The Kid Is In Kontrol At Davenport

For the past few years the Davenport Speedway has been able to capitalize on literally being in between two of the biggest events in Late Model racing; the Silver Dollar Nationals and the Prairie Dirt Classic. And by scheduling the Tuesday night show as a MARS series race, it has made for an interesting roster with drivers from both the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series converging on the track that more and more drivers have proclaimed to be their favorite. Plus, with the MARS sanctioning you would add in a few of their points contenders as well and the result has been some fantastic racing. In fact, the 2021 version of this event was named the Dirt On Dirt race of the year when Hudson O'Neal edged out Jonathan Davenport for the victory. 

The Hoker 50 was once again scheduled in that prime location here in 2023, however when the XR Super Series shifted a two-day $100,000-to-win event originally scheduled for an April date at the Off Road Speedway in Norfolk, Nebraska, to this Monday and Tuesday in July, that would peel off nearly all of the current national stars of the sport. Also, if you want proof that the MARS Series is truly a regional effort, four of the top ten in series points were not in attendance at Davenport likely because it was a Tuesday night and at a track that is on the edge of its region. Note that I used the word "current" above, because in the twenty-four drivers that were in action here, there were at least a couple who will likely be national stars in the very near future. Most notably the two that would finish the fifty laps in first and second.

Young Drake Troutman has been wowing fans along the UMP Summer Nationals trail in 2023 as the Pennsylvania driver made his way west and while he showed a great deal of speed nearly every night, the results just weren't falling in to place the way that he wanted. Shredded tires while either at the front or making a big run through the field, jumping the cushion while leading at Quincy or getting caught up in other drivers messes, Troutman did not pick up a win on the Summer Nationals despite dazzling the fans who were perhaps seeing him for the first time. Even here at Davenport's Summer National stop "The Kid" earned some new fans in June when he went from third to first on the final to win his heat race so on this night it would come as no surprise to see him go the distance to pick up the $10,000 top prize. 

Troutman was right where he wanted to be when he drew the outside of row one for the Hoker 50 as he was a rocket off the cushion on both ends. Frank Heckenast Jr. would try to maintain the quick early pace, but the bottom had not come in yet and after Jake Little slid off the top of turn four on lap nine, Garrett Alberson would move to second. With his Roberts Racing Team based here in the Quad Cities, Alberson was the only national tour regular in the field on this night and after setting quick time earlier, he was nipped on the final lap of the first heat race by Heckenast to finish third and drop him out of the redraw. But Garrett was quick again now coming from seventh to second and he was trying to find a line that was better than Troutman's rim ride.

Some drama for the MARS series point leaders would play out just before the mid-race mark, first when points leader Jason Feger exited the speedway under green on lap twenty-two and then just two laps later championship contender Ryan Unzicker slowed on the speedway to draw a caution. All four tire were still up on the #24 and he would still be in the work area when the field came back to green with twenty-six laps remaining. Chris Simpson would move to second on this restart, but soon found out that he could not keep up with Troutman and the caution would wave again on lap thirty-two when Matt Furman and Justin Duty both slipped off of the turn two banking.

Alberson would get back to second on this restart and Simpson's race would come to an end when he pulled to the infield with twelve laps remaining while running fourth. One lap later the caution would fly again for Furman who was in the same predicament as before and once back to green both Alberson and the ninth starting Bob Gardner would drive under the leader racing into turn one. Troutman's bite off the cushion was phenomenal though as he flew back around both of them on the back stretch and the question now was whether or not the young driver could close this one out without a mistake.

With the cushion now pushed to the very top of the banking on both ends, all it would take would be just a slight miscalculation to drop the right rear off the top and lose several positions, or worse yet to completely slide over the banking and fall to the back. With the luck that Troutman has had here in the Midwest over the past six weeks, that had to be going through his mind, and that showed a bit in the closing laps as he entered the turns a bit lower and then "grabbed" the cushion out of turns two and four. This allowed Alberson to close the gap and even show the leader his nose a few times in the closing laps, but Drake would keep his cool and close out the flag to flag run with the big win.

Alberson would be just a couple of car lengths back in second while Gardner appeared to have made up some valuable MARS points on Feger and Unzicker with a third-place finish. However, in post-race tech Gardner was disqualified for a deck height violation dropping him to the end of the running order. This would move Jeff Larson up to third with Heckenast in fourth and, after starting from twenty-third, Justin Kay would wind up in the top five. Only nine cars, including the disqualified Gardner, would finish the race. 

Drake Troutman's ride ready for action

IMCA Modifieds and the track's Outlaw Stock Car class would run in support on this evening. In the twenty lap main event for the Modifieds, young Charlie Mohr would control the first seventeen laps before the trio of Brad Dierks, Chris Zogg and Matt Werner converged on him. It was an entertaining four car battle for the lead when, with just two laps to go Dierks would drive under Mohr to take the lead and as Charlie tried to battle back, he would drop two more spots as the white flag waved.

Chris Zogg would charge to the outside of Dierks entering turn three on the final lap, but Brad would have the bite exiting turn four to take the win by a car length over Zogg. Werner, who had started ninth, would finish in third ahead of Mohr and Scotte Lemke.

Tony Von Dresky would lead the way early in the fifteen lap money race for the Stock cars until lap six when he would be joined by Nick Hixson and Jeff Struck Jr. for a three car battle for the front. Hixson would take the point on lap seven and, as Von Dresky tried to grab the cushion in turn one to mount a comeback, he would drop off the top and slip to fourth after recovering. Struck would then make his move to the front on lap eight and two laps later Hixson would exit the track while still running second.

