Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions rolled into 34 Raceway west of Burlington Sunday night for the final night of their four race swing through the Midwest, and this one was special as it would pay tribute to the late Rayce Rudeen, the son of car owner Kevin Rudeen who fields the car #26 for Cory Eliason. The Rayce Rudeen Foundation seeks to fill the gaps in the system of care for those who on the road to recovery from addiction and, in this inaugural event that was being filmed for a later broadcast on MAVTv, the feature winner would take home a whopping $26,000.
Thirty-four 410 winged Sprint Cars would fill the pits at 34 Raceway on a warm, but still comfortable evening as the clouds from a line of storms well off to the west shielded the sun and allowed the track to hold on to the moisture creating a racing surface that would have both a low and high groove all night long as well as plenty of room to roam in between. The All Stars qualify in groups with the top four inverted for the lineup in each of the four heat races where the top five finishers transfer to the A-Main while the top two get to compete in one of two dashes that sets the first five rows of the features as the the two fastest drivers who don't crack the top two are also included. It is a nice format that definitely produces plenty of action during the heats, much better than lining up cars straight up by qualifying times and with the passing it makes for a wider race track as well.
At 34 Raceway there is a wall around turns three and four while turns one and two are open and that means that the cushion gets pushed right up to the rim making the margin for error very slim on that end of the race track. Trey Starks found that out on the opening lap of the B-Main as he jumped the cushion in turn one and went for a tumble, his second crash of the night as he also tipped the car over after spinning in turn four during his qualifying lap.
Missing the cushion in turns one and two would also play a big role in determining the night's winner, but more on that later.
Thirteen IMCA Stock Cars would set the table for the big finale as they would race twenty laps for $1,000-to-win with a stout front row of Tom Bowling Jr. and Damon Murty. It would be the fourth starting John Oliver Jr. that would quickly make his way to the front though taking the lead from Bowling on lap two. Shawn Ritter would be sent for a spin in turn one on lap five and soon after the caution waved Murty would make a quick turn on the back stretch and head to the pit area with an apparent mechanical problem.
On the restart David Brandies would find the bite that he needed down low to drive by the rim-riding Oliver to lead lap six and before the next lap could be scored Bowling was sideways in turn four with the car turning up on to its side before the banking sent it the rest of the way over onto its top. During the red flag Murty made his way back on to the track ready for the upcoming restart until an official went to his car and explained to him that he was now one lap down to the field after missing the previous restart.
Once back to green Brandies continued to make the low line work as Oliver continued to ride his favored high side and when Abe Huls moved in to challenge Oliver for second that allowed Brandies to ease away even further as the Wilton driver posted the big money win. Oliver would fight off Huls to take the runner-up spot while Jeremy Pundt fought off a last lap challenge from fourteen-year-old Dallon Murty to finish fourth.
The Sprint Cars were up next for thirty laps with an interesting front row of Rico Abreu and Tony Stewart set to bring the field to green. Earlier series point leader Aaron Reutzel had the first Dash well in hand before spinning his car in turn two handing the pole over to Abreu and dropping Reutzel back to a fourth row start.
The first wave of the green was short-lived as twelfth row starter Marcus Dumesney smacked the wall exiting turn four and slowed to a halt on the front stretch so the field was reassembled and we were ready to race. Abreu would set the pace as drivers searched high and low for their fastest lines only to have the caution wave again on lap four when Dumesney spun in turn four ending his evening.
The race would go green from there and it would be a good one with plenty of traffic causing the leaders to have to use different lines to maintain their momentum. Abreu had built up a big lead through lap ten, but when he missed that cushion in turn one Rico drove over the top of the track and somehow kept the car going racing down the push off lane and coming back onto the track exiting turn two right behind the new leader Tony Stewart.
Reutzel who made a big move early from seventh was now running third and appeared to have the top two in his sights, but his own stumble on the cushion kept him from challenging and he would soon yield the third spot to a hard charging Christopher Bell in the Swindell Speed Lab #39.
Stewart was working traffic like the old pro that he is leaving Abreu chasing still several car lengths back and soon Bell was there to challenge for second. The two young stars thrilled the large crowd with a trio of slide jobs and cross overs on laps eighteen and nineteen, but as Abreu warded off Bell it allowed Stewart to get even further away from his challengers and take the big win in this inaugural event. Abreu would hold on for second ahead of the tenth starting Bell while Reutzel would have to settle for fourth. Cory Eliason would bring the Rudeen Racing #26 in for fifth as James McFadden moved from twelfth to sixth. Dale Blaney would fade from third to seventh, Skylar Gee was eighth, Justin Peck finished ninth and Austin McCarl completed the top ten.
Sprint Car fans in the region still have plenty of dates at 34 Raceway to look forward to in 2019 as not only do the 305's race here weekly, the Sprint Invaders will be here on Saturday August 17th before a Labor Day weekend double header that you won't want to miss. The Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be at 34 Raceway on Friday night August 30th and then on Saturday night the 31st the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR wingless Sprint Cars will tackle the high banks. Then to close out the season on Friday and Saturday September 27th and 28th the Sprint Invaders will be joined by the big money hunters for the second annual Fall Haul, and those are just the Sprint Car races that remain on 34 Raceways' schedule so I hope to see you there often over the next two months.
A big thank you to Jack Donlan and his friends and family for hosting us at another spectacular pre-race meal on Sunday and make sure that if you are ever around Princeton, Illinois, at dinner time that you stop in at his place Paisano's Ristorante!
Now comes the time for me to focus on the Knoxville Raceway for the next two weeks as Nationals time is upon us. Thursday begins the three night run of the 29th My Place Hotels 360 Nationals before Sunday night's 8th Annual Bell Helmets Capitani Classic. Then the following week it will be the granddaddy of them all, the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals. Hope to see you there!
Monday, July 29, 2019
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Wayne Johnson Invades Dubuque, Gansen Manternach and Utter Are Also Winners
My focus turns to Sprint Car racing this time of year with the winged wonders of speed featured at nearly every event on my projected schedule right on up to Labor Day starting last night with the return of the Sprint Invaders to the Dubuque County Fair.
This has always been one of my favorite fairs to visit as it always draws a big crowd with plenty of entertainment for young and old as well as a great selection of food and drinks. And, with near perfect weather on Wednesday night the place was hopping with a five year best of twenty-one Sprint Invaders signed in for action. Pair that up with solid fields in the same quantity range for the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Legend Cars and we were set for a great night of racing, especially since the Dubuque Speedway high banks were again yielding three or more grooves for the drivers to choose from.
The opening laps of the Sprint Invader main event were wild with John Schulz, Paul Nienheiser and Wayne Johnson shuffling back and forth, all three drivers holding the advantage at one point or another until Johnson took control on lap three. Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Terry McCarl was poised to make it a four car battle for the front before he spun in turn two and on the restart Johnson and Nienheiser, who was tonight's driver of the Midland Performance #50, separated themselves from the field.
Johnson pushed his lead to almost a full straightaway before getting into traffic and that allowed Nienheiser to get back into the hunt for the front. With drivers often racing two wide for position in front of him Johnson had to use several different lines to drop them a lap down and each time that it looked like Nienheiser would get to his bumper, the veteran driver from Oklahoma would use his experience to maintain the point.
In the closing laps the leader was working so hard in traffic that one of the lappers, Tanner Gebhardt was able to get past Johnson to be back on the lead lap, but Nienheiser could get no closer than five car lengths as Johnson secured the win. Jamie Ball came from eighth to finish third while the current Sprint Invader point leader John Schulz maintained his advantage by finishing fourth while Carson McCarl took fifth.
It was a stout and diverse field of drivers that entertained the Dubuque County Fair crowd including up and coming teenagers Mason Campbell and Riley Goodno as well as three talented young ladies in McKenna Hasse, Bailey Goldsberry and Katlynn Leer. Click here for Bill Wright's story and the full results from the Sprint Invaders.
The next action for the Sprint Invaders will come on Friday and Saturday August 16th and 17th with the series at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway on Friday night before moving to 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Saturday. Both events, loosely known as the Sprint Invader Nationals, will pay $2,000 to win. Also, the race that had been rained out in April at the Quincy Raceways has been rescheduled for Sunday September 8th and the last two appearances by the Invaders at the Bullring on Broadway have been spectacular.
There was good money on the line in the other three divisions as well at Dubuque on Wednesday and there was a nice mix of track regulars and visitors in both the Modifieds and the Sport Mods.
Jeff Larson drew the pole of the twenty-lap Modified main event and many believed that this would be a race for second. His fellow front row starter Matt Gansen had other ideas though as the two swapped the lead back and forth for the first two circuits before Gansen settled into the lead on lap three. Three cautions and their restarts would keep the field tight, but outside of one stumble on the turn four cushion late, Gansen was flawless in taking the win. Larson had to fight off Mark Schulte to earn the runner-up spot, Kenny Kostenbader was fourth and Troy Cordes came from fourteenth to finish fifth.
Mitch Manternach started from the pole in the fifteen lap Sport Mod headliner and when top contenders Jason Roth and Tyler Soppe tangled in turn one on lap three that suddenly made the leader Manternach the race favorite. Wisconsin drivers Wes Digman and Scott Busch waged an excellent battle for second mid-race but when the caution waved with just two laps to go they cost some folks some extra time in the beer tent with their antics as to who would line up where for the green, white, checkers restart.
Manternach would go unchallenged to take the convincing win as Digman took second after Busch faded out of the top five. Rusty DeShaw was third, Kip Siems came from a seventh row start to finish fourth and when Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, driver Brandon Schmitt spun in turn four coming to the checkers that allowed Soppe to get back into the top five.
As they often do the Legend Car drivers came from near and far to compete, one from as far away as Bismarck, North Dakota, but it would be Columbus Junction, Iowa, driver Jason Utter who would take the lead on lap eight and then go the rest of the unusually long 30-lap distance unchallenged to take the win. Tim Brockhouse finished second, Jackson Lewis was third, Ryan Mech fourth and Francesca Hoch filled out the top five.
It wan an all around enjoyable evening at the Fair and it was good to finally meet second year promoter Nick McCrady in person. Nick credited his quick success to the great crew that works with him and I know that Bill W and I had a great time sharing the microphone with Rob Hinckley and "Big Boy" Jason Frommelt. Hopefully I can make it back up to Dubuque or Maquoketa again before the end of the season.
McCrady did share one bit of bad news with me in that the October Sunday Series that had originally been scheduled for Maquoketa will not happen as planned as apparently the city did not like the concept. Why put up with a little noise in order to bring in some out of town revenue for a few weeks in the Fall? Oh well, looks like I will just have to watch the NFL a little more than I had originally planned.
Next up for me will be the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation A Force Against Addition event featuring Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Cars on Sunday night at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Stock Cars will be in action with big money on the line as well so hopefully I will see you there on the Back Stretch!
This has always been one of my favorite fairs to visit as it always draws a big crowd with plenty of entertainment for young and old as well as a great selection of food and drinks. And, with near perfect weather on Wednesday night the place was hopping with a five year best of twenty-one Sprint Invaders signed in for action. Pair that up with solid fields in the same quantity range for the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Legend Cars and we were set for a great night of racing, especially since the Dubuque Speedway high banks were again yielding three or more grooves for the drivers to choose from.
The opening laps of the Sprint Invader main event were wild with John Schulz, Paul Nienheiser and Wayne Johnson shuffling back and forth, all three drivers holding the advantage at one point or another until Johnson took control on lap three. Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Terry McCarl was poised to make it a four car battle for the front before he spun in turn two and on the restart Johnson and Nienheiser, who was tonight's driver of the Midland Performance #50, separated themselves from the field.
Johnson pushed his lead to almost a full straightaway before getting into traffic and that allowed Nienheiser to get back into the hunt for the front. With drivers often racing two wide for position in front of him Johnson had to use several different lines to drop them a lap down and each time that it looked like Nienheiser would get to his bumper, the veteran driver from Oklahoma would use his experience to maintain the point.
