The Sunday Night Place To Be In Central Missouri

It has been at least twenty years since I paid my first visit to the Double X Speedway outside of California, Missouri, and when I finally returned on Sunday night I was glad to see that not much had changed. The big grass field parking lot was already filling up a half hour prior to hot laps. There was a short line to wait in as tickets were being sold from the side of the concession stand. The infield was full of open trailers and a few smaller enclosed ones, while the bigger haulers were outside of the track. The wood bleachers were solid and sturdy, likely updated since my last visit while the judges stand at the top of them is open and rustic. There are no Musco lights here, no streaming, the tall front stretch wall is no more than ten feet from the first row of seating giving all of us that "up close and personal" vibe, especially when the winged Sprint Cars are flying by. The rest rooms are old, but clean and the concession stand was busy with reasonably priced items. The best thing of all though is, just like the last time I visited, it seemed like this was the Sunday night place to be for family and friends, young and old, as the crowd filled in with big numbers that I am sure that a lot of other weekly race tracks would envy.

Yes, it was Sunday night in central Missouri and it was time to go racing at the Double X Speedway!

The last time that I was here they ran two classes only, 360 Winged Sprint Cars and a class that they called "Hobby Stocks", but they were an early version of the Four Cylinders. In 2025 there are now three classes on the card with the Super Stocks, B-Modifieds and of course the fan favorites, the 360 Winged Sprints. With some extra money on the line the car counts ticked up a bit more than usual with sixteen Super Stocks, thirteen B-Mods and twelve Sprint Cars and after about a twenty minute intermission where there were giveaways on your admission ticket, some lucky number programs (something I haven't seen in years!) and of course the 50/50 drawing, we were ready to go feature racing with the Super Stocks up first.

I believe that all classes drew for their starting position in the heats and then all three features were lined straight up by how those finished putting Darek Wiss and James Nighswonger on the front row. Nighswonger would lead lap one by a bumper with Wiss taking over on lap two and as the leaders were coming to score lap five they had already run up on two slower cars racing for position entering turn three. As Wiss tried to squeeze under them exiting turn four, he wheel hopped causing the now second place car of Derek Brown to slam on the brakes and slide sideways entering the front stretch.

The caution was waved, but officials rightfully placed Brown back in his running position for the restart as he had spun to avoid additional contact with the lapped car. Once back to green Wiss was in control with Brown following him around the bottom on both ends and it looked like the tight little bullring might not offer up a second groove on this night. The caution waved with three laps remaining when Chris Spalding slowed on the back stretch and when the green flag returned it looked like Wiss would hold on to this one. But wait!

After taking the white flag Brown drove to the outside of the leader in turn one and as they went down the back stretch he nearly pulled even with Wiss entering turn three. They were side-by-side off of four and it was a good ol' concrete scraping, sparks flying drag race to the checkers that Brown would win by inches much to the delight of the large crowd. Wiss would have to settle for second, Nighswonger finished third, Ted Welschmeyer was fourth and Dean Wille closed out the top five..

Twenty laps would be the distance for the B-Mods and after scoring lap one the front of the field stacked up a bit all going for the bottom in turn one sending the fourth starting Tyler Potter for a spin. It took a few laps to convince Potter that he should be restarting from the back of the field and he showed his displeasure once that set in. Veteran driver Terry Schulz would bring the field back to green and he would have Adam Hall tracking him until lap five when the third place car of Waylon Dimmitt spun in turn three.

This would now move Cole Campbell into the third spot and he would be the first to test the high side, but without much success until a few laps later when he got it cleaned off. Campbell would sail by Hall at the mid-race point and after a couple of laps of seeing just how high Schulz would flare out on the straightaways, Campbell made the pass for the lead on lap fourteen. The driver who traveled from Mexico to California on this night would then pull away over the final six laps to take the win with Schulz and Hall next in line. Potter was able to battle his way back up to fourth at the checkers with Colson Kirk completing the top five. 

The Sprint Cars would close out the evening for twenty-five laps with young Garrett Benson and point leader Jack Wagner on the front row. What looked like i could be a shootout between those two ended quickly as Benson spun in turn two on the opening lap dropping him to the back of the field for the restart. On  the second try just one lap would be scored before Blake Bowers nosed into the concrete barrier protecting the infield exiting turn four. It appeared that something had broken in the steering of his #52 as he was going through turn four.

With the green flag back out Wagner was gone like a flash while the battle to watch was for second where Josh Fisher was trying to ward off Broc Elliott. Ben Brown was also closing in while running the high line until he slowed with a flat tire on lap four. After a quick change in the infield he would restart at the rear as we would go green to checkers the rest of the way.

Around lap twelve Elliott dove to the bottom of Fisher in turn three and contact would cause both cars to hesitate before getting back up to speed with Elliott now second and Fisher fading through the field with apparent damage to the left front. He would eventually retire to the infield under green. Tyler Blank and Samuel Wagner had both started from row five and they were both on the march forward as the laps wound down. Much of the crowd came to their feet as Blank completed the pass of Elliott for second and Wagner soon followed him into third.

With Jack still holding more than a straightaway advantage the closing laps would see Samuel drive under Blank entering turn one with wheel-to-wheel contact disrupting both cars, again driving those in attendance crazy with some cheering and some jeering. And at the checkers it would be the Wagners, Jack and Samuel, finishing first and second, with Blank third, Elliott fourth and Benson finishing fifth.

The crowd cheered with delight as many stayed while Jack Wagner stood in victory lane and I heard a lot of people saying something to the effect of "wow, what a race" as we headed for that big grass parking lot just before 10 p.m.

I would say that the promoters of the Double X Speedway should do a symposium on how to promote a successful weekly race program, but I'm not sure just what they could say other then to build yourself up as THE place to be on race night in your community. It took years and years of good entertainment at a reasonable price and it is that tradition that continues to build the success here at Double X. I will be back again much sooner than twenty years this time!

Looking forward to this Thursday night June 19th when the UMP Summer Nationals comes to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the first time ever, then it will be a Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders tripleheader on Friday at the Scotland County Speedway, Saturday at 34 Raceway and Sunday at the Quincy Raceway. Hope to you there!