The checkers were just about to fly for Struck when two cars tangled in turn one, so the caution waved instead. On the restart Von Dresky tried to make a run at returning to the point over the final two laps, but Struck was just too strong as he scored his fifth win of the season. Von Dresky finished second, third goes to Landen Chrestensen, Joe Bonney finished fourth and Cary Brown completed the top five.

As always the Davenport Speedway crew presented an efficient and entertaining program that wrapped up just before 9:30 and they can all take a break now as the Mississippi Valley Fair takes over the facility until racing returns on Friday August 11th. And don't forget about the World of Outlaws Late Model tripleheader here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday August 24th, 25th and 26th.

Tonight I make the trip up to the Dubuque Speedway for the annual appearance by the Sprint Invaders, plus some big money on the line for the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Then on Thursday night I will take in the sights, sounds and racing action of the Louisa County Fair at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. Look for me trying to choose from one of the many fantastic food options at these fairs!

Wise Scores All Star Win at 34 Raceway

Near prefect weather for late July greeted racers and fans alike as the Tezo's All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars pulled in to 34 Raceway west of Burlington, Iowa, on Friday night. And even with a bit of chill in the air after the sun went down, the final twenty laps of the main event heated things back up with some thrilling moves and a late race pass for the win.

Thirty-three drivers signed in for the All Star's portion of the show with qualifying, four heats, a Dash and the B-Main setting the twenty-four car field for thirty laps with $7,000 waiting for the winner. After watching the Dash it looked like three-time series champion Aaron Reutzel would be the odds on favorite coming from the outside of row one, but it would be pole-sitter Jamie Veal racing out to the early lead.

Four early cautions would interrupt the action, the first coming on lap three when Connor Morrell slowed, but did not turn into the infield. Just prior to that a low riding Austin McCarl had slipped by Reutzel for second and on the restart he would go to work on the Aussie Veal. As the two crossed the line side-by-side on lap five it would be McCarl out front by an inch with the caution waving again for Ryan Timms who had just executed a three hundred and sixty degree spin in turn four..

So it would now be McCarl bringing the field back to green with just one more lap scored before the fourth place car of Lachlan McHugh did a 360 in turn four and then on lap nine Ayrton Gennetten spun off the top at the exit of turn two to keep from clipping the uke tires protecting the start of the back stretch wall.

Thankfully the race would go green to checkers from there and the nice sized crowd was treated to some great racing action, especially up front in the closing laps. McCarl was rolling the bottom and while Reutzel was able to almost pull even with the leader in the corners while running the middle, Austin would rocket away down the straightaways. At the mid-race point Zeb Wise joined the battle and he had the Rudeen Racing #26 milking what was left of the cushion that had pushed all the way to the top in turns one and two and that was very high, especially at the exit of turn four.

It took some time for Wise to snatch second away from Reutzel and lap by lap he was closing on McCarl, again pulling nearly even with him in the turns only to have the leader race away down the straights. On lap twenty Wise would be in the lead exiting turn four only to have McCarl use his speed down the back stretch to drive low into turn three and then drift up the track in four to close the door on Wise. Several in the crowd came to their feet as this sequence was repeated on the next lap and this time McCarl would stay up top in turns one and two now finding the rubber that would allow him to pull away from Wise once again.

After fending off Zeb's challenge in spectacular fashion, Austin now appeared to be heading for a victory, but on lap twenty-seven he get a bit too high in turns one and two dropping the right rear over the top of the banking for just a split second. Wise would pounce at the opportunity and take the lead down the back stretch and when McCarl tried to get back to the front with a slider in turn four, both Wise and Reutzel were able to slip under him to drop the former leader to third. Reutzel would keep the pressure on Wise over the final three laps, but there was no stopping Zeb as he picked up his fourth All Star win of the season and this now makes it eight winners in eight ASCoC events here at 34 over the years.

Reutzel and McCarl would both talk about "what could have been' during their podium interviews, Veal finished fourth and Buddy Kofoid took fifth. Parker Price-Miller advanced from fourteenth to six, but the Hard Charger of the race would be Chris Windom who finished seventh after starting from the outside of row eleven. Kerry Madsen, Cole Macedo and Riley Goodno would fill out the top ten. The All Stars now head east a couple of hours to make a long awaited return to the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton, Illinois, on Saturday night.

The Window World 305 Sprint Cars ran in support of their bigger engine brethren with Brandon Worthington scoring a clean sweep winning both his heat and the fifteen lap feature. A Saturday night regular in the Pro Series division at Knoxville, Worthington makes his way down to 34 Raceway whenever he gets the opportunity and he would go unchallenged after starting from the pole position and dealing with three restarts. Track point leader Cody Wehrle raced his way up from sixth to finish as tonight's runner-up while the other front row starter Nathan Murders ran a solid race in third. Des Moines driver Mike Johnston finished in fourth while Colton Fisher, subbing for Noah Samuel in the #41 tonight, nipped Nick Guernsey by inches at the line for fifth. 

34 Raceway gets back to weekly Saturday night action next week on July 29th and their next Sprint Car special comes on Friday, August 25th, when the IRA series returns to town.

After a busy stretch of seven races in eleven nights, I am going to take a few nights off now before another three straight next week. On Tuesday we head for the Davenport Speedway for the MARS Late Model show. Wednesday the Sprint Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair where there will also be some big money on the line in the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Then on Thursday night I hope to be at the Louisa County Fair in Columbus Junction where it will be the Battle on the Levee at the CJ Speedway.

Stay cool, stay hydrated next week and I hope to see you on the Back Stretch!

