoting the speedway. This right here shows that you are not in it for the racers or the fans - Posted after the promoters of the Quad City Speedway announced that after the final scheduled race of the season had been completed that they would not be having any September races that they had been considering.
You need to run the Super Late Models through September. I still have three punches on my card - Posted by a driver after the new owners at Quincy announced that they were dropping the division due to a car count that had dwindled to five at the last show. That driver was not one of the five by the way.
and what happened to 24 car guarantee for each feature not one race had 24 cars in it friday - Posted as the Shelby County Speedway announced that Saturday's portion of the Tiny Lund Memorial had been rained out. The only thing that I can think of is that a flyer for the event must have been put out there at some point showing the payout for the feature race in each class and that somehow this individual took that as the track guaranteeing that they would have at least 24 cars in every class.
And these were just three that stood out the most to me of all of the smart, intelligent feedback provided as "constructive criticism" to the promoters of their choice. Please....
Please, please, please as a reader of the Back Stretch, please do not be one of these people. I'd like to think that I attract a better class of crowd.
So now let's get to some good stuff!
Jason and Robert Goble have definitely spiffed up the Quincy Raceways in the few short weeks that they have had ownership and that was obvious as soon as I pulled into the facility for Sunday night's race for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Not only have they removed some old buildings, they have painted the ones that remain, but what made the biggest impression on me was the track preparation. Dash winner John Schulz was quick to point out that he had been to Quincy several times in the past, but on this night the track was in the best shape that he had ever seen it and the comment prompted a big round of applause from the crowd. Drivers in all divisions were able to race from the bottom to the top from the heat races all the way through the features and amazingly even with the winged sprints on hand there was little if any dust.
Jon Agan came from the sixth starting spot to take the win setting up a battle with Jamie Ball for the Sprint Invader championship this coming Saturday night at 34 Raceway near Burlington. And don't forget that the Quincy Raceways will be racing every Sunday night through October 22nd so make sure that you get down there at least once to see what's going on with the new owners.
Now back to feeling near 100% I am hoping to take advantage of this hot early Fall weather and get to at least two races this weekend. One of course will be on Saturday night with the Sprint Invaders as 34 Raceway closes out its 2017 campaign then, on Sunday evening, the Bill Waite Jr. Memorial at the LaSalle Speedway has my attention with the unique combination of Open Late Model, IRA Sprints and Badger Midgets. In addition I have convinced my wife that she needs to host one last pool party for her friends on Friday afternoon since it is supposed to be 90 degrees with my hope being that she will then release me to go racing that night as well where I will need to choose from several solid options.
Take advantage of this warm weather and attend a race of your choice this weekend and, if you have an idea that you think might make a future race there even better, introduce yourself to the promoter, shake his or her hand and let them know in person because that is really the only way that you have a chance for them to make that change.
See you on the Back Stretch!
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Friday Night Is "Perfect" For Marlar At Knoxville
Defending Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals Champion Mike Marlar set himself up for a possible repeat by posting a perfect score during Friday night's qualifying action setting quick time in his group, winning his heat race and then taking the 25-lap main event. This followed up a Thursday night performance that was equally impressive until an early incident in the feature making Marlar the man to beat as the Crown Jewel event wraps up tonight at the Knoxville Raceway.
With Rodney Sanders giving up the pole position after smoking a motor late in his heat race, Brandon Sheppard would line up next to Tim McCreadie on the front row for Friday's main event with McCreadie holding the lead on lap one. Sheppard would come back to take the lead on lap two and those two would separate themselves from the field over the first ten laps. As Sheppard closed in on traffic McCreadie would close the gap to within a car length and was set to challenge when Jason Feger and Boom Briggs tangled exiting turn two sending Briggs for a spin right in front of the leaders.
The lap fourteen caution would bring the field back to Sheppard and McCreadie with Mike Marlar, Josh Richards and Chris Simpson, who were previously racing hard for third, now with the front back in sight. McCreadie would take the lead from Sheppard with seven laps remaining just before the caution waved for Jared Landers who had spun the Larry Mooring owned car at the exit of turn four.
For this restart Sheppard and Marlar would go side-by-side behind McCreadie with Marlar setting sail on the cushion to take the lead with five to go. There would be no touching the Tennessee driver from there as he captured the $7,000 win ahead of McCreadie, Richards, Sheppard and Simpson.
