The score sheets will show the #52 at the top of all thirty laps, but the flag-to-flag win was far from easy for Blake Hahn as the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour made its first ever visit to 34 Raceway in Burlington in fine fashion Friday night.
An impressive field of thirty-seven cars and drivers filled the pits as the event was also a show up points race for the Sprint Invaders and the ASCS Warrior Region and while the 3/8th-mile high banks were somewhat narrow during the five qualifying heats, the track was smooth, wide and racy come feature time with drivers jockeying for position throughout the field.
As one of the top four in passing points from heat race action Blake Hahn drew the pole position with Austin McCarl, driving a second entry from the Jimmie Davies racing stable, to his outside. Currently ranked second in ASCS points, Hahn would race out to the early lead with McCarl chasing. By lap six the leaders had caught the back of the pack and when Brayden Gaylord tagged the wall exiting turn four, Hahn would clear him while McCarl had to go to the apron to get past the damaged car of Gaylord as he limped to the infield.
This allowed Scott Bogucki to make his move to second, but when slower traffic squelched his momentum both McCarl and the eight starter Seth Bergman hustled by on the back stretch. With Hahn pulling away a bit the crowd was now treated to a torrid battle for second with McCarl, Bogucki and Bergman racing three wide in turn three just before the caution waved for Dustin Selvage who had spun off the top of turn two.
McCarl would lineup second for the lap thirteen restart and he would try to throw a slider at Hahn in turns one and two only to instead give up the second spot to Bogucki as that three car battle for second picked up where it had left off. Only four more laps were counted though before Kelby Watt also took a tour over the top of turn two and on this restart it would be Bogucki taking his best shot at Hahn.
The Sapulpa, Oklahoma driver was sharp on the cushion though and maintained the lead only to have the caution wave again for Roger Crockett who had stopped in turn two on lap seventeen. On this restart Bergman would take over the second position and pick up the chase of Hahn waiting for lapped traffic to present a challenge for the leader, but when another caution waved on lap twenty-two, this time for a slowing Alex Hill, it just might have been what the leader was hoping for.
With eight laps remaining Bergman made a run at Hahn on the restart only to lose ground as he slid up the track in turn two and when the leader did not reach the back of the field until two laps remained that did not leave Bergman much time to catch up. As the white flag waved though, with Hahn showing some patience with the lapped car of Ben Brown, Bergman closed quickly and as they came off of turn four to the checkers Hahn went low under Brown as Bergman tried to ride the cushion to the win only to have Brown slide up in front of him as Blake Hahn won by just over a car length in a thriller.
Bergman who was a winner on his last visit to 34 Raceway during last September's Fall Haul had to settle for second on this night with Scott Bogucki in third. Robbie Price made a nice charge coming from the tenth starting spot to finish fourth, but even more impressive was the current ASCS point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. who started seventeenth after winning a B-Main and then finishing fifth in the feature. Hall of Famer Terry McCarl chased Hafterepe through the field going from sixteenth to sixth, Matt Covington got as high as fourth before fading to seventh, Austin McCarl dropped to eighth at the checkers, Kaley Gharst finished ninth and after mechanical issues forced him to use a provisional John Carney II started twenty-third and finished tenth.
From seeing the movement through the field you can tell that this was a great race track tonight and now the track crew needs to go right back to work and get it ready for Saturday night's show featuring the Lucas Oil POWRi Wingless Auto Racing (WAR) Sprint Cars. They will be joined by the Late Models and the 305 c.i. Winged Sprint Cars in what should be another great night of racing at 34 Raceway.
Oh yes, and what a show put on by the Mini Hauler Trucks tonight as their twelve lap feature provided a great appetizer for the headliner. Despite starting from fourth and sixth, Drake Fenton and Brian Tipps charged to the front entering turn one on the opening lap and the battle was on. Tipps first tried low, and then high actually taking the lead coming off turn four with just three laps remaining. Fenton came charging back though and would regain the lead on lap ten and as the white flag waved the leaders were now racing around the lapped truck of Jacob Ruble.
With Fenton going to his outside Ruble drove it deep into turn one making contact with the leader and forcing him up the race track. Tipps tried to seize the opportunity pulling even with Fenton down the back stretch and as Tipps tried to complete the pass for the win he would spin in turn four with Fenton taking the win. Colton Bowman would come home second followed by track champion John Helenthal as Tipps recovered to take fourth ahead of Jerad Ruble.
Doubleheader weekend racing continues on Saturday night at 34 Raceway and I hope to see you there!
Friday, August 30, 2019
Friday Notebook, August 30, 2019
Let's get a quick notebook entry in before heading out to the track on this Labor Day weekend!
My destination for tonight is 34 Raceway west of Burlington where the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be in action. This is also a "show up points only" race for the Sprint Invaders so with the two combined I am hoping for a field of at least twenty-five of the winged 360 Sprint Cars and it will be interesting to see how the locals match up with the touring drivers. Defending champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. leads the ASCS point standings coming into a three race weekend as after Friday's show at 34 the ASCS gang will head south to the Lake Ozark Speedway in central Missouri for racing on Saturday and Sunday nights. Blake Hahn, Scott Bogucki, John Carney II and Matt Covington are tightly bunched in the second through fifth positions and fans will also get to see a trio of hard charging young ladies in McKenna Haase, Harli White and Alex Hill in action. It should be a fun night of Sprint Car racing so I hope to see you there!
Also on the schedule tonight you have a draw/redraw show at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction where promoter Larry Richardson has promised that he will have news for me soon in regard to a third try at running a race in early November. And you can bet that the pits will be full for the Showdown at Motown as IMCA drivers from all over the country and Canada make their way into Iowa and get a shot at the Marshalltown Speedway high banks tonight to start the weekend.
On Saturday night I plan to be right back at 34 Raceway where the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR non-wing Sprint Cars will be in action for the first time along with Late Models and the local 305 Winged Sprints. Yes, the weather looks to be a mystery tomorrow so I have used the Positively Racing Calendar page to map out some alternatives just in case. Always remember that I compile this calendar using the schedule that each track or series puts out at the beginning of the year, so if changes are made later and I don't catch it, then that change is not made in the calendar. Thus the disclaimer at the top, always make sure to check with the track before planning or making the trip.
I thought it was interesting that on Saturday of the Labor Day weekend my next closest options should that nasty four letter word that starts with "R" come into play would be three hours away at Boone or Fairbury. What used to be the Season Championship weekend for most tracks is now primarily the start of the Fall specials season instead. I am hoping that it will be a short twenty minute drive for me on Saturday, but I am prepared for a road trip if needed.
Already some interesting news coming out in regard to the 2020 season. In the Sprint Cars there have been two announcements this week in regard to teams parting ways with their current drivers. This one just came out today as Shane Stewart will be parting ways with the CJB Motorsports Team, one of the World of Outlaw regulars and it will be interesting to see if this starts a shuffle of the Outlaw drivers or if a new driver will get a chance to follow the Tour in 2020. Of course it could also mean that the team does not follow the Outlaws next season.
Closer to home the TKS Motorsports Team owned by Troy and Tammy Renfro and their driver Austin McCarl have mutually agreed to go their separate ways for 2020. After winning the Knoxville Raceway 410 track title in 2018 the team could not find the success that they were hoping for this season and it will be interesting to see who fills the seat of the #2KS next year and, as a proven champion, Austin should get some new offers as well. Oh yes, and did you notice the name at the bottom of this press release?
I have already noticed three tracks in the Midwest that are up for sale or lease and they are the Wagner Speedway in South Dakota, the Elk City Speedway in Oklahoma and the Tri-State Speedway that sits near the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas. I have heard that a couple of tracks closer to home will be in need of a new promoter, but will not give specifics until it is announced so the "silly season" is off to an early start. Hopefully my "Net Zero" theory will continue to hold true.
On the positive side, the work is close to complete on the re-sizing of the Mason City Motor Speedway and the new short track will tentatively have racing on two Sundays in September, the 15th and the 22nd. For now they will be mid-afternoon starts as the new lights are not yet up, but if all goes well promoter Todd Staley might just keep racing as long as the balance sheet for each event is in the black.
That's all for today, time to load up and head out for the track. Hopefully you are doing the same!
My destination for tonight is 34 Raceway west of Burlington where the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be in action. This is also a "show up points only" race for the Sprint Invaders so with the two combined I am hoping for a field of at least twenty-five of the winged 360 Sprint Cars and it will be interesting to see how the locals match up with the touring drivers. Defending champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. leads the ASCS point standings coming into a three race weekend as after Friday's show at 34 the ASCS gang will head south to the Lake Ozark Speedway in central Missouri for racing on Saturday and Sunday nights. Blake Hahn, Scott Bogucki, John Carney II and Matt Covington are tightly bunched in the second through fifth positions and fans will also get to see a trio of hard charging young ladies in McKenna Haase, Harli White and Alex Hill in action. It should be a fun night of Sprint Car racing so I hope to see you there!
Also on the schedule tonight you have a draw/redraw show at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction where promoter Larry Richardson has promised that he will have news for me soon in regard to a third try at running a race in early November. And you can bet that the pits will be full for the Showdown at Motown as IMCA drivers from all over the country and Canada make their way into Iowa and get a shot at the Marshalltown Speedway high banks tonight to start the weekend.
On Saturday night I plan to be right back at 34 Raceway where the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR non-wing Sprint Cars will be in action for the first time along with Late Models and the local 305 Winged Sprints. Yes, the weather looks to be a mystery tomorrow so I have used the Positively Racing Calendar page to map out some alternatives just in case. Always remember that I compile this calendar using the schedule that each track or series puts out at the beginning of the year, so if changes are made later and I don't catch it, then that change is not made in the calendar. Thus the disclaimer at the top, always make sure to check with the track before planning or making the trip.
I thought it was interesting that on Saturday of the Labor Day weekend my next closest options should that nasty four letter word that starts with "R" come into play would be three hours away at Boone or Fairbury. What used to be the Season Championship weekend for most tracks is now primarily the start of the Fall specials season instead. I am hoping that it will be a short twenty minute drive for me on Saturday, but I am prepared for a road trip if needed.
Already some interesting news coming out in regard to the 2020 season. In the Sprint Cars there have been two announcements this week in regard to teams parting ways with their current drivers. This one just came out today as Shane Stewart will be parting ways with the CJB Motorsports Team, one of the World of Outlaw regulars and it will be interesting to see if this starts a shuffle of the Outlaw drivers or if a new driver will get a chance to follow the Tour in 2020. Of course it could also mean that the team does not follow the Outlaws next season.
Closer to home the TKS Motorsports Team owned by Troy and Tammy Renfro and their driver Austin McCarl have mutually agreed to go their separate ways for 2020. After winning the Knoxville Raceway 410 track title in 2018 the team could not find the success that they were hoping for this season and it will be interesting to see who fills the seat of the #2KS next year and, as a proven champion, Austin should get some new offers as well. Oh yes, and did you notice the name at the bottom of this press release?
I have already noticed three tracks in the Midwest that are up for sale or lease and they are the Wagner Speedway in South Dakota, the Elk City Speedway in Oklahoma and the Tri-State Speedway that sits near the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas. I have heard that a couple of tracks closer to home will be in need of a new promoter, but will not give specifics until it is announced so the "silly season" is off to an early start. Hopefully my "Net Zero" theory will continue to hold true.
On the positive side, the work is close to complete on the re-sizing of the Mason City Motor Speedway and the new short track will tentatively have racing on two Sundays in September, the 15th and the 22nd. For now they will be mid-afternoon starts as the new lights are not yet up, but if all goes well promoter Todd Staley might just keep racing as long as the balance sheet for each event is in the black.
That's all for today, time to load up and head out for the track. Hopefully you are doing the same!
Friday, August 23, 2019
Aikey, Kay, Murty and Olson Take Yankee Dirt Classic Openers At 300
A late change in the schedule for a family visit allowed me to make the trip north to Farley Thursday for the opening night of the 42nd Annual Yankee Dirt Classic at the 300 Raceway. A larger than expected field of cars were on hand and despite a racing surface that locked down during the Late Model heat races there was still plenty of action to enjoy come feature time.
The Sport Mods would be the first of four divisions come feature time with Tony Olson drawing the pole position for the twenty-lap distance. Brayton Carter started fourth, but he quickly moved up to challenge Olson for the lead working one line higher than the favored groove and having to be careful to not break traction. Carter was able to pull even with Olson on a couple of occasions, but Tony did not flinch and was able to maintain the lead.
Meanwhile Tyler Soppe had worked his way up from the eight starting spot and when Carter could see Soppe trying to fill the hole that he was leaving while still trying to work the second line, Brayton settled in behind Olson and held on for second as Olson secured the $750 victory. Soppe was third, Joe Docekal was fourth and Mitch Manternach completed the top five.
For the Stock Cars the big money was on the line tonight as Thursday's feature paid $2,000 to win while Friday's finale offers up a lesser purse so that drivers can return to their home track for point races should they choose to do. A classy move by the Yankee promoters! And, as usual the Stock Cars thrilled the crowd with the race of the night as drivers raced in tight quarters throughout the twenty-lap distance on the narrow surface.
Dick Steadman would lead the pack after starting from the pole position and he would be under constant pressure from David Brandies. Toss in the fifth starting Phil Holtz, his fellow third row starter Johnny Spaw and steadily gaining Damon Murty who had started the race from tenth and you soon had a five car pack racing within three car lengths of each other lap after lap after lap.
Brandies was committed to the bottom and patiently waited for Steadman to leave him an opening while Spaw, Holtz and Murty were swapping lines as needed as they tried to get to the front. On several occasions Brandies would get a nose under Steadman exiting turn four, but when the veteran leader would go to shut the door into turn three Brandies would "play nice" and wait for his next opportunity. Just as Murty had worked his way to third, Spaw and Holtz would make contact with each other sending Holtz for a spin exiting turn four and putting the rest of the field in scramble mode as the caution waved with three laps remaining.
Following the restart Brandies finally got the opening that he had waited for as Steadman got a bit too wide out of turn two and Brandies would be the first to take the white flag as Murty followed him into second. Damon was set to try to make a run on the final lap, but before the leaders made it to the back stretch the caution waved for Chase Zaruba who had spun in turn three.
The rules would call for a green-white-checkers two lap finish with Murty and Spaw ready to give Brandies everything they could muster for the $2,000 winner's check. On the first lap Murty could not quite make the pass on the second line up, but having watched this guy win so many races over the years I could tell that he had figured something out so it was not surprise on the final lap when he was able to again work just to the outside of Brandies and nose ahead by inches at the line to take the win in a thriller. Brandies would take second with Spaw right there in third as Cory Brown and Brayton Boyer followed close behind.
The Late Models were up next for twenty-five laps and you had to be impressed with the entry list tonight as forty-nine drivers signed in with twenty-six of them making Thursday's $5,000-to-win preliminary feature. Jeff Aikey and Tyler Bruening would start from the front row and with track conditions as they were it was a good bet that one of them would get the win. Unlike the Sport Mods and the Stock Cars, the Late Models were not able to get that second line to work, so this one was a high speed chase around the bottom with the deciding factor being the decision made by the leader once he reached the back of the field.
Aikey would be the leader from the drop of the green and when he encountered the last place car of Brian Kosiski on lap nine he made an attempt to pass him on the outside. This left the door open for Bruening who tucked in behind Kosiski and as the trio came out of turn four to score lap ten, Bruening was ahead by a nose as the transponders tripped the loop. Aikey came charging right back though and was able to pass Kosiski in turns one and two to regain the lead, but when the caution waved for a stalled Jason O'Brien the restart lineup reverted to lap ten with Bruening now the leader.
