Hurst Prevails In Deery Series Return To Vinton

The Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models returned to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton Thursday night for the first time since 2004 and after last night's show here's hoping that it will be less than a fourteen month hiatus this next time! The county fair atmosphere was fantastic, the car count at 33 was the highest of the season for the series thus far and the racing was fantastic on a track that started out a bit on the wet side, but by feature time was darn near perfect.

Rookie-of-the-Year contender Chad Coyne was impressive winning his heat race and in the Casey's Pizza redraw the other three heat race winners decided to put the kid on the pole. Coyne's car was leaving a faint trail of smoke during the parade lap though and it would be his fellow front row starter John Emerson who would jump to the lead at the start of the fifty-lap main event. Emerson was setting a blistering pace riding the thick cushion on both ends and Todd Cooney was keeping that pace before setting up for a challenge on lap twelve.

Cooney would put the slider on Emerson in turns one and two to take the lead only to have Emerson return the favor in turns three and four and just when we were about to be treated to another challenge from Cooney the caution waved for Darrel DeFrance who had spun at the exit of turn four. During that caution the pole-sitter Coyne stopped on the track and had to be pushed to the pit area, his night over after sticking in the top five for the first twelve laps.

On the restart from the grandstands it looked as though Cooney got his nose up under Emerson's rear bumper causing him to be slow on the go and as the green flag waved Tyler Bruening zipped around the outside to take the lead. Emerson would have none of that though as he charged right back under Bruening in turn three and then shut the door in four to maintain the lead as lap thirteen was scored. One lap later the caution waved again for a Joe Zrostlik spin and for the restart officials penalized Bruening two positions for jumping the previous restart. Obviously the view from the grandstands is not always accurate!

Once back to green it was Jeremiah Hurst who was on the move as he had come from the inside of row six to now join the battle for the lead. Working the low line to his advantage Hurst would take the lead from Emerson on lap twenty-three and one lap later Cooney would fall out of the mix for the top spot when he slipped off the topside of turn three dropping several positions from third.

Hurst would pull away from Emerson over the next several laps getting out to nearly a full straightaway advantage, but as the cushion continued to grow the high side got faster and soon Emerson was quickly cutting into that gap. With ten laps to go Emerson was back to within striking distance, but not only was that cushion fast it was also treacherous and when he pushed the limit just a bit too far Emerson got up and over it and quickly dropped to fifth.

Curt Martin and Justin Kay were now the drivers closing on the still low riding Hurst and with just a few laps remaining the leader now had to deal with the slower car of Tim Simpson. It took a couple of tries for Hurst to put Simpson a lap down and this gave Martin and Kay a shot, but as the leaders came to the white flag Hurst was able to get under Simpson and when he then moved up the track a bit entering turn one that stymied the high side challengers allowing Hurst to take the win without a last lap push. Martin and Kay would be close behind for second and third, Bruening maintained fourth and Andy Eckrich was fifth. Charlie McKenna came from twelfth to sixth at his hometown track, Cayden Carter was the hard charger of the night taking seventh after starting in the twenty-second position, Jeff Aikey was eighth, Ryan Dolan ninth and after one more brief trip over the cushion with five laps to go John Emerson finished tenth.

It was a full night of racing with five other classes also in action. Dallon Murty took the lead from Don Erger on lap two and then fought off a comeback bid from Erger on lap three before cruising to the win in the Micro Mod main event. In the Compacts Jake Benischek first tried the low line to get around leader Travis Losenicky with no success, so on lap seven he went to the high side to takeover the lead and go on to score his fifth win of the season here in Vinton. Losenicky held on for second, Bill Whalen Jr. was third, Barry Taft finished fourth and Luke Benischek rounded out the top five.

The fifteen lap Hobby Stock feature had some fireworks that sparked the crowd into a chorus of boos late in the race. Mike Kimm would lead the opening laps before current IMCA Hobby Stock National Points leader Leah Wroten drove by on the inside on lap five. Nathan Ballard had charged forward from the fifth row to follow Wroten into second and he would make contact with her on lap nine as the two battled for the lead. The caution waved a lap later when Kenzi Ritter's car dropped a driveshaft and on the restart the crowd cheered when Ballard slipped high in turn two and lost a couple of positions allowing Brett Vanuos to takeover second and pick up the challenge on Wroten.

The race for the lead was a good one and Vanuos would pass Wroten exiting turn four coming to the white flag only to have the caution come out soon after due to a spin just ahead of them in turn one. Ballard was now back to third for the restart and he would start to the outside of Vanuos on the first double row as Wroten would lead the field back to green going back to the last completed lap. Entering turn one Ballard tried a high to low move that went massively awry as he ran into the left rear of Vanuos thus sending him into the left rear of Wroten sending both cars for a spin as Ballard continued on to the jeers of the crowd. The caution waved and Ballard was sent to the pits. Wroten now had a flat left rear tire so she hustled to the pits to get that changed while Vanuos was given his spot back for the green-white-checkers restart.

Wroten made it back onto the track as the field came to green and Vanuos was able to hold off a late look by Matt Brown to take the unusual win. Brown finished second ahead of Justin Wacha and Scott Pippert who was driving Kyle Parizek's car for the evening. Wroten restarted tenth and got back to fifth in the final two laps.

The Sport Mods went sixteen laps non-stop on the fast, tacky surface with Danny Dvorak leading early. Tony Olson was having a blast riding the cushion and his car was working well as he sailed around Dvorak for the lead on lap five. Ben Chapman followed Olson into second and was trying to keep pace before dropping out of the race with just two laps remaining. It was all Tony Olson from there as he won comfortably over Joe Docekal and Tyler Soppe who had started seventh and twelfth respectively. Dvorak settled for fourth at the checkers while Kyle Olson wrapped up the top five.

After dropping out of the heat race with mechanical issues, Damon Murty made the necessary repairs and stormed through the field to win the sixteen lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Starting ninth out of ten Murty took the lead from John Oliver Jr. on lap ten and then pulled away for yet another win at Vinton. Oliver was second, Norman Chesmore was third, first lap leader Scooter Dulin finished fourth and Jerry Schipper took fifth.

A big thanks to promoter Mick Trier and his entire crew for the hospitality and to announcers Ryan Clark and Jeff Kropf for mentioning the representation from Positively Racing on the night. Make sure that you check out Danny Rosencrans' Racin' Down The Road and Ed Reichert's One Fan's Travels for their take on the night as well.

The Benton County Speedway will take this Sunday night off before returning with the biggest show of the year in Vinton, the 24th Annual Hogan Memorial on Tuesday July 3rd.

The next action for the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be that same night Tuesday July 3rd when the Late Models return to 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Three More Differences

Last week Ben Shelton posted a blog entry on his website One Dirt titled The Difference Between Being an Average or Great Announcer. I came across it when it was shared by a couple of announcers on Facebook, so not sure what exactly that means but that is beside the point. Ben truly is a great announcer and can definitely pen a column with this title and give this type of advice to other announcers.

