I have eight Saturday night tracks that are closer to my southeast Iowa home than the 180 mile trip to the Boone Speedway and that is why I seldom find my way to the Home of the IMCA Super Nationals for a weekly show. Each time that I do though I sit there and wonder why I don't come here more often. From purely a car count standpoint Boone is rivaled only by the Eagle Raceway in this region and with the lure of getting a night in to do some testing prior to the Super Nationals, you just really never know who might show up on any given Saturday night. I am a huge fan of that scenario, something that I have really missed over the past few years at one of my favorite tracks since they made the decision to go unsanctioned. Add in the fact that they have the equipment to "farm the track" in record time, or on this night save the track after a showtime shower, and the Boone Speedway is an ideal weekly show where the fast guys start mid-pack.
This was another one of those "watch the radar" days and as track after track pulled the plug due to saturated grounds and a forecast for more precipitation, by two o'clock I was down to Harlan and Boone. So my plan at that point was to start driving and by the time that I made it to Des Moines I would make a decision as to where to go depending upon how the radar looked. Just a few minutes later though that plan changed when Harlan had to pull the plug due to another shower so now I could wait until 3:15 to leave with my last backup plan being the Warren County Speedway in Indianola.
After driving through heavy rain just east of Des Moines I figured that my backup plan was no longer a possibility so I pressed on to Boone and as I arrived in town the clouds had thickened, lowered and were steadily misting as hot laps drew to a close. I waited in the parking lot as the drizzle continued listening to announcer Jerry Van Sickel talk about the death defying stunt that he will attempt here on the Fourth of July where he will, without concern for his own safety, vault himself up and over fifteen double decker busses that are scheduled to arrive in Boone sometime this week. It will be a stunning loss to the racing world if he is unsuccessful as Jerry is truly one of the most entertaining announcers that we know. I wish you the best Jerry, if only Ryan Clark were around to talk some sense into you, like he usually does.
By around 7:15 the mist had subsided and the track crew had the quarter-mile ready to race so even with weather that would have rained out most any other facility we were ready to go racing just fifteen minutes later than scheduled with 118 cars in five classes despite the threatening weather and a big money weekend for Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods up in Minnesota. Qualifying races clicked off in quick fashion and we then came to the featured event of the night, the Hawkeye Challenge, where the top four drivers in points in the five weekly classes (Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Mod Lites) were joined on the track by four Sprint Car drivers that had been invited to compete in a race where each class was to complete a certain number of laps.
The Sprint Cars would start up front and they would have to lap the rest of the field at least four times to get to their twenty-five lap target while the Modifieds I believe were set to go twenty-one laps, Stock Cars, twenty, etc., etc. It is a race that is unique to Boone for sure and on the first try at a start the Sprint Cars nearly eliminated themselves in turns one and two as Mike Johnston clipped the rear end of Joel Thorpe and then drove up and over the track taking Mike Houseman Jr. with him. The incident would eliminate Houseman and the field was again assembled to start.
There really is no way to describe this race from a keyboard as you really have no concept of who is leading who, but it is truly amazing to see just how much faster the Sprint Cars are and how patient they need to be as they pick their way through the field. I can't even imagine being in a Mod Lite and all of a sudden having a big right rear wheel of a Sprinter, nearly as tall as my car, sliding up toward me in a turn! Once restarted the race ran without incident and once both the electronic and hand scoring was reconciled it was determined that the Sprint Cars had finished one, two and three with Johnston the $1,000 winner over Ben Woods and Joel Thorpe. Johnathan Logue and Izac Mallicoat were next in line with their Sport Mods and Josh May was sixth with a Mod Lite.
Unique, yes. Crazy, somewhat, but then again they do crazy things here in Boone like Van Sickel risking life and limb as well of the love of a gorgeous celebrity just to try to out do Evel Knievel. He has so much to lose next Sunday.
It was now time to go feature racing with the now IMCA sanctioned Mod Lites up first. My Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele tell me that the Mod Lites will be included for the first time in the 2021 Super Nationals and that they will run their preliminaries during Saturday's Prelude event with last chance races and their first "Big Dance" coming on the Labor Day Monday opening night. It wouldn't surprise me to see more than a hundred of the Mod Lites here to compete for their first ever IMCA Super Nationals title.
On this night nobody had anything for Bryan Zehm who rocketed to the lead on the opening lap from his fifth starting spot and then went unchallenged over fifteen laps to take the win. The battle for second was very entertaining though as Josh May, Randy Bryan and Mike Kennedy slugged it out in three-wide fashion. May would prevail to be the runner-up and when Bryan slowed and pulled to the infield on the final lap that would put Kennedy in third. Jon Braathun recovered from issues in his heat race to come from thirteenth to fourth and Cody Yaw was fifth.
Sixty-year-old Tommy Lathrop was having the drive of his life leading the first thirteen laps of the Sport Mod feature and having seen the personable driver from Ottumwa compete often over the past few decades I couldn't help but pull for him to take the win. And, if not for a couple of late restarts, I think that he would have found victory lane, but he could not hold off Johnathan Logue who came from the twelfth starting spot to win his fourth straight here in Boone. Young Izac Mallioat would drop Lathrop to third at the checkers as Chris Burke finished fourth and another young driver, Camdan Vincent, scored his best finish yet in fifth.
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| Mike and Rowdee post race - Stolen from MVG's Facebook |
Have I mentioned how much I love the weekly lineup procedures for IMCA?
After completing his victory lane interview Van Genderen nervously stayed in the field as his fourteen-year-old son Rowdee would start the Stock Car main event from the outside of row one. In just his fifth night of racing RVG had earned the spot after nearly winning his heat race and he would cross the stripe with his fellow front row starter Mike House side-by-side for the lead on lap one. House would take the point on lap two as Rowdee got a bit high and dropped to fifth, then two laps later he misjudged his entrance into turn three a bit and got into the back of Devin Smith sending both drivers for a spin. A lesson learned by a young man to keep your eye on for the future.
House would continue to lead the field after the restart, but as lap ten was scored he and Kyle Everts would make contact going down the front stretch. House was able to keep from nosing into the wall while Everts drove up and over turn one and then on to the pit area. David Smith took advantage of the situation to steal the lead and on the following lap House would spin in turn two.
Once back to green David's brother Donavon Smith would keep the pressure on throughout, but there would be no passing the eldest of the phenomenal Smith brothers from Lake City as he scored the win. Matt West would edge out Tyler Pickett for third at the checkers while Jay Schmidt filled out the top five and Devin Smith battled his way back up to sixth.
David Smith too would watch his young son Mike start the Hobby Stock feature as he completed tech inspection from the infield and with a year or two of experience already under his belt this one would turn out better as Mike charged from the eighth starting spot to take the win. I had made an early exit to get started on the drive home, but could still hear Van Sickel's call as I filled up at the Casey's across the street. I just hope that it won't be the last time that I hear his voice. Oh Doctor.......
Shaun Wirtz, Matt McDonald, Solomon Bennett and Luke Ramsey were the top five in the Hobby Stock finale.
It is always a pleasure to watch a night of racing with Dick and Joyce Eisele and Warren and Carol Busse and always remember that if you are looking for the stories of race nights in Oskaloosa, Marshalltown and Boone you can find them on the 4dFan Report. Here is Dick and Joyce's take on last night. And surprisingly Boone was not the only track in Iowa to race last night as the rain missed Indianola as well and my backup plan would have still been in play if needed.
A family reunion with the chance to spend four days with my grandkids will keep me busy over the Holiday weekend, but before that I am considering another road trip that could take me to Spencer for the first time ever on Tuesday before a return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Wednesday.
Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
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