Don't Be Sad Cayden Carter 'Cause Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

There were 175 race cars on the lineup sheets at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Friday night for the opener of the two day Fall Nationals weekend racing in memory of both Jerry Barrickman and Jim Oliver Sr. You can't say that there were 175 drivers signed in though as a few of them were doing double duty and one, Cayden Carter of Oskaloosa, Iowa, was racing in three classes wheeling his own #10c Modified and Roger Kelderman's #10cc Stock Car as he usually does. Plus on this night, "The Gasman" was also tabbed to drive Maguire DeJong's #30m Sport Mod as the young driver continues to recover from a scheduled surgery a few weeks back.

Carter is no stranger to the 30m as he was the first to drive the car last year to get it dialed in for DeJong once he hit his 14th birthday and this season Team DeJong had Cayden drive the car in the $12,000-to-win USRA B-Mod special at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, on July 31st.

They won!

So given Friday night's results I felt that a bit of years gone by pop culture was appropriate for the title of this entry on the Back Stretch and for you younger readers, if I actually have any younger readers as they seem to be satisfied with a quick glance at car counts and results on MyRacePass, plus a look at a forty-two second highlight reel posted on Facebook by whichever one of the 2,347 Pay Per View providers that happened to be showing the race the night before. But for those of you who don't remember the rock ballad by Meatloaf it was a song where he was breaking up with a girl, as we would come to find out, in the same manner that another young lady had left him before. 

I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm every gonna love you, so don't be sad 'cause two out of three ain't bad. It was also a time where you could look like the guy who played first base on your Rec league softball team and still be a pop star as you can see from this video, but as you can probably guess by now Carter would win two of the three features that he raced in on the night. So now let's get to the story. 

The fourteen lap Sport Compact feature would be the first to the track with Billy Cain and Jared Heule bringing the full field to green. Heule who has improved steadily during this his first full season racing out of Keokuk would lead through the first five laps before the leader of his Darkside team Josh Barnes drove by on lap six. Luke Benischek was on the move after starting tenth and he would make it a tight three car battle before taking the point on lap eight. 

Caution would wave for debris on lap nine and following the restart Craig Bangert joined the battle for the lead and while it was tight for the final five laps Benischek would hold on to take the win over Barnes and Bangert. Brandon Reu would take the fourth spot as Heule dropped to fifth. Thirty-two Sport Compacts had signed in for the evening.

The Sport Mods were up next and Cayden Carter had given us a preview of things to come earlier by starting at the back of his heat race and charging into one of only two redraw spots. For the 18-lap main event though he would draw the "one" putting him on the front row with Logan Anderson. Anderson in the Strohmen Racing #53 has become one of the fastest in the class around the region as well and so the assumption would have been that this race would be a battle between those two while the rest of the field raced for third. After a pair of cautions on lap five Adam Birck wanted a piece of the action as well as he moved to second for a few laps and even took a look at Carter for the lead, but when that bid came up short Anderson would again take over second and he would chase Carter to the checkers.

Birck would finish in the third position, Austin Becerra moved from eighth to fourth and the battle for fifth was the one to watch as Brayton Carter passed both Carter VanDenBerg and Tim Plummer in the final two laps to fill out the top five. Plummer had moved up to sixth after starting sixteenth before being dropped to seventh on the final lap. Becerra was one of those double-duty drivers on the night also posting a respectable eleventh place finish in the Modifieds.

The fifteen lap Hobby Stock feature got off to a wild start when the outside front row starter August Bach was turned sideways going down the back stretch sending the rest of the field scrambling. Seth Butler was unable to avoid and while Bach was able to restart the race from the rear, Butler's night ended early due to the damage. Once under green pole-sitter Dustin Griffiths would lead the way through lap four before his right rear wheel broke off as he raced through turn one. Derek Kirkland had started from the sixth row, but he would be at the front to take the point on the restart and while he would be pressured by southwest Iowa visitor Luke Ramsey the rest of the way, there would be no catching Kirkland who would take the win.