It is interesting the parallels that can be drawn between Knoxville's Sprint Car and Late Model Nationals. In 2016 the Thursday night show at each event was threatened by weather with both races being hustled through to complete before 9:30 and beat the rain. This year, on the second night of qualifying at the Sprint Car Nationals David Gravel posted a perfect score and on night two of qualifying for the Late Models Mike Marlar tallies a 500 point night. Now Marlar will hope for a better Saturday night outcome as Gravel suffered mechanical issues after leading the first twenty-two laps of the Sprint Car championship main event.
Friday Notes.....Marlar's perfect score was aided by Rodney Sanders' mechanical woes as Sanders appeared to have the win in the first heat well in hand until smoke started to trail from his car with two laps to go allowing Marlar to take the win.....Sixteen-year-old Hudson O'Neal was impressive winning heat two, a race where the two fastest qualifiers Jimmy Owens and Dale McDowell failed to transfer.....Shannon Babb drove around front row starter Randy Timms coming to the green to take the lead in heat three, but he then faded to third until the final lap when Iowa's Tyler Bruening nipped him for the third and final transfer spot......The fourth heat race was absolutely stacked with talent and it would be an impressive win for Chase Junghans over Tim McCreadie. After a poor qualifying lap Bobby Pierce started from the pole and finished third while Jonathan Davenport punched a ticket to the B-Main in fourth and Scott Bloomquist found himself headed to the C-Main after finishing seventh.....Thursday's winner Josh Richards won the fifth heat as Chris Simpson made a late charge up to second......The sixth heat had a close call when Darrell Lanigan, Earl Pearson Jr. and Don O'Neal went three wide down the front stretch with contact sending all three drivers scrambling to maintain control. Lanigan kept his foot on the throttle though and scored an impressive win......Knowing that he already had a Thursday point total that would put him in the show Bloomquist must have been trying some other stuff tonight as he finished second to Dennis Erb Jr. in the C-Main and then only made it up to 17th in the B. Don't be surprised to see him challenging for the win on Saturday though as he will roll off twelfth......With only one car in G.R. Smith's hauler, Jonathan Davenport needed to be careful tonight after having the best point total on Thursday and when something broke in the driveline on the opening lap of the B-Main he was lucky to be able to bring the car back to the pits in one piece. Davenport was running second coming off of turn four before slowing up near the guardrail and there were several close calls as drivers narrowly missed him as the caution waved.....Six drivers would transfer from the B-Main and it would be a talented bunch with Don O'Neal, Jimmy Owens, Earl Pearson Jr., Dale McDowell and Chad Simpson in the top five. Tyler Erb threw a couple of big blocks on Billy Moyer during the final lap to hold on to the sixth and final transfer position as Moyer ended up in the turn three guardrail.....The first attempt to start the feature was a sloppy one as Sheppard and McCreadie brought the field to green at a very slow pace and when they were both slow to get on the throttle at the stripe the accordion effect took hold with Don O'Neal and Earl Pearson Jr. both suffering damage.
Marlar and Davenport will start from the front row in tonight's 100-lap finale and while I would love to be there I realized last night that after being put under twice this week for surgery to remove a kidney stone that perhaps a trip to the race track wasn't a wise decision. Obviously at the age of 54 I do not bounce back like I used to so I will take tonight off to rest up for Sunday night's visit to Quincy by the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Hope to see you there!
With Rodney Sanders giving up the pole position after smoking a motor late in his heat race, Brandon Sheppard would line up next to Tim McCreadie on the front row for Friday's main event with McCreadie holding the lead on lap one. Sheppard would come back to take the lead on lap two and those two would separate themselves from the field over the first ten laps. As Sheppard closed in on traffic McCreadie would close the gap to within a car length and was set to challenge when Jason Feger and Boom Briggs tangled exiting turn two sending Briggs for a spin right in front of the leaders.
The lap fourteen caution would bring the field back to Sheppard and McCreadie with Mike Marlar, Josh Richards and Chris Simpson, who were previously racing hard for third, now with the front back in sight. McCreadie would take the lead from Sheppard with seven laps remaining just before the caution waved for Jared Landers who had spun the Larry Mooring owned car at the exit of turn four.
For this restart Sheppard and Marlar would go side-by-side behind McCreadie with Marlar setting sail on the cushion to take the lead with five to go. There would be no touching the Tennessee driver from there as he captured the $7,000 win ahead of McCreadie, Richards, Sheppard and Simpson.
