A Follow Up On The Four Cylinders And Three Features From Tipton

It is great to see how much discussion my post from Tuesday generated as it shows that there is still a passion for the Four Cylinder division and that most are aware that the class seems to be at a turning point. Through the many shares of the link on Facebook I have read with interest all of the conversations and I am happy that several feel that the ideas that I put out there would be worth a try. More importantly to me though are the support that this concept is getting from some of the drivers who have been having great success in the division for several years now. They know that racing against a field of ten cars is not sustainable and they are apparently willing to take home less purse money on average in hope of rebuilding that car count. 

There was also another idea or two floated in these discussions and one of them I would like to strike down while we're here. Running a "Junior" division of the Four Cylinders has already been tried and failed at some of the tracks in our region. In fact, it was at a couple of the tracks that ranked near the bottom of the list in regard to average car counts this year, so not only did the experiment not work, it also may have had a longer term negative effect on the "regular" Four Cylinder division. Besides, the last thing that weekly tracks need is another division added to the program and that is what you would be doing by splitting the class by the drivers' age.

For the most part though these discussions evolved into exactly what many promoters are tired of and that is the apparent drama of the rules and the tech inspection process. The point was also made by a good friend of mine, Cory Benge who said, "no matter the class, no matter the pay, people are going to do and spend what it takes to win." 

Truer words have never been spoken, however in nearly every class that we have in racing, one of the rewards of winning is a bigger paycheck than what you would get if you don't win and that is why I believe my concept is worth the experiment. If you take away that one extra piece of motivation, will it make any reduction in what a driver is willing to invest in this division that is meant to be a budget class?

And, even if it doesn't, won't the fact that the driver who has been running at the back of the field through the first couple of nights and only getting paid $25, but under my example is now getting $65 have a better chance of coming back next week? That is what this is all about, building and maintaining a bigger car count!

The offer still stands, Positively Racing will put up $200 to the point fund for the first All Iowa Points paying track that implements this system for 2024. It's worth a try, because if you stick with the status quo your car counts will likely continue to fade away.

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My colleague Danny Rosencrans and I made the trip up to Tipton on Wednesday night to take in the rescheduled Gary Reinhart Memorial event at the Cedar County Raceway. Postponed from its original date due to overly hot and humid conditions, the Darkside Promotions team of Timmy Current and Ryan Duhme made a great call by scheduling this race as an appetizer to this weekend's annual Fall Bash at the speedway. That three-day event has grown into one of those race weekends that many drivers and fans look forward to attending, not only for the great racing action, but for the camping, camaraderie, food, fun, music and parties as well. 

The Darkside crew does a phenomenal job of checking in over 150 drivers and still starting on their scheduled time, despite it being a weeknight and the qualifying heat races and four B-Mains ran off in lightning fast fashion ending at 8:52 p.m. After a short break and a little bit of track work by the "Dirt Doctor" Al Dlouhy, the Outlaw Stock Car feature took the green at 9:04 and after five laps were scored, things went south from there.

After surviving six cautions and the ensuing restarts race-long leader Jeff Struck Jr. said in victory lane, "I don't know what was going on behind me, they shouldn't be spinning out on this track." And he was right. The track was smooth, wide, and tacky and while this can sometimes lead to drivers running into each other because that are going faster than usual at this stage of the night, most of the cautions in this race, and the two features that followed were for drivers that were at or near the back of the field who had just spun and sat until the yellow came out. Frustrating for not only the drivers who are racing hard up front, but for the fans as well who were getting pretty vocal about it at times.

Struck's win from the pole went unchallenged until the final two restarts when Joel Rust was able to drive his IMCA legal Stock Car under the leader in turns one and two. He could not make it stick though as Struck scored the win while Rust came from tenth to finish second. Joe Bonney made a late charge as well finishing third after starting eighth. North central Illinois driver Zach Zuberbier was fourth and Jake Lund filled out the top five.

There was no shortage of 4 Stocks on this night as twenty-seven of them would line up for twelve laps with third-starting Trent Labarge out-shifting the front row to get to the lead just past the opening green flag. The first caution of this race would come when the two-time defending All Iowa Points Champion Cyle Hawkins would lose a wheel exiting turn four on lap three and, for those of you who have seen Cyle's sharp looking #28 in action before, you will know that if it had been his left rear wheel he probably would have been able to continue to be competitive.

On the restart Labarge was swarmed under by those starting behind him as he had dropped to fifth exiting turn two and it would now be Josh Starr at the point. To the credit of the drivers here, the remaining two cautions were not for spins, but instead for debris that was being strewn across the front stretch. On the first of those two restarts, the race for the lead would go four wide exiting turn two with Jake Benischek, Joe Zrostlik and Travis Hawkins joining Starr, only to have Josh maintain the lead until that second debris caution.

After this restart it would be Benischek making his run for the lead racing up, and even over the cushion in turns one and two to take the lead and Jake would then ward off the rally from Josh to secure the victory. Travis Hawkins would take third ahead of the two-time All Iowa Points Champion (2005-06) Joe Zrostlik with Labarge coming home fifth.

The Late Models would be up next and with it being around 9:45 I was still optimistic about being able to see the whole show and still making it home around midnight. Well, let's just say that goal got wiped out pretty quickly as the first caution waved with two laps in the book and there were four more stoppages before we could get to lap six. The race then seemed to get into some rhythm with Ron Klein leading the way until two more caution flags flew on lap twelve and lap thirteen. It was hard to keep track on the scoreboard that was counting down since laps were starting to be taken away after the fifth caution

By now Justin Kay had worked his way up from tenth to second and thankfully, for however many laps were remaining, we were treated to a great battle for the lead with Klein trying to get everything that he could out of the cushion while Kay worked the throttle to get the best bite off of the bottom. Finally, with just two laps remaining, Justin would ease ahead and he would put a car length or two between him and Klein in that final half-mile to take the victory. It was still an impressive runner-up finish for the veteran driver from Sherrill, while Joel Callahan charged from twelfth to third. Matt Ryan had started next to Callahan in the sixth row and he would finish fourth while early contender Evan Miller slipped back to fifth.