Ramsey would take second in what I believe to be his first ever visit to Memphis while the hard charger of the event, Daniel Wauters would take third after starting from the inside of row nine. Wauters was driving a car that he must have recently purchased from western Iowa driver Kevin Bruck. Jake Benischek started tenth and finished fourth while Miciah Hidelbaugh wrapped up the top five.

A talented field of forty-two Stock Cars was whittled own to twenty-four starters for the Stock Car feature and it was fitting that John Oliver Jr. drew the outside of the front row as the field did a missing man formation on the parade lap. There was "John Boy" riding alongside his grandfather Jim Oliver Sr. as the large crowd saluted the field. And with the front row starting spot, there would be no stopping Oliver from taking a flag-to-flag win in the non-stop twenty lap event. Pole-sitter Brett Lowry would hold off Cayden Carter to finish in the second spot as Carter came to third from tenth. The race for fourth was a photo finish and while it was announced that Johnny Spaw had finish fourth it was Dallon Murty that was sent to the tech area instead. A check of the results this morning confirms that it was the youngster Murty edging out the veteran Spaw for the position.

The Modifieds would close out the night with twenty-two laps and Kyle Brown would set a quick early pace after starting from the front row. Two drivers were on the move though as Michael Long was charging from ninth and Cayden Carter was coming from eleventh with each of them ready to line up behind Brown for a restart after Scott Simatovich spun on lap nine. Brown would hold them off to lead the tenth lap before the caution waved again for Johnny Wyman's slow pace in turn four and on this restart it would be Carter taking the lead using the bottom line. One more lap was scored before Brandyn Ryan spun in turn four and on this restart Long would sail around the outside of Carter to take the lead down the back straightaway.

Cayden's lower line through three and four was better though and he would maintain the lead as lap twelve was scored and while Long was faster up top in one and two, Carter was too strong on the bottom of three and four. One more caution flew with seven laps remaining when Derrick Stewart stopped in turn one and once back to green Long's strategy was to try to stay close to the leader by also running low in turns three and four and then use his faster higher line in one and two to take the lead, but he could never clear Carter enough to get down and shut the door on him entering turn three to complete the pass. 

The checkers would wave over Cayden Carter for his second win of the night with Long close behind in second, Brown would hold on to the third spot ahead of Mark Burgtorf in fourth and Kurt Kile filled out the top five. That would put an end to a full night of racing that concluded about twenty minutes after midnight and you can bet that the pits will be full again tonight as the Saturday night program gets an hour earlier start. A big thanks to promoter Mike Van Genderen and his entire talented crew for another great night of racing and I will look forward to returning to Memphis on October 23rd and 24th for another big racing weekend in memory of race fan and crew member Calvin Meyer who recently lost his valiant battle with cancer.

My destination tonight will be 34 Raceway west of Burlington, Iowa, as the 3rd Annual Fall Haul will close out the 2020 season for the Sprint Invaders. With $5,000 going to the winner we are expecting a large and talented field of 360 Winged Sprint Cars tonight so if you are an open wheel fan it is definitely the place to be!

Wherever you choose to attend, get out to the races tonight and enjoy!

Each of the photos below were snapped earlier this season by my friend and colleague Barry Johnson

Mod Mania Opener To Krup, Simpson Takes Late Model Win at Tri-City

With perfect weather in the forecast I kicked off what I hope to be a four race weekend on Thursday night with a trip to the Tri-City Speedway across the river from St. Louis in Granite City. My original plan was to head north for the opening night of the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek, but I noticed a week or so ago that they had cut the Thursday program to make it a two day show in 2020. As it turned out it was raining in southeast Minnesota on Thursday so I would have been headed to the opening night of the UMP Mod Mania event anyway.

While still solid, the car count was down a bit for the Thursday opener of the triple-header as forty-eight Modified drivers signed in with Michael Altobelli getting the long tow award coming in from Saxton, Pennsylvania. In the Late Models, with Chad Bauer from Michigan, Mark Rose from Wisconsin and Mike Fenton from Texas on the roster you would have thought that the count would have been higher than twenty-three given the number of cars based around the St. Louis area and perhaps that count will grow over the next two nights. In the end though, both classes had full fields on a beautiful night for racing and the track was in great shape for action.

