The annual Turkey Bowl at the Springfield Raceway in Missouri, originally scheduled for a Friday night practice and a Saturday afternoon race this coming weekend has now been shifted to a Saturday practice and a Sunday afternoon race due to the weather that the Ozark region will experience over the next 36 hours. This change will make it a little bit tougher to go to work on Monday, but our crew is still going to make the trip for one last outdoor race of the season. If you want a taste of what you might see on Sunday at the Turkey Bowl here is my story from 2018 and click here for the Back Stretch report from the 2017 event that was also moved to Sunday. Here's hoping that the "one and done" rule has been implemented, the Midwest Mods behave better, or both!
A few weeks back I noted that the MLRA might need to make some changes for 2020 in order to increase the number of drivers that follow most, if not all of the schedule chasing the championship. With their new schedule announcement this week it looks like they have reduced the travel a bit by not returning to Beaver Dam or Rock Rapids and in fact nearly half of the race nights that are not co-sanctioned with a Lucas Oil Late Model Series event are in, or just across the river from Iowa with the Quad City Speedway in East Moline set to host their first series event on June 14th. The one move that I have to question though is the fact that they will no longer run events under the passing points format that was long a staple with the MLRA during its glory years under Cowboy and Harriett Chancellor. Instead it will be exclusively an "I'm Fast, Start Me Up Front" format that is favored by the "stars" of our sport apparently in the hope that more of them will follow the entire series because of the format change. No offense to champion Will Vaught along with other full time 2019 supporters Mitch McGrath, Logan Martin and Joseph Gorby, but this change is not in their favor.
Regardless, several of the MLRA events will be on my "to do" list in 2020 since so many of them are now in my neighborhood so to speak. I just hope that most of my race reports don't start with "Joe Blow goes flag-to-flag for MLRA feature win at"
34 Raceway in Burlington has teased an announcement for this Friday and unless it was the fact that a second MLRA date has been added on July 3rd to go along with the annual Slocum 50 on April 18th, my guess is that a part-time division in 2019 will go full time in 2020. One area track recently dropped a weekly class and 34 Raceway is now in a perfect position to be a new Saturday night home for it. Check in with 34 Raceway on Facebook this Friday to see what the news is.
Friday Follow Up! I guess by now I should know that when it comes to Brad & Jessi and 34 Raceway I need to think BIGGER when I try to predict what their surprise will be! Along with the two MLRA Late Model dates mentioned above, the 2020 schedule at southeast Iowa's Premier Place to Race will include a return of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt series on Thursday May 14th, the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Car series will be back after a few years absence on Friday July 10th and Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars will be back on Sunday August 2nd.
And that is just the big stuff! Look for additional special events to dot the full schedule when it is released at a later date. I have said it before and I will say it again, 34 Raceway always features the most well rounded schedule of any track in the region. And maybe, just maybe, they will still make my little prediction above come true for 2020 as well.
Beyond the Turkey Bowl, if you are looking for another outdoor event yet this season I would recommend a trip to Pensacola for the annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway on the first full weekend in December. I was able to take in this event in 2015 and on Saturday night I saw John Hunter Nemecheck and Chase Elliott go one-two in the Snowflake 100 for the Pro Late Models on Saturday night.Then, on Sunday, Christopher Bell came from 31st to apparently win the Snowball Derby only to have it taken away in the tech area for something that perhaps happened during his Polish victory lap. Read the story to find out what that was.
Look where those drivers are today. Who will be the future stars of NASCAR that will shine in this year's event that I would consider to be the pavement equivalent of the IMCA Super Nationals. And, if you can't attend in person you can always watch all of the action on a Pay Per View basis at Speed51.
Finally, on to my winter sport, any Iowa Hawkeye fan that wonders why Oskaloosa's Xavier Foster chose to go to Ames instead of Iowa City need only look at all of the empty seats the next time that they are at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Foster was there for the season opener against SIU-Edwardsville as he walked past me on the upper concourse during halftime, perhaps already headed for home.....and Ames where fans actually show up for basketball games. Hilton rocks whether it is an early season cupcake or the annual showdown with Kansas. Carver is lucky to be half full for non-conference games and they might fill the place once or twice during the Big Ten season, and that was for a team that darn near made it to the Sweet 16 last year.
Iowa students should be ashamed of themselves for how few of them come out to a game on campus. I swear that the Pep Band outnumbered the student section against DePaul. So what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Does the team have to become Final Four caliber before the students, and the fans, show up? If so, then with recruits like Foster seeing an empty house and deciding to go elsewhere, that will never happen.
I will be at the North Florida game tomorrow night, will you?
Check back here early next week for the story from Springfield! Now here is your random photo of the day.
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| Darrel DeFrance works to the inside of Mike Murphy Jr. and Joel Callahan - Barry Johnson photo |
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