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
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