McFadden From Third To First On A Late Restart For 360 Nationals Prelim Winm

Australian driver James McFadden was in the right place at the right time to take the lead and the eventual win on night number two of the My Place Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals Friday night. The 29th Annual event will wrap up on Saturday night with a talent laden field all looking for the top honors at the world famous Knoxville Raceway.

Drawing an early qualifying spot was not as important here on night two as it would be the fourteenth car to hit the track, the #12N of Joey Saldana setting quick time with the only lap of the week under sixteen seconds at 15.993. James McFadden was second quick as he went out fourth to time while another Aussie, Scott Bogucki showed that there was still plenty of speed in the track when he went out as the twenty-sixth of fifty-five entries and posted the third best time. Nationals rookie Ayrton Gennetten had to take evasive action on his first lap when Dan Henning was slow to exit the track, but the white flag still waved for him and he was still able to put up the fourth fastest lap at the time on his second time around. Then just a couple of qualifiers later, Michael Bookout was still in the primary groove in turn four when Kyle Bellm was running his first lap, but this time he was given the green again so that he could run two straight laps without being impeded. A third generation driver, the grandson of Gene and the son of Steve, Gennetten was pushed back into the staging lane but apparently after being told that his only unimpeded lap was currently fourth on the board he chose to just head for the scales. That lap would end up eighth on the final rundown.

Five heats with six cars inverted and only four transferring to the A-Main were up next and after several of the quick qualifiers had work hard to get into the top four on Thursday night, Saldana made a nifty move to go from sixth to second on the opening lap of the first heat race. He was not able to track down Blake Hahn though who ran away with the win.

Young Gio Scelzi and McFadden were the third row starters in the second heat and while McFadden charged up to second behind winner Josh Baughman, Scelzi had to pass Delaware's Curt Michael coming to the white flag to take fourth.

Pole-sitter Clint Garner appeared to bury the throttle while still in turn three and he had nearly four car lengths on everybody else at the starting stripe, but the green flag stayed out and Garner ran away with heat race number three ahead of Austin and Terry McCarl with Jon Agan taking fourth. Third row starters Scott Bogucki and Ayrton Gennetten were relegated to the B-Main.

As the fourth heat race came to green the sixth starting Paul McMahan flared out wide and was even with the second row as the green waved. For the first time this week though, the caution came out as the field raced down the back stretch and they would try it again. Driving Tony Stewart's #14 McMahan would again flare out wide coming to the start and this time he had fully passed the second row coming to the chalk line and again the start was called off. However, despite the two jumps, no penalty was given to McMahan and while he stayed in his spot on the third try he quickly advanced through the field to finish a close second to Kyle Bellm. It took several laps, but Davey Heskin was finally able to slip past the young lady from Canada Alex Hill for the fourth and final transfer.

The first attempt to start the fifth heat race was a mess as outside front row starter Lance Moss moved way out to the cushion while pole-sitter Roger Crockett hugged the bottom. It would actually be the fourth starting McKenna Hasse that would go through the door left open by Moss to take the lead exiting turn two, but the caution waved as the start was called back. The second start was an even bigger mess as again Moss flared out and it looked like there were four cars on the front row as they hit the chalk line, but the race stayed green with Crockett and the sixth starting Brian Brown driving away from the field. This would be a good one for the lead in the closing laps as Brown threw a slider at the leader with two to go only to have Crockett cross him over and maintain the point for the win. Fifth starting Harli White was impressive driving past Christian Bowman for third to put her on the pole for the twenty lap main event while Hasse could only think "what might have been" as she headed to the B-Main in fifth.

With thirteen more cars tonight than were here on Thursday, a C-Main was needed Randy Hannagan driving one of Devon Dobie's #23 cars taking the win. Rob Weuve had to ward off a late charge from both Bryan Grimes and ASCS National Series Rookie Tucker Doughty for the fourth and final transfer to the B-Main.