It is interesting the parallels that can be drawn between Knoxville's Sprint Car and Late Model Nationals. In 2016 the Thursday night show at each event was threatened by weather with both races being hustled through to complete before 9:30 and beat the rain. This year, on the second night of qualifying at the Sprint Car Nationals David Gravel posted a perfect score and on night two of qualifying for the Late Models Mike Marlar tallies a 500 point night. Now Marlar will hope for a better Saturday night outcome as Gravel suffered mechanical issues after leading the first twenty-two laps of the Sprint Car championship main event.
Friday Notes.....Marlar's perfect score was aided by Rodney Sanders' mechanical woes as Sanders appeared to have the win in the first heat well in hand until smoke started to trail from his car with two laps to go allowing Marlar to take the win.....Sixteen-year-old Hudson O'Neal was impressive winning heat two, a race where the two fastest qualifiers Jimmy Owens and Dale McDowell failed to transfer.....Shannon Babb drove around front row starter Randy Timms coming to the green to take the lead in heat three, but he then faded to third until the final lap when Iowa's Tyler Bruening nipped him for the third and final transfer spot......The fourth heat race was absolutely stacked with talent and it would be an impressive win for Chase Junghans over Tim McCreadie. After a poor qualifying lap Bobby Pierce started from the pole and finished third while Jonathan Davenport punched a ticket to the B-Main in fourth and Scott Bloomquist found himself headed to the C-Main after finishing seventh.....Thursday's winner Josh Richards won the fifth heat as Chris Simpson made a late charge up to second......The sixth heat had a close call when Darrell Lanigan, Earl Pearson Jr. and Don O'Neal went three wide down the front stretch with contact sending all three drivers scrambling to maintain control. Lanigan kept his foot on the throttle though and scored an impressive win......Knowing that he already had a Thursday point total that would put him in the show Bloomquist must have been trying some other stuff tonight as he finished second to Dennis Erb Jr. in the C-Main and then only made it up to 17th in the B. Don't be surprised to see him challenging for the win on Saturday though as he will roll off twelfth......With only one car in G.R. Smith's hauler, Jonathan Davenport needed to be careful tonight after having the best point total on Thursday and when something broke in the driveline on the opening lap of the B-Main he was lucky to be able to bring the car back to the pits in one piece. Davenport was running second coming off of turn four before slowing up near the guardrail and there were several close calls as drivers narrowly missed him as the caution waved.....Six drivers would transfer from the B-Main and it would be a talented bunch with Don O'Neal, Jimmy Owens, Earl Pearson Jr., Dale McDowell and Chad Simpson in the top five. Tyler Erb threw a couple of big blocks on Billy Moyer during the final lap to hold on to the sixth and final transfer position as Moyer ended up in the turn three guardrail.....The first attempt to start the feature was a sloppy one as Sheppard and McCreadie brought the field to green at a very slow pace and when they were both slow to get on the throttle at the stripe the accordion effect took hold with Don O'Neal and Earl Pearson Jr. both suffering damage.
Marlar and Davenport will start from the front row in tonight's 100-lap finale and while I would love to be there I realized last night that after being put under twice this week for surgery to remove a kidney stone that perhaps a trip to the race track wasn't a wise decision. Obviously at the age of 54 I do not bounce back like I used to so I will take tonight off to rest up for Sunday night's visit to Quincy by the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
In Case You Were Wondering......
Two of the biggest weekends in dirt track racing have come and gone and there has been nothing new on the Back Stretch. I have good reasons!
Over Labor Day weekend, when the Yankee Dirt Classic and other traditional events were being staged, Christine and I made the drive down to Dallas to meet our first grandchild Watson Jeffrey Wick! He's a big boy born on August 14th at 8 pounds 13 ounces and 23 inches long and he has already stolen our hearts. I will be missing another race weekend in early October to go back and see just how much he has grown.
Then, this past weekend with the IMCA Super Nationals and the World 100 among other big events going on, Christine and I traveled to Kalamazoo for our daughter Ashley's wedding. I believe that I have bragged about Ashley here before as she is the Biological Research Director at the Kalamazoo Nature Center and that is where we had the wedding. The ceremony was held at an outdoor amphitheater and it rained on us during the rehearsal the evening before and all the way until noon the day of. Then the skies cleared and it was an absolutely gorgeous night for the wedding with Ashley pointing out that when you are nice to nature, she will always smile upon you.
The wedding party walked nearly a quarter of a mile to emerge from the woods for the ceremony and we then had the reception in the barn where they have the Summer Camp for area students. It was a wedding that was uniquely Ashley and we had several people tell us that it was the best ever.
