Class Order

In today's edition of how I would run the race track I would like to talk about the running order of the divisions at my weekly track. My theory of how I would set my class order each night came after reading Steve Eighinger's (better known as "Stevie Dirt") summaries of Sunday night shows in the past at the Quincy Raceways.

Steve would list the number of cautions that occurred in each class on a given night and over several weeks it became obvious that one division always had more than the rest. Even with these stats though, for some reason that class always seemed to be either first or second on the schedule each night. Having been at some of those race nights it was obvious that the offending class would stir up the crowd with many of them pleading with officials to take them off the track after fifteen or twenty minutes had passed with still several laps remaining. It was not fair to the crowd, or the drivers in that class who were not causing the cautions so this is the method that I came up with "If I Ran The Race Track" for setting the running order.

With a dirt track you sometimes have to set your heat race order in a manner that will give you the best surface later in the night. Some nights you want the skinny tires out first and the wide tires later while on another night you might need those wide tires to run their heats first and have the skinny tire classes up later. So the heat race order would not be set until that evening, however it may or may not match the running order of the feature races as they would be set as follows.

Just like Stevie Dirt did, you would keep track of the number of cautions that were needed for each class on a given race night, both heats and features, and the class with the lowest average number of cautions would run their feature first while the class with the highest average number of cautions would run their feature last.

And, to make sure to keep the show moving along at a nice pace, each feature race would have a time limit equal to the number of laps that are to be run, but with a twist. I have never been a fan of throwing a checkered flag on a race that had reached its time limit prior to running all of the scheduled laps. It is a disappointment for the drivers, and their friends and family who came out to primarily watch them, to have a race cut short by the time limit so here is how I would handle that.

A designated area, let's call it a "Reset Area", would be set up in my pit area and when the time limit is reached all of the cars that are still in the race would be sent to that area to be parked and no work would be allowed to be done on the cars. The drivers can get out and go relax, or watch the other features and then at the end of the feature order they would return to the track to complete their remaining laps.

Time spent during a red flag would not count toward the time limit on a feature and the final feature of the night would not be under a time limit unless one of the earlier features had cars already sitting in the "Reset Area".

Under this method no assumptions are made, it is all based upon statistics so if you have a class that causes the most trouble, their feature race is the last one of the night and fans can make the decision if they want to hang in there and ride it out, or head for the gates. And all features are able to race their fully scheduled number of laps. If a class feels that they are getting a "raw deal" by having to run at the end of the night all the time, all they have to do is get together and work toward running cleaner races and soon they will be moving up in the race order.

So there you have it, now that I have made up my mind that I will never promote another race, feel free to use it as, or make some adjustments to better fit your track. Your fans will appreciate it! At least this one will.

 

Fan Appreciation Night Draws Enthusiastic Crowd To Dubuque

It is good to have options and, as I have often said, being a race fan in the Midwest gives you the most even on a Sunday night. So when both Stuart and Vinton canceled early I checked the weather to see who had a lesser chance of rain and Dubuque had the nod over East Moline. I didn't even know that it was Fan Appreciation Night at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway until I confirmed the start times and when I arrived at 6 p.m. just in time for hot laps there was already a nice crowd on hand and a long line at the concession stands.

Always remember race fans, whenever a track holds a night where they let you in for free or at a deeply discounted ticket price, skip the fast food joint on the way and make sure you have your dinner at the track. My grilled pork tenderloin was fantastic and the fries were hot and crispy. Plus it was fun watching one of the ladies working the register say "Well hi!" to several people that she recognized stating "I guess I need to work at the races more often" to the person in front of me.

With plenty of moisture in the air, the wide racing surface stayed tacky and fast throughout the night, but did require several extra laps throughout the evening to pack down the fluff to keep it wide. But in true Dubuque fashion it would serve up plenty of three and four-wide action even during the six feature races.

The Two Driver Cruisers would be up first and they would run ten laps non-stop with the combo of Wayne Hora and Keith Keltner dominating for the win. To me at least they seem to be like the Scott and Bloomquist of the Two Driver class winning practically every time that I see this division in action.

A full field of twenty-four Sport Mods would take to the track next and let's just say that their fifteen lap feature did not go as smoothly. Ian Hurst would lead the field through the box on lap one, but as the pack raced through turns three and four the second time third-starting Rayce Mullin got sideways and while contact straightened him out it caused five top contenders to stack up. By the time the one hard working tow truck crew cleared the scene Ryan Schilling and Jason Roth were done for the night while Troy Bauer, Gage Neal and Wes Dingman made repairs and returned for the restart.