It would be a full field of twenty-four starters going twelve laps in the B with the top four moving on and on lap six the first red flag of the week would be needed when Aussie Brodie Tulloch nailed the guardrail in turn three and rolled over. On the restart Bogucki, Matt Juhl and Gennetten maintained their positions to advance while Matt Moro went to work on Shane Golobic for fourth. The two drivers crossed the stripe wheel to wheel as the white flag waved with Moro finding enough bite on the bottom on the final lap to put his My Place Hotels sponsored #2M into the show.

White and Heskin would bring the field to green for the A-Main and they would check out with Davey leading around the bottom and Harli chasing around the cushion. Crowd favorite Brian Brown would move from fifth to third, but even he was not making up much ground on White as the laps clicked away. Lapped traffic would start to present a challenge mid-race and when White stumbled on the cushion in turn two on lap nine that allowed both Brown and Gio Scelzi to make the move around her exiting turn four.

Those two would now set their sights on Heskin and as they closed the gap on the leader, seemingly from out of nowhere the seventh starting James McFadden had now joined the chase. You could throw a blanket over the top four as they completed lap sixteen with Brown diving under Heskin to take the lead in turn one. Racing down the back straightaway contact between Scelzi and McFadden caused Gio's car to do a wheel stand and when the front end returned to the surface he was unable to turn the car entering three sliding up the track and into the guardrail ending his night.

James McFadden - Barry Johnson photo

Without the lap being scored, Heskin returned to the front for the restart with Brown poised to strike again. As the green flag waved Heskin first headed for the bottom in turn one before sliding up to the cushion to block Brown. That seemed to be exactly what McFadden had anticipated though as he darted to the inside and blew past both cars to take the lead in turn two and he would then drive away over the final four laps to take the win with Brown coming home in second. Austin McCarl also made a big move following the restart getting up to third after starting from fourteenth in the TMAC Motorsports #17A, but Joey Saldana would pass him back in the final turns to finish in third. Heskin dropped to fifth at the checkers with McMahan taking sixth. Clint Garner made a big charge from eighteenth to seventh, Matt Juhl bettered that though moving from twenty-first to eighth as Colby Copeland and Terry McCarl filled out the top ten.


This one was a classic Knoxville feature race that built up to a big crescendo at the finish and the stage is now set for Championship Saturday night with the A-Main to lineup like this:

James McFadden - Joey Saldana
Brian Brown - Paul McMahan
Dusty Zomer - Aaron Reutzel
Wayne Johnson - Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Thomas Kennedy - Ryan Giles
Davey Heskin - Colby Copeland
Cory Eliason - Parker Price-Miller
Harli White - Justin Henderson
Terry McCarl - Carson McCarl
Matt Juhl - Lee Grosz
Plus four qualifiers from the B-Main

Brian Brown left and Joey Saldana right join winner James McFadden on the podium - Barry Johnson photo

A full program for the Pro Sprints will also be on the card Saturday night and then on Sunday it will be the 8th Annual Bell Helmets Capitani Classic as the 410's get their chance to see the track before next week's Knoxville Nationals. Make the trip if you can!

360 Nationals Opener Goes To Ryan Giles

The My Place Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals opened its three day run on Thursday night under near perfect weather conditions as forty-two drivers tried to roll up as many qualifying points as possible in order to make Saturday night's Championship main event. The standard Knoxville points system where drivers can earn up to 200 points in both qualifying and the A-Main along with 100 points to win a heat race is used with six cars inverted in each of the five heats where four cars transfer to the qualifying night A-Main.

Drawing an early qualifying spot is usually important and tonight was no different as the ninth car out, Dusty Zomer in the Guy Forbrook prepared #5 set quick time in Zomer's first night back at Knoxville after a two year absence. The first car out Lee Grosz was second quick while hometown driver Calvin Landis was third fastest as the seventh car out. The biggest surprise had to be Spencer Bayston who brought the A.G. Raines owned #3B to the track as the second car out, but could only muster the 35th best lap missing the invert for the heat races.

The track is now using a two cone starting box for the original starts where the drivers pick up the pace at the first cone and then get the green at the second cone. I mention this because it seemed like one driver would have a full car length on the other front row starter once they got to the starting stripe and that used to be a no no here.