Seven laps later, same scenario but reversed roles for the leaders, Bruening went to the middle line to try to go around Kosiski a move that really cut his momentum and allowed Aikey to drive back into the lead. A veteran driver with a Hall of Fame worthy resume', Aikey learned his lesson from there and stayed in the groove behind the slower car until he was able to drive under him with two laps to go to secure the win. Bruening finished second, Jason Rauen was third, Ricky Thornton Jr. driving Todd Cooney's #30 finished fourth and Justin Kay was fifth.
The Modifieds would wrap up the night, but with a two hour drive and an early day at work ahead of me we headed for home with our friend Gary Lee texting us the results just a few minutes later that Justin Kay was the winner. For more coverage of this event make sure that you check out Racin' Down The Road with Danny Rosencrans.
It was an absolutely beautiful night for racing at a first class facility and you can bet that they will do everything possible to provide a better track for tonight's finale of the Yankee Dirt Classic!
The Sport Mods would be the first of four divisions come feature time with Tony Olson drawing the pole position for the twenty-lap distance. Brayton Carter started fourth, but he quickly moved up to challenge Olson for the lead working one line higher than the favored groove and having to be careful to not break traction. Carter was able to pull even with Olson on a couple of occasions, but Tony did not flinch and was able to maintain the lead.
Meanwhile Tyler Soppe had worked his way up from the eight starting spot and when Carter could see Soppe trying to fill the hole that he was leaving while still trying to work the second line, Brayton settled in behind Olson and held on for second as Olson secured the $750 victory. Soppe was third, Joe Docekal was fourth and Mitch Manternach completed the top five.
For the Stock Cars the big money was on the line tonight as Thursday's feature paid $2,000 to win while Friday's finale offers up a lesser purse so that drivers can return to their home track for point races should they choose to do. A classy move by the Yankee promoters! And, as usual the Stock Cars thrilled the crowd with the race of the night as drivers raced in tight quarters throughout the twenty-lap distance on the narrow surface.
Dick Steadman would lead the pack after starting from the pole position and he would be under constant pressure from David Brandies. Toss in the fifth starting Phil Holtz, his fellow third row starter Johnny Spaw and steadily gaining Damon Murty who had started the race from tenth and you soon had a five car pack racing within three car lengths of each other lap after lap after lap.
Brandies was committed to the bottom and patiently waited for Steadman to leave him an opening while Spaw, Holtz and Murty were swapping lines as needed as they tried to get to the front. On several occasions Brandies would get a nose under Steadman exiting turn four, but when the veteran leader would go to shut the door into turn three Brandies would "play nice" and wait for his next opportunity. Just as Murty had worked his way to third, Spaw and Holtz would make contact with each other sending Holtz for a spin exiting turn four and putting the rest of the field in scramble mode as the caution waved with three laps remaining.
Following the restart Brandies finally got the opening that he had waited for as Steadman got a bit too wide out of turn two and Brandies would be the first to take the white flag as Murty followed him into second. Damon was set to try to make a run on the final lap, but before the leaders made it to the back stretch the caution waved for Chase Zaruba who had spun in turn three.
The rules would call for a green-white-checkers two lap finish with Murty and Spaw ready to give Brandies everything they could muster for the $2,000 winner's check. On the first lap Murty could not quite make the pass on the second line up, but having watched this guy win so many races over the years I could tell that he had figured something out so it was not surprise on the final lap when he was able to again work just to the outside of Brandies and nose ahead by inches at the line to take the win in a thriller. Brandies would take second with Spaw right there in third as Cory Brown and Brayton Boyer followed close behind.
The Late Models were up next for twenty-five laps and you had to be impressed with the entry list tonight as forty-nine drivers signed in with twenty-six of them making Thursday's $5,000-to-win preliminary feature. Jeff Aikey and Tyler Bruening would start from the front row and with track conditions as they were it was a good bet that one of them would get the win. Unlike the Sport Mods and the Stock Cars, the Late Models were not able to get that second line to work, so this one was a high speed chase around the bottom with the deciding factor being the decision made by the leader once he reached the back of the field.
Aikey would be the leader from the drop of the green and when he encountered the last place car of Brian Kosiski on lap nine he made an attempt to pass him on the outside. This left the door open for Bruening who tucked in behind Kosiski and as the trio came out of turn four to score lap ten, Bruening was ahead by a nose as the transponders tripped the loop. Aikey came charging right back though and was able to pass Kosiski in turns one and two to regain the lead, but when the caution waved for a stalled Jason O'Brien the restart lineup reverted to lap ten with Bruening now the leader.
Seven laps later, same scenario but reversed roles for the leaders, Bruening went to the middle line to try to go around Kosiski a move that really cut his momentum and allowed Aikey to drive back into the lead. A veteran driver with a Hall of Fame worthy resume', Aikey learned his lesson from there and stayed in the groove behind the slower car until he was able to drive under him with two laps to go to secure the win. Bruening finished second, Jason Rauen was third, Ricky Thornton Jr. driving Todd Cooney's #30 finished fourth and Justin Kay was fifth.
The Modifieds would wrap up the night, but with a two hour drive and an early day at work ahead of me we headed for home with our friend Gary Lee texting us the results just a few minutes later that Justin Kay was the winner. For more coverage of this event make sure that you check out Racin' Down The Road with Danny Rosencrans.
It was an absolutely beautiful night for racing at a first class facility and you can bet that they will do everything possible to provide a better track for tonight's finale of the Yankee Dirt Classic!
Monday, August 19, 2019
Deery Series Return To Quincy Goes To Hurst
Heavy rains on Saturday morning left the folks at the Quincy Raceways with a tough decision to make. Call the show and leave people wondering why you are not racing on a beautiful and sunny Sunday evening, or forge ahead and have drivers and fans wondering why your race track is not in better condition. It is the type of "no win" situation that promoters have been faced with way too often recently and on this occasion, with the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models set to make its first appearance here in eight years track owner Jason Goble said "let's go racing" and the show went on as scheduled.
Yes, the track was rough during the heat races, but after taking the time during intermission to scrape off the muck on top, the three feature races were contested on a surface that wasn't that bad after all especially if you identified a couple of areas to avoid. The result was pretty decent night of racing overall and hopefully we can see the Deery Series back here again in 2020.
Eighteen Late Models signed in, a couple more than I had expected given that the track's UMP Crate Late Model class has only mustered four cars on each of the past two weeks and just one of them was here to race tonight. Jeremiah Hurst would draw the pole of the thirty lap main event with Andy Nezworski to his right and it would be Hurst taking the lead at the drop of the green. At this stage of the race pretty much the entire field was racing around the bottom so there was not much movement until the caution waved on lap nine when Tommy Elston stopped on the front stretch apron.
On the restart Curt Martin would start on the outside of the first double row and he would test the high side with some success taking second from Nezworski and even putting a nose to the outside of the leader Hurst on a couple of occasions. That top side momentum would soon fade though as Nezworski regained the second spot and Martin then fell back in line on the bottom. The caution would wave again with eight laps to go when Ray Raker tried to get to the infield and on this restart a couple of drivers would find success on the high side.
Both Jay Johnson and Mark Burgtorf were outside of the top five coming back to green, but not for long as the top line was now coming in and both drivers were picking off a position or two each lap. Up front Hurst and Matt Ryan had separated themselves from the pack and it was a good thing that they did as Johnson, who won the night before at 34 Raceway in Burlington, was closing fast only to run out of laps before the checkers waved with Hurst taking the win. Burgtorf who was behind the wheel of Lynn Richard's #15R tonight was coming fast in fourth with Nezworski dropping to fifth at the finish. Joel Callahan was sixth, Martin faded to seventh, Joe Zrostlik was eighth, the "Ironman" Darrel DeFrance finished ninth and Matt Strassheim completed the top ten.
In support class action Beau Taylor went flag-to-flag to win the Open Stock Car feature. Top contender Abe Huls spun in turn one on lap six collecting Shane Myers and Cletus Coats with the damage too much for Huls to finish the race. Michael "Taco" Larsen had a night that he will choose to forget as when his driveshaft came out entering turn one in his heat race, he went off the track and rolled onto his top. Currently second in the points chase behind Taylor, Larsen was able to get a ride in Pete Stodgel's #82 for the feature race and after an impressive charge from the back to finish second, Larsen failed to go to the tech area after the race resulting in a disqualification. That would leave Steve Dieckmann as the runner-up with Jake Powers, Andy Gaines and Myers completing the top five.
The Sport Compacts would close out the evening with an entertaining race that would see four different leaders in the fifteen lap event. Landon Neisen would pace the first quarter mile before yielding to Chance Bailey who would lead laps two and three. Craig Bangert would take the lead from there and appeared headed to victory until two caution flags for debris bunched the field with just three laps to go. Kimberly Abbott would take advantage of the opportunity racing around the outside of Bangert to take the point as the white flag waved and the former All Iowa Points Four Cylinder champion would close it out from there to get her first win of 2019. Bangert, Bailey, Quinton Shelton and Jared Heuele would fill out the top five.
Goble has several more special events on the schedule still for 2019 with the next two being a return of the MLRA Late Models on September 1st and a rescheduled date for the Sprint Invaders on September 8th and hopefully the weather will cooperate so that the pits and the grandstands at the Quincy Raceways will both be full for the rest of the season.
I had planned to take in a night of the Yankee Dirt Classic at the 300 Raceway this week, but with a visit from my grandson starting Thursday it looks like this grandpa will be taking a week off from racing. I can't wait until he is old enough to go with me!
Get on out and support the track of your choice!
Yes, the track was rough during the heat races, but after taking the time during intermission to scrape off the muck on top, the three feature races were contested on a surface that wasn't that bad after all especially if you identified a couple of areas to avoid. The result was pretty decent night of racing overall and hopefully we can see the Deery Series back here again in 2020.
Eighteen Late Models signed in, a couple more than I had expected given that the track's UMP Crate Late Model class has only mustered four cars on each of the past two weeks and just one of them was here to race tonight. Jeremiah Hurst would draw the pole of the thirty lap main event with Andy Nezworski to his right and it would be Hurst taking the lead at the drop of the green. At this stage of the race pretty much the entire field was racing around the bottom so there was not much movement until the caution waved on lap nine when Tommy Elston stopped on the front stretch apron.
On the restart Curt Martin would start on the outside of the first double row and he would test the high side with some success taking second from Nezworski and even putting a nose to the outside of the leader Hurst on a couple of occasions. That top side momentum would soon fade though as Nezworski regained the second spot and Martin then fell back in line on the bottom. The caution would wave again with eight laps to go when Ray Raker tried to get to the infield and on this restart a couple of drivers would find success on the high side.
Both Jay Johnson and Mark Burgtorf were outside of the top five coming back to green, but not for long as the top line was now coming in and both drivers were picking off a position or two each lap. Up front Hurst and Matt Ryan had separated themselves from the pack and it was a good thing that they did as Johnson, who won the night before at 34 Raceway in Burlington, was closing fast only to run out of laps before the checkers waved with Hurst taking the win. Burgtorf who was behind the wheel of Lynn Richard's #15R tonight was coming fast in fourth with Nezworski dropping to fifth at the finish. Joel Callahan was sixth, Martin faded to seventh, Joe Zrostlik was eighth, the "Ironman" Darrel DeFrance finished ninth and Matt Strassheim completed the top ten.
In support class action Beau Taylor went flag-to-flag to win the Open Stock Car feature. Top contender Abe Huls spun in turn one on lap six collecting Shane Myers and Cletus Coats with the damage too much for Huls to finish the race. Michael "Taco" Larsen had a night that he will choose to forget as when his driveshaft came out entering turn one in his heat race, he went off the track and rolled onto his top. Currently second in the points chase behind Taylor, Larsen was able to get a ride in Pete Stodgel's #82 for the feature race and after an impressive charge from the back to finish second, Larsen failed to go to the tech area after the race resulting in a disqualification. That would leave Steve Dieckmann as the runner-up with Jake Powers, Andy Gaines and Myers completing the top five.
The Sport Compacts would close out the evening with an entertaining race that would see four different leaders in the fifteen lap event. Landon Neisen would pace the first quarter mile before yielding to Chance Bailey who would lead laps two and three. Craig Bangert would take the lead from there and appeared headed to victory until two caution flags for debris bunched the field with just three laps to go. Kimberly Abbott would take advantage of the opportunity racing around the outside of Bangert to take the point as the white flag waved and the former All Iowa Points Four Cylinder champion would close it out from there to get her first win of 2019. Bangert, Bailey, Quinton Shelton and Jared Heuele would fill out the top five.
Goble has several more special events on the schedule still for 2019 with the next two being a return of the MLRA Late Models on September 1st and a rescheduled date for the Sprint Invaders on September 8th and hopefully the weather will cooperate so that the pits and the grandstands at the Quincy Raceways will both be full for the rest of the season.
I had planned to take in a night of the Yankee Dirt Classic at the 300 Raceway this week, but with a visit from my grandson starting Thursday it looks like this grandpa will be taking a week off from racing. I can't wait until he is old enough to go with me!
Get on out and support the track of your choice!
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Selvage, Johnson, LaVeine, Birck and Tipps Are Racing For A Cure Winners at 34 Raceway
When the Sprint Invaders roll into 34 Raceway track owners Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt give me the opportunity to also announce the other classes that are in action on that race night and last night, well let's just say that I had a lot of fun working with an enthusiastic crowd on a night where we were Racing For A Cure raising money for cancer research. Anchored by Brian Randall and the support of his vendors at Randall's Performance, well over $5,000 was raised on this race night. Something that the everybody involved should be proud of.
With a microphone in hand for most of the night I left my notebook in the car so the details will be lacking, but with a lightning fast race track there was plenty of action throughout the night and a nice sized crowd seemed to enjoy every minute of it.
The Sprint Invaders were the headliner with extra money on the line from both Shottenkirk.com and Storm Steel helping to draw another stout field of twenty-two Sprint Cars to Burlington despite the fact that there were competing shows in both central Missouri and southern Minnesota. With Paul Nienheiser at the controls of Scott Bonar's Midland Performance #50, they were the team to beat even after Paul drew the sixth starting spot after walking away with the Budweiser Shake Up Dash.
Hometown favorite Josh Schneiderman would set the early pace in the twenty-five lap main event as Nienheiser worked his way to the front and when Josh hesitated for a split second in lapped traffic Paul sailed around him on the high side exiting turn four to lead lap ten. It would only last for another lap though as when Nienheiser went high into turn one to pass another lapper, he caught a ridge in the track wrong and went for a wild end over end twisting tumble. Thankfully the young star from Chapin, Illinois, climbed from the wreckage uninjured.
Schneiderman would assume the lead again on the restart, but on lap seventeen he again had to check up behind a lapped car and that would allow Dustin Selvage, driving the car owned by Josh's brother Jarrod Schneiderman, to take the lead. Josh would make one more bid to take back the point two laps later when Selvage stumbled on the cushion, but Dustin would recover quick enough to hang on to the lead and race away to his first win with the series since 2013. Chris Martin would nip Schneiderman for second in the closing laps, Carson McCarl's fourth place finish was good enough for him to earn the $500 bonus from Storm Steel for the best points total over the past two nights and Brayden Gaylord had a solid performance in fifth.
For the story and full results please visit my colleague Bill Wright's website OpenWheel101.
Jay Johnson started from the front row and was never seriously challenged in winning the IMCA Late Model feature. Matt Strassheim fought off Matt Ryan to finish second as Ryan advanced from seventh to third at the finish. Tommy Elston and Nick Marolf completed the top five.
Dennis LaVeine started fourth, but quickly moved to the front of the IMCA Modified field where he then held off late challenges from John Oliver Jr. and Chris Zogg to take the win in this his 38th year of racing. Zogg would be the runner-up with Oliver in third, Dugan Thye finished fourth and George Spence III was fifth.
