The weather continues to be the headline when it comes to short track racing here in the upper Midwest, but hopefully that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel will be the sun for at least Friday and Sunday this weekend and hopefully the scattered showers that are in the forecast now for Saturday will not materialize. With all of the recent rainouts the ol' Notebook is a bit sparse, but here goes....
In case you missed it.....four eastern Iowa Late Model drivers obviously took a look at the weather and decided to hit the road this past weekend. Justin Kay of Wheatland and Sam Halstead of New London went west where they raced at the Boone County Raceway in Albion, Nebraska, on Friday night. Kay started twelfth and finished third while Halstead came from eighteenth to cash in tenth. On Saturday night those two also ran with the IMCA Late Models at the Off Road Speedway in Norfolk where Kay started twelfth again and finished second to Eric Vanosdall while Halstead finished where he started in thirteenth.
Todd Frank started his racing career in Wisconsin before transplanting to Montrose, Iowa, a few years ago. On Saturday night, Frank and his son Gunner were part of the twenty car WISSOTA Late Model field at the Hibbing Raceway in Minnesota where the two finished fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.
Fighting off an isolated thunderstorm just before Tuesday's qualifying night the Rolling Plains Motor Speedway in Hays, Kansas, was able to complete their $5,000-to-win Stock Car Shootout last night with IMCA Modified National Champion Jordan Grabouski taking the win ahead of many time Stock National Champ Mike Nichols. Other Iowa drivers in the top ten included Shawn Ritter in fourth and Damon Murty sixth after starting from deep in the pack. Ricky Thornton Jr. was disqualified for a wheelbase infraction and a total of fifty-five Stock Cars made the trip to west central Kansas.
And in another example of "in case you missed it", the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars will race at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville this weekend for the first time ever as dirt has been put down on the quarter-mile paved oval at the historic facility. In a preview, or more likely a test session for the dirt surface the track hosted four divisions of Stock Car racing this past Saturday night with Matt Cooper topping a sixteen-car field of UMP Crate Late Models in the main event. Here's hoping that the dirt at Nashville holds together better this weekend than it did at Rockford a couple of years ago.
In further proof of my Net Zero theory, Raceway Park in Jefferson, South Dakota, came back to life this past weekend and will run Sunday night weekly through September, and a new promoter has been named at the Redwood Speedway in Minnesota with his plans to be soon announced. On the other side of the scales though it looks as though the LaSalle Speedway in Illinois will be shutting down, at least according to the organizers of the annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial race who said "Over the past weekend, we were informed by LaSalle Speedway management that they have decided to cease operations immediately" in a post on Facebook today. Checking the LaSalle Speedway page there was a photo with the text "Stay Tuned For An Official Statement Regarding LaSalle Speedway" included and, seven hours later in the comments Kerry Izzo announced that due to unfortunate circumstances the Speedway is closed for the foreseeable future. She asked that everybody respect the privacy of the family and hopefully we can all do that.
For those of you who don't know what the "Net Zero Theory" is I encourage you to go back through the archives of the Back Stretch. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable journey!
What started out as a sunny Thursday has now turned into a cloudy afternoon with pop thunderstorms in the area, so hopefully your favorite track will not have to take on any more precipitation. I plan on going to a race on Friday night, I just don't know where yet. The Big 8 Late Model Series will be at Hawkeye Downs so I could take care of my urge to do at least one pavement race a year early in the season rather than later when it is usually quenched or I could take in one of the several fine dirt track options within a reasonable drive from my southeast Iowa home; Donnellson, Columbus Junction, Davenport or Marshalltown. Where would you suggest?
Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
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