As the green flag waved on the first heat Devon Dobie had two car lengths on Dominic Scelzi when they hit the stripe, but the race stayed green and Dobie ran away with the win. Dusty Zomer had to work hard to crack the top four after starting sixth and he would finally get by John Carney II with two laps remaining for the final transfer.

Jeff Swindell had the point in the second heat until Kevin Ingle spun and following the restart Thomas Kennedy would put the slider on Swindell to take the lead and the win. Aaron Reutzel was slow coming up to speed on that lap two restart, but he recovered nicely to reel in and then pass Sawyer Phillips for the final transfer.

Local favorite Joe Beaver scratched from the third heat leaving just seven cars to take the green and this would be a good battle between Brady Bacon and young California native Mason Daniel. Coached by Danny Lasoski, Daniel showed that he is a good student as he passed Bacon mid-race to take the win and as Calvin Landis and Sammy Swindell battled for fifth that allowed Chris Martin to hold on for fourth at the checkers.

Disappointed with his 29th best qualifying time Jack Dover walked away with the win in the fourth heat after starting from the pole. The winner was trailing a bit of smoke though and while that poor qualifying lap put him on the front of his heat, Dover would start nineteenth in the feature.

Justin Henderson started third and went to the front quickly to win the fifth and final heat race ahead of Wayne Johnson, Brad Comegys and Trey Starks.

With their quick qualifying laps Grosz and Landis would start from the front row of the twelve lap B-Main, but Parker Price-Miller would blow by them both in the opening laps. Sammy Swindell in Scott Brown's #11x and Jamie Ball were battling for the fourth and final transfer spot when Swindell slammed the door on Ball entering turn one. Hard to tell from the stands whether Ball hit the inside berm or the rear bumper of Swindell, but he turned hard right slamming into the turn one guardrail. On the restart Sawyer Phillips swept around the outside of Swindell only to have Sammy come right back exiting turn four to retain the fourth and final transfer position. Swindell had moved to third and appeared to be headed to the feature when the lapped car of Casey Greubel spun right in front of the veteran in turn four with two laps remaining.

Swindell took evasive action and lined up third for the restart and when the green flag flew the action was right behind him where Phillips and the fifteenth starter Spencer Bayston had both passed Landis in turn two. Entering turn three though the left front tire blew on Swindell's car sending him sliding up the track where amazingly both Phillips and Bayston were able to avoid him. Sammy's misfortune was a huge break for Landis though as he would restart in third ahead of both Phillips and Bayston and the Arizona native would not let it slip away again as he would take the checkers in third behind Price-Miller and Grosz while Phillips would hold back the hard charging Bayston for the final transfer.

With the top eight in points inverted for the twenty lap A-Main lineup track regulars Ryan Giles and Rob Kubli would go from the front row with Giles getting a nice jump as the green flag waved. The caution would wave on lap eight for a pair of issues as while Dominic Scelzi slowed with a blown right rear, Lee Gosz had spun at the exit of turn two. Kubli was having a career night in third, but on the restart he and Wayne Johnson would make contact and the scramble was on with drivers entering turn three four wide. Kubli looked like he would recover until contact from Aaron Reutzel turned him into the turn four guardrail.

Ryan Giles had the bottom locked in - Barry Johnson photo

On this restart Thomas Kennedy spun his tires in second and when Wayne Johnson checked up behind him that allowed Reutzel to vault from fourth to second only to have that all wiped out when Landis spun in turn one before the lap could be scored. Kennedy would have a much better restart this time although he could not keep pace with Giles. First Johnson and then Reutzel would drop the Canadian Kennedy back to fourth and with a handful of laps remaining Reutzel would take second. Giles had a full straightaway on them though and was just a few feet from taking the checkers when instead the caution waved for another spin by Grosz on the back stretch.

It would have been a shame if this very late caution had cost the leader this race on a green-white-checkers restart, but Giles kept his cool and again walked away from his challengers to take the win. Reutzel and Johnson would maintain second third as Cory Eliason picked off fourth from Kennedy. Justin Henderson came from twelfth to finish sixth, Dusty Zomer dropped to seventh after cracking the top five early in the race, current tack point leader Carson McCarl was steady in eighth as B-Main winner Parker Price-Miller came from the eleventh row to finish ninth. Two-time defending ASCS National Tour champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. filled out the top ten.