Full disclosure, I am an old announcer. I haven't announced anywhere weekly since 1998 although I do work for the regional touring series the Sprint Invaders and I do fill in for friends from time to time when they cannot be on the job. All in all it equals about fifteen shows a year. Back in the day I considered myself to be a decent announcer as I seldom had any complaints and today due to the changes in how the internet has changed the sport, as I mentioned before I consider myself to be an "old announcer".

So rather than to offer my opinions as an announcer I will do this again as a general "fan in the stands" and these comments have been made before at one time or another on the Back Stretch so if you are a first time or infrequent visitor please feel free to read back through some of the stories here over the past nine years.

Announcing a dirt track race has changed over the past five or six years with more and more events either being shown live on pay per view or with highlights shown within hours after an event is completed on a website, either the track's own or another. My first extra "difference" though came well before that.

As Ben mentioned it is vitally important to have the sponsors for each driver as without their support we would have no racing. However, a Great Announcer needs to understand that there is a way to mention those sponsors in a manner where they will actually be recognized and perhaps remembered. If you are introducing the starting lineup for a heat race that has just come on to the track and will take the green next time you cannot sound like an auctioneer trying to get everybody's sponsor in as you do it.

"StartingonthepoleintheBlackDiamondChassisProPowernumber68sponsoredbyEddie'sBaitShopSimpsonRacingProductsCulver'sRestaurantsHighRidgeAmplifiersKurt'sUsedCasketsACDelcoandEverlastBatteriesfromPeculiarMissouriitsAceMcKinnon"

First of all, you have to read it off so fast that for those of us in the stands it is all just a blur anyway as we wait for the two bits of information that we really want to know, name and hometown, and second you will likely not even get past the second row before the green flag waves. A fan in the stands will always know who drives each car and where they are from when a Great Announcer is in action. Yes, all sponsors are important but unfortunately a Great Announcer will not be able to get each and every one mentioned every race night because if he does, none of them will truly be recognized.

Now on to the internet effect. Back in the day an announcer would either give the starting lineups before the cars were on the track or he would wait until the cars were on the back stretch so that he had the greatest chance of being heard by the fans in the stands. Today I see some of the best in the business totally forget about that. Why? Because it doesn't work well with the internet broadcast.

Lineups are not given until the cars hit the track and can have a camera on them and there is absolutely no consideration as to whether or not the fans in the stands can even hear them over the P.A. This is especially true during qualifying now and is the reason why most people in the stands have to have some App on their phone just so that they can get the qualifying times. And, since the announcer has kept everybody on the internet updated as to where each driver stands in the rundown he seldom if ever summarizes it to the fans in the stands when qualifying is over and all is now quiet. Some of our Great Announcers of today get that distinction from their online presence, for the fans in the stands not so much.

Finally, when there is a break in the action a Great Announcer will talk about the track's sponsors for the evening, he will preview upcoming events for the track and, or the series and as Ben mentioned he will interact with the fans in the stands to make coming out to the races just a little more special. All too often though the guy who has just spent $100 on gas, tickets and concessions for him, his wife and two kids to come and watch the races in person will hear the announcer give "shout outs" to someone who has tuned in from places near and far, or to a gathering of twenty or so fans who are at a bar where all are watching for the one low price of $24.95. A Great Announcer will remember that it is still the Fans In The Stands that make this sport go and if there is a need to welcome those who are watching online, turn the PA system off when doing so.

So there you have it, just a few more tips on how to be a Great Announcer in this day and age from an old guy who is more than happy to be a Fan in the Stands. Now we will see if a few good announcers share this link :)

See you tonight in Vinton!

Finally Back To Action at Osky; Agee, Anderson, Griffiths and Housley Find Victory Lane

After two rainouts and a week off due to racing at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa was back in action Wednesday night for the first time since May 30th and it was obvious that race fans were anxious to see some action as a nice crowd gathered on a warm evening. The car counts were good as well despite the fact that a couple of regulars including divisional point leaders Cayden Carter and Eric Stanton had chosen to compete in a big money race up the road in Webster City.

The Sport Compacts were up first come feature time and it would be Trent Orwig racing out to the lead on the opening lap. As he entered turn three on the second circuit though there was a puff of smoke before he spun in his own fluids bringing out the caution. On the restart Barry Taft moved to the front and he would quickly open about a half straightaway advantage before Brandon Housley cleared himself from the pack and moved to second. As the winner of the last several features here at Osky Housley had started from tenth and his task was to now chase down the defending all Iowa Points Champion in just six remaining laps. Housely was up to the challenge as he erased the gap and made his first bid for the lead with two laps to go. Taft was able to fight that one off, but Housley came back at him again on the inside of turn four and coming to the white flag you had a new leader. Taft fought back in turn one only to come up short as Housley continued his winning streak in impressive fashion. Taft was second, Austin Kaplan also came from the fifth row to take third and Cody Phillips edged out his teammate Kyle Boyd to finish fourth.

The Stock Cars were up next for eighteen laps with pole sitter Derrick Agee getting the jump on the field until the caution waved on lap five for a stalled Dustin Griffiths. With the leader hugging the bottom on the restart Scott Dickey tried out a little higher line and found it to his liking as he drove around Agee to take the point on lap six. In true Southern Iowa Speedway Stock Car fashion the race for the lead stayed tight as Agee came right back on the bottom and the two crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat with seven laps to go. Add into the mix that Mike Hughes was right behind them looking for room and it was a great three car battle for the win. Agee's low line would come back to life as he returned to the lead on lap twelve and when Hughes made his move on Dickey for second there was a bit of door slammin' entering turn one.

Hughes would take the spot coming out of turn two and Dickey would express his opinion entering turn three when he tagged Hughes in the left rear turning him sideways. Hughes was somehow able to make the save though as Nathan Wood took advantage of the scuffle to go from fourth to second and at the checkers it would be the weekly long distance traveler Derrick Agee from Moberly, Missouri, taking his first win of the year here. Wood came from seventh to finish second and while Dickey finished third and Hughes fourth the officials flip flopped that finish due to the intentional contact in turn three. Donnie Pearson would complete the top five.

The sixteen-lap Sport Mod feature replayed a familiar scenario here over the past few seasons. A driver starting up front, in this case Logan Anderson, races out to a big lead while Curtis VanDerWal, who on this night started seventh, picks his way through the field until he gets to second. Then, if the race goes caution free and that leader has opened up a big enough advantage, he might just be able to get to the checkers before VanDerWal can reel him in. Anderson did just that on this night and celebrated with car owner Greg Strohman in victory lane while VanDerWal had to settle for second. Blaine Webster who started next to Anderson on the front row was third, Thomas Egenberger finished where he started in fourth and it was good to see Greg Cox back in action, now in a Sport Mod where he came from tenth to fifth.

Another nice field of nineteen Hobby Stocks would go for fifteen laps with Craig Brown trying to hold off Dustin Griffiths in the opening laps. Brown was able to ward off the challenge until lap five when Dustin squeezed under him for the lead. Brown would not let him get away though and with Aaron Martin also in hot pursuit it was a tight three car formation running for the lead before a multi-car scramble just behind them exiting turn four brought out the caution with three laps remaining. Derek Kirkland and Mike Kincaid had been racing for position and the two went for a spin collecting Travis Bunnell in the incident.