During my speech one of the memories that I recalled was when Ashley worked with me as the Event Volunteer Coordinator for the NKF Tour races where this little sixteen-year-old girl organized volunteers from the local dialysis units to sell 50-50 tickets and raise money for those who were battling kidney disease. She always did a great job, but the best part of it for me was the fact that I was able to spend all of that time road-tripping to more than forty races with my teenage daughter. Not something that every father gets to experience!
I am now ready to get back into the swing of things from a racing standpoint with trips this week to both Knoxville and Quincy. I had hoped to make both qualifying nights at the Late Model Nationals but an uncooperative kidney stone decided that it wasn't ready to be removed today, so I have to go back in on Thursday. If all goes well then on Friday there will be no stopping me from attending one of the best night's of racing that you will ever find with the Late Model stars qualifying and then actually racing in deeply inverted heats, something that as far as I know you will only see at Knoxville!
On Sunday night I look forward to my first visit to the now Jason & Robert Goble owned Quincy Raceways as the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders take top billing for the evening. Reports are that the place has been spiffed up quite a bit and I heard that this past Sunday's show actually ended well before nine o'clock. Great job guys! Plus they have scheduled Sunday night racing all the way through October 22nd, something that I have missed since the good ol' days at Hawkeye Raceway near Blue Grass when they would run on Sundays in October. I plan to be back in Quincy often before the season closes and I hope that racers and fans alike who may have not been to Quincy this year, or ever before will give it a try.
With the World 100 in the books and the Knoxville Late Model Nationals coming up here are the top 200 in my National point standings. How many of these drivers will we see at Knoxville?
I may be a bit tender this weekend, but hopefully I will see you on the Back Stretch!
Over Labor Day weekend, when the Yankee Dirt Classic and other traditional events were being staged, Christine and I made the drive down to Dallas to meet our first grandchild Watson Jeffrey Wick! He's a big boy born on August 14th at 8 pounds 13 ounces and 23 inches long and he has already stolen our hearts. I will be missing another race weekend in early October to go back and see just how much he has grown.Then, this past weekend with the IMCA Super Nationals and the World 100 among other big events going on, Christine and I traveled to Kalamazoo for our daughter Ashley's wedding. I believe that I have bragged about Ashley here before as she is the Biological Research Director at the Kalamazoo Nature Center and that is where we had the wedding. The ceremony was held at an outdoor amphitheater and it rained on us during the rehearsal the evening before and all the way until noon the day of. Then the skies cleared and it was an absolutely gorgeous night for the wedding with Ashley pointing out that when you are nice to nature, she will always smile upon you.
The wedding party walked nearly a quarter of a mile to emerge from the woods for the ceremony and we then had the reception in the barn where they have the Summer Camp for area students. It was a wedding that was uniquely Ashley and we had several people tell us that it was the best ever.
During my speech one of the memories that I recalled was when Ashley worked with me as the Event Volunteer Coordinator for the NKF Tour races where this little sixteen-year-old girl organized volunteers from the local dialysis units to sell 50-50 tickets and raise money for those who were battling kidney disease. She always did a great job, but the best part of it for me was the fact that I was able to spend all of that time road-tripping to more than forty races with my teenage daughter. Not something that every father gets to experience!I am now ready to get back into the swing of things from a racing standpoint with trips this week to both Knoxville and Quincy. I had hoped to make both qualifying nights at the Late Model Nationals but an uncooperative kidney stone decided that it wasn't ready to be removed today, so I have to go back in on Thursday. If all goes well then on Friday there will be no stopping me from attending one of the best night's of racing that you will ever find with the Late Model stars qualifying and then actually racing in deeply inverted heats, something that as far as I know you will only see at Knoxville!
On Sunday night I look forward to my first visit to the now Jason & Robert Goble owned Quincy Raceways as the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders take top billing for the evening. Reports are that the place has been spiffed up quite a bit and I heard that this past Sunday's show actually ended well before nine o'clock. Great job guys! Plus they have scheduled Sunday night racing all the way through October 22nd, something that I have missed since the good ol' days at Hawkeye Raceway near Blue Grass when they would run on Sundays in October. I plan to be back in Quincy often before the season closes and I hope that racers and fans alike who may have not been to Quincy this year, or ever before will give it a try.
With the World 100 in the books and the Knoxville Late Model Nationals coming up here are the top 200 in my National point standings. How many of these drivers will we see at Knoxville?
I may be a bit tender this weekend, but hopefully I will see you on the Back Stretch!
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