There was no keeping up with Adam Birck on this night as he left the IMCA Northern Sport Mod field in his wake from the drop of the green to win in flag-to-flag fashion. Ron Kibbe and Adam Shelman had a good race for second with Kibbe prevailing while Sean Wyett and Colton Bowman filled out the top five.
The Mini Hauler Trucks entertained the crowd with some beatin' and bangin' action that saw Brian Tipps take the win despite being hit twice in the closing laps by a challenger that would find himself to be disqualified at the pay window. Jerad Ruble would be scored second with John Helenthal, Jack Broeg and Jacob Ruble next in line.
Next Saturday night August 24th will be the Pepsi Zero Season Championship night at 34 Raceway with a special $5 admission price. Then on Labor Day weekend it will be a big two night treat for Sprint Car fans as on Friday August 30th the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be in action along with the Sprint Invaders. Then on Saturday night the 31st, for the first time ever the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR non-wing Sprint Cars will take to the 3/8th-mile high banks at 34, the premiere place to race!
Tonight my colleague Barry Johnson and I will head south to the Quincy Raceways for the return of the Deery Brothers IMCA Late Model Summer Series. Perhaps we will see you there!
With a microphone in hand for most of the night I left my notebook in the car so the details will be lacking, but with a lightning fast race track there was plenty of action throughout the night and a nice sized crowd seemed to enjoy every minute of it.
The Sprint Invaders were the headliner with extra money on the line from both Shottenkirk.com and Storm Steel helping to draw another stout field of twenty-two Sprint Cars to Burlington despite the fact that there were competing shows in both central Missouri and southern Minnesota. With Paul Nienheiser at the controls of Scott Bonar's Midland Performance #50, they were the team to beat even after Paul drew the sixth starting spot after walking away with the Budweiser Shake Up Dash.
Hometown favorite Josh Schneiderman would set the early pace in the twenty-five lap main event as Nienheiser worked his way to the front and when Josh hesitated for a split second in lapped traffic Paul sailed around him on the high side exiting turn four to lead lap ten. It would only last for another lap though as when Nienheiser went high into turn one to pass another lapper, he caught a ridge in the track wrong and went for a wild end over end twisting tumble. Thankfully the young star from Chapin, Illinois, climbed from the wreckage uninjured.
Schneiderman would assume the lead again on the restart, but on lap seventeen he again had to check up behind a lapped car and that would allow Dustin Selvage, driving the car owned by Josh's brother Jarrod Schneiderman, to take the lead. Josh would make one more bid to take back the point two laps later when Selvage stumbled on the cushion, but Dustin would recover quick enough to hang on to the lead and race away to his first win with the series since 2013. Chris Martin would nip Schneiderman for second in the closing laps, Carson McCarl's fourth place finish was good enough for him to earn the $500 bonus from Storm Steel for the best points total over the past two nights and Brayden Gaylord had a solid performance in fifth.
For the story and full results please visit my colleague Bill Wright's website OpenWheel101.
Jay Johnson started from the front row and was never seriously challenged in winning the IMCA Late Model feature. Matt Strassheim fought off Matt Ryan to finish second as Ryan advanced from seventh to third at the finish. Tommy Elston and Nick Marolf completed the top five.
Dennis LaVeine started fourth, but quickly moved to the front of the IMCA Modified field where he then held off late challenges from John Oliver Jr. and Chris Zogg to take the win in this his 38th year of racing. Zogg would be the runner-up with Oliver in third, Dugan Thye finished fourth and George Spence III was fifth.
There was no keeping up with Adam Birck on this night as he left the IMCA Northern Sport Mod field in his wake from the drop of the green to win in flag-to-flag fashion. Ron Kibbe and Adam Shelman had a good race for second with Kibbe prevailing while Sean Wyett and Colton Bowman filled out the top five.
The Mini Hauler Trucks entertained the crowd with some beatin' and bangin' action that saw Brian Tipps take the win despite being hit twice in the closing laps by a challenger that would find himself to be disqualified at the pay window. Jerad Ruble would be scored second with John Helenthal, Jack Broeg and Jacob Ruble next in line.
Next Saturday night August 24th will be the Pepsi Zero Season Championship night at 34 Raceway with a special $5 admission price. Then on Labor Day weekend it will be a big two night treat for Sprint Car fans as on Friday August 30th the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be in action along with the Sprint Invaders. Then on Saturday night the 31st, for the first time ever the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR non-wing Sprint Cars will take to the 3/8th-mile high banks at 34, the premiere place to race!
Tonight my colleague Barry Johnson and I will head south to the Quincy Raceways for the return of the Deery Brothers IMCA Late Model Summer Series. Perhaps we will see you there!
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Gharst Adds To His Total, Boles Gets His First At Donnellson
Kaley Gharst sits at the top of the list when it comes to career feature wins with the Sprint Invaders, but is has been seven years since he has added to that total. His dry spell ended Friday night when "Showtime" put Nick Breuer's #78 into victory lane in convincing fashion for his 22nd feature win with the series that is now in its seventeenth year. And, on the opposite end of the spectrum, second generation driver Mitch Boles fought back to earn his first career feature win as the IMCA Modifieds closed out a long evening of racing at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson.
The twenty-five lap main event for the Sprint Invaders got off to a slow start when Tanner Gebhardt spun in turn three on the opening lap collecting back row starters Daniel Bergquist and Randy Martin. And while that was playing out, the fourth place starter Sawyer Phillips spun to the infield before turn one running over an infield marker with his night ending on the hook.
When the green flag waved again only two laps would be completed before the red came out when the fifth place car of Dustin Selvage bicycled on the cushion in turn four and when the car came back down it turned right, head on into the guardrail before tipping over onto its side. A frustrated Selvage would walk back to the pits uninjured.
Once back to racing current point leader John Schulz would set the pace with Carson McCarl in pursuit, but the man on the move was Kaley Gharst who hard started sixth and was coming to the front quickly. On lap ten with Schulz working the traffic down low, Gharst stayed up on the cushion to sail to the front just before Riley Goodno spun in turn one to bring out the caution.
On this restart Schulz would throw the slider to take back the lead heading down the back stretch only to have Gharst return the favor in turns three and four to get back in front. Gharst would then open up a big advantage as drivers shuffled for position in his wake only to see the caution wave again with seven laps remaining when defending Invaders champion Cody Wehrle looped it in turn two.
Schulz would make another charge on the restart pulling even with Gharst in turn two, but Kaley would kick off the cushion and hold on to the lead down the back stretch before again pulling away for the convincing win. Schulz would stretch his point lead with his second place finish, Ayrton Gennetten had a solid night in third, Carson McCarl held on for the fourth spot and Jamie Ball advanced from ninth to fifth at the checkers.
The win was worth $2,000 for Gharst and his car owner Nick Breuer due to extra purse money put up for the weekend by Shottenkirk.com and if Kaley can win again tonight at 34 Raceway in Burlington he will earn a $1,000 bonus from Storm Steel.
As a few rain drops started to fall as the IMCA Modified feature took the green for eighteen laps with Mitch Boles taking the lead. The second generation driver from New London destroyed a race car a few weeks ago in a rollover accident in Maquoketa and, as it has turned out, that might have been the best thing that happened to him as this new car has been fast out the box and tonight the #4B was hooked to the bottom of the 3/8th-mile oval. Jeff Waterman and Dennis LaVeine who started sixth and seventh respectively moved to the front and both were ready to challenge Boles for the lead, but Mitch was too tough until the caution waved for a Craig Spegal spin in turn two on lap ten.
On the restart LaVeine found the bite that he needed running the middle through the turns and he would take the lead from Boles on lap twelve and as Waterman also tried to squeeze under the former leader his left front clipped the track tire in turn one knocking the tire onto the track and breaking the left front of Waterman's car ending his night.
When the green flag returned Boles came battling back pulling even with LaVeine and they would then put on a classic battle for the fans that had stuck around after the Sprint Car show had ended. Boles would lead lap thirteen, LaVeine would edge back in front at the stripe on lap fourteen and Boles would come right back on the bottom to take back the lead on the fifteenth circuit. The kid would then pull away from the veteran over the final three laps to take the win where his father Scott, grandfather Paul and the rest of his family and crew were ready to celebrate with him in victory lane. LaVeine would settle for second, John Oliver Jr. came from eighth to third, Dakota Simmons started ninth and finished fourth while Brandon Rothzen came from the tail of the thirteen car field to take fifth.
In earlier support class action Brandon Dale paced a talented field of twenty IMCA Sport Mods for all eighteen laps to take the win. Austen Becerra drove around Sean Wyett exiting turn four coming to the checkers to take second as Blaine Webster and Daniel Fellows filled out the top five. It was good to see Barry Taft making the move up to the Sport Mods as the Argyle, Iowa, driver was still in the hunt to win his third straight All Iowa Points Four Cylinder championship. Taft finished tenth in his first Sport Mod feature race.
Cody Bowman would go from third to first on the opening lap of the Sport Compact main event only to have the sixth starting Trent Orwig go charging by on lap two. Even with three restarts in the second half of the fifteen lap event, Orwig would go the rest of the way to take the win. Chuck Fullenkamp came from ninth to second dropping Brandon Reu back to third at the checkers as Bowman and Jason Ash were next in line.
Next Friday is Season Championship night at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway and race fans can catch all of the action for just a $3 price of admission! That won't be the end of racing in 2019 though at Donnellson as special events in both September and October are on the schedule.
A tip of the hat to southeast Iowa driver Sam Halstead who won the Crate Late Model feature at the Kankakee County Speedway south of Chicago last night!
After some rain this morning, the high banks at 34 Raceway should be in great shape for racing tonight as the Sprint Invaders return to Burlington along with the Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Mods and the Mini Haulers.
Hope to see you there!!
The twenty-five lap main event for the Sprint Invaders got off to a slow start when Tanner Gebhardt spun in turn three on the opening lap collecting back row starters Daniel Bergquist and Randy Martin. And while that was playing out, the fourth place starter Sawyer Phillips spun to the infield before turn one running over an infield marker with his night ending on the hook.
When the green flag waved again only two laps would be completed before the red came out when the fifth place car of Dustin Selvage bicycled on the cushion in turn four and when the car came back down it turned right, head on into the guardrail before tipping over onto its side. A frustrated Selvage would walk back to the pits uninjured.
Once back to racing current point leader John Schulz would set the pace with Carson McCarl in pursuit, but the man on the move was Kaley Gharst who hard started sixth and was coming to the front quickly. On lap ten with Schulz working the traffic down low, Gharst stayed up on the cushion to sail to the front just before Riley Goodno spun in turn one to bring out the caution.
On this restart Schulz would throw the slider to take back the lead heading down the back stretch only to have Gharst return the favor in turns three and four to get back in front. Gharst would then open up a big advantage as drivers shuffled for position in his wake only to see the caution wave again with seven laps remaining when defending Invaders champion Cody Wehrle looped it in turn two.
Schulz would make another charge on the restart pulling even with Gharst in turn two, but Kaley would kick off the cushion and hold on to the lead down the back stretch before again pulling away for the convincing win. Schulz would stretch his point lead with his second place finish, Ayrton Gennetten had a solid night in third, Carson McCarl held on for the fourth spot and Jamie Ball advanced from ninth to fifth at the checkers.
The win was worth $2,000 for Gharst and his car owner Nick Breuer due to extra purse money put up for the weekend by Shottenkirk.com and if Kaley can win again tonight at 34 Raceway in Burlington he will earn a $1,000 bonus from Storm Steel.
As a few rain drops started to fall as the IMCA Modified feature took the green for eighteen laps with Mitch Boles taking the lead. The second generation driver from New London destroyed a race car a few weeks ago in a rollover accident in Maquoketa and, as it has turned out, that might have been the best thing that happened to him as this new car has been fast out the box and tonight the #4B was hooked to the bottom of the 3/8th-mile oval. Jeff Waterman and Dennis LaVeine who started sixth and seventh respectively moved to the front and both were ready to challenge Boles for the lead, but Mitch was too tough until the caution waved for a Craig Spegal spin in turn two on lap ten.
On the restart LaVeine found the bite that he needed running the middle through the turns and he would take the lead from Boles on lap twelve and as Waterman also tried to squeeze under the former leader his left front clipped the track tire in turn one knocking the tire onto the track and breaking the left front of Waterman's car ending his night.
When the green flag returned Boles came battling back pulling even with LaVeine and they would then put on a classic battle for the fans that had stuck around after the Sprint Car show had ended. Boles would lead lap thirteen, LaVeine would edge back in front at the stripe on lap fourteen and Boles would come right back on the bottom to take back the lead on the fifteenth circuit. The kid would then pull away from the veteran over the final three laps to take the win where his father Scott, grandfather Paul and the rest of his family and crew were ready to celebrate with him in victory lane. LaVeine would settle for second, John Oliver Jr. came from eighth to third, Dakota Simmons started ninth and finished fourth while Brandon Rothzen came from the tail of the thirteen car field to take fifth.
In earlier support class action Brandon Dale paced a talented field of twenty IMCA Sport Mods for all eighteen laps to take the win. Austen Becerra drove around Sean Wyett exiting turn four coming to the checkers to take second as Blaine Webster and Daniel Fellows filled out the top five. It was good to see Barry Taft making the move up to the Sport Mods as the Argyle, Iowa, driver was still in the hunt to win his third straight All Iowa Points Four Cylinder championship. Taft finished tenth in his first Sport Mod feature race.
Cody Bowman would go from third to first on the opening lap of the Sport Compact main event only to have the sixth starting Trent Orwig go charging by on lap two. Even with three restarts in the second half of the fifteen lap event, Orwig would go the rest of the way to take the win. Chuck Fullenkamp came from ninth to second dropping Brandon Reu back to third at the checkers as Bowman and Jason Ash were next in line.
Next Friday is Season Championship night at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway and race fans can catch all of the action for just a $3 price of admission! That won't be the end of racing in 2019 though at Donnellson as special events in both September and October are on the schedule.
A tip of the hat to southeast Iowa driver Sam Halstead who won the Crate Late Model feature at the Kankakee County Speedway south of Chicago last night!
After some rain this morning, the high banks at 34 Raceway should be in great shape for racing tonight as the Sprint Invaders return to Burlington along with the Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Mods and the Mini Haulers.
Hope to see you there!!
Friday, August 16, 2019
Wise, Heck and Weisser Have Fun At Fairbury's Fair
Writing that headline something inside tells me that I could come up with something much more humorous, but it is getting late in the day and I need to be on the road soon to the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson where the Sprint Invaders will kickoff a big doubleheader weekend tonight before moving on to 34 Raceway near Burlington on Saturday.
Returning from a trip to the east I was able to drop in on the county fair Thursday show at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway, my first time at the track in nearly thirty years, and as the night went on I kept asking myself why it had been so long. This fantastic facility is just under a three hour drive from home and one of the coolest things about it is that as you enter the town there is a sign that says "Welcome to Fairbury" with race cars painted on it. A community that appreciates what the track does for the community and is proud of it. What a concept!
The Lucas Oil POWRi Midgets were the headliners on this night with a lineup sheet listing some of the biggest stars in the division on the twenty-seven driver roster. Sixteen-year-old Zeb Wise used a veteran move by getting a bit of a jump on the start of his heat race to earn the most passing points and that would land him on the pole of the thirty lap main event. The track was in perfect shape for midget racing, nice and wide with a nice cushion to catch a slide job with, but the field had a few more issues than I am used to seeing at a POWRi event.
It took until the third start to get a lap scored and then the race itself was hindered by four different caution periods for spinners, with a couple of them coming right as Wise and his chasers were about to enter lapped traffic and make things really interesting. Wise was definitely the fastest car on the track tonight and he proved that by pulling away over the final two laps to take the win, but it still would have been more fun to see how some traffic would have been dealt with.
