The great thing about life is that no matter what age you get to, you are still going to come across a "first time" experience and my most recent example of this came on Friday afternoon as I left Mount Pleasant to make the sixty-five mile drive to Memphis, Missouri. I recall going to a late March NKF Tour race in Webster City and seeing snow drifts slowly melting in the ditches along highway 20 and when I was just eighteen my friends and I loaded up the LeMans and drove through some snow flurries on our way to the NSCA Frostbuster at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia. In both instances we had to bundle up and use every blanket we had to stay warm during the races. This, however, was the first time that I left my neighborhood with piles of snow still visible to drive just a tick over one hour from home to watch races with just a sweatshirt after the sun went down!
Seriously? From blizzard warnings on Sunday and Monday to a dirt track race on Friday? Incredible, and a tip of the hat to Mike Van Genderen, Jerad Fuller, Kevin Eggleston and everybody at the Scotland County Speedway who were able to get the facility into a condition where it could take advantage of this wild weather swing and present this weekend's Spring Nationals. It was a phenomenal effort and race fans ready to kick off the 2026 season were entertained by 94 drivers in five divisions who traveled near and far to compete and the track held up quite well with some choppiness only at the apex of turns one and two.
The Sport Compacts would be the first of the five features on this night and they would provide a very entertaining non-stop twelve lapper. Defending All Iowa Points champion Michael Gardner would come from the inside of row two to take the lead on the opening lap and it would soon be a three car breakaway with Chuck Fullenkamp and Brandon Reu in hot pursuit. Fullenkamp would draw right up to the leader's rear bumper entering the turns until lap six when he was able to slip under Gardner in turn two bringing Reu with him into second.
With lapped traffic now coming into play, Luke Fraise made it a four car battle for the lead after starting eighth and he would soon drop Gardner back one more position. As the laps wound down though this would be decided between two southeast Iowa drivers who have been racing, and winning in this division for a long time as Reu was able to pull even with Fullenkamp twice. Chuck would hold his line and maintain his momentum to hold him off and take an exciting victory with Brandon and Fraise close behind. Gardner would follow them in for fourth as young Katelyn Watts finished fifth.
With thirty-one B-Mods on hand four heats and a B-Main would set the field for the twenty lap feature with Cam Reimers snagging the early lead from his pole position. Austen Becerra was behind the wheel of the #6 owned by Bobby Six on this night and on the opening lap he hit that hole in turns one and two the wrong way putting him up on two wheels and after racing in third for the first two laps he would then slow with a flat right front tire.
The crew would make the quick tire change under caution and Austen would rejoin the back of the field just as the green flag waved with Colton Livezy making the move on Reimers to take the lead. As Livezy started to pull away, all eyes were on Becerra who was quickly making his way back to the front. Brayton Carter was racing in the top three when he slipped high in turn four on lap six losing several positions and then two laps later the 2025 IMCA Northern Spot Mod National Champion slowed and pulled into the infield.
With five laps remaining Becerra had made his way back to fifth, but his charge would not end there and you can bet that if another caution had waved he might have been able to challenge for the lead. With just two laps to go Becerra was now third behind his friend Adam Birck who was wheeling a car formerly owned by Austen and when contact was made in that final pass for second, any other driver might have been more upset in victory lane as the podium drivers received their hardware. Livezy was an impressive winner in the debut of his new Vanderbilt Sport Mod and while Birck and Becerra had plenty of gesturing during their post race conversation, all was well come photo time. Reimers would finish fourth while Lonnie Hibner filled out the top five.
The first try at starting the twenty lap Stock Car feature would see a four car scramble on the back stretch with Ty Hill getting the worst of it coming to a sudden stop on the big clods of dirt that had been scraped down to the infield earlier in the week. As the race went back to green one of the perennial favorites here at Memphis, John Oliver Jr. would suffer a flat tire and instead of drawing a caution he would let the field clear and then pull to the infield.
Michael Jaennette who inherited the pole when Wisconsin's Pressley Harrington did not come to the track would set the early pace with some of the best in the business close behind including Dallon Murty who just spent the month of February racing a Super Late Model against the best in the country. Murty would look low, then high only to have Jaennette hold him off until lap nine when Dallon was able to take the lead.
Young Rowdee Van Genderen followed him into second and then mounted his own challenge for the lead pulling even with Murty with seven laps remaining. Dallon would hold him off and Van Genderen stayed close until lap eighteen when he slowed suddenly on the front stretch with mechanical issues. On the restart Derrick Agee would move to second and size up the leader, but there would be no stopping Murty from taking the win back in the familiar seat of his Stock Car. Agee was second followed the winner's father Damon Murty with Todd Reitzler and Jaennette completing the top five.
A short field of ten Modifieds lost one car during the heat races when Preston Dawson showed smoke while running second so it would be nine cars taking the green for twenty laps. Jadin Fuller would race out to an impressive lead until lap five when he slowed suddenly and pulled to the infield, while just behind him Jon Melloway also slowed and Blaine Bryant came to a stop in turn two to bring out the caution. This would take out 33% of the field in what I believe were unrelated circumstances.
Once back to green Kurt Kile would assume the lead until lap nine when Austen Becerra, driving his own #22, cruised past and then drove away to a convincing victory. Kyle Brown slipped by Kile in the final turns to finish second, Robbie Reed was fourth and Brian Reed closed out the top five.
The fourteen lap Hobby Stock finale got off to a rugged start as the red flag was needed for an incident on the back stretch. I did not see what happened, but the car of Tony Strable was upside down with sheet metal strewn across the track ahead of him. Soon it became evident that those parts were not just from the 3T car of Strable as Dylan Hill slowly drove by the grandstand headed for the pit area with the entire right side body work ripped from his car. Thankfully all drivers were okay and we were soon back to action.
Coming off of a dominant 2025 season in his Hobby Stock, it was a good bet that Dustin Griffiths would win this one from the front row, but not without a mid-race challenge from Keaton Gordon. As the two raced side-by-side in turns three and four coming to score lap eight, contact would cut down the right front tire on Gordon's car ending his night.
One final caution would wave on lap ten when Kael Koch found himself sideways on the back stretch and after the restart Brad Graham kept him honest, but there would be no stopping Griffiths from taking the win. Graham was second with Des Moines driver Tom Killen Jr. joining the podium. Daniel Wauters would wheel Jared Miller's #17M in for fourth as Briar Kriegel filled out the top five.
I always enjoy my visits to the Scotland County Speedway considering it to be one of those hidden gems in our sport with a great race track, a rustic facility and one of the best cheeseburgers that you will find anywhere! Thank you to the fair board and promoter Mike Van Genderen for the hospitality. The Spring Nationals continue this evening with hot laps scheduled for shortly after 5:00 p.m. and while I will not be able to attend, my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans will be on hand to give the story from night number two in Racin' Down The Road.
Next up for me will be all three nights of the annual King of America event at the Lucas Oil Speedway featuring the USMTS Modifieds along with the Ironman series openers for the B-Mods and Stock Cars. Perhaps I will see you there!
