Gharst’s Misfortune Leads To Sprint Invader Victory For John Schulz At 34

After losing the first five events on the 2019 Sprint Invaders schedule to weather, including two at 34 Raceway, the 3/8-mile speedplant west of Burlington made up one of those on Saturday night with a nice field of twenty-five drivers signed in. The roster included Kaley Gharst, the all-time wins leader with the Invaders who tonight would be the guest driver in the Midland Performance #50 and it looked like he would add another win to his total until misfortune struck late in the main event.

John Schulz and Matt Krieger, who is subbing for the injured Ryan Jamison, would start from the front row in the twenty-five lap headliner and it would be the cagey veteran Schulz taking the early advantage. Gharst was on the move from his sixth starting spot and on lap six he would drive under Schulz in turns three and four to take the lead.

The first caution of the event would wave on lap nine for Blaine Jamison’s spin in turn one and on the restart both Gharst and Schulz would drive away from the field. The yellow was needed again on lap fourteen when Dustin Selvage spun off the top side of turn two and on this restart Schulz tried to slide Gharst into turn one. Kaley shrugged it off though and again opened up a lead until lap nineteen when his drive line let loose causing him to spin the car into the infield just before getting into turn three.

That would put Schulz back on the point for the restart, but when his car loaded up a bit taking the green Carson McCarl had a run to the outside while the third driver in line, Brayden Gaylord threw a slider at both of them heading into turn one. Schulz was able to get his Jimmy Davies Racing, Automotive Machine sponsored #99 to spring back to life in time to duck back under Gaylord coming off turn two and Schulz would lead the tight pack down the back stretch.

McCarl would do his best to keep pace in hopes of mounting a late challenge, but there was no staying with Schulz who scored the win worth $2,000 tonight with the extra $500 coming from Shottenkirk.com. McCarl held off Gaylord to take the runner-up spot, Josh Schnedierman advanced from tenth to fourth and Colton Fisher impressed with a top-five finish. The youngster from Mediapolis, Fisher charged from sixteenth to sixth in the first nine laps and even made his way up to 0third late in the event. Jon Agan had a wild night coming back from two trips over the top of the banking in turns one and two to finish in the sixth position. The B-Main winner Tanner Gebhardt was seventh after starting fifteenth, Daniel Bergquist was eighth, Selvage came back to take ninth and Harold Pohren filled out the top ten.

The night got off to a scary start when Josh Higday went for a high flying nose to tail and then again and again and again flip off the top of turn one at the start of the first heat race. Despite the wild ride, Higday was quickly out of the Kevin Hetrick owned #35 uninjured.

Next up for the Sprint Invaders will be a pair of county fair dates in July. On Thursday the 11^th the Lee County Fair and the Pepsi Lee County Speedway will feature the Invaders and then on 

Wednesday the 24^th the Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque.

Results

A-Main – 1. John Schulz, West Burlington; 2. Carson McCarl, Altoona; 3. Brayden Gaylord, Wever; 4. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington; 5. Colton Fisher, Mediapolis; 6. Jon Agan, Knoxville; 7. Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington; 8. Daniel Bergquist, Burlington; 9. Dustin Selvage, Indianola; 10. Harold Pohren, Lowell; 11. Justin Bucholz, Davenport; 12. Dave Getchell, Sperry; 13. Cody Wehrle, Burlington; 14. Jonathan Hughes, Knoxville; 15. Kaley Gharst, Decatur IL; 16. Matt Krieger, Burlington; 17. Mason Campbell, New Berlin IL; 18. Richard Nelson, Cascade; 19. Justin Parrish, Oquawka IL; 20. Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis

Randall’s Performance 1^st Heat – 1. Gaylord; 2. Schulz; 3. Gharst; 4. Agan; 5. Bergquist; 6. Wehrle; 7. Fisher; 8. Nelson; 9. Josh Higday, Des Moines

Cen-Pe-Co Lubricants 2^nd Heat – 1. McCarl; 2. Krieger; 3. Selvage; 4. Schneiderman; 5. Hughes; 6. Campbell; 7. Nelson; 8. Travis Pence, Stronghurst IL

Midland Performance 3rd Heat – 1. Pohren; 2. Kurt Mueller, Reynolds IL 3. Parrish; 4. Jamison; 5. Bucholz; 6. Noah Samuel, Burlington; 7. Damian Getchell, Sperry; 8. Gebhardt

Budweiser Shake-Up Dash – 1. McCarl; 2. Schulz; 3. Krieger; 4. Pohren; 5. Gaylord; 6. Mueller

B-Main – 1. Gebhardt; 2. Fisher; 3. Wehrle; 4. Campbell; 5. Dave Getchell; 6. Nelson; 7. Pence; 8. Samuel; 9. Damian Getchell; DNS – Higday

In other action at 34 Raceway on Saturday veteran driver Dennis LaVeine started from the pole and fought off the early challenges from fellow front row starter John Oliver Jr. to win the IMCA Modified main event. Chris Zogg rallied from fifth to finish second with Bruce Hanford moving from eight to third at the checkers. Illinois drivers Dean McGee and Brandon Rothzen wrapped up the top five.

Austen Becerra started sixth but it didn’t take him long to get to the front of the Sport Mod finale and he would cruise to victory. Sean Wyett finished second and Chris Burke was impressive in his first trip to 34 Raceway as the Altoona driver moved from ninth to third. Tom Bowling Jr. and Kevin Goben were next in line.

Matt Ryan had his way with the thirteen-car field of IMCA Late Models as he started from the pole and would drive away from the field at the start and on each restart to take a dominating win. Tommy Elston advanced from sixth to second as Jay Johnson rallied late to finish third after lining up from the ninth spot. Sam Halstead finished fourth while Tom Darbyshire had a solid return to racing finishing in fifth.

Brian Tipps spun early, but came charging from the back to win the Mini Hauler feature over John Helenthal, Billy Stanford, Jacob Ruble and Drake Fenton.

There will be two nights of action at 34 Raceway in the week ahead starting with The Patriot Dirt Duel on Thursday July 4^th that will have twin features in both the Late Models and the weekly Sprint Car divisions. Weekly Saturday night action will resume on the 6^th with the Sprint Cars, Modifieds, Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Sport Compacts in action.

The next action for the Back Stretch will be on Tuesday night July 2nd when we make the trip up to the Stuart Speedway for the 20th and final Ron Little Memorial. Hope to see you there!

Benton County Fair The Perfect Setting For The Deery Brothers Summer Series

For me there is nothing better than going to a dirt track race during the annual County Fair. The sights, the smells, the bustle of activity from fair goers, both the race fans and those who have absolutely no interest in what is about to happen in front of the grandstands is the perfect setting for a night of stock car racing. There is a history to it like no other and to think that those of us here in the Midwest are the lucky ones that get to experience it! You just don't have this in other parts of the country.

The Benton County Fair in Vinton was the place to be on Thursday night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models along with five other divisions who were racing for track points would provide the grandstand entertainment on a night where the weather had everybody guessing. When we left Mount Pleasant it was 92 degrees and sunny, but ahead of us to the north the clouds were ominous and severe thunderstorm warnings were being issued every few minutes for counties to the north and east of Vinton. This was definitely a night where technology was a plus for racing as our own check of the radar (and one quick call to Ryan Clark) gave us hope that the show would go on. A couple of decades ago, I would have stayed home.

When we arrived at the fair it was cloudy, cool and windy, so much so that I went back to the car to dig out a sweatshirt that always resides in my trunk for just such an occasion, but not before I took advantage of getting some "fair food". The choices were many and all very good, but the Special of the Day at the Cattleman's, a roast beef sandwich might have been the best that I have ever had! I topped that off with a milk shake from the Dairy stand although if I had seen that they had macaroni and cheese on the menu as well I might have made a change in strategy. Is there any wonder why I can't lose any weight during racing season?