Eckrich Brothers, Spaw, Plummer and Benischek Reign At West Liberty

My 2023 tour of county fair races continued on Wednesday night with a trip to West Liberty and the Muscatine County Fair. This is the track that I remember most from my youth, ages 4 to 10, and it is always great to return and bring up all of those old memories of my heroes Mel Morris, Johnny Moss, Pokey West, Ron Prymek, Mike Niffeneggar and so many more. When you start your obsession with racing at West Liberty you find it odd that other tracks do not have trees growing in the infield.

With some unexpected late afternoon cloud cover the track was juiced tonight, lightning fast but much more narrow than usual and there was a large crowd on hand to witness the action Surprisingly the bleachers that sit just outside the entrance to turn one were completely full and stayed that way despite the fact that they were pelted with mud crumbs from drivers hitting the throttle after setting their cars for the turn all the way until the final checkered flag. There were still plenty of seats to be found under the covered grandstand and I was amused watching an entire section of the bleachers "take cover" as they were showered with the crumbs of mud.

The car count was nothing to crow about, but there was enough in each of the five classes to put on a decent show and the Kile Motorports crew did a nice job of presenting an efficient program that wrapped up at 9:23 p.m. giving race fans the opportunity to enjoy the busy midway if they chose to do so.

The Sport Mod fifteen lap main event would be the first to the track with Colton Livezy leading the way for the first three circuits. Tony Olson provided the challenge for the first two laps before the sixth-starting Tim Plummer went flying by and he would pass Livezy on lap four. Livezy was able to ward off Olson for four more circuits and by the time that Tony moved to second, Plummer had a full straightaway advantage. And that would grow even further over the final seven laps as Plummer dominated for the victory. Olson and Livezy were more than half the track behind at the checkers with Charlie Weber and Justin Schroeder completing the top five.

Eight Stock Cars would line up next for fifteen laps, but from the heat race we knew that this would be another classic duel between David Brandies and Johnny Spaw. Stan O'Brien would chase Brandies through the opening lap before Spaw took over the second spot and it wasn't long until he was riding the back bumper of the leader. Brandies was lightning fast riding the cushion that was barely even halfway up the track and when Spaw looked to the inside on a couple of occasions he could not match the momentum off the corner. That is when the veteran driver from Cedar Rapids decided to try something different.

They call it going "four in the fluff" meaning that you enter the corner with all four wheels above the cushion, up in the crumbs that did not get tossed into the turn one bleacher section. Rarely have I seen this done at feature time, and more often it is used by the fastest qualifiers at the Knoxville Nationals where the Sprint Cars will go up top on the opening lap of a heat race to try to make up some quick ground after starting eighth in the invert.

Spaw would give it a look on lap six to see if he could get enough of a bite, and then on lap seven he entered turn one "four in the fluff" and then diamonded the corner off turn two to pull even with Brandies on the inside down the back straightaway. The pass would then be completed in turn three and we would have a new leader as lap seven was scored. Brandies drove hard to the inside of Spaw into turn one trying to battle back, but now with the momentum off the cushion in his favor Spaw would fight him off and start to pull away down the back stretch.

Brandies would stay within fifteen car lengths over the closing laps hoping for a mistake that would never come as Johnny Spaw scored the victory. Tom Cannon was impressive driving from eighth to third at the checkers while O'Brien and native Iowan Pat Rachels who returns from North Carolina each summer to race his Stock Car on the county fair circuit filled out the top five.

The Sport Compacts were up next for twelve laps with Joe Zrostlik setting a quick early pace. Sixth-starting Jake Benischek was more than able to match it though as he drove around the outside of Zrostlik in turn two to take the lead on lap four. Joe would try to keep up with the new leader, but a lap later his car would belch out a big puff of smoke on the front stretch and he would have to back out of the throttle allowing Benischek to drive away to a convincing victory. Zrostlik was able to nurse his ailing ride in for second ahead of Dustin Begyn, Darin Smith rallied from a fifth row start to finish fourth and Cyle Hawkins would fill out the top five.

Modified winner Denny Eckrich

Only a lap three caution would slow the domination of the Modified feature by Denny Eckrich who started from the front row and was never challenged in the fifteen lap event. Chris Zogg was a distant second, Jeff Larson was further back in third after starting eighth, Josh Star posted a solid fourth place performance and Shane Richardson would complete the top five. 

The track was still narrow and lightning fast as the final event of the night rolled out with ten Late Models set to go for twenty laps with the Eckrich brothers, Andy and Dave starting in the front row. At the drop of the green Dave would be the first to get to turn one, but with his deep drive into the bottom line Andy would have the advantage at the apex of the corner. The cushion was fast though and Dave would pull back even with his brother exiting turn two and it is not know whether or not they made contact, but Andy would suddenly slow and then push up the track in turns three and four with a broken right tie rod. One more lap would be scored before the caution waved for Chad Holladay on the back stretch and both he and Andy would head for the pit area, their night ended.

On the restart Dave would set a blistering pace with the ageless Ron Boyse for the most part maintaining it while running second. It looked like this would be how it would finish until lap eleven when Luke Pestka spun in turn two. On the restart Jonathan Brauns who had lined up fourth slowed suddenly on the back stretch and with no time to react Jonathan Huston would plow into the back of him sidelining both cars for the rest of the race.

Derrick Stewart would move to second on this restart and he would stay within striking distance of the leader over the next seven laps, but when he jumped the cushion in turn four coming to the white flag that would end his bid as Dave Eckrich would score the flag-to-flag victory. Stewart would settle for second, Jeff Tharp was third followed by Nick Marolf, Pestka and Boyse.