One more lap would be scored before T.J. Fortman, the winner here each of the last two weeks, would spin in turn one. Once back to green Scott Busch would apply the pressure to Hurst taking the lead on lap four only to have the caution wave again when Ryan Voss spun at the back of the pack. Three more laps would be scored in the next segment before Ben Chapman slowed and coasted around the top through turns one and two and down the back stretch and on this restart four cars would stack up at the back of the field exiting turn four while looking for the green.

Jacques Debris would even make his appearance for a caution on lap ten and on this restart it would be Colton Livezy swiping the lead in a heated three way battle with Busch and Tyler Soppe. One more caution would wave with three laps to go when Hurst spun in turn four and Fortmann locked it up to avoid contact and during the caution one more lap would joyfully be added to the scoreboard to make this a green-white-checkers finish.

Livezy would make the long trip from New Sharon payoff with the win while Soppe added to his current All Iowa Points lead with a final turn pass of Busch to finish second. Bauer made a nice recovery to finish in the fourth spot while Austin Stamm filled out the top five.

After many years of trying and failing to draw a reasonable car count in the division, the Hobby Stock class is now alive and well at Dubuque with a sporty field of fifteen signed in for the evening. They would run the same number of laps for their main event and after the third starting Marshall Vande Vegte brought the field back to the stripe on lap one, he would get sideways in turn two and then finished off by a car who could not whoa up in time sending the leader into a full spin. Three more cars would pile in and once again the lone wrecker truck would work feverishly to get us back in action.

David Crimmins would assume the lead on the restart and with only one more caution slowing the way, the action up front was intense with Kyle Jared mounting the challenge. As the white flag waved Jared flew around the top of turns one and two to take the lead down the back stretch, but when he drifted too high off of turn four he caught the wall allowing both Crimmins and Jimmy Doescher to get past before reaching the checkers. The Newcomer of the Year in the 2020 All Iowa Points, Crimmins would take the win followed by Doescher and Jared with Trent Neuhaus and Jim Ball Jr. next in line.

Nineteen of the twenty-one IMCA Modifieds would make the call for their twenty lap feature with Sean Rupp and Mark Schulte bringing the field to green. Second row starter Matt Gansen would lead lap one though before the caution waved for debris and once back to green it would be short-lived as while scoring lap three contact between Schulte and Timmy Current would send Schulte nose first into the outside wall on the front stretch. "Big Daddy" quickly climbed from his car and when Current decided to stop to "discuss" let's just say that things got pretty heated.

While green Gansen had this one well in control until Dustin Wilwert spun in turn one with two laps remaining bringing the field back to the leader for a two lap shootout. Again Gansen would drive away to take the win aided by the three car tussle for second that saw Jed Freiburger, Jaden Fryer and Ryan Duhme take the checkers three-wide in that order. Eric Pollard would finish where he started in fifth.

As the checkers were flying three or four cars tangled at the exit of turn four so again the wrecker had to do some quick work before the Limited Late Model class was able to start its feature. It would go fifteen laps non-stop with local favorite Steve Schueller taking the win over D.J. Sweet, Jon Rogers, Brandon Leverington and Mitch Current but the story here was that the heat race winner David Webster did not start the race. After winning the Limited heat race, Webster got out of his #44W in the tech area so that Chad Simpson could climb in and drive the same car in the first heat of the IMCA Late Models. Perhaps the officials did not know that it would be the same car being used when Webster signed in both he and Simpson for the night, but come feature time only Simpson would be competing in the twenty-five lap Late Model feature.

Nick Marolf will be the first to tell you that 2021 had seen a rough start for his #33, but he would shake the monkey off his back in grand style on this night absolutely running away from the field to score the flag to flag win. Marolf's lead was a half a lap around the 3/8th-mile oval before he patiently worked through some traffic as Luke Merfeld charged from tenth to finish a distant second. Ron Klein came from seventh to third, Eric Pollard started ninth and finished fourth while Logan Duffy wrapped up the top five.

After hustling to my car to beat the traffic from the large crowd it was 9:54 p.m., a bit later than what I normally see when I make the trip to Dubuque. A big thank to Warren Busse, one of the six regular readers of the Back Stretch, who offered up the use of his well worn mini spiral notebook and a pen when I discovered that I had left my regular Notebook on the desk at home. The cover was frayed and the pages had yellowed reminding me of the one that my father used to pull out of his suit jacket to jot down an idea whenever we were traveling together on business. So Warren, that was so much more than just a kind gesture. Thank you!

