I have one, maybe two races remaining on my racing calendar, but if this is how my 2020 racing season comes to an end that will be just fine with me as beyond perfect weather drew a great field of cars and promoter Larry Richardson gave them a fantastic track to race on Saturday evening at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa. This would be the 4th Annual Turkey Dash, but let's take a quick look back at the first three.
November 4th 2017, the inaugural Turkey Dash would be held in cool, damp and cloudy conditions with an okay car count and a smattering of diehard race fans in the stands. A day that will be remembered more for how the Iowa Hawkeyes eliminated Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes from the College Football Playoffs with a 55-24 beatdown at Kinnick. In 2018 the weather was a bit warmer, perhaps in the low 50's, but a threat of rain moving in held the car count down and just as hot laps were getting underway the south edge of the line of showers dropped enough rain that the event could not be run. I remember my frustration on the drive home as just ten miles south of the track it was now sunny and dry showing just how close we had come to being able to race. The 3rd Annual Turkey Dash never had a chance as an early season snowfall on Monday and Tuesday still had not melted by Thursday and the event was canceled.
So as you can see this race was due some good weather and boy howdy did we ever get it yesterday! A bright sunny sky, light winds and near record temperatures in the low seventies brought racers and fans from near and far with the outside pit area on the Louisa County Fairgrounds stretched to the limit with 146 race cars signed in across five divisions. A large crowd gathered to watch as well and while there was still enough space to do a little social distancing it had to be, as my colleague Danny Rosencrans describe it, "one of the biggest crowds here since Mel Morris was still racing." And soon after that statement, out comes Darin Smith's Sport Compact car for a couple of hot laps before the National Anthem with none other than Pokey West behind the wheel. Now in his eighties, West was one of my heroes as I was growing up with the Mississippi Valley Speedway Club events in the area and it looked like he could still be competitive today!
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| Pokey West is still a hero to many of us older fans in the stands at CJ Saturday night |
The track was perfect, the weather was perfect. It was going to be a great night of racing and the drivers, the warriors, the entertainers did not disappoint.
A few weeks back it was announced that the IMCA Hobby Stocks would be added to the weekly program here at CJ in 2021 so tonight would be an opportunity to introduce themselves to the fans here. Wow, what an introduction! Twenty cars lined up for twelve laps with pole sitter Randy Lamer leading lap one. Jake Benischek, who started fifth, was quickly on the move and he would pull even with Lamar as the two drivers raced under Doug Haack's flagstand on lap two only to have Lamar hold on to a narrow lead on lap three. Benischek would claim the lead on the next trip around the 0.4 mile oval, but he would have plenty of company as Lamar, Dustin Griffiths and Daniel Wauters would make it a tight four car battle up front.
The only caution of the race would wave on lap nine when Seth Dickey spun in turn four and was then plowed into by Jimmy Graham. This would bring the rest of the field back to the lead four adding Eric Knutsen and young hotshoe Kaden Reynolds to the mix. The final three laps were nothing short of spectacular as while Lamer, Griffiths, Reynolds and Knutsen slugged it out for position, Benischek and Wauters slipped away to decide this one between the two of them with Wauters pulling ahead by a car length going down the back stretch coming to the white flag. Benischek battled back in turns three and four though to retain the lead at the stripe and on the final lap they came out of turn four side-by-side.
I was positioned about ten yards before the scorers tower and as they crossed by me I would have had to call it a dead heat, but at the stripe it was Benischek by mere inches to take a win that had the crowd buzzing. Griffiths would prevail in the battle for third with Reynolds and Knutsen completing the top five. Sorry CJ Speedway fans, but when the Hobby Stocks run here in 2021 you will NOT see a closer finish than this one, but you can bet that they will give it a try!
The Sport Mods were on deck as the field of 51 had been trimmed down to 24 cars for twenty laps of action. Southern Minnesota star Jared Boumeester would bring the field to green and he would race out to a slim lead as the stout field of drivers shuffled for position behind him. Tyler Soppe closed in to challenge and was able to get a nose both under, and above the leader at times only to have Boumeester ward off the two-time IMCA National Champion. Then young Dylan Van Wyk found his rhythm. The nineteen year old from Oskaloosa had faded to third after starting on the front row and had given up nearly a half straightaway to the leaders, but he had now dropped Soppe to third and was closing on the leader when the caution waved on lap nine for a Brendan Schultheis spin in turn four.
On the restart Van Wyk would put the heat on Boumeester and as lap twelve was scored we had a new leader just before the final caution of the race waved for a spin in turn two. Brayton Carter had started the race from eleventh and for this restart he would line up fourth needing only a lap to drive by Boumeester and Soppe to move to second. Carter would now set his sights on his cousin trying to reel him in as well, but there would be no catching Van Wyk as his silver #17 was a rocket on this night propelling him to victory. With his second place finish "Speedy Bray" would cross the 200 point mark completing his first All Iowa Points championship and likely landing him on top of our "Best of the Midwest" standings that will be released in December. Soppe would slip past Boumeester to take the third spot with Ryan Walker completing the top five.