With the skies still threatening hot laps got underway ten minutes before schedule and the heat races for the six divisions started right after 7 p.m. Promoter Mick Trier had given Race Director Mike Van Genderen the direction to go into hyper speed mode and while Van Genderen has a reputation for running an efficient show anyway, tonight was amazing to watch. It was clear that the drivers were being directed on the Raceceivers to hustle off the track because as soon as one heat race took the checkers the next one was coming out of the pit area in turn two and were ready to take the green coming off of turn four. The qualifying events clicked off so fast that Mick texted me tongue in cheek "Can I run two heats at once lol" and in less than an hour, just before eight o'clock, all of the heat races had been completed with the Hobby Stocks even running through a bit of light rain.

A couple of scratches out of the 27 car field of Late Models made it where the two B-Mains were no longer necessary so we were now ready for the features and with the skies once again threatening, Trier wanted to move the Late Models to the top of the list but to give them enough time to prepare the Micro Mods would come out first.

Side note here.......IMCA, I love you guys, but you were going to run two B-Mains for a field of 27?? Twelve drivers advanced directly from the heats and you had ten more spots to fill in the feature, plus two provisionals. Do you not TRUST your drivers enough to put all fifteen of them out there at once to make sure that the best ten on this night advance? By running two B-Mains of eight and seven to advance five out of each you run the risk of having them unbalanced as far as quality is concerned, plus that seven car B might have had one or both of the drivers who scratched unable to go for more than a lap or two meaning that all five drivers who actually ran the full race would advance while the first B would have had three drivers who raced hard for the entire distance who do not advance. I have never been a fan of "two B-Mains". Qualify more cars out of the heats and run one B-Main or, if your car count exceeds 40, have a C-Main to then advance to the B-Main. Anyway.....

Just six Micro Mods were on hand tonight, but all six were fast and they used more of the race track tonight than they have in my previous visit to Vinton this season. Shawn Fisher would lead lap one only to have Cole McNeal sweep around the outside of him in turns three and four to take the lead on the second lap. As the race went on for second McNeal absolutely drove away from the pack to win by nearly half a lap leaving me thinking that the time has come for him to also graduate up to a full size division much like his former rivals Kaden Reynolds and Dallon Murty have. Fisher finished second ahead of Chad Dugan, Russ Olson and Joren Fisher.

The forty lap Late Model feature would come to the track next with several drivers still scrambling to get ready as the wind continued to blow and there were sprinkles in the air. Jeff Aikey has been on a roll as of late driving for Rick Dralle and with him drawing the pole position this one looked like it would be race for second. That was definitely the case early for as Aikey pulled away it was John Emerson and Brian Harris doing battle just behind. The first caution of the race waved on lap seven when Vinton native Charlie McKenna slowed with a flat tire and on the restart Harris and Emerson were right back at it.

On lap ten with Harris riding the high side in second, Emerson threw a big slider in turns three and four that this time did not leave Harris enough room and when his rear wheels slipped off the top of the banking he would fade back to seventh place after recovering. The caution would wave on lap twelve for Joe Zrostlik's spin and again on lap fourteen when Paul Nagle got sideways and collected Tyler Bruening with both drivers going to the rear. During this caution the rain would briefly fall again, but after a few laps of packing and some quick hot laps the longest "break" of the night would end and we were back to racing.

Just one lap into it Harris would again find himself headed over the banking when fellow Davenport driver Matt Ryan put the squeeze on and this time Harris decided to put the Lynn Richard owned #15 on the trailer for the night.

After starting ninth Joel Callahan was now on the first row behind the leader for the restart and he would not let Aikey get away this time. As the two approached the slower car of Stacy Griffis as lap twenty-four was scored, Callahan was able to get under Aikey on the front stretch and the two made contact as they set their cars into turn one. Callahan would have the advantage headed down the back stretch but when he went to the top in turn three, there was Griffis right in front of him as Aikey drove under them both headed to turn four. Callahan used the cushion just right though and pulled the crossover to perfection officially taking the lead from Aikey on lap twenty-five only to have the caution wave one last time a lap later when Paul Nagle spun on the cushion in turn four.

The crowd anticipated an effort from Aikey to regain the lead, but Callahan had none of that as he pulled away over the final laps to take his first win of 2019. Aikey would settle for second with Emerson in third. Eric Pollard was impressive all night posting what might be his best Summer Series finish ever in fourth as Jeremiah Hurst came from twelfth to fifth. Tyler Bruening battled back to finish sixth just inches behind Hurst at the checkers while Matt Ryan, Justin Kay, Todd Malmstrom and Andy Eckrich filled out the top ten.

The next event for the Deery Series will be on Wednesday July 17th at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction.

The Stock Cars were up next and when I was here a couple of weeks ago I saw Damon Murty come from twentieth to win for the 100th time here at Vinton. Tonight Damon would start fourth directly behind his young son Dallon who would set the early pace with Dad tucked in behind both running the cushion. Scott Rice was making up ground on the bottom though and was challenging the Murtys before Kenzie Ritter spun in turn three directly in front of the leaders on lap four.

On the restart when Rice again went to work on the bottom, Damon made the decision that he couldn't just follow Dallon any longer and he drove under his son in turns three and four to take the lead on lap five. While this was all going on up front, the man on the move was John Oliver Jr. who had started on the ninth and final row after suffering a flat tire during his heat race. The defending All Iowa Points champion was on the fly and had moved up to third behind Damon Murty and Jay Schmidt when on lap twelve Oliver slipped off the top of turn three and spun to a halt to bring out the caution.

A pair of cautions on laps thirteen and sixteen and their ensuing restarts allowed Oliver to get back into the top five and as Schmidt followed Murty around the top on the final lap, both Rice and Oliver went too hard into three with both of them going over the top of the race track. Murty would get win number 101 ahead of Schmidt as Dan Trimble took third while Norman Chesmore and Scooter Dulin wound up in the top five.

After several cautions in the Late Models and Stock Cars, the Hobby Stock field of seventeen settled in for fifteen laps of non-stop racing. Mike Kimm would lead the opening lap before yielding to Kaden Reynolds who had charged up from fifth. Brett Vanous was one of the cars that Reynolds had passed on his way to the front, but Vanous latched on to the leader and gave chase until there were three laps remaining to make the pass for the win. Reynolds was the runner-up, Justin Wacha started ninth and finished third, Matt Brown was fourth and Kimm finished in fifth.

A stout field of nineteen IMCA Northern Sport Mods were up next for eighteen laps with Tony Olson taking the point from the pole position. Olson was ahead of the pack as drivers like Danny Dvorak, Jerry Miles, Kyle Bentley, Ben Chapman and Joe Docekal slugged it out for position around three cautions periods, the final one coming with four laps remaining. On that restart it would be Chapman who would emerge from the pack and suddenly Olson had company with the leader running up high and the challenger digging around the low side.

Having seen Chapman making progress on the bottom, Olson changed his line into turn three on the final lap but when he left just enough room for Chapman to squeeze between the leader and the infield tire markers, Ben took it and was able to power off of turn four to beat Olson to the checkers by half a car length. Tyler Soppe passed Docekal on the final lap to complete a run up from twelfth to third as Bentley completed the top five.

The Four Cylinders would close out the evening with another clean, non-stop race that saw Cody Van Dusen take the lead from Adam Gates with four laps remaining to score his first win of the season. Van Dusen had started the race from the inside of row four. Gates would take second ahead of first lap leader Andrew Steepleton while former winners this season here Luke Benischek and Korey Lana were next in line.