In the closing laps the leader was working so hard in traffic that one of the lappers, Tanner Gebhardt was able to get past Johnson to be back on the lead lap, but Nienheiser could get no closer than five car lengths as Johnson secured the win. Jamie Ball came from eighth to finish third while the current Sprint Invader point leader John Schulz maintained his advantage by finishing fourth while Carson McCarl took fifth.
It was a stout and diverse field of drivers that entertained the Dubuque County Fair crowd including up and coming teenagers Mason Campbell and Riley Goodno as well as three talented young ladies in McKenna Hasse, Bailey Goldsberry and Katlynn Leer. Click here for Bill Wright's story and the full results from the Sprint Invaders.
The next action for the Sprint Invaders will come on Friday and Saturday August 16th and 17th with the series at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway on Friday night before moving to 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Saturday. Both events, loosely known as the Sprint Invader Nationals, will pay $2,000 to win. Also, the race that had been rained out in April at the Quincy Raceways has been rescheduled for Sunday September 8th and the last two appearances by the Invaders at the Bullring on Broadway have been spectacular.
There was good money on the line in the other three divisions as well at Dubuque on Wednesday and there was a nice mix of track regulars and visitors in both the Modifieds and the Sport Mods.
Jeff Larson drew the pole of the twenty-lap Modified main event and many believed that this would be a race for second. His fellow front row starter Matt Gansen had other ideas though as the two swapped the lead back and forth for the first two circuits before Gansen settled into the lead on lap three. Three cautions and their restarts would keep the field tight, but outside of one stumble on the turn four cushion late, Gansen was flawless in taking the win. Larson had to fight off Mark Schulte to earn the runner-up spot, Kenny Kostenbader was fourth and Troy Cordes came from fourteenth to finish fifth.
Mitch Manternach started from the pole in the fifteen lap Sport Mod headliner and when top contenders Jason Roth and Tyler Soppe tangled in turn one on lap three that suddenly made the leader Manternach the race favorite. Wisconsin drivers Wes Digman and Scott Busch waged an excellent battle for second mid-race but when the caution waved with just two laps to go they cost some folks some extra time in the beer tent with their antics as to who would line up where for the green, white, checkers restart.
Manternach would go unchallenged to take the convincing win as Digman took second after Busch faded out of the top five. Rusty DeShaw was third, Kip Siems came from a seventh row start to finish fourth and when Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, driver Brandon Schmitt spun in turn four coming to the checkers that allowed Soppe to get back into the top five.
As they often do the Legend Car drivers came from near and far to compete, one from as far away as Bismarck, North Dakota, but it would be Columbus Junction, Iowa, driver Jason Utter who would take the lead on lap eight and then go the rest of the unusually long 30-lap distance unchallenged to take the win. Tim Brockhouse finished second, Jackson Lewis was third, Ryan Mech fourth and Francesca Hoch filled out the top five.
It wan an all around enjoyable evening at the Fair and it was good to finally meet second year promoter Nick McCrady in person. Nick credited his quick success to the great crew that works with him and I know that Bill W and I had a great time sharing the microphone with Rob Hinckley and "Big Boy" Jason Frommelt. Hopefully I can make it back up to Dubuque or Maquoketa again before the end of the season.
McCrady did share one bit of bad news with me in that the October Sunday Series that had originally been scheduled for Maquoketa will not happen as planned as apparently the city did not like the concept. Why put up with a little noise in order to bring in some out of town revenue for a few weeks in the Fall? Oh well, looks like I will just have to watch the NFL a little more than I had originally planned.
Next up for me will be the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation A Force Against Addition event featuring Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Cars on Sunday night at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Stock Cars will be in action with big money on the line as well so hopefully I will see you there on the Back Stretch!
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Thursday Notebook: July 18, 2019
Today's plan was to be giving you the story from either the Deery Brothers Summer Series in Columbus Junction or the USMTS show in Oskaloosa, but the 20% chance of rain yesterday came through with a vengeance and wiped out both events. So instead I will go to the Notebook today to give you my thoughts on the Grundy County Speedway and to provide a specific example of how times have changed with the onslaught of social media.
Returning from three days in Washington DC for business last Friday night my flight arrived at Midway in Chicago just before 8 p.m. and with the Grundy County Speedway in Morris just off my route home I decided to stop in and see if I could catch some feature racing. The 3/8-mile paved oval sits on the Grundy County Fairgrounds just a mile or two north of I-80 and the grandstands were much bigger than I remembered from my only other visit here back in the mid-1980's. Pulling into the parking lot it was obvious that a nice crowd was on hand and I was fortunate enough to find one open spot near the gate so that I could hustle in just past 9:30 and the Super Late Models were coming up for a lap eight restart in their thirty lap main event.
I was in my dress clothes, slacks a buttoned down long sleeve shirt and dress shoes, and if this were a dirt track I would have taken the time to change once I retrieved my luggage at the airport. No worries about dust here though and as I looked around at the part of the large crowd near where I had found a seat I noticed several families with two, three or more children. It was definitely a younger crowd in general than what I have been seeing at the other tracks that I attend and I have to wonder if the paved surface, no dust, and the muffled engines, less noise, had something to do with that. Then again, it could just be a regional demographic difference, something that will need more input before coming to a conclusion.
The track is reasonably wide with moderate banking and, like most paved tracks, the preferred line is right around the bottom. If a driver was challenging for position, he or she was always trying to get a nose under the car in front and, if the challenger could get underneath, the driver had little or no chance of holding the position once up into that second lane. I have been to a few paved tracks where the outside line can even be used for passing, Slinger, LaCrosse and I-44 Lebanon to name a few, but most are like what you will find here at Grundy County and that is why I will always prefer dirt, however I do enjoy my occasional trips to "the tar tracks" as my friend Warren calls them.
Not only was the crowd large last Friday night, they were involved as well cheering loudly as their favorites made their move and with each driver that visited victory lane there was a big round of applause. Their involvement wasn't because the announcer was hyping them up, in fact he was quite subdued often going for long periods of time without saying word. No complaints here as it was obvious that this event wasn't being live streamed out so that others could watch on a computer and need a constant description of the action. To give you a comparison of the crowd involvement I would have to refer you to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, perhaps the most "involved" crowd that you will find anywhere when it comes to cheering for their favorites and jeering those who aren't.
So back to the racing, the Super Late Models were the second feature of the night as I missed the Four Cylinders. Only ten cars were on hand tonight and two of them had retired to the pits by the lap eight restart with Nathan Kelly leading them back to green. As Kelly eased away the battle for second was a good one as Eddie Hoffman tried to fight off a couple of challengers, but he would eventually fade to fourth leaving David Einhaus and Keith Tolf to finish second and third. It would be Kelly's first win ever in a Super Late Model and during his interview he said that there were probably a lot of people who up until then thought that he should go back to driving a Street Stock.
Fourteen Mid-American Sportsman cars were up next for twenty-five laps that saw Aaron Shelton make his way to the front and score the win. Shelton was one driver who did show that the wide way around could work as Luke Baldwin finished second and Cody Clubb who also races a dirt car on Saturday nights in Fairbury finished third. Ten Street Stocks would close out the evening with Randy Weese taking the win.
A check of the results shows that the Four Cylinders had sixteen cars so the four division total was 50 proving that you don't need a huge car count to draw a good crowd as long as you are presenting a good show. One of the things that they do at the pavement tracks that I would like to see on dirt is the manner in which they set the lineups for restarts. When the caution waves, scorers put the cars into the proper single file order, just as they do on dirt, and when the lineup is set the "cone of commission" is placed on the front stretch. At both Slinger and here at Grundy County this cone is even sponsored, giving a local business a nice opportunity for some regular name mentions each race night and as the cars go past it the driver much choose whether he or she will restart on the inside, or the outside.
At Slinger it was a full double file restart, so even the leader had to pick a line, but here at Grundy the leader would start out front and the field would double up behind just like we see on dirt. BUT, if the low line is the place to be on this night, you might see the second, third and fourth place drivers all choose the bottom allowing the fifth place car to say "okay I'll give the top a try" from the outside of the first double row.
One of the things that I don't like about the Delaware double file restarts on dirt is that we give the second place driver a choice of high or low, but if he chooses the high line we still "force" the driver in fourth to start down low even though that likely gives the fifth place car, and the seventh, and the ninth, and the eleventh, etc. the advantage if the high side is the dominant groove.
If I recall correctly, this is something that Cam Granger and the Corn Belt Clash did for awhile, but I would love to see a dirt track give this a try for all divisions as it adds to the strategy for each driver and it is also interesting for the fans to watch as each driver chooses a line.
The final checkers waved just before 10:30 p.m. and I was back on the road for home, more than ready to get back to dirt, but still open to another pavement event late in 2019.
So that brings us to a point that I want to make about social media and how it has changed not only our sport, but our society as a whole. Let's go back to, let's say, 1985 where a driver and his crew go to a track that has been struggling with the weather recently, but on this night the sun is high and both the drivers and the fans are happy to finally be back at the race track. Our featured driver is in the second heat race of the night and even though he finishes second in that heat, when he returns to the pits he tells his crew that the track is pretty rough and that he is concerned about his equipment getting torn up later in the feature. The driver and his crew decide to take a wait and see attitude and if the track is still rough come feature time he will tell the officials that he would like to start at the rear where he will make one lap under green before pulling to the pits so that he can collect his $50 start money and put the car on the trailer in one piece before looking forward to next week.
Seems like a pretty reasonable and mature way to handle it, but now let's move ahead to 2019 with the same scenario.
First of all, before the race night the driver announces to his tens of followers that he will be in competition at XYZ Speedway on Saturday night. Okay, so that's not a bad thing, in fact it is actually helping to promote the event that the driver is intending, however it apparently is also giving the driver the feeling that he is somehow responsible for his followers who now actually go to the event. Why do I believe that? Well, it is the only way for me to rationalize what happens on race night.
Same scenario, second heat race of the night, finishes second on a rough race track and when he returns to the pits this is what happens. He gets on Facebook and announces that due to the rough track My Racing Team will be loading up and leaving XYZ Speedway immediately, stating that no drivers should be expected to race under such terrible conditions. He and his crew then load up and head for home, hopefully without any kind of tow money check especially if the promoter found out that this was how the driver handled the situation.
I'm old, so maybe I just don't get it, but what was the point of doing that? Did this driver expect that all of his fans would also pack up their stuff in the stands and leave immediately as well? Does this type of one-to-one immediate communication help the sport at all? Wouldn't he have been better off financially from handling the situation like the driver from 1985? I know that he wouldn't have lost my respect if he had handled it like they did before social media. I just don't get it.
As it turned out the track conditions improved as the night went on and as far as I can tell not one other driver either complained, or even did the ol' "start and park", so hopefully none of this driver's tens of fans joined him in leaving or they too would have missed out on their ten bucks worth.
A good friend of mine who works in racing told me the other night that at this point he could care less if he went to another race this season due to all of the crap that is spewed on Facebook and other social media and I must say that the bashing has ticked up a notch over the past week. That is just sad.
I have given up on trying to get people to stop doing that and this is why. Because I believe that if you are a regular reader of the Back Stretch, especially taking the time today just to read through another Notebook of thoughts and observations, you are already a GOOD race fan. Not someone who is going to go on Facebook and bash a track or a driver, so there is no need for me to plead with you to stay positive.
Instead I will ask you to do this if you are a fan or even a promoter. Just ignore it, let the negative narcissistic know-it-alls continue to do what they do, but if you don't read it then it cannot have a negative effect on how you enjoy the sport.
That's my plan, and it will probably be tested right away as several promoters have made the decision to cancel their races for this weekend due to the excessive heat. Some tracks are still racing though so either way you should respect each promoter's decision and if you want to go racing this weekend, you might have to drive a bit further than usual, but you still can.