Another two car spin on the restart involving Darin Dezwarte and Jared Stephens slowed the action and once back to green Griffiths continued to hold back his two challengers to take the win. Brown was second, Martin third, Clint Nelson finished in the fourth spot and Christian Huffman completed the top five.

The track will make up a couple of the nights lost to weather by racing on Wednesday July 11th featuring a $1,000-to-win and $100-to-start Stock Car feature and the season championship night will be held on the Tuesday night during the Fair July 17th. The following night, Wednesday July 18th, the United States Modified Touring Series along with the USRA Ironman Series for Stock Cars and B-Modifieds will be in action during the Southern Iowa Fair.

We are going to try to beat the incoming heat and make a road trip up to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton where the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models will be in action tonight. Hope to see you there!

Babb Outduels Shirley For Spoon River Win

The Monday night rescheduling of the UMP Summer Nationals may have cut down the car count a bit, but the Spoon River Speedway was in fine fashion as drivers provided some high speed action on the high banks in front of a solid crowd. The event was originally scheduled for last Thursday June 21st and with rain in the forecast officials decided a day or two in advance that the event would move to a Monday that turned out to be partly cloudy and somewhat cool for June with a stiff breeze blowing into the stands.

The Hell Tour event at the Spoon usually draws more than thirty Late Models, but on this night twenty-three signed in and all drivers were set to race for forty laps come feature time. Brian Shirley and Shannon Babb would bring the field to green only to have the caution wave before a lap was completed when Timothy Culp shredded a left rear tire. Culp's crew made the change and he was back on the track for the apparent restart where some cars fired and others didn't causing a stack up in the back with Allen Weisser and Chuck Hummer getting together. It would end the night for Hummer as the Ohio driver went to the pits with a flat tire and right side damage.

Now we were ready to get things started and it would be Shirley who would set the blistering pace leading the first five laps with Babb challenging. Babb would drive to the inside to take the lead by inches on lap six, Shirley fought back to hold the lead on laps seven and eight only to have Babb slide up and shut the door in turn two to take the point on lap nine.

The chase was on now as Shirley tried to keep up with the new leader Babb who was on a rail working through traffic. The racing was intense behind the leaders as well with drivers using the full width of the speedway and with eight laps remaining the caution waved one last time. Bobby Pierce, driving the family equipment tonight, was running fourth when the lapped car of Jose Parga got sideways in front of him exiting turn four. Both drivers were able to keep moving after the contact as Frank Heckenast Jr. slipped by for fourth, but when Parga slowed on the back stretch the field was reset for an eight lap dash to the finish.

Shirley took advantage of the restart and sized up the leader ducking to the inside of Babb in both sets of corners. With three laps remaining the two ran wheel-to-wheel down the back stretch and there was contact in turns three and four when neither driver would give an inch as they slid up the track and near the wall. Babb was able to maintain the lead though and while Shirley was still able to put a nose under him in the final two laps, he could not get back to even and Babb took the win in a good one!

Shirley was solid in second, Tyler Erb went the distance in third, Heckenast finished fourth and Chase Junghans edged out Pierce by inches at the checkers for fifth. Billy Drake, Jason Feger, Kolby Vandenbergh and Gordy Gundaker completed the top ten.

A nice field of twenty-seven UMP Modifieds were on hand as the Summit Modified Nationals continued and after swapping the lead early, Ray Bollinger took control and held off Kenny Wallace the rest of the way to take the win. Spoon River regulars Mark Anderson, Josh Allen and Brandon Roberts completed the top five.

The track's local E-Mod division was also in action with former Crate Late Model racer Evan Fink taking the win. Kevin Morrow, who also finished eighth in the Modified main was the runner-up in this one followed by Jake Montgomery, Trevor Neville and Matt Parrott.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Jason Johnson who lost his life in a crash during the World of Outlaws main event at the Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday night. Within this entry of the Back Stretch from August of 2016 you will find the link to the video of one of the best races in history and at the end of it an interview that will surely bring tears to your eyes as you remember this great competitor.

Hopefully Osky will not get much rain today so that we can make it out to the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night, then on Thursday it will be the Deery Brothers Summer Series at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Hope to see you there!

A Few Notes From Fathers Day Weekend

At the end of my blog last Thursday I mentioned that I had plans to visit a track that I had not been to for fourteen years on Sunday night. That, along with a Facebook message to the Mason City Motor Speedway asking what time hot laps would get underway soon prompted a text message from Todd Staley asking if I was coming to the Ironman Series event at the track and if so he was going to put me to work for the evening. Let's just say that track announcer Lon Oelke had "an assignment" to take care of so it would be my job to attempt to fill in for one of the most entertaining announcers that you will find anywhere.

I enjoyed working my way through the pit area to familiarize myself with the seventy-three cars in four divisions and it was good to see several people who were regular competitors on the old NKF Tour that I had not seen face to face now for some seventeen years. It was hot, but with a steady breeze blowing from the south it was actually a comfortable evening and the racing was clicking off in fine fashion. A check of the radar as the show was starting showed one cell that was quickly moving from southwest to northeast, but I figured that it would miss us to the east and all would be fine.

As the heat races ended the sun was still shining brightly to the west, however the storm clouds had now gathered behind the grandstand to the south and the Hobby Stock feature came to the track with no time wasted. Dustin Gulbrandson emerged from an early battle with Chance Hollatz to take the lead and he would then pull away to capture the twelve-lap race in non-stop fashion and as the winner pulled to the infield for tech the raindrops started to fall.

It was an unusual scene as the sun was still shining brightly beyond turns three and four, but the rain picked up in intensity and soon it was obvious that there would be no chance to continue racing on this night as a huge rainbow developed to the east of the track. And just like that my night of announcing at Mason City for the first time since 2001 ended as I informed those that were still huddled under the grandstand that tonight's show was complete and that double features for the Tuners, Stock Cars and B-Mods would be held on Sunday July 15th.

The USRA Ironman Series for the Out-Pace B-Modifieds and the Holley Stock Cars presented by Medieval Chassis will continue this Tuesday and Wednesday night with the Boone River Bayou Dirt Track Championships at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. There will be full shows both nights for the B-Mods, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks with some big money on the line while the four cylinder Tuner division will race on Tuesday night only. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate as this event was rained out last summer and then was "wintered out" last October. Will the third try be the charm?

This past weekend was HOT and that combined with the fact that we have seen car counts drop off in June annually over the past several years resulted in some downright scary numbers at some tracks. Before anybody goes into panic mode though let's remember that the yearly trend has been to see car counts come back up once we get into mid-July and August and hopefully that will continue in 2018. Otherwise we could sadly see a few more tracks fall by the wayside.

It was great to see Brett Moffitt win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Iowa Speedway Saturday night. The Grimes, Iowa, native was the 2007 All Iowa Points champion in the Limited Modified division when he was just fifteen and he later went on to earn the NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 2015 before losing his ride to Chris Buescher. This was his second victory in the Trucks this season.