The battle for second was a good one as Thomas Messeraull and Tyler Courtney went at it with Courtney taking the position before T-Mez slowed to a stop with six laps remaining to end his night. The final caution came on lap twenty-seven when Maria Cofer spun for the second time and on the restart Courtney tossed out a somewhat lazy slider into turn one on Wise that only allowed Logan Seavey to pass him for second. Seavey had put on quite a show coming from the outside of row seven and nearly went for a ride when he got together with his teammate Jesse Colwell mid-race.
Tanner Thorson, who I thought had a fantastic showing at the Knoxville Nationals last week, was strong tonight as well coming from twelfth to fourth as three-time series champion Zach Daum took fifth.
The Midgets will have a four race swing through central Illinois with POWRi shows tonight at Lincoln and Saturday in Macon before closing out the weekend with an unsanctioned race on Sunday in Jacksonville.
The UMP Pro Crate Late Models do not race regularly at Fairbury so it was no surprise to see drivers come from near and far for their one shot at the famous facility. The twenty lap feature was a good one with Jose Parga pacing the first three circuits before Dakota Ewing took the point. Aaron Heck soon moved to second and on a lap nine restart Heck threw a big slider on Ewing with the two making contact in turn two. They continued to lean on each other going down the backstretch and for a split second it looked like we were going to wad up the whole field, but everybody did a nice job of making saves and we stayed green with Ewing holding on to the lead.
That was short-lived though as Heck was able to make another slider stick to take the lead with eight laps remaining and the driver from Mount Vernon then fought off a slider from Ewing as well in the closing laps to take the win. Ewing and Parga were next in line followed by Torin Mettille and Bobby Richey Jr, who lists Chattanooga, Tennessee as his home despite driving a car lettered like central Illinois driver Bob Gardner. Southeast Iowa driver Sam Halstead finished in tenth.
The UMP Modifieds would close out the night with a twenty-five lap feature that was a three car battle early between Allen Weisser, Danny Schwartz and Mike Harrison. Schwartz was able to pass Weisser to lead lap five only to have Allen come right back to the point and Harrison was poised to challenge only to have a left front tire go down during a lap fourteen caution. Once Harrison retired Weisser took full control to take the win over Schwartz, Jeffrey Ledford, Steven Brooks and a steady climbing Jim Ferris who came from thirteenth to finish fifth.
It was an enjoyable evening sitting in the top row with my friend Gary Lee who I haven't been around much lately and it was also good to see veteran flagman Doug Haack taking in the show. My goal now is to make it back to #FALS within the next year!
Hey before I go, one more thought on last week's Knoxville Nationals. For the second year in a row a driver won the Capitani Classic on Sunday night, then won on his qualifying night before closing out with the Nationals Championship. In 2018 it was Brad Sweet and of course this year it was David Gravel. Instead of racing in the Capitani Classic, Donny Schatz went from Pevely to his home in Minot, North Dakota, where he won an NLRA Late Model race on that Sunday night. Do you suppose he will be at the Cappy in 2020?
Hope to see you at Donnellson tonight, 34 Raceway on Saturday and then on Sunday night we will be at the Quincy Raceways for the Deery Brothers Summer Series show!
Returning from a trip to the east I was able to drop in on the county fair Thursday show at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway, my first time at the track in nearly thirty years, and as the night went on I kept asking myself why it had been so long. This fantastic facility is just under a three hour drive from home and one of the coolest things about it is that as you enter the town there is a sign that says "Welcome to Fairbury" with race cars painted on it. A community that appreciates what the track does for the community and is proud of it. What a concept!
The Lucas Oil POWRi Midgets were the headliners on this night with a lineup sheet listing some of the biggest stars in the division on the twenty-seven driver roster. Sixteen-year-old Zeb Wise used a veteran move by getting a bit of a jump on the start of his heat race to earn the most passing points and that would land him on the pole of the thirty lap main event. The track was in perfect shape for midget racing, nice and wide with a nice cushion to catch a slide job with, but the field had a few more issues than I am used to seeing at a POWRi event.
It took until the third start to get a lap scored and then the race itself was hindered by four different caution periods for spinners, with a couple of them coming right as Wise and his chasers were about to enter lapped traffic and make things really interesting. Wise was definitely the fastest car on the track tonight and he proved that by pulling away over the final two laps to take the win, but it still would have been more fun to see how some traffic would have been dealt with.
The battle for second was a good one as Thomas Messeraull and Tyler Courtney went at it with Courtney taking the position before T-Mez slowed to a stop with six laps remaining to end his night. The final caution came on lap twenty-seven when Maria Cofer spun for the second time and on the restart Courtney tossed out a somewhat lazy slider into turn one on Wise that only allowed Logan Seavey to pass him for second. Seavey had put on quite a show coming from the outside of row seven and nearly went for a ride when he got together with his teammate Jesse Colwell mid-race.
Tanner Thorson, who I thought had a fantastic showing at the Knoxville Nationals last week, was strong tonight as well coming from twelfth to fourth as three-time series champion Zach Daum took fifth.
The Midgets will have a four race swing through central Illinois with POWRi shows tonight at Lincoln and Saturday in Macon before closing out the weekend with an unsanctioned race on Sunday in Jacksonville.
The UMP Pro Crate Late Models do not race regularly at Fairbury so it was no surprise to see drivers come from near and far for their one shot at the famous facility. The twenty lap feature was a good one with Jose Parga pacing the first three circuits before Dakota Ewing took the point. Aaron Heck soon moved to second and on a lap nine restart Heck threw a big slider on Ewing with the two making contact in turn two. They continued to lean on each other going down the backstretch and for a split second it looked like we were going to wad up the whole field, but everybody did a nice job of making saves and we stayed green with Ewing holding on to the lead.
That was short-lived though as Heck was able to make another slider stick to take the lead with eight laps remaining and the driver from Mount Vernon then fought off a slider from Ewing as well in the closing laps to take the win. Ewing and Parga were next in line followed by Torin Mettille and Bobby Richey Jr, who lists Chattanooga, Tennessee as his home despite driving a car lettered like central Illinois driver Bob Gardner. Southeast Iowa driver Sam Halstead finished in tenth.
The UMP Modifieds would close out the night with a twenty-five lap feature that was a three car battle early between Allen Weisser, Danny Schwartz and Mike Harrison. Schwartz was able to pass Weisser to lead lap five only to have Allen come right back to the point and Harrison was poised to challenge only to have a left front tire go down during a lap fourteen caution. Once Harrison retired Weisser took full control to take the win over Schwartz, Jeffrey Ledford, Steven Brooks and a steady climbing Jim Ferris who came from thirteenth to finish fifth.
It was an enjoyable evening sitting in the top row with my friend Gary Lee who I haven't been around much lately and it was also good to see veteran flagman Doug Haack taking in the show. My goal now is to make it back to #FALS within the next year!
Hey before I go, one more thought on last week's Knoxville Nationals. For the second year in a row a driver won the Capitani Classic on Sunday night, then won on his qualifying night before closing out with the Nationals Championship. In 2018 it was Brad Sweet and of course this year it was David Gravel. Instead of racing in the Capitani Classic, Donny Schatz went from Pevely to his home in Minot, North Dakota, where he won an NLRA Late Model race on that Sunday night. Do you suppose he will be at the Cappy in 2020?
Hope to see you at Donnellson tonight, 34 Raceway on Saturday and then on Sunday night we will be at the Quincy Raceways for the Deery Brothers Summer Series show!
Sunday, August 11, 2019
No Doubt About It, David Gravel Is A Knoxville Nationals Champion
Win the Captani Classic on Sunday night, put up a strong performance that ends in victory lane during your qualifying night and then score a convincing win on Saturday night for your first Knoxville Nationals title.. That was the script for Brad Sweet in 2018 and the same scenario would unfold this week as David Gravel in the Axalta sponsored Jason Johnson Racing car #41 dominated the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.
Gravel would start the fifty lap finale to the outside of pole-sitter Aaron Reutzel and would drop to third on the opening lap as Reutzel wheelied off the berm in turn four to lead it. That bobble allowed Joey Saldana to take the point on lap two only to have Reutzel come digging back on the bottom to pace the third circuit just before the caution waved. The last place car of Dominic Scelzi had tagged the guardrail in turn one and then slowed to a stop on the inside of turn two.
Once back to green three more laps would be scored before the capacity crowd roared as ten-time Nationals Champion Donny Schatz, who had started seventeenth after qualifying through the B-Main, slowed at the exit of turn four. A trip to the work area under caution resolved a throttle linkage issue and Schatz would restart from the back of the twenty-four car lineup.
Gravel would now go to work moving past Saldana for second and on lap fourteen he would sail around the outside of Reutzel to take the lead. Reutzel would stay close as Gravel paced himself to the mid-race break, a lesson learned from a couple of years ago when he popped a motor while leading just before halftime.
As the crews went to work during the allotted three minutes a check of the running order revealed that Daryn Pittman had driven from tenth to third, Sheldon Haudenschild had moved from fifteenth to eighth and one of Friday night's transfers Logan Schuchart had raced from twenty-second up to ninth.
Once back to green Gravel proved his dominance and other than Ian Madsen bouncing off the front stretch guardrail in front of him late in the race, not even lapped traffic posed a challenge to the leader. Pittman moved to second and the Shark Racing fans were praying for a caution as their man Schuchart continued his march to the front taking over third with ten laps still remaining. That race resetting caution would never come though and as Gravel took the checkers for his first Knoxville Nationals title, Schuchart was completing his pass of Pittman for second and racing into turn three for the final time to be the runner-up by improving his lot by twenty positions. Pittman would complete the podium as Tim Kaeding closed out a strong week by placing the Jason Sides Racing #7s in fourth.
Reutzel would not give up on the bottom dropping to fifth at the checkers with the defending champion Brad Sweet finishing where he started in sixth. Haudenschild would complete a nice run in seventh followed by James McFadden who came from nineteenth to eighth. Schatz was still impressive coming from the back after the lap six restart to finish in ninth while the B-Main winner Gio Scelzi would fill out the top ten.
In preliminary action the B-Main got off to rough start, first for a turn three caution on the opening lap when a Tasker Phillips spin collected Cale Thomas and put Terry McCarl into a minor wing bender. Then on lap three Spencer Bayston punted Josh Baughman off the cushion in turn one and two sending both drivers for a hard tumble. After that the top four starters, Gio Scelzi, Schatz, McFadden and Rico Abreu became the final four transfers leaving Carson Macedo the first man out.
Non-wing ace Tyler Courtney won the C-Main with crowd favorite Brian Brown finishing third. Brown would then end his night with a run up to twelfth in the B ending a disappointing week that was plagued with bad luck. Davey Heskin won the D-Main and Jason Sides took the E-Main.
Gravel would start the fifty lap finale to the outside of pole-sitter Aaron Reutzel and would drop to third on the opening lap as Reutzel wheelied off the berm in turn four to lead it. That bobble allowed Joey Saldana to take the point on lap two only to have Reutzel come digging back on the bottom to pace the third circuit just before the caution waved. The last place car of Dominic Scelzi had tagged the guardrail in turn one and then slowed to a stop on the inside of turn two.
Once back to green three more laps would be scored before the capacity crowd roared as ten-time Nationals Champion Donny Schatz, who had started seventeenth after qualifying through the B-Main, slowed at the exit of turn four. A trip to the work area under caution resolved a throttle linkage issue and Schatz would restart from the back of the twenty-four car lineup.
Gravel would now go to work moving past Saldana for second and on lap fourteen he would sail around the outside of Reutzel to take the lead. Reutzel would stay close as Gravel paced himself to the mid-race break, a lesson learned from a couple of years ago when he popped a motor while leading just before halftime.
As the crews went to work during the allotted three minutes a check of the running order revealed that Daryn Pittman had driven from tenth to third, Sheldon Haudenschild had moved from fifteenth to eighth and one of Friday night's transfers Logan Schuchart had raced from twenty-second up to ninth.
Once back to green Gravel proved his dominance and other than Ian Madsen bouncing off the front stretch guardrail in front of him late in the race, not even lapped traffic posed a challenge to the leader. Pittman moved to second and the Shark Racing fans were praying for a caution as their man Schuchart continued his march to the front taking over third with ten laps still remaining. That race resetting caution would never come though and as Gravel took the checkers for his first Knoxville Nationals title, Schuchart was completing his pass of Pittman for second and racing into turn three for the final time to be the runner-up by improving his lot by twenty positions. Pittman would complete the podium as Tim Kaeding closed out a strong week by placing the Jason Sides Racing #7s in fourth.
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| Barry Johnson photo |
Reutzel would not give up on the bottom dropping to fifth at the checkers with the defending champion Brad Sweet finishing where he started in sixth. Haudenschild would complete a nice run in seventh followed by James McFadden who came from nineteenth to eighth. Schatz was still impressive coming from the back after the lap six restart to finish in ninth while the B-Main winner Gio Scelzi would fill out the top ten.
In preliminary action the B-Main got off to rough start, first for a turn three caution on the opening lap when a Tasker Phillips spin collected Cale Thomas and put Terry McCarl into a minor wing bender. Then on lap three Spencer Bayston punted Josh Baughman off the cushion in turn one and two sending both drivers for a hard tumble. After that the top four starters, Gio Scelzi, Schatz, McFadden and Rico Abreu became the final four transfers leaving Carson Macedo the first man out.
Non-wing ace Tyler Courtney won the C-Main with crowd favorite Brian Brown finishing third. Brown would then end his night with a run up to twelfth in the B ending a disappointing week that was plagued with bad luck. Davey Heskin won the D-Main and Jason Sides took the E-Main.
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| Barry Johnson photo |
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Madsen, Schuchart, Stewart and Scelzi Advance In Hard Knox Friday Feature
For many years the Friday events at the Knoxville Nationals were known as the "Non Qualifiers Night" where the drivers who failed to crack the top fifty in points from Wednesday and Thursday would gather to race for the chance to win the night's feature for the grand prize of earning the eleventh starting position in Saturday night's C-Main. In order to spice up the event and give the fans a chance to see more of their favorites an additional race was always on the card. First it was the Race of States, then the "Mystery Feature" and more recently the World Challenge, but a few years ago a very welcome change of format was made and last night completed the evolution of the Friday night program.
Now only the top twenty-six in points from Wednesday and Thursday lock in and on this night they would all take the night off, allowed to prepare for Saturday's rand finale rather than having some of them involved in the World Challenge that is no longer on the card. And with just a slight change from the recent past, the top four from Friday night's main event would still transfer to the Championship feature but instead of filling rows nine and ten they would now complete the lineup in rows eleven and twelve, a change that the feature winner was yet aware of.
On this Saturday morning though I am sure that he is just fine with it as he is locked in for the 59th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.
Seventy-eight drivers signed in and were split into two groups for one lap of qualifying where only the top twelve in each group would make the four car invert in the six heat races with the top three finishers to advance to Friday's A-Main. Sye Lynch would back up his impressive heat race win on Thursday by leading Group One while Kerry Madsen was no surprise in setting quick time for Group Two.
Brian Brown would win the first heat race starting from the pole knowing that he would have to start deep in the feature field due to his tenth best time in Group One. Justin Henderson charged from fifth to second heading down the back stretch for the first time and he would be the first of just two to transfer to the feature from outside of the invert. Thursday's quick qualifier who then crashed on the opening lap of his heat race, Shane Stewart finished in third.
The second heat race saw the cars in front race in the same position that they ran on the first lap with Travis Rilat, Sammy Swindell and Dominic Scelzi making the show. Danny Dietrich gave it all that he had running in fourth only to blow a tire going into turn three on the final lap where he then hit the wall and wrapped himself up in an FVP banner stripped off the wall as he rolled a couple of times.