The Modified feature would run first with the six heat race winners holding a unique redraw where each diver drew a number and then assigned it to another. I love it when tracks do this as it essentially allows the drivers to handicap the field and when it is only six drivers involved they all seemed to be good with it. Let's just say that when it is a twelve driver redraw, some of them are not so amused. Jeff Leka and Rick Stevenson would wind up on the front row with Stevenson racing out to the early lead in the thirty lap event. Leka would maintain second while Will Krup quickly moved from fifth to third as the guy that the other guys made sure started sixth, Nick Hoffman was slow to move forward.

On lap eleven Krup slipped under Leka for second and just one lap later he made the same move on Stevenson to take the lead. The driver that they call "Shakespeare" then opened up a full straightaway lead before Hoffman made his way into second on lap eighteen, but that lead would be wiped away one lap later when Leka clipped an infield tire and spun in turn two. A caution for debris on lap twenty-one and for Timmy Hill's flat tire in turn four one lap later interrupted the flow and whittled Hoffman's opportunity to just eight laps to challenge for the win.

There would be no touching Krup on this night though as he pulled away from Hoffman and the rest of the field over the final laps to take the win. Hoffman was the runner-up with Kentucky's Josh Harris taking third. Stevenson held on for fourth place money while Mike Harrison passed Mike McKinney on the final lap to complete the top five. The seven time UMP Modified National Champion, Harrison had to qualify out of the first B-Main to start thirteenth in the feature.

Daryn Klein would pace the Late Model field to green for their thirty lap headliner, but it would be the Highside Hustler Jason Feger who would race out to a big early lead. A caution for Jeremy Conaway's spin on lap nine would bunch the field again and Iowa's Chris Simpson would now find some bite on the bottom allowing him to keep pace with the rim riding Feger. On lap eighteen that bottom groove would prevail as Simpson would take the point and start to drive away to an apparent victory. His trip to victory lane would be temporarily delayed though when the third place car of Klein clipped the end of the turn four retaining wall that then turned him hard right into the front stretch wall where he then flipped up and over to bring out the red flag with three laps to go.

Klein climbed out of the damaged car uninjured and after the track was cleared Feger was unable to mount a challenge as Simpson secured the win. Gordy Gundaker started eighth and finished third, Michael Kloos was fourth and Ohio's Rusty Schlenk was fifth. After smacking the wall in qualifying and then missing his heat race, Tim Manville started from the rear of the field and battled his way up to ninth at the checkers.

The final checkered flag waved just shy of eleven o'clock and it was a short drive to the hotel as my Friday night destination, the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, is on my back home. Saturday night will be the Fall Haul for the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway and with $5,000-to-win you can expect a big and diverse field of Winged 360 Sprint Cars there. Then on Sunday the Bullring at the Rock Island County Fairgrounds, otherwise known as the East Moline Speedway has my attention with big money on the line for both the Street Stocks and the Sport Compacts for the Ron Marks Jr. Memorial.

Get out and support the track of your choice this weekend! 

Aikey Dominates Summer Series Swan Song at Marshalltown's Dale DeFrance Memorial

Thursday was a special night at the Marshalltown Speedway. It took six attempts, but finally the 500th and final IMCA Late Model Summer Series event would be held. Granted on the first couple attempts it would not have been considered the "final" event of one of the longest running regional racing series in the history of dirt track racing. In fact during September of 2019 that 500th event was scheduled to be held at 34 Raceway west of Burlington, the same track that hosted the first event back on April 11, 1987. Yes, it would have been special for number 500 to be held at the same place as number 1, but alas Mother Nature stepped in and washed the event away, a fitting end to the 2019 Summer Series schedule that saw many events rained out leaving number 500 to be scheduled at 34 Raceway in the first place. It seemed fitting at the time.