I had a great time chatting with long-time racer Bob Dominacki and my good friend Bob Litton dropped off some amazing statistics of the tracks and events that he and his late wife Reta have attended over the years. It will be one of my offseason projects to summarize for you here on the Back Stretch. 

We'll take a break tonight before going to 34 Raceway on Friday night for the All Stars Sprint Car show. Then on Tuesday it will be off to the Davenport Speedway for the MARS Late Model special and then two more fair races after that with the Dubuque County Fair on Wednesday night for the annual visit by the Sprint Invaders, then on Thursday night we will head for the CJ Raceway and the Louisa County Fair race dubbed the "Battle On The Levee".

My final fair race of 2023 will be in September at the Clay County Fair in Spencer, but there is a bunch of other races to attend before then and I hope that you will continue to look for me here on the Back Stretch.

Thrills And Spills Entertain Large Crowd At Osky's Caleb Hammond Memorial

With extra money on the line from a variety of fine sponsors, the Southern Iowa Fair providing extra entertainment on the grounds and with the memory of a courageous young man that was taken from his family and friends much too soon, the stage was set for a spectacular evening of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. And, on Tuesday night, the "Mahaska Monster" delivered with some spectacular racing and a positive outcome to a very frightening incident during the Fifth Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial. 

As announcer Jerry Mackey explained, Caleb's favorite number was 7, so the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks were racing for $1,007-to-win, the Sport Compacts were vying for $507-to-win and with an extra $100 from Front Row Challenge promoters Terry and Lori McCarl, the non-wing Sprint Cars were racing for a $607 top prize.

Bolstered by Waterloo visitors Matt Miller and Noah Beenken, it would be a field of eleven Sport Compacts that would contest the first of five features on the night with the 2022 track champion Terry Bickford starting from the pole position for the ten lap affair. Bickford has not been here weekly in 2023 however and it would be Ottumwa's Brandon Pickney that would come from third to take the initial lead. Veteran driver Bob "Gabby" Hayes, who came back to racing three years ago after being inducted into the track's Hall of Fame, was on the charge from his third row start and he would slip under Pickney exiting turn four on lap three to take the point.

Bickford was now regaining his half-mile form and moved back into second at the mid-race point with his sights set on Hayes. Getting right up to his back bumper on a couple of occasions, Bickford was there and waiting for Gabby to slip up the track a bit and when that did not happen the challenger took a look at a bit of a higher line. As the white flag waved Garret Porter slipped under Bickford and with those two now racing door-to-door for second that would allow Hayes to race down the final straightaway to a loudly cheering crowd as he would win a feature race for the first time since 1990! Porter edged out Bickford to finish in the second spot, Tyler Haring finished fourth and Pickney held on for fifth.

With the extra money on the line, the Sprint Car field that is normally in the five to eight car range swelled to twelve including a couple of drivers that were of a special interest to me. With his wife Kirsten and his adorable young twin daughters sitting a few rows in front of me, I figured that Dan Keltner had taken the wing off of his Sprint Car that he last raced in the 305 Class at 34 Raceway to make the trip up. And, even more of a surprise, was that Stock Car driver Corey Strothman of Mount Union had not only brought his familiar #C4 up with him, but that he would also make his Sprint Car debut tonight in Steve Pumphrey's car #17.

After showing some early speed in his heat race, a miss in the motor would see Keltner pull to the infield prior to the start of the ten lap main event so it would be an eleven car field taking the green with Tim Folkerts setting the pace from the pole position. As the field raced into turn three for the first time, contact would send both Folkerts and Nathan James into a series of violent flips with Folkerts vaulting up and over the approximately fifteen foot high guardrail. The large crowd was shocked and stunned at what they had just witnessed and I was particularly concerned for two reasons. First and foremost was for the safety of both drivers. Just this past Friday night we had seen the #3T car that Folkerts was driving compete in the Vintage Car races at Donnellson. It was an old Sprint Car that did not have the down tubes that all of the cars of today have running from the front of the top of the roll cage down to the nose on each side. Second, outside of turns three and four is the access road that is used by the shuttles running fairgoers back and forth from the overflow parking beyond the back stretch. Heaven forbid that one of those shuttles, or perhaps some people that had decided just to walk back to their cars were outside of the track at that moment.

It was soon announced that James had walked away from his damaged ride uninjured, but it took several minutes before Jerry Mackey was informed that Folkerts was alert and speaking with the EMT's and soon a second ambulance had arrived on the scene to transport the driver who had come back to racing this year after a long and successful career in the Modified division. Tim's mother Meridel just gave me the update that, after being transferred to Des Moines last night with multiple injuries, he has just been released to start the healing process from home, so the many, many prayers have been answered! Update at 12:38 p.m., Tim wants to thank every one who has reached out and the ambulance crew and workers Osky as they did an excellent job!

Honestly I did not take note of how the field had realigned for the restart as Folkerts and James had originally started from first and third, but Ben Woods who was fifth in that original grid would rocket to the lead going down the back stretch on the opening lap and it was pretty much over from there as the driver from Newton would add to his win total. Doug Sylvester chased him the entire distance in second, Tyler Graves finished third, Terry Doud was fourth and Lance Silvers took fifth. Strothman had pass a car late to get to sixth, but then disappeared on the final lap so he was credited with seventh.

The fourteen lap Hobby Stock feature would be up next and this was just a spectacular race from front to back. Tyson Overton would lead early as several top contenders would gather just behind him making it a five car battle for the lead. After starting fourth, Eric Stanton would ease by Overton on lap six and the first of just two cautions would wave on lap eight when Cody Staley spun at the exit of turn four. On the restart Aaron Martin would put up the challenge driving to the inside of Stanton in the turns only to have Eric ease back ahead on the straightaways.