Hunter Schuerenberg was impressive coming from fourth to win the third heat race. Austin McCarl finished second while fifth starting Spencer Bayston slipped past Anthony Macri on the final lap to be the second driver from outside of the invert to make the show.
You just kind of knew that this was going to be Kerry Madsen's night when he went from fourth to first on the opening lap of the fourth heat to then run away with the win. Clint Garner appeared to lose a motor while running second early as Logan Schuchart and Tyler Courtney finished well behind.
Thomas Kennedy would go the distance from the pole position to take the fifth heat ahead of Bill Balog and Josh Baughman passed Skylar Prochaska coming to the white flag to finish in third.
The sixth heat had issues. On the opening lap Shane Golobic got sideways coming out of turn two causing the field to scramble behind him with Paige Polyak going for a spin. Later in the race when Derek Hagar and Jac Haudenshild tangled in turn three, Polyak was again in the wrong place at the wrong time as she would go for a tumble. Once back to racing Kraig Kinser and Lynton Jeffrey would lead the way as Tasker Phillips appeared to have the third spot wrapped up after starting from fifth. But when the young driver bobbled on the berm with just two to go, Cale Thomas reeled him in and made the pass to take the transfer.
Three drivers from each of the two B-Mains would complete the twenty-four car feature field and the first one continued the issues that plagued the final heat race. Skylar Gee would be penalized for jumping on the original start and then on the second try a jumble up on the back stretch left Kevin Thomas Jr. on the hook. The red flag period stretched out as Jason Sides' crew changed a front axle and he pushed off just in time for another try at a start. This time another multi-car scramble in turn one resulted in Sides' car tipped over onto its side and as the crew again scrambled to make repairs in the work area Jason was out of the car telling announcer Wade Aunger that essentially they can work all they want on it, he was ready for a beer.
Finally the race would go green with Terry McCarl and Sam Hafertepe Jr. way out front. Josh Schneiderman was digging the bottom to move up from seventh to third, but when he slipped off the bottom twice in the final laps it allowed Chad Kemenah to chase him down and make the pass for the final transfer. Kemenah had come from the eighth starting position.
The second B-Main would go green for eight laps before Harli White got into the guardrail while running fifth. Once back to green Carson McCarl would take the win ahead of Skylar Prochaska and Tasker Phillips would redeem himself by holding off a hard charging Brady Bacon at the checkers.
Twenty-five laps of racing would complete the night with the top four making the big show. With crowd favorite Brian Brown starting from eleventh he would be one to watch, but that would end abruptly when Brown suddenly slowed exiting turn two on the opening lap. That would send the field scrambling to avoid him and unfortunately Justin Henderson would get upside down ending his night. With that story line no longer in play this one would go pretty much as expected with Kerry Madsen in complete control being chased by Shane Stewart. A caution on lap seven saw Logan Schuchart join the mix after starting from eighth and the top four, Madsen, Schuchart, Stewart and Dominic Scelzi would remain the same through three more cautions over the final nine laps. The battle for fifth was entertaining though as defending track champion Austin McCarl worked his way into that spot and on the final restart it looked like McCarl might have a run around the rim, but Scelzi would hold him off for that final transfer. Spencer Bayston had started the race from seventeenth and then went to the back after having to go to the work area from that first scramble, but he would be the first to solve the bottom in the feature to get all the way up to sixth at the checkers. Josh Baughman was seventh, Sammy Swindell dropped to eighth after challenging Scelzi earlier for fourth, ninth went to Kraig Kinser and Bill Balog wrapped up the top ten.
That sets the field for tonight's finale with three of my four pre-event picks in a prime position to take their first Knoxville Nationals Championship. Fifty laps for $150,000 to win, it should be a good one!
Now only the top twenty-six in points from Wednesday and Thursday lock in and on this night they would all take the night off, allowed to prepare for Saturday's rand finale rather than having some of them involved in the World Challenge that is no longer on the card. And with just a slight change from the recent past, the top four from Friday night's main event would still transfer to the Championship feature but instead of filling rows nine and ten they would now complete the lineup in rows eleven and twelve, a change that the feature winner was yet aware of.
On this Saturday morning though I am sure that he is just fine with it as he is locked in for the 59th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.
Seventy-eight drivers signed in and were split into two groups for one lap of qualifying where only the top twelve in each group would make the four car invert in the six heat races with the top three finishers to advance to Friday's A-Main. Sye Lynch would back up his impressive heat race win on Thursday by leading Group One while Kerry Madsen was no surprise in setting quick time for Group Two.
Brian Brown would win the first heat race starting from the pole knowing that he would have to start deep in the feature field due to his tenth best time in Group One. Justin Henderson charged from fifth to second heading down the back stretch for the first time and he would be the first of just two to transfer to the feature from outside of the invert. Thursday's quick qualifier who then crashed on the opening lap of his heat race, Shane Stewart finished in third.
The second heat race saw the cars in front race in the same position that they ran on the first lap with Travis Rilat, Sammy Swindell and Dominic Scelzi making the show. Danny Dietrich gave it all that he had running in fourth only to blow a tire going into turn three on the final lap where he then hit the wall and wrapped himself up in an FVP banner stripped off the wall as he rolled a couple of times.
Hunter Schuerenberg was impressive coming from fourth to win the third heat race. Austin McCarl finished second while fifth starting Spencer Bayston slipped past Anthony Macri on the final lap to be the second driver from outside of the invert to make the show.
You just kind of knew that this was going to be Kerry Madsen's night when he went from fourth to first on the opening lap of the fourth heat to then run away with the win. Clint Garner appeared to lose a motor while running second early as Logan Schuchart and Tyler Courtney finished well behind.
Thomas Kennedy would go the distance from the pole position to take the fifth heat ahead of Bill Balog and Josh Baughman passed Skylar Prochaska coming to the white flag to finish in third.
The sixth heat had issues. On the opening lap Shane Golobic got sideways coming out of turn two causing the field to scramble behind him with Paige Polyak going for a spin. Later in the race when Derek Hagar and Jac Haudenshild tangled in turn three, Polyak was again in the wrong place at the wrong time as she would go for a tumble. Once back to racing Kraig Kinser and Lynton Jeffrey would lead the way as Tasker Phillips appeared to have the third spot wrapped up after starting from fifth. But when the young driver bobbled on the berm with just two to go, Cale Thomas reeled him in and made the pass to take the transfer.
Three drivers from each of the two B-Mains would complete the twenty-four car feature field and the first one continued the issues that plagued the final heat race. Skylar Gee would be penalized for jumping on the original start and then on the second try a jumble up on the back stretch left Kevin Thomas Jr. on the hook. The red flag period stretched out as Jason Sides' crew changed a front axle and he pushed off just in time for another try at a start. This time another multi-car scramble in turn one resulted in Sides' car tipped over onto its side and as the crew again scrambled to make repairs in the work area Jason was out of the car telling announcer Wade Aunger that essentially they can work all they want on it, he was ready for a beer.
Finally the race would go green with Terry McCarl and Sam Hafertepe Jr. way out front. Josh Schneiderman was digging the bottom to move up from seventh to third, but when he slipped off the bottom twice in the final laps it allowed Chad Kemenah to chase him down and make the pass for the final transfer. Kemenah had come from the eighth starting position.
The second B-Main would go green for eight laps before Harli White got into the guardrail while running fifth. Once back to green Carson McCarl would take the win ahead of Skylar Prochaska and Tasker Phillips would redeem himself by holding off a hard charging Brady Bacon at the checkers.
Twenty-five laps of racing would complete the night with the top four making the big show. With crowd favorite Brian Brown starting from eleventh he would be one to watch, but that would end abruptly when Brown suddenly slowed exiting turn two on the opening lap. That would send the field scrambling to avoid him and unfortunately Justin Henderson would get upside down ending his night. With that story line no longer in play this one would go pretty much as expected with Kerry Madsen in complete control being chased by Shane Stewart. A caution on lap seven saw Logan Schuchart join the mix after starting from eighth and the top four, Madsen, Schuchart, Stewart and Dominic Scelzi would remain the same through three more cautions over the final nine laps. The battle for fifth was entertaining though as defending track champion Austin McCarl worked his way into that spot and on the final restart it looked like McCarl might have a run around the rim, but Scelzi would hold him off for that final transfer. Spencer Bayston had started the race from seventeenth and then went to the back after having to go to the work area from that first scramble, but he would be the first to solve the bottom in the feature to get all the way up to sixth at the checkers. Josh Baughman was seventh, Sammy Swindell dropped to eighth after challenging Scelzi earlier for fourth, ninth went to Kraig Kinser and Bill Balog wrapped up the top ten.
That sets the field for tonight's finale with three of my four pre-event picks in a prime position to take their first Knoxville Nationals Championship. Fifty laps for $150,000 to win, it should be a good one!
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Gravel Over Sweet For Night Two Win At Knoxville Nationals
There would be no upset winner on night number two of the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores as David Gravel out ran defending champion Brad Sweet to win the twenty-five lap preliminary feature to lock himself into the front row for Saturday's Championship race.
Here is how the evening played out.....
Ladies Last. After Paige Polyak was the first car out for qualifying on Wednesday night, Harli White would draw the last pill for tonight in the field of fifty-six. Shane Stewart the fourth car out for qualifying would set the quick time for the night with a lap of 15.679, Tim Shaffer was second quick as the seventh car out and the second car to hit the track, Parker Price-Miller had the third best time. Several of the pre-race favorites drew late in the order with Brian Brown doing the best with the sixth fastest lap despite being the fortieth car to qualify.
Last night only two of the top ten qualifiers advanced through their heat race. Tonight would see four of the top ten survive the eight car invert to make it up to the top four,
After qualifying the push trucks traditionally pack down the crumbs from the cushion on up so the first heat runs on a bit of an undefined surface for the first few laps. That would bite the quick qualifier Shane Stewart as on the opening lap of the first heat race Stewart went too deep into turn three and smacked the rail with his right rear sending him into a grinding end over end crash. Thankfully Stewart was able to walk away uninjured, but his night was finished. On that first start Brian Brown had moved from seventh to fifth heading down the back stretch, but on the restart Brown slipped high and actually dropped back to eighth for a moment. While he was able to make up ground over the ten lap distance the current track point leader could do no better than fifth sending him into the night's B-Main. Veteran Outlaw regular Jason Sides had to go get some new shoes after oil soaked his first pair during hot laps, but all was good here as he went flag to flag to take the win over Lance Dewease, Kraig Kinser and Cory Eliason.
The battle for fourth was definitely the race to watch in the second heat and it got dicey early when Carson Macedo ran Terry McCarl up and over the cushion in turn two on lap three to take the final transfer position. Harli White started from the pole and nobody could catch her as she took the win over the fourth starting Rico Abreu and the non winged convert Tyler Courtney.
The opening lap of the third heat was a wild one as Brock Zearfoss, Cale Conley and Derek Hagar raced three-wide into turn three. As Zearfoss slid up to the cushion in turn four, contact from Conley sent Hagar into the outside barrier ending his race with right side damage. After the restart Zearfoss would walk away for the win over Thomas Kennedy and Brooke Tatnell while Parker Price-Miller needed a lap seven pass of Conley to lock down the fourth spot.
When outside front row starter Andrew Scheurle flared wide coming to the start line that allowed several drivers to make a quick move toward the front in heat race number four. David Gravel had started seventh, but was up to fifth going down the back stretch and he would quickly march his way to the front. On lap four Gravel would drive past Nationals rookie Sye Lynch to take the lead only to see Lynch battle back to regain the advantage a lap later and ride it the rest of the way to the checkers. Gravel would finish second, pole-sitter Mason Daniel held on for third while Clint Garner would send Daryn Pittman to the B-Main by holding him off for fourth.
The wave of the green in the fifth and final heat saw the pole sitter Sawyer Phillips fail to come up to speed sending drivers scrambling to get around him. Bill Balog could not miss him though with the impact knocking the front wing off of the many time IRA champion's car and sending him to the work area for repairs. This would shuffle the lineup as Brad Sweet would now go from fourth, but surprisingly the defending Nationals champion faded early to sixth as Craig Dollansky established the pace. A caution for debris on lap five would require a restart and that is where Sweet would make his move driving past Dollansky who had a motor that was going south. Joey Saldana would charge to second and Jason Solwold to third as Dollansky faded before he finally pulled to the infield after scoring lap eight. This would turn out to be a huge break for Matt Juhl who would then pick up the fourth and final transfer position.
Balog would come back to win an uneventful C-Main and the stage was now set for another B-Main that was stacked with talent, although maybe not as much as last night, with only the top four finishers after twelve laps moving on. Brian Brown would charge to the point early bringing a large cheer from the stands, but the guy in front of me made as much noise as he could when Brock Zearfoss passed Brown right back a lap later. As Brown faded to third it was obvious that something was going wrong and that is when his right rear tire blew apart on lap three bringing out a caution. Brown would make the tire change and join the field at the back for another two laps of racing before T.J. Stutts got into the wall at about the same place that Stewart had hit earlier, only Stutts then did a slow tip over to bring out the red flag. Once back to racing the battle for fourth was entertaining as Jacob Allen and Terry McCarl went back and fourth before Allen prevailed to join Tim Shaffer, Daryn Pittman and Scott Bogucki in the A-Main. Brown made it all the way back up to ninth.
Brock Zearfoss and Cory Eliason would bring the field to green for the twenty-five lap feature and with Brad Sweet starting third many picked him as the favorite. Zearfoss would hug the berm and hold the lead as the sixth starting Gravel would quickly come to second. Gravel would drive around Zearfoss to lead lap eight only to have Brock come right back on the bottom to lead the ninth trip around the legendary half-mile oval. A caution for Sye Lynch would slow the pace and on the restart as Zearfoss was ready to lead his primary challengers, Gravel and Sweet down the back stretch, suddenly his car slowed and the leader was now headed to the work area to replace a failed MSD box.
Gravel would assume the lead for the restart and after a lap eleven caution for a slowing Tyler Courtney the battle was now on between the two World of Outlaw regulars. Each time it looked like Sweet might be able to mount a challenge, Gravel would again pull away as he would put the Jason Johnson Racing #41 with a fresh sponsorship from Axalta into victory lane where he was joined by none other than Jeff Gordon for the victory celebration. Sweet would finish in second while Carson Macedo flew around the rail coming from thirteenth to take third. Cory Eliason posted a solid run in fourth while Rico Abreu thrilled his many fans coming from tenth to finish fifth. Joey Saldana ended a solid evening in sixth just ahead of the hard charging Tim Shaffer who advanced fourteen spots to seventh. Parker Price-Miller was eight, Matt Juhl finished ninth and another B-Main transfer, Daryn Pittman completed the top ten.
The first eight rows for Saturday night's Championship race is now set with Aaron Reutzel and David Gravel to sit on the front row while the top ten starters in Saturday's B-Main is also established as shown below. Friday night action again gives those drivers not in the top twenty-six in points the chance to race their way into the Championship lineup as the top four from Friday's feature will start seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth in the A-Main while the fifth place finisher will lineup eleventh in Saturday's B-Main.