Over the winter though the series was sold to Joe Kosiski and it would eventually become the Hoker Trucking SLMR East series where the rules package not only allows for Late Models meeting the IMCA standards to compete, but others who would not pass IMCA inspection to race as well. The Summer Series was over and so too was the amazing streak maintained by Marshalltown driver Darrel DeFrance. That's right, just one "l" in Darrel, perhaps a bit of trivia that you weren't aware of for the driver who was there at 34 Raceway in April of 1987 and then somehow made it to all of the following 498 events over twenty-four seasons. Many believe that Cal Ripken Jr.'s streak of 2,632 consecutive Major League Baseball games played over just more than thirteen seasons is a record that will never be touched, but race fans here in the Midwest will attest to who the true "Ironman" is.

Hats off to whomever it was (Toby Kruse? Brett Root? Kevin Yoder?) that came up with the idea that one more Summer Series race should be held and to have it at the Marshalltown Speedway during the night the track already memorialized the patriarch of the DeFrance, Gustin and Murty racing family. And with that the 500th and Final Summer Series event was scheduled as part of the Dale DeFrance Memorial. Virus restrictions and weather again pushed the show back a few times where it finally landed on Thursday September 17th as a lead in to the track's annual finale, The World Nationals. As Darrel and his family gathered in victory lane for the pre-race ceremonies and presentations, you just had a feeling that this race was all along meant to be held on this night and at this track. And even The Ironman himself showed his emotion as he thanked everybody involved in getting him to this point and with one more glance to heaven to thank his father Dale, the hometown favorite exclaimed "now let's go racing!" 

Hopefully I will be forgiven by ace photographer Jim "Zipp" Zimmerline for stealing this from his Facebook page! For the best pizza in Iowa go to Zipp's Pizzaria in Adair!

Thirty-one Late Models had signed in on the night with six of them (DeFrance, Curt Martin, Greg Kastli, Jeff Aikey, Gary Webb and Mike Smith) likely participants in that first one held in 1987 at 34 Raceway. I was the track announcer on that April evening in 1987 and I likely wrote a story and sent the results out to the media as well, but too many moves and a 1997 house fire would have wiped out any copies that I would have had of it. Besides, who would have known that it would become such an important keepsake twenty-three years, five months and 499 race events later? A request to a friend to dig up his archived copy of Hawkeye Racing News was made too late so for now, that would just be a guess where I am pretty confident on five of the six. You can bet that many of the young stars here at Marshalltown on this night had watched the Summer Series races as they grew up dreaming of someday competing against these legends of Iowa racing and one driver, seventeen-year-old Preston Stoecker will have the memory of making his dirt track Late Model debut at the final Summer Series event.

The feature race was scheduled for 44-laps, the number that Dale DeFrance raced with during his career, and as luck would have it Darrel DeFrance would redraw the twelfth starting spot, the worst possible position for drivers making the top four in the three heat races. "That will just make it more fun" is what he told announcer Ryan Clark. His long time friend Gary Webb would pull the pole position and he would complete lap one door-to-door with his fellow front row starter Dave Wada. Wada would pull ahead to lead lap two before the caution waved when Richie Gustin spun in turn three and on the restart Jeff Aikey would waste no time taking the lead exiting turn two.

The caution would wave again on lap eight after Eric Pollard inched his way far enough back toward the racing surface to get the call after spinning into the infield and on this restart Aikey would drive away from the field. His lead would grow to over half a lap over Webb who was racing a solid second as Matt Ryan and Justin Kay battled for third just behind him and when Curt Martin slowed with a flat  tire on lap thirty-eight the final caution of the race would fly.

Even with his big lead completely erased I don't think that there was any doubt that Aikey would still get the win, but would the septuagenarian Webb be able to hold off two of the current best in the Midwest to finish second? The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer could not fight off Ryan and Kay over the final six laps as they would finish second and third respectively while Webb was fourth just ahead of DeFrance who had steadily worked his way up to fifth at the checkers. On a night that would have made a nice movie script, the all-time winningest driver in the IMCA Late Model Summer Series and the seven-time series champion Jeff Aikey would be the man celebrating in victory lane for the final time.

My part of the script in minuscule, but it was important to me that I would have the opportunity to announce at both the first and the last race of the Summer Series and I want to thank Jerry Vansickel and Ryan Clark for giving me that opportunity by handing the mic over to me for the call of the first Late Model heat race. I felt like a celebrity afterwards when my phone started popping up with messages from friends and family who were watching live on Floracing not knowing that the old guy was going to be a small part of the show.