A couple of observations after watching the UMP Summer Nationals highlights on Dirt On Dirt. First of all it was fantastic to see the crowd that packed the Sycamore Speedway on Friday night. From both the video and some pictures taken from the infield it looked like a standing room only affair, something that we hope more tracks will experience once again soon. There were however a couple of questionable calls, or rule interpretations made over the weekend. The first came on Friday when Brian Shirley got completely sideways in turn three while running third forcing Frank Heckenast Jr. to spin to avoid. The caution waved, but since Shirley did not completely stop he was given his spot back for the restart while Heckenast was sent to the rear.

Then on Sunday night in Plymouth, Indiana, Timothy Culp was leading the feature mid-race when he just missed the cushion in turn three and pitched the car completely sideways to keep from smacking the wall. Two drivers passed him as he coasted down the track before you could see the engine re-fire and the caution waved however Culp was put right back out front for the restart. Now given that the highlight video is edited I don't know if an explanation was given for this call, but my guess was that it was considered "an inadvertent yellow" since Culp never completely stopped and that is why no driver was penalized for causing the caution. If so then I suggest that UMP adopt the same rule that is now in place at Knoxville where if a driver spins and the caution waves, but the spinning driver is able to keep moving, that driver is then placed in the position that he or she would have then been running in had the caution not been displayed. So in this case Culp would have restarted the race in third.

As it turned out Billy Moyer completed the pass of Culp following the restart and went on to take the win with Culp hanging on to second. Free restarts on the opening lap and rules that take any and all judgment out of cautions doesn't make any sense for a high profile series like the Summer Nationals.

The weather will determine if and when I go racing during the week ahead and it may just shut me down until the following week when I have the final Wednesday night weekly show of the season at Osky targeted for the 27th followed by the Deery Brothers Summer series show at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Thursday the 28th. Get out and support the track of your choice!

Evan Martin First Time Winner With The Sprint Invaders

Thanks to the support from several local sponsors the Sprint Invaders returned to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Friday night for the first time since 2006 and it was only fitting that a Missouri driver would race his way into victory lane. In a race where his father had some misfortune late, Evan Martin fought off a pair of drivers on the ensuing restart to add his name to the list of feature winners with the Sprint Invaders. Four other drivers raced their way into victory lane as well on a hot and sultry night in northeast Missouri.

The father and son duo of Randy and Evan Martin captured the two Sprint Car heat races and they along with the Dash winner Jon Agan had to be considered the favorites when the 25-lap main event pushed off. Evan would start from the pole position alongside Kyle Bellm who was the wheel man of the night for Scott Bonar's Midland Performance #50. The two would swap the lead on the opening lap with Martin officially scored the leader and he would build a nice advantage as the laps clicked off.

There was plenty of action behind him though as Agan raced his way up to third after starting fifth and current point leader Cody Wehrle was on the move as well looking to get around Randy Martin for fourth. Those two would swap a pair of close slidejobs, but on lap seventeen things got a little too close exiting turn two when Wehrle went up and over the right rear of Randy Martin's ride. Thankfully both cars stayed upright, but with the contact both were eliminated and the fans would now be treated to an eight lap sprint to the finish with three drivers contending for the win.

Bellm would slide up in front of Evan Martin in turn two only to have Martin duck back under him down the back stretch and Agan was right there looking for racing room. As Bellm and Agan battled for second, Martin put about ten car lengths on both of them and when Agan completed the pass for second with five to go he started to cut into that lead. The three-time and defending series champion was able to cut the margin in half as the white flag waved, but Martin was smooth to the checkers to take the win. Agan would settle for second ahead of Bellm and Brayden Gaylord nipped John Schulz by inches at the stripe for fourth.

Sixteen drivers signed in on the hot evening with a few having issues early in the night. Daniel Bergquist showed smoke in hot laps, missed his heat race and then only made a lap in the feature. Dave Keperling broke the front end of his car after making contact with Harold Pohren as the field prepared for their heat race. Then Pohren bent a valve in his 360 ending his night in a cloud of smoke. Finally, Jarrod Schneiderman slipped off the top side of turn three and went for a hard tumble in his heat race that he thankfully walked away from uninjured.

The Sprint Invaders now prepare for their county fair circuit starting at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton on Thursday July 12th, the Davis County Fair in Bloomfield on Thursday July 19th and the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque on Tuesday July 24th.

A stout field of twenty-four Sport Mods gave the crowd an entertaining twenty-lap main event with Adam Birck pacing the field early. Austen Becerra would spin out of the fourth position on lap four sending him to the back and when Brandon Dale tried to squeeze under Daniel Fellows for third on lap seven he would spin as well. A third caution waved on lap nine when Austin Howes and Jeffrey DeLonjay tangled while racing for fifth exiting turn four.

With the stop and go first half of the race Brandon Lennox was making his way to the front after starting twelfth and on lap eleven he would drive around the outside of Birck in turn four to take the lead. At first it looked like Lennox would then pull away, but Birck fought back and was soon looking to take back what he had just lost. It was a classic battle of racing grooves between two talented drivers as Lennox worked the top side while Birck dug around the bottom and with a couple of lapped cars thrown in for good measure in the final laps this was a thriller with Lennox taking the win by just over a car length. Birck would come over to victory lane to congratulate the winner as he was a proud runner-up, Fellows was not far back in third, Charlie Weber finished fourth and Jim Gillenwater drove Fellows' backup car in for a fifth place finish.

The Stock Cars had one third the cars as the Sport Mods, but their 15-lap feature was every bit as entertaining with three drivers holding the lead at one time or another. Derrick Agee would lead until lap six when current All Iowa Points leader John Oliver Jr. went by him. That switch would be short lived though as Agee fought back to lead lap seven only to see Abe Huls race past both of them digging around the bottom on lap eight. Once again both grooves were being tested by the contenders with Huls on the bottom and Oliver up top and it would be close all the way to the checkers as Huls would take the win over Oliver and Agee. Beau Taylor was fourth and Tom Bowling Jr. filled out the top five.

Josh Barnes gave up the lead to Brandon Housley on lap two of the Sport Compact feature only to fight back and regain the lead on lap five. Barnes would then keep Housley a couple of cars lengths back over the final five laps to notch the win. Housley's winning streak was snapped, but it did come by finishing second to the former Super Nationals champion. Barry Taft was third with Brandon Reu and Kimberly Abbott next in line. Two drivers made the pull from La Crosse, Wisconsin, but both of them Seth Scholl and Justin Anderson suffered flat tires during the feature event after Scholl won one of the two heat races.

Four of the five Hobby Stocks that signed in started the feature with Aaron Martin holding back a persistent challenge from Derek Kirkland to take the win. Rick VanDusseldorp was third and Catlin Auberlin was fourth.

The Scotland County Speedway returns to action on Friday July 13th for racing during the annual Scotland County Fair.