Saturday A main
Pos Car Driver Points
1 87 Aaron Reutzel 487
2 41 David Gravel 481
3 12N Joey Saldana 479
4 49X Tim Shaffer 474
5 71P Parker Price-Miller 473
6 49 Brad Sweet 470
7 7S Tim Kaeding 466
8 13X Paul McMahan 465
9 19 Brent Marks 464
10 83 Daryn Pittman 464
11 44S Trey Starks 463
12 09 Matt Juhl 457
13 26 Cory Eliason 455
14 18 Ian Madsen 455
15 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 453
16 69K Lance Dewease 451
B main
17 9 James McFadden 450
18 71 Gio Scelzi 449
19 24 Rico Abreu 447
20 15 Donny Schatz 447
21 13 Mark Dobmeier 444
22 28 Scott Bogucki 442
23 88 Tanner Thorson 440
24 2 Carson Macedo 435
25 70 Brock Zearfoss 430
26 1A Jacob Allen 427
Here is how the evening played out.....
Ladies Last. After Paige Polyak was the first car out for qualifying on Wednesday night, Harli White would draw the last pill for tonight in the field of fifty-six. Shane Stewart the fourth car out for qualifying would set the quick time for the night with a lap of 15.679, Tim Shaffer was second quick as the seventh car out and the second car to hit the track, Parker Price-Miller had the third best time. Several of the pre-race favorites drew late in the order with Brian Brown doing the best with the sixth fastest lap despite being the fortieth car to qualify.
Last night only two of the top ten qualifiers advanced through their heat race. Tonight would see four of the top ten survive the eight car invert to make it up to the top four,
After qualifying the push trucks traditionally pack down the crumbs from the cushion on up so the first heat runs on a bit of an undefined surface for the first few laps. That would bite the quick qualifier Shane Stewart as on the opening lap of the first heat race Stewart went too deep into turn three and smacked the rail with his right rear sending him into a grinding end over end crash. Thankfully Stewart was able to walk away uninjured, but his night was finished. On that first start Brian Brown had moved from seventh to fifth heading down the back stretch, but on the restart Brown slipped high and actually dropped back to eighth for a moment. While he was able to make up ground over the ten lap distance the current track point leader could do no better than fifth sending him into the night's B-Main. Veteran Outlaw regular Jason Sides had to go get some new shoes after oil soaked his first pair during hot laps, but all was good here as he went flag to flag to take the win over Lance Dewease, Kraig Kinser and Cory Eliason.
The battle for fourth was definitely the race to watch in the second heat and it got dicey early when Carson Macedo ran Terry McCarl up and over the cushion in turn two on lap three to take the final transfer position. Harli White started from the pole and nobody could catch her as she took the win over the fourth starting Rico Abreu and the non winged convert Tyler Courtney.
The opening lap of the third heat was a wild one as Brock Zearfoss, Cale Conley and Derek Hagar raced three-wide into turn three. As Zearfoss slid up to the cushion in turn four, contact from Conley sent Hagar into the outside barrier ending his race with right side damage. After the restart Zearfoss would walk away for the win over Thomas Kennedy and Brooke Tatnell while Parker Price-Miller needed a lap seven pass of Conley to lock down the fourth spot.
When outside front row starter Andrew Scheurle flared wide coming to the start line that allowed several drivers to make a quick move toward the front in heat race number four. David Gravel had started seventh, but was up to fifth going down the back stretch and he would quickly march his way to the front. On lap four Gravel would drive past Nationals rookie Sye Lynch to take the lead only to see Lynch battle back to regain the advantage a lap later and ride it the rest of the way to the checkers. Gravel would finish second, pole-sitter Mason Daniel held on for third while Clint Garner would send Daryn Pittman to the B-Main by holding him off for fourth.
The wave of the green in the fifth and final heat saw the pole sitter Sawyer Phillips fail to come up to speed sending drivers scrambling to get around him. Bill Balog could not miss him though with the impact knocking the front wing off of the many time IRA champion's car and sending him to the work area for repairs. This would shuffle the lineup as Brad Sweet would now go from fourth, but surprisingly the defending Nationals champion faded early to sixth as Craig Dollansky established the pace. A caution for debris on lap five would require a restart and that is where Sweet would make his move driving past Dollansky who had a motor that was going south. Joey Saldana would charge to second and Jason Solwold to third as Dollansky faded before he finally pulled to the infield after scoring lap eight. This would turn out to be a huge break for Matt Juhl who would then pick up the fourth and final transfer position.
Balog would come back to win an uneventful C-Main and the stage was now set for another B-Main that was stacked with talent, although maybe not as much as last night, with only the top four finishers after twelve laps moving on. Brian Brown would charge to the point early bringing a large cheer from the stands, but the guy in front of me made as much noise as he could when Brock Zearfoss passed Brown right back a lap later. As Brown faded to third it was obvious that something was going wrong and that is when his right rear tire blew apart on lap three bringing out a caution. Brown would make the tire change and join the field at the back for another two laps of racing before T.J. Stutts got into the wall at about the same place that Stewart had hit earlier, only Stutts then did a slow tip over to bring out the red flag. Once back to racing the battle for fourth was entertaining as Jacob Allen and Terry McCarl went back and fourth before Allen prevailed to join Tim Shaffer, Daryn Pittman and Scott Bogucki in the A-Main. Brown made it all the way back up to ninth.
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| David Gravel runs the berm at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo |
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| Jeff Gordon and Mark Webber join David Gravel in Victory Lane |
The first eight rows for Saturday night's Championship race is now set with Aaron Reutzel and David Gravel to sit on the front row while the top ten starters in Saturday's B-Main is also established as shown below. Friday night action again gives those drivers not in the top twenty-six in points the chance to race their way into the Championship lineup as the top four from Friday's feature will start seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth in the A-Main while the fifth place finisher will lineup eleventh in Saturday's B-Main.
Saturday A main
Pos Car Driver Points
1 87 Aaron Reutzel 487
2 41 David Gravel 481
3 12N Joey Saldana 479
4 49X Tim Shaffer 474
5 71P Parker Price-Miller 473
6 49 Brad Sweet 470
7 7S Tim Kaeding 466
8 13X Paul McMahan 465
9 19 Brent Marks 464
10 83 Daryn Pittman 464
11 44S Trey Starks 463
12 09 Matt Juhl 457
13 26 Cory Eliason 455
14 18 Ian Madsen 455
15 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 453
16 69K Lance Dewease 451
B main
17 9 James McFadden 450
18 71 Gio Scelzi 449
19 24 Rico Abreu 447
20 15 Donny Schatz 447
21 13 Mark Dobmeier 444
22 28 Scott Bogucki 442
23 88 Tanner Thorson 440
24 2 Carson Macedo 435
25 70 Brock Zearfoss 430
26 1A Jacob Allen 427
Career First For Trey Starks In Knoxville Nationals Opener
If opening night is any indication we are in for a wide open 59th edition of the Knoxville Nationals as nobody would have predicted the podium on Wednesday night. Of course that could all change tonight, especially if defending champion Brad Sweet draws an early spot in the qualifying order and then is able to do what so few of the fastest qualifiers were to do on Wednesday, race his way forward in his heat race to qualify for the feature.
Just a quick refresher on the qualifying system for those of you who are not familiar with the Knoxville Nationals. The field is split into two nights of qualifying where the drivers draw a number for their qualifying order and then points are awarded for the remainder of the night as follows:
Qualifying - 200 points for quick time with two point increments down the list
Five Heat Races - The fastest eight of the ten cars in each heat are inverted and the top four advance to the night's A-Main, fifth through eighth go to the night's B-Main while ninth and tenth go to the C-Main. 100 points goes to the winner of each heat with three point increments all the way to tenth.
Features - The top four from the C tag the back of the B and the top four from the B tag the back of the A-Main where the top eight in points from the cars that transferred from the heats are inverted for the lineup. The winner of the A-Main earns 200 points with two point increments all the way down to the last place car in the C-Main.
And that is how you earn your qualifying night points that then determine whether or not you make the Championship feature on Saturday night where the top sixteen after Wednesday and Thursday are locked in while seventeenth through twenty-sixth have the option of starting in the first five rows of Saturday's B-Main, or returning on Friday night to run another program where the top four in Friday's A-Main lock themselves into rows nine and ten for the Championship feature.
It is an absolutely magnificent system that requires a driver to have to race his or her way into the big show, but every year and especially after last night, the world of social media will go nuts because "the best" drivers are not at the top of the points list. The primary cry will be over the eight car inverts in the heat races, however those who whine about that year after year seem to forget the advantage that comes from drawing an early spot in the qualifying order. The invert for the heats is the great equalizer and remember that the same amount of points are awarded for qualifying as what are awarded for the feature. So, if you want to argue for a fewer number of cars to be inverted in the heats, then you must also have to reduce the importance of qualifying by either dropping its points to say 100 for quick time with two point increments, or leaving it at 200 and dropping the increment by position to one point.
Just a thought, but I say LEAVE IT ALONE! This method of qualifying has made the Knoxville Nationals the premier event that it is and there is no reason to change it, even if it means that Kyle Larson's plans for the rest of the week here are now screwed up. But I digress, on to my notes from Wednesday night.
Ladies first! Paige Polyak was the first car out for qualifying in the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores and her best lap of 15.674 stood up for 14th best in the final rundown. The seventh car out for qualifying Ian Madsen set quick time at 15.165 while Aaron Reutzel's lap of 15.331 was second quick as the 22nd of the 53 cars that took qualifying times. Kyle Larson went out 27th and was ninth quick, Donny Schatz put up the tenth best lap from the 40th position and Gio Scelzi was the latest qualifier to crack the top ten as his eighth best time came from the 49th position in the qualifying order. Only two of the top ten qualifiers would then advance out of their heat race!
Brent Marks was the early mover in heat one after starting sixth as defending track champion Austin McCarl led the way after starting from the pole. (Austin was the 50th driver out for qualifying). Don Droud Jr. had second well in hand until his motor soured with two laps remaining to produce a late caution. On the restart Jamie Ball put a slider on McCarl to take the win with Marks in third while Paul McMahan passed Kerry Madsen in the final laps to become one of those two top qualifiers to transfer. Quick timer Ian Madsen was never a factor in sixth.
Aaron Reutzel started eighth in the second heat, but he used the bottom in turns one and two on the start to move to fifth heading down the back stretch. From there the defending All Stars champion methodically moved forward to finish second to crowd favorite Jac Haudenschild . Newly crowned 360 Nationals Champion James McFadden was third and Spencer Bayston wheeling Harley Van Dyke's #5H this week finished fourth.
The third heat saw the sixth starting Hunter Schuerenberg smack the guardrail exiting turn two and when the fastest qualifiers in the fourth row, Gio Scelzi and Tim Kaeding, scrambled to miss him that allowed the cars ahead to open up an advantage that could not be erased as the race stayed green. Front row starters Wayne Johnson and Scotty Thiel would go one two with Mark Dobmeier and Sheldon Haudenschild next in line.
All eyes would be on Kyle Larson to see what he could do from the fourth row in heat race number four, but he went nowhere fast finishing the race where he started in seventh as a pair of sevens, Tasker Phillips and Jeff Swindell were first and second. Justin Peck ran third while the battle to watch was for fourth where Paige Polyak had to fight off a pair of sliders from Dominic Scelzi late to hold her position.
With Larson going nowhere in the race before, the question for the fifth and final heat would be if ten time Nationals champion Donny Schatz could get qualified from seventh. The fourth row starters have to make a move in the opening set of turns to have a chance to crack the top four and Schatz did not pick off any positions early. Then when Brady Bacon drove by him on the front stretch and shut the door on him into turn one, Schatz really lost momentum and he was buried in sixth. Meanwhile up front, Knoxville Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year contender Tanner Thorson, the young man who almost lost his life in a highway accident earlier this year, made a nifty pass on leader Carson McCarl to take the win after starting fourth. McCarl, the current track point leader in the 360 division finished second as Skyler Gee and Trey Starks also transferred.
After the lackluster performance in the final heat race Schatz's team made the risky decision to change motors before the B-Main that was the second race up on the remaining schedule and they caught a break when young Zachary Hampton pounded the turn three guardrail and got upside down on the opening lap of the C-Main. Freddie Rahmer, Jake Bubak and Rusty Hickman would be the top three while the fourth transfer spot would go to Matt Moro who after setting the 51st best time on the night came from the eighth starting spot.
With the motor change complete Schatz and Larson would make it a star studded fourth row for the twelve lap B-Main where only the top four finishers would advance and the six drivers starting in front of them had all posted better qualifying times earlier in the evening. This time Schatz was able to make that big move early as he would be scored in fifth on the opening lap and he would get as high as third before Gio Scelzi charged past him late in the race. Tim Kaeding would take the win as Scelzi made a final lap move around Ian Madsen for second as Schatz nailed down the final transfer spot. Again Larson could not gain much ground as he finished sixth and with his NASCAR commitments at Michigan this weekend the question now is whether or not he will be back to race again on Friday night.
The twenty-five lap A-Main would wrap up the night and I have to wonder if many of the fans were like me, watching the back of the pack to monitor the progress of Schatz rather than the front where pole-sitter Mark Dobmeier raced to the early lead. I nearly missed the pass for the lead as Trey Starks put a slider on Dobmeier in three and four on lap five and when Scotty Thiel spun after being lapped on lap twelve I thought that we would see some new faces up front following the restart. That was not to be though as Starks used the knowledge that he has acquired from racing here weekly this year to maintain his lead and take his first career win here at the Knoxville Raceway in fine fashion. James McFadden who had started second passed Dobmeier with five laps to go but could not reel in Starks as he took the runner-up honors and Sheldon Haudenschild made a final turn pass of Dobmeier to take third.
Aaron Reutzel would close out a solid night in the fifth spot to be the high point man with Brent Marks in sixth. Tanner Thorson had a solid showing in seventh after starting tenth, Jac Haudenschild advanced four positions for eighth, ninth went to Paul McMahan and Tim Kaeding came from 21st to tenth at the checkers. And just outside the top ten Schatz passed Gio Scelzi on the final lap to finish eleventh after starting from 24th.
The points list from the first night as pulled from the Knoxville Raceway website will show that while Reutzel's total should stand up four a top four position after Thursday's qualifying, the drop from 487 to Kaeding's 466 is steep so second after night one does not guarantee a starting spot in the first two row rows for Saturday's finale, nor does a top eight ranking now guarantee a starting spot in the Championship race. Usually following a night of chaos like this, normalcy prevails on night two so we will see what happens. Hope to see you there!
Thursday Point Totals
1 87 Aaron Reutzel 487
2 7S Tim Kaeding 466
3 13X Paul McMahan 465
4 19 Brent Marks 464
5 44S Trey Starks 463
6 18 Ian Madsen 455
7 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 453
8 9 James McFadden 450
9 71 Gio Scelzi 449
10 15 Donny Schatz 447
11 13 Mark Dobmeier 444
12 88 Tanner Thorson 440
13 3H Jac Haudenschild 424
14 19P Paige Polyak 423
15 48 Danny Dietrich 421
16 99 Brady Bacon 416
17 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 410
18 2C Wayne Johnson 410
19 70X Justin Peck 410
20 5J Jamie Ball 410
21 57 Kyle Larson 406
22 83J Lynton Jeffrey 401
23 2KS Austin McCarl 399
24 27 Carson McCarl 397
25 2M Kerry Madsen 396
26 7X Justin Henderson 390
27 5H Spencer Bayston 385
28 41S Dominic Scelzi 384
29 1S Logan Schuchart 384
30 99X Skylar Gee 380
31 7SW Jeff Swindell 377
32 64 Scotty Thiel 377
33 68 Chase Johnson 364
34 39 Sammy Swindell 359
35 1 Travis Rilat 356
36 20 AJ Moeller 341
37 18R Ryan Roberts 337
38 11C Roger Crockett 329
39 11 Hunter Schuerenberg 329
40 19T Kevin Thomas Jr. 322
41 85 Chase Wanner 309
42 45 Rusty Hickman 305
43 51 Freddie Rahmer 302
44 9X Jake Bubak 294
45 1X Don Droud Jr. 294
46 74 Brodie Tulloch 277
47 56 Joe Simbro 270
48 J4 John Garvin 269
49 73AF Joey Moughan 267
50 56N Davey Heskin 258
51 2MM Matt Moro 256
52 35 Zach Hampton 227
53 75 Glen Saville 226
Just a quick refresher on the qualifying system for those of you who are not familiar with the Knoxville Nationals. The field is split into two nights of qualifying where the drivers draw a number for their qualifying order and then points are awarded for the remainder of the night as follows:
Qualifying - 200 points for quick time with two point increments down the list
Five Heat Races - The fastest eight of the ten cars in each heat are inverted and the top four advance to the night's A-Main, fifth through eighth go to the night's B-Main while ninth and tenth go to the C-Main. 100 points goes to the winner of each heat with three point increments all the way to tenth.
