Saturday night, December 19th, the die hards in the world of racing gathered together one last time before the calendar flips over to 2016 to share some short track racing action.
The scene was the Southern Illinois Center, across the street from the "Magic Mile" in historic Du Quoin Illinois for the "Junior Knepper 55" for USAC Midgets on the tiny indoor dirt track used a couple a times each year for some late season and early season Midget racing.
This year's event was promoted by Nick Knepper and Derek LeMaster and featured sanctioning from USAC as opposed to POWRi which previously ran all the races at the "Mini Magic Mile" as announcer Jim Childers used to label this facility. And the split must be permanent as it was announced during the evening that USAC would begin its 2016 National Championship Midget season with a return trip to Du Quoin next March. What caused the split I can not say, but to the average race fan, the difference was indiscernible. Both groups brought big fields of cars, good officiating and excellent announcers and both groups ran off prompt programs. So for the average race fan, it was just a difference in the letters at the top of the headline, but likely much more important to some people.
Speaking of the race field, it was a great one as sixty two Midgets signed in to race and there were many big names among the entry list. While the difference in equipment is minimized by the smallness of the track, and luck certainly plays an important part in how the racing shakes out at such a small and action packed event, at the end, the name drivers and powerhouse teams seemed to find their way to the front of the field to battle it out for the win.
The race format for this evening's event was one that is used for the Chili Bowl and also, I believe, by the ASCS for their racing events. No qualifying(thank goodness) and instead heat races set by the draw from which passing points were established. The top forty in points move into four qualifiers which are inverted by six, and then passing points are used again. The top twelve in total passing points make the show, the rest move into two B features with four cars from the C tagging the field. Four out of each B set the twenty car feature field, going for fifty five laps in honor of the Knepper family.
Race fans get more than their "bang" for the buck as seventeen races are on the card for the evening. and this is truly racing, very unlike much of what happens indoors at some events. The track is wide enough to pass on and race hard on and the track officials do a great job of staying with the track and making it racy from start to finish. Dust is very minimal and the surface is always heavy, allowing for a nice berm and the potential for some hair raising slide jobs, all in fun of course! And after last weekend's debacle at Indianapolis at their attempt at an indoor event, things looked just that much more impressive this weekend with the high speeds, rooster tails of clay and passing galore.
Blake Anderson was behind the microphone this weekend and he did a great job of calling the action and setting up the program for the fans. We did miss Childers though, as the long time announcer has hung up his microphone after a long and distinguished career calling races all over the Midwest. I first met Jim at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway when he was hired to announce there after that state of the art facility was built, and since Jim lived just across the Ohio River in Metropolis Illinois, it was natural for him to be there. Over the years, we have run into each other at various racing venues, and while I saw him in the crowd Saturday, I did not get the chance to say hello.
The racing itself was very eventful, with more action than could possibly be related in this blog. At the end, it was several of the biggest names on hand that battled it out. And to show how much passing there was, winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Thomas both went to the back of the pack in a first lap tangle and yet both worked their way back to the front before the end. Stenhouse got the win when he slid past Bryan Clauson with only three laps to go. Clauson had a smoking motor and he seemed to be getting just a little slower off the corners at the end and Stenhouse took advantage to dive under him for the win. Thomas looked to be the fastest of anyone in the house but after he worked his way back up to third, he again got into a tangle and was a DNF.
The biggest surprise of the night to me was the work of Katlynn Leer. The female driver from Iowa did a great job to make the main event and while her car seemed to be down on speed compared to some in the field, many people around me were remarking how smoothly she drove which allowed her to make the show. It was quite an improvement over just a couple of years ago when I saw her race in this event and she was quite slow, frankly.
There was plenty of action over the course of the night as thirteen flips were recorded. When someone asked if that was a record, the remarkable Dick Jordan, USAC statistician extraordinaire, already had the information available that it was the most ever for any USAC event in history! Not only that, but the car count was a USAC high for the year and the most Midgets at a USAC race since 2008.