Drake and Harrison Open Up The 2018 Hell Tour With Wins

I have had a love, hate relationship with the UMP Summer Nationals over the past several years and that was reaffirmed Wednesday night as the 2018 edition of the "Hell Tour" kicked off at the Peoria Speedway. I love the concept, racing five or six nights a week for a full month traveling track to track around the Midwest featuring the UMP Late Models and UMP Modifieds. I hate the format, two laps of group qualifying in both divisions and then start the fast guys in front.

I have been going to the Peoria Speedway off and on for the past thirty plus years and I have seen some phenomenal racing there. It seems that it usually came when the track was prepared wet so that as the night went on a heavy cushion was steadily pushed up the track so that by feature time it would be right up against the wall. That way a driver could take the risk and still pound the cushion knowing that the slightest error could find their right rear hard into the wall, they could hug the bottom feathering the throttle to make the short way around work, or they could ride the middle letting the car drive through the corner before stomping the throttle once again at the precise moment to be fast on the exit of turns two and four. Heck, with the track this wide a random slide job was an option as well making for some very exciting racing. I love it when a short track is prepared like that. Apparently the drivers of today hate it when it is prepared like that because every Summer Nationals race that I have been to over the past decade was not even close to that.

When I arrived Wednesday night qualifying had been completed for the 32 Modifieds and they were just at the halfway mark of qualifying for the 38 Late Models. I loved the car counts, but hated what qualifying 70 race cars would do to the track. It was already hard slick, taking rubber and when one of the Late Models tried a different groove than everybody else there was no cushion to be found in turn one as a plume of dust rose up when the car went up high.

After qualifying and again before the features water was put down from top to bottom which not only kept the dust at a minimum (I loved that!), but it did produce a second line for a least a few laps before everybody settled into the same groove once again (hate).

Mike Harrison and Zeke McKenzie would bring the Modifieds to green for their 25-lap feature with Harrison driving to the front and opening up a sizable margin. Lapped traffic presented a challenge for the leader, but the multi-time UMP National Champion handled it fine and cruised to victory in the non-stop event. Tyler Nicely was able to get by McKenzie late in traffic to take second, Mike McKinney finished fourth and Mike Chasteen Jr. was fifth. Give credit to the Kentucky driver Nicely who started sixth and finished second.

The Late Models would run forty laps and this one was essentially decided on the first trip around the quarter-mile when outside front row starter Billy Drake drove away from pole-sitter Jason Feger. This one did have some cautions to deal with that kept Drake out of traffic for the entire race, but even if it had come down to that late in the event everybody was using the same line so you can bet the veteran would have had the patience to just ride it out. For some it might be considered an upset for Billy Drake to win the tour's opener, but he was dominant all night setting quick time in his group and the veteran just might have had more laps around this joint than anybody else in the field with the possible exception of Todd Bennett. I loved it that Billy Drake took the win!

Feger was second, Brian Shirley was third, Billy Moyer Jr. was fourth and Michigan's Brandon Thirlby was fifth. Young Ruben Mireles debuted as the new announcer for this year's Summer Nationals and I had to appreciate his enthusiasm. After the first caution on lap three he excitedly pointed out that Brian Shirley had quickly moved to third (a check back to my notebook showed that he had started fourth) and following a mid-race caution he hyped the progress of Billy Moyer who was now running eighth and looking to continue his drive to the front. Mr. Smooth had started ninth.
Hey, that is more of an indictment of the race itself rather than the announcer from New Mexico who did a nice job of keeping the crowd informed and as he gets the proper pronunciation of names and hometowns that he had no way of already being familiar with he is going to be a good one.

So my love, hate relationship with the Summer Nationals continues and decisions will need to be made as I look at the schedule going forward and consider my options. I love that I have the opportunity to attend more knowing that there is always a chance for a good night of racing, and I would hate it if it ever went away!

I am looking forward to Friday night when the Sprint Invaders get the opportunity to race at the widest track in the Midwest, the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. I have a concert to go to on Saturday night, then on Sunday I am planning a road trip to a track that I have not been to in the past fourteen years. Where? Well you'll just have to come back to Back Stretch and find out!

Urbana Five Iowa Donor Network Night Full Of Action At The Benton County Speedway

One hundred thirty-three race cars in eight, yes count 'em eight classes were on hand Sunday to provide a full night of action as the Urbana Five were remembered and the gifts that they and their families gave through organ and tissue donation were celebrated through the Iowa Donor Network at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton.

The BCS Micro Mods would begin the parade of feature races with fifteen cars lined up for twelve laps. Mike Post would race to the early lead with Cole McNeal in hot pursuit until lap six when McNeal nosed ahead at the stripe. Just behind them Eric Knutsen smacked the wall near the flagstand and that would result in a red flag as Knutsen took a few moments to gather himself and then emerged from the car shaken, but under his own power. On the restart McNeal drove away and appeared to be headed to certain victory, but just before the white flag waved the battle for second between Post and Kaden Reynolds saw the two tangle in turn four to set up a green, white, checkered finale.

As the green waved Shawn Fisher timed it nicely and drove under McNeal to take the lead into turns one and two and down the backstretch. McNeal was determined though and he popped Fisher squarely on the back bumper entering turn three to open up a laner that McNeal then took on the bottom to regain the lead  before completing the final lap for the win. Fisher took second, Dallon Murty was third, Derek Knutsen fourth and Don Erger was fifth while behind them Kyle Rose was going for a tumble in turn four. In victory lane the young driver was roundly booed by the fans and then delivered a World Wresting Federation type interview to Mean Gene Okerlund, or in this case announcer Jeff Kropf, stating that the contact was not intentional and that they could tear down his car if they wanted to, everything is legal! It was a great way to start the night out in Vinton!

The twelve lap sport Compact feature was up next and it would come down to a battle between the top two drivers in the state right now. Ryan Havel would lead the opening lap only to have the defending All Iowa Points champion Barry Taft drive by on lap two. Taft was making his first ever appearance at Vinton after his regular Sunday track in Quincy took the week off and he took a quick liking to the black dirt quarter-mile two hours north of his hometown of Argyle. Jake Benischek had started seventh and by mid-race he was in second and the battle was soon on with Benischek looking for a line around the leader. After taking the waving green signifying two laps to go Benischek drove under Taft into turn one and there was contact between the two leaders in turn two.

Benischek took the lead going down the back stretch and it looked like the win would be his after taking the white flag. It was not to be though as his right front tire went down entering turn one, perhaps from the contact the lap before, and he drifted high allowing Taft to regain the lead and take the win. Jake was able to limp his car back to the checkers for second just ahead of his brother Luke Benischek, Bill Whalen Jr. was fourth and Ryan Havel, who later donated his winnings back to the Urbana Five Foundation, finished fifth.

The Stock Cars were up next with a rough beginning to their twenty-lap main event. Jerry Schipper was looking good in his 2018 debut running in the top four until he smacked the wall exiting turn four on the second lap to bring out the caution. On the restart the second place car of Dustin Vis got turned around in turn one and the scramble was on as the field stacked up. Several cars suffered damage and a few were eliminated before leader John Oliver Jr. brought the field back to green. The leader was being stalked by Damon Murty before the caution waved again for an incident involving Shane Ebaugh and Dan Trimble on lap six and following the restart Murty drove under Oliver to take the lead.