With the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event at Marshalltown postponed due to rain I will now look ahead to getting the 2021 season for the Sprint Invaders finally underway with the opener on Friday, May 28th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and on Sunday, May 30th at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Visit the track of your choice soon and often!

Kay Holds Off Elston and Beats The Rain At Lee County's Drive for Five Qualifier

In this day and age where we all have access to radar, and worse yet future radar, Friday was one of those days that is tough on a dirt track promoter. A line of showers was moving across the state and while the hourly forecast for the southeast Iowa town of Donnellson showed a 47% chance of rain at six o'clock and then falling to 5% after seven, future radar showed the line of showers fading away before it reached the area. So the questions are, how many drivers decided to stay home? How many race fans chose to go out for dinner instead?

For promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord, they really had no choice but to push on and sure enough as I arrived at the track just after 6 p.m. the skies were spitting, but nowhere near enough to ruin a track that was still being rolled in. And in fact, that extra moisture at the end helped make another perfect surface for three-wide racing at the Lee County Speedway and a solid field of cars signed in, parked, and for the most part kept their cars on or in their trailers waiting to see what would happen. Still there were some drivers that weren't here that you thought might be given that this was the only IMCA Late Model show in the state and I put the blame on the weather for that.

At seven o'clock the sprinkles had subsided and the skies to the west were brighter allowing for hot laps to start on time and by the time opening ceremonies rolled around, a very nice sized crowd had made their way into grandstand. It was soon after the first heat race took the green that I received a text from Barry Johnson who warned me that more rain had popped up to the west putting an early end to the soccer match that he was attending at Knoxville and sure enough, a check of the radar confirmed that and when I popped it over to future radar it showed that we would have until about 9:30 before this new batch of showers made its way to Donnellson.

Then again, future radar had been wrong earlier in the evening.

The program was hustled along and the heat race action was fantastic with drivers finding three or four lines around the 3/8ths-mile D-shaped track and by around 8:30 we were ready to go feature racing with a break in the clouds still visible in the west after the sun had faded away. A full field of twenty-two cars would make their way to the track for eighteen laps and let's just say that they did not make any new friends in the grandstands. I will withhold the names to protect the innocent, but there would be six cautions needed in the first four laps that were scored, and I say the word "scored" because in those there was only one lap where the entire field actually made it all the way around the track without someone spinning out.

The storyline with this feature would be Austen Becerra looking for his fourth win in a row to start the 2021 season here at Lee County and by the second lap he had advanced from tenth to second. On one of the restarts he would drive under Michael Joe Bliven to take the lead and after one more caution on lap eleven when a track tire had been punted onto the speedway, Becerra would take the win in dominating fashion. Reed Wolfmeyer would finish in second, Tom Bowling Jr. moved from ninth to third, Tanner Klingele advanced from eleventh to fourth and after dropping out of his heat race earlier in the night, Jim Gillenwater charged from eighteenth to complete the top five.

The twenty-five lap main event for the IMCA Late Models were up next and thank goodness that it was as five drivers from the Davenport Speedway had joined the field tonight for the second "Drive for Five" Qualifying events. Tonight's feature would pay $1,000-to-win and I believe that if a driver competes in four of the five qualifying events that they are then eligible for extra prize money at the finale on September 12th. With Davenport hosting the MLRA Late Models on this night track regulars Anthony Haines, Chuck Hanna, Matt Ryan, Andy Nezworski and Justin Kay had made the trip to Donnellson and I was surprised that none of the Independence or Farley/Dubuque cars had made the trip. I blame that on the weather.

With a draw and redraw format the first two rows would be stacked with Denny Woodworth and Justin Kay out front with Matt Ryan and Matt Strassheim lined up behind them. The infield track tires in turn two would come into play early in this one as Nick Marolf clipped the one at the exit sending it rolling down the back stretch, but since it stayed off the track and with Marolf pulling to the infield the race would stay green with Woodworth holding the lead. On lap three Sam Halstead would drill the other track tire in turn two bringing out the caution and on the restart Kay would get a jump on the leader. Justin and Denny would race side-by-side down the back stretch with Kay getting the bite on the bottom to move ahead in turn three.

As Kay built up a lead the battle to watch would now be for second as both Matt Ryan and Tommy Elston slipped past Woodworth before the caution would wave again on lap fifteen when Haines spun in turn four. The sprinkles started to fall as the field went back to green with Elston making the pass on Ryan for second entering turn one. As the rain increased a bit the field was put under caution with six laps remaining with the cars still circling the track trying to keep it in racing condition.