Race winner Ryan Giles is joined by Aaron Reutzel on the left and Wayne Johnson on the right - Barry Johnson photo

As it all shakes out though it would be Zomer with the most points at the end of the night with Reutzel, Johnson, Hafertepe and Kennedy next in line. Feature winner Giles is sixth on the list.

Fifty-nine drivers are slated for action on Friday night (how did that happen?) as night number two of the My Place Hotels 360 Nationals takes place at the world famous Knoxville Raceway. Hope to see you there!

The Boss Earns The Big Check At Inaugural Rayce Rudeen Foundation Event

Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions rolled into 34 Raceway west of Burlington Sunday night for the final night of their four race swing through the Midwest, and this one was special as it would pay tribute to the late Rayce Rudeen, the son of car owner Kevin Rudeen who fields the car #26 for Cory Eliason. The Rayce Rudeen Foundation seeks to fill the gaps in the system of care for those who on the road to recovery from addiction and, in this inaugural event that was being filmed for a later broadcast on MAVTv, the feature winner would take home a whopping $26,000.

Thirty-four 410 winged Sprint Cars would fill the pits at 34 Raceway on a warm, but still comfortable evening as the clouds from a line of storms well off to the west shielded the sun and allowed the track to hold on to the moisture creating a racing surface that would have both a low and high groove all night long as well as plenty of room to roam in between. The All Stars qualify in groups with the top four inverted for the lineup in each of the four heat races where the top five finishers transfer to the A-Main while the top two get to compete in one of two dashes that sets the first five rows of the features as the the two fastest drivers who don't crack the top two are also included. It is a nice format that definitely produces plenty of action during the heats, much better than lining up cars straight up by qualifying times and with the passing it makes for a wider race track as well.

At 34 Raceway there is a wall around turns three and four while turns one and two are open and that means that the cushion gets pushed right up to the rim making the margin for error very slim on that end of the race track. Trey Starks found that out on the opening lap of the B-Main as he jumped the cushion in turn one and went for a tumble, his second crash of the night as he also tipped the car over after spinning in turn four during his qualifying lap.

Missing the cushion in turns one and two would also play a big role in determining the night's winner, but more on that later.

Thirteen IMCA Stock Cars would set the table for the big finale as they would race twenty laps for $1,000-to-win with a stout front row of Tom Bowling Jr. and Damon Murty. It would be the fourth starting John Oliver Jr. that would quickly make his way to the front though taking the lead from Bowling on lap two. Shawn Ritter would be sent for a spin in turn one on lap five and soon after the caution waved Murty would make a quick turn on the back stretch and head to the pit area with an apparent mechanical problem.

On the restart David Brandies would find the bite that he needed down low to drive by the rim-riding Oliver to lead lap six and before the next lap could be scored Bowling was sideways in turn four with the car turning up on to its side before the banking sent it the rest of the way over onto its top. During the red flag Murty made his way back on to the track ready for the upcoming restart until an official went to his car and explained to him that he was now one lap down to the field after missing the previous restart.

Once back to green Brandies continued to make the low line work as Oliver continued to ride his favored high side and when Abe Huls moved in to challenge Oliver for second that allowed Brandies to ease away even further as the Wilton driver posted the big money win. Oliver would fight off Huls to take the runner-up spot while Jeremy Pundt fought off a last lap challenge from fourteen-year-old Dallon Murty to finish fourth.

The Sprint Cars were up next for thirty laps with an interesting front row of Rico Abreu and Tony Stewart set to bring the field to green. Earlier series point leader Aaron Reutzel had the first Dash well in hand before spinning his car in turn two handing the pole over to Abreu and dropping Reutzel back to a fourth row start.

The first wave of the green was short-lived as twelfth row starter Marcus Dumesney smacked the wall exiting turn four and slowed to a halt on the front stretch so the field was reassembled and we were ready to race. Abreu would set the pace as drivers searched high and low for their fastest lines only to have the caution wave again on lap four when Dumesney spun in turn four ending his evening.