The final checkered flag waved shortly after 9:30 meaning that this entire six division program with more than 100 cars was run off in just over two and a half hours, something that should be appreciated by all but especially long distance weeknight travelers like myself, Danny, Fred and Darrell.

Don't forget that one of the biggest and best events of the year in the Midwest is next up on the Benton County Speedway schedule as The Hogan Memorial will be held for the 25th and final time on Wednesday night July 3rd. I am unable to attend due to other commitments, but if you are going to make the trip take my advice and get there earlier, because this place will be packed!

Looking ahead I hope that I can get back to Vinton at least one more time before Mick Trier calls it a career as a race track promoter at the end of the regular season here. Although I must say that if this the last time that I get to see one of his events, this was a perfect one to go out on! Thanks Mick!

I am a couple of hours late in posting this today due to the severe storms that moved from north to south in eastern Iowa this morning with strong winds and heavy rain that took down some big tree limbs and knocked out our power. Hopefully 34 Raceway in Burlington escaped the heavy rain as I am looking forward to Saturday night's rescheduling of the Sprint Invaders there. With Knoxville having the night off we hope to see a solid field of 360 Winged Sprints to go along with an already impressive roster of IMCA Late Models, Modifieds and Sport Mods plus the local Mini Haulers.

Perhaps we'll see you there!

A New Winner And A New Division On Hall of Fame Night At Osky

It was hot, still and humid Wednesday night in Oskaloosa as the Southern Iowa Speedway welcomed three new members to the historic track's Hall of Fame. And to go with that ceremony the track announced a new division that will compete weekly for the remainder of the season and one second generation driver scored his first career feature win on the big half-mile.

As noted from Tuesday's Notebook my two favorite drivers from my youth, Mel Morris and Curt Hansen were inducted into the track's Hall of Fame and it was a thrill for me to meet with Mel's family and to talk with Curt and his wife Alice as well as his son Bobby and his bride Lisa. It was also great to see Alice, Bobby and Lisa wearing the Iris City Sports Collectible Series t-shirts that our company printed back in the early 1990's. Designed by Dusty and Clay Kemp these were shirts that we had started to produce for our heroes from the past when race shirts were much simpler. If I recall correctly we had worked with Ed Sanger, Roger Dolan, Ken Walton and Curt Hansen before Dusty and Clay were given the opportunity to move on to bigger and better things with Arizona Sport Shirts. The shirts were short printed, I believe only five dozen for each driver and I hope that they all still look as nice as these do!

I don't want to slight the third inductee of the night by any means. Jeff Haines was a star in both the Stock Cars and the Modifieds at Oskaloosa before he made the unusual transition to a winged Sprint Car where he also had success at Knoxville and other tracks in the area.  Every bit as important as his racing career was to this honor, Jeff and his family business Haines Auto Supply has, and continues to support the Southern Iowa Speedway through its sponsorship.

Congratulations to Jeff Haines, Curt Hansen and Mel Morris, for all an honor that is well deserved. And a tip of the hat to Jerry Mackey who did a fantastic job of introducing each of them.

There was a full night of racing as well in what now is again a five division program as a late afternoon announcement on the track's Facebook page stated that the non-wing Sprint Cars would be added starting tonight. The nine cars in attendance appear to be the base drivers in the new Iowa Sprint League and this will be a great opportunity for them to get more seat time and perfect the art of passing at speed in the weeks to come. Logan Alexander went from the outside of row two to the point entering turn one on the opening lap and then paced the ten lap distance to score the win. Doug Sylvester chased him in for second, Dillon Alexander was third, late arrival Frank Rogers finished fourth and Chuck Alexander came back to take fifth after spinning in turn one on lap five while running second.

When Lewie Winkelman started to race a Four Cylinder late last year he would request to start at the rear and, frankly he was slow. But with each new race night he was getting a little faster and the next thing you know he was running mid-pack. The past couple of weeks though Lewie had really picked up the pace and when he charged to the front of the field on the opening lap after starting fourth I wondered just how long it would last. Trent Orwig was poised to take second away from Tyler Haring and with several wins to his credit it would just be a few laps before Orwig was out front.

That was not how this was going to play out however as while Winkleman started to pull away, Haring was also showing his best speed of the season fighting off several challenges from Orwig for second. As the laps clicked away it was now clear that the son of former Stock Car driver Roy Winkleman was going to win his first career feature. Congratulations Lewie! Haring was just as impressive in second with Orwig in third. The fastest car on the track though was Billy Cain, the winner of the heat race earlier in the night by a big margin. Starting from the pole for the feature, Cain did not come up to speed and was far behind the rest of the field once he got it going rallying back to take fourth at the checkers. Brandon Allison was fifth.

With Austen Becerra arriving late after towing from Carthage, Illinois, the car count in the Sport Mods hit twenty and it was a talented field that lined up for sixteen laps of action on the fast and tacky surface. Star rookie Dylan VanWyk would lead it from the pole as Logan Anderson made his way up from sixth to second. The leaders were already in traffic mid-race and after scoring lap nine the lapped car of Tommy Lathrop got sideways exiting turn two. The fourth-place car of Curtis Van Der Wal had no place to go and when he nosed into Lathrop's driver's side it turn Tommy up and over on the back stretch. Thankfully the veteran driver from Ottumwa was not injured and it was a hungry bunch of drivers lined up two by two behind VanWyk for the restart.

Austin Paul won here on a cold and windy opening night and has not been back again until this evening, but after starting ninth he would now put the heat on the leader. Using the low line entering turn three Paul was able to drive by VanWyk for the lead on lap thirteen and he would pull away over the closing laps to take the win. VanWyk held on to the second spot, Logan Anderson was able to get back to third on the final lap after losing that spot to Van Der Wal who finished fourth and Colton Livezy completed the top five.

Dustin Griffiths dropped front row starters Scott Shull and Christian Huffman behind him on the opening lap and then held off a challenge from Mike Hughes to take another win in the Hobby Stock division. Huffman took the third spot, Brad Stephens came from the fourth row to finish fourth and Shull held on for fifth.

Thirteen Stock Cars would close out the evening with Nathan Wood leading the way early and Cayden Carter stalking him all the way. Carter first tried to get under Wood, but after Nathan closed the door Cayden went to the top in turn four to take the lead on lap four and he was gone from there. Wood did his best to keep the Orange Crush in his sights while finishing second as Scott Dickey was a distant third on Middlekoop Seeds and Dickey Transport night at the races. Dustin Griffths finished in the fourth spot while Donovan Nunnikhoven looked good in his return to Oskaloosa finishing in fifth.

There will be no racing here next Wednesday night with the next action at Osky coming on July 10th.

Tonight we will load up the car and head north to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton where the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models will be in action during the County Fair. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday Notebook: June 25. 2019

I have not been to a race now for nine days and counting. With all of the rain from last weekend many of you are probably in the same situation, but my absence from the track was due to a trip that my wife and I, along with several other friends and family made to Princeton, New Jersey, for my son's wedding.

Those of you who know me either personally or through just reading the Back Stretch know just how proud I am of all of my children, but my youngest Morgan is the only one of the three that I successfully groomed to be a race fan. Growing up he was nearly always with me whenever I went to the track, perhaps to a fault as he never did establish the close relationships that other teenagers do by having a "best friend".

Instead he was mine, and I was his and I have always loved how my friends in racing have been so friendly and interested in him as well. Morgan was one of the Positively Racing bloggers for a short stint with his Open Wheel News and Notes that unfortunately can't even be found with a Google search any longer. Currently though you can find his work writing the regular press releases for TKS Motorsports and Austin McCarl, Josh Schneiderman and Carson McCarl.