Features - The top four from the C tag the back of the B and the top four from the B tag the back of the A-Main where the top eight in points from the cars that transferred from the heats are inverted for the lineup. The winner of the A-Main earns 200 points with two point increments all the way down to the last place car in the C-Main.
And that is how you earn your qualifying night points that then determine whether or not you make the Championship feature on Saturday night where the top sixteen after Wednesday and Thursday are locked in while seventeenth through twenty-sixth have the option of starting in the first five rows of Saturday's B-Main, or returning on Friday night to run another program where the top four in Friday's A-Main lock themselves into rows nine and ten for the Championship feature.
It is an absolutely magnificent system that requires a driver to have to race his or her way into the big show, but every year and especially after last night, the world of social media will go nuts because "the best" drivers are not at the top of the points list. The primary cry will be over the eight car inverts in the heat races, however those who whine about that year after year seem to forget the advantage that comes from drawing an early spot in the qualifying order. The invert for the heats is the great equalizer and remember that the same amount of points are awarded for qualifying as what are awarded for the feature. So, if you want to argue for a fewer number of cars to be inverted in the heats, then you must also have to reduce the importance of qualifying by either dropping its points to say 100 for quick time with two point increments, or leaving it at 200 and dropping the increment by position to one point.
Just a thought, but I say LEAVE IT ALONE! This method of qualifying has made the Knoxville Nationals the premier event that it is and there is no reason to change it, even if it means that Kyle Larson's plans for the rest of the week here are now screwed up. But I digress, on to my notes from Wednesday night.
Ladies first! Paige Polyak was the first car out for qualifying in the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores and her best lap of 15.674 stood up for 14th best in the final rundown. The seventh car out for qualifying Ian Madsen set quick time at 15.165 while Aaron Reutzel's lap of 15.331 was second quick as the 22nd of the 53 cars that took qualifying times. Kyle Larson went out 27th and was ninth quick, Donny Schatz put up the tenth best lap from the 40th position and Gio Scelzi was the latest qualifier to crack the top ten as his eighth best time came from the 49th position in the qualifying order. Only two of the top ten qualifiers would then advance out of their heat race!
Brent Marks was the early mover in heat one after starting sixth as defending track champion Austin McCarl led the way after starting from the pole. (Austin was the 50th driver out for qualifying). Don Droud Jr. had second well in hand until his motor soured with two laps remaining to produce a late caution. On the restart Jamie Ball put a slider on McCarl to take the win with Marks in third while Paul McMahan passed Kerry Madsen in the final laps to become one of those two top qualifiers to transfer. Quick timer Ian Madsen was never a factor in sixth.
Aaron Reutzel started eighth in the second heat, but he used the bottom in turns one and two on the start to move to fifth heading down the back stretch. From there the defending All Stars champion methodically moved forward to finish second to crowd favorite Jac Haudenschild . Newly crowned 360 Nationals Champion James McFadden was third and Spencer Bayston wheeling Harley Van Dyke's #5H this week finished fourth.
The third heat saw the sixth starting Hunter Schuerenberg smack the guardrail exiting turn two and when the fastest qualifiers in the fourth row, Gio Scelzi and Tim Kaeding, scrambled to miss him that allowed the cars ahead to open up an advantage that could not be erased as the race stayed green. Front row starters Wayne Johnson and Scotty Thiel would go one two with Mark Dobmeier and Sheldon Haudenschild next in line.
All eyes would be on Kyle Larson to see what he could do from the fourth row in heat race number four, but he went nowhere fast finishing the race where he started in seventh as a pair of sevens, Tasker Phillips and Jeff Swindell were first and second. Justin Peck ran third while the battle to watch was for fourth where Paige Polyak had to fight off a pair of sliders from Dominic Scelzi late to hold her position.
With Larson going nowhere in the race before, the question for the fifth and final heat would be if ten time Nationals champion Donny Schatz could get qualified from seventh. The fourth row starters have to make a move in the opening set of turns to have a chance to crack the top four and Schatz did not pick off any positions early. Then when Brady Bacon drove by him on the front stretch and shut the door on him into turn one, Schatz really lost momentum and he was buried in sixth. Meanwhile up front, Knoxville Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year contender Tanner Thorson, the young man who almost lost his life in a highway accident earlier this year, made a nifty pass on leader Carson McCarl to take the win after starting fourth. McCarl, the current track point leader in the 360 division finished second as Skyler Gee and Trey Starks also transferred.
After the lackluster performance in the final heat race Schatz's team made the risky decision to change motors before the B-Main that was the second race up on the remaining schedule and they caught a break when young Zachary Hampton pounded the turn three guardrail and got upside down on the opening lap of the C-Main. Freddie Rahmer, Jake Bubak and Rusty Hickman would be the top three while the fourth transfer spot would go to Matt Moro who after setting the 51st best time on the night came from the eighth starting spot.
With the motor change complete Schatz and Larson would make it a star studded fourth row for the twelve lap B-Main where only the top four finishers would advance and the six drivers starting in front of them had all posted better qualifying times earlier in the evening. This time Schatz was able to make that big move early as he would be scored in fifth on the opening lap and he would get as high as third before Gio Scelzi charged past him late in the race. Tim Kaeding would take the win as Scelzi made a final lap move around Ian Madsen for second as Schatz nailed down the final transfer spot. Again Larson could not gain much ground as he finished sixth and with his NASCAR commitments at Michigan this weekend the question now is whether or not he will be back to race again on Friday night.
The twenty-five lap A-Main would wrap up the night and I have to wonder if many of the fans were like me, watching the back of the pack to monitor the progress of Schatz rather than the front where pole-sitter Mark Dobmeier raced to the early lead. I nearly missed the pass for the lead as Trey Starks put a slider on Dobmeier in three and four on lap five and when Scotty Thiel spun after being lapped on lap twelve I thought that we would see some new faces up front following the restart. That was not to be though as Starks used the knowledge that he has acquired from racing here weekly this year to maintain his lead and take his first career win here at the Knoxville Raceway in fine fashion. James McFadden who had started second passed Dobmeier with five laps to go but could not reel in Starks as he took the runner-up honors and Sheldon Haudenschild made a final turn pass of Dobmeier to take third.
 |
| Wednesday night's winner Trey Starks - Barry Johnson photo |
Aaron Reutzel would close out a solid night in the fifth spot to be the high point man with Brent Marks in sixth. Tanner Thorson had a solid showing in seventh after starting tenth, Jac Haudenschild advanced four positions for eighth, ninth went to Paul McMahan and Tim Kaeding came from 21st to tenth at the checkers. And just outside the top ten Schatz passed Gio Scelzi on the final lap to finish eleventh after starting from 24th.
 |
| Victory lane from left to right: James McFadden, Trey Starks, Sheldon Haudenschild and Doug Clark - Barry Johnson photo |
The points list from the first night as pulled from the Knoxville Raceway website will show that while Reutzel's total should stand up four a top four position after Thursday's qualifying, the drop from 487 to Kaeding's 466 is steep so second after night one does not guarantee a starting spot in the first two row rows for Saturday's finale, nor does a top eight ranking now guarantee a starting spot in the Championship race. Usually following a night of chaos like this, normalcy prevails on night two so we will see what happens. Hope to see you there!
Thursday Point Totals
1 87 Aaron Reutzel 487
2 7S Tim Kaeding 466
3 13X Paul McMahan 465
4 19 Brent Marks 464
5 44S Trey Starks 463
6 18 Ian Madsen 455
7 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 453
8 9 James McFadden 450
9 71 Gio Scelzi 449
10 15 Donny Schatz 447
11 13 Mark Dobmeier 444
12 88 Tanner Thorson 440
13 3H Jac Haudenschild 424
14 19P Paige Polyak 423
15 48 Danny Dietrich 421
16 99 Brady Bacon 416
17 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 410
18 2C Wayne Johnson 410
19 70X Justin Peck 410
20 5J Jamie Ball 410
21 57 Kyle Larson 406
22 83J Lynton Jeffrey 401
23 2KS Austin McCarl 399
24 27 Carson McCarl 397
25 2M Kerry Madsen 396
26 7X Justin Henderson 390
27 5H Spencer Bayston 385
28 41S Dominic Scelzi 384
29 1S Logan Schuchart 384
30 99X Skylar Gee 380
31 7SW Jeff Swindell 377
32 64 Scotty Thiel 377
33 68 Chase Johnson 364
34 39 Sammy Swindell 359
35 1 Travis Rilat 356
36 20 AJ Moeller 341
37 18R Ryan Roberts 337
38 11C Roger Crockett 329
39 11 Hunter Schuerenberg 329
40 19T Kevin Thomas Jr. 322
41 85 Chase Wanner 309
42 45 Rusty Hickman 305
43 51 Freddie Rahmer 302
44 9X Jake Bubak 294
45 1X Don Droud Jr. 294
46 74 Brodie Tulloch 277
47 56 Joe Simbro 270
48 J4 John Garvin 269
49 73AF Joey Moughan 267
50 56N Davey Heskin 258
51 2MM Matt Moro 256
52 35 Zach Hampton 227
53 75 Glen Saville 226
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Wednesday Notebook: August 7, 2019
As I get ready for night number one of the 59th Annual Knoxville Nationals it is time to dust off the Notebook for a look at a few subjects that have caught my attention.
First, let's take a quick look at Knoxville where I believe it will be one of the most wide open Nationals that we have seen in sometime. Yes, Donny Schatz could prove me wrong on that tonight, especially if he draws an early qualifying spot, but I believe that this year there are as many as ten drivers who have a legitimate shot at the title and I am going to predict that we will see a first time champion. Who will that be? Here are four drivers that I believe can get it done if the breaks go their way: Brian Brown, David Gravel, Aaron Reutzel and Tim Kaeding. Yep, I know what you are thinking, both Brown and Gravel are already considered to be contenders by most, but Reutzel and Kaeding? The Texan Reutzel has looked fast every time that I have seen him over the past two weeks only to have mistakes drop his finishes lower than what they should have been. If he draws an early qualifying lap and then transfers through the heat look out, he might just be the high point man from Wednesday night. And as far as Kaeding is concerned, nobody passed more cars on Sunday as he started twelfth before winning his B-Main and he then charged through the field from twentieth to sixth in the Capitani Classic aboard Jason Sides' second car. Again, the breaks have to fall his way, but if they do it could be a Cinderella story for TK.
Wow, not even a mention of defending champion Brad Sweet who just won the King's Royal as well? Yea, it could come down to the "Big Cat" and Schatz again, but I for one would like to see something different and it all gets started tonight! I have my grandstand tickets purchased for all four nights to go along with my media credentials because having to cover a race from the infield is like being a basketball writer and having to watch the game from the tunnel leading to the locker room. Yes, you have better access to the players when they come in and out, but you can only see one end of the court during the actual game.
One thing to take note of during the week is that this will be the final Nationals for Hall of Fame flagman Doug Clark. Don't do a Wikipedia search on him as I just did trying to find out how long he has worked at Knoxville (this isn't the politician or the serial killer), but I do know that he has been there for well over twenty years when I had the pleasure of working with him every race night. You won't find a bigger personality around a race track and his reputation of being straight and fair has been consistent throughout his career. If you are at Knoxville this week, take a moment after the races one night and find Doug in the push off lane on the front stretch. Shake his hand and thank him for all that he has done for the sport of dirt track racing and if you are lucky you will get a smile and that deep voiced laugh that he is famous for.
Another dirt track racing era will come to end this Sunday night when Mick Trier promotes his final race at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. I first got to know Mick some forty years I ago when I made a smart ass comment in the Back Stretch about his announcing and despite that our friendship grew over the years. First of all I must say that both Mick and his brother Tim Trier, who lost his battle with cancer a couple of years ago, were two of my favorite announcers ever although Mick will be known more for his promoting of weekly racing at Stuart, Des Moines and Vinton. In his early years he worked with Dave Van Patten and Robert Lawton and it is easy to see what an influence that they had on his style and approach to promoting. Just like most good race track promoters you will probably find more people that will complain about him than laud him, but the results speak for themselves. The weekly racing program at Vinton has been as good as you can find over the past several years with solid car counts and a grandstand full of fans who are as involved with the night of racing as you will find anywhere. The show starts on time and runs off in a quick fashion often ending before the track lights are needed during the height of summer.
Mick will tell you that he has good people that work for him and he is right about that, but no matter how many good people you assemble they won't excel without a good leader and Mick Trier has been just that. The Benton County Speedway does have another race scheduled for the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour in September, but that will be run by a new promoter so this Sunday's Season Championship will be it for Trier. Or at least he says so right now. Either way it is my hope that I can convince my wife that she needs to be at her third night of racing in a row on Sunday so that we can be there for the finale. Congratulations Mick, you've done well.
A few weeks ago about two thirds of the way down in this entry of the Back Stretch I gave an example of how social media has effected our sport and I have had several readers ask me if this was just an illustration or if it was an actual occurrence. And, if so, who was the driver? Yes, this actually happened and due to the fact that the driver has removed the post from his team's Facebook page I will not reveal that information, well not here at least. Hopefully by me telling the story and illustrating the difference in how the same situation would have been handled before it might make him and others think twice about how they use the all powerful social media in the future.
The annual argument that promoter Terry McCarl should be live streaming the racing from the Osky Challenge events is taking place on social media again with most people having the view that McCarl is "missing out" on additional revenue by not allowing a live internet broadcast, or even live audio of the event. TMAC is taking the old school approach where if you want to know what is going on with the race, then you need to buy a ticket and judging from the crowd that was packed into both the grandstands and the infield on Monday night I would say that "old school" is working just fine. I have written several times about the long term effect that I feel this live internet access will have on our sport so I am not going to rehash it now, but I do want to call out those internet jockeys who I have seen argue about the cost of Pay Per Views with some even going so far as to say that promoters should be putting their events on the internet for free. Well first of all, some already do which just boggles my mind because the economics of it just don't make sense, but as far as I am concerned if you are able to leave your car in the garage, sit in your recliner, eat your own food and drink your own beer and pay the same price that I paid for a ticket to watch that same race, well then I think you should be pretty happy about that.
Oh yes, and that track just down the road from you that was also running a show on that same night that was charging eight bucks a ticket, where young drivers are getting their start and hoping to advance to the stage where they too will be racing at a big event that is televised live on the internet, they missed out on your eight bucks, and your food money, and those three beers that you would have bought. So eventually that track closes and we no longer have that proving ground for young drivers to get their start in events that just aren't "big enough" for these internet fans to attend. Sure the big events flourish, but without the base just how long will they sustain?
And that, I fear, is the long term effect on the sport from so many events being broadcast online. Believe me, I really hope that I am wrong on this one.
Honestly I don't blame the broadcast providers, they are filling a demand that is obviously there and most are doing a very good job of it. In fact I am going to promote one right now as my friend Trenton Berry with RacinDirt.com is going to make one of his dreams come true tomorrow night when he brings the United States Modified Touring Series to the track that he grew up at, the Dallas County Speedway. The little bullring in Urbana, Missouri, has never hosted an event of this magnitude and if you are in the vicinity I hope that you will take it in and remember, take a lawn chair!