When Christian Huffman had issues in turn four, the caution would wave again with four laps remaining and this time it would be Dustin Griffiths throwing the challenge at Stanton for the lead. For two laps they would race side-by-side with Stanton still holding the edge at the stripe before the leader then dropped down to the lower line to close the door on Griffiths. Dustin would then go to the top hoping to find that same bite that had propelled Stanton to the front down the straights, but that did not happen as Martin would take back second and make one final charge at the leader. Coming to the checkered flag the lead trio was within two car lengths of each other, with fourth and fifth close behind as Stanton held off Martin and Griffith for the victory followed by Keaton Gordon and Overton.

Despite the four figure payday waiting for the winner, just nine Sport Mods signed in and when top contenders Curtis Van Der Wal and Carter VandenBerg scratched earlier in the evening that would leave seven cars for the fourteen lap feature. With Maguire DeJong on his high school's Senior Trip, Cayden Carter was subbing in the #30m and when he took off from the pole position, this one was pretty much over. Doug McCollough had pulled his sharp looking B-Mod down from Webster City and he could not even keep pace with Carter who drove away for the non-stop victory taking the checkered flag as the second place McCollough was exiting turn two for the final time. Kyle Harwood was challenging McCollough for the runner-up spot with five laps remaining until he got too low in turn four and punted the track tire up and over the infield guardrail. He must have hit it square with the nose of the car as Harwood was able to close out the race in third followed by Tony Johnson and Trent Brink.

After a quick "hi" from victory lane, Cayden would then hop in the Michael Petersen owned #1x Stock Car that he had also drawn the pole position for in the night's fourteen lap finale. It was no surprise that Carter would race to the early lead, but he would not drive away from the field in this one as fellow front row starter Derrick Agee would stay right with him. A caution on lap four would reset the field and Nathan Wood would now make it a three-car battle for the front after the restart and he would take over second before the caution waved on lap seven for a Steve Byers spin.

Back to racing and with Carter and Agee working the lower line, Wood went to the top and started to find some extra speed, especially in turn four as he looked to take the lead. A big run off the cushion in turn four would vault Wood to the point on lap ten only to have Carter rally back on the inside and, just like in the Hobby Stock feature, the fans were treated to wheel-to-wheel action for the lead throughout the closing laps. Cayden would actually nose ahead of Wood going down the back stretch on the next three laps, but could never clear him enough to go up and shut the door and on the final lap Nathan would seal the deal with another perfect run around the high side of turns three and four to take the popular victory. Carter would have to settle for second in this one with Agee close behind in third. Travis Bunnell was impressive in fourth with Jason McDaniel closing out the top five.

It would close out a very entertaining night with great fair food and exciting racing and despite the agonizing delay during the Sprint Car feature, the final checkered flag waved just before 10:30. I am so happy that I can share with you that Tim Folkerts will make a full recovery after that scary crash! A big thank you to Jerry Mackey for giving Positively Racing a nice plug, he does that so often and it is very much appreciated. Hard to believe that next Wednesday will be season championship night already here at Osky, but remember that the Front Row Challenge will be here on Monday, August 7th, and the annual Fall Challenge will take place on Friday and Saturday October 13th and 14th.

Another fun night at the fair is up for me next as tonight I will head to the West Liberty Raceway where Late Models will be the headline attraction for the Muscatine County Fair with $1,000 going to the winner. I had hoped to catch the opening night of the USMTS 25th Anniversary three night special at the Mason City Speedway on Thursday night, but at this point that won't happen (doesn't mean you can't be there though!) and then on Friday night the All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars will be at 34 Raceway. 

Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!

Barnes, Griffiths, Carter and Oliver Show Well At The Davis County Fair

For the second night in a row I was treated to the sights, sounds and scents of a county fair here in small town Iowa and once again I have to point out just how good we have it as race fans here in the upper Midwest. Both the Cedar County Fair in Tipton on Wednesday night, and the Davis County Fair in Bloomfield last night were bustling with people young, old and in between with midway rides and games, stunt shows, bingo and of course the fantastic food. Perhaps the best two dollars that I have ever spent was on the strawberry sundae that I enjoyed behind the grandstands after the races while I waited for the traffic from the huge crowd on hand to clear last night.

The "Big Guy" is set to wave the checkers at Bloomfield

From a racing standpoint the unique thing to consider is that both venues have not had a regular weekly racing schedule for several years. Yet with Al Dlouhy heading up the track prep at Tipton and with Mike Van Genderen putting the finishing touches on the track in Bloomfield, both offered up some great racing action without a rut or a hole to be seen, at least from the bleachers. I would think that both events had to look good on the balance sheet for each fair board and while a night like last evening might get some drivers and fans amped up about "bringing back weekly racing", we all must remember that it could be the fact that each track runs a limited schedule plays into the success of these events.

Thursday's show at Bloomfield would showcase four divisions with sixty-one cars signed in and, in typical MVG fashion, the show moved along at a quick pace with the final checkers waving before 9:30 p.m. allowing us race fans to either get an early start for home, or to enjoy the midway and a fantastic ice cream treat. 

The Sport Compacts would be up first for twelve laps with pole-sitter Josh Barnes snaring the lead at the drop of the green. Fellow front row starter Brandon Reu would be in hot pursuit staying right on the rear bumper of Barnes and waiting for a mistake. However, it would be Reu that would make that rare slip as when he entered turn one on lap six he would clip the implement tire marking the infield breaking the left front tie rod and sending him for a spin.