If you clicked on either of the McCarl links you will notice that the Date line now reads Dallas, Texas, as Morgan and his new wife as of this past Saturday, Emily, just moved there in mid-May. Even though he is a devout open wheel fan, Morgan would still go to a few Late Model and Modified shows with me from time to time and in fact the last two race nights that we went to together before the move south did not have Sprint Cars at all. The trip to Marshalltown included a stop at Pagliai's Pizza in Grinnell as well as a big hug from Dick and Joyce Eisele and our trip to Stuart featured a great run from one of his favorite drivers Bobby Pierce.

I am confident that he has found the right girl in Emily and that is very comforting to both his mother and I. How do I know that? Well first of all she went "all in" two years ago by making the move from New York City to West Des Moines to be with him and then she too fell in love with Sprint Car racing joining us at the last two Knoxville Nationals. Due to her new job Em won't be able to make it back for the Nationals this year, but leave it to my son to negotiate in one specific day of vacation on August 9th with his new job so that he can fly back for the final two nights of the Nationals where once again he can enjoy the weekend with Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson as well as the entire Nachbor clan. There was no way that Morgan wanted to miss this weekend with his Knoxville Nationals family!

Congratulations to Morgan and Emily Broeg!

I hope to return to racing tomorrow night in Oskaloosa as they will induct BOTH of my favorite drivers from my youth into the Southern Iowa Speedway Hall of Fame. Mel Morris was my absolute favorite when I was just an elementary school kid who couldn't wait for the weekend to come so that my parents and, or grandparents would take me to the races in either Columbus Junction or West Liberty. "Give 'em Hell Mel" definitely wasn't everybody's favorite as he was often booed more than he was cheered, but for some reason I latched on to him big time. So much so that my favorite color is purple and when playing middle school and high school basketball I always did my best to grab that #32 jersey.

By the time that I secured my driver's license in 1979 Mel's career was winding down so my new favorite driver to follow was the #9 of Curt Hansen. Talk about a diverse change in crowd reaction to "my favorite"! Hansen had a driving style that was smooth and clean yet still aggressive and I was thrilled to watch him win a bunch of features and several track championships over the years. By then I was writing the Back Stretch in Hawkeye Racing News and while I did my best to not show any favoritism, I would bet that you could tell who I was rooting for. The cool thing about Curt is that he knows that he has been my guy now for 40 years and I will look forward to shaking his hand tomorrow night!

Morris and Hansen will be joined in the Class of 2019 by hometown driver Jeff Haines who has shown his talent and versatility over the years with success in the Stock Cars, Modifieds and Sprint Cars. As of right now the forecast looks good for what should be a memorable night at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Hope to see you there!

With another weekend that saw more rainouts than not I wanted to update the statistics that I first shared with you on May 20th. At that time in looking at the tracks where drivers can earn All Iowa Points only 99 out of 219 scheduled race nights had been able to be completed, a success rate of 45%. Since then the overall numbers have been better with 136 out of 211 scheduled race nights being run, or 64% which brings the total for 2019 now up to 235 of 430 for 55%. Some tracks will not agree with that assessment of how things have "improved" over the past 34 days though such as 34 Raceway that is just one for five, and the CJ Speedway who is two for five showing how tough it has been to race in southeast Iowa recently. The Knoxville Raceway, even with its paved pits and "never say die" attitude is only six for thirteen this season and one of those was the World of Outlaws show that would have been rained out if it had been anywhere else, but Knoxville got it started after none o'clock and had it completed just after 1 a.m. The saddest story of them all though is the reopening of the I-90 Speedway in Hartford, South Dakota, where they are now no wins and seven losses on the season. Oh well, here's hoping that these numbers continue to improve as we head into the second half of the season.

Alta IA	3	for	4
Oskaloosa IA	5	for	11
Stuart IA	9	for	12
Algona IA	6	for	8
Britt IA	7	for	10
Chateau MN	7	for	9
Columbus Jct. IA	5	for	11
Darlington/Lancaster WI	5	for	10
Davenport IA	6	for	11
Denison IA	8	for	10
Donnellson IA	8	for	12
Farley IA	2	for	2
Hawkeye Downs IA	5	for	8
I-80 Speedway NE	8	for	13
Jackson MN	3	for	6
Marshalltown IA	8	for	17
Rock Rapids IA	4	for	8
West Union IA	5	for	9
34 Raceway IA	5	for	13
Eldon	2	for	5
Boone IA	9	for	12
Corning IA	6	for	13
Decorah IA	4	for	9
Deer Creek MN	6	for	11
Eagle NE	8	for	13
Fairmont MN	3	for	5
Harlan IA	6	for	9
I-90 Speedway	0	for	7
Independence IA	4	for	9
Knoxville IA	6	for	13
Maquoketa IA	8	for	12
Park Jefferson SD	6	for	14
Webster City IA	7	for	17
West Liberty IA	1	for	2
Worthington MN	1	for	5
Bethany MO	4	for	6
Dubuque IA	5	for	11
East Moline IL	7	for	12
Fort Dodge IA	4	for	11
Mason City IA	0	for	0
Quincy IL	5	for	12
Interstate Speedway	4	for	4
Spencer IA	4	for	7
Vinton IA	6	for	12
Cresco IA	3	for	3
Memphis MO	2	for	6
Tipton	1	for	1
Warren County	4	for	5
Totals:	235	for	430
			55%

Okay, so I wasn't even going to give this any mention because I don't see a minimum of eighteen teams shelling out a $200,000 entry fee, but have you seen what the latest news out of Husets Speedway has been? If not, please take a moment to click on that link and tell me this. If you were a team owner, would you put up $200,000 to for a chance to win the Husets Speedway itself? I see now they have added the option that you could just take a $3.6 million winner's check instead, BUT keep this in mind as well. Second place will be paid $200,000, essentially getting your Entry Fee back but still paying all of the expenses to compete, while third and fourth will each be paid $100,000. Fifth on back, nothing but a loss of two hundred grand plus expenses.

Why did they add the $3.6 million option? If the winner takes that then the race fans of the area will still be in the same crappy situation that they are in now with a very nice race track that has too big of a price tag on it for anybody to make it work financially. When they first announced this event I figured that if they could somehow get the minimum number of entries, the winner would then take the track and sell it for a more reasonable price of $2 to $3 million to someone who would then actually run the place, but now even that possibility seems to be a fantasy as well.

As of right now there is one entry, the Rudeen Racing #26 with Cory Eliason behind the wheel and it would be a shocker if Tony Stewart Racing and Donny Schatz do not show up on the list soon. Beyond that who will find it a reasonable risk to file the entry? I guess that I have to admit that it will be fun to watch this as it develops!

Looking beyond Osky tomorrow I plan to make the trip to Vinton on Thursday night for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event at the Benton County Speedway and then on Saturday, with the Knoxville Raceway taking a rare night off for the two-day Outlaw show in Jackson, the Sprint Invaders have been added to what already was an impressive roster of classes at 34 Raceway in Burlington. And you get to see it all for just ten bucks!

Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!

Aikey A Winner Both As A Driver And A Mentor In Vinton; Murty From The Back For #100

Jeff Aikey celebrated twice in victory lane Sunday night at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. First it was as a mentor to fifteen-year-old Kollin Hibdon as the youngster from Pahrump, Nevada, scored the win in the IMCA Modified feature and soon after the veteran driver scored a victory of his own in the twenty-five lap IMCA Late Model main event.

It was another busy Sunday in Vinton with Quincy canceled due to wet grounds, and with Dubuque taking a scheduled night off, there were 129 cars packed into the pits across the seven divisions including a season high seventeen Late Models as drivers prepared for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event that will be held here during the Benton County Fair on Thursday June 27th.