Grandpa Jimmy Carter has to be beaming today after the performance of all three of his boys at the Harris Clash on Tuesday night. The Deer Creek Speedway in southeast Minnesota proved to be a worthy host to the event for the second year in a row with Austin Arneson of Fargo, North Dakota, besting an amazing field of 92 IMCA Modifieds. Tom Berry Jr. who was originally from Medford, Oregon, but is now based out of North Dakota was second with Cayden Carter taking third. Cayden's younger brother Brayton Carter won the IMCA Northern Sport Mod main event while their first cousin Carter Vandenberg finished fifth in the field of fifty-four.
That's all for today, plenty of big events coming up around the area so get out, buy a ticket and support the one of your choice!
First, let's take a quick look at Knoxville where I believe it will be one of the most wide open Nationals that we have seen in sometime. Yes, Donny Schatz could prove me wrong on that tonight, especially if he draws an early qualifying spot, but I believe that this year there are as many as ten drivers who have a legitimate shot at the title and I am going to predict that we will see a first time champion. Who will that be? Here are four drivers that I believe can get it done if the breaks go their way: Brian Brown, David Gravel, Aaron Reutzel and Tim Kaeding. Yep, I know what you are thinking, both Brown and Gravel are already considered to be contenders by most, but Reutzel and Kaeding? The Texan Reutzel has looked fast every time that I have seen him over the past two weeks only to have mistakes drop his finishes lower than what they should have been. If he draws an early qualifying lap and then transfers through the heat look out, he might just be the high point man from Wednesday night. And as far as Kaeding is concerned, nobody passed more cars on Sunday as he started twelfth before winning his B-Main and he then charged through the field from twentieth to sixth in the Capitani Classic aboard Jason Sides' second car. Again, the breaks have to fall his way, but if they do it could be a Cinderella story for TK.
Wow, not even a mention of defending champion Brad Sweet who just won the King's Royal as well? Yea, it could come down to the "Big Cat" and Schatz again, but I for one would like to see something different and it all gets started tonight! I have my grandstand tickets purchased for all four nights to go along with my media credentials because having to cover a race from the infield is like being a basketball writer and having to watch the game from the tunnel leading to the locker room. Yes, you have better access to the players when they come in and out, but you can only see one end of the court during the actual game.
One thing to take note of during the week is that this will be the final Nationals for Hall of Fame flagman Doug Clark. Don't do a Wikipedia search on him as I just did trying to find out how long he has worked at Knoxville (this isn't the politician or the serial killer), but I do know that he has been there for well over twenty years when I had the pleasure of working with him every race night. You won't find a bigger personality around a race track and his reputation of being straight and fair has been consistent throughout his career. If you are at Knoxville this week, take a moment after the races one night and find Doug in the push off lane on the front stretch. Shake his hand and thank him for all that he has done for the sport of dirt track racing and if you are lucky you will get a smile and that deep voiced laugh that he is famous for.
Another dirt track racing era will come to end this Sunday night when Mick Trier promotes his final race at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. I first got to know Mick some forty years I ago when I made a smart ass comment in the Back Stretch about his announcing and despite that our friendship grew over the years. First of all I must say that both Mick and his brother Tim Trier, who lost his battle with cancer a couple of years ago, were two of my favorite announcers ever although Mick will be known more for his promoting of weekly racing at Stuart, Des Moines and Vinton. In his early years he worked with Dave Van Patten and Robert Lawton and it is easy to see what an influence that they had on his style and approach to promoting. Just like most good race track promoters you will probably find more people that will complain about him than laud him, but the results speak for themselves. The weekly racing program at Vinton has been as good as you can find over the past several years with solid car counts and a grandstand full of fans who are as involved with the night of racing as you will find anywhere. The show starts on time and runs off in a quick fashion often ending before the track lights are needed during the height of summer.
Mick will tell you that he has good people that work for him and he is right about that, but no matter how many good people you assemble they won't excel without a good leader and Mick Trier has been just that. The Benton County Speedway does have another race scheduled for the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour in September, but that will be run by a new promoter so this Sunday's Season Championship will be it for Trier. Or at least he says so right now. Either way it is my hope that I can convince my wife that she needs to be at her third night of racing in a row on Sunday so that we can be there for the finale. Congratulations Mick, you've done well.
A few weeks ago about two thirds of the way down in this entry of the Back Stretch I gave an example of how social media has effected our sport and I have had several readers ask me if this was just an illustration or if it was an actual occurrence. And, if so, who was the driver? Yes, this actually happened and due to the fact that the driver has removed the post from his team's Facebook page I will not reveal that information, well not here at least. Hopefully by me telling the story and illustrating the difference in how the same situation would have been handled before it might make him and others think twice about how they use the all powerful social media in the future.
The annual argument that promoter Terry McCarl should be live streaming the racing from the Osky Challenge events is taking place on social media again with most people having the view that McCarl is "missing out" on additional revenue by not allowing a live internet broadcast, or even live audio of the event. TMAC is taking the old school approach where if you want to know what is going on with the race, then you need to buy a ticket and judging from the crowd that was packed into both the grandstands and the infield on Monday night I would say that "old school" is working just fine. I have written several times about the long term effect that I feel this live internet access will have on our sport so I am not going to rehash it now, but I do want to call out those internet jockeys who I have seen argue about the cost of Pay Per Views with some even going so far as to say that promoters should be putting their events on the internet for free. Well first of all, some already do which just boggles my mind because the economics of it just don't make sense, but as far as I am concerned if you are able to leave your car in the garage, sit in your recliner, eat your own food and drink your own beer and pay the same price that I paid for a ticket to watch that same race, well then I think you should be pretty happy about that.
Oh yes, and that track just down the road from you that was also running a show on that same night that was charging eight bucks a ticket, where young drivers are getting their start and hoping to advance to the stage where they too will be racing at a big event that is televised live on the internet, they missed out on your eight bucks, and your food money, and those three beers that you would have bought. So eventually that track closes and we no longer have that proving ground for young drivers to get their start in events that just aren't "big enough" for these internet fans to attend. Sure the big events flourish, but without the base just how long will they sustain?
And that, I fear, is the long term effect on the sport from so many events being broadcast online. Believe me, I really hope that I am wrong on this one.
Honestly I don't blame the broadcast providers, they are filling a demand that is obviously there and most are doing a very good job of it. In fact I am going to promote one right now as my friend Trenton Berry with RacinDirt.com is going to make one of his dreams come true tomorrow night when he brings the United States Modified Touring Series to the track that he grew up at, the Dallas County Speedway. The little bullring in Urbana, Missouri, has never hosted an event of this magnitude and if you are in the vicinity I hope that you will take it in and remember, take a lawn chair!
Grandpa Jimmy Carter has to be beaming today after the performance of all three of his boys at the Harris Clash on Tuesday night. The Deer Creek Speedway in southeast Minnesota proved to be a worthy host to the event for the second year in a row with Austin Arneson of Fargo, North Dakota, besting an amazing field of 92 IMCA Modifieds. Tom Berry Jr. who was originally from Medford, Oregon, but is now based out of North Dakota was second with Cayden Carter taking third. Cayden's younger brother Brayton Carter won the IMCA Northern Sport Mod main event while their first cousin Carter Vandenberg finished fifth in the field of fifty-four.
That's all for today, plenty of big events coming up around the area so get out, buy a ticket and support the one of your choice!
Monday, August 5, 2019
Gravel Over Brown In Cappy Classic Thriller
Last year Brad Sweet used the Sunday night Bell Helmets Capitani Classic to serve notice that he was poised to challenge for the Knoxville Nationals Championship in the week ahead, a race that he then won six nights later. Did David Gravel do the same thing last night? Using an unusual move here at Knoxville, Gravel swept around Brian Brown with five laps remaining, the final lead change in a back and forth battle resulting in a win for the World of Outlaws regular from Connecticut in the race that honors the late legendary promoter Ralph Capitani.
Brown would start from the pole position in the twenty-five lap headliner with Gravel, behind the wheel of the Jason Johnson Motorsports #41, right behind him in third and they would immediately set a quick pace as the lead duo. A near disaster for Brock Zearfoss and Brad Sweet on lap four would allow Brown and Gravel to get away even further from the rest of the field. Racing for third Sweet threw a big slider into turn one and as he came up the track in turn two Zearfoss did not yield on the cushion. Contact would send both drivers scrambling to maintain control and those behind them to hesitate as well with Gio Scelzi the prime benefactor moving from fifth to third.
The race for the lead was heating up as Gravel took the lead on lap eight just before Kerry Madsen got into the fence coming down the front stretch ending up sideways in front of oncoming traffic. Tim Shaffer barely clipped the front of Madsen's car with his right rear tire and he would spin to a halt as well with both drivers returning to the race after a visit to the work area.
On the restart Brown came charging back taking the lead on lap ten only to have Gravel return the favor on lap twelve as they thrilled the crowd changing lanes and swapping the point. To add to the intrigue Scelzi was lurking in third, close enough to pounce on a mistake, but not able to mount a challenge of his own.
Brown would return to the lead on lap fifteen now firmly committed to the bottom so on lap twenty Gravel made the winning pass in a manner that you don't often see here at Knoxville. Entering turn one just one car width higher than the berm hugging Brown, Gravel would drive right around the leader at the apex of the corner and rocket away from Brown down the back stretch. It was reminiscent of an old fashioned slingshot move in the draft from Daytona or Talladega and when Scelzi also sailed past Brown on the cushion it looked like Gravel's pass had also momentarily stalled the momentum for Brown.
Now it was Gravel leading down low and Scelzi chasing up high and with lapped traffic ahead in that lower groove it looked like Gio had a chance. After lap twenty-three was scored though, Scelzi jumped the cushion in one and two allowing Gravel to close out the win in style and for Brown to return to second at the checkers. Scelzi would join the two warriors on the podium in third with Sweet in fourth and the ninth starting Daryn Pittman in fifth.
Keep your eye on Tim Kaeding this week as the California native drove a team car to Jason Sides from twelfth to win the first B-Main in just twelve laps and then came from twentieth to finish sixth in the feature. Ian Madsen was seventh, reigning 360 Nationals Champion James McFadden was eighth, Sheldon Haudenschild charged from eighteenth to ninth and Aaron Reutzel moved from nineteenth to tenth, but that finish would have been even better for the Texas driver had he not jumped the cushion in turn four late in the race giving back a couple of positions.
The event drew 77 entries and was completed in a timely fashion as we were on the road home by 10:20. If you are wondering why there was not a story here in the Back Stretch from McFadden's win in the 360 Nationals on Saturday night, I skipped that night of racing to attend a retirement party for my good friend Kurt Moon. The man that I have always considered to be my "Sprint Car Guru", I traveled to the Nationals for many, many years with him until he took on greater responsibilities not only in his extremely well run business, the Brown's Shoe Fit store in Mount Pleasant, but also as the head golf coach at Iowa Wesleyan University and his most cherished role as grandfather to two wonderful kids. It was an easy decision for me to make as there will be another 360 Nationals Saturday night in 2020 and years beyond, but there will never be another night where friends, family and former employees would come from near and far to tell stories about how much this man has meant to us all.
Best of all, I was able to get him to agree to join me once again for a trip to Knoxville on Sunday night, his first visit to the track that he in essence grew up at in eight years, and after witnessing a race like this you can bet that Kurt will be back at Knoxville again soon!
Next up are the Sage Fruit Osky Challenges with Monday's Front Row Challenge featuring the 410's with Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart among the entries as well as the Racesaver 305 Winged Sprints, while Tuesday's Ultimate Challenge will include the Lucas Oil ASCS National 360's and the POWRi WAR non wing Sprint Cars. Following that it will be on to Knoxville for the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.
Hope to see you there!
Brown would start from the pole position in the twenty-five lap headliner with Gravel, behind the wheel of the Jason Johnson Motorsports #41, right behind him in third and they would immediately set a quick pace as the lead duo. A near disaster for Brock Zearfoss and Brad Sweet on lap four would allow Brown and Gravel to get away even further from the rest of the field. Racing for third Sweet threw a big slider into turn one and as he came up the track in turn two Zearfoss did not yield on the cushion. Contact would send both drivers scrambling to maintain control and those behind them to hesitate as well with Gio Scelzi the prime benefactor moving from fifth to third.
 |
| Back and forth for the lead - Barry Johnson photo |
On the restart Brown came charging back taking the lead on lap ten only to have Gravel return the favor on lap twelve as they thrilled the crowd changing lanes and swapping the point. To add to the intrigue Scelzi was lurking in third, close enough to pounce on a mistake, but not able to mount a challenge of his own.
Brown would return to the lead on lap fifteen now firmly committed to the bottom so on lap twenty Gravel made the winning pass in a manner that you don't often see here at Knoxville. Entering turn one just one car width higher than the berm hugging Brown, Gravel would drive right around the leader at the apex of the corner and rocket away from Brown down the back stretch. It was reminiscent of an old fashioned slingshot move in the draft from Daytona or Talladega and when Scelzi also sailed past Brown on the cushion it looked like Gravel's pass had also momentarily stalled the momentum for Brown.
 |
| David Gravel sweeps around Brian Brown for the lead - Barry Johnson photo |
Now it was Gravel leading down low and Scelzi chasing up high and with lapped traffic ahead in that lower groove it looked like Gio had a chance. After lap twenty-three was scored though, Scelzi jumped the cushion in one and two allowing Gravel to close out the win in style and for Brown to return to second at the checkers. Scelzi would join the two warriors on the podium in third with Sweet in fourth and the ninth starting Daryn Pittman in fifth.
Keep your eye on Tim Kaeding this week as the California native drove a team car to Jason Sides from twelfth to win the first B-Main in just twelve laps and then came from twentieth to finish sixth in the feature. Ian Madsen was seventh, reigning 360 Nationals Champion James McFadden was eighth, Sheldon Haudenschild charged from eighteenth to ninth and Aaron Reutzel moved from nineteenth to tenth, but that finish would have been even better for the Texas driver had he not jumped the cushion in turn four late in the race giving back a couple of positions.
 |
| Victory lane left to right Brian Brown, David Gravel, Jaxx Johnson, Gio Scelzi and Hall of Fame Starter Doug Clark - Barry Johnson photo |
The event drew 77 entries and was completed in a timely fashion as we were on the road home by 10:20. If you are wondering why there was not a story here in the Back Stretch from McFadden's win in the 360 Nationals on Saturday night, I skipped that night of racing to attend a retirement party for my good friend Kurt Moon. The man that I have always considered to be my "Sprint Car Guru", I traveled to the Nationals for many, many years with him until he took on greater responsibilities not only in his extremely well run business, the Brown's Shoe Fit store in Mount Pleasant, but also as the head golf coach at Iowa Wesleyan University and his most cherished role as grandfather to two wonderful kids. It was an easy decision for me to make as there will be another 360 Nationals Saturday night in 2020 and years beyond, but there will never be another night where friends, family and former employees would come from near and far to tell stories about how much this man has meant to us all.
Best of all, I was able to get him to agree to join me once again for a trip to Knoxville on Sunday night, his first visit to the track that he in essence grew up at in eight years, and after witnessing a race like this you can bet that Kurt will be back at Knoxville again soon!
Next up are the Sage Fruit Osky Challenges with Monday's Front Row Challenge featuring the 410's with Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart among the entries as well as the Racesaver 305 Winged Sprints, while Tuesday's Ultimate Challenge will include the Lucas Oil ASCS National 360's and the POWRi WAR non wing Sprint Cars. Following that it will be on to Knoxville for the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.
Hope to see you there!
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