Schmitt, Hilmer, Wroten, Cielslelski And a Pop Up Shower Take Hall of Fame Night Wins At Independence

Usually when rain comes before all of the features have been completed I rush to the car disappointed. But on Saturday night at the Independence Motor Speedway that was not the case as the track's Hall of Fame night festivities had already given me a very special night at the race track.

What a spectacular way of honoring those who have played a major role in the sixty year history of this facility as not only did they have a table setup for fans to meet and greet that new inductees that I will list for you soon, but there were also seats at the table for several of those who had already been enshrined. What a treat to shake hands with and to talk with drivers who have made me the fan of this sport that I am today; Curt Hansen, Ed Sanger, Karl Sanger, Jack Mitchell, Duane Van Deest, Jerry Luloff and Drew Johnson and to have the cars of Hansen, Sanger and Gary Crawford on display as the fans entered the facility was a great touch. 

Legendary announcer Jim Roper would give the introductions of the seven new members to the Hall of Fame at intermission with two of them, Curt Martin and Greg Kastli, both having feature wins in five different decades here at Indee. And both of them were in action tonight with the PRO Late Model series in town. Martin joins his father Glenn in the track's Hall of Fame as did Brian Irvine who follows in his father Ken's footsteps. Roper had great stories to tell about Rick Johnson, Lavern Tarpy and Gene Buzine as well showing just how important each have been to the Independence Motor Speedway over the years and the seventh member of the class of 2025 was the primary reason that I made the trip on this night.

Ryan Clark with Gary and Karen Crawford

It was somewhere around twenty years ago that I met Ryan Clark when he was working at Hawkeye Racing News and we soon became good friends, perhaps due to our love of recording the history of our sport and hoping to make heroes out of all of the drivers that work hard to be there each and every race night. With his dry wit, Ryan is the perfect announcing partner to Jerry Vansickel, and his knowledge of both the past and present make him one of the best there is on the microphone. That deep, smooth voice doesn't hurt either! For several years he also displayed his writing skills with his blog that we shared at Positively Racing, something that I know that many of us have missed, but when he went to work for IMCA he had to put that to rest although I hope that he someday reconsiders. Congratulations Ryan, and to all of those now in the Independence Motor Speedway's Hall of Fame, what a special honor and the large crowd that was on hand shows what all of you have meant to this race track! 

The pits were jammed with 142 cars in seven divisions as the American Iron Racing Series (AIRS) along with the PRO Late Models were special guests. Co-promoter Dana Benning told me before the races that Mike Van Genderen had checked with the Southeast Minnesota Modified Midget Association (SEMMMA) to see if they could be there as well, but found that there was no such thing. (Two people will get a chuckle out of that, so it was well worth it)

Hot laps started ten minutes prior to schedule and the sixteen heat races clicked off in fine fashion with plenty of action as the weekly classes here use the IMCA average points inverted lineup system that I believe enhances the car counts and improves the racing. The Hall of Fame festivities filled the intermission and a check of Facebook and the radar showed that the features had already been washed out at both Boone and Decorah, but there was nothing within sixty miles of Independence on the radar at 9 p.m.

The AIRS cars would be up first on the list of features and as I told Brian Gade in the pits earlier, I love this class because not only are they nostalgic, they race hard as well and that was definitely the case here in this eighteen lap event. Owen Hayes would set the pace for the first four circuits of the freshly groomed surface, but he would exit the track on the back stretch and head for the pits on lap five turning the point over to Dennis Etten. Roger Cielsielski and Leighton Potter were in hot pursuit and when Etten checked up behind two slower cars in turn two, Cielsielski would take the lead on lap eleven with Potter following him into second.

A similar circumstance would create the next lead change as Dan Jordan got sideways in front of the leaders in turn one two laps later allowing to Potter to go to the front as Jordan drove into the infield keeping the race under green. However, Potter would slip off the back stretch on the following lap and before he could recover Cielsielski was back in front. The only caution waved as the leaders were taking the white flag when Tim Quigley spun in turn two and the field would bunch back together for a green, white, checkers finish.