It was all over but the shouting from there as Murty pulled away to capture his career best ninety-second win at Vinton. Oliver was a distant second, Vis battled his way back up to third, Norman Chesmore was fourth and Trimble also came from the back to take fifth.

The Legend Cars were next and I must confess that I was not familiar with most of the fourteen car field. They put on a solid show for twenty laps though that featured a back and forth battle between Warren Ropp and Dave Everly with the 65-year-old Ropp eventually taking the win. He then donated his winner's check back to the Foundation during his victory lane interview with announcer Ryan Clark.

A full field of 25 Sport Mods were up next for twenty laps with Gage Neal leading the way early as the action was intense throughout the field. Tony Olson would take the lead from Neal on lap five and then ride out three restarts before securing the win. The battle behind him though was tight as they were three wide at the checkers for second with Joe Docekal taking the runner-up spot ahead of Kyle Olson who went from fifth to third on the final lap. Neal was close behind in fourth with Jacob Ellithorpe completing the top five.

It was also a 25 car field of IMCA Modifieds that would follow with Brennen Chipp racing to the early lead. Richie Gustin was on the fly and he would power past Chipp on lap five to take the point. A caution on lap eleven would close the field giving Troy Cordes a shot at the leader, but when his focus was taken by a challenge for second by Corey Dripps, Gustin pulled away to an impressive victory. Dripps would prevail in the battle for second with Cordes racing in for third, Joel Rust would move from his sixth row starting spot to fourth and Chipp fought off Tyler Madigan for fifth.

A twelve pack of Late Models were up next for twenty laps and with Ryan Dolan and Todd Cooney drawing the front row you knew that this one would have a fast pace. Dolan was hooked up on the bottom and Cooney chose the top and the chase was on with Dolan out front. Each time that it looked like Cooney might have a run on the leader, Dolan would grab a bite on the bottom and pull away again and with just one caution mid-race to slow the field it would be Dolan taking the win ahead of Cooney. Darren Ackerman challenged Cooney on that restart but settled for third, Terry Neal was fourth and I had Kelly Pestka edging out Luke Pestka at the stripe for fifth, but that is not official.

The Hobby Stocks would close out the evening in fine fashion with a last lap pass for the win. Kyle Parizek would lead the first three laps before Daniel Wauters spun in turn two to bring out the caution. On the restart Brett Vanous would pull even with Parizek exiting turn four, but perhaps a bit too even as the two cars got hooked together and before they could spin and cause a huge pileup the caution was called sending both drivers to the rear. Bradley Graham would inherit the lead on the restart and looked like he had this one well in hand, that is until Leah Wroten emerged into second.

Wroten had started ninth on the grid and once into second she was closing fast with the laps winding down. A bit of indecision in dealing with a lapped car left Graham open for a challenge on the final lap and Wroten pounced on the opportunity powering to the inside to take the lead and the win. Graham had to settle for second place pay tonight as Matt Brown and Justin Wacha were next in line, and Vanous battled back to fifth.

For most tracks eight classes of racing on a Sunday night would be like torture, but not at Vinton. Even with some time taken to smooth out a racing surface that had soaked up more than a couple of inches of rain during the previous twenty-four hours the final checkers waved right around ten o'clock still allowing this long distance traveler to be home and in bed before midnight. The announcers Kropf and Clark were entertaining as always and when Ryan is around you know that you are always going to get those amazing stats that the "Numbersman" continues to compile. Here's hoping that I can get back up to Vinton another time or two still in 2018!

Hoping to go racing three times this week highlighted by the return of the Sprint Invaders to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, this coming Friday night. Work commitments and weather will determine my destinations for Wednesday and Sunday, but I do hope that you will keep an eye out for me here on the Back Stretch.

A Sunshine of Redemption as USAC Visits Knoxville

After crashing hard during the feature event here last year Tyler Courtney appeared to be on a mission Saturday night as the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car series returned to the Knoxville Raceway. And after setting quick time as the final car to the track in qualifying, then coming from sixth to win his heat race, the driver known as "Sunshine" completed the sweep in fine fashion by capturing the 30-lap main event.

Courtney's crash in 2017 came as he was challenging for the lead when he caught the cushion wrong in turn two and then flipped high into the air before landing in a hard fashion. There would be none of that this time around as he started the Clauson Marshall Newman Racing #7BC from the outside of row three and quickly moved to the third position behind Brady Bacon and C.J. Leary. The lead trio would run the high line around the big half mile with a bout four car lengths separating each until lapped traffic came into play on lap eighteen.

Bacon would come off the cushion first to maintain the lead as Courtney powered past Leary for second and on the following lap Sunshine would drive hard to the low side into turn one and slide up to shut the door on Bacon at the cushion to take the lead. Leary soon moved to second and kept up the chase, but there would be no catching Courtney on this night as he took the win and then made an extra lap perhaps to salute the brand new Bryan Clauson Suite Tower that now stands just beyond where Sunshine's night came to an end a year before.

Leary and Bacon would fill out the podium in second and third, Justin Grant finished a car length behind Bacon in fourth and Brody Roa was fifth in the non-stop thirty lap event. Chase Stockon was sixth, Robert Ballou seventh and Dave Darland recovered from a hard hit to the turn three guardrail in his heat race to finish eighth. Chris Windom and an unusually quite Kevin Thomas Jr. filled out the top ten.

Tyler Courtney powered past Brady Bacon to take the USAC National Sprint Car win at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo

Starting from the pole position was a requirement if you wanted to win in the winged 360 and 305 division tonight as all four heat races and both features were won from the inside front row position.

Eric Bridger captured his fourth win of the season - Barry Johnson photo

In the 305 main event outside front row starter Devin Kline got the jump out of four and tried to close the door on Eric Bridger entering turn one, but Bridger did not flinch and stayed on the gas to claim his inside line that propelled him to the lead out of turn two. The chase was on from there and as the laps wound down lapped traffic allowed Kline to get close, but when Bridger put one last lapper between them as the white flag waved this one was over as Bridger captured his fourth win of the season here at Knoxville. Kline was second, former IMCA Modified driver Eric Glass was impressive edging out point leader Ryan Leavitt for third while Kelby Watt was fifth.

With the winged 410's having the night off A.J. Moeller dropped a 360 under the hood and as usual qualified well setting quick time and he would start the 18-lap feature to outside of Jon Agan in row one. Agan would take the lead at the drop of the green setting a quick pace until the caution waved on lap eleven when Mason Daniel and Joe Beaver made contact on the front stretch with eleven laps remaining.

Jon Agan had to use all of the race track on the final lap for the 360 win - Barry Johnson Photo

Ryan Giles had moved from fifth to second and was set to challenge for the lead as Agan brought the field back to green. Again Agan opened up a solid lead only to have Giles close the gap as the lap clicked away. As the white flag waved Giles was ready to pounce and with a couple of lapped cars taking up both lanes in front of him Agan could not be patient as they raced down the back stretch one last time. The leader drove to the bottom, make that the extreme bottom entering turn three as he drove up on the inside berm to squeeze under the lapped car of Brad Comegys and that would be the move that sealed the win as the hometown driver returned to victory lane at Knoxville for the first time in three years. Giles would come home second, Clint Garner was third, Matt Moro was fourth and Christian Bowman edged out a late charge from McKenna Haase for fifth.