The rain did not stop, but it subsided enough for the race to go back to green and the final six laps were completed with Kay holding off Elston to take the win. Ryan would finish third ahead of Andy Nezworski who had started eighth and Mark Burgtorf would complete the top five.

Justin Kay (15K) from his win at Marshalltown - Barry Johnson photo

After a quick pic of Kay in victory lane the Sport Compacts were brought to the track, but when the rain increased to a point where the track was now shiny the decision was made to call it a show at just past 9:30. For once I guess you could say that future radar was accurate. 

Earlier in the night young Chevy Barnes and the only female ever to win an All Iowa Points championship Kimberly Abbott won heats in the Sport Compacts and despite only having eleven cars both of the Stock Car heats were entertaining with John Oliver Jr. and Jason Cook taking wins. Both of these classes will run their makeup features next Friday May 21st.

Since this was also a Drive for Five qualifier for the Modifieds their feature will be made up at the next Drive for Five event on June 11th. Heat race winners in the twenty car field were Michael Long, Ethan Braaksma and Bill Roberts Jr.

Other commitments over the next two nights will keep me away from the track and it looks like these scattered showers might be a pain anyway. Hopefully they will be cleared out of the area by Wednesday when the Castrol FloRacing Night in America series will be at the Marshalltown Speedway. Super Late Models on the high banks of Marshalltown, wow, I can't wait! 

Familiar Faces In Victory at 300 Raceway's 2021 Opener

After losing their first two scheduled events to weather in mid-April, the crew at the 300 Raceway had the track tacky and fast for what would now be the 2021 season opener on a beautiful Wednesday night in Farley. When the sun dropped below the horizon though, it definitely felt like mid-April still but a nice crowd was kept warm with an entertaining night of racing where four drivers that you might expect to be in the winner's circle picked up victories.

The IMCA Stock Cars would be first on the docket with Justin Kay and Kyle Merkes drawing the front row for the twelve-lap feature. Kay would get a miserable start though and as he faded to fourth on the opening lap it would be Merkes leading the way with heat race winner Chase Zaruba in hot pursuit. Sixth starting Johnny Spaw soon joined the battle and when Zaruba took a peek underneath the leader in turn one on lap three, Spaw immediate filled his position on the cushion to grab the second spot.

Next the veteran from Cedar Rapids would drive to the bottom of Merkes and they would cross the stripe door-to-door on lap five with Merkes holding the advantage by inches over Spaw. In true Stock Car fashion they would continue that side-by-side battle on the next trip around the 3/8th-mile oval and this time it would be Spaw by inches at the line.

Entering turn one, Spaw drove it in deep and slid up the track to close the door on Merkes and he would then pull away for a convincing win telling the fans in victory lane that he was still a bit short of breath after having to leave Bristol in March when battling Covid. Merkes and Zaruba were both impressive in completing the podium while Kay maintained fourth and division rookie Jason Doyle finished in fifth.

A talented field of twenty-two IMCA Modifieds all made the call for their twenty-lap main event with pole-sitter Tyler Madigan setting the early pace. Current All Iowa Points leader Jeff Larson was hot on his tail though and on lap nine Larson would throw a nasty slider in turns three and four causing Madigan to check up and lose the lead. That pass was soon negated though as the fourth place car of Joel Rust slowed just behind them and the caution would wave before the lap was official.

On the restart Larson would again drive under Madigan, this time entering turn one, and would clear him with ease to take the lead. The caution would wave again with ten laps scored when Timmy Current slowed suddenly in turn two leaving Eric Pollard and Dylan Thornton with no place to go. All three hard chargers would be done for the night.

One more caution would wave when the sixth place car of Jaden Fryer went for a spin in turn four and that would be the last delay to Larson's celebration in victory lane. Troy Cordes came from sixth to finish second, Jeff Aikey was third, Beaver Dam Wisconsin's Brandon Schmitt started seventh and finished fourth while Kip Siems filled out the top five.

The Sport Mods were up next and with only ten cars and a good group of drivers us chilled race fans figured that this one would go flag-to-flag. Wrong!

The first caution would wave on lap three when Michael Heister spun into the infield in turn four, but was not quite far enough off the racing surface to keep it green. Tyler Soppe would take the lead from T.J. Fortmann on the restart only to have the caution wave again when the tenth place car of Justin Schroeder slowed exiting turn four, but continued to coast around the high side all the way to turn two. On the restart Shane Barrett absolutely smacked the outside wall at the entrance of turn one, but continued to race on. Just before he returned to the scene of the crime though the drive train and one of the rear shocks bailed out on the front stretch for another caution with six laps now in the books.