The thirty-one Late Models were just a segment of the 176 race cars that filled the pits for the first of three nights of racing at Marshalltown this weekend. 

The Mod Lites would run the first of six feature races on the night with Kansas City's Dillon Raffurty passing Mike Kennedy on lap five of the fifteen lap event to take the win. Corey Sonner came from ninth to finish second, Tim Glick and Kennedy were next in line with Randy Bryan filling out the top five. 

In the Sport Mods Brayton Carter drew the outside of row one and the current All Iowa Points leader would hold off the newly crowned 2020 Super Nationals champion Jonathan Logue to take the win. The winner's first cousins Dylan Van Wyk and Carter VandenBerg would be scored third and fourth while pole-sitter Austin Kaplan fell to fifth. VandenBerg actually took the checkers in third, but he was dinged a spot for jumping the final restart.

2020 Super Nationals Champion Nathan Ballard continued his winning week by coming from the seventh starting position to pass Luke Schluetter mid-race to take the Hobby Stock feature win. It was a career best runner-up finish for Schluetter as Marcus Wayne, Carter Koop and Jeremiah Andrews filled out the top five.

I said it in my most recent column, if there is a bite on the bottom when the Stock Car feature comes to the track you had better keep your eye on Jeff Mueller as this low line expert has over one hundred career feature wins and he added one more to his total Thursday night. Mueller started ninth and took the lead from Chanse Hollatz on lap four, just two laps after Hollatz, Jerry Schipper and Dallon Murty had the crowd on the edge of their seats racing three-wide for the lead. Damon Murty would come from the sixth row to take up the chase on Mueller, but not even the "Chelsea Charger" could run him down and in the end it would be his son Dallon who would edge Dad out for the runner-up position. Shawn Ritter would finish in the fourth spot and Steve Meyer would come from a ninth row starting spot to take fifth.

The IMCA Modifieds who will be the title division during Friday and Saturday's World Nationals here had a stout field of forty-four in attendance on Thursday night with Richie Gustin leading the way early. California's Cody Laney was hooked up and flying though and on lap seven Laney would put the slider on Gustin to take the lead in turn four and he would then drive away to a convincing victory. Tim Ward would be a distant second followed by Tom Berry Jr. who advanced eleven positions to finish third. Jeff Aikey moved from twelfth to fourth while Gustin completed the top five.

As always I want to thank my friends and Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele for holding a seat for me and again thank you so much to the talented announcing duo of Vansickel and Clark for their hospitality. I am going to take tonight off to celebrate a good friend's milestone birthday and then on Saturday night I look forward to being at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the IMCA Late Model "Drive for Five" finale along with the Sprint Invaders.

Get out and enjoy a race near you this weekend! 

A Day In Boone, An Evening In Moberly and More

After a week filled with rain and cool temperatures I was still able to get to two events this past weekend. First off a big congratulations to everybody associated with the IMCA Super Nationals who persevered through several days of persistent rain to still complete the biggest single event in dirt track racing! Of course the officials and staff of the IMCA as well as the entire crew of the Boone Speedway get the most credit, but if not for the cooperation of the drivers, crews and spectators their efforts simply would not have been enough to get the job done. 

I had no plans of going to Boone this year due to a busy time at work and the fact that I was scheduled to announce for the Sprint Invaders at Donnellson on Saturday night. But when that event was postponed two days in advance and as other Saturday night options in Eldon, Davenport and at the Spoon River Speedway in Illinois fell by the wayside, the announcement that they would be running the Thursday program starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday had me hooked and my alarm was set for 5:45 a.m. on Saturday in order to make the trip. 

I drove in a heavy mist all the way from Pella to just south of Ames making me question why I had given up an extra hour or two of sleep and as I pulled into Boone the pavement was dry and word was out that it would still be another hour or two before things could get started. Believe me, the pavement was the only thing that was dry and I was thankful that I had dug out my oldest pair of shoes to slog through the mud to make my way to the grandstands. They would later go straight into the garbage when I returned home. 

