Making a late decision to make the trip, and with my fourteen-year-old niece Phoebe on board for her first ever race, we headed for the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for some Sunday evening racing action. And even though the hot laps did not start at the advertised time of 4:30, once underway and on a well prepared racing surface the show ran off in quick fashion with the final checkered flag waving at 7:40 p.m. It didn't even get dark until we were halfway home on our 101 mile drive and I arrived in time to watch the Thunder even the series with the Pacers.
One of the reasons that I love the weekly shows at Vinton is because I know that they will use the IMCA average points inverted lineup procedures and on a weekend where the use of an invert has been called out once again in our sport, I will have some additional comments on that at the end of this story.
Following a brief intermission of ten minutes or less, the Sport Compacts would be up first for their twelve lap feature with front row starter Justin Tharp setting the pace for the first four laps. The top drivers in the current point standings were making their way to the front from the fourth and fifth row with eighth starting Robert Rundle leading the way and he would slip by Tharp followed closely by Cristian Grady and Jake Anderson. Having stormed to the front of his heat race from a back row start, I thought that Anderson might have something for the top two, but Rundle was flawless over the closing laps to take the victory. Grady, who is currently tied with Michael Gardner at the top of this week's All Iowa Points, was the runner-up with Anderson, Spencer Roggentien and Ryan Cheney next in line.
The Sport Mods were up next for fifteen laps and they would not be able to match the green-to-checkers form set by the Compacts. Brandon Tharp started third, but would lead the opening lap with fellow row two starter Will Wolf in hot pursuit. Wolf would take the point on lap three and the first caution of the race would fly on lap six when Beckett Flanagan went off the top side of turn three. Once back to racing Wolf and Tharp would continue to lead the way as Tony Olson and sixteen-year-old Payce Herrera from Utah waged war for the third spot. Contact between the two in turn two would send both drivers off the top of the banking and while Olson retired to the pits, Herrera was sent to the rear for the restart.
This now opened the door for cousin Kyle Olson to go to work on the pair of sevens up front and he would swipe the lead from Wolf with two laps remaining and then pull away for his first win of 2025. Wolf and Tharp would complete the podium as Rayce Mullen and Austin Kemp filled out the top five. Mullen, the young college student from northwest Illinois, gave an entertaining interview during the intermission.
Fifteen laps for the Hobby Stocks was next on the card with pole-sitter Michael Kimm setting a stuttered pace as four cautions waved in the first eight laps. The second one came on lap five when Joren Fisher spun in turn four and when Race Control determined that Connor Clubine was the culprit, he went to the back while Fisher returned to his spot in the running order prior to the caution. Fisher would then take the lead from Kimm as lap number ten was scored and he would weather two more cautions before posting the win, his first here at Vinton and third overall in 2025. Leah Wroten started seventh and finished second, Kimm settled for third, while a pair of Justins, Stander and Wacha closed out the top five.
The Stock Car field was short on numbers tonight with eight, but they still ran the scheduled twenty laps come feature time. Dakoda Sellers paced the first two circuits of the quick quarter-mile, but there would be no holding back the charges of Tony Olsen and John Oliver Jr., two of the top Stock Car drivers in the state right now. Olsen would take the lead on lap three with Oliver making a couple of runs at him until about lap ten when Olsen opened up a solid lead.
The only caution of the race came with three laps remaining when Sellers and Kyle Olsen made contact in turn two while racing for third with both drivers retiring to the pits in the aftermath. The restart gave Oliver one final chance to challenge the leader and when he could not find the grip on the bottom, Olsen again used the cushion on both ends to drive to his third straight Stock Car win here at Vinton. Oliver slipped off the top of turn four coming to the white flag slipping to fourth, but he would recover one of those positions in the final lap to finish third behind Brett Vanous. Kevin Rose would take fourth and Austin Schuring claimed fifth as the final car on the track at the checkers.
The Modifieds would close out the evening and I liked the fact that with eighteen cars they ran just two heats instead of three and with several of the top average point drivers not getting to the top five in their heats to make the ten car invert, the feature lineup left this twenty lapper wide open for the taking. Florida transplant Owen Barnhill would drive from the inside of row two to take the lead on the opening lap before the caution waved on lap two for an Ed Thomas spin in turn two.
On the restart, as Barnhill continued to lead, my eyes were on current point leader Troy Cordes who had started from fifteenth and was on the move until lap five when he and Tommy Belmer tangled while racing for sixth with both spinning. On the restart last week's feature winner here, Trevor Fitz who also missed the invert and started eleventh was now up to challenge Barnhill for the lead and the California native would get the advantage on lap nine.
Barnhill would keep it close until the caution waved with three laps remaining when the left rear axle broke sending Thomas for a spin exiting turn four and on this restart Ben Chapman, who started tenth, would take up the chase on Fitz. Chapman would make one final dive to the bottom in turns three and four coming to the checkers, but Fitz was too strong up top as he scored his second straight victory here at the birthplace of the IMCA Modified. Chapman and Barnhill were next in line with Chris Snyder and Ethan Krall closing out the top five.
So did you notice that by using the average points invert not a single one of the five feature races was lead flag-to-flag by one driver? That's why it is called "Racing" and not "Chasing" and it is just one of the reasons why the weekly racing program here in Vinton is one of the best. Give me the invert any day over a draw/redraw format and especially over the "I'm Fast, Start Me Up Front" method of qualifying and then starting straight up.
Mike Marlar has long been one of my favorite personalities in the sport, but I was disappointed to see his post "Eldora Speedway, why bother to work to get what you earn?? Had to start 4th in a heat race that I should have been on the pole of. Now we're fixing a wreck. There is plenty of competition to see a good show WITHOUT INVERTS!!! No need to penalize guys who work hard. #dobetter #inverstgottago"
My old friend Myron Pembleton would have likely responded as follows if he was promoting The Dream. "I'm paying $30,000-to-win on each of two qualifying nights and $100,000-to-win in the finale. You want it, you have to earn it in the format that you knew was in place before you made the trip. There were plenty of other races in this country this weekend where you could have set quick time, started from the pole of the first heat, win it, and then start from the pole of the feature and lead every lap to take the top prize without passing a single car all night. If you don't like performing for what my ticket buying fans came to see, then stay home! #youdobetter #it'scalledracinnotchasin"
I love watching Tyler Erb race, but my opinion of him was tarnished back in 2017 when as a young up and comer he bitched about the format at Knoxville and if you click on this link to see how things played out that week, you will see how ridiculous his argument was. It has been eight years and I still have not shaken my opinion of him, while with Marlar I want to remain a fan. Hopefully his post was made in frustration and that he truly understands why Eldora's Dirt Late Model Dream remains the richest event in Dirt Late Model racing.
If you like watching drivers set quick time and then go on to win without having to pass a car, more power to ya, but we will have to agree to disagree. And that is why I thank promoters like Rick and Corey Dripps at Vinton who give me an alternative, and one that more than impressed a first time race fan who had to spend more than three hours in the car listening to her uncle's music!
Next up for me will be the first ever visit by to POWRi 410 Sprint Cars to 34 Raceway west of Burlington this Thursday night. Hope to see you there!
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