Two more laps would be scored when Fortmann went too hard into turn one, hit the wall and continued to keep his foot in it making more contact with the concrete in turn two, the back stretch and turn three before he finally came to a stop. As entertaining announcer Jason "Big Boy" Frommelt described it, Fortmann had "hit the wall eleven and a half times" before grinding to a halt.

Troy Bauer had snatched the lead from Soppe just before that final caution and on the restart Bauer would ward off a couple of strong challenges from Soppe to take the win. California native Kaylin Lopez would take the third spot, Jason Roth was fourth and Heister was the fifth and final car on the track at the checkers.

Twelve of the fifteen IMCA Late Models that had signed in would make the call for the final race of the night. During heat race action National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Jeff Aikey slowed suddenly exiting turn four and when Ryan Hill spun to avoid contact he collected Sport Mod graduate Bryan Moreland. Both Aikey and Moreland were scratched for the night and Travis Smock who was scheduled to start third did not make the feature call as we had noticed some smoke from his #98 during his heat race.

Logan Duffy and Joel Callahan would bring the field to green with Duffy taking the early advantage, but Callahan would muscle under the youngster exiting turn four to officially lead the opening circuit. As the field went through turn two for the second time Steve Hunter would get sideways and while he was able to make the save Late Model rookie Jim Cruise would spin his car to avoid and bring out the caution. Two laps later Cruise would again be a victim of circumstance as contact from Hill in turn four would send him for another spin and a second caution. 

Once back to racing Matt Ryan would take aim at the leader and on lap five Ryan made a strong move to the inside of turn one to move to the front. One more caution would wave for Colton Leal with four laps to go and on the restart Ryan would again drive away to score the win in championship fashion. Matt is the two two-time defending and three-time overall Late Model All Iowa Points Champion and he currently leads the pack early in 2021. Duffy would get past Callahan to take the runner-up spot, another three-time All Iowa Points champion Justin Kay would finish in the fourth spot with Chuck Hanna filling out the top five.

My Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans joined me for the trip and it is always good to see several of my northeast Iowa friends at Farley, hopefully I can make it back again sometime soon. It was also good to see Super Fan and Super Writer Ed Reichert as well. 

I will be watching the weather to determine where I will be headed this weekend with several interesting options available within a short distance. It is great to be a dirt track fan here in the Midwest!

Late Model Super Sunday to Gustin; Thornton, Olson, Murty, Ballard and Fullenkamp Win As Well at Vinton

The Bullring at the Benton County Speedway welcomed in the Late Models running under SLMR rules on Sunday night joining the regular five weekly classes and a good sized crowd was on hand to watch the action on another warm and breezy evening in Vinton. Bright sunshine and strong southerly winds in the Spring poses quite a challenge for track prep and once again Rick and Corey Dripps were up to the challenge, just as they were when we were here for the Frostbuster in April and the racing was again fantastic. 

With $1,500 up for grabs to the winner and the chance to tune up for the Hoker Trucking SLMR East series race to be held here on Sunday May 30th, a solid field of eighteen Late Models signed in with Richie Gustin and John Emerson drawing the front row for the twenty-five lap main event. Behind the wheel of Ben Seeman's #60 for the evening, Emerson had won one of the two heat races earlier but he was no match for Gustin here who jumped out to a big early lead.

The first caution would wave on lap eight when Greg Kastli dropped off the top of turn two while racing in the top five and on the restart one more lap would be scored before Emerson went into turn three too hot and went over the top of the banking for a second caution. Once back to green Gustin would again drive away from the competition and just as he approached traffic, Kevin Kirkpatrick spun in turn three directly in front of the leader and Gustin had to stand on the brakes to avoid heavy contact.

Back to green and Gustin was aided this time by the thrilling three car battle for second going on behind him as Charlie McKenna threw a nasty slider on Chad Holladay in turns three and four. This allowed both Jeff Aikey and Jason Hahne to drive by Holladay as well and those two would now race three-wide at times with McKenna as Gustin again drove away.

One last caution waved with two laps remaining when Kirkpatrick who is back in action after a long layoff dropped off the top of turn three, but it was only delaying the inevitable as Gustin would score the win giving all the credit to Scott Fitzpatrick and his team for making the changes on the car to meet the SLMR rules after racing with the World of Outlaws at Boone. National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Jeff Aikey would take second after starting ninth. Hahne came from seventh to third, McKenna finished fourth and Luke Pestka took fifth after starting tenth.