I already had other non-racing plans for the weekend so my next event will be next Wednesday July 24th when the Sprint Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair for another crack at the 3/8-mile high banks and with the Knoxville Nationals coming up you just never know who will be in the area and looking to race. Californian Dominic Scelzi has won there each of the past two years, so perhaps we will see you there!
Returning from three days in Washington DC for business last Friday night my flight arrived at Midway in Chicago just before 8 p.m. and with the Grundy County Speedway in Morris just off my route home I decided to stop in and see if I could catch some feature racing. The 3/8-mile paved oval sits on the Grundy County Fairgrounds just a mile or two north of I-80 and the grandstands were much bigger than I remembered from my only other visit here back in the mid-1980's. Pulling into the parking lot it was obvious that a nice crowd was on hand and I was fortunate enough to find one open spot near the gate so that I could hustle in just past 9:30 and the Super Late Models were coming up for a lap eight restart in their thirty lap main event.
I was in my dress clothes, slacks a buttoned down long sleeve shirt and dress shoes, and if this were a dirt track I would have taken the time to change once I retrieved my luggage at the airport. No worries about dust here though and as I looked around at the part of the large crowd near where I had found a seat I noticed several families with two, three or more children. It was definitely a younger crowd in general than what I have been seeing at the other tracks that I attend and I have to wonder if the paved surface, no dust, and the muffled engines, less noise, had something to do with that. Then again, it could just be a regional demographic difference, something that will need more input before coming to a conclusion.
The track is reasonably wide with moderate banking and, like most paved tracks, the preferred line is right around the bottom. If a driver was challenging for position, he or she was always trying to get a nose under the car in front and, if the challenger could get underneath, the driver had little or no chance of holding the position once up into that second lane. I have been to a few paved tracks where the outside line can even be used for passing, Slinger, LaCrosse and I-44 Lebanon to name a few, but most are like what you will find here at Grundy County and that is why I will always prefer dirt, however I do enjoy my occasional trips to "the tar tracks" as my friend Warren calls them.
Not only was the crowd large last Friday night, they were involved as well cheering loudly as their favorites made their move and with each driver that visited victory lane there was a big round of applause. Their involvement wasn't because the announcer was hyping them up, in fact he was quite subdued often going for long periods of time without saying word. No complaints here as it was obvious that this event wasn't being live streamed out so that others could watch on a computer and need a constant description of the action. To give you a comparison of the crowd involvement I would have to refer you to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, perhaps the most "involved" crowd that you will find anywhere when it comes to cheering for their favorites and jeering those who aren't.
So back to the racing, the Super Late Models were the second feature of the night as I missed the Four Cylinders. Only ten cars were on hand tonight and two of them had retired to the pits by the lap eight restart with Nathan Kelly leading them back to green. As Kelly eased away the battle for second was a good one as Eddie Hoffman tried to fight off a couple of challengers, but he would eventually fade to fourth leaving David Einhaus and Keith Tolf to finish second and third. It would be Kelly's first win ever in a Super Late Model and during his interview he said that there were probably a lot of people who up until then thought that he should go back to driving a Street Stock.
Fourteen Mid-American Sportsman cars were up next for twenty-five laps that saw Aaron Shelton make his way to the front and score the win. Shelton was one driver who did show that the wide way around could work as Luke Baldwin finished second and Cody Clubb who also races a dirt car on Saturday nights in Fairbury finished third. Ten Street Stocks would close out the evening with Randy Weese taking the win.
A check of the results shows that the Four Cylinders had sixteen cars so the four division total was 50 proving that you don't need a huge car count to draw a good crowd as long as you are presenting a good show. One of the things that they do at the pavement tracks that I would like to see on dirt is the manner in which they set the lineups for restarts. When the caution waves, scorers put the cars into the proper single file order, just as they do on dirt, and when the lineup is set the "cone of commission" is placed on the front stretch. At both Slinger and here at Grundy County this cone is even sponsored, giving a local business a nice opportunity for some regular name mentions each race night and as the cars go past it the driver much choose whether he or she will restart on the inside, or the outside.
At Slinger it was a full double file restart, so even the leader had to pick a line, but here at Grundy the leader would start out front and the field would double up behind just like we see on dirt. BUT, if the low line is the place to be on this night, you might see the second, third and fourth place drivers all choose the bottom allowing the fifth place car to say "okay I'll give the top a try" from the outside of the first double row.
One of the things that I don't like about the Delaware double file restarts on dirt is that we give the second place driver a choice of high or low, but if he chooses the high line we still "force" the driver in fourth to start down low even though that likely gives the fifth place car, and the seventh, and the ninth, and the eleventh, etc. the advantage if the high side is the dominant groove.
If I recall correctly, this is something that Cam Granger and the Corn Belt Clash did for awhile, but I would love to see a dirt track give this a try for all divisions as it adds to the strategy for each driver and it is also interesting for the fans to watch as each driver chooses a line.
The final checkers waved just before 10:30 p.m. and I was back on the road for home, more than ready to get back to dirt, but still open to another pavement event late in 2019.
So that brings us to a point that I want to make about social media and how it has changed not only our sport, but our society as a whole. Let's go back to, let's say, 1985 where a driver and his crew go to a track that has been struggling with the weather recently, but on this night the sun is high and both the drivers and the fans are happy to finally be back at the race track. Our featured driver is in the second heat race of the night and even though he finishes second in that heat, when he returns to the pits he tells his crew that the track is pretty rough and that he is concerned about his equipment getting torn up later in the feature. The driver and his crew decide to take a wait and see attitude and if the track is still rough come feature time he will tell the officials that he would like to start at the rear where he will make one lap under green before pulling to the pits so that he can collect his $50 start money and put the car on the trailer in one piece before looking forward to next week.
Seems like a pretty reasonable and mature way to handle it, but now let's move ahead to 2019 with the same scenario.
First of all, before the race night the driver announces to his tens of followers that he will be in competition at XYZ Speedway on Saturday night. Okay, so that's not a bad thing, in fact it is actually helping to promote the event that the driver is intending, however it apparently is also giving the driver the feeling that he is somehow responsible for his followers who now actually go to the event. Why do I believe that? Well, it is the only way for me to rationalize what happens on race night.
Same scenario, second heat race of the night, finishes second on a rough race track and when he returns to the pits this is what happens. He gets on Facebook and announces that due to the rough track My Racing Team will be loading up and leaving XYZ Speedway immediately, stating that no drivers should be expected to race under such terrible conditions. He and his crew then load up and head for home, hopefully without any kind of tow money check especially if the promoter found out that this was how the driver handled the situation.
I'm old, so maybe I just don't get it, but what was the point of doing that? Did this driver expect that all of his fans would also pack up their stuff in the stands and leave immediately as well? Does this type of one-to-one immediate communication help the sport at all? Wouldn't he have been better off financially from handling the situation like the driver from 1985? I know that he wouldn't have lost my respect if he had handled it like they did before social media. I just don't get it.
As it turned out the track conditions improved as the night went on and as far as I can tell not one other driver either complained, or even did the ol' "start and park", so hopefully none of this driver's tens of fans joined him in leaving or they too would have missed out on their ten bucks worth.
A good friend of mine who works in racing told me the other night that at this point he could care less if he went to another race this season due to all of the crap that is spewed on Facebook and other social media and I must say that the bashing has ticked up a notch over the past week. That is just sad.
I have given up on trying to get people to stop doing that and this is why. Because I believe that if you are a regular reader of the Back Stretch, especially taking the time today just to read through another Notebook of thoughts and observations, you are already a GOOD race fan. Not someone who is going to go on Facebook and bash a track or a driver, so there is no need for me to plead with you to stay positive.
Instead I will ask you to do this if you are a fan or even a promoter. Just ignore it, let the negative narcissistic know-it-alls continue to do what they do, but if you don't read it then it cannot have a negative effect on how you enjoy the sport.
That's my plan, and it will probably be tested right away as several promoters have made the decision to cancel their races for this weekend due to the excessive heat. Some tracks are still racing though so either way you should respect each promoter's decision and if you want to go racing this weekend, you might have to drive a bit further than usual, but you still can.
I already had other non-racing plans for the weekend so my next event will be next Wednesday July 24th when the Sprint Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair for another crack at the 3/8-mile high banks and with the Knoxville Nationals coming up you just never know who will be in the area and looking to race. Californian Dominic Scelzi has won there each of the past two years, so perhaps we will see you there!
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Big Car Count, Big Crowd In Memory Of A Kid With A Big Heart
One year ago the racing community and the community of Oskaloosa came together to grant eleven year old Caleb Hammond his biggest wish, to race on the dirt track that he so much loved to attend, the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Caleb's days were numbered, unable to prevail in his valiant fight against cancer when he strapped into his race car on a Saturday morning in Osky with a driving "coach" to his side and it was amazing the number of drivers who towed in from near and far to help make Caleb's racing experience as true as possible.
I don't watch racing live on the internet, but I tuned in on that morning and tears filled my eyes as Scott Watson, who himself is battling a series of health problems called the action. As I recall Caleb did go for a spin in his first lap at speed, but after that he kept the car straight and just like any other rookie driver got faster and faster with each lap. And when he earned his way to victory lane, well who can forget that smile.
I'm using the picture here from the Oskaloosa News story from that day as that way it will show up with the link to this blog entry, I hope that is okay with them. After all, it was all about that smile, and that dream that came true on that August morning just a month or so shy of his passing that we all needed to remember last night at the Inaugural Caleb Hammond Memorial.
Once again the pits were full on Tuesday night with more than 120 cars in six divisions headlined by the return of the Modifieds. Yes, there was some big money on the line, both in the purse and from several people who just wanted to add to the night, but you had a sense that most of the drivers would have been here just like they were a year ago with no purse on the line, just to make a kid's dream come true.
Sprint Cars were added to the weekly program recently and tonight would be their third appearance with eleven drivers signed in. Josh Most in Rick Germar's #93 was here for the first time and it looked like he was going to runaway with tonight's win. With three laps remaining though the second place car of Dillon Alexander spun in turn two and the caution erased the full straightaway lead held by Most. Two more cautions for incidents involving the first night winner Logan Alexander left just two laps to run with last week's winner Jonathan Hughes now running in second. Most was not able to get away from Hughes as the green flag waved and Jonathan even made a run at the leader in turn three.
That effort was not successful but it did set him up for a big run down the front stretch and after the lead duo took the white flag Hughes dove to the bottom in turn one and then executed the perfect slider to take the lead from Most into turn two. With his momentum stifled for a split second, Most was not able to return the favor in turns three and four as Hughes took his second straight win at Osky. Garrett Alexander and Doug Sylvester were next in line while Dillon Alexander rallied back into the top five at the checkers.
I don't recall a larger field of Sport Compacts for a weeknight show at Oskaloosa as twenty-three drivers were on hand to race ten laps for a $500 top prize. Local favorite Brandon Allison would lead the opening laps, but following an early restart Nathan Chandler would drive around Allison to take the lead. Two time defending All Iowa Points champion Barry Taft would emerge from a tight battle for second with track point leader Trent Orwig, but once there he was unable to reel in Chandler who scored the win. Taft and Orwig were next in line followed by Chuck Fullenkamp, who had started eleventh, and Nathan Moody as Allison dropped out of the race on the final lap.
The Hobby Stocks were up next and with $1,000 on the line the battle was intense on the opening lap as drivers battled for an early advantage. Exiting turn four Derek Kirkland, Dustin Griffiths and Brandon Cox were three wide and banging doors near the front of the field when Cox spun sideways gathering Griffiths and sending the rest of the field scrambling. In all nine cars were involved in the melee with four of them suffering too much damage to restart. Locked in the track's point race, Griffiths had his crew remove the damaged front end body work from his car and he restarted at the back of the remaining thirteen car field.
Christian Huffman would lead the way for the first three trips around the fast half-mile before Mike Hughes was able to get some low line bite in turn one. Cautions on laps seven and eleven would bunch the field back up for restarts, but on each one Hughes would drive away eventually taking the win. The race for second was a good one over the closing laps as Clint Nelson found some speed and moved from fourth to second at the checkers. Griffiths brought his "wounded animal" as described by announcer Jerry Mackey in for third, Huffman finished fourth and Kirkland completed the top five.