On the restart Brandon Pickney made a valiant run to the outside of Barnes, but Josh was just too fast and pulled away from the pack. Unfortunately for Barnes, his 2023 season has been one where he either wins or breaks so the question now would be if his ride would make it through the final six laps and that it did to carry the driver from Keokuk to victory. Pickney would finish second as Luke Fraise came from eighth to third. Heat race winner Caleb Giese would finish in the fourth spot while Matt Moore took fifth.

The Hobby Stocks were up next and with former All Iowa Points champion Dustin Griffiths drawing the front row, this one looked to be already decided while on the parade lap. Keaton Gordon would not let it be a cake walk though as he came from a third row start to put some pressure on Griffiths, but even with two mid-race cautions and their ensuing restarts, there was no stopping Dustin from a trip to victory lane. Gordon was not far back in second, Aaron Martin finished third, Tom Killen Jr. made the trip down from Des Moines to take fourth and Kale Hemsley was fifth.

Moberly, Missouri's Jamie Aleshire would lead the opening lap of the eighteen-lap Sport Mod main event only to have fourth starting Brayton Carter power by him on lap two. My attention was drawn back in the pack though as Kyle Harwood was making a big charge after starting sixteenth on the grid. At times passing two cars a lap, Harwood was flat out flying until lap twelve when he got sideways in turn three and the resulting spin carried him into the infield far enough that the caution did not wave.

With my eyes now back on the leader, Carter was facing some heavy lapped traffic and Maguire DeJong was closing in fast after starting seventh. Usually a leader would not want to see a caution with just two laps remaining, but when Kyle Boyd slowed around the top of turns one and two that caution would come and take the lapped traffic out of play for the final two laps.

DeJong would be there and ready to grab the lead if Carter left an opening, but that did not happen as "Speedy Bray" scored his twentieth feature win of the season. Brandon Dale would race home in third and Aleshire rallied back on the final lap to reclaim fourth at the checkers from Dylan Van Wyk.

The twenty-lap Stock Car feature would close out the evening with John Oliver Jr. coming from the inside of row two take the lead on the opening lap. The caution would then wave for Wade Francis who got turned around in turn three and following the restart Oliver would enter turn three too high and smack the wall with his right rear. This would allow both Andrew Schroeder and Jason McDaniel to get by with Schroeder now out front and leading the way.

The fifth lap was an interesting one as McDaniel was able to squeeze under Schroeder in turns one and two and they would race even down the back straightaway. With Schroeder going to the cushion in turn three, McDaniel was running the middle and that gave Oliver an opening on the bottom that he would muscle his way through to go from third to first. Just after the lap was scored the caution would wave for a tangle between Ty Hill and Brock Haines in turn four and, while under caution, McDaniel made it known to Oliver that he did not appreciate what had just transpired.

Cautions would be needed on lap six and lap thirteen, but while under green McDaniel was making every effort to find his way past Oliver. With John now working the bottom, Jason would try to give him the ol' bump and run a couple of times with no success and as the laps wound down McDaniel would give the cushion a try. Try as he may, Oliver was just too strong as he would go on to take the victory by a car length over McDaniel. Dustin Griffiths was close behind in third after starting eighth, Todd Reitzler had moved from ninth up to challenge for the lead on the lap six restart, but then dropped to fourth while Jason See methodically picked his way up from fifteenth to fifth.

Drivers and fans alike have been thrilled with the racing at Bloomfield over the past three events held here and they have a two-day Fall Special scheduled for September 22nd and 23rd.

Even though I have been racing for three straight nights now, I am ready for more and my wife is even convinced to join me for tonight's Free Grandstand Admission at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson sponsored by Kohlmorgan Hauling. Then on Sunday night I hope to make the trip back up to Vinton for the Urbana Five Iowa Donor Network special night of racing and on Tuesday it will be the Caleb Hammond Memorial at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.

Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!

Cedar County Fair Medals To Diercks, Olson, Benischek, Miller and Honts

A strong, but thankfully fast moving complex of storms swept across the state of Iowa on Wednesday morning putting the annual Cedar County Fair Race in Tipton in doubt. But when the sun returned shortly after noon, and knowing that a special someone from up above was not going to let him throw in the towel, the "Dirt Doctor" Al Dlouhy and his crew went to work. Not only did they have to get the racing surface in shape, but the vast pit area needed work as well and when the time had come to open the pit gates, the haulers for eighty racecars were able to find enough suitable space to prepare for the evening.

This would be the first Cedar County Fair Race after the passing of Kathy Dlouhy and her daughter Alysha spoke to the large crowd prior to a moment of silence and the National Anthem. Her words, while broken at times due to emotion, were spot on about someone who gave her all when it came to life and especially with the Fair and the Cedar County Raceway. And they definitely brought back fond memories to me having had the honor to work with her, and for her on a couple of occasions. She was a true spitfire who took full control and made everyone around her better. She will be remembered and missed for many, many years to come.

Despite the strong purse, the car counts were down in both the Modifieds and the Sport Mods and that might be attributed to the fact that this event did not have Kathy out there pushing it on social media like she had done so well in the past. Still it was a solid group of racers and with a near perfect race track we were all treated to an entertaining night at the fair. 

Yes, you have to shade your eyes for much of the night at Tipton, but the sunsets are worth it

One class that came out strong tonight was the American Iron Racing Series, or AIRS as twenty-five drivers had their classic racecars on hand. The brainchild of Brian Gade, this series has had a steady growth over the years and this is no "exhibition" class, these guys are racing hard as evidenced by a couple of door slams that I spotted during the main event. A former feature winning Modified driver here, Bart Miller would put the Gade Racing #501 out front at the drop of the green and he would hold off a hard charging Robin Atkins late to take the win. Atkins' runner-up effort had started from the inside of row six. Scott Fridley, another former Modified competitor here at Tipton, finished third ahead of Owen Hayes and R.J. Lank. Lank, who now lists Lafayette, Indiana, as his home had started next to Atkins in row six. There was only one caution in the fifteen-lap event and that was on lap two when heat race winner Cody Montgomery spun in turn two.