This race fan appreciates and enjoys the weekly racing lineup format used by the IMCA and we were treated tonight with five more feature races where the middle of the pack, the high average point drivers, were on the charge.

The first was a twenty-three car Sport Mod field going fifteen laps with pole-sitter Joe Docekal getting out to the early lead. Docekal looked like he would be hard to catch until the caution waved on lap seven for Robert Patava, but on the restart the front of the field would get a big shuffle. As the leader Docekal sailed over the top of turn three, the third place car of Brett Thomas spun down low collecting both Ben Chapman and Brandon Tharp. When Docekal returned to the racing surface it was obvious that something had broken on the left front, but it was unclear if that was what caused by the trip over the top, or if the trip over the top caused the damage.

After lining up fifth on the previous restart Tony Olson now found himself on the front row for this one and he would take the point with the twelfth starting Logan Anderson in hot pursuit. One more caution waved when Curt Hilmer overshot turn three as well and when back to green Anderson could not mount a challenge as Olson scored the win. Tony had started the race from the ninth position. Dylan Van Wyk who started from the sixth row with Anderson would follow him in for third, Brian Kauffman came from tenth to fourth and Ryan King improved ten spots from fifteenth to fifth.

With Ryan Clark on the microphone race fans are not only treated to great announcing, but there is nobody better with the home track statistics and that is why I can tell you that the last time that Kaden Reynolds was not in victory lane after a Hobby Stock feature here in Vinton was July 19, 2020. In a wild first lap of tonight's 15-lap feature, Kaden would cut down a right front tire and as a good sportsman he drove to the pit area under green rather than parking and waiting for a caution to wave. 

Justin Ginther was in the middle of a three-wide formation exiting turn three on the opening lap and he would be scored the leader by a nose and again on lap two before yielding to Matt Brown. The caution would wave on lap four for Justin Tharp's spin and once back to racing it would be Nathan Ballard taking the point. Central Iowa visitor Eric Knutsen would move to second and would reel in the leader as the laps ticked away with both drivers working the rim on both ends of the quarter-mile. As the green flag waved indicating two laps to go and then the white flag I was anticipating an attempted slide job from Knutsen, but he chose to ride the rear of the winner Ballard who, by the way, was also the winner here on July 19th of 2020. Jacob Floyd came from ninth to third, Joren Fisher was fourth and another Central Iowa visitor Brad Richards was fifth.

Dallon Murty - Barry Johnson photo

Nine cars would go for fifteen laps in the Stock Car feature and with Dallon Murty starting fifth the game was "guess how many laps it will take Dallon to get to the lead." If you said "two" you were a winner as he cruised past Jason Doyle and then drove away to a dominating win driving his Dad's car after beating up his car a bit the night before. Jay Schmidt was the runner-up with Doyle in third, Leah Wroten finished fourth and division rookie Miciah Hidelbaugh was fifth.

Young Dylan Thornton has made the move from Santa Maria, California, to Dunkerton, Iowa, for the 2021 racing season and he is in fast form after winning the IMCA Modified feature Friday night in Marshalltown and repeating here tonight in Vinton. This was another mad scramble early with Thornton being one of a four-wide pack down the back stretch after starting eighth and he was then quickly up to second. After following leader Jerry Dedrick around the bottom for a lap, Thornton went to the middle line and cruised around the Dedrick on lap four.

With two laps remaining the lapped car of Steven Streeter spun in turn two and following the restart most of the pack had taken the white flag when Patrick Flannagan somehow wound up facing the wrong direction at the end of the back stretch and the race was scored complete. Thornton was the clear winner with Derrick Stewart taking the runner-up money. Troy Cordes started ninth and finished third, Dedrick was fourth and northwest Iowa's Jason Briese completed the top five.

My Wisconsin based friend David Schlise has taught me that when the Sport Compacts are the last feature of the night, I should stick around as it is usually one of the best races and tonight was another example of that as the seventeen car field went twelve laps non-stop. Zeke Wheeler would pace the first four circuits before the seventh starting Chuck Fullenkamp took the point. Nathan Chandler had started tenth and he was soon knocking on the back door of the leader with both drivers hugging the bottom.

With two laps remaining Chandler took a peek to the top side with no luck, but he knew that he would have to make it work to get the win as the white flag waved. With momentum off the top of turn two Chandler drove deep into turn three and found the traction that he needed to beat Fullenkamp to the checkers by less than a car length. It was a heart warming victory lane as Nathan is in a fight with cancer that he is currently winning and all of the remining fans gave him a nice round of applause. You know that those well wishes do not change a bit as you read today that Chandler's car #7 was found to have a Brake Rule infraction thus giving the win to Fullenkamp who had an even longer drive home than my 110 mile trip as he lives just south of me in West Point. Logan Clausen would be the runner-up followed by Travis Losenicky, Wheeler and William Michel.