It was now 10:24 so these first three features had taken an hour and twenty minutes to complete, at no fault to the track officials I want to stress, but with an hour and a half drive to get home we made the tough decision to hit the road. I know that the first caution of the Sport Mod feature came at lap five, because I could see the scoreboard as we got into the car and these final two races must have went better since Danny was reading the results to me off of MyRacePass shortly after 11 p.m.

Danny will be making the long trip back up to Tipton tonight for the first of three nights for the Darkside Fall Bash featuring a 28-lap tribute race to the late Brad Coin for the Late Models and the rest of the weekend looks spectacular from a weather standpoint so make sure that you check it out if you are in the area.

A big thanks as always to announcer Jerry Mackey for the welcome and the kind words about what we do here at Positively Racing!

I will be playing golf for just the second time this year with a trip to the Ozarks that includes the plan of catching tonight's opener of a three day event at the Lake Ozark Speedway and then I will be at the Chad McCoy Memorial at Quincy on the way home Sunday. Don't forget about the big two day show at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, this weekend as well!

It is the final weekend in September so get out and support an event near you and we hope to see you again soon here on the Back Stretch.

What To Do With The Four Cylinders

With car counts trending downward and some tracks making the decision to cut the class all together I feel that it is time to take a new approach when it comes to the four cylinder division. Whether your track refers to them as the Sport Compacts, Four Stocks, Tuners or my personal favorite the Murder Hornets as they are known at the The 'Burg Speedway in Wisconsin, this division is important to the success of a track's weekly show.

While some like to view it as a starter class for drivers to later make the move on up the ranks, from my point of view it is more importantly a division that, simply put, is a better fit for the budget of most competitors. Yes, we have seen some very successful "graduates" of the Four Cylinder ranks such as Justin Kay, Joe Zrostlik, Cody Thompson, Austen Becerra and one of 2023's top Stock Car competitors Dillon Richards to name a few, but if you look at the top of the All Iowa Points standings from year to year you will find many of the same names. Drivers who have found success and who are staying in the Four Cylinder division.

I can still remember when Lee County Speedway promoter Terry Hoenig first brought this class to the area with the name "Wild Things". Instead of "race cars", Hoenig described them as "cars that race" and he even had a special rule in place where a driver could only be the leader of consecutive laps if they were the white flag and the checkers, otherwise the driver would be disqualified. Some have suggested that we go back to that, but I do not believe that we have to go that extent to breathe some life back in this division.

Now before you say, "why are you picking on this class Jeff? There are other divisions that have seen car counts slip over the years," it is because that I feel that each individual track can take some steps to rebuild the Four Cylinder division. For those other classes, it will require the cooperation of several tracks and a sanctioning body to make the change. So while you might not like what I have to propose here, perhaps it might be you that are contributing to the decline in the car count for the Four Cylinder class at your track. 

Let's start out with a bit of history and some stats. One of the biggest complaints that I hear about the division is "the drama" that surrounds it. A few years ago Eagle Raceway was averaging well over 20 Sport Compacts a night, but after 2019 the track chose to replace them with the IMCA Stock Cars. The reason? I was told by a good source that they were just too much of a headache to deal with from drivers pointing fingers at one another in regard to the rules and the social media drama that went along with that. My archives are getting too extensive as I tried to go back and find the story that I wrote about Eagle's success at drawing strong car counts even though they did not pay much to win as I recall the picture of the Sport Compact winner one night holding one of those "big checks" in victory lane for a total of $60.00. If you find that entry, let me know and I will link it here.

Move ahead to 2023 and while chatting with Brenda Kay during our Sprint Invaders show at Davenport in June, she told me that they had turned over the tech inspection process to the Four Cylinder drivers themselves so that they could argue with each other over the rules rather than continually coming to the promoter. Then in August, with sliding car counts and the desire to get back to four weekly classes C.J. Raceway promoter Larry Richardson announced that the class would be cut from the roster for 2024. Perhaps the final motivating factor for me to introduce my ideas came during the IMCA Super Nationals when several of the top drivers from my neck of the woods failed to pass tech after running well in their heat races giving credence to one of the things that I have heard consistently over the years from former Four Cylinder drivers. Some are spending too much money in order to stretch the rules in a class that was meant to be enjoyed by racer's on a tight budget.

So let's take a look at the car counts for 2023 at the All Iowa Points paying tracks that use MyRacePass. For each track I will give you the number of nights that the division raced, the average car count, the single night high car count, the single night low car count, the opening night car count and the final night car count. And I will list them in order based upon the highest average car count for the season.

Independence

12 events with an average car count of 17.6

High car count of 24 twice, low car count of 13

First race count of 19, final race count of 24

Vinton

12 events with an average car count of 17.0

High car count of 23, low car count of 11

First race count of 23, final race count of 11

West Union

13 events with an average car count of 16.9

High car count of 21 three times, low car count of 10

First race count of 17, final race count of 14

Indianola

9 events with an average car count of 16.9

High car count of 20, low car count of 13

First race count of 16, final race count of 19

Corning

17 events with an average car count of 16.5

High car count of 24, low car count of 13

First race count of 13, final race count of 24

Tipton

3 events with an average car count of 16.3

High car count of 21, low car count of 14

First race count of 14, final race count of 14 (has events coming up this weekend)

Maquoketa

16 events with an average car count of 15.4

High car count of 26, low car count of 9 twice

First race count of 26, final race count of 11

East Moline

7 events with an average car count of 15.4

High car count of 20, low car count of 11 twice

First race count of 16, final race count of 18

Interstate Speedway

15 events with an average car count of 15.3

High car count of 29, low car count of 9

First race count of 29, final race count of 18 (still has races scheduled)

Marshalltown

12 events with an average car count of 14.2

High car count of 28, low car count of 8 twice

First race count of 28, final race count of 11

Decorah

11 events with an average car count of 14.0

High car count of 17, low car count of 10

First race count of 17, final race count of 13

Harlan

15 events with an average car count of 13.7

High car count of 22, low car count of 9

First race count of 22, final race count of 9

Dubuque

8 events with an average car count of 13.6

High car count of 19, low car count of 9 twice

First race count of 18, final race count of 9

Cresco

2 events with an average car count of 13.5

High car count of 15, low car count of 12

First race count of 15, final race count of 12

Quincy

17 events with an average car count of 13.1

High car count of 21, low car count of 9 four times

First race count of 21, final race count of 10 (still has events scheduled)