The race would go green from there and it would be a good one with plenty of traffic causing the leaders to have to use different lines to maintain their momentum. Abreu had built up a big lead through lap ten, but when he missed that cushion in turn one Rico drove over the top of the track and somehow kept the car going racing down the push off lane and coming back onto the track exiting turn two right behind the new leader Tony Stewart.

Reutzel who made a big move early from seventh was now running third and appeared to have the top two in his sights, but his own stumble on the cushion kept him from challenging and he would soon yield the third spot to a hard charging Christopher Bell in the Swindell Speed Lab #39.

Stewart was working traffic like the old pro that he is leaving Abreu chasing still several car lengths back and soon Bell was there to challenge for second. The two young stars thrilled the large crowd with a trio of slide jobs and cross overs on laps eighteen and nineteen, but as Abreu warded off Bell it allowed Stewart to get even further away from his challengers and take the big win in this inaugural event. Abreu would hold on for second ahead of the tenth starting Bell while Reutzel would have to settle for fourth. Cory Eliason would bring the Rudeen Racing #26 in for fifth as James McFadden moved from twelfth to sixth. Dale Blaney would fade from third to seventh, Skylar Gee was eighth, Justin Peck finished ninth and Austin McCarl completed the top ten.

Sprint Car fans in the region still have plenty of dates at 34 Raceway to look forward to in 2019 as not only do the 305's race here weekly, the Sprint Invaders will be here on Saturday August 17th before a Labor Day weekend double header that you won't want to miss. The Lucas Oil ASCS National Series will be at 34 Raceway on Friday night August 30th and then on Saturday night the 31st the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR wingless Sprint Cars will tackle the high banks. Then to close out the season on Friday and Saturday September 27th and 28th the Sprint Invaders will be joined by the big money hunters for the second annual Fall Haul, and those are just the Sprint Car races that remain on 34 Raceways' schedule so I hope to see you there often over the next two months.

A big thank you to Jack Donlan and his friends and family for hosting us at another spectacular pre-race meal on Sunday and make sure that if you are ever around Princeton, Illinois, at dinner time that you stop in at his place Paisano's Ristorante!

Now comes the time for me to focus on the Knoxville Raceway for the next two weeks as Nationals time is upon us. Thursday begins the three night run of the 29th My Place Hotels 360 Nationals before Sunday night's 8th Annual Bell Helmets Capitani Classic. Then the following week it will be the granddaddy of them all, the 59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals. Hope to see you there!

Wayne Johnson Invades Dubuque, Gansen Manternach and Utter Are Also Winners

My focus turns to Sprint Car racing this time of year with the winged wonders of speed featured at nearly every event on my projected schedule right on up to Labor Day starting last night with the return of the Sprint Invaders to the Dubuque County Fair.

This has always been one of my favorite fairs to visit as it always draws a big crowd with plenty of entertainment for young and old as well as a great selection of food and drinks. And, with near perfect weather on Wednesday night the place was hopping with a five year best of twenty-one Sprint Invaders signed in for action. Pair that up with solid fields in the same quantity range for the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Legend Cars and we were set for a great night of racing, especially since the Dubuque Speedway high banks were again yielding three or more grooves for the drivers to choose from.

The opening laps of the Sprint Invader main event were wild with John Schulz, Paul Nienheiser and Wayne Johnson shuffling back and forth, all three drivers holding the advantage at one point or another until Johnson took control on lap three. Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Terry McCarl was poised to make it a four car battle for the front before he spun in turn two and on the restart Johnson and Nienheiser, who was tonight's driver of the Midland Performance #50, separated themselves from the field.

Johnson pushed his lead to almost a full straightaway before getting into traffic and that allowed Nienheiser to get back into the hunt for the front. With drivers often racing two wide for position in front of him Johnson had to use several different lines to drop them a lap down and each time that it looked like Nienheiser would get to his bumper, the veteran driver from Oklahoma would use his experience to maintain the point.