That trip home got a nice early start as the show was completed just before 8:45 and you can bet that I will look forward to my next trip to Vinton. A big thank you to Rick, Corey and the entire Bullring team (including the ever enthusiastic Brisket) for their hospitality and to Ryan Clark for his kind words about Positively Racing, the place that you can still read his brilliant archived entries In Staging.

If the weather cooperates you may find me somewhere on Wednesday and a I have a nephew graduating from college that will take precedent over racing this weekend. I hope that you will fill my seat for me at the track of your choice and always bring a friend!

Ryan, Braaksma, Oliver, Wyett, Wilkerson and Ash Blow Into Victory Lane at 34

Preparing a dirt track is hard enough as it is, but throw in a surprise thunderstorm two days earlier when there was no chance of rain and then a blazing hot sun tempered by a forty mile per hour wind on race day and you essentially have a "no win" situation. Somehow though Brad Stevens, Jessie Mynatt and their entire team persevered and put together a racing surface that wasn't perfect, but it was better than one would have expected on a night like this producing an entertaining evening of racing. And actually the fact that the track was still very racy has as much to do with all of the hard work that was put in during the offseason as my walk to the pit area afterwards around the top of turns one and two showed just how much the track was transformed back to a consistent banking rather than the cupped shape that this place tends to develop over a number of years.

Yes, I have been around 34 Raceway for so long now that I have seen it need to be reshaped at least three times and if you haven't been here yet in 2021, you need to come back out because the racing has been, and will be awesome here at my "home track".

The IMCA Late Models would be the first of six main events on the night and while the field was still one car short from double digits, it was great to see a couple of new faces in the division. Two of the best weekly Late Model racers in the Midwest made up the front row in Mark Burgtorf and Matt Ryan and they would run the first two laps side-by-side with Burgtorf edging ahead on the inside to hold the lead by a nose at the stripe. 

On lap three Ryan entered turn three a little higher and then aimed for the bottom off of turn four and the crossover move worked to perfection as "driver" took the lead away from Burgtorf. The chase was on from there as Burgtorf had to ward off challenges from Dustin Griffin for second and a three car battle for fourth was entertaining between veteran drivers Denny Woodworth and Jay Johnson, plus one of those new faces.

Ryan would go on to take his second win in a row here at 34 with Burgtorf in second, Griffin third, Jay Johnson fourth and Woodworth in fifth. Finishing less than a car length back in sixth was Brandon Rothzen who arrived late at the track, missed the heat race, took a couple of laps behind a Sport Mod heat and then started the feature from ninth. A former winner in both the Modifieds and Stock Cars here, Brandon was on the move in his first night out in the division and don't be surprised to see him put this Late Model in victory lane soon. Another former Street Stock and Modified driver, Kevin Peters made his 34 Raceway Late Model debut in his distinctive #105 and he too looked solid in his seventh-place drive.

During the second half of their feature the Late Models had all settled to the bottom, but if there was any doubt that there was still a race track left that was erased in the opening laps of the fifteen lap IMCA Northern Sport Mod feature. The top six were three-wide, two deep exiting turn two and it would be pole-sitter Jace Morrow scored as the leader by a bumper on lap one. Sean Wyett was on the move after starting sixth and he would take the point on lap two just before the caution waved when Ryan Moore spun in turn four.

On the restart one of Wyett's top contenders here at 34, Austen Becerra would go for a spin in turn one after contact and he would then head to the pits for the rest of the night. Once back to action young Jadin Fuller was looking stout as he made his way to second while both Shane Paris and Ron Kibbe were coming to the front, Paris from eighth and Kibbe from twelfth. A pair of cautions for the same driver on laps six and nine kept the field tight and while Paris was looking to follow up his Friday feature win in Columbus Junction, he would not be able to mount a challenge as Wyett was solid to the checkers. Kibbe was impressive in third while Fuller roughed up Levi Laymon entering turn three on the final lap to take back fourth. Laymon who held on for fifth expressed his displeasure after the checkers, but kept it classy as Fuller scored his first career top-five finish.

The initial start of the Stock Car feature was called back and division rookie Brandon Setser was penalized from the front row to the second row for jumping. This would slide Jeremy Pundt up alongside Chad Krogmeier, but neither were a match for John Oliver Jr. who drove around both of them on the bottom exiting turn two on the opening lap.