Donnellson

14 events with an average car count of 12.3

High car count of 16 twice, low car count of 7

First race count of 14, final race count of 7 (still has events scheduled)

Columbus Junction

15 events with an average car count of 11.8

High car count of 17 twice, low car count of 6

First race count of 17, final race count of 9 (still has an event scheduled)

Park Jefferson

15 events with an average car count of 11.7

High car count of 17, low car count of 8 twice

First race count of 15, final race count of 10 (still has events scheduled)

Davenport

12 events with an average car count of 11.6

High car count of 33, low car count of 6

First race count of 12, final race count of 33 (paid $2,000-to-win)

Denison

11 events with an average car count of 11.6

High car count of 17, low car count of 8

First race count of 14, final race count of 10

West Liberty

8 events with an average car count of 11.5

High car count of 21, low car count of 7

First race count of 21, final race count of 8

Brooklyn

11 events with an average car count of 11.5

High car count of 14, low car count of 9

First race count of 10, final race count of 12

Darlington

9 events with an average car count of 11.4

High car count of 14 twice, low car count of 9 twice

First race count of 13, final race count of 9

Worthington

12 events with an average car count of 11.1

High car count of 23, low car count of 8

First race count of 10, final race count of 9

Spencer

5 events with an average car count of 10.8

High car count of 15, low car count of 6

First race count of 13, final race count of 10

Stuart

10 events with an average car count of 10.5

High car count of 13, low car count of 8

First race count of 10, final race count of 8

Burlington

12 events with an average car count of 10.2

High car count of 13 twice, low car count of 7

First race count of 9, final race count of 11

Cedar Rapids

13 events with an average car count of 9.8

High car count of 13, low car count of 8

First race count of 8, final race count of 13

Alta

10 events with an average car count of 8.5

High car count of 11, low car count of 6

First race count of 9, final race count of 6

Algona

15 events with an average car count of 7.1

High car count of 22, low car count of 4

First race count of 6, final race count of 4

Webster City

11 events with an average car count of 6.8

High car count of 12, low car count of 2

First race count of 12, final race count of 9 (still has events scheduled)

Fairmont

13 events with an average car count of 6.7

High car count of 13, low car count of 3

First race count of 7, final race count of 7

Britt

14 events with an average car count of 5.0

High car count of 10, low car count of 3 three times

First race count of 4, final race count of 3

Mason City

8 events with an average car count of 4.9

High car count of 8, low car count of 2

First race count of 8, final race count of 2 (still has events scheduled)

Fort Dodge

7 events with an average car count of 3.9

High car count of 5 twice, low car count of 3 three times

First race count of 3, final race count of 5

That is an overall average car count of just 12.02 and as you can see, at most tracks, the car count started out higher than it ended with an average opening night car count of 14.54 and a closing night average of 11.8. Throw out the season ending special at Davenport and the average closing night car count is actually 11.2.

Obviously some tracks are doing much better than others, but in my mind a promoter would want his or her budget class to average more than twenty cars a night and would not like to see a 20% drop off in numbers as the season plays out. So how can an individual track make this happen? 

I believe that you need to do two things: 1. Remove some of the incentive to spend more money to go faster and look for gray area in the rules, and 2. Make it where the drivers who are not running up front on a consistent basis can still afford to keep coming back each week. And to do that I would rob the concept that the famous Fairbury Speedway used, or still uses for their Hobby Mod class:

Every driver takes home the same amount of purse money each race night

If your current purse structure pays $150-to-win and $20-to-start and you are only averaging ten cars you are likely paying out around $700 in total purse money for the class. My suggestion would be to pay all drivers the same amount, in this example $65, and you would put another $5 per car into your track's point fund to be distributed at the end of the season. By going to this purse structure you reduce the incentive for drivers to spend more money to go fast, plus you keep those drivers who finish deeper in the field a little better paid so that they can come back next week.

Yes, as your car count grows, you will be paying out more in purse money than you would otherwise, but you will also be selling more pit passes and tickets, plus selling more concessions to those who will be there to follow their favorite driver.

In this example let's hope that your average car count grows from 10 to 16 and you have 15 events on the schedule. This would give you a track point fund of $1,200 to distribute at the end of the season with the breakdown as follows:

1st place: 50% of the fund or $600

2nd place: 20% of the fund or $240

3rd place: 15% of the fund or $180

4th place: 10% of the fund or $120

5th place: 5% of the fund or $60

But here is your kicker to even further take away the incentive to spend more money to go fast. If the points champion accepts the 50% cut of the fund, then that driver is not eligible to compete in the Four Cylinder division at your track the following season. If the championship driver wants to stay in the division then he or she will get 25% of the fund or $300 with the remaining 25% distributed equally to drivers placing 6th through 10th in the final standings.

This might not sound like much, but what if your car count grows to 20 or 25 a night on average? At an average car count of 25 over 15 nights your championship driver will have earned $1,625 in purse money and then have the option to take half of an $1,875 point fund, or $937.50 for a total earnings of $2,562.50 on the season.

Do you think that drivers and their friends and family will be pissing and moaning about the track on social media? If they do, they will only be cutting in to their earnings potential, but yes I know that some will not comprehend that. We can only hope though!

Is it possible that somebody might try to take advantage of this system by doing a "start and park" each week just to collect $65? This is racing, so yes that might happen, so the promoter reserves the right to withhold the purse check if they see a driver doing this on a regular basis.

I may be wrong, but I believe that this system can be in place even if your track is sanctioned as long as you continue to follow all rules and lineup procedures as set forth by the sanctioning body.

Will some drivers not like it? Of course, and it will probably be the driver that is consistently running in the top three each week, and they will likely be very vocal about it. But is it possible that this driver is a primary reason why you are only averaging 10 cars a week?