On that first lap back under green Terry Shaffar dove low into turn three looking for fourth, but as he drifted back up the track he would get sideways collecting six cars in all. Only six of the original seventeen starters would remain for the final two laps with Cielsielski holding off Etten to take the win. Tracy Quigley started twelfth and finished third, Potter was fourth and Bruce Yoerger filled out the top five.

The eighteen lap Sport Mod feature was slowed by four different minor incidents at the back of the field that interrupted some pretty good racing up front. Tyler Ball and Brady Hilmer crossed the stripe side-by-side on lap one with Hilmer taking control on the second time around before that first caution. Once back to action the ninth starter Tony Olson was now applying the pressure to the leader with Hilmer hitting his marks to maintain the lead.

With the final restart coming with just four laps to go Austin Kemp was running the low line to take second from Olson and while he was able to get a nose under Hilmer in the final two laps, Brady again kept his cool and held off this new challenger to take the win. Kemp and Olson were close behind at the checkers, Will Wolf finished fourth and Janae Gustin started tenth and finished fifth.

Sixteen laps of Hobby Stock action would be up next and a quick check of the radar still showed nothing close as Quinton Miller would set a quick opening pace. This was a tight three car battle for the point when on lap eight Miller got sideways in turn two and as he came down the track his left front clipped the right rear of Joren Fisher's car turning him to the right and into the third place car of Bradly Graham.

Fisher's car required a tow back to the pits while the front end damage on Miller's #73 forced him to the infield while Graham would bring the field back to green following the clean up. Leah Wroten who had started this one from seventh was there to challenge and when Graham went a bit too high in turn four, Wroten grabbed the lead with four laps to go. She would then old off Graham to her first feature win in over two seasons. Graham's runner-up finish started from tenth, Dalton Weepie came from ninth to third, Trenton Neuhaus was fourth while Garret Ball moved from fourteenth to fifth.

A strong field of twenty IMCA Stock Cars were up next for twenty laps with third starting Ty Hill holding the lead through lap three. Hometown driver Tom Schmitt was coming fast from the outside of row five and he would storm to the lead on lap four with the first caution of the event coming on lap nine when Dru Kueker stopped on the front stretch with a flat right rear. His crew would make the quick change to allow him to restart at the ear and one more lap was completed before three cars spun in turn one.

As the field was being realigned I took a peek at the radar and one small blip was now showing just to the north of our location, so when the field went back to green one more lap was scored before I felt the first big raindrop and knowing what was about to come I quickly gathered my stuff and scooted down the steps before the rest of the crowd. That little blip really cut loose with a heavy dose of rain in just a couple of minutes leaving several race fans soaked as they headed for their cars. With more than half of the race complete Schmitt was awarded the victory, well earned with the quick ascent from tenth, while Cole Mather, Tyler Ball, Tony Olson and Hannah Chesmore would complete the top five. 

Yes, I am disappointed that the rest of the show could not be completed as I was looking forward to seeing how a pair of Wisconsin visitors, Dylan Waldvogel in the Modifieds and Jay Orr in the Sport Compacts, would fare plus the PRO Late Model feature was shaping up to be a good one. The Mods and Compacts will run their makeup features on June 28th while the PRO Late Models will double up when they return on July 5th. Next up on the schedule at Indee will be the return of the World of Outlaws Late Models on Monday June 23rd.

A big thanks to Dana, Mike, John, Jeff, Bucky, Jim, Kevin and the entire crew for their warm welcome as I also enjoy seeing everybody when I make the trip north to Independence. I also want to thank Chris Calvert for his kind words, I love doing the All Iowa Points and it is always a treat when someone tells me how they follow them year to year.

Happy Father's Day to all of you, I will be leaving soon to celebrate with a return to the Double X Speedway in California, Missouri, my first time there in over twenty-five years, then on Thursday night I am looking forward to the debut of the UMP Summer Nationals at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Following that we have a weekend tripleheader of Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders action on Friday night at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington and Sunday at the Quincy Raceways in Quincy. I will be looking for you here on the Back Stretch!