It was a hot, sultry night with thunderheads safely off to the north and east as Knoxville again ran an efficient program that was scored complete at ten o'clock. On your next trip to the Sprint Car Capital of the World make sure to check out the special item of the night at the concession stand as this night's feature, the roast beef poutine was fantastic!

Friday Notebook: June 8, 2018

It is Friday race day here in the Midwest and with a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the area race fans will be checking the radar before heading out to their favorite track. One track that is already canceled for tonight though is the Farley Speedway, and in fact the entire weekly program has been "suspended" for the remainder of the 2018. Not sure if I would use the word suspended as in some definitions for it the term "temporary" is used. I am under the impression that the weekly program has been canceled for the season.

The Farley Speedway Promotions team rocked the eastern Iowa Late Model scene last December when they announced a rules package similar to the SLMR rules in eastern Nebraska and as incentive the guaranteed a $20,000+ points fund for the division in a December 1st press release. The rules change package didn't catch on like many thought it would though as outside of one of the track owners himself and Tyler Bruening who appears to have sold off his IMCA motors, a scan of the race results through the first three nights of weekly racing shows no other "open" Late Model drivers who were there to take advantage of the change. I really thought that you would see some of the guys who only race when the open shows come into the area jump at the chance to race on Fridays close to home and I thought that you might even see some northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin guys pop in from time to time as well.

Mother Nature certainly didn't help the track get off to a good start in 2018 and she definitely gave the track a black eye with this year's first attempt to run the Super Modified Weekend. You can bet that they now wish that they had just canceled it on Thursday based upon the foul forecast and rescheduled for October, because even now the promotional team is being scrutinized for how they are going to handle the resumption of the show.

We have all heard the old saying, "How do you make a million dollars as a race promoter? You start with ten million!" Whether you have a lot to start with or not, nobody likes to lose money especially when you are not having fun doing so and I have to think that this factors in greatly to this sudden announcement. Do these guys have the capital to keep running this place at a loss? Absolutely, but why would they do so when their character, business sense and reputation are all called into question in a public manner on a daily basis? Does that mean that I am saying that Social Media is the reason that the track is shutting down its weekly operation? Absolutely not, but it sure does seem to speed up the process of promoters like these saying you know what, we've had enough. We tried to do something that we believed in and it is just not working so we are done.

I had that same feeling when Larry Kemp and I tried to run a weekly Wednesday night show at the Lee County All Star Speedway in 1992. With $18,000 down the drain and a few drivers complaining about how we had handled some issues that weather had created we said that enough is enough not far into the season as well. So yes, tracks did shut down before the onset of social media which seems to be the rallying cry from at least one well known and active internet troll. The problem is that he has had to take that stance way too many times here recently and you would think that he might start considering the other side of the argument.

The FSP crew have not completely thrown in the towel, the special events remaining on the schedule will go on as planned and despite the failed experiment thus far I am still excited to see how the new Late Model rules package will work at this year's Yankee. I am still hoping to see some drivers pull in from UMP land, WISSOTA country, perhaps southern Missouri and the SLMR cars from Nebraska as well joining the IMCA cars for what should be a great show. There are questions still to be answered though. What about that point fund and will current point leader Tyler Bruening still have a guaranteed spot in the SLMR main event during the Saturday show at the Knoxville Late Model Nationals? What about Dubuque, will weekly racing continue there for the remainder of the season? The track will be hosting a Fan Appreciation Night this Sunday with half-price admission and half-price concessions, but beyond that? The answer might be in the lease agreement with the fair board if there is a clause stating that a minimum number of shows must be run. And how will this effect Independence, the only other non-FSP track that adopted the new set of Late Model rules? It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks.

One thing is for certain, somebody is saying "I told you so" in Vinton today.

Unfortunately there have been other similar announcements in the area recently. Tony Izzo Jr. canceled his big two-day Lucas Oil Late Model show for last weekend days in advance stating that he needed to take some time to regroup. I was told that the MLRA show held a few weeks back at LaSalle was very poorly attended and I now wonder how well the show that he recently promoted at the 141 Speedway in Wisconsin went. Perhaps our dairy state correspondent David Schlise can give us a report on that one. Also, Phil Cowell's attempt to revive weekly racing at the Paducah International Raceway has been "suspended" along with the other track that he promoted the Tennessee National Raceway. The car counts at Paducah just were not there and that is too big of a track to make a six or seven car field look entertaining.

In one bit of good news though Bobby Lincoln was able to complete the purchase of the US 30 Speedway last month and bring the track in Columbus, Nebraska, back to life after it looked like it might be gone for 2018. The Thursday May 24th weekly opener not only had a packed pit area, but a near capacity crowd as well.

A couple of noteworthy victories from this past weekend. Stock Car driver Abe Huls made the decision to make the nearly four hour tow from Carthage, Illinois, to Winston, Missouri, where he won the main event in his first appearance at the I-35 Speedway. Young Jonathan Brauns made the trip from his shop in Muscatine over to the Sycamore Speedway just west of the Chicago metro area where he was the winner of the Late Model feature over a solid field of sixteen Saturday. See, some of these guys were who I thought might race on Friday nights at Farley.

For the second time this season I made a Wednesday evening drive toward Osakloosa only to turn around between Ottumwa and Eddyville due to rain wiping out the races before they could get started. In both cases I was listening to Jeremy Fox do his pre-race radio show on KBOE 104.9 FM and the thought crossed my mind that it had to be one of the toughest positions for a race announcer to be in. A line of storms is obviously approaching, you can see it on radar and you know that there is no way in hell that they are going to miss the track, yet you have to continue to promote the night's races as if the skies will part and all will go on as scheduled. Foxman's voice did not waiver a bit as he said that yes, the skies do look ominous, but come on out to the Southern Iowa Speedway where plenty of seats are available. During his interview with the night's guest announcer Jerry Mackey the two of them were interrupted with the emergency alert system tones and the announcement of a severe thunderstorm warning for the county just north of Osky for a storm that was moving south at 35 miles per hour. Once back on the air, the show must go on and the interview continued still looking ahead to a night of racing that was obviously doomed.

Jeremy, you were doing your job young man and I salute you for it! I have to wonder if it was a bit like this as he was wrapping up the broadcast.

I did learn from the show that a night of racing has been added to the schedule at Osky as the four weekly classes will race on Tuesday night July 17th during the Southern Iowa Fair. The following night the USMTS Modifieds along with USRA Iron Man Stock Cars and B-Mods will be in action on the big half-mile.

No racing for me tonight as my daughter and son-in-law have made the trip in from Michigan for the evening to attend a wedding on Saturday. That will give me the opportunity though to head on over to the Knoxville Raceway where the USAC Sprint Cars will be in action. Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!