The Sport Mod field of twenty-two was absolutely stacked with talent including a couple of drivers, Ben Moudry and Jared Boumeester, who will also be in action tonight at Oskaloosa, more on that later. Brayton Carter drew the pole position for the 16-lap main event and you just knew that the young driver would be hard to beat on his hometown track. Logan Anderson kept him honest though as the battles raged on behind them until the mid-race mark when Colton Livezy spun off the back stretch in order to give himself the opportunity to get to the work area under caution.
Livezy had been battling for a top five spot when his left front hood pin failed leaving him with impaired vision and with tonight's speeds and traffic that was no way to race, so after removing the hood Livezy rejoined the field at the rear. On the restart rookie phenom Dylan Van Wyk spun in front of the field in turn one, but he was able to let the car coast backwards directly facing the oncoming traffic who all amazingly split Van Wyk both high and low with no contact.
Two laps later though Van Wyk found himself tangled with Jeff Frana at the exit of turn two ending the night for both drivers.
Once back to racing Anderson now had to deal with a challenge from Curtis Van Der Wal for second allowing Brayton Carter to drive away for the convincing flag to flag victory. Anderson would hold on for second leaving third to Van Der Wal while Cayden Carter brought the DeJong Racing #30m from tenth to fourth. Jason Hall held on to complete the top five.
Stock Cars would be up next for $1,000-to-win and they would have a hard time getting going with three early cautions. Once that was out of their system though the race would go green over the final thirteen laps with a three car breakaway out front. Damon Murty was dialed into the cushion and while both Todd Reitzler and Cayden Carter made efforts on the bottom they could not clear Murty who would go the distance for the win and pick up an additional $100 for winning on his first visit to Oskaloosa in 2019. Reitzler and Carter were on his rear bumper the entire way as Derrick Agee and Nathan Wood finished fourth and fifth.
The return of the Modifieds would close out the evening for thirty laps with $2,000 going to the winner and it was a diverse field of twenty with drivers from Iowa, Missouri, California, Arizona and Wyoming in attendance. Bruce Hanford would use the pole position to take the lead at the drop of the green with the first of just two cautions slowing the race on lap four. Driving in his third feature race in a row on a warm evening, Cayden Carter was on the move after starting eleventh and he was soon poised to challenge for the lead. Hanford did a nice job fighting him off for a few laps, but when the leader dropped his right rear tire off the top of the back stretch for a split second on lap twelve that was all that Carter needed to take the point.
Just after that lead change the caution would wave again for Jerad Fuller who had spun exiting turn two. Earlier during the redraw Fuller had accepted the challenge to start at the rear of the field earning him an immediate $300 with an additional $700 to be added to his winnings if he could finish in the top three. I believe that at the time of his spin Jerad had moved up to sixth, but his night would end here on the back of a tow truck.
Following the restart perhaps Cayden took out a bit of his frustration from not winning in his first two features of the night as he simply drove away from the competition to take the win by more than a straightaway over Todd Shute. Hanford would fight off a late challenge from Lance Mari to hold down third as Austin Howes took fifth.
It was a full night of racing all for the low price of eight dollars and a large Southern Iowa Fair crowd filled the stands early. However, with a twenty-five minute intermission and perhaps one too many classes it turned into a late night for a Tuesday with the final checkers waving at 11:23 with much of the crowd already gone for the evening. Hopefully they will be well rested and ready to return tonight though as Todd Staley brings the United States Modified Touring Series to town along with the USRA Ironman Series for the B-Mods and Stock Cars. Hobby Stocks will be in action as well for night number two of racing at the Southern Iowa Fair in Oskaloosa.
For the second year in a row the USMTS show in Osky is on the same night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction and, since I made the trip to Osky last year, tonight I will take the back roads north to Columbus Junction.
Two great events to choose from on a Wednesday night in July. Our part of the country is truly the best place to be if you are a race fan!
I don't watch racing live on the internet, but I tuned in on that morning and tears filled my eyes as Scott Watson, who himself is battling a series of health problems called the action. As I recall Caleb did go for a spin in his first lap at speed, but after that he kept the car straight and just like any other rookie driver got faster and faster with each lap. And when he earned his way to victory lane, well who can forget that smile.
I'm using the picture here from the Oskaloosa News story from that day as that way it will show up with the link to this blog entry, I hope that is okay with them. After all, it was all about that smile, and that dream that came true on that August morning just a month or so shy of his passing that we all needed to remember last night at the Inaugural Caleb Hammond Memorial.
Once again the pits were full on Tuesday night with more than 120 cars in six divisions headlined by the return of the Modifieds. Yes, there was some big money on the line, both in the purse and from several people who just wanted to add to the night, but you had a sense that most of the drivers would have been here just like they were a year ago with no purse on the line, just to make a kid's dream come true.
Sprint Cars were added to the weekly program recently and tonight would be their third appearance with eleven drivers signed in. Josh Most in Rick Germar's #93 was here for the first time and it looked like he was going to runaway with tonight's win. With three laps remaining though the second place car of Dillon Alexander spun in turn two and the caution erased the full straightaway lead held by Most. Two more cautions for incidents involving the first night winner Logan Alexander left just two laps to run with last week's winner Jonathan Hughes now running in second. Most was not able to get away from Hughes as the green flag waved and Jonathan even made a run at the leader in turn three.
That effort was not successful but it did set him up for a big run down the front stretch and after the lead duo took the white flag Hughes dove to the bottom in turn one and then executed the perfect slider to take the lead from Most into turn two. With his momentum stifled for a split second, Most was not able to return the favor in turns three and four as Hughes took his second straight win at Osky. Garrett Alexander and Doug Sylvester were next in line while Dillon Alexander rallied back into the top five at the checkers.
I don't recall a larger field of Sport Compacts for a weeknight show at Oskaloosa as twenty-three drivers were on hand to race ten laps for a $500 top prize. Local favorite Brandon Allison would lead the opening laps, but following an early restart Nathan Chandler would drive around Allison to take the lead. Two time defending All Iowa Points champion Barry Taft would emerge from a tight battle for second with track point leader Trent Orwig, but once there he was unable to reel in Chandler who scored the win. Taft and Orwig were next in line followed by Chuck Fullenkamp, who had started eleventh, and Nathan Moody as Allison dropped out of the race on the final lap.
The Hobby Stocks were up next and with $1,000 on the line the battle was intense on the opening lap as drivers battled for an early advantage. Exiting turn four Derek Kirkland, Dustin Griffiths and Brandon Cox were three wide and banging doors near the front of the field when Cox spun sideways gathering Griffiths and sending the rest of the field scrambling. In all nine cars were involved in the melee with four of them suffering too much damage to restart. Locked in the track's point race, Griffiths had his crew remove the damaged front end body work from his car and he restarted at the back of the remaining thirteen car field.
Christian Huffman would lead the way for the first three trips around the fast half-mile before Mike Hughes was able to get some low line bite in turn one. Cautions on laps seven and eleven would bunch the field back up for restarts, but on each one Hughes would drive away eventually taking the win. The race for second was a good one over the closing laps as Clint Nelson found some speed and moved from fourth to second at the checkers. Griffiths brought his "wounded animal" as described by announcer Jerry Mackey in for third, Huffman finished fourth and Kirkland completed the top five.
The Sport Mod field of twenty-two was absolutely stacked with talent including a couple of drivers, Ben Moudry and Jared Boumeester, who will also be in action tonight at Oskaloosa, more on that later. Brayton Carter drew the pole position for the 16-lap main event and you just knew that the young driver would be hard to beat on his hometown track. Logan Anderson kept him honest though as the battles raged on behind them until the mid-race mark when Colton Livezy spun off the back stretch in order to give himself the opportunity to get to the work area under caution.
Livezy had been battling for a top five spot when his left front hood pin failed leaving him with impaired vision and with tonight's speeds and traffic that was no way to race, so after removing the hood Livezy rejoined the field at the rear. On the restart rookie phenom Dylan Van Wyk spun in front of the field in turn one, but he was able to let the car coast backwards directly facing the oncoming traffic who all amazingly split Van Wyk both high and low with no contact.
Two laps later though Van Wyk found himself tangled with Jeff Frana at the exit of turn two ending the night for both drivers.
Once back to racing Anderson now had to deal with a challenge from Curtis Van Der Wal for second allowing Brayton Carter to drive away for the convincing flag to flag victory. Anderson would hold on for second leaving third to Van Der Wal while Cayden Carter brought the DeJong Racing #30m from tenth to fourth. Jason Hall held on to complete the top five.
Stock Cars would be up next for $1,000-to-win and they would have a hard time getting going with three early cautions. Once that was out of their system though the race would go green over the final thirteen laps with a three car breakaway out front. Damon Murty was dialed into the cushion and while both Todd Reitzler and Cayden Carter made efforts on the bottom they could not clear Murty who would go the distance for the win and pick up an additional $100 for winning on his first visit to Oskaloosa in 2019. Reitzler and Carter were on his rear bumper the entire way as Derrick Agee and Nathan Wood finished fourth and fifth.
The return of the Modifieds would close out the evening for thirty laps with $2,000 going to the winner and it was a diverse field of twenty with drivers from Iowa, Missouri, California, Arizona and Wyoming in attendance. Bruce Hanford would use the pole position to take the lead at the drop of the green with the first of just two cautions slowing the race on lap four. Driving in his third feature race in a row on a warm evening, Cayden Carter was on the move after starting eleventh and he was soon poised to challenge for the lead. Hanford did a nice job fighting him off for a few laps, but when the leader dropped his right rear tire off the top of the back stretch for a split second on lap twelve that was all that Carter needed to take the point.
Just after that lead change the caution would wave again for Jerad Fuller who had spun exiting turn two. Earlier during the redraw Fuller had accepted the challenge to start at the rear of the field earning him an immediate $300 with an additional $700 to be added to his winnings if he could finish in the top three. I believe that at the time of his spin Jerad had moved up to sixth, but his night would end here on the back of a tow truck.
Following the restart perhaps Cayden took out a bit of his frustration from not winning in his first two features of the night as he simply drove away from the competition to take the win by more than a straightaway over Todd Shute. Hanford would fight off a late challenge from Lance Mari to hold down third as Austin Howes took fifth.
It was a full night of racing all for the low price of eight dollars and a large Southern Iowa Fair crowd filled the stands early. However, with a twenty-five minute intermission and perhaps one too many classes it turned into a late night for a Tuesday with the final checkers waving at 11:23 with much of the crowd already gone for the evening. Hopefully they will be well rested and ready to return tonight though as Todd Staley brings the United States Modified Touring Series to town along with the USRA Ironman Series for the B-Mods and Stock Cars. Hobby Stocks will be in action as well for night number two of racing at the Southern Iowa Fair in Oskaloosa.
For the second year in a row the USMTS show in Osky is on the same night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction and, since I made the trip to Osky last year, tonight I will take the back roads north to Columbus Junction.
Two great events to choose from on a Wednesday night in July. Our part of the country is truly the best place to be if you are a race fan!
Monday, July 15, 2019
Aikey Closes Out A Solid Week With Two More Wins At Vinton
Hot temperatures and a full moon are easy targets to attribute as general reasons for a longer than usual night of racing at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday night. The pits were nowhere near as full as the last event here, the 25th and final Hogan Memorial that was held on July 3rd, but even with mid-90's heat and the "July lull" that often comes with it, there was still a solid car count as the speedway now enters its stretch run for 2019.
This was definitely another night to remember for Jeff Aikey as with two more victories tonight, the veteran driver tallied five feature wins and three runner-up finishes over the past six days!