The track was black, smooth, fast and ready for action when the Micro Mods lined up for the first of seven features on the night. Russ Olson would start from the outside of the front row and he would be gone from the drop of the green opening up his lead even further throughout the twelve lap distance to take the win. And when asked by announcer Jeff Kropf in victory lane who he would like to thank for getting him there Olson's answer was short and sweet. "My Dad!" Very fitting for this Father's Day.

Matt Post survived a smoking engine in the closing laps to finish second, Joren Fisher went the distance in third and Cole McNeal passed Reggie Rima in the closing laps to finish in fourth.

Twenty cars lined up for the twenty lap Stock Car feature and even though the twentieth car on the grid was Damon Murty you just knew that this was his kind of race track tonight and if the problems that had knocked him out of his heat race had been solved, he would be a contender at the end. Cory Brown would lead the first two laps after starting from the third position before pole-sitter Chris Luloff battled back to take the lead on lap three. Les Blakely who makes the long tow up from Fairfield on a semi-regular basis then tookover on lap five, but all eyes were on Murty as he steadily worked his way toward the front primarily using the high line around the speedway.

When the caution waved on lap eight Murty lined up sixth for the restart and the march was on from there. Five laps later Damon sailed around the outside of both Luloff and Neal Miller in turns one and two to take the second spot and it only took him one more trip around the quarter-mile to reel in and then pass Blakely for the lead.

Hannah Chesmore spun in turn two on lap fifteen and following the restart apparent contact from Kyle Merkes sent the fifth-place car of Russell Damme Jr. for a spin in turn two. On lap seventeen Blakely got sideways in front of the pack in turn two and the stack up left Dallon Murty with damage there while Blakely made it down to the other end of the speedway before he needed a wrecker after spinning in turn three.

Once back to racing Damon Murty closed out the final three laps to take the win and while the late cautions stole some of the glamour from his back to front charge, it was still an impressive way to win his 100th career feature here at the Benton County Speedway. Luloff would finish in second with Jay Schmidt taking third after starting from the sixth row. Scooter Dulin finished fourth and Miller held down fifth at the checkers.

Twenty-three IMCA Modifieds were up next for twenty laps and when pole-sitter Tony Snyder got a bit squirrley in turn two the field scrambled looking to avoid contact. Thankfully most were successful and the field was reset with Snyder now starting from the rear and moving Dennis Betzer to the pole. John Oliver Jr. also advanced from fifth to third and he would take the lead as lap number one was entered in the books.

A lap five caution for Todd Jensen and Jeff Sampson in turn two slowed the field, but once back to action Oliver again pulled away with Kollin Hibdon trying to keep pace in second. Meanwhile behind them the action was intense as both drivers who started from the sixth row on the second start, Jeff Aikey and Joel Rust were making their way through the field. With the laps ticking away Oliver appeared to have this one in hand looking to win here for the first time in a Modified after taking numerous wins in Vinton driving a Stock Car the past two years. However, after scoring lap seventeen Oliver slowed going down the back stretch and then drove straight off the top of turn three bringing out the caution. He then drove back up onto the track in turn four and headed to the pits with all four tires up, an apparent mechanical issue ending his evening.

This would now put Hibdon on the point for the restart with Rust and Aikey side by side behind him and while the young driver did make one slight stumble on the cushion in turn three during the final three laps, he recovered nicely to hold off the challengers and take his first win here in Iowa. It was reported a couple of week's ago by my Positively Racing colleague Ed Reichert that Hibdon is staying with Jeff Aikey for the summer and in victory lane Kollin's clear joy made him a fan favorite as he told the crowd that Aikey was teaching him how to race. His mentor was edged out by a bumper by Rust for the second spot but since the top three drivers in each division tonight were given trophies by Fisher Towing, Aikey was right there to help celebrate with big high five. Mike Burbridge finished in the fourth spot and Justin Kay was fifth after rolling off thirteenth.

The Sport Mods were up next and another young driver would add his name to Ryan Clark's list of winners at Vinton. With Quincy's weather woes Keokuk's Daniel Fellows has almost become a "regular" here at Vinton in 2019 despite the near three hour pull and he would line up third in the IMCA average point invert for the sixteen lap main event. Fellows would dispose of front row starters Kyle Bentley and Christian Jordan on the opening lap and not even five cautions and the ensuing restarts could keep Fellows from taking the win, his second of the weekend after also winning in Memphis, Missouri, on Friday night. Ben Chapman would prevail in a race long duel with Danny Dvorak for the second position as Tony Olson was fourth and Joe Docekal behind the wheel of Curt Hilmer's car tonight finished in fifth.

Eighteen Sport Compacts would be up next and with the expanded field the lap count would be fourteen on this night. Andrew Steepleton would lead the first mile of the race before Adam Gates swept around him on the outside for the point on lap five. Gates brought Barry Taft and Korey Lana along with him and those three would break away from the rest of the field to decide this one amongst themselves. The high line was the place to be for all three and even with a bit contact there was no displacing Gates as he held off his challengers for the win. Taft, another wet Quincy refugee was second and Lana who won here for the first time a few weeks back was third. Travis Losenicky was fourth and my fellow Mount Pleasant resident Kody Bowman made the 101 mile trip worth while by finishing fifth.

The track was still wide and fast as the Late Models lined up for twenty-five laps with pole-sitter Jill George setting a quick early pace. With Ryan Dolan in need of shoulder surgery, car owner Rick Dralle had put Jeff Aikey in the #1D car a few weeks back with good success, but tonight the car had been wrapped with Aikey's familiar #77 and he quickly moved from eighth to second before driving under George for the lead on lap five. With Aikey checking out this one looked like it would be a race for second between Darren Ackerman and Nick Marolf who were duking it out in door-to-door fashion mid-race.

Finding the high line to his liking Marolf established himself in second and then began to close in on Aikey as the leader patiently worked traffic. Marolf was on the fly and had closed the gap to about five car lengths with five laps remaining, but when he jumped the cushion in turn two on lap twenty-one he spun to a stop in the grass for the first caution of the race. On the restart Todd Cooney made a big move to get to second only to have the caution wave again on lap twenty-three when Luke Pestka went off the top of turn three. A green-white-checkers restart now had Aikey on the point with Cooney and Justin Kay side-by-side behind him, but there would be no touching Aikey who said this in reference to his car owner Rick Dralle in victory lane. "I told him that it would go faster with some 7's on it!"

Kay, who started ninth, would edge out Cooney for second as Curtis Golver and the eleventh starting Ben Seeman completed the top five.

A full field of Hobby Stocks would close out the evening with fifteen laps of action that saw Stoney Leonard lead the first trip around the quarter-mile oval. Matt Brown would take the point for the second lap, but the man to beat tonight was Brett Vanous who came from the sixth starting position to take the lead on lap three. Even with three restarts along the way nobody could stay with the driver from Quasqueton as Vanous dominated in the victory. Brown was the runner-up, Mike Kimm took third, fourth went to Leah Wroten and veteran Bill Bonnett was fifth. It must have been a wet weekend up in the north land as Brainerd, Minnesota's Tim Gonska was a surprise entrant who started twelfth in the invert and finished eleventh.

In case you didn't know it this is Mick Trier's final season as the promoter at the Benton County Speedway and he along with the talented crew that he has assembled both in front and below the grandstands are putting on some of the best shows that you will find anywhere. I hope to return to Vinton on the 27th for the Deery show and I wish that I could be there for the 25th and final Hogan Memorial on July 3rd, but other non-racing plans will keep me away You had better get there early that night and claim my seat because you can bet that the place will be packed.

