FINALLY! There Was Racing At 34

These have been bizarre and challenging times for all of us, but for track owners Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt it comes on top of a 2019 season that saw way too many rainouts. So on Saturday night, when 34 Raceway was able to complete its first show in nine months, despite facing two of their most familiar obstacles, perhaps it was a sign of sunnier times to come.

Obstacle number one was the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic where no fans would be allowed into the grandstands leaving the only sources of revenue as being the flat fees being charged to each entry, the track's share of the Pay Per View revenue from the live broadcast on Speed Shift and of course a list of supportive sponsors. Hearth & Home Technologies served as the main sponsor of the night while purse sponsors included Floyd's EZ Way, Oliver Heating and Air, Randall's Performance and Avis of Burlington. Also, Randy Samberg, the son of one of the men who brought this track to life in 1967, and a former competitor here for many years pitched in as well and spent the evening driving one of the push trucks. In fact, if you Google search "Iowa Dirt Track Legends" you might find this photo of Samberg's #75, and on this night he joined those other listed sponsors as "legends" in regard to bringing back racing to 34.

Obstacle number two? What else, but the weather! One check of the radar made it seem foolish to be pulling in these 74 race cars to the pit area and by five o'clock one look at the western sky would have made any fans reconsider their plans to attend as it looked like it would be pouring here within the hour. So I guess that in one sense, obstacle number one was somewhat of a blessing because many of the fans would have stayed home anyway given the threatening weather! In perhaps the first turn of good luck in some time for Stevens and Mynatt, the rain held off until the final feature of the night, when the Sprint Invaders main event was in staging. Another check of the radar showed that it would soon pass over and since it was only 9:30 on the Sunday of a three day weekend it was decided that we would wait it out and then rework the track in order to complete the show.

The rain was light, but steady and by 10:20 it had come to an end. That is when the track crew jumped into action and by 11:30 the thirty-lap Sprint Invaders main event was on the track and ready for action.

So now let's first take you back in time to the month of April when the track was locked down due to the quarantine efforts. With the help of Brad Helmerson and Jay Johnson at L&W Quarries and Ben Brueck of Four Seasons Excavation the track went through its first major reshaping since 2003 as some of the banking was removed at the top of the turns in order to make it more gradual and steady. Prior to this, while the track would still have two good racing grooves by the end of the night, the early heat race action was often confined to the cushion. On Sunday night though, multi-groove racing was prevalent from the drop of the first green flag as the ol' girl is definitely proud of her new shape!

Jason Cook - Dennis Krieger photo

The Pepsi IMCA Stock Car twenty-lap main event would be the first of the season and with twenty cars signed in for the $1,000-to-win event it was a solid field of competitors. Jason Cook would lead early before David Brandies slipped by and soon the eighth starting John Oliver Jr. would make it a three car battle for the lead. On the final lap they would race through turn two with Brandies out front having Cook's nose just inside of his left rear fender, while Oliver had his nose under the left rear of Cook. Brandies would open up a couple of car lengths down the back stretch, but when he pushed up the track in turn four that allowed Cook to make a charge that would get him the win by a foot over Brandies at the checkers. Oliver was right behind them in third while Kirk Kinsley and Abe Huls completed the top five.

Jeff Aikey - Dennis Krieger photo

Lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled as the Late Model main event, scheduled for twenty laps, was hustled onto the speedway and with Jeff Aikey starting from the pole position this one would be a race for second. Denny Woodworth had other ideas though as he pulled alongside Aikey on a couple of occasions, but could not complete the pass and when the early race sprinkles started to pick up in intensity the white flag waved on lap fourteen with the caution joining the checkers after Aikey crossed the line for the win. Woodworth held off Mark Burgtorf for second, while Matt Ryan and Chuck Hanna were next in line. Mitch Manternach came from twelfth to finish sixth while Zach Zentner finished ninth after being the last car to arrive at the track. His original plan was to race in Stuart, but after checking the radar there the team decided to continue its drive east from Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, making it a 417 mile pull one way to 34 Raceway.

With the rain the track was lightning fast for the Sprint Car main event and once again the new shape of the track offered up some spectacular action. Brayden Gaylord would lead the way at the start before young Californian Kyle Offill powered by on the inside in turn four on lap ten. Paul Nienheiser had the Midland Performance #50 on a rail and he would challenge Offill in a thrilling manner where on two occasions the cars would make contact, but race on without incident. Offill would hold on to take the win over Nienheiser and, had there been a few more laps to run they might have both been challenged by Austin McCarl. When his car would not fire for his heat race, McCarl was relegated to the C-Main in the forty car field, a race that he won easily, and he then stormed through the field to win the B-Main after starting from fifteenth. In the finale the 2018 410 track champion at Knoxville came from the ninth row to finish third. Chris Martin moved from the fourth row to fourth at the checkers while Gaylord held down the fifth spot. Click here for the story and full results for the Sprint Cars from Bill Wright at OpenWheel101.

Avis of Burlington and Four Seasons Excavation are two of the sponsors on Brayden Gaylord's #13 - Dennis Krieger photo

With that the event was completed shortly after midnight and both obstacles had been cleared. Racing was back at 34 Raceway! And now, with the Governor declaring this morning that tracks in Iowa can once again have fans in the stands at 50% capacity beginning on June 1st, Brad and Jessi now have to make a decision in regard to this coming Saturday's scheduled event (check the 34 Raceway Facebook page) and then decide how to handle what should be a great deal of pent up demand for the USAC Sprint Car appearance on June 6th.

The challenges of owning/promoting a race track never end, but they are a lot more fun to face after having a success story like Sunday night.