Happy 52nd Birthday to my "little" brother Kurtis! He probably doesn't read the Back Stretch, but I know that a few of you readers know him so when you see him, wish him a happy birthday and tell him that you read it on the internet. It will mess with his mind....
The Super Modified Weekend at the Farley Speedway is the big news maker from this past weekend and not for the reasons that the promotional group was looking for, It was to be the second running of the big money show for Modifieds and Sport Mods and with Late Model stars Scott Bloomquist and Tim McCreadie on the entry list for the Mods they were hoping to pack the place both Friday and Saturday. The problem though is that Mother Nature had other plans as a pesky stationery front setup shop and wavered just to the south of the northeast Iowa track meaning that while I was announcing in dry and warm conditions at Donnellson Friday night, the opening night of the Farley event just over two hours to the north was plagued by misty rain and a temperature in the mid-40's.
From all reports the conditions were miserable and while they were able to complete both sets of heat races for the 32 Sport Mods on hand, the 76 Modifieds appear to have completed their first set of heats plus one from the second round before it became too wet to race any further. The weather was not any better on Saturday and I am told that the plug was pulled around noon giving drivers time to scatter out and get to other tracks in the region where the weather was more favorable for racing.
The debate now of course on social media is about how this situation should all be handled with most of it based upon people saying "I heard this", or "this is what is going to happen" even though there has been no official announcement as of yet from Farley Speedway Promotions. For those drivers, fans, pay-per-view purchasers and others who just want to stoke the flames I ask that you go back and read this entry that I wrote in July of 2017 and if you take only one thing away from it, I hope that it is this:
"put yourself in the shoes of the decision maker(s) and think about the big picture rather than just how it effects you"
Before you go and complain about the decision......how about you wait for the actual decision? Then if you still don't like it, well then have at it and we will see if these gentlemen decide if it is all worth the risk and aggravation to schedule this event again in 2019.
Twenty IMCA Stock Cars were at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night and wow, did they ever put on a show for a nice crowd in attendance! Lead changes, three and four wide action, a little bumping and banging leading to some momentary hard feelings, but when it was all said and done I would have to think that every driver in that race, in the front, middle or back, would have to be proud of that one. At a time when there is a concern about the future of weekly racing it was a great event to witness and, even better, I haven't seen a single bit of video on it circulating the internet this week! Yes, I know that many of you think that is a bad thing but I disagree. If you want to see another great race at Donnellson you have to actually go there this Friday night, and perhaps again next Friday May 25th when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders join the card and see it for yourself. And don't watch it through your phone so that somebody at home can see some poor quality video of the lead pack only on Facebook Live. Instead leave your phone in your pocket, scan the full field and let your focus move back and forth to catch all of the great racing action. Then later when your friends ask why you weren't live streaming tell them that they should just join you at the track instead and make it "Facebook Dead".
I was also encouraged to see the Lee County Late Model car count grow to eleven on Friday night. Veteran driver Ron Boyse was back for the second time this season while Aric Becker, Brandon Queen and Darin Weisinger Jr. all made their debut. Becker raced at Shiverfest to close out 2017 and so this was his second time out here with his Late Model. Queen who is the son of former Sportsman driver Alan Queen ran a couple of IMCA sanctioned events a year or two ago and the seventeen-year-old Weisinger has been racing a Sport Compact the past two seasons. Look for Boyse to snag a win in the near future and all three of the newbies showed some promise on Friday night. Hopefully the track will continue to add to the car count in the division that is now in its third season.
Twelve-time All Iowa Points Champion Terry McCarl was involved in a terrible accident at the start of the 410 Sprint Car feature at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday night and thank goodness that he was able to walk away slowly, but under his own power. The safety equipment did its job as the veteran driver escaped serious injury. You can stay up to date on T-Mac and his sons Austin and Carson through their websites and if you check out the author of those releases you will notice why I am the proud father.
The First Lady of Sprint Car racing at Knoxville McKenna Haase did it again Saturday night as she notched her first career feature win in the 360 division. "Sassy" is the only female driver to win a feature at the historic track and has done it in the 305 class as well. We hope to see her back with the Sprint Invaders at both Donnellson on May 25th and at 34 Raceway on Sunday May 27th as she has registered with the series and is the leader in the Rookie-of-the-Year race after one event.
I had some other notes to share, but time has run out on me as I need to load up and head to Oskaloosa for racing tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The weather is perfect on this Wednesday night so I hope to see you there!
No comments:
Post a Comment