Vinton actually wrapped up five straight nights for me at a race track as you can see my reports from Osky on Wednesday and the Sprint Invaders in Eldon on Thursday here on the Back Stretch. On Friday night I enjoyed filling in for announcer Tony Paris joining Mike Van Genderen and his crew for an entertaining night of racing at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. For the story and results from my colleague Brian Neal, click here.

On Saturday I watched the radar all afternoon and when it looked like it might make it through unscathed I made the trip up to the Knoxville Raceway for night number two of the Brownells Big Guns Bash featuring the Nos Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. As luck would have it though, one last tail of the storm that had passed to the north clipped the speedway around seven o'clock and in true Knoxville Raceway fashion they waited for the track to drain before going to work on it. With a projected start of hot laps at 9 p.m. and knowing that I had Father's Day activities starting at 7 a.m. the next morning I made the tough decision to head back home, but not before having one of the Raceway concessions "special of the night", a Shrimp BLT Po'Boy. Mmm, mmm, it was absolutely worth the drive!

Even with the rain that would have forced most other tracks to cancel, Knoxville was able to complete the full show with the final checkers waving just past 1 a.m. and for the story and full results from Bill Wright at Open Wheel 101 click here.

No racing for me this week as I have a very important event to attend, but here's hoping that you support the tracks of your choice!

Scelzi Sweeps Invaders, Vandenberg Takes Sport Mod Checkers At Eldon

The Super Half-Mile at the Eldon Raceway was smooth and fast on Thursday night during the Wapello County Fair and while the racing was good, the damage to several race cars would be the story and thankfully all of the drivers involved were able to walk away without injury.

After five rainouts this would be the season opener for the Sprint Invaders and an interesting mix of twenty-three drivers signed in. One of them would be Dominic Scelzi who had made the trip to the Midwest from California to compete with the World of Outlaws this weekend before continuing on to the east for Ohio Sprint Speedweek. Scelzi, the older of the two Sprint Car racing sons of drag racing legend Gary Scelzi is no stranger to the Sprint Invaders as he has won both times that he has pulled in with his own equipment to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway and has also been the guest driver once for Scott Bonar's Midland Performance car #50.

After winning his heat from the front row Scelzi then drew the pole for the Budweiser Shake Up Dash that he won going away after a lap two incident that saw Jon Agan exit the ballpark in turn two. Apparently something broke in the left front of Agan's car as he went down the straightaway and when the car wouldn't turn he drove up and over the short concrete wall and then tore away a couple of poles that held up a sheet metal fence before going out of sight of the Fair night crowd.

After his victory lane interview from the Dash, Scelzi then pulled the Budweiser can with the #4 on it and he would start the twenty-five lap main event from the outside of row two. Pole-sitter Chris Martin would jump to the early lead only to have the red flag fly on lap three when Harold Pohren got upside down in turn four in an incident that also collected Dustin Selvage and John Schulz. It was a tough night for Schulz as he had already taken a tumble earlier in the evening in a chain reaction accident in turn two during his heat race.

Once back to green it did not take long for Scelzi to drive under Martin to take the lead and he would then stretch it out as the race continued. The battle for second was a good one though as Martin first battled with tonight's driver of the 50 car, Jake Blackhurst, and then later had an entertaining three car battle with Austin McCarl and Mason Daniel. Martin was able to hold them off for several laps until McCarl got to second, but in the final two circuits the youngster from California, Daniel, was able to lock down the runner up spot behind the long gone winner Dominic Scelzi. McCarl would hold down the third position, fourth went to Martin and Jamie Ball came from twelfth to fifth. Ball had originally lined up tenth, but was docked a row for jumping the original start.

Blackhurst would drop to sixth at the checkers, Dustin Clark from just up the road in Agency had a strong showing in seventh, Dustin Selvage behind the wheel of Jarrod Schneiderman's #88 finished eighth, Josh Higday was ninth and Daniel Bergquist filled out the top ten.

Dominic Scelzi celebrates with Wapello County Fair Royalty at Eldon - Dennis Krieger photo

While Agan's crash was scary, the hardest hit of the night was endured by defending Sprint Invaders champion Cody Wehrle who went for a wild ride in turns three and four after Selvage field to clear him with a slide job mid-race. There was not much left of Wehrle's race car after it finally came to a stop and we all held our breath until the Champ scrambled out of the rubble obviously upset with Selvage.

The next event on the Sprint Invaders schedule will be a Thursday night show at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway on July 11th during the annual Lee County Fair.

The hard knocks were not confined to the Sprint Cars as two red flag periods were needed during the sixteen lap Sport Mod feature. On an early restart the second place car of Adam Birck got out of shape heading into turn three and when he slowed considerably up on the cushion he was drilled by a hard charging Austen Becerra. The two top notch competitors in this division are essentially teammates and they will both have to put in some hard work and cash to repair their cars.

The second red flag of the feature came mid-race when Tony Johnson got sideways exiting turn four and with nowhere to go contact from Casey Lancaster sent Johnson's car up and over a time or two. Once again, thankfully all drivers from all of the incidents on the evening were uninjured!

While under the green there was nobody that could keep up with Carter Vandenberg on this night as he went flag-to-flag to take the win. Curtis Van Der Wal found his line mid-race and came from seventh up to second, but not even he could reel in the leader over the closing laps. Colton Livezy who won here five nights ago was third, Brayton Carter fresh off of a $2,000 win at Stuart the night before was fourth and Blaine Webster who had just celebrated his first win at Oskaloosa on Wednesday filled out the top five here on Thursday.

The Wapello County Fair and the Eldon Raceway will again feature dirt track racing tomorrow night, Saturday June 15th.

I had originally planned to make my way to Knoxville tonight for the opener of the Brownells Big Guns Bash featuring the Nos Energy Drink World of Outlaw Sprint Cars, but a call from Tony Paris will instead send me to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, tonight to fill in on the mic as the flamboyant announcer will instead be attending his son Tyson's baseball game.

Perhaps I will see you in Memphis tonight and hopefully I can convince Christine that this Father needs to be in Knoxville on Saturday!

Stock Car Thriller At Osky

I have been to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa four times this year and each time the car count in the Stock Car division has been nine. Not always the same nine drivers, but nine each time and on the first three nights they have shown that you don't need a full field of cars to put on a good race. Last night, on my fourth visit of the season, the nine Stock Car drivers who signed in just might have put on the best feature race that I will see all season long.

Division rookie Jason McDaniel would take the lead from the pole position in the sixteen lap event and he would put about five car lengths between himself and veteran driver Howard Gordon Jr. who was doing his best to ward off the rest of the pack in second. On lap four though Gordon would spin in turn one sending the field scrambling, but with everybody avoiding contact all drivers were able to restart.

McDaniel would continue to lead and would have several drivers move to second to give him a challenge over the next six laps. First it was Dustin Griffiths, then Nathan Wood and soon Brett Lowry was there as well, but each time McDaniel was able to hold them off and appeared to be headed for his first Stock Car win.

The caution waved again on lap ten when Michael Brown spun in turn two and Gordon was also slow on the track with a flat left rear tire so it would be seven cars that would lineup again for the final six laps. This time McDaniel did not get a good start and he would go three wide with Lowry and Wood into turn one. Lowry would nearly clear him down the back stretch, but Jason would use the cushion in turns three and four to get back to the lead as lap eleven was scored.

Lowry would again get under the leader in turns one and two to hold a slight advantage down the back stretch as Wood, and now Scott Dickey would also challenge, but as that tight pack of cars raced through turns three and four McDaniel would again find his favored line and return to the front at the start finish line. With Griffiths also in the hunt this scenario would play out again and again as the lead pack of five thrilled the crowd on a somewhat chilly night for June and as the white flag waved it was "go" time!