Tom Honts would lead the opening laps of the twelve lap headliner for the Midwest Jalopies and would soon be joined by Matt Fulton and Austin Honts. The trio would go three wide down the backstretch with Austin Honts taking the lead and with just two laps remaining Fulton would spin in turn two while running second. The two laps following the restart would see Tanner Gerard pull even with the leader, but Austin Honts would hold him off to take the win. Jeff Blunt would take third with Tom Honts fourth and Mark Merfeld would complete the top five.

With two-time defending All Iowa Points champion Cyle Hawkins starting from the front row for the fifteen lap Sport Compact feature, one would have thought that this would be a race for second. Jake Benischek had other plans though as he sprinted to the front from his fourth starting spot to lead lap number one as Hawkins maintained his quick pace. With five laps remaining Cyle was able to pull even with the leader in turns one and two, but Jake was not rattled and fought off the challenge to take the win. Josh Starr was the big mover of the race as he followed Hawkins in for third after starting tenth. Trent Lebarge would finish fourth while Vinton's Colton Stewart took fifth.

The Sport Mod field was stout with three drivers representing five All Iowa Points titles starting in the first three rows. A multi-car tangle back in the pack would send T.J. Patz up and over in turn four on the first attempt at a start and, on the second try, two-time champion Tony Olson (2015-16) would take the lead from the outside of row one. Brayton Carter who won his AIP title in 2020 and who currently holds a big lead in the 2023 standings would challenge Olson through the first ten laps, often pulling even in the corners only to have Tony regain the advantage racing off the cushion and down the straightaways.

A nifty move in traffic by the leader would finally put some separation between the two and Olson would then drive away for the big money victory over Carter. Pole-sitter Jacob Arp was able to hold off the two-time defending AIP champ Logan Anderson to finish third while Justin Becker filled out the top five.

The Modified field would grow to thirteen with the late arrival of two drivers who missed the heat races. Ray Cox Jr. may have actually just been fighting some mechanical gremlins while Farmington, New Mexico's Zane DeVilbiss added some intrigue when his big white hauler slowly drove past the fairgrounds on the county road outside of turn one after missing the entrance. Earlier in the day DeVilbiss had posted on Facebook "What all is Racing today in Iowa", and the comments pointed him toward Tipton. He must have called ahead as I had seen his name listed on the Modified roster in MyRacePass even before hot laps, but for those who were not aware of his pending arrival it was definitely cool to see a long distance traveler arrive late.

The twenty-five lap finale got off to a rough start when the third place car of Joel Rust uncharacteristically got sideways in front of the field in turn three on the opening lap collecting several drivers with the resulting damage sidelining Brad Dierks and Austin Blume. Rust would be able to continue, but would join DeVilbiss at the back of the lineup.

Mark Schulte, a two-time All Iowa Points Champion in his own right (2006-07) would take the point only to have the caution wave on lap three for a Josh Starr spin in turn four. On the restart Spencer Diercks was on the move after starting ninth and he would soon have the #21 usually driven by Ryan Duhme in contention. After a fierce battle with Schulte for several laps, Diercks would take the lead only to have it wiped out when Dustin Kroening spun in turn two before the tenth lap was scored.

Restarting behind Schulte, Diercks would get a big run into turn one and he would slide up in front of Mark to take the point. One more caution would wave on lap fifteen for Starr's second spin and on the restart Rust, who had rallied back to second, would make one run at the leader only to have Spencer hold him off and then drive away for the convincing victory. Rust and Schulte would make the podium with Patrick Flannagan and Kyle Montgomery filling out the top five. DeVilbiss had made his way up to fifth mid-race, but would drop back to seventh at the checkers.

It was a fun night for me as I sat with FloRacing's Dustin Jarrett who was taking a night off to enjoy the view from the stands between his Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series announcing assignments this week and we filled in what little down time there was by talking about a wide range of topics around the sport of racing. This made the night fly by quickly and I was surprised to check my watch and see that it was already 9:50 p.m. when the final checkers waved. 

It is back to another fair race for me tonight as I make the trip over to Bloomfield for the Davis County Fair featuring Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts. Get there early to enjoy some of the great food and be ready for another fun filled night at the county fair that is, for the most part, unique to us race fans in Iowa!

Davenport's Lucas Stop Goes To Davenport

Despite the name, the fame and the fact that he collected over two million dollars in winnings in 2022, Jonathan Davenport was still missing something on his impressive resume', a victory at the Davenport Speedway. The wide and racy quarter-mile oval that has burst upon the national scene under the direction of Ricky and Brenda Kay the past few seasons had not yet been a place where "Superman" had prevailed despite several solid showings. That would all change on Tuesday night as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series came to town.

Thirty-two LOLMDS competitors would headline the three division show and it seemed like half of them went off the top of turn one during qualifying as the cushion had been pushed all the way up to the top of the banking. In one sequence all three drivers during the group qualifying session drove over the top, both amusing and frustrating the large mid-week crowd. It was hard to keep track of, but it appeared that the series officials were doing a good job of taking away the lap from a driver if they had in fact caused the issue themselves and frankly if I would have thought it would have been such a prevalent issue I would started to make tally marks for each time a car went off the top of turn one so that I could have provided you with an exact count. I do know that one local driver pulled the feat in hot laps, qualifying and on the first lap of his heat race making one wonder why he didn't just enter the turn a bit lower, a lesson that helped him get through the B-Main without another hair raising trip over the banking.

