Tuesday was another one of those nights where it felt good to be at a race track. The Buchanan County Fair was in the process of setting up, the parking lot was rather random filling up around campers and other assorted Fair items, the pit area was packed with 87 race teams in just three divisions and best of all the grandstands were nearly full at the Independence Motor Speedway. What was originally scheduled by one off promoter Travis Smock as the "Late Model Showdown", the event took on new meaning with the recent passing of long time competitor here Denny Osborn and with some help from additional sponsors the total purse swelled to more than $33,000 with a sharp $7,200 going to the Late Model feature winner.
Osborn's number throughout his career was 72 and on this night the normally #60 Late Model of Ben Seeman and the normally #71c Modified of Troy Cordes were both wrapped in the brilliant orange #72 to pay tribute to the legendary driver and his grandson Colton also paced the field in his #72 Mini Mod that he races here weekly on Saturday nights. Announcer Ryan Clark went through Osborn's list of career accomplishments, as only Ryan can, and as I look back through the records that are available to me (1967 through 1990) with the All Iowa Points I can tell you that Denny first scored points in the Late Model division in 1974 and that his best season came in 1983 when he ranked sixth in the final standings.
Osborn also placed in the top ten in 1975 (ninth) and 1979 (eighth) and his consistency was solid enough to place him 14th on the Cumulative All Iowa Points Late Model list from 1967 through 1990. Only these legends are ahead of him on that list: Ed Sanger, Roger Dolan, Curt Hansen, Ron Weedon, Darrell Dake, Gary Webb, Rollie Frink, Bill Zwanziger, Red Dralle, Dave Chase, Karl Sanger, Ken Walton and Curt Martin. How cool was it that two of those drivers, Webb and Martin, were both in action on this night?
Unfortunately due to a house fire in 1997 I do not have the full records from 1991 through 1999, but Osborn's career lasted into the 2000's with his last top-five finish coming in 2002 when he was also racing against his son Brad. So with many of us able to pull up memories of the orange #72 in action here at Independence, we were ready to go racing on a beautiful Tuesday night with 38 Late Models ready to go using the old Indee Open rules package and a passing points system to qualify from the 12-lap heats. Four cars each from two B-Mains then completed the twenty-four car field for 60 laps of feature racing.
The high side was the place to be early as outside front row starter Brian Harris went to the lead, but when he slipped a wheel off the top of the back stretch on lap three it sucked him off the track entering turn three and he lost several positions before being able to recover. This would put local favorite Sean Johnson on the point and the preferred groove would quickly go to the bottom of the 3/8th-mile oval.
It wasn't long before Johnson closed in on the back of the field and his first target to put a lap down would be Joel Callahan's #40 driven tonight by Jeremiah Hurst. Johnson took a couple of runs at going out and around Hurst with no luck and that allowed Justin Kay to quickly close in on his back bumper. Kay was content to stick to the bottom as well and when Johnson left an opening exiting turn two on lap fourteen, Kay was there to fill it.
Meanwhile, picking off spots one by one behind them was Jeff Aikey who had started from tenth and by mid-race it was still Kay pacing himself behind the last place car of Hurst, but now with Aikey and Chad Simpson wheeling Jay Johnson's #93 waiting for racing room behind him. The only caution of the race would come on lap twenty-eight when Darren Ackerman and Luke Goedert tangled in turn four while racing for fifth.
Now with a clear track in front of him for the restart, Kay would bring the field back to green only to have Aikey time the start perfectly and move to the outside of the leader entering turn one. Kay still had the preferred groove, but Aikey knew that this was his one shot and he made it payoff by holding his line and then shutting the door on Kay entering turn three.
It wasn't before the new leader caught the back of the field again in Hurst and when Aikey had to check up in turn four on lap forty-two, Kay had to take evasive action racing to the inside of the implement tire marking the inside of turn four. This allowed Simpson to drive by into the second spot and before he could reel the leader back in Aikey would finally clear Hurst with eight laps remaining and that would seal the deal as the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer parked the Rick Dralle owned #77 in victory lane. Simpson and Kay would complete the podium with young Logan Duffy in fourth. Johnson would take the fifth position ahead of World of Outlaws regular Tyler Bruening and finishing seventh was Stock Car ace Dallon Murty. As far as I know this was Murty's first full night in a Late Model as the event promoter Travis Smock handed over the keys to his #98 to the sixteen-year-old and he was solid all night finishing second in his heat earlier.
Brian Harris had to think of what might have been in eighth, Jason Hahne finished ninth and Ryan Gustin drove John Emerson's #87 to a tenth place finish.
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| Cordes (72), Burbridge (11) and Ronn Lauritzen |
It is hard for me to think of Johnny Spaw as being the wily ol' veteran, but when he is matched up against Dallon Murty that's just the truth and throughout this race it was fun to watch just how smart both of these drivers are. On the first two tries at a start to the twenty-lap Stock Car feature the pole-sitter Spaw would out drag second starter Phil Holtz to turn one and then slide to the cushion in turn two. And on both of those starts Cole Mather was right there to get the run off the bottom of turn two to take the lead down the back stretch.
With cautions wiping out both of those starts, Spaw learned his lesson and he kept the #00 glued to the bottom to shut off Mather and take the lead as the race finally stayed green. It was a great four car battle between Spaw, Mather, Holtz and Murty as Dallon gradually made his way to second and as the crossed flags signified half way Spaw and Murty went under them in a virtual dead heat. Murty would take the lead by less than a car length for the next three laps only to have Spaw battle back to the point on lap fourteen.
That was short-lived though as Murty regained the lead with five to go and when the final caution waved after lap eighteen was scored we were setup for a green, white and checkers finish. As the green flag waved Murty went low in turns one and two to block Spaw's line and then went back to his preferred top line in turns three and four. Spaw's lower line was working though and he showed the leader his nose as the white flag waved with Murty again shutting the door entering turn one on the lower line.
Entering the final set of turns the youngster showed his savvy by entering turn three low and staying there through turn four essentially closing off any hopes that Spaw might have had to steal the victory and as the kid celebrated yet another four figure winner's check in victory lane he told announcer Ryan Clark that this was already his twenty-fifth feature win of the season. Spaw will welcome a rematch soon after finishing a close second with Mather, Holtz and Dustin Vis completing the top five.
The full show was wrapped up around 10:10 allowing me to get back home just as the clock struck midnight and I was able to get enough sleep to consider going to the UMP Summer Nationals show at the Spoon River Speedway tonight if the predicted rain stays away. On Friday night we'll be headed to the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Missouri, as the Sprint Invaders return to the high speed facility and then if I am able to go racing this Sunday night, it will be in Vinton for the annual "Urbana 5" event at the Benton County Speedway.
Get on out and support the sport at a show of your choice!
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