They were three wide for the lead entering turn one with Lowry on the bottom, McDaniel in the middle and Dickey up top, but when Dickey caught the cushion he turned the car to the left and slipped through the middle of Lowry and McDaniel out of turn two. With McDaniel now cleared it would be Lowry down low and Dickey up top in turns three and four as Griffths, Wood and McDaniel battled just behind them and with Dickey now running the line that McDaniel had used all race to retain the lead at the stripe it would be Dickey taking the thrilling win with Lowry scored second, Wood third, Griffiths fourth and McDaniel after leading the entire race was shuffled back to fifth on the final lap.

As last week's winner Dickey had started the race from the ninth position.

The sixteen lap Sport Mod feature saw a first time winner here as seventeen year old Blaine Webster started from the pole, held his line and fought off several challenges from Curtis Van Der Wal to take the victory. Colton Livezy was a distant third in the non-stop event while Logan Anderson and Greg Cox completed the top five.

Using the low line in one and two and that higher line in turns three and four Mike Hughes was able to hold off Dustin Griffiths to take the win in the Hobby Stock feature. Griffiths was able to pull even with Hughes on two occasions but would have to settle for second in this one. Clint Nelson, Scott Shull and Rick Goldsberry were next in line.

And in the Sport Compacts Trent Orwig started from the pole and went flag-to-flag to take the win. Brandon Allison prevailed in a good race for second with Nathan Moody while Billy Cain and Lewie Winkelman filled out the top five.

With two other special events going on in the state the field was short at Osky on Wednesday and while the Stock Cars definitely proved that you don't need a big car count to put on a great race, the track could use some more support. Where are you drivers? The purse has been increased and on this night you missed out on a bunch of extra cash that was put up in memory of friends and family who have passed. Yes, it is a Wednesday night, but on this night we were on our way home at 8:50 p.m. so whether you are a driver or a fan, make sure to give the Southern Iowa Speedway a look in the weeks to come.

Tonight the weather will finally cooperate as the Sprint Invaders will hold their first race of the season at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon. Hope to see you there!

O'Brien Flag To Flag For SLMR Win At Stuart

With Joe Kosiski bringing his Malvern Bank Super Late Model Series in our direction for the second time this season we were lured to the Stuart International Speedway for a Wednesday night of Late Model racing backed up by what is becoming a very solid program for the weekly IMCA classes as well.

Twenty-eight Late Models jammed into the pit area with a nice mix of drivers from Nebraska and Iowa along with veteran driver Andy Claiborne making the long pull up from Fort Scott, Kansas. Four heat races were run with passing points used to not only advance the top fourteen drivers into the main event, but to set the feature lineup as well allowing the pole-sitter to "earn" his way up front rather than to pull it from a pill draw as we saw a night before.

Jason O'Brien from just down the road in Atlantic would earn the pole with Corey Zeitner to the outside and they would bring the field of twenty to the green for the twenty-five lap headliner. O'Brien would take the point and the third starting Bill Leighton Jr. would drop Zeitner back to third as the leaders quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack on the smooth slick surface.

Jason O'Brien - Barry Johnson photo

Leighton was searching for a line that would allow him to close in on the leader with no success until O'Brien closed in on the back of the pack with ten laps remaining. Just like that the gap between the two disappeared as O'Brien showed his patience with the traffic despite the fact that Leighton was able to get alongside of him on a couple of occasions.


The move of the night came on lap eighteen though when O'Brien split the lapped cars of Brad Perdue and Paul Conrad and even though Leighton was able to do the same a lap later, Jason had once again put at least ten car lengths between himself and his challenger. With no mistakes over the closing laps this one was scored complete with O'Brien capturing his first win on the series in 2019. Leighton was solid runner-up as Zeitner followed them in for third. Charlie McKenna had a good showing in his first SLMR start in 2019 with a fourth place run and Ben Schaller took fifth. Andrew Kosiski advanced three positions for sixth, current point leader Nick Deal faded from fourth to seventh over the closing laps with his nearest challenger in the point standings Kyle Berck one spot behind him in eighth. Modified driver Nick Roberts was impressive in McKenna's backup car posting a ninth place finish and one of the B-Main winners Jason Hahne completed the top ten.

The IMCA Stock Cars started off the feature events with a thriller as Buck Schafroth passed Brandon Pruitt on the outside coming out of turn four to take the win by inches. Pruitt had taken the lead from Cody Gustoff on lap three and appeared to have the favored line locked in as Schafroth stayed glued to his bumper running around the bottom. With five laps to go though Shawn Ritter was making up ground on the high line in third and when Schafroth got a peak of Ritter's nose up top he made the decision to move up the track as well. First he went to the middle with four laps remaining and when that didn't work he went all the way to the top with two to go making the pass right at the checkers. Pruitt was second and Ritter was right there in third as well making for a thrilling conclusion to this twenty-lap race. Josh Daniels came from sixteenth to finish fourth and Gustoff took fifth.
Bran

Brandon Pruitt down low, Buck Schafroth in the middle and Shawn Ritter up top - Barry Johnson photo

Schafroth has now won all three nights that I have been at Stuart this year. Does this now make me an honorary member of the VanEatonville Mafia?

Garrett Nelson in victory lane with flagman Jamie Schirm - Barry Johnson photo

After a couple of early cautions the eighteen lap Sport Mod feature hit its groove and gave the large crowd another good race with Garrett Nelson taking the lead on lap three after Kyle Tanner and Jerry Hinton had the honors on laps one and two. Kody Havens had quickly moved from eleventh to second and had his sights set on the leader, but Nelson found a unique line that worked for him and maintained at least a five car length advantage over Havens.

When Mark Menard spun in turn two with four laps remaining that would put previous feature winners Havens and Tyler Inman side-by-side behind Nelson for the restart, but when those two made contact on the first lap back to green that allowed Nelson to get away once again and he finished off the race in style for the win. Havens would pick up the second spot as Hunter Longnecker came from tenth to third. Dusty Masolini finished fourth and Inman filled out the top five.

The Modified feature got off to a rough start when the second place car of Cory Sauerman got sideways in turn four on the opening lap and the rest of the field scrambled and piled up looking to avoid him. Sauerman was able to make the save so he would realign on the front row outside, but Scott Bash and Kyle Brown would have to start at the rear after making quick repairs while Arizona driver Austin Kuehl and the youngster from Nevada Kollin Hibdon were both eliminated.

Matt Meinecke - Barry Johnson photo

Pole-sitter Matt Meinecke would race out to the lead while Josh Gilman quickly moved to second after restarting from fifth. Much like the Sport Mod feature it looked like the challenger would soon overtake the leader, but that was not the case as Meinecke increased his lead over Gilman. A caution for debris on lap eighteen brought Gilman and the rest of the field back to the leader, but Meinecke proved that this was his night to shine as he again drove away over the final two laps to take the win. Gilman warded off Kyle Brown by half a car length to take the second spot, Kansas visitor Clay Money was fourth and Sauerman was fifth at the checkers.

The Late Model feature wrapped up at a respectable time of 9:45 and with almost a three hour drive ahead of me I chose to hit the road instead of catching the Hobby Stock feature where, no surprise, Shannon Anderson came from ninth to take the win. John Watson, Brandon Cox, Nick Foster and Michah Hidelbaugh made up the top five.

My point of reference is from nearly twenty years ago, so I will have to ask my friend the Fast Track Fan Craig Allender to verify but it sure seems like the new owner/promoter Mike VanGenderen has breathed new life into this historic track. As I mentioned above, this was already my third trip to Stuart in 2019 and I doubt that it will be my last.