The two hours from arrival to the first green flag went fast as I visited with several racing friends including photographer Jim "Zipp" Zimmerline, my Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele and announcers Jerry Van Sickel and Ryan Clark. I even got a wave from "Crazy Martin" as one of the most loyal race fans you will find anywhere was making his way through the grandstand area before the racing got underway. I am always amazed and impressed by the job that Van Sickel and Clark do on the microphones during this event and even more so this week when Mother Nature turned the schedule upside down and inside out. I get worn out announcing a three hour show anymore, but on this Saturday day/night doubleheader this entertaining duo was on duty from 10:45 a.m. on Saturday until 3:59 a.m. on Sunday. And then, after about a six hour break they were right back at for all of the Last Chance races and "The Dances" on Sunday. Simply amazing! 

Ryan, I hope that Brett didn't make you be in the office at eight o'clock sharp on Monday morning! 

I don't have to check social media to know that there are people bitching about one thing or another in regard to the Super Nationals, but as I have said before there is no other track and no other staff in the country that could pull off this mega event even in dry, calm conditions. And to complete it this week with all of the obstacles that they were facing even beyond the crappy weather was just amazing. That is why this event somehow still continues to grow year by year and you can bet that the 2021 version of the IMCA Super Nationals will continue that trend. 

I saw a bunch of great racing, well beyond my twenty dollars worth by the time that I chose to leave just before the four B-Mains and two Modified qualifying features and I was back in Mount Pleasant at 9:30 p.m. where it was still raining. The two 25-lap Stock Car features were entertaining each boasting a field of thirty cars and drivers with only the top four in each locking themselves into the Big Dance on Sunday. In the first one Ricky Thornton Jr. started from the outside of row one and paced the field for the entire distance, but there was plenty of action taking place behind him. I was keeping track of both Mike Van Genderen and John Oliver Jr. as they each made their way toward the front of the field. Van Genderen had started eighteenth and was up to fifth when on a late race restart the field bunched up in turn one and he was tagged from behind sending him spinning into the infield. Oliver who had come from the 25th starting spot was now working in the top five, but as he tried to squeeze under another competitor in turn four, he spun sideways into the infield sending mud flying and one photographer lost his footing and tumbled to the ground as he tried to escape. At the checkers it would be veteran Minnesota driver Curt Lund taking second, Derek Green was third and Ryan Harris would secure the final ticket to the dance. 

In the second qualifying feature former Mount Pleasant resident Jeff Mueller would lead the field from start to finish. If you start Jeff out front and there is some moisture around the bottom, you might as well just sign the check as Mueller is known for his "catfishing" prowess and he was never seriously challenged over the twenty-five laps. Cayden Carter, Jeffrey Larson and Damon Murty also transferred, but perhaps the fastest car on the track was Sioux City's Travis Barker who battled all the way back up to sixth after having to restart from the rear of the thirty car field early in the race. I was glad to see that Barker was able to come back in the second program of the day racing from tenth to third in his qualifying feature to make the transfer. 

In case you missed it, the Super Nationals wrapped up on Sunday with Ricky Thornton Jr. starting from the pole and winning the Modified Dance. Donovan Smith came from the 25th starting spot to take the Stock Car title, but I see that only nine of the thirty starters finished. Front row starters Jonathan Logue and Cody Thompson went one-two in the Northern Sport Mod finale and Nathan Ballard is your 2020 Super Nationals champion in the Hobby Stocks after starting third. With Thornton now calling Adel, Iowa, home that makes it a sweep for the home state despite the fact that the best IMCA drivers in the country were in Boone for the past week and they will all be hoping for drier weather when they return in 2021. 

The reason that I left Boone early on Saturday is because I knew that I had a two hour and twenty minute trip to Moberly ahead of me on Sunday as the Sprint Invaders made their third and final appearance of 2020 at the Randolph County Raceway. It was an interesting mix of drivers among the twenty that signed in as we were missing four or five Invader regulars and some of the central Missouri drivers that you might have expected were also absent on this night. Filling in though were ASCS National series regulars Robbie Price and Harli White along with Pacific northwest visitors Devon Borden and Caleb Thornhill, plus the soon to be crowned IRA Rookie-of-the-Year Shawn Rayhall. 