The Micro Mods were first up as usual come feature time with only five of the six cars signed in able to take the green. And that count was reduced by one more when heat race winner Matt Post spun in turn three on the opening lap and as Skyler Dugan tried to avoid him, contact sent Dugan's car up and over in turn four. Once it was confirmed that Sklyer was okay, his damaged car was towed away and we were back to action with Russ Olson leading the way. Cole McNeal provided the pressure though and with five laps remaining the young driver was able to make his move and score yet another win here in Vinton. In victory lane McNeal noted that this was his twelfth win in twenty-two nights out this year and it will be interesting to see if he will "graduate" to another division in 2020 as I would guess that he too would have success in a full size car much like two of his former Micro Mod competitors did here on this night. Olson finished second with Post in third.
Zeke Wheeler would lead the Compact field for the first five laps until Ashley Reumann made her way to the front. Ashley was looking good and putting some distance on the field as Wheeler did his best to fight off previous winners here Korey Lana and Adam Gates. With six laps to go Lana was able to get under Wheeler exiting turn four and when Zeke's left front made contact with Korey's right rear it turned Lana's car to the right at the end of the front stretch. The wall ends before it gets to turn one, so instead Lana's car hit the berm at the top putting it up on its side briefly before it bounced back down onto all fours.
Wheeler was sent to the pits for his involvement as Lana's car was towed to his trailer and this would put Gates right on the rear bumper of Reumann for the restart. Ashley would do her best to fight off the challenge forcing Gates to use the high side to finally get around her with three laps remaining. From there it was all Gates as he pulled away to take the win. Travis Losenicky took second away from Reumann on the final lap as the Steepeltons, Andrew, Brandon and Alicia finished fourth, fifth and sixth.
As the Hobby Stock feature rolled onto the speedway the call came out for the ambulance to respond to another call in Vinton since the other ambulance in town was already out on a transport, so it would be forty minutes before the 15-lap feature would finally take the green and it definitely looked like the wait had some negative effect on the drivers. After a couple of drivers spun but kept moving, the caution did wave on lap two for Ed O'Brien who had looped his ride over in turn number three. On the restart Matt Brown and Amy Thomas got together sending Brown to the pits for the rest of the night and on the next restart Stoney Leonard had the throttle stick sending him sailing off the top of turn one before crashing head on into the guardrail that protects the pit entrance.
Thankfully everybody was okay and there was a delay as the guardrail was pieced back together so that it could continue to provide protection.
Once back to racing this one would go green the rest of the way with Micro Mod graduate Kaden Reynolds leading the entire distance to take the win. Brett Vanous did show him a nose a couple of times, but with Reynolds hitting his marks around the top, Vanous would have to settle for the runner-position on this night. Leah Wroten finished third, Mike Kimm was one of those early lap spinners, but came back strong to take fourth as Justin Wacha filled out the top five.
Twenty laps of IMCA Modified action would be up next, but the initial start would be waved off when it was decided that pole-sitter Dennis Betzer had not kept a steady pace coming to green. Once the race did start, Betzer's night got even worse when he was tagged by Corey Dripps exiting turn four as the opening lap was scored sending both drivers to the back of the pack. John Oliver Jr. was your leader, riding around the top side that had now become quite precarious with the cushion being pushed all the way to the top of the banking.
A pair of cautions for Jeff Sampson on laps four and seven slowed the field and on the second restart a scramble on the backstretch sent several cars spinning after contact between hometown drivers Jerry Dedrick and Scott Hogan. More cars needed a tow than there were tow trucks on hand, so that added time to the evening and once back to racing Oliver now had the eighth starter Jeff Aikey stalking him around the top. Aikey attempted a slide job in turns one and two on lap nine only to have Oliver execute the crossover to perfection and it looked like the defending All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion would take his first Modified win here at Vinton.
With five laps remaining though the leaders closed quickly on the slower car of Todd Summers who was also riding around the top. With Aikey anticipating to perfection, he went to the low groove to pull even with Oliver as they exited turn two and when Oliver had to enter turn three in the middle to clear the slower car, Aikey found the bite that he needed down low to snare the lead as Oliver drifted back up to the cushion in turn four. It was all but over at that point as the defending IMCA Super Nationals Champion eased away to take the win over Oliver. Aikey's apprentice, young Kolin Hibdon from Nevada finished in third spot while Patrick Flannagan and J.D. Auringer were fourth and fifth.
Russell Damme Jr. would lead the opening two laps of the Stock Car headliner before Tyler Titus spun at the exit of turn four. On the restart Dallon Murty, another Micro Mod graduate, sailed around the outside of Damme to lead lap three as the caution waved again, this time for Scooter Dulin and Shane Ebaugh in turn three. Once back to racing Jay Schmidt would separate the leader from his father Damon and as the lead trio circled the top of the quarter-mile Schmidt waited for a mistake from the young driver. Instead it would be his own mistake that would bring out the next caution as Schmidt missed the entrance to turn three on lap seven and drove off the top of the race track.
On this restart Damon would make sure that he would be behind his son around the top and when Shawn Ritter's bid to work the bottom came up short the son and father duo gradually pulled away. Could Damon have made a move to in the closing laps to take the win? Perhaps, but I am sure that it was a much prouder moment for him to follow his son in for his first career Stock Car feature win at Vinton that now leaves Dallon just 100 wins behind his Dad here.
Ritter was a solid third while Bob Ahrendson was the best of an entertaining battle for fourth finishing just ahead of Norman Chesmore. It should be noted that Ritter's daughter Kenzi and Chesmore's daughter Hannah were also in the sixteen car field making the Stock Cars quite a family affair here at Vinton.
Speaking of family, the sixteen lap Sport Mod feature would come down to a battle of the Olson cousins as race long leader Kyle was being tracked down by the seventh starter Tony. Kyle was riding that fast, but treacherous high line with Tony working down lower and with just two laps remaining Tony nosed ahead at the stripe. Kyle would run a near perfect lap around the rim though and as the white flag waved he would be back out in front by a full car length. Through turns one and two the leader looked like a soon to be winner, but when he had to check up for a split second on the cushion in turn three that allowed Tony to win the drag race to the checkers and score the win. Ben Chapman would finish in the third spot with Danny Dvorak fourth and Aaron Mitchell was impressive in his first visit to Vinton in 2019 taking fifth after starting ninth.
The IMCA Late Models would close out the night for twenty laps and when pole-sitter Scotty Welsh failed to come up to speed as the field entered turn four he was sent to the back of the nine car field for the retry. This would put heat race winner Dalton Simonson on the pole and while the Late Model rookie, a graduate from the Sport Mod ranks, is getting faster each week he would have nothing for Jeff Aikey on this night. Aikey started fourth and would sail to the lead on the opening circuit eventually opening up nearly a half lap advantage in taking his second checkered flag of the night. Simonson would finish second ahead of Matt Ryan who was the only driver who made the pull to Vinton after a late day rainout at Dubuque. Curtis Glover and Logan Duffy completed the top five.
Even with the ambulance delay and the multiple incidents the final checkers waved just past ten o'clock and as I drove home I was trying to figure out if I will get one last chance to see a Mick Trier promoted race night at Vinton. Thanks to Mick, Mike and the entire BCS crew for the hospitality and to announcer Jeff Kropf for the Positively Racing mention.
If you are making your way to Oskaloosa on Tuesday for the Caleb Hammond Memorial make sure that you tune in Kropf for the Southern Iowa Speedway Pre-Race Show on 104.9 FM KBOE starting at, or around 6 p.m.
Hope to see you there!
This was definitely another night to remember for Jeff Aikey as with two more victories tonight, the veteran driver tallied five feature wins and three runner-up finishes over the past six days!
The Micro Mods were first up as usual come feature time with only five of the six cars signed in able to take the green. And that count was reduced by one more when heat race winner Matt Post spun in turn three on the opening lap and as Skyler Dugan tried to avoid him, contact sent Dugan's car up and over in turn four. Once it was confirmed that Sklyer was okay, his damaged car was towed away and we were back to action with Russ Olson leading the way. Cole McNeal provided the pressure though and with five laps remaining the young driver was able to make his move and score yet another win here in Vinton. In victory lane McNeal noted that this was his twelfth win in twenty-two nights out this year and it will be interesting to see if he will "graduate" to another division in 2020 as I would guess that he too would have success in a full size car much like two of his former Micro Mod competitors did here on this night. Olson finished second with Post in third.
Zeke Wheeler would lead the Compact field for the first five laps until Ashley Reumann made her way to the front. Ashley was looking good and putting some distance on the field as Wheeler did his best to fight off previous winners here Korey Lana and Adam Gates. With six laps to go Lana was able to get under Wheeler exiting turn four and when Zeke's left front made contact with Korey's right rear it turned Lana's car to the right at the end of the front stretch. The wall ends before it gets to turn one, so instead Lana's car hit the berm at the top putting it up on its side briefly before it bounced back down onto all fours.
Wheeler was sent to the pits for his involvement as Lana's car was towed to his trailer and this would put Gates right on the rear bumper of Reumann for the restart. Ashley would do her best to fight off the challenge forcing Gates to use the high side to finally get around her with three laps remaining. From there it was all Gates as he pulled away to take the win. Travis Losenicky took second away from Reumann on the final lap as the Steepeltons, Andrew, Brandon and Alicia finished fourth, fifth and sixth.
As the Hobby Stock feature rolled onto the speedway the call came out for the ambulance to respond to another call in Vinton since the other ambulance in town was already out on a transport, so it would be forty minutes before the 15-lap feature would finally take the green and it definitely looked like the wait had some negative effect on the drivers. After a couple of drivers spun but kept moving, the caution did wave on lap two for Ed O'Brien who had looped his ride over in turn number three. On the restart Matt Brown and Amy Thomas got together sending Brown to the pits for the rest of the night and on the next restart Stoney Leonard had the throttle stick sending him sailing off the top of turn one before crashing head on into the guardrail that protects the pit entrance.
Thankfully everybody was okay and there was a delay as the guardrail was pieced back together so that it could continue to provide protection.
Once back to racing this one would go green the rest of the way with Micro Mod graduate Kaden Reynolds leading the entire distance to take the win. Brett Vanous did show him a nose a couple of times, but with Reynolds hitting his marks around the top, Vanous would have to settle for the runner-position on this night. Leah Wroten finished third, Mike Kimm was one of those early lap spinners, but came back strong to take fourth as Justin Wacha filled out the top five.
Twenty laps of IMCA Modified action would be up next, but the initial start would be waved off when it was decided that pole-sitter Dennis Betzer had not kept a steady pace coming to green. Once the race did start, Betzer's night got even worse when he was tagged by Corey Dripps exiting turn four as the opening lap was scored sending both drivers to the back of the pack. John Oliver Jr. was your leader, riding around the top side that had now become quite precarious with the cushion being pushed all the way to the top of the banking.
A pair of cautions for Jeff Sampson on laps four and seven slowed the field and on the second restart a scramble on the backstretch sent several cars spinning after contact between hometown drivers Jerry Dedrick and Scott Hogan. More cars needed a tow than there were tow trucks on hand, so that added time to the evening and once back to racing Oliver now had the eighth starter Jeff Aikey stalking him around the top. Aikey attempted a slide job in turns one and two on lap nine only to have Oliver execute the crossover to perfection and it looked like the defending All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion would take his first Modified win here at Vinton.
With five laps remaining though the leaders closed quickly on the slower car of Todd Summers who was also riding around the top. With Aikey anticipating to perfection, he went to the low groove to pull even with Oliver as they exited turn two and when Oliver had to enter turn three in the middle to clear the slower car, Aikey found the bite that he needed down low to snare the lead as Oliver drifted back up to the cushion in turn four. It was all but over at that point as the defending IMCA Super Nationals Champion eased away to take the win over Oliver. Aikey's apprentice, young Kolin Hibdon from Nevada finished in third spot while Patrick Flannagan and J.D. Auringer were fourth and fifth.
