It has been a few years since I have been able to make it up to Tipton for a night of the Darkside Fall Bash and as I pulled into the Cedar County Fairgrounds on Thursday night I was amazed at how packed the place was for the first of three straight nights of racing action. The Darkside duo, Ryan Duhme and Timmy Current, along with their entire staff and title sponsor Hoker Trucking have truly built a huge event that now rivals some of the traditional Fall race weekends that drivers and fans mark on their schedules year after year. This is not a huge facility, but somehow they managed to park the haulers for 212 race teams and there were plenty of campsites set up indicating that the fun would just be getting started when the final checkered flag waved.
The derecho that tore through Eastern Iowa this summer had torn the roof off of the old wooden grandstand so both it, and the old wooden bleacher section next to it are now gone and they were replaced with three sections of temporary bleachers for the weekend. And, despite cool and breezy conditions, the Thursday night crowd came close to filling them so if you are headed to Tipton for either Friday or Saturday night I suggest that you arrive in a timely manner to claim your seat.
Racing action started in a timely fashion and qualifying races for the six classes in action tonight clicked off at a quick pace. The fact that you will only get the story from two of the feature races here is NOT an indication of a show that dragged, it was simply a case where I needed to be at work early on a Friday so I was actually thrilled that I was able to see as many races before my self imposed eleven o'clock curfew arrived. When you have this many cars, and so many races to run, it is going to take some time!
After Wayne Hora and Keith Keltner returned to victory lane in the 2 Man Cruisers feature, the twenty-five car Late Model field was brought to the front stretch for a tribute to two men who had recently passed away. Chuck Mayerhofer was a long time competitor in eastern Iowa in both the Modifieds and Late Models and on this night Kelly Meyer would have one of Chuck's old Late Models starting thirteenth in the feature. Brad Coin was a long-time car owner and even had some success as a driver of his own #28c, but he would often visit victory lane with his driver Terry Neal. And, on this night, after running a strong second in his heat race, Neal would draw the outside front row of the appropriately scheduled 28-lap main event.
Pole-sitter Andy Eckrich would lead the way on lap one, but coming out of turn two for the second time Neal had pulled even with Eckrich using the middle groove and Justin Kay was on the fly (rhymes with Kay) on the cushion making it a three-wide battle for the point down the back stretch. Kay was hooked up and haulin' with Hoker on this night as he drove to the lead and then opened up nearly a half lap advantage before the first caution of the race waved on lap eighteen when young Preston Stoecker spun in turn three and collected two other cars.
On the restart Joe Zrostlik was able to keep Kay within his sights for five laps before the caution waved again as Dave Wada slowed on the back stretch and then two more laps were scored before Jacob Waterman spun in turn one. With just three laps now remaining Kay again showed that he was the class of this field as he pulled away to take the win while the battle behind him heated up the chilled crowd. Jeff Aikey would make his way into second at the checkers while young Logan Duffy would take third after starting from the tenth position. Zrostlik would fade to fourth, still one position better than where he had started with Eckrich taking fifth. Terry Neal did Brad Coin proud by finishing sixth and Kelly Meyer would be credited with 22nd in the Mayerhofer ride. A tip of the cap also to Corey Dripps who had started twelfth and was using the top line around the quarter-mile to move forward. He was challenging for a top five finish in the final laps when he got just a bit too high and went off the track. He would be scored 17th in the final rundown.
Twenty laps of IMCA Stock Car action was up next and the first three rows were absolutely stacked with Jeff Mueller, Justin Kay, Dallon Murty, Damon Murty, Johnny Spaw and Jay Schmidt at the front of the field. Even a non-gambler would have been willing to put up some cash on a bet that the winner would come from the first three rows and the wild card was the fact that Kay was driving a Stock Car of his own, wrapped with all of his sponsors and the #15K rather than catching a ride in a somebody else's car. But once again with Jeff Mueller drawing the pole position, and with a track that had a fast low line, my money would have been on Mueller to repeat what he had done in the recent past at both Boone and Marshalltown.
Mueller is the ultimate catfisher riding the low line more often than not to more than 100 career feature wins in an IMCA Stock Car and he quickly established his dominance as the race went to green. Dallon Murty would move to the second spot and, just like his father Damon who also eclipsed the 100 career win mark a few years back, he prefers the high line and the Dirt Doctor Al Dlouhy had once again prepared a track where both grooves, and even a couple in between could be used to win.
The only caution of the race would come on lap twelve when Matt Picray spun into the infield exiting turn four and on the restart the younger Murty pushed that high line even harder trying to make a pass for the lead. As he entered turn one with just four laps remaining though, he missed his mark and slid off the top side of the track losing several positions before coming back onto the speedway on the back stretch. This would be the last that Mueller would be challenged as he dug his way around the bottom to another big feature win. Spaw would be the runner-up with Schmidt taking third, the elder Murty would finish in the fourth position while Kay would complete the top five.
At that point it was about ten minutes before eleven so I headed for home missing out on what I am sure were three more entertaining feature races. Joe Zrostlik would come back to win the 4-Stock main event, soon to be All Iowa Points champion Brayton Carter took the Sport Mod victory and Joel Rust would win the Modified feature in his new look #26. The Darkside had challenged drivers to do some vintage NASCAR wraps for the Fall Bash weekend and Rust was one of several who made the change as his car resembled the old green and white Quaker State car wheeled by Brett Bodine.
The Darkside Fall Bash continues tonight and Saturday in Tipton and, while it remains an option for me should circumstances dictate, my current plan is to head west tonight for the opening night of the annual Tradition event at the Adams County Speedway in Corning. Then on Saturday night I am looking forward to being on the mic as the Eldon Raceway wraps up its 2020 racing season with an event featuring Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts. Should weather come into play on Saturday, another great option for this weekend is the USRA Nationals at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City.
That is what I love about being a race fan in Iowa, the first weekend in October and still plenty of great racing to be found. Bundle up and head on out to the show of your choice and perhaps I will see you out on the Back Stretch!
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| Brayton Carter from earlier this season on a much warer night in Stuart - Barry Johnson photo |
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