As one of the cars to hit the track early, while the turn one cushion was not as precarious, Devin Moran was the quick qualifier with a lap that was just a tenth of a second off of the track record and, with his victory in the first heat race, it would earn him the pole position for the forty-lap headliner. Jonathan Davenport would start to his outside and as Moran slid up in front of him exiting turn four to score the first lap the two would make contact with Moran having to check up to keep from spinning allowing Davenport to officially lead lap one.

Even with damage to his right rear quarter-panel Moran would battle back and would sail around Davenport on the outside of turn four to grab the lead on lap six. The two would then race in tight formation until lap twelve when Davenport was able to drive under Moran in turn one and he would lead that lap just before the only caution of the race would wave as both Chris Simpson and Tyler Erb had slowed on the track.

Once back to racing we saw something that we do not often see here at the Davenport Speedway in these big Late Model shows and that was a leader that was able to drive away from the rest of his competition. Just past the mid-race mark Davenport's lead was now more than a straightaway and as he worked traffic like a master it would grow even further while Ricky Thornton Jr. and Devin Moran battled for second.

At lap thirty, and with Moran now solidly back in the runner-up position, that lead would start to shrink and when Davenport got the right rear over the lip of the banking exiting turn four with four laps remaining, Moran would cut even further into that gap to where he was now within striking distance. Now within just two car lengths with two laps remaining Moran would need another mistake from the leader, either with traffic or another slip off the banking, but Davenport had settled himself and would not flinch as he scored the $10,000 victory. Moran would have to settle for second on this night while Thornton maintained his series points lead with a podium finish. Hudson O'Neal advanced from eighth to fourth while Brian Shirley was the hard charger of the event coming from sixteenth to finish fifth. 

Jonathan Davenport's #49 from an earlier 2023 stop at the Davenport Speedway

I know that the national touring series go the extra mile to make sure that their competitors have every chance to compete and that is why the "on-track body shop" exists and that there is extra time that is given for drivers in the work area, often making for some very long cautions. But to me at least they went beyond the realm of reason just prior to the start of tonight's main event when Tyler Bruening peeled off the pole of the four-wide salute to the fans and first talked with a series official on the turn four apron for a lap or two before proceeding to the work area where his crew scrambled around the car. As the field circled the track for several more laps it was reported that "his crew is still trying to diagnose the problem". This went on long enough that the fans started to jeer and yell "let's go" and finally the Lucas Oil officials decided that enough was enough and the race finally went green with Bruening's crew still trying to figure out what the issue was.

All of this came after several laps of the cars buzzing the surface after track prep, so the extra delay to wait for a "diagnosis" seemed like overkill and reaffirmed one of my pet peeves about these types of events.

A twenty-five lap feature for the IMCA Late Models would serve as the appetizer with a game of "how low can you go" on a surface that was set to be groomed following the checkered flag. Joe Beal started fifth, but kept his car pinned to the bottom and would hold the lead as the opening lap was scored. However on lap two, when Beal left the bottom open exiting turn four it would be the pole-sitter Nick Marolf racing back to the front to lead the lap. He did not learn his lesson though as he would take the same line that Beal had exiting turn four coming to lap three and that would allow the seventh starting Andy Nezworski to catfish his way to the front.

The only caution of the race would fly on lap ten when Nathan Balensiefen turned Matt Ryan in turn two and on the restart Nezworski would leave the field in his wake as the current All Iowa Points leader scored his fourth win of the season. Beal would chase him home in second while Mike Goben was impressive coming from eleventh to third. Justin Kay tried to make the top work through the first half of the race and would finish where he started in fourth while Marolf would round out the top five.

After the long "made for streaming" victory lane ceremonies following the headline event, over half of the crowd would stick around for a twenty-lap IMCA Modified feature that would see Jeff Aikey lead the opening lap by a bumper while racing in three-wide formation with Mitch Morris and Charlie Mohr. Aikey would again have a slim lead on the second lap with Mohr challenging only to have the young driver spin in turn one while battling with the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member.

On the restart Burlington visitor Bill Roberts Jr. would have to check up when the car in front of him got sideways and he was then clipped in the left rear sending the #5R for a spin to set up the second and final restart of the race with eighteen laps remaining. Matt Werner had started sixth, but it was clear that he was the fastest car in this field as he drove under Aikey to take the point on lap four and he then cruised to the win, his fourth of the 2023 campaign. Brad Dierks would come from eighth to finish second, Morris would hold down third with Rockford's Scotte Lemke taking fourth after starting from the sixth row inside. Aikey would fade to fifth while Mohr and Roberts would rally from the back for sixth and seventh respectively.

Despite the longer than expected qualifying session and the extra time spent prior to the start of the Lucas finale, the final checkered flag waved at 10:10 p.m. and we were on our way home with plenty to talk about from another entertaining night at the Davenport Speedway. A big thanks as always to Brenda Kay for the hospitality and we look forward to returning in two weeks when the MARS Series will be the host for a field of cars that will likely include plenty of national stars for the Tuesday July 25th event that literally sits between the Silver Dollar Nationals at Husets and the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury.

For tonight I am keeping my eye on the weather hoping that the annual Cedar County Fair Race at Tipton will still be a "go" and then on Thursday night it will be over to Bloomfield for the Davis County Fair race. That's a "can't miss" when Mike Van Genderen is doing the track prep on one of my favorite venues! Perhaps I will see you there!