Russell Damme Jr. would lead the opening two laps of the Stock Car headliner before Tyler Titus spun at the exit of turn four. On the restart Dallon Murty, another Micro Mod graduate, sailed around the outside of Damme to lead lap three as the caution waved again, this time for Scooter Dulin and Shane Ebaugh in turn three. Once back to racing Jay Schmidt would separate the leader from his father Damon and as the lead trio circled the top of the quarter-mile Schmidt waited for a mistake from the young driver. Instead it would be his own mistake that would bring out the next caution as Schmidt missed the entrance to turn three on lap seven and drove off the top of the race track.
On this restart Damon would make sure that he would be behind his son around the top and when Shawn Ritter's bid to work the bottom came up short the son and father duo gradually pulled away. Could Damon have made a move to in the closing laps to take the win? Perhaps, but I am sure that it was a much prouder moment for him to follow his son in for his first career Stock Car feature win at Vinton that now leaves Dallon just 100 wins behind his Dad here.
Ritter was a solid third while Bob Ahrendson was the best of an entertaining battle for fourth finishing just ahead of Norman Chesmore. It should be noted that Ritter's daughter Kenzi and Chesmore's daughter Hannah were also in the sixteen car field making the Stock Cars quite a family affair here at Vinton.
Speaking of family, the sixteen lap Sport Mod feature would come down to a battle of the Olson cousins as race long leader Kyle was being tracked down by the seventh starter Tony. Kyle was riding that fast, but treacherous high line with Tony working down lower and with just two laps remaining Tony nosed ahead at the stripe. Kyle would run a near perfect lap around the rim though and as the white flag waved he would be back out in front by a full car length. Through turns one and two the leader looked like a soon to be winner, but when he had to check up for a split second on the cushion in turn three that allowed Tony to win the drag race to the checkers and score the win. Ben Chapman would finish in the third spot with Danny Dvorak fourth and Aaron Mitchell was impressive in his first visit to Vinton in 2019 taking fifth after starting ninth.
The IMCA Late Models would close out the night for twenty laps and when pole-sitter Scotty Welsh failed to come up to speed as the field entered turn four he was sent to the back of the nine car field for the retry. This would put heat race winner Dalton Simonson on the pole and while the Late Model rookie, a graduate from the Sport Mod ranks, is getting faster each week he would have nothing for Jeff Aikey on this night. Aikey started fourth and would sail to the lead on the opening circuit eventually opening up nearly a half lap advantage in taking his second checkered flag of the night. Simonson would finish second ahead of Matt Ryan who was the only driver who made the pull to Vinton after a late day rainout at Dubuque. Curtis Glover and Logan Duffy completed the top five.
Even with the ambulance delay and the multiple incidents the final checkers waved just past ten o'clock and as I drove home I was trying to figure out if I will get one last chance to see a Mick Trier promoted race night at Vinton. Thanks to Mick, Mike and the entire BCS crew for the hospitality and to announcer Jeff Kropf for the Positively Racing mention.
If you are making your way to Oskaloosa on Tuesday for the Caleb Hammond Memorial make sure that you tune in Kropf for the Southern Iowa Speedway Pre-Race Show on 104.9 FM KBOE starting at, or around 6 p.m.
Hope to see you there!
Friday, July 12, 2019
Slinger Nationals Packs Them In
One of my goals each year is to visit a track they I have never been to before and when you have been doing this as long as I have that gets a bit more difficult every year! With a last minute business trip put before me this week it made sense to fly direct out of Chicago and after booking my flights I realized that with a little extra driving I could go the the Slinger Speedway, billed as the world's fastest paved 1/4-mile oval, for their signature event The Super Seal Slinger Nationals.
The Super Late Models are the headliners with a big 200-lap main event and the Pro Late Models serve as a strong support class with forty laps of feature racing. Practice and qualifying would take place during the late afternoon hours and after battling some traffic around Madison on what must be some never ending road construction I pulled into the town of Slinger at 5:30, more than an hour before the scheduled first race of the evening at 6:45. As soon as I exited I-41 I was in line for parking at the track which was still a mile away according to my GPS. As the line crept along a police officer drove by in the opposite direction announcing on the intercom that we would now be parking in the ski area since the lots around the track were already full.
It wasn't more than a half-mile walk from where I parked and as I walked toward the track I was amazed and impressed by the crowd that had gathered on this near perfect Tuesday night and I felt fortunate when I was able to find a decent seat near the end of the front straightaway. The Speedway does have a lot of seating capacity and they needed all of it tonight as by the time we were ready to go racing the place was absolutely packed. I asked a fan in front of me if this event always drew like this and he smiled and said "it used to" so it was great to see the fans flock back to it once again.
The laps go by fast as quick qualifier Steve Apel timed in at 11.147 and that earned him a sixth row starting spot for the main event as the top twelve of thirty-one in time trials locked themselves into the show and were then inverted. Obviously I was impressed with that as you all know how I feel about "straight up " starts.
A 30-lap qualifying race for the Super Late Models was up first with the top four advancing with Chris Weinkauf holding off many time track champion Dennis Prunty to take the win. This race did start straight up with Weinkauf coming from fourth and Prunty from eighth to move on and proving that this was definitely a two grooved race track. Young Derek Kraus who is now a regular on the NASCAR K&N series finished third with Ryan DeStefano holing off Florida driver Stephen Nasse for the final transfer.
It was now just a few minutes past 7 p.m. and the twenty-three car Late Model feature would come to the track. Front row starters Brian Holtz and Shaun Scheel would run side-by-isde for the first several laps before Scheel gained the advantage, but he was soon passed by Tyler Schley who made a bold move around the outside to take the lead. The race would stay green and by the time that Jacob Nottestad moved to second Schley had a full straightaway advantage without many laps to go. With just three remaining though the caution waved when Iowa's Brody Willett punted Jacob Hassler exiting turn two and for the restart it would be Schley on the bottom with Nottestad up top in a full double file alignment.
As the green flag waved it was clear that Schley was not going to give Nottestad much room up top, and after the white flag waved they raced door to door down the back stretch. Both drivers went deep into turn three and when Schley pushed up the track in four it forced Nottestad to lift to keep it straight in the loose stuff allowing Schley to take the win. It was obvious that the crowd, and the announcer who did the victory lane interviews were not impressed with Schley as he explained that the car pushed up the track a bit in four. And when the announcer asked his Nottestad for his thoughts he responded "we all know who won tonight" which drew quite a cheer.
The gentleman in front of me was in agreement though that Nottestad would have still been a straightaway behind at the checkers if not for the late caution, so for both of us and at the pay window, Schley was the winner. Scheel finished in the third spot, Jesse Barnhagen made a nice run from twelfth to fourth and Zach Braun was fifth.
The Last Chance race for the Super Late Models was up next with supposedly just the top two moving on. Of course later we would find out that eight more drivers would be added as provisionals, but at the time it made for some big excitement as eighteen year old local favorite R.J. Braun started eighth and chased down two of the big name visitors in Nasse and Josh Brock to take the win.
It was now just a little past 8 p.m. and I was thinking that I might just have a chance to watch the entire feature and still get down to Chicago at a reasonable time, but after a long break and then the full introductions that an event like this truly deserves, the clock would trip past nine before the green flag finally flew. Still, with laps clicking off twelve seconds at a time this one could go fast without many cautions and it would be Alex Prunty moving to the early lead.
The caution waved on lap fourteen when Matt Kenseth slowed on the back stretch with a throttle linkage issue and the accordion effect sent the Kyle Busch Racing #51 driven by Chandler Smith into the turn three wall. This would give Kenseth's crew time to make repairs and he would rejoin the back of the field for the restart. The race would resume with some entertaining action mid-pack as Prunty led the way before another caution slowed the pace and soon after the restart the second place car of John DeAngelis spun Prunty coming out of turn two. This sent the rest of the field for a scramble with Dennis Prunty making hard contact with the wall and R.J. Braun driving nose first into the styrofoam barrier protecting the pit entrance.
Knowing that the cleanup for this would take some time and wondering just what my parking situation was I reluctantly decided to call it a night so that I could get to my hotel shortly after midnight knowing that I had just seen both Kenseth and Ty Majeski race from the back on that lap fourteen restart up to seventh and eighth before the red flag. So it was no surprise to see that Kenseth was the eventual winner with Majeski as his runner-up. I assume that DeAngelis was not penalized for his involvement in the red flag as he finished third, Steve Apel was fourth and Alex Prunty took fifth.
Slinger has always been on my bucket list and it was even better than I had anticipated. Lessons were learned should I ever try to attend the Nationals again as I will get there earlier and will not have a morning flight ahead of me the next day, but after seeing the racing there my next goal will be to catch one of their Sunday night weekly shows.
As I wrap this up my flight home is about to board and if all goes well perhaps I will catch tonight's features at the Grundy County Speedway. If not my next events will be on Tuesday as the Caleb Hammond Memorial will be run at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, then on Wednesday night I look forward to returning to the CJ Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series.
Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
The Super Late Models are the headliners with a big 200-lap main event and the Pro Late Models serve as a strong support class with forty laps of feature racing. Practice and qualifying would take place during the late afternoon hours and after battling some traffic around Madison on what must be some never ending road construction I pulled into the town of Slinger at 5:30, more than an hour before the scheduled first race of the evening at 6:45. As soon as I exited I-41 I was in line for parking at the track which was still a mile away according to my GPS. As the line crept along a police officer drove by in the opposite direction announcing on the intercom that we would now be parking in the ski area since the lots around the track were already full.
It wasn't more than a half-mile walk from where I parked and as I walked toward the track I was amazed and impressed by the crowd that had gathered on this near perfect Tuesday night and I felt fortunate when I was able to find a decent seat near the end of the front straightaway. The Speedway does have a lot of seating capacity and they needed all of it tonight as by the time we were ready to go racing the place was absolutely packed. I asked a fan in front of me if this event always drew like this and he smiled and said "it used to" so it was great to see the fans flock back to it once again.
The laps go by fast as quick qualifier Steve Apel timed in at 11.147 and that earned him a sixth row starting spot for the main event as the top twelve of thirty-one in time trials locked themselves into the show and were then inverted. Obviously I was impressed with that as you all know how I feel about "straight up " starts.
A 30-lap qualifying race for the Super Late Models was up first with the top four advancing with Chris Weinkauf holding off many time track champion Dennis Prunty to take the win. This race did start straight up with Weinkauf coming from fourth and Prunty from eighth to move on and proving that this was definitely a two grooved race track. Young Derek Kraus who is now a regular on the NASCAR K&N series finished third with Ryan DeStefano holing off Florida driver Stephen Nasse for the final transfer.
It was now just a few minutes past 7 p.m. and the twenty-three car Late Model feature would come to the track. Front row starters Brian Holtz and Shaun Scheel would run side-by-isde for the first several laps before Scheel gained the advantage, but he was soon passed by Tyler Schley who made a bold move around the outside to take the lead. The race would stay green and by the time that Jacob Nottestad moved to second Schley had a full straightaway advantage without many laps to go. With just three remaining though the caution waved when Iowa's Brody Willett punted Jacob Hassler exiting turn two and for the restart it would be Schley on the bottom with Nottestad up top in a full double file alignment.
As the green flag waved it was clear that Schley was not going to give Nottestad much room up top, and after the white flag waved they raced door to door down the back stretch. Both drivers went deep into turn three and when Schley pushed up the track in four it forced Nottestad to lift to keep it straight in the loose stuff allowing Schley to take the win. It was obvious that the crowd, and the announcer who did the victory lane interviews were not impressed with Schley as he explained that the car pushed up the track a bit in four. And when the announcer asked his Nottestad for his thoughts he responded "we all know who won tonight" which drew quite a cheer.
The gentleman in front of me was in agreement though that Nottestad would have still been a straightaway behind at the checkers if not for the late caution, so for both of us and at the pay window, Schley was the winner. Scheel finished in the third spot, Jesse Barnhagen made a nice run from twelfth to fourth and Zach Braun was fifth.