No racing for me this weekend as we have some other plans for Friday and Saturday and then on Sunday I will say "thank you" to my beautiful wife Christine for putting up with me for the past thirty years. Next week I will keep a promise to myself (Danny knows what I am talking about) and I will be back in my usual seat at Oskaloosa on Wednesday, then on Thursday I am hoping that we can finally get our season opener in for the Sprint Invaders at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon.

Enjoy your racing weekend!

Richie Gustin Takes Dirt Knights Opener At Marshalltown

After losing its first two events on the schedule at Fort Dodge and Vinton, the Arnold Motor Supply IMCA Modified Dirt Knights Tour, formerly known as the Hawkeye Dirt Tour, kicked off the 2019 slate with a Tuesday night show at the Marshalltown Speedway. The weather was perfect for racing including a nice southerly breeze that kept the minimal dust away from the stands, but with a forecast for potential "pop up" showers promoter Toby Kruse and his staff hustled through the program in hope of beating any rain that might develop. In fact during one of the Modified B-Mains we did feel a couple of sprinkles from a little blip on the radar, but that was it as the show was completed just before ten o'clock.

Thirty-six Modifieds checked in, a solid roster from top to bottom meaning that there would be some good drivers who would not even make the twenty-four car feature field tonight. A unique passing points system is now used for qualifying on the Tour events where not only do you gain points for passing cars in your heat race, you also lose points for being passed with the basis still being the position that you actually finish the race in. It is stated that the top twelve in the passing points through the heats will qualify for the feature, although announcer Jerry Vansickel also said that the four heat race winners would be "locked in". So actually it is the four winners and the eight drivers with the most points who didn't win a heat that qualify for the A-Main. That may sound like being a bit picky, but if you start on the pole and win your heat under this system, it is still a possibility that you might not make the top twelve in passing points, but I digress. The point that I want to make is this. When you use a passing points system to qualify through the heats, it would seem logical that the driver who scored the most points would have "earned" the pole position for the feature, but instead those twelve drivers participate in a redraw and on this night it would be Troy Cordes and Tim Ward starting from the front row for the thirty lap feature.

Ward would ride the high line to the lead on the opening lap bringing along the fourth starting Richie Gustin with him into second. The action was hot and heavy behind them with all kinds of three and four wide racing before the caution waved on lap four as Nebraska's Jason Hobscheidt and Nevada's Kollin Hibdon tangled in turn four. On the restart Gustin really went to work on Ward first trying a slider that he couldn't hold, then on lap eight Richie was able to inch ahead of Ward at the stripe to be scored as the leader. Ward battled back though and had regained the lead in turns one and two, but with Cayden Carter now stopped on the track in turn three the caution waved and that narrowest of leads on the last lap scored would now put Gustin out front for the restart.

Five more laps would be completed before Jeff Larson spun in turn one while running sixth and on this restart it would now be Joel Rust who would become that challenger to Gustin's advantage. Rust would pitch a slider of his own that Gustin would shrug off and after making one last try on the inside Rust would retreat back to the top of the race track as Gustin gradually opened up his lead. Jordan Grabouski would get past Rust late for second, but not even the former IMCA National Champion would be able to reel in the leader as Richie Gustin won for the third time with the Tour here on his home track. Behind Grabouski and Rust it would be Arizona natives Ward and Ricky Thornton Jr. that would complete the top five.

Thornton had a top twelve passing points total in the bag during his heat race, but when he slipped off the top of turn three coming to the white flag, he gave back two of the positions that he had gained and wound up winning the second B-Main to start him fourteenth in the feature. The other B-Main winner, California driver Cody Laney came from thirteenth to finish sixth. Jimmy Gustin started next to his brother in the second row, but faded to seventh. Kyle Brown was eighth, Kelly Shryock finished ninth and the pole-sitter Cordes completed the top ten.

The Dirt Knights will now wait another six weeks before embarking on a four race swing July 22nd through the 25th at Park Jefferson, Britt, Alta and Algona.

Two heats and a feature in each of the other four divisions was a perfect compliment to this Tuesday night show and the IMCA Hobby Stocks would be up first for fifteen laps with multi-time National Champion Shannon Anderson drawing the pole position so you can pretty much guess how this one went. The race was red flagged on lap four when Luke Bird was spun sideways entering turn one and then was drilled in the drivers door by Craig Lovig who was racing for position and did not see the stalled Bird until it was too late. The impact was hard enough to turn Bird's car over and he rolled twice down the banking. Thankfully both drivers emerged from their battered equipment uninjured.

Once back to racing Anderson continued his steady drive through the middle groove and even though Dylan Nelson was able to make his way up from sixth to second, he could not get close enough to the leader to mount a challenge as Anderson added to his trophy collection. Kaden Reynolds was the early race challenger, but he would end up third in a car borrowed from Leah Wroten after he demolished his own car here last Friday night. Wroten would follow Reynolds in for fourth as Gary Pfantz took fifth.

Kyle Olson would lead the opening laps of the twenty-lap Sport Mod main event before Hunter McWhirter spun in turn two on lap three. On the first try at a restart a mid-pack scramble piled up five cars on the front stretch and on the next restart Brayton Carter would sail around Olson out of turn two to take the lead. As Carter pulled away the action behind him was intense as drivers shuffled for position. With four laps to go the fourth place car of Cam Reimers spun in turn two right in front of Adam Birck and Josh Foster who were side-by-side for fifth. Birck was able to miss him, but Foster could not and that would send both Reimers and Foster to the rear for the restart.

There would be no staying with Carter as he again pulled away to take the win with Jake McBirnie edging out Dylan VanWyk for second. Olson would pick up the fourth place check while Foster was able to climb back into fifth at the checkers. And here's a bit of trivia for you that race fan and friend Jeff Terhune reminded me about last night, Josh Foster was the winner of the first ever Hawkeye Dirt Tour event that was held at the Independence Motor Speedway.

There were no slouches in the twelve car Stock Car lineup and pole-sitter Austin Even did his best to hold off the challenges, but when the top groove is working at Marshalltown you can put your money on Damon Murty. Starting from the eight spot, Murty was flying around the top of the high banked quarter mile and would take the lead from Even coming off turn four on lap four. Not even Jordan Grabouski could keep pace with Murty as the "Chelsea Charger" took the win ahead of the driver who had won the big money down in Hays, Kansas last week. Todd Reitzler started seventh and finished third with Curt Hook and Even fourth and fifth.

Sixteen IMCA Late Models were on hand as well and with Jeremiah Hurst and Jeff Aikey drawing the front row, it was likely that this would be a shootout between those two. Hurst would take the lead with Aikey putting up several challenges through the opening laps, but after Hurst denied each of those Jeremiah then pulled away and took the win in a race that went twenty laps non-stop. Justin Kay started sixth and once he made it up to third the lead duo already had a full straightway advantage on him that he was not able to erase. Andy Eckrich would finish fourth and, after missing his heat race, hometown favorite Darrel DeFrance rallied to fifth.

I know that the threat of rain had something to do with it, but this was a perfectly presented mid-week event that started right on time, the next event was on the track in a timely fashion all night long and there was no intermission. The result was a bunch of race fans happy to be on their way home at ten o'clock having seen a fantastic night of racing and very likely to come back the next time. Amazing how that works, isn't it?

I also want to give a tip of the fedora to announcer Jerry Vansickel who, as the lone announcer, had to be on his toes to get all of the lineups in as well as give all of the sponsors of the Tour and this particular event the credit that they deserve. And in true JVan fashion he would call it as he sees it when two back markers in a Modified B-Main decided to start beating on each other right in front of the leaders. Well done, Sir!

With an extra hour of sleep that I didn't expect I am now looking forward to tonight's road trip to the Stuart Speedway where the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Series will be in action and where promoter Mike Van Genderen is known for presenting an efficient mid-week show as well. Perhaps we'll see you there.