Eckrich and Carter Turn In Lights Out Performances At Marshalltown

The Marshalltown Speedway remembered former promoter Steve Priske with the Miller Lite 50 Tuesday on a beautiful night for racing in central Iowa. The skies overhead were clear with a couple of pop up storms safely off in the distance to the north, the temperature was warm and with a steady breeze from the south not only was it comfortable but any dust from the well prepared racing surface was blowing away from the large crowd in attendance. As usual the racing action at Marshalltown was intense with plenty of slide jobs and crossovers and things really got intense on lap ten of the IMCA Modified main event when the track lights suddenly went dark. More on that later.

The Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models were the headliners of the night with a solid field of twenty-nine drivers signed in. Fresh off of his Memorial Day win at Boone, Curt Martin would start from the pole position for the 50-lap main event with Andy Eckrich to his outside and it would be Martin taking the lead at the outset. Eckrich found the top of the quick quarter-mile to his liking and he would sweep past Martin to the point on lap three. The first caution of the race would come on lap eight when hometown favorite Darrel DeFrance spun in turn four and following the restart the scramble for positions in the top five heated up.

Matt Ryan and Cayden Carter made contact in turn one while racing for fifth with Ryan spinning to a stop on lap ten and the caution waved again one lap later when Chad Coyne had issues exiting turn two. Again the green flag racing was intense and on lap fourteen the battle for third was three wide between Jeremiah Hurst, Carter and Todd Cooney. When Hurst and Carter touched though both cars slid to the infield and the damage was too much to continue for Hurst who retired to the pits while Carter restarted from the rear.

Once back to green Cooney took second away from Martin and looked like he might be able to make a run at the leader. Eckrich had other ideas though and when Justin Kay began to work on Cooney for second the leader pulled out to a full straightaway advantage. Kay would finally wrestle second away on lap thirty-six, but even with lapped traffic lending a hand he could only cut the gap in half over the final fourteen laps as Eckrich scored the win. Kay and Cooney would join him on the podium, Jeff Aikey drove Scott Fitzpatrick's #24 to a fourth place finish while Denny Eckrich made it two from the Precision Performance family in the top five. Joe Zrostlik came from the eighth row to take sixth, DeFrance rallied for a nice seventh-place finish with Carter chasing back toward the front in eighth, Nick Marolf was ninth and Chad Holladay rounded out the top ten.

Both the Late Models and the Modifieds paid $2,000-to-win tonight and that drew a stout field in the Mods as well with thirty-two on hand and some top talent not making the main event. Two of the best in the Midwest right now Kelly Shryock and Hunter Marriott would bring the field to green for twenty-laps with Shryock holding the early advantage. Marriott would drive around him on lap three with the first caution coming on lap six when Chris Simpson spun his #31 car in turn two.

On the restart the field stayed tightly packed with several two and three-wide battles for position taking place throughout the field until BAM, the track lights suddenly went dark. It is amazing that given the tight racing that was taking place at the time there was no apparent contact and everybody was able to get slowed down and stopped without incident. The concession stand and pit lights were still up and running so there was hope of a quick resolution to the problem and after a twenty-one minute delay we were once again fully illuminated and ready to get back to racing.

Cayden Carter had worked his way up from ninth and was already challenging in the top three before the blackout, but on the restart he really went to work on Marriott as the top five raced nose-to-tail around the bottom groove on both ends. On lap thirteen though Marriott moved back up to the cushion in turns three and four, a move that he would soon regret as not only did Carter charge to the front, but he would drop two more positions over the next two laps before the final caution waved with ten to go when Brad Diercks and Tony Cox tangled in turn two.

Ricky Thornton Jr. would move to second on the restart, but he could not mount a serious challenge for the lead as Carter notch an impressive win over a star studded field. Richie Gustin would follow Thornton in for third, Marriott was fourth and Joel Rust took fifth. Chris Simpson charged back up to sixth at the checkers, Jordan Grabouski came all the way from seventeenth to move into the top five late before dropping to seventh at the finish, Todd Shute was eighth, Ethan Dotson ninth and and Racer Hulin was tenth.

M-town Notes......It was good to see some Late Model drivers that I didn't expect make the pull all the way over to Marshalltown from their home towns in Wisconsin and Illinois. The IMCA Late Model program is at an interesting point right now and this kind of support from its drivers is what is needed as the sanctioning body looks toward the future......Ben Seeman made an amazing run to win the first Late Model heat race only to be disqualified in tech for having too short of a wheelbase. That battle with Jeff Aikey and Terry Neal was worth the price of admission in itself so it was unfortunate that Seeman's night was over after that.....The new passing points system that is now in place is interesting in that it apparently penalizes a driver for losing positions from his original starting spot. Otherwise how else would a driver who started his heat from seventh and finished in seventh end up with the outside front row starting spot in one of the B-Mains?......And speaking of B-Mains, there is absolutely no reason to have two B-Mains with a field of twenty-nine cars in any format! Take the top eighteen in passing points from your heats, have one B-Main with eleven cars where the best four advance, no chance of unbalanced fields due to scratches and/or quality and then add your two series provisionals to set your twenty-four car feature field. I have never understood the need to run two B-Mains. With the format that I proposed above you save six drivers from having to race twelve more laps cutting costs and making for a better show......Want proof that it can be done? Promoter Toby Kruse had the thirty-two Modifieds run four heats with the top five from each going to the A-Main and then ran just one B-Main (as it should be) with four more drivers advancing.....In my two trips to Marshalltown this year so far the Modified heats have had me on the edge of my seat both times.....Last Friday's winner here, Ryan Gustin went for a tumble off the top of turn one in the first heat as he was battling with Joel Rust for the third and final redraw position. The two had been trading sliders for a couple of laps with some contact along the way and that might have contributed to Gustin's miscalculation......Justin Kay started the Late Model feature from twelfth and ran to second. He was not able to crack the top ten in his Modified after starting eighteenth.....Todd Cooney's third-place finish started from seventh. He had a close call in his heat race going over the top of turn two, but was able to keep it on four wheels and return to action.....Ricky Thornton's runner-up finish in the Mods started from inside row six while Richie Gustn started next to him and finished third.

Mod-Lites and the Dirt Trucks were also in action. In the Mod Lites Joe Glick grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and went the distance for the win. Randy Bryan was second, R.J. Gonzalez made the tow from the Quad Cities to take third, Travis Stensland was fourth and another Quad Cities driver Jason Masengarb passed Mike Morrill on the final lap for fifth.

Steve Jackson had the Truck feature in his grasp until a late caution setup a green-white-checkers restart. Taking the green Jackson went to the high side in turn one leaving the door open for both Pat Graham and Rick Clark to get by him. Jackson got back to second at the white flag, but then slipped off the top of turn one losing several positions. Clark then threw a big slider at Graham in turn three, but when he didn't close off the high line exiting turn four Graham powered past to win a thriller at the checkers. Clark settled for second, Myles Michehl was third and Lou Sipolt was fourth.

Even with the "lights out" delay the racing action wrapped up before 11 p.m. and I was able to catch enough sleep to allow me to make the trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa tonight. Hope to see you there!