The Last Chance race for the Super Late Models was up next with supposedly just the top two moving on. Of course later we would find out that eight more drivers would be added as provisionals, but at the time it made for some big excitement as eighteen year old local favorite R.J. Braun started eighth and chased down two of the big name visitors in Nasse and Josh Brock to take the win.
It was now just a little past 8 p.m. and I was thinking that I might just have a chance to watch the entire feature and still get down to Chicago at a reasonable time, but after a long break and then the full introductions that an event like this truly deserves, the clock would trip past nine before the green flag finally flew. Still, with laps clicking off twelve seconds at a time this one could go fast without many cautions and it would be Alex Prunty moving to the early lead.
The caution waved on lap fourteen when Matt Kenseth slowed on the back stretch with a throttle linkage issue and the accordion effect sent the Kyle Busch Racing #51 driven by Chandler Smith into the turn three wall. This would give Kenseth's crew time to make repairs and he would rejoin the back of the field for the restart. The race would resume with some entertaining action mid-pack as Prunty led the way before another caution slowed the pace and soon after the restart the second place car of John DeAngelis spun Prunty coming out of turn two. This sent the rest of the field for a scramble with Dennis Prunty making hard contact with the wall and R.J. Braun driving nose first into the styrofoam barrier protecting the pit entrance.
Knowing that the cleanup for this would take some time and wondering just what my parking situation was I reluctantly decided to call it a night so that I could get to my hotel shortly after midnight knowing that I had just seen both Kenseth and Ty Majeski race from the back on that lap fourteen restart up to seventh and eighth before the red flag. So it was no surprise to see that Kenseth was the eventual winner with Majeski as his runner-up. I assume that DeAngelis was not penalized for his involvement in the red flag as he finished third, Steve Apel was fourth and Alex Prunty took fifth.
Slinger has always been on my bucket list and it was even better than I had anticipated. Lessons were learned should I ever try to attend the Nationals again as I will get there earlier and will not have a morning flight ahead of me the next day, but after seeing the racing there my next goal will be to catch one of their Sunday night weekly shows.
As I wrap this up my flight home is about to board and if all goes well perhaps I will catch tonight's features at the Grundy County Speedway. If not my next events will be on Tuesday as the Caleb Hammond Memorial will be run at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, then on Wednesday night I look forward to returning to the CJ Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series.
Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Marriott, Schafroth and Smith Headline the 20th Ron Little Memorial
It can be a bit cliche' to say that someone up above took care of the weather when it comes to a Memorial race, but for the 20th and final Ron Little Memorial at the Stuart Speedway on Tuesday night something, or someone kept the rain from falling on the little country race track where 141 race teams and a near full grandstand of fans had gathered. Coming from the east we drove through heavy rain in West Des Moines and then again just eight miles east of the track only to find the pavement dry when we took the exit into Stuart. And once there, while the skies did not look promising it was as if nothing moved and we were set for a busy night of racing in memory of a driver and car builder who had passed away from a heart attack twenty years ago right here at the track that he loved.
I often write about how little love that I have for the "qualify and then start straight up" format, but even when you use the draw and redraw method of setting your lineups, sometimes the fast guys draw the front row.
Thirty-one Stock Cars had signed in with twenty-four of them qualifying for the twenty-five lap main event as track regulars Brandon Pruitt and Buck Schafroth drew the front row. Schafroth would snare the lead at the drop of the green with third starting Mike Nichols giving chase and those two would distance themselves from the rest of the pack who were often two or three wide racing for position. The field was so well balanced that even on the quarter-mile Schafroth did not have to deal with lapped traffic until there were five laps remaining and Nichols was more than ready to tighten things up and see what would happen.
Was it unfortunate, or a lucky break when the caution flew on lap twenty-one when Todd Van Eaton and Bryan Snell tangled while racing for fifth? Schafroth would now have clear track in front of him for the final four laps, but now he would have more than just Nichols to contend with as Pruitt moved to second once back to racing. Digging around the bottom Pruitt was able to pull nearly even with the leader down the back stretch, but Schafroth held his line around the top and maintained the lead. Nichols was able to get back to second before the white flag waved and on the final lap he would drive deep into turn three only to have Schafroth again hit his marks to perfection to take the win.
Nichols and Pruitt were second and third, Kyle Brown came from twelfth to finish fourth and Chris Pruitt would complete the top five. This was my fourth trip to Stuart this season and Schafroth has been the Stock Car winner all four times. When do you want me to make the nearly three hour trip again Buck?
The twenty lap Sport Mod main event had a lap one caution when Bryan and Mitchell Morris collided in turn two collecting Ed Anderson, but after that the race went green to checkers. Doug Smith had started on the outside of row one next to Thomas Egenberger and Smith would go unchallenged in this one to take the win. Brayton Carter dropped Egenberger to third early, but Thomas came back to regain the spot and finish second with Brayton taking the checkers in third. Hunter Longnecker started ninth and was making the bottom work well enough to pull even with Carter before settling for fourth and Jake Sachau was the hard charger of the event taking fifth after starting seventeenth.
With $2,000 going to the winner of the Modifieds a stout field of forty-seven was whittled down to twenty-four starters of the the thirty-lap headliner with Hunter Marriott drawing the pole position. And with this one going flag-to-flag with no cautions it was all Marriott as the Brookfield, Missouri, driver pulled away early and never appeared to lose any ground even when working traffic. The race for position well behind him though was very entertaining. Josh Most, Cody Laney and Chris Abelson battled for second early and they were later joined by Jeff Aikey who had come from the tenth starting spot.
Late in the race Aikey found a line that was about a car width down from the cushion to his liking and he picked up several positions in just a few laps to take second at the checkers and Jesse Sobbing was riding that same line after starting fourteenth to nip Most at the line by inches to finish in third. Laney would take the fifth spot, Tim Ward and Travis Hatcher were sixth and seventh, Nick Roberts finished eighth, Abelson dropped to ninth and Todd Shute was tenth after starting from the outside of row ten.
The racing program itself was run off in a very efficient manner, something that you can always count on with a Mike Van Genderen directed show, but after a couple of delays it was now past 10:30 p.m. and we decided to start the trip home before the final two features. This morning I see that Solomon Bennett came from the sixth row to win the Hobby Stock main event and that Chris Vannausdale was the Sport Compact winner after starting sixth. My faith in the draw and redraw format is restored!
One of the delays was a scary incident when a Sport Compact lost a wheel coming down the front stretch knocking off the rubrail and sending it flying into the stands where it hit a woman in the leg just five rows in front of me. This lady was incredibly brave as a nearby fan first assisted before paramedics arrived and she was soon transported to the hospital for treatment of her injury. The other delay in the program came when the lights were turned off following the Stock Car main event for a fireworks display.
As I mentioned above this was already my fourth visit to Stuart this season after not having been there for eighteen years and I am hoping that I can get back at least one more time during the second half of the season.
My Independence Day weekend does not include any specific racing plans at this point as I will be visiting family, but there is plenty of action going on at a track near you! Be safe and we will see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
I often write about how little love that I have for the "qualify and then start straight up" format, but even when you use the draw and redraw method of setting your lineups, sometimes the fast guys draw the front row.
Thirty-one Stock Cars had signed in with twenty-four of them qualifying for the twenty-five lap main event as track regulars Brandon Pruitt and Buck Schafroth drew the front row. Schafroth would snare the lead at the drop of the green with third starting Mike Nichols giving chase and those two would distance themselves from the rest of the pack who were often two or three wide racing for position. The field was so well balanced that even on the quarter-mile Schafroth did not have to deal with lapped traffic until there were five laps remaining and Nichols was more than ready to tighten things up and see what would happen.
Was it unfortunate, or a lucky break when the caution flew on lap twenty-one when Todd Van Eaton and Bryan Snell tangled while racing for fifth? Schafroth would now have clear track in front of him for the final four laps, but now he would have more than just Nichols to contend with as Pruitt moved to second once back to racing. Digging around the bottom Pruitt was able to pull nearly even with the leader down the back stretch, but Schafroth held his line around the top and maintained the lead. Nichols was able to get back to second before the white flag waved and on the final lap he would drive deep into turn three only to have Schafroth again hit his marks to perfection to take the win.
Nichols and Pruitt were second and third, Kyle Brown came from twelfth to finish fourth and Chris Pruitt would complete the top five. This was my fourth trip to Stuart this season and Schafroth has been the Stock Car winner all four times. When do you want me to make the nearly three hour trip again Buck?
The twenty lap Sport Mod main event had a lap one caution when Bryan and Mitchell Morris collided in turn two collecting Ed Anderson, but after that the race went green to checkers. Doug Smith had started on the outside of row one next to Thomas Egenberger and Smith would go unchallenged in this one to take the win. Brayton Carter dropped Egenberger to third early, but Thomas came back to regain the spot and finish second with Brayton taking the checkers in third. Hunter Longnecker started ninth and was making the bottom work well enough to pull even with Carter before settling for fourth and Jake Sachau was the hard charger of the event taking fifth after starting seventeenth.
With $2,000 going to the winner of the Modifieds a stout field of forty-seven was whittled down to twenty-four starters of the the thirty-lap headliner with Hunter Marriott drawing the pole position. And with this one going flag-to-flag with no cautions it was all Marriott as the Brookfield, Missouri, driver pulled away early and never appeared to lose any ground even when working traffic. The race for position well behind him though was very entertaining. Josh Most, Cody Laney and Chris Abelson battled for second early and they were later joined by Jeff Aikey who had come from the tenth starting spot.
Late in the race Aikey found a line that was about a car width down from the cushion to his liking and he picked up several positions in just a few laps to take second at the checkers and Jesse Sobbing was riding that same line after starting fourteenth to nip Most at the line by inches to finish in third. Laney would take the fifth spot, Tim Ward and Travis Hatcher were sixth and seventh, Nick Roberts finished eighth, Abelson dropped to ninth and Todd Shute was tenth after starting from the outside of row ten.
The racing program itself was run off in a very efficient manner, something that you can always count on with a Mike Van Genderen directed show, but after a couple of delays it was now past 10:30 p.m. and we decided to start the trip home before the final two features. This morning I see that Solomon Bennett came from the sixth row to win the Hobby Stock main event and that Chris Vannausdale was the Sport Compact winner after starting sixth. My faith in the draw and redraw format is restored!
One of the delays was a scary incident when a Sport Compact lost a wheel coming down the front stretch knocking off the rubrail and sending it flying into the stands where it hit a woman in the leg just five rows in front of me. This lady was incredibly brave as a nearby fan first assisted before paramedics arrived and she was soon transported to the hospital for treatment of her injury. The other delay in the program came when the lights were turned off following the Stock Car main event for a fireworks display.
As I mentioned above this was already my fourth visit to Stuart this season after not having been there for eighteen years and I am hoping that I can get back at least one more time during the second half of the season.
My Independence Day weekend does not include any specific racing plans at this point as I will be visiting family, but there is plenty of action going on at a track near you! Be safe and we will see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Mid-Season All Iowa Points
We have reached the midway point of the 2019 racing season and despite numerous cancellations due to weather there are several drivers that are putting up some impressive numbers. Let's take a look at the current All Iowa Point standings knowing that a lot can change before they all wrap up in November, especially if he have a higher percentage of events completed in the second half of the year.
The Late Model race is tight at the top with the first four all being former champions Jeremiah Hurst, Matt Ryan, Justin Kay and Jeff Aikey. The defending champ Hurst holds a slim one point lead right now, but keep an eye on Aikey who actually got off to a little later start than the rest after pairing with car owner Rick Dralle.
Another defending champion, Kelly Shryock leads the Modified points taking it back from Joel Rust who briefly climbed to the top for a week. Jeff Larson and Ricky Thornton Jr. were also early leaders while veteran driver Jeremy Mills is having one of his best seasons in several years. Shane Demey is a new name in the top ten.