I believe that this will boost your car counts and, for the first All Iowa Points paying track that runs the division weekly that gives this system a try, Positively Racing will put an additional $200 into that track's point fund at the end of the season.

Let's rebuild this class, otherwise the Crown Vic's will be coming soon!

With a favorable weather forecast for the days ahead I hope to be in Tipton Wednesday night for the rescheduled Gary Reinhart Memorial, at the Lake Ozark Speedway on Thursday for the first of three nights of racing there this weekend and then at the Adams County Illinois Speedway in Quincy on Sunday night for the Chad McCoy Memorial. Hope to see you at the track!

RTJ's Last Lap Pass Tops Off An Amazing Night At Knoxville

From start to the amazing finish, Thursday night's opener of the 19th Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals presented by Your Life Iowa was one of the most entertaining nights that this writer has spent at a race track in some time. Not only was it a prestigious event featuring most of the best Late Model drivers in the country, each qualifying event had an interesting storyline and the final fifteen laps of the main event was filled with action for the win. Plus, the whole show was presented in a quick and professional manner with the final checkered flag waving at 9:15 p.m.!

Forty cars signed in and while this is one of the lowest car counts in the history of this event, I will let others have that discussion as on this night, that didn't matter. In Knoxville "Nationals" qualifying night fashion, drivers would earn points in qualifying, the heat races and the features and with the Late Models it is the driver's best score in the two qualifying nights that determines their starting position for Saturday night's finale. Also different than the Sprint Car Nationals, the Late Models were split into two groups for qualifying with quick time in each group earning the top prize of 200 points. Perhaps this is something that the Sprint Cars should consider as the luck of the draw for qualifying order plays a big role since the track generally slows down as more laps are run on it.

The third car to take the green, Mike Marlar would set quick time in Group A with a lap of 17.109 while in Group B Ricky Thornton Jr. was a quarter of a second faster than everybody else with a time of 17.396. That would have placed him sixth overall despite the fact that he was the 26th car out to time.

Four heat races would be run with the top six inverted by qualifying times and the top five advancing to the A-Main, and there would be two B-Mains with top two from each filling out the twenty-four car starting field for tonight twenty-five laps main event. As Ed Reichert and other regular readers of the Back Stretch know, I usually despise the use of two B-Mains when there are twenty or fewer cars still looking to get qualified, but when using the Group A/Group B method I will give this one a pass. After all, if the car count was, for example 28, they would not have split into two groups and then there would have just been one B-Main.

But I digress....

Marlar would slip to eighth exiting turn two on the opening lap of the first heat race and he would only make up one position before slowing on the back stretch on lap four. After the caution waved, Marlar drove around to the front stretch and briefly stopped at the exit of the staging area before rejoining the field at the back for the restart. Not sure what that was all about, but he regained his speed and passed both Luke Merfeld and Chris Simpson for the fifth position on lap seven and Marlar then dropped Tyler Erb to fifth on the final lap in a race won by first time Knoxville participant Max Blair.

A torrid battle for second between hard chargers Kyle Bronson and Brandon Overton would spice up the first half of the second heat and when the quick qualifier of this pack of ten, Chris Ferguson joined them it made for quite a show. Once Ferguson was able to clear those two, his sights were set on leader Chase Junghans who proved to be no match for Fergy as the North Carolina star also won a heat race in his debut here at Knoxville.

With names like Sheppard, Pearson, Davenport, Thornton and McCreadie in the lineup, the third heat was stacked and once out front it looked like Brandon Sheppard was well in control. I spent most of the twelve laps watching Tim McCreadie languish in the ninth position trying to get around Tim Lance, with both of these drivers improving a position when pole-sitter Ricky Weiss dropped out of the race. The top two, Sheppard and defending Knoxville Late Model Nationals champion Jonathan Davenport were both running the bottom and it looked like that would be how they would finish.

Until the white flag waved.

Davenport broke ranks and went to the cushion in turns one and two getting a big run down the back stretch and he would sail past Sheppard in the final turns showing that "Superman" was in the house and was ready to defend his title. Oh yes, and McCreadie would finally pass Lance on the final lap for seventh.

Hudson O'Neal was the quickest qualifier in the fourth and final heat race and when he got sideways at the top of turn one on the opening lap he dropped all the way to ninth. The rush was now on to recover with the middle of the field racing in tight formation and when O'Neal tried to get past Todd Cooney exiting turn four mid-race, the two made contact send the front end of O'Neal's Rocket high into the air. Somehow both drivers would recover and the race would stay green and now up front we had a thrilling four car tussle for the lead with Iowans Tyler Bruening, Chad Simpson and Ryan Gustin slugging it out along with Mississippi's Spencer Hughes. Simpson would prevail for the victory while O'Neal would be a straightaway back in fifth at the checkers.

With just two cars advancing from each of the B-Mains, both had entertaining races for the transfer. Three cars would race it out for those two positions in the first one with Chris Simpson and Billy Moyer leading the way with just a few laps remaining. Garrett Alberson would find some extra speed on the cushion and would go from third to first by inches at the stripe with just two laps remaining, but then that top line went away for him as both Simpson and Moyer would drop Alberson back to third at the checkers.

McCreadie returned to form in the second B-Main winning by half a lap while several drivers were in contention at one time or another for the final starting spot in the A-Main. Tennessee's Cory Hedgecock looked good early in Jason Rauen's #98, but when smoke started to show in the closing laps he would fade back to seventh. Todd Cooney and Justin Zeitner were looking good until Tim Lance made his way up from fifth to snare the final transfer.

The stage was now set for the twenty-five lap main event and while it would have been usual to take a twenty or thirty minute break with this one division show, the cars were in staging in fifteen minutes and we were ready roll. Definitely one of the benefits of having a race live streamed as you don't want to lose that viewing crowd to channel surfing.

Daulton Wilson had looked fast all night and from the drop of the green he would drive away from the field after starting from the pole position. Fourth starting Jonathan Davenport would make his way to second on lap three only to find Wilson a full straightaway in front of him and he would not have much success in cutting into that gap until the leader closed in on traffic at lap ten.