In the closing laps the leader was working so hard in traffic that one of the lappers, Tanner Gebhardt was able to get past Johnson to be back on the lead lap, but Nienheiser could get no closer than five car lengths as Johnson secured the win. Jamie Ball came from eighth to finish third while the current Sprint Invader point leader John Schulz maintained his advantage by finishing fourth while Carson McCarl took fifth.

It was a stout and diverse field of drivers that entertained the Dubuque County Fair crowd including up and coming teenagers Mason Campbell and Riley Goodno as well as three talented young ladies in McKenna Hasse, Bailey Goldsberry and Katlynn Leer. Click here for Bill Wright's story and the full results from the Sprint Invaders.

The next action for the Sprint Invaders will come on Friday and Saturday August 16th and 17th with the series at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway on Friday night before moving to 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Saturday. Both events, loosely known as the Sprint Invader Nationals, will pay $2,000 to win. Also, the race that had been rained out in April at the Quincy Raceways has been rescheduled for Sunday September 8th and the last two appearances by the Invaders at the Bullring on Broadway have been spectacular.

There was good money on the line in the other three divisions as well at Dubuque on Wednesday and there was a nice mix of track regulars and visitors in both the Modifieds and the Sport Mods.

Jeff Larson drew the pole of the twenty-lap Modified main event and many believed that this would be a race for second. His fellow front row starter Matt Gansen had other ideas though as the two swapped the lead back and forth for the first two circuits before Gansen settled into the lead on lap three. Three cautions and their restarts would keep the field tight, but outside of one stumble on the turn four cushion late, Gansen was flawless in taking the win. Larson had to fight off Mark Schulte to earn the runner-up spot, Kenny Kostenbader was fourth and Troy Cordes came from fourteenth to finish fifth.

Mitch Manternach started from the pole in the fifteen lap Sport Mod headliner and when top contenders Jason Roth and Tyler Soppe tangled in turn one on lap three that suddenly made the leader Manternach the race favorite. Wisconsin drivers Wes Digman and Scott Busch waged an excellent battle for second mid-race but when the caution waved with just two laps to go they cost some folks some extra time in the beer tent with their antics as to who would line up where for the green, white, checkers restart.

Manternach would go unchallenged to take the convincing win as Digman took second after Busch faded out of the top five. Rusty DeShaw was third, Kip Siems came from a seventh row start to finish fourth and when Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, driver Brandon Schmitt spun in turn four coming to the checkers that allowed Soppe to get back into the top five.

As they often do the Legend Car drivers came from near and far to compete, one from as far away as Bismarck, North Dakota, but it would be Columbus Junction, Iowa, driver Jason Utter who would take the lead on lap eight and then go the rest of the unusually long 30-lap distance unchallenged to take the win. Tim Brockhouse finished second, Jackson Lewis was third, Ryan Mech fourth and Francesca Hoch filled out the top five.

It wan an all around enjoyable evening at the Fair and it was good to finally meet second year promoter Nick McCrady in person. Nick credited his quick success to the great crew that works with him and I know that Bill W and I had a great time sharing the microphone with Rob Hinckley and "Big Boy" Jason Frommelt. Hopefully I can make it back up to Dubuque or Maquoketa again before the end of the season.

McCrady did share one bit of bad news with me in that the October Sunday Series that had originally been scheduled for Maquoketa will not happen as planned as apparently the city did not like the concept. Why put up with a little noise in order to bring in some out of town revenue for a few weeks in the Fall? Oh well, looks like I will just have to watch the NFL a little more than I had originally planned.

Next up for me will be the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation A Force Against Addition event featuring Tony Stewart's Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Cars on Sunday night at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Stock Cars will be in action with big money on the line as well so hopefully I will see you there on the Back Stretch!

Thursday Notebook: July 18, 2019

Today's plan was to be giving you the story from either the Deery Brothers Summer Series in Columbus Junction or the USMTS show in Oskaloosa, but the 20% chance of rain yesterday came through with a vengeance and wiped out both events. So instead I will go to the Notebook today to give you my thoughts on the Grundy County Speedway and to provide a specific example of how times have changed with the onslaught of social media.

