Back Stretch 2017 Recap and Memories

After ironically attending exactly 66 race nights during each of the past three season I was able to eclipse that mark in 2017 by making it 71 shows. Nearly all of them were enjoyable with my season stretching from the first weekend in March all the way through the Sunday before Thanksgiving and while I am already looking forward to 2018 I am anticipating a reduction in my numbers for next year.

The 71 race nights came at 29 different tracks in seven different states with the Knoxville Raceway once again leading the way with eleven race nights. The Lee County Speedway in Donnellson was close behind with nine while I was at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa eight times. With the distinct possibility that there will be no weekly racing Osky in 2018 that is one of the reasons I am projecting fewer race nights.

I was at 34 Raceway in Burlington six times, the Quincy Raceways four times and I made three trips each to Vinton, Dubuque, West Liberty and Memphis, Missouri. The CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction was my only track with two visits while I also made one stop at each of the following: Davenport, Eldon, Britt, and Tipton in Iowa. Farmer City, East Moline, Knoxville, LaSalle, Granite City and Rockford in Illinois. Grain Valley, Winston and Springfield in Missouri. Beatrice and Eagle in Nebraska. Montpelier and Gas City in Indiana and Clarksville, Tennessee. The only "new to me" track that I visited in 2017 was "The Cage" the Atchison County Raceway in Atchison, Kansas.

At first I wanted to share with you the links to my five favorite events of the past season, but that proved to be too hard to narrow it down so it grew to being a Top Ten list for 2017. These are in chronological order and are not "ranked" per se, just the ten events that stood out the most to me after I read through the archives for 2017.

A show has to be pretty darn good to leave a favorable impression when the temperature is near freezing and my March trip to Beatrice did just that, aided perhaps by the disappointment that I had suffered the weekend before.

Controversy over the sanctioning body quietly pulling out and an inexperienced Crate driver who wanted to collect some easy tow money overshadowed what was another great night of racing at the Slocum 50. The 10th Annual Slocum 50 will now be an MLRA event and will be held on April 21st, hopefully without any threat from Mother Nature!

The Dubuque Speedway has long been one of my favorite tracks and the April Deery Brothers show was just another reason why. With the announcement from the Farley Speedway Promotions crew this past Friday one has to wonder if the Deery Series will be back again in 2018 at Dubuque, or anywhere.

How often can you say that the support classes stole the show? That was definitely the case when the MLRA brought their "new" group qualifying procedure to Donnellson for the first time in May and while the Late Models were a bit ho hum, the support classes saved the day. Word is that the MLRA will go back to their traditional passing points method of putting on a show in 2018, but I have not seen anything official on that yet. If they do, they won't need to have the support classes carry them again in May at LCS.

Start him the front or start him mid-pack, Justin Kay proved that he could win from anywhere when the Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models and Arnold Motor Supply Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds made their Tuesday night visit to West Liberty in June. There may be changes in the air for the IMCA Modifieds in 2018 as well with a "Dirt Knights" Tour perhaps replacing or enhancing the HDT.

As long as I am able to attend you can pretty much count on the Hogan Memorial being on this list each year as it brings together the "racing family" like no other event. And it doesn't hurt that the actual racing is usually phenomenal as well.

After having so much fun the Sunday before I went right back up to Vinton on July 9th for another spectacular night of short track racing.

Okay, so this next one is actually two nights of open wheel racing that are combined into one story. First it was perhaps the closest feature finish that I saw all season during the Sprint Invaders annual visit to the Cedar County Fair in Tipton and then it was a great father/son experience at the Valley Speedway just east of Kansas City.

This next one made the list just as much for the historical relevance that it might have as well as the controversy at the end of the night. Hopefully it was not the final Wednesday night of weekly racing at Oskaloosa.

And the tenth event on the list of my favorites for 2017 has an unfair advantage since I was in on the start of it back in 1999 and I was proud to promote it along with Terry and Jenni Hoenig for several years. This year Shiverfest was faced with a brutally cold weather forecast and while all but one of the other events in the region that were scheduled for that weekend canceled early, the Lee County Speedway pressed on and due to the tradition that this event still has 117 drivers came from near and far to compete. Here's hoping that LCS is rewarded with an unseasonably warm day for Shiverfest in 2018.

Trust me, paring down this list to just ten was not easy and there were probably at least forty other events that nearly made the cut and that is a good thing. It means that I had a great time going to the races and while change is in the air for 2018 around the region you can bet that there will still be plenty of action around the tracks!

Enjoy the offseason and make sure that you check in on the Back Stretch often through the winter months!