Wilson would get sideways exiting turn four and not only would he lose ground on the back of the field, he would have Davenport quickly closing in on him to make it a race for the lead. Once again finding his low line momentum, Wilson would start to lap cars while also holding Davenport at bay until lap sixteen when he came upon a three-wide race for position involving Blair, Bronson and McCreadie.

Daulton would slip off the bottom exiting turn two and that would allow Davenport to go flying by him entering turn three. However, when Jonathan came out of turn four he himself drifted too wide and slapped the outside guardrail. Davenport would be scored the leader under the flagstand, but his damaged car would not turn as he entered turn one and when he smacked the guardrail his car came to an abrupt stop with now heavy damage. Thankfully Superman climbed out of the car uninjured, but there will be a lot of work ahead for his crew in order to make a run at defending his title here at Knoxville.

Wilson would regain the lead for the restart only to have Brandon Overton take it away from him with just four laps remaining, and then one lap later the caution would wave when Hudson O'Neal spun out of a three way battle in turn one. This would now set us up for a thrilling three lap sprint to the checkers! 

Brandon Overton (4) tracks down leader Daulton Wilson - Barry Johnson photo

This would be a single file restart with Overton out front, Ricky Thornton Jr. now in second and Wilson lined up in third, plus you had Mike Marlar and Devin Moran ready to join the fray if given the opportunity. When Overton drifted up the track exiting turn two it would kill the momentum that Thornton had off the top and that would allow Wilson to get back to second with just two laps remaining. Wilson was rolling on the inside and he would close quickly on Overton going down the back stretch and as they entered turn three Overton did not get to the cushion right away and Wilson missed the bottom. Thornton would take full advantage nailing the low line in three and four to get back around Wilson and, with his momentum down the front stretch he would then execute a move that we are so used to seeing the Sprint Car stars make here at the legendary Knoxville Raceway.

RTJ would drive in low and then slide up in front of Overton in turn two and when Brandon tried to do the crossover down the back stretch Ricky came down the track and closed the door entering turn three. Sliding back to the cushion exiting turn four Ricky Thornton Jr. would lead the one lap that counts to take the $7,000 victory and, with Overton's momentum briefly interrupted, Wilson was able to nip him at the line by inches in a thrilling finish. Devin Moran would chase them in for fourth, Mike Marlar finished fifth, sixth went to Chris Ferguson and Tyler Erb came from seventeenth to finish seventh. Ryan Gustin also advanced ten spots to finish eighth, Brandon Sheppard was ninth and Earl Pearson Jr. rounded out the top ten. 

The start of the winning move, Ricky Thornton Jr. drives under Brandon Overton entering turn one on the final lap - Barry Johnson photo

What a race!

What a night!

Barry Johnson photo

I loved the fact that the regular Knoxville Raceway announcing team of Tony Bokhoven, Chris Krug and Wade Aunger called the action for the benefit of the crowd on hand and they did a spectacular job of entertaining and informing throughout the night. I am sure that James Essex, Dustin Jarrett and Ben Shelton were magnificent as always with their announcing for the MavTV on Flo live stream, but as I have noted in the past each requires its own style of announcing. This is how it should be done to satisfy both audiences. 

With other commitments on Friday and Saturday this would be the only night that I could attend for the weekend so I want you to go and take my place for some more exciting Late Model racing at the Knoxville Raceway!

Next up for me will be a doubleheader weekend to close out the 2023 schedule for the Sprint Invaders. On Friday night, September 22nd, we will be at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, then on Saturday the 23rd a champion will be decided with the annual Fall Haul at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!

 

McCarl, Stewart and Masters Take Top Honors at Clay County Fair

Two years ago I made the five hour drive to Spencer to complete my goal of attending every currently active "oval only" track in the state of Iowa. That experience then prompted me to check out the world's largest county fair in 2022 for some Tuesday night racing in September. When I returned home the next day I immediately made a note in my calendar to return in 2023 and that is just what we did on Tuesday night, making the long drive from southeast Iowa to northwest Iowa for another night of Late Model, Sprint Car and Stock Car racing all surrounded by some of the best fair food options that you will ever find.

Do you know that there are tracks in Indiana that I have not yet visited that would be a shorter drive than this trip to Spencer? Not sure why I included that tidbit of information, but just find it interesting that going diagonal across Iowa is longer than going to the second state over to the east. Anyway.....

The one change in this show from last year was that the Malvern Bank SLMR series would replace the Tri-State Late Model series so while last year's field of 27 featured around fifteen cars that I had not yet seen that season, Tuesday's roster of 18 Late Models only gave me my first glimpse of Luke Sathoff this year. The ASCS National Tour had a solid count of 31 cars in attendance while the IMCA Stock Cars were again strong with 26.

With SLMR on hand that meant that we had two classes to qualify so while hot laps kicked off at 7 p.m. as scheduled it would take until 7:55 to get everyone hot lapped and qualified, and the ASCS gives drivers three laps on the clock during their group qualifying sessions. In my opinion this put the track prep crew into "catch up" mode for the remainder of the night and, while they were efficient in what they did, they had to do it quite often in order to maintain a competitive racing surface and that resulted in a long night for a three division show.

The Stock Cars were up first and they didn't help make this an efficient show by any means with seven cautions through the first nine laps scored. The first stoppage was for the last place car who just parked at the top of turn two and then drove away as soon as the yellow light came on. That same driver was also the reason for the fifth caution of the event, with five laps scored, and the announcer appropriately said that "the JIG was up" for this driver who was sent to the pit area. It's a shame that the back of the field had so many issues because the racing up front was riveting when they had the chance. Jake Masters had started eleventh and he used the high line to charge all the way up to second when the caution flew after lap three and on the restart leader Mike Albertson tried to go to the top as well running Masters off the top the track going down the back stretch.

No problem, there were three cars tangled up in turn two anyway so Masters would again restart in second and this time they were three-wide for the lead exiting turn two. No need to follow that race down the back stretch though because another car had spun in turn two and on this, now a single-file restart, Masters would sail by Albertson to take the lead. He would then hold it the rest of the way in a race that was scheduled for twenty laps on MyRacePass, but was checkered flagged at lap fifteen. Alberston finished second, David Smith came from eighth to third, Jim Horejsi was fourth and Cody Nielsen completed the top five.