Returning from three days in Washington DC for business last Friday night my flight arrived at Midway in Chicago just before 8 p.m. and with the Grundy County Speedway in Morris just off my route home I decided to stop in and see if I could catch some feature racing. The 3/8-mile paved oval sits on the Grundy County Fairgrounds just a mile or two north of I-80 and the grandstands were much bigger than I remembered from my only other visit here back in the mid-1980's. Pulling into the parking lot it was obvious that a nice crowd was on hand and I was fortunate enough to find one open spot near the gate so that I could hustle in just past 9:30 and the Super Late Models were coming up for a lap eight restart in their thirty lap main event.

I was in my dress clothes, slacks a buttoned down long sleeve shirt and dress shoes, and if this were a dirt track I would have taken the time to change once I retrieved my luggage at the airport. No worries about dust here though and as I looked around at the part of the large crowd near where I had found a seat I noticed several families with two, three or more children. It was definitely a younger crowd in general than what I have been seeing at the other tracks that I attend and I have to wonder if the paved surface, no dust, and the muffled engines, less noise, had something to do with that. Then again, it could just be a regional demographic difference, something that will need more input before coming to a conclusion.

The track is reasonably wide with moderate banking and, like most paved tracks, the preferred line is right around the bottom. If a driver was challenging for position, he or she was always trying to get a nose under the car in front and, if the challenger could get underneath, the driver had little or no chance of holding the position once up into that second lane. I have been to a few paved tracks where the outside line can even be used for passing, Slinger, LaCrosse and I-44 Lebanon to name a few, but most are like what you will find here at Grundy County and that is why I will always prefer dirt, however I do enjoy my occasional trips to "the tar tracks" as my friend Warren calls them.

Not only was the crowd large last Friday night, they were involved as well cheering loudly as their favorites made their move and with each driver that visited victory lane there was a big round of applause. Their involvement wasn't because the announcer was hyping them up, in fact he was quite subdued often going for long periods of time without saying word. No complaints here as it was obvious that this event wasn't being live streamed out so that others could watch on a computer and need a constant description of the action. To give you a comparison of the crowd involvement I would have to refer you to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, perhaps the most "involved" crowd that you will find anywhere when it comes to cheering for their favorites and jeering those who aren't.

So back to the racing, the Super Late Models were the second feature of the night as I missed the Four Cylinders. Only ten cars were on hand tonight and two of them had retired to the pits by the lap eight restart with Nathan Kelly leading them back to green. As Kelly eased away the battle for second was a good one as Eddie Hoffman tried to fight off a couple of challengers, but he would eventually fade to fourth leaving David Einhaus and Keith Tolf to finish second and third. It would be Kelly's first win ever in a Super Late Model and during his interview he said that there were probably a lot of people who up until then thought that he should go back to driving a Street Stock.

Fourteen Mid-American Sportsman cars were up next for twenty-five laps that saw Aaron Shelton make his way to the front and score the win. Shelton was one driver who did show that the wide way around could work as Luke Baldwin finished second and Cody Clubb who also races a dirt car on Saturday nights in Fairbury finished third. Ten Street Stocks would close out the evening with Randy Weese taking the win.

A check of the results shows that the Four Cylinders had sixteen cars so the four division total was 50 proving that you don't need a huge car count to draw a good crowd as long as you are presenting a good show. One of the things that they do at the pavement tracks that I would like to see on dirt is the manner in which they set the lineups for restarts. When the caution waves, scorers put the cars into the proper single file order, just as they do on dirt, and when the lineup is set the "cone of commission" is placed on the front stretch. At both Slinger and here at Grundy County this cone is even sponsored, giving a local business a nice opportunity for some regular name mentions each race night and as the cars go past it the driver much choose whether he or she will restart on the inside, or the outside.

At Slinger it was a full double file restart, so even the leader had to pick a line, but here at Grundy the leader would start out front and the field would double up behind just like we see on dirt. BUT, if the low line is the place to be on this night, you might see the second, third and fourth place drivers all choose the bottom allowing the fifth place car to say "okay I'll give the top a try" from the outside of the first double row.

