The
2003 regular season opener took place at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson
Friday night with a lightning fast racetrack to greet the competitors and to
thrill the fans. While other areas of southeast Iowa received over an inch of
rain on Wednesday night, Donnellson was relatively spared with around four
tenths of an inch at the speedway.
The
Late Models were really hooking up and even though the opening night car count
was a little light, the drivers who were on hand provided plenty of action.
Chris Richard snared the early lead and did a fantastic job of holding off the
persistent challenges of Mark Burgtorf. When Burgtorf slowed suddenly and
retired to the infield, Tommy Elston picked up the challenge on Richard and
despite his best efforts Chris was unable to ward off the defending track
champion. Elston went on for the win while Gary Russell made a late pass on
Richard to take the runner-up honors. Hometown drivers Jody Wood and Rob
Kirchner completed the top five. Rookie drivers Adam Helmick and Darin
Weisinger made their debuts and showed plenty of promise especially Helmick,
the young competitor from Fort Madison who has made the jump from go-karts to a
Late Model.
While
on our way to the track I asked Morgan which Cook brother would win the Stock
Car feature and he was right on the money when he picked Jason. Of course
brother Ryan chased him home in second with Mike Robinson, Rodger Dresden and
Brad Holtkamp close behind. Chris Larson held off Jack Evans Jr. for the
B-Modified feature victory and L.D. Gall had both Greg Johnson and Brian
Kenning breathing down his tailpipes as he held on for the Hobby Stock win.
The
Modified main event was a good one as Dennis LaVeine held off track champion
Tony Fraise for the checkers. Tom Goble and Jim Gillenwater were next in line
and Bob Dale came from deep in the pack to finish fifth. Dale fought a
misfiring engine during hot laps and his heat race, but he obviously found the
problem and solved it by feature time. One Modified who didn’t make the show
was Darin Thye. We came upon Thye’s rig sitting on the shoulder ten miles north
of the track with driveshaft problems on the hauler. He sent us ahead to draw
for position, but apparently Thye decided that luck was not on his side this
night and headed for home.
We
were really looking forward to our Saturday trip to the I-44 Speedway in
Lebanon, Missouri. The track that we always felt was one of the raciest asphalt
surfaces that we had seen has been covered with dirt over the winter and this
was to be the first special event for the track featuring the MARS Late Models.
Randy Mooneyham has a gem on his hands and it was good to see a solid crowd
shuffle into the beautiful facility. Thirty-one Late Models were on hand with a
majority of the field holding a legitimate chance to take home the $3,000
winner’s purse.
 |
| Bill Frye in one of the coolest looking cars ever in my opinion |
Heat
race action was fast-paced with Chad Lyle, Chris Smyser, Bill Frye and Mike
Brown taking the wins. The B-Main had the first photo finish of the night as
Jason Snodgrass edged out Rob Hough by inches for the fourth and final transfer
position. Bill Frye and Terry Phillips started on the front row of the
forty-lap feature and it took a few laps before Frye could establish himself as
the leader. Chad Lyle tried to keep pace in third, but it wasn’t long before
Frye and Phillips had left the rest of the field behind. Just before the
mid-point of the race Phillips closed the gap quickly on Frye and shot past
into the lead. As Phillips pulled away our attention was pulled to Alan Vaughn
who was now challenging Lyle for third after starting thirteenth. Vaughn showed
his fellow competitors that the highside was fast and he brought Leslie Essary
with him past Lyle. Another driver who was making a charge was Charlie
Randolph. The rookie-of-the-year candidate from Muskogee had spun on lap eight
and restarted from the rear, but on the final lap Randolph had just enough to
edge past Chad Lyle for fifth.
Super
Stocks, Bombers and Modifieds also provided plenty of dirt-track action. Eric
Maggard continues to be the man to beat in southwest Missouri as he won his
second Modified feature of the weekend. Had the race been a couple of laps
longer the results may have been different though as Jamie Ragland was
literally flying around the cushion coming from sixth to second in the final
three laps. Terry Kirk, Chad Wheeler and Paul Williams completed the top five.
I-44
Speedway is quite a showplace and has unlimited potential. Morgan and I spent
the trip back home dreaming about potential events at the speedway such as the
World of Outlaws, the Xtreme Dirt Car Series or a big late-October
Jamboree-type special. Two more visits from the MARS series are on the schedule
for the remainder of this first year back to dirt including a two-day
$10,000-to-win show on September 13th and 14th. The Lake
of the Ozarks area is now blessed with two tracks that boast top-notch Late
Model action with I-44 and the Wheatland Raceway, plus it appears that the
switch to Sprint Cars as the premier division at Capital Speedway in Holts
Summit is off to a very good start. Decisions, decisions. One thing that does
need attention at I-44, however, is the sound system. Ronnie Williams does a
great job on the microphone, but as soon as one or two cars took to the track
you really had to struggle to hear him. Also, just like all of our other visits
to the track when it was asphalt, the cordless microphone over-modulated and
cut out whenever the MARS announcer raised his voice during on track
introductions. It made me wonder what he called Chris Smyser as the microphone
kicked back in just in time to hear Chris provide him with his correct last
name.
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