They would all be chasing the veteran Randy Martin though as the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame member went the distance to take a popular victory where he would be joined in victory lane by Tony Stuart of The Stuart House in Centralia who had added some big money to the night's purse. Ayrton Gennetten, who had won the two previous events here at Moberly in is own #3, would chase Martin the entire distance and help build on Scott Bonar's point lead in the Owner's standings driving the Midland Performance #50. The leader in the driver point point standings, Chris Martin took a wild tumble in turn two during the feature while running sixth, but his advantage is till pretty solid with two events remaining. 

Borden was a big mover early coming from tenth to third, but his night would come to an early end when he went too high in turn three and smacked the concrete. Harli White was giving the fans a thrill as she was about to make it a three car race for the lead late, only to have steering issues causing her to slow and then spin. The full story and results for the Invaders can be found on OpenWheel101 with Bill Wright. 

The show started close to the advertised time of 5:45 for hot laps and the first of three features, the Street Stocks came to the track at 7:35 p.m. so I was thinking, wow, I might be home pretty early tonight. But then the Modifieds had one of those races where you just wanted to gnaw your arm off as each time a lap was scored the caution would have to wave for either a backmarker spinning or from debris on the track caused by drivers stacking up as they tried to use the Delaware double file restarts. Finally after about thirty-eight cautions (okay, so maybe six or seven) the restarts were then single-file and this one would final get twenty laps in the scorebook with Tyler Hibner leading the entire distance to take the win over his father Lee Hibner. Even with the Modified marathon I was on my way home at 9:15 and I look forward to making at least two more trips down to Moberly before the 2020 season comes to a close with perhaps the first one coming this Sunday when the B-Mods will be racing for $2,000-to-win and the Sport Compacts will be gunning for a $1,000 top prize. 

Speaking of a four figure payoff to the winner of a Four Cylinder feature, word is that during the annual Fall Extravaganza at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson one of the Sport Compact features will pay a whopping $3,000-to-win! Keep an eye out for details on that, but first the track will host the IMCA Late Model "Drive for Five" finale along with the Sprint Invaders this coming Saturday night September 19th. That was the race that was originally scheduled for this past Saturday. 

I plan on making the trip to Marshalltown this Thursday night where once again the Marshalltown Speedway will try to host what is billed as the 500th and final Deery Brothers Summer Sries event with the Dale DeFrance Memorial. Here's hoping for sunny skies as it will be a great tribute to the DeFrance family as "The Ironman" Darrel DeFrance will also make his 500th appearance at a Summer Series program. I have made arrangements with track announcer Jerry Van Sickel to share the mic with me for at least one heat race as it will then allow me to claim that I announced at both the first and the last event of the long running regional series. 

And finally a few more tidbits that might be of interest to you. The Eldon Raceway is looking to add an event to their 2020 schedule with a show on Saturday, October 3rd. Keep an eye on the track's Facebook page for details. Eagle Raceway announced this week that they will be dropping the Sport Compacts and adding the IMCA Stock Cars to their weekly program for 2021. The Butler Speedway south of Kansas City held a test and tune this past weekend and appears to be ready to swing back into action. I am looking for more details. 

That's all for today, have a great week and thanks for taking a look at the Back Stretch!

Six New Champions In 2020?

With the regular season all but finished and the 2020 Fall Specials season set to begin this Labor Day weekend, it looks like we could see six new names added to the All Iowa Points "Wall of Fame" if they are able to maintain their current position at the top of their division.

There will not be a new champion in the Late Models as two-time and defending champion Matt Ryan holds a 26 point margin over three-time champion Justin Kay in the August 30th update of the standings. Young Logan Duffy has risen to the third spot in the standings, but he is all but mathematically eliminated from the title trailing Ryan by 49 markers. The 2003 champion Jeff Aikey holds down the fourth spot with Andy Nezworski in fifth.