One of the things that I don't like about the Delaware double file restarts on dirt is that we give the second place driver a choice of high or low, but if he chooses the high line we still "force" the driver in fourth to start down low even though that likely gives the fifth place car, and the seventh, and the ninth, and the eleventh, etc. the advantage if the high side is the dominant groove.

If I recall correctly, this is something that Cam Granger and the Corn Belt Clash did for awhile, but I would love to see a dirt track give this a try for all divisions as it adds to the strategy for each driver and it is also interesting for the fans to watch as each driver chooses a line.

The final checkers waved just before 10:30 p.m. and I was back on the road for home, more than ready to get back to dirt, but still open to another pavement event late in 2019.

So that brings us to a point that I want to make about social media and how it has changed not only our sport, but our society as a whole. Let's go back to, let's say, 1985 where a driver and his crew go to a track that has been struggling with the weather recently, but on this night the sun is high and both the drivers and the fans are happy to finally be back at the race track. Our featured driver is in the second heat race of the night and even though he finishes second in that heat, when he returns to the pits he tells his crew that the track is pretty rough and that he is concerned about his equipment getting torn up later in the feature. The driver and his crew decide to take a wait and see attitude and if the track is still rough come feature time he will tell the officials that he would like to start at the rear where he will make one lap under green before pulling to the pits so that he can collect his $50 start money and put the car on the trailer in one piece before looking forward to next week.

Seems like a pretty reasonable and mature way to handle it, but now let's move ahead to 2019 with the same scenario.

First of all, before the race night the driver announces to his tens of followers that he will be in competition at XYZ Speedway on Saturday night. Okay, so that's not a bad thing, in fact it is actually helping to promote the event that the driver is intending, however it apparently is also giving the driver the feeling that he is somehow responsible for his followers who now actually go to the event. Why do I believe that? Well, it is the only way for me to rationalize what happens on race night.

Same scenario, second heat race of the night, finishes second on a rough race track and when he returns to the pits this is what happens. He gets on Facebook and announces that due to the rough track My Racing Team will be loading up and leaving XYZ Speedway immediately, stating that no drivers should be expected to race under such terrible conditions. He and his crew then load up and head for home, hopefully without any kind of tow money check especially if the promoter found out that this was how the driver handled the situation.

I'm old, so maybe I just don't get it, but what was the point of doing that? Did this driver expect that all of his fans would also pack up their stuff in the stands and leave immediately as well? Does this type of one-to-one immediate communication help the sport at all? Wouldn't he have been better off financially from handling the situation like the driver from 1985? I know that he wouldn't have lost my respect if he had handled it like they did before social media. I just don't get it.

As it turned out the track conditions improved as the night went on and as far as I can tell not one other driver either complained, or even did the ol' "start and park", so hopefully none of this driver's tens of fans joined him in leaving or they too would have missed out on their ten bucks worth.

A good friend of mine who works in racing told me the other night that at this point he could care less if he went to another race this season due to all of the crap that is spewed on Facebook and other social media and I must say that the bashing has ticked up a notch over the past week. That is just sad.

I have given up on trying to get people to stop doing that and this is why. Because I believe that if you are a regular reader of the Back Stretch, especially taking the time today just to read through another Notebook of thoughts and observations, you are already a GOOD race fan. Not someone who is going to go on Facebook and bash a track or a driver, so there is no need for me to plead with you to stay positive.

Instead I will ask you to do this if you are a fan or even a promoter. Just ignore it, let the negative narcissistic know-it-alls continue to do what they do, but if you don't read it then it cannot have a negative effect on how you enjoy the sport.

That's my plan, and it will probably be tested right away as several promoters have made the decision to cancel their races for this weekend due to the excessive heat. Some tracks are still racing though so either way you should respect each promoter's decision and if you want to go racing this weekend, you might have to drive a bit further than usual, but you still can.

I already had other non-racing plans for the weekend so my next event will be next Wednesday July 24th when the Sprint Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair for another crack at the 3/8-mile high banks and with the Knoxville Nationals coming up you just never know who will be in the area and looking to race. Californian Dominic Scelzi has won there each of the past two years, so perhaps we will see you there!