Another round of watering and packing would take place before the twenty-five lap Sprint Car main event would come to the track and after several laps to help roll in the new moisture, the twenty-two car field went three-wide to salute the large crowd in attendance. Former series champion Blake Hahn would start from the pole with National Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Terry McCarl to his outside and it would be McCarl that would take the lead. After the Stock Car "cautionfest" it was refreshing to have this one go green to checkers....almost.....and while McCarl drove away from the competition, there was definitely some good racing to watch mid-pack.

I was focused on Indiana visitor Zane DeVault who was impressive in winning his heat race, but due to a poor qualifying effort he had started from the twelfth position for the feature. By mid-race he was now racing both Brandon Anderson and Chris Martin for fourth and that three-car battle over a three lap distance was well worth the price of admission. After clearing those two, DeVault was not satisfied and he quickly tracked down Hahn who had been shuffled to third by Matt Covington. That was the race to watch as the leader McCarl had already taken the white flag, but as Hahn and DeVault came to the stripe the red light was needed as North Carolina's Lance Moss had stopped in turn four, his cockpit full of flames.

Moss scrambled out of his car before help could even arrive and rolled on the track trying to extinguish the flames that were flickering from his legs. Safety workers and other drivers jumped to action to put the fire out and the report from the scene was that Moss was talking with medical personnel. A check of Twitter/X tonight does not show any updates, so our hope is that the driver's fire suit did it's job and saved Lance Moss from serious injury.

With the leaders already taking the white, and the cleanup needed after the fire extinguishers were exhausted in turn four, the race was called complete with McCarl taking the win in front of long-time supporters Justice Brothers and DeBerg Concrete. Covington would be the runner up while DeVault had nipped Hahn at the line for third. Brandon Anderson would wrap up the top five.

More farming would take place before the Late Model feature, including the use of the Lely on the very top of turns one and two, well above the cushion. Billy Leighton joined front row starters Andrew Kosiski and Derrick Stewart to make it three-wide for the lead out of turn four on the opening lap with Stewart having the edge at the stripe before Kosiski took over on lap two. 

A third-generation of the famous Kosiski family, Andrew started to put some distance on Stewart and the rest of the field until around lap ten when Derrick started to enter turns one and three on the cushion and then diamond off the bottom of turns two and four. By doing this he closing in by one car length a lap and he was bringing the low riding Tad Pospisil along with him. We were now setup for a three car battle for the lead when Jeff Segebart shucked his driveshaft right in front of the leaders and thankfully none of them suffered serious damage after making contact with it.

Nine laps would remain on the only restart of the race and when Stewart went to grab the cushion in turn one, Pospisil closed the door on him to take second and keep the heat on Kosiski. Stewart did not give up on that line though and with six laps to go he regained second and on the next lap he ducked under Kosiski exiting turn two to take the lead. There would be no stopping the driver from the eastern Iowa town of Ainsworth, just thirty minutes north of me, and he would score his second SLMR victory of the season over Pospisil and Kosiski. Leighton would finish in the fourth spot while Corey Zeitner was fifth. 

It was now just a few minutes before 11 p.m. and we had a long drive to our hotel in Fort Dodge ahead of us, and when I returned home today I did not circle the calendar for next September as I had done last year. But that doesn't mean that I won't consider the option again twelve months from now.

Night number one of the annual Knoxville Late Model Nationals is next on that calendar followed by a double-header weekend for the Sprint Invaders at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on Friday September 22nd and then at 34 Raceway on Saturday September 23rd.

Hope to see you out there on the Back Stretch!

Eighth Super Nationals Title For Hall of Famer Aikey

Thirty-three Late Models somehow found a place to park pitside as the 41st Annual IMCA Super Nationals ramped up on a hot, but breezy Monday at the Boone Speedway where hot laps started at 1 p.m. and racing at 2:00 and nine hours later a champion was crowned as Jeff Aikey held off the defending race winner Cory Dumpert. The full show for the Late Models was squeezed in between qualifying races for 169 Northern Sport Mods and an event record count of 159 Hobby Stocks.

Knowing that I would have the opportunity to spend the day with my Positively Racing colleagues Barry Johnson and Dick and Joyce Eisele, as well as good friends Paul Vetter and David Schlise, I made the three hour trip for a full day of racing and, as always, the Super Nationals delivered with plenty of action and excitement. The schedule for the day was not posted until after we arrived and when I saw how deep the Late Model feature was in the lineup I knew that my hopes of being back home by midnight were dashed.

It was an interesting roster of Late Model drivers including several from Nebraska where the number of sanctioned tracks are now about equal to, or greater than what we have in eastern Iowa, plus there were several drivers that were likely making their one and only appearance at an IMCA Late Model show for 2023. These included longtime Modified and Stock Car competitor Mike Petersilie from central Kansas, versatile Texas driver Dean Abbey, southeast Missouri's Adam Parmeley and Cooper Tilley who lists Omaha as his hometown, but is usually found in the results from the Big O Speedway in Ennis, Texas.

Four heat races provided plenty of three-wide racing and the one B-Main saw a great battle for the four final transfer positions into the fifty-lap feature. In a throw back to the former long running Summer Series, the redraw was done with Casey's Pizza boxes and it would be Nebraska's Alex Banks and National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Jeff Aikey starting from the front row. 

Jeff Aikey - Barry Johnson photo

Those two would race side-by-side in the early laps with Aikey's high side momentum getting him to the scoring loop first each time before he started to put some distance on Banks by lap four. Drivers were racing four-wide mid-pack on the freshly groomed surface and the first caution of the race waved on lap thirteen when Tilley and Evan Miller tangled in turn two. It had been an interesting day for Miller as during his qualifying heat, while challenging for the lead mid-race, he spun in turn four and after scrambling to avoid the caution he would still finish last putting him near the back of the B-Main. From there he would race from eleventh to take the fourth and final transfer spot from Kale Kosiski on the final lap to make the feature.