It might end up being a three driver sprint to the top of the Limited Modified standings as Brayton Carter and former champions Cody Thompson and Tyler Soppe are within five points, or just one feature win of each other. Jake McBirnie is trying to keep pace while Colby Fett is a new threat to the top ten. If Carter were to win I believe that it would be the first time that first cousins have both been champions in the same division, something he would share with Carter VandenBerg.
He's been an IMCA National Champion several times and he has won the IMCA Super Nationals as well, but Mike Nichols has yet to capture an All Iowa Points Stock Car title. 2019 just might be his year to do that as he holds a twenty-two point lead right now over Derek Green. Brian Blessington is trying to get back to the top of the Cumulative best total for the division from the year 2000 to now as he ranks third in this year's standings and needs to beat Damon Murty by 26 points to tie, or 27 to go back ahead.
I have heard that Shannon Anderson intends to cut back on his weekly racing for the remainder of the season so that leaves the door wide open for somebody new to add their name to the list of All Iowa Points Hobby Stock Champions. The two drivers tied at the top right now, Corey Madden and Jason Fusselman would be first timers while Cody Nielsen would be looking for his second title. Kaden Reynolds did get a win late in 2018 after stepping up from a Micro Mod, but in this his first full season in a Hobby Stock he currently ranks ninth in the standings.
The battle in the Four Cylinders will be interesting to watch and keep in mind that this is the only division where the car count sets the point scale for each event. With ten or more cars the full five-point scale is used, with six to nine cars a three-point scale is applied and with three to five cars only the winner gets one point. Moving to the top this week for the first time ever is Wisconsin based driver Seth Scholl who now leads Denny Berghahn Jr. by just one marker. Two-time defending champion Barry Taft is third while Oliver Monson would be higher than fourth if he was racing against more cars. Dustin Grout is a new name in the top ten.
In the Sprint Cars, the point races in the 410's and 360's are still taking shape due to the number of rain outs while the balance of power in the 305's have ebbed and flowed based upon what region has been able to race. On the strength of four feature wins at Knoxville Brian Brown is the likely favorite to take his second straight 410 championship, but don't count out Terry McCarl who would add to his record of twelve All Iowa Points championships if he could overcome the defending champion. Jack Dover would add another 360 title to his current list of four if he stays at the top, while the three drivers currently tied for second, Carson McCarl, Matt Juhl and Ryan Giles would earn their first. And in the 305's Mike Houseman Jr. is on track for his second straight championship.
For a full rundown in all nine divisions visit the Points page at Positively Racing where the June 30th update should be uploaded soon.
Hoping that the scattered showers stay north of I-80 tonight as we make the road trip to Stuart for the 20th Annual Ron Little Memorial. Hope to see you there!
The Late Model race is tight at the top with the first four all being former champions Jeremiah Hurst, Matt Ryan, Justin Kay and Jeff Aikey. The defending champ Hurst holds a slim one point lead right now, but keep an eye on Aikey who actually got off to a little later start than the rest after pairing with car owner Rick Dralle.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Late Model | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Jeremiah Hurst | Dubuque | 64 |
| 2 | Matt Ryan | Davenport | 63 |
| 3 | Justin Kay | Wheatland | 53 |
| 4 | Jeff Aikey | Cedar Falls | 51 |
| 5 | Tommy Elston | Keokuk | 47 |
| 6 | Andy Nezworski | Buffalo | 46 |
| 7 | Tyler Bruening | Decorah | 42 |
| 8 | Todd Malmstrom | Moline IL | 36 |
| 9 | Billy Leighton | Omaha NE | 35 |
| 10 | Jake Bridge | Waverly NE | 26 |
| 11 | Josh Leonard | Gibbon NE | 26 |
Another defending champion, Kelly Shryock leads the Modified points taking it back from Joel Rust who briefly climbed to the top for a week. Jeff Larson and Ricky Thornton Jr. were also early leaders while veteran driver Jeremy Mills is having one of his best seasons in several years. Shane Demey is a new name in the top ten.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Modified | |||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Kelly Shryock | Fertile | 85 |
| 2 | Joel Rust | Grundy Center | 74 |
| 3 | Jeff Larson | Freeport IL | 72 |
| 4 | Ricky Thornton Jr. | Chandler AZ | 62 |
| 5 | Jeremy Mills | Garner | 56 |
| 6 | Jesse Dennis | Corning | 53 |
| 7 | Brandon Davis | Hayfield MN | 52 |
| 8 | Shane Demey | Denison | 50 |
| 9 | Tim Ward | Gilbert AZ | 49 |
| 10 | Jimmy Gustin | Marshalltown | 46 |
It might end up being a three driver sprint to the top of the Limited Modified standings as Brayton Carter and former champions Cody Thompson and Tyler Soppe are within five points, or just one feature win of each other. Jake McBirnie is trying to keep pace while Colby Fett is a new threat to the top ten. If Carter were to win I believe that it would be the first time that first cousins have both been champions in the same division, something he would share with Carter VandenBerg.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Limited Modified | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Brayton Carter | Oskaloosa | 92 |
| 2 | Cody Thompson | Sioux City | 88 |
| 3 | Tyler Soppe | Sherrill | 87 |
| 4 | Jake McBirnie | Boone | 71 |
| 5 | Cody Olsen | Omaha NE | 65 |
| 6 | Doug Smith | Lake City | 64 |
| 7 | Austen Becerra | Carthage IL | 63 |
| 8 | Tony Olson | Cedar Rapids | 60 |
| 9 | Colby Fett | Algona | 57 |
| 10 | Dan Hovden | Decorah | 57 |
He's been an IMCA National Champion several times and he has won the IMCA Super Nationals as well, but Mike Nichols has yet to capture an All Iowa Points Stock Car title. 2019 just might be his year to do that as he holds a twenty-two point lead right now over Derek Green. Brian Blessington is trying to get back to the top of the Cumulative best total for the division from the year 2000 to now as he ranks third in this year's standings and needs to beat Damon Murty by 26 points to tie, or 27 to go back ahead.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Stock Car | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Mike Nichols | Harlan | 87 |
| 2 | Derek Green | Granada MN | 65 |
| 3 | Brian Blessington | Breda | 63 |
| 4 | Mitch Hovden | Decorah | 59 |
| 5 | Devin Smith | Lake City | 56 |
| 6 | Jay Schmidt | Laurel | 55 |
| 7 | Buck Schafroth | Orient | 51 |
| 8 | Damon Murty | Chelsea | 51 |
| 9 | Donavon Smith | Lake City | 49 |
| 10 | John Oliver Jr. | Danville | 47 |
I have heard that Shannon Anderson intends to cut back on his weekly racing for the remainder of the season so that leaves the door wide open for somebody new to add their name to the list of All Iowa Points Hobby Stock Champions. The two drivers tied at the top right now, Corey Madden and Jason Fusselman would be first timers while Cody Nielsen would be looking for his second title. Kaden Reynolds did get a win late in 2018 after stepping up from a Micro Mod, but in this his first full season in a Hobby Stock he currently ranks ninth in the standings.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Hobby Stock | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Corey Madden | Avoca | 70 |
| 2 | Jason Fusselman | Shelby | 70 |
| 3 | Cody Nielsen | Spencer | 65 |
| 4 | Luke Ramsey | Bedford | 61 |
| 5 | Shannon Anderson | Atlantic | 59 |
| 6 | Eric Stanton | Carlisle | 58 |
| 7 | Leah Wroten | Independence | 58 |
| 8 | Daniel Wauters | Iowa City | 52 |
| 9 | Kaden Reynolds | Cedar Rapids | 49 |
| 10 | Drew Barglof | Sioux Rapids | 44 |
The battle in the Four Cylinders will be interesting to watch and keep in mind that this is the only division where the car count sets the point scale for each event. With ten or more cars the full five-point scale is used, with six to nine cars a three-point scale is applied and with three to five cars only the winner gets one point. Moving to the top this week for the first time ever is Wisconsin based driver Seth Scholl who now leads Denny Berghahn Jr. by just one marker. Two-time defending champion Barry Taft is third while Oliver Monson would be higher than fourth if he was racing against more cars. Dustin Grout is a new name in the top ten.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| Four Cylinder | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Seth Scholl | Holmen WI | 57 |
| 2 | Denny Berghahn Jr. | Plattsmouth NE | 56 |
| 3 | Barry Taft | Argyle | 53 |
| 4 | Oliver Monson | Clear Lake | 51 |
| 5 | Jacob Houston | Burlington | 42 |
| 6 | Luke Benischek | Durant | 42 |
| 7 | Trent Orwig | Ottumwa | 40 |
| 8 | Brandon Reu | Donnellson | 37 |
| 9 | Dustin Grout | Prescott | 37 |
| 10 | Jake Benischek | Durant | 36 |
In the Sprint Cars, the point races in the 410's and 360's are still taking shape due to the number of rain outs while the balance of power in the 305's have ebbed and flowed based upon what region has been able to race. On the strength of four feature wins at Knoxville Brian Brown is the likely favorite to take his second straight 410 championship, but don't count out Terry McCarl who would add to his record of twelve All Iowa Points championships if he could overcome the defending champion. Jack Dover would add another 360 title to his current list of four if he stays at the top, while the three drivers currently tied for second, Carson McCarl, Matt Juhl and Ryan Giles would earn their first. And in the 305's Mike Houseman Jr. is on track for his second straight championship.
| All Iowa Points | |||
| 410 Sprint | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Brian Brown | Grain Valley MO | 21 |
| 2 | Brad Sweet | Grass Valley CA | 13 |
| 3 | Daryn Pittman | Owasso OK | 13 |
| 4 | Kerry Madsen | St. Marys NSW | 11 |
| 5 | Terry McCarl | Altoona | 11 |
| 6 | Austin McCarl | Altoona | 8 |
| 7 | Brooke Tatnell | Sans Souci AUS | 8 |
| 8 | Logan Shuchart | Hanover PA | 7 |
| 9 | Lynton Jeffrey | Sydney AUS | 6 |
| 10 | Carson Macedo | Lemoore CA | 5 |
| 11 | Carson Short | Marion IL | 5 |
| 12 | David Gravel | Waterford CT | 5 |
| 13 | Donny Schatz | Fargo ND | 5 |
| 14 | Paul Nienheiser | Chapin IL | 5 |
| All Iowa Points | |||
| 360 Sprint | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Jack Dover | Springfield NE | 20 |
| 2 | Carson McCarl | Altoona | 15 |
| 3 | Matt Juhl | Tea SD | 15 |
| 4 | Ryan Giles | West Des Moines | 15 |
| 5 | Clint Garner | Sioux Falls SD | 14 |
| 6 | Thomas Kennedy | Winnipeg MAN | 14 |
| 7 | Jason Martin | Lincoln NE | 12 |
| 8 | Lee Grosz | Harwood ND | 10 |
| 9 | Joe Beaver | Knoxville | 9 |
| 10 | Justin Henderson | Sioux Falls SD | 8 |
| All Iowa Points | |||
| 305 Sprint | Iowa | ||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points |
| 1 | Mike Houseman Jr. | Des Moines | 36 |
| 2 | Tyler Thompson | Des Moines | 33 |
| 3 | Brant O'Banion | Sioux Falls SD | 24 |
| 4 | Matthew Stelzer | Omaha NE | 24 |
| 5 | Tyler Drueke | Eagle NE | 23 |
| 6 | Tanner Gebhardt | Burlington | 19 |
| 7 | Colin Smith | Sheldon | 18 |
| 8 | Trevor Grossenbacher | Hickman NE | 17 |
| 9 | Ryan Voss | Okoboji | 14 |
| 10 | Adam Gullion | Lincoln NE | 13 |
| 11 | Dusty Ballenger | Harrisburg SD | 13 |
| 12 | Harold Pohren | New London | 13 |
For a full rundown in all nine divisions visit the Points page at Positively Racing where the June 30th update should be uploaded soon.
Hoping that the scattered showers stay north of I-80 tonight as we make the road trip to Stuart for the 20th Annual Ron Little Memorial. Hope to see you there!
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