It was all over but the shouting from there as Oliver cruised away to yet another feature win here at his home track. Pundt would be a full straightaway behind at the checkers in second while Setser rebounded for third. Brandon all but had the All Iowa Points Four Cylinder championship in hand a few years ago before switching divisions in late August and while he has driven the Quad Cities rules Street Stocks this is his first year in an IMCA Stock Car and I see a win coming for him in the near future. Krogmeier finished fourth and Ray Raker bounced back from mechanical issues earlier in the night to take fifth.

Larry Miller would pace the field of Sport Compacts on lap one and they were five-wide for second behind him entering turn one. I don't think that Jason Ash was one of those since he had started ninth, but by lap four he was there to challenge Miller and Ash would then take the lead. As he pulled away Miller was doing his best to ward off the competition and was still running in second before he suddenly slowed and pulled to the infield with just two laps remaining. Ash would score the dominating victory with the seventh starting Robert Sturms finishing in second. David Prim came from tenth to third as Tim Schnathorst finished where he started in fourth. Noah Kayser would complete the top five edging out Brodrick Wittman by a nose at the stripe.

The low line was definitely the place to be during the twenty lap Sprint Car feature and that is why Wyatt Wilkerson had to use the top on the opening lap to get where he wanted to be. Even though he started on the inside of row three, Wilkerson went to the top in turns one and two and again in three and four to take the lead on the opening lap. He then dropped down to shut the door on pole-sitter Devon Rouse entering turn three for the second time and essentially that lap and two-thirds was the winning move in a race that was slowed by three cautions.

The first was when Dugan Thye slipped off the top of turn two and spun the Nick Breuer owned #78 to a stop. Breuer has an issue right now that he asked if I could help with as essentially it is the same problem that a mild mannered mechanic who also was unfortunately named Jeffrey Epstein and lived in West Palm Beach would have had to struggle with. Same name, just not that infamous one, so you Burlington people need to stop sending this Nick Breuer the hate mail!

The other two cautions came when it looked like Dan Keltner clipped an infield tire in turn four breaking his steering as he coasted to a halt at the top of turn two. And then Travis Pence spun into the infield on the front stretch during the restart.

Wilkerson was impressive, not only with the big opening lap move, but the remainder of the distance as well taking his first win of 2021 as Colton Fisher driving the Ryan Jamison owned #51J finished second. Veteran Nick Guernsey who noted that he liked tacos during a Sprint Cars only extended driver's meeting to start the night was solid in third followed by Rouse and Daniel Bergquist. Look for Rouse to be among the entries for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the dirt at Knoxville this summer.

A stout field of seventeen IMCA Modifieds would close out the evening with Chad Giberson and Creston Williams bringing the field to green. Again a change of divisions would show that the track still had three racing grooves in it as Bill Roberts Jr. came from the inside of row two to take the early lead. The caution would wave after three laps were on the board when Alex Irish smacked the wall in turn four and on the restart Ethan Braaksma would go from fourth to second after originally starting the twenty lapper from seventh.

One more lap would be scored before Sport Compact graduate Cody Bowman went for a spin in turn one and the final sixteen laps would be run under green with Roberts trying to protect the bottom as Braaksma searched for a way around the leader. He was able to get a nose under Roberts a couple of times, but had to back out to avoid contact and when he tried the outside in turn one he was able to pull even only to have Roberts pull ahead again on the back stretch.

Finally on lap seventeen Ethan would get a nice run out of turn two so he went to a higher line entering turn three and when he found the traction that he needed it was enough to propel him to the front and the eventual win. Roberts, who would have liked to have been celebrating his 29th birthday in victory lane, had to settle for runner-up honors ahead of Mitch Morris and Kyle Madden, while fifth went to go kart graduate Drew Janssen who made the long tow down from Pella. (P.S. Roberts is older than 29....)

Ethan Braaksma - Photo by Dana Royer via 34 Raceway's Facebook

The final checkers waved at 10:16 p.m. and several fans joined me for a walk of the pit area to visit with the drivers after an entertaining night of racing. A big thanks to my friends and family at McClure Masonry for the use of their booth on this windy night, and to Brad, Jessi, Norm, Joe, Kenny and the entire 34 Raceway team for their hospitality and efforts. I also want to thank flamboyant  announcer Tony Paris for mentioning what we do at Positively Racing.

Tonight we will make the trip north to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton where promoters Rick and Corey Dripps will add a $1,500-to-win Late Model show to their already stout weekly program. Hope to see you there!