From Medford, Oregon, to Newburg, North Dakota, and now Des Moines, it doesn't matter where Tom Berry Jr. has based his racing operation out of lately, he has had success. Berry was the 2019 North Dakota Points champion and he is on track to take his first All Iowa Points Modified title in 2020 currently boasting a 25 point edge over Jeff Larson. Larson is the only driver that could catch him as three-time champ Chris Abelson is third, but 65 points, or at a minimum thirteen feature wins off the leader's pace. Newly crowned Dirt Knights Tour champion Ethan Braaksma ranks fourth and Tim Ward is fifth. 

Tom Berry Jr. - Barry Johnson photo

The chase for the Limited Modified All Iowa Points title has been tight between several drivers throughout 2020, but with the August 30th update Oskaloosa's Brayton Carter has opened up an 18 point advantage over Doug Smith and 22 points over the 2018 champion Cody Thompson. If Carter can close out the season with a championship he will join his first cousin Carter Vandenberg who etched his name on the Wall of Fame with the 2013 championship. Ty Griffith, Jared Boumeester and Dan Hovden are all still in the hunt though.

Brayton Carter - Barry Johnson photo

The Stock Car race for the title will be interesting to watch. As of August 30th Dallon Murty holds a one point lead over his father, four-time All Iowa Points champion Damon Murty. However, past history shows that Damon's race schedule is not as heavy once harvest season rolls around and, with Dallon showing up at Vinton with a Modified on Sunday night, who knows what his plans are for the rest of 2020. Mitch Hovden who came up just short of a title last year is ready to pounce, only 28 points back and with plenty of USRA sanctioned specials on the calendar. Jake Masters is just 29 points out and he has been spotted at events of both IMCA and USRA sanctions this season. And don't count out the 2018 champion John Oliver Jr. who is now 35 points out of the lead, but will have plenty of races to choose from over the next nine weeks that are not far from his southeast Iowa home of Danville.

Hartford, South Dakota's, Dustin Gulbrandson continues to lead the way in the Hobby Stock division with many of his twenty-one feature wins thus far coming from a fifth or sixth row starting position. It would be his first All Iowa Points title if his 25 point lead over Cody Nielsen holds up, or it would be the second championship for Nielsen (2016). Defending champion Eric Stanton is third just 36 points back while Kaden Reynolds and Brandon Nielsen complete the top five as of August 30th.

The points chase in the Four Cylinder division is still wide open and we are virtually guaranteed to have a new champion as you have to go down to a tie for 30th to find a former champion in two-timer Nate Coopman. Ryan Bryant continues to lead the way, but his lead is now just 3 points over Jade Lange in second and 5 points over Chris Vannausdle in third. Kaytee DeVries, Ramsey Meyer and Cody Staley are all within twenty points of the top of the chart with Jason Ash, Bryan Vannausdle and William Michel still within 28 points of the leader as well.

Ryan Bryant - Barry Johnson photo

Kyle Larson - Barry Johnson photo

 t With Knoxville closing up shop early it looks like there are only three nights of 410 Sprint Car racing left at All Iowa Points tracks and believe it or not the current leader in the All Iowa Points is none other than Kyle Larson. Brian Brown is just five points back, or one feature win from his third straight title while Austin McCarl, Brad Sweet and Logan Schuchart still have a shot. One more win at Husets though would lock it up for "Yung Money".

At least five nights are still possible for the 360 Winged Sprint Car drivers, but that will probably not be enough for anybody to catch Jack Dover who appears to be headed for his third straight and sixth overall All Iowa Points championship. Carson McCarl and Jamie Ball are tied for second 22 points behind Dover while Justin Henderson is one point further back in fourth.

Two drivers are tied for the lead of the 305 Sprint Cars All Iowa Points as of August 30th. One of them is the 2003 360 Champion Dusty Ballenger and the other is two-time and defending champion Tyler Drueke. Elliott Amdahl and Stu Snyder are both nine points behind the leaders while Cody Wehrle ranks fifth although the schedule for his set of rules for the 305's appears to be complete for 2020.

For an explanation of how the Points are tabulated and why, visit the Points page at Positively Racing, and for our "best guess" at the remaining special events schedule for the entire Midwest check out the Calendar page at Positively Racing.