The Sport Compacts were up next for twelve laps of feature racing and fresh off of his exciting win in the Hobby Stocks, Jake Benischek would bring the field to green from the pole position. Benischek would set a quick pace working the low line on both ends and lifting his left rear wheel as he hugged the bottom. Track champion Cody Staley who has not lost here since early in the season steadily closed the gap while working the high line and by mid-race he had pulled even with the leader. Benischek was able to ward off that challenge and then showed his smarts by switching lines. Staley was able to stay with him over the final laps, but he could not mount another challenge as Jake would make his second visit to victory lane on the night. Staley would take the runner-up honors in the non-stop event with Chuck Fullenkamp coming from eighth to third and Des Moines' Mitchell Bunch charging from tenth to fourth. Quincy, Illinois, driver Jeffrey DeLonjay would complete the top five.
The Stock Cars have a reputation for providing great racing here in Columbus Junction and tonight would be no different with a talented field of drivers on hand including Wisconsin visitors Shawn Wagner and Eric Arneson along with Minnesota's Chad Schroeder. It would be one of the best in southeast Iowa over the past two decades though, Jason Cook who would set the pace after bringing the field to green from the pole position. Cook would never leave the bottom in this race, so all of his challenges would come from the top and it would be Dustin Griffiths who would ease ahead of him for the lead on lap four.
The caution would wave on lap five and on the restart both Johnny Spaw who had started seventh and John Oliver Jr. who had come from eleventh would join the battle. Grifftiths would continue to ride the rim in front with Spaw in his tire tracks and Cook still digging around the bottom. Oliver appeared to have been the fastest of the four mid-race, but he could not find any racing room as he tested both the high side and the low side. The big crowd was buzzing once again as this one played out and on lap fourteen Spaw would throw a slider at Griffiths in turns three and four.
The move allowed him to make the pass, but as both Spaw and Griffiths momentarily lost momentum, Cook would come digging off the bottom to retake the lead with six laps remaining. He wasn't pulling away by any means, but you had the sense the race would be Cook's if it stayed green only to have the caution wave just after the leader had scored lap seventeen when Tad Payne spun in turn four.
The field was reset going back to the last completed lap with four to go and now it would be a battle between Cook and Spaw each using their own favored line. Back and forth they would go until Spaw nosed ahead with two laps remaining and while Cook would make one last charge coming to the checkers he would come up a car length short as the 2019 track champion here, Johnny Spaw would score the victory. Griffiths would take his second podium finish of the night in third, Oliver Jr. would finish fourth and Blaine Dopler was solid all twenty laps in fifth.
The Modifieds would close out the evening and they would go for twenty laps of non-stop racing action. Kurt Kile would set a blistering pace from his outside row one starting spot opening up a big lead before Jeff Aikey made his way into second after starting eighth. Aikey, who will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2021, steadily ate in to Kile's advantage and as lapped traffic came into play he closed it down to a car length with just six laps remaining. But then came a rare mistake from the veteran as he got completely sideways in turn four bringing a gasp from the crowd before making the save and giving back all of the ground that he had gained on the leader.
Kile was still flying, but Aikey appeared to be a man on a mission now as he again chopped away at the lead only to have the laps run out on him as Kurt Kile celebrated a flag to flag victory. Aikey would have to settle for second on this night as Chris Simpson drove Ryan Duhme's #7 to a third place showing. Spencer Diercks finished fourth and ninth starting Derrick Stewart completed the top five.
The final checkered flag waved just before 8:30 on a show that had hot laps staring at 4 p.m. and the traffic jam exiting the fairgrounds showed just how big the crowd was both in the pits and in the rustic old amphitheater. A huge thank you goes out to the Louisa County Fair Board and their promoter Larry Richardson for sticking with this event after three disappointments, so perhaps you can now say that the fourth time is a charm. The challenge now is that we should not expect weather conditions like this for the 5th Annual Turkey Dash, but we can always hope!
Larry's LR Trucking joined up with all of us here at Positively Racing to put up some bonus money for the feature winners in all five classes with the amount being determined by where the winning driver was ranked in the All Iowa Points. All five bonuses, listed below, were claimed showing that the winners were all ranked in the top 100 of their class, no easy accomplishment if you take a moment to look at the list.
Hobby Stock: Jake Benischek $25
Sport Mod: Dylan Van Wyk $50
Sport Compact: Jake Benischek $100
Stock Car: Johnny Spaw $50
Modified: Kurt Kile $25
And sponsors, let me tell you this, if you are going to put up some money to support your track I hope that you have an announcer like Jerry Mackey who is one of the best at making sure that you get acknowledged for your support!
As I mentioned in the lead paragraph I still have my eye on two events coming up over the next two weekends. If the weather is favorable next Saturday we just might make the long haul down to Burnside, Kentucky for the Schaefer Oil Iron Man series for Late Models and Modifieds at Lake Cumberland Speedway and of course our scheduled finale is our annual trip to the Springfield Raceway for the Turkey Bowl on November 21st.
Perhaps we will see you there!
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