Two laps after the restart Abbey would move to second and set his sights on Aikey who was still cruising the cushion. While he could stay close, the Texan could not find enough grip in the lower lines to mount a challenge for the lead and the caution would wave again on lap twenty-two when Tilley and this time Chance Huston would get together in turn two. When back to green Abbey would find the middle to his liking and he would lead the next three laps before Huston's now ill-handling car spun again in turn two.

Following this restart Abbey would make a self-professed driver's error as he went too low in turns three and four making contact with the buried infield tires and he would then pull to the infield with mechanical issues as Aikey sailed back into the lead. The caution would fly again one lap later when Miller spun in calamity corner, turn two and as the field was realigned we noted that Cory Dumpert was now up to sixth. 

Cory Dumpert (77) works to the outside of Darrel DeFrance and Bobby Hansen - Barry Johnson photo

The soon to be five-time IMCA Late Model National Champion had started fifteenth and did not advance much in the early laps, but he had found his speed now and just five laps after going back to green Dumpert had charged to second and was closing ground on Aikey. The final caution would wave with twelve laps remining when Greg Krohn got into the front stretch wall and after the restart Dumpert was banging the cushion as hard as he could to try to get a run on the leader. Aikey was smooth on the high line that was now obviously dominant and with no lapped traffic to have to deal with in the closing laps the sixty-one year-old driver from Cedar Falls would put his Late Model into victory lane for the seventh time here at the Super Nationals with this one being his first victory since going four straight from 2013 through 2016. Add in his 2018 title in the Modified and this is Jeff's eighth win in a "big Dance" here at Boone and unless cracker jack announcer and historian Ryan Clark tells me otherwise, I am going to proclaim that this is more than any other driver.

Dumpert would settle for second with Joel Callahan taking third after starting from the sixth row. Quad Cities area drivers Andy Nezworski and Joe Beal were next in line while veteran Mike Fryer made the most of just his fourth start of the season finishing in sixth after starting thirteenth. Banks slipped to seventh, J.D. Auringer was the Hard Charger advancing fourteen spots to eighth, Darrel DeFrance maintained his "Ironman" status and finished ninth while Bobby Hansen came from nineteenth to tenth. 

Bobby Hansen again in the middle of three-wide racing, this time with J.D. Auringer (62) and Mike Fryer (5M) - Barry Johnson photo

The race was delayed by another twenty to thirty minutes when, during the track prep session preceding the set of events that included the Late Model feature, one of the track packers had an axle break and then it overturned with about a four foot high pile of sand being left on the high side of turn three. It would take some time to scoop all of that off the black dirt track and then after one set of Stock Car hot laps, the track prep crew came back to the speedway for another farming session. Take that quirk out of the mix and the Late Model portion of the show would have concluded around 10:30 and far be it from me to be critical of how anything is done at this amazing event, but it sure would have been nice if the Late Model feature could have been slotted in before the Race of Champions heat races for the Sport Mods and the Hobby Stocks rather than afterwards. 

We did get to see one of the two twenty-five lap qualifying races held for the Sport Mods on this day and what looked like an impressive victory for Logan Anderson who charged from ninth to first was later wiped out by a disqualification in the tech area for a serpentine belt violation. That would hand the win over to young California speedster Tyler Bannister who, as Paul Vetter stated, would have a "toss off" later with the second Sport Mod winner of the night Jake Sachau to determine who will be the pole-sitter for Saturday's Big Dance. I'm assuming that would be a round of Corn Hole, or a toss of the dice?

It was a long, but enjoyable day and evening of racing enhanced by the conversation and laughter with good friends, but I can tell you that I functioned much better on just four hours of sleep when I was forty than I do now that I am sixty!

I look forward to following along with the results from Boone on MyRacePass for the remainder of the week with my next racing to be another long road trip to the Clay County Fair in Spencer next Tuesday night for the ASCS National Series and Malvern Bank SLMR double header. Look for me perusing the amazing selection of fair food pre-race before we see what transpires on the Back Stretch.

Drama And Destruction In Donnellson Drive For Five Finale

Pushed back six days due to the heat and humidity last week, the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson closed out its regular season on Thursday night with Season Championship racing in four divisions plus the "Drive For Five" finale for the IMCA Late Models. In this promotion the Late Model feature winner would earn the $2,000 top prize, plus collect a $3,000 bonus if they had participated in a good percentage of the qualifying nights held throughout the regular season.

Twenty-two Late Models would sign in on a perfect night for racing from a weather standpoint and after hot laps took some of the grease off the top of the racing surface, the track was wide and multi-grooved for all but the final race of the night without needing any additional work. Qualifying was done using the double heat method with lineups from the first round of heats reversed for the second round, and passing points straight up would set the lineup for a fifty lap feature that would see a ten minute break at the midway point. Crews would be able to do anything except change a tire during the break and maintain their running position for the restart.

Despite having his weekly driver Jeff Guengerich eligible for the extra cash, car owner Lynn Richard had veteran Mark Burgtorf in the #15R and after winning both of his heat races, Burgtorf would earn the pole position alongside impressive newcomer Evan Miller. Burgtorf would have the advantage by a nose to lead the opening lap before Miller used the high line to take over on lap number two.

The young driver who has transplanted from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Silvis, Illinois, due to work began to open up a good lead as drivers shuffled for position behind him. C.J. Horn would soon take second and that gap would now start to close as we neared the lap ten mark. Horn was now within striking distance and when Miller got above the narrow thin cushion in turn three, Horn would take the lead on lap fifteen.

Ten more laps would be completed before the caution waved for halftime and as the field lined up in Delaware double file fashion, you might not have noticed the driver that was restarting from seventh. Driving Derek Hollenstine's #21 for just the second or third time, Modified ace Austen Becerra was about to thrill the crowd with a big move off the high side of turns one and two. During the first half of the race Becerra had come from twelfth to sixth without much fanfare, but he would go to third down the back stretch and then pass Nick Marolf for second on lap twenty-eight.

