It was my honor to have once again served as the track announcer for this event so with my notebook left in the car this entry of the Back Stretch will not be as detailed as usual.
Eighteen UMP Super Late Models were on hand to contend for the $10,555 payday in an event that would be sanctioned only by Cam Granger's Corn Belt Clash series. The MARS West series also had this race on their schedule but, as told to me, their new ownership told the drivers on Friday that they would not be expected to make the trip north for the weekend doubleheader (Friday was to be at Davenport) due to the unfavorable forecast, so none of them did. For those fans who may have been skeptical of Davenport's early in the day cancellation, perhaps this explains it.
Craftsman World of Outlaws Late Model series regular Frank Heckenast Jr. would set quick time on the night, but would later fade to third in the opening heat that was won by Chad Simpson to put him on the pole for the 50-lap feature. Defending champion Bobby Pierce drove over the top of turn two on lap two to give up the lead to Brian Shirley who would go on to win heat two and earn the outside pole for the feature. Pierce would battle back to finish in fourth starting him in the fifth row for the grand finale. Chris Simpson would win the third heat in dominating fashion to start the main in third.
Those three heat winners would give the crowd a thrill in the opening laps going three-wide for the lead on two occasions before Chris Simpson established himself as the leader and then put nearly a straightaway between himself and his brother before having to deal with lapped traffic. Bobby Pierce was on the move and when he slipped by former Slocum champion Ryan Unzicker mid-race, Pierce was now in the top five and closing.
With the laps winding down the leader was showing patience as he tried to put a lap on his brother-in-law Dave Eckrich, the next day was Easter after all so they would be having dinner together, and that allowed Chris Simpson to close the gap to five car-lengths with just five laps to go. And, just behind the Simpsons, Pierce was racing Shannon Babb side-by-side for third and they too were closing in quickly on the leaders.
Pierce would dispose of Babb for third and with two laps to go he and Chad would make contact while racing for second. This would allow Chris to again pull away and collect the biggest payday of his career by winning in his home state. Pierce would prevail in the battle for second and he and Chad had words on the front stretch as this announcer was interviewing the happy winner. Babb would finish fourth, Shirley was fifth, Unzicker held down sixth with Dennis Erb Jr., Heckenast, Bob Gardner and Jason Feger completing the top ten in the non-stop event.
The 305 Sprint Cars were the first of the three features to take to the track on the night with Harold Pohren taking advantage of the pole position and leading from start-to-finish to take the win that paid a whopping $1,755, easily the highest payday for the division in the state of Iowa for 2017. Pohren, the likeable driver who did not start racing until he was in his late forties, quickly climbed to the top of his wing to celebrate, but could not plant his foot on one of the supports before sliding down off the front of the wing and onto the hood of the car. It will only add to the legend though as his excitement continued to show during our interview and he thanked everyone who had worked so hard to put on this great event. Ben Wagoner made the drive of the night as he placed the Nick Breuer Motorsports #78 up on the cushion and came from eleventh to second at the checkers to earn the Hard Charger money. John Schulz, Shane Quam and Jarrod Schneiderman completed the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars had a bit of "yellow fever" early on and those cautions were interrupting a fantastic battle for the lead. David Brandies and Abe Huls had started on the front row and they were soon joined by the eighth starting Jim Redmann for a three car scramble that saw Redmann squeeze by Brandies only to have Brandies come fighting back on the next lap. John Oliver Jr. replaced Redmann up front on a mid-race restart and Oliver would then use the outside line to drive around Brandies for the lead. With the front of his hood now up and flapping in the gusty winds, Brandies would fade out of contention leaving Abe Huls to again challenge for the lead and the race would stay green for the final eight laps. Huls and Oliver would then give the crowd a thrill as they raced most of those eight circuits side-by-side, even swapping lines a couple of times in a battle that was in doubt all the way to the checkers with John Oliver Jr. taking the win. Huls can take pride in a solid second, Redmann was close behind in third, Dustin Griffiths was again solid in fourth, last week's winner Tom Bowling was fifth and Brandies held on for sixth. The win was worth a healthy $1,055 for Oliver.
The entire show was completed before 9:30 with the line of storms still more than seventy miles away so a large throng of fans made their way over to the pit area to visit with the drivers who had taken the risk with the weather to come and entertain them.
It is my hope that the main story line for this night will NOT be the lower than expected car count, but instead that it will be that with all of the hard work that goes in to prepare for this one night by Brad Stevens, Jessi Mynatt and the entire Brent Slocum Foundation that their partners with this show, the ownership and staff at 34 Raceway, will do everything possible to run it as scheduled regardless of what the weather forecast has to say. And that going forward, whatever sanctioning body that has the honor of being included in this grand event will show that same level of commitment and respect for what the Slocum 50 has become.
High Five Forever!