With Horn digging around the bottom he was a sitting duck for Becerra's high-side hustle and on lap thirty-one Austen would sail to the front and start to drive away. Everybody loves an underdog and despite his success in first the Four Cylinders, then the Sport Mods and most recently the Modifieds where he is currently trying to defend his 2022 All Iowa Points championship, nobody would have picked Austen to win this one, except for Austen, and you could hear the crowd gasp as he slapped the guardrail with the right rear as he continued to milk all that he could out of that cushion.

Horn was changing grooves trying to keep pace, but even with the right side of his spoiler knocked off, Becerra was still inching away. Then the caution that would change everything would wave on lap thirty-seven for Denny Woodworth who had spun in turn four. 

Setting a very slow pace for the restart, when Becerra started to "turn downhill" out of turn four, both Burgtorf and Horn got on the throttle early and they would exit turn four three-wide with the right front of Burgtorf's car and the left rear of Becerra's making contact. The jumbled start would be called back, but with his left rear tire now flat Becerra waited for Burgtorf to drive past him under caution. He would then drive the nose of his car up over the left rear wheel of Burgtorf's in frustration. The move was inexplicable to those of us in the stands as it was not clear that Becerra had a flat tire and it looked like he was throwing away his chance to try to restart again as the leader.

With Becerra now sent to the pits, Horn and Burgtorf would bring the field back to green side-by-side and again there was contact just before the start as Marolf got into the back of Burgtorf. All would fire though and as the field came up to speed down the front stretch, Marolf would slow as he was pinched up to the wall with the car behind him making contact and turning him hard right into the guardrail at the entrance of turn one. The sickening sound of crumpling sheet metal would seem to go on forever as several cars piled in and once it finally stopped the nose of Marolf's car was wedged in the guardrail about ten yards from where his crumpled car ended up. Denny Woodworth also sustained heavy damage while Gary Webb was able to drive his damaged race car back to his trailer. Thankfully all drivers escaped injury.

After a long cleanup we would get back to racing with Horn, Burgtorf and now Andy Nezworski going three-wide exiting turn two to see who would finally lead lap thirty-eight. It would be Horn, but now we had a new upstart entering the battle in hometown driver Jeremy Pundt. Racing both a Stock Car and a Late Model weekly here at Donnellson, Pundt recently posted on Facebook saying that it was too much work to maintain both cars and he asked his friends for their advice as to which one he should keep. He would then go on to win the Stock Car feature here on August 18th surely giving it the leg up in this decision, but now here he was coming to the front in his Late Model with a potential $5,000 top prize in his grasp.

As Horn ran the bottom, Pundt was closing on the cushion until the leader started to use the high side as well in turns three and four. That seemed to slow the charge as the cushion had now gone away in turns one and two and while Pundt stayed within five car lengths over the closing laps it would be Horn that would collect the win and the Drive for Five bonus cash. Jeremy would still pocket $1,500 for second, more than he has made in one night in that Stock Car! (Can you tell that I voted for him to keep the Late Model in his comments?) Mark Burgtorf would outduel Nezworski for third and Sam Halstead filled out the top five edging Tommy Elston at the stripe. 

Twenty-two Late Models were on hand, but this isn't one of them. This Street Legal Late Model was parked next to me in the parking lot

The Sport Mod feature served as an appetizer for that Late Model race as they went eighteen laps with just one caution for debris. Tom Bowling Jr. would lead for the majority of the distance until the eighth starting Brandon Dale slipped by with four laps remaining and Brandon would then celebrate the feature win along with the 2023 track title in victory lane. Bowling held off Sean Wyett to finish second, John Oliver Jr. was fourth and pole-sitter Josh Holtman slipped to fifth.

Changing from a Friday to a Thursday likely held the Sport Compact count down a bit as there was a four car breakaway in the seven car field. A lap five restart would see Brandon Reu, Josh Barnes and Barry Taft race three-wide for the lead with Reu maintaining the advantage and then it would be Taft taking aim at the lead. Thank goodness for the transponder scoring as it was that close at the line for the final seven circuits with Taft edging ahead on lap nine and lap fourteen only to see Reu take the checkers by a nose on the fifteenth and final lap. Taft and Barnes would fill the podium while Josh's son Chevy would earn the track championship with his fourth place run.

Front row starters Kyle Madden and Dustin Kroening would run side-by-side for the first lap and a half until Chris Zogg shot the gap between them entering turn three. The move would stick and Zogg would take the lead on lap two and while he first drove away from his competition, with twenty-one Modifieds on hand there was a bunch of traffic to deal with in this eighteen lap feature. Picking his way up from sixth, Jarrett Brown would get to second with seven laps remaining and while he would close to within five car lengths at the checkers he could not catch Zogg who secured the win. Dakota Simmons raced from seventh to third, Brandon Banks came from eighth to fourth and Bill Roberts Jr. finished in fifth.

The Stock Cars would close out the evening with Leremy Jackson leading the opening lap before Jason Cook went charging by. By now the cushion was all the way to the rail on both ends so digging around the bottom seemed the way to go, especially after Neal Kohlmorgan showed how treacherous the top could be. With ten laps remaining Kohlmorgan got into turn three too hot and his car launched up and over the guardrail before rolling several times outside of turn four. Thankfully the driver from Keokuk was not injured in the scary crash.

Once back to green it was pretty much a parade around the bottom as Cook stayed well ahead of runner-up John Oliver Jr. Track champion Derrick Agee finished third, Jeremy Pundt rounded out a successful evening in fourth and visitor Jason McDaniel finished fifth.

It was good to catch up with colleague Brian Neal and as always I want to thank promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord for their hospitality. I will look forward to the next event at the Lee County Speedway coming up on Friday September 22nd when the Sprint Invaders and the HART Limited Modified series will highlight the action.

Next up for me will be tomorrow night (Saturday) when the Sprint Invaders return to the West Liberty Raceway for the first time in several years and it will be a full night of action with Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts also on the card. Then it looks like a one day visit to the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone to start next week.

Specials season is upon us, get out and support a track near you! 

The sun is setting on the 2023 regular season. Make sure that you take in as many special events over the next two months as possible!