Probably the only down side to the evening was that the air got pretty bad a couple of times. Whether that was the result of the warmer than normal temperatures that didn't allow the fresh air to filter in so much or just that there were so many cars racing, it did get pretty nasty for a couple of stretches until a yellow flag or the end of an event allowed for a short break.
Racing did not get done until almost Midnight, not because of any delays in the program or a lack of organization, but mostly just because they had so many races to run. If I had my "druthers", since everyone arrives to this race way early, and the sun has no effect on the track being indoors, I'd like to see then try starting at mid afternoon and shoot for an earlier conclusion.
This is not an event where you would want to take someone to see their first race. It is noisy and it can be smoky, but for a veteran race fan that knows what to expect, it is a great night of highly entertaining racing, done up close and personal. This event ranks right up there with the Chili Bowl, albeit on a smaller scale, but no one drives away from Du Quoin not feeling they got their monies worth. That is probably the reason that every event I've been to there always is played out in front of a full house. Congratulations to everyone involved in this program, it was an action packed way of wrapping up the race season.
Next up for me will be our annual trip to Tucson for the Wild West Shootout. Nearly each day, more and more drivers are announcing their intentions of attending this race, making it potentially one of the real "happenings" of the upcoming season.
I hope to soon tally up my 2015 racing season and bring you some information on that. In the meantime, happy holidays to all and best wishes for a prosperous New Year.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Turkey in December?
Although it took two additional weeks to get the race in and the calendar turned over to another month before the first green flag was finally waved, for the Springfield Raceway the third time was the charm as the twice postponed Turkey Bowl IX was completed Saturday afternoon at the red clay quarter mile track located just off Interstate 44.
On a day when except for the "bite" of the wind that kept everyone hunkered down in their Winter coats, it could just as easily been disguised as a day in late September or early October. Promoter Jerry Hoffman was determined to get this race in after two straight weekends of lousy weather, and even though racing in December might have been unsettling for some, there were plenty of drivers and spectators more than willing to give outdoor motor sports a shot in the month more reserved for Christmas shopping and snow shoveling in my part of the world.
I did a survey of veteran fans before the racing began to ask if anyone could ever remember attending an outdoor dirt track race in December in the Midwest. None of the people I spoke to could ever remember such a thing happening before and neither could I. Interestingly, nearly the exact same comments were coming out of the Northeast where a big block Modified race went to the green flag on Saturday after being rained out on previous attempts to complete the last outdoor race in New York state previously. Perhaps we are starting a trend that will become the new "norm."
In any event, it was a good way to wrap up the outdoor season, with a solid field of cars and a good sized crowd in the grandstand for the afternoon program that ended in the early evening hours, just as the temperatures really started to drop.
With the race going to the line so late in the season, I felt that there won't be block buster fields of cars on hand as many drivers have either stripped down their cars for freshening for 2016 and had tucked them away in the garages for the Winter. Nevertheless, nearly fifty Modifieds and B Mods were on hand for the show. The Late Model count was slightly below hopes with only fifteen signing in to race, but I feel that many that would have been ready to race for the first scheduled date either just felt they didn't want to wait around another two weeks for the final race before they could start tearing apart their cars in preparation for next year, or simply had too many other things going on in the rush before the 25th.
What did seem to be missing were some of the local racers as a quick look at the track point standings showed a lot of regulars not on hand while there were many racers that traveled a long distance for this race. Drivers from Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and Illinois were on hand along with local and regional drivers from the "Show Me" state.
I had an opportunity to talk with a couple of the long distance travelers before the racing began. One was B Mod driver Doug Tye from Troy Illinois. He normally races at tracks such as I-55 and Granite City Illinois but had this race penciled on his calendar for quite some time and wasn't about to miss it. Doug's car draws a lot of interest with its wrap, which is a tribute car to the U.S. Air Force with many interesting designs and pictures on the car. Doug was a twenty year retiree from the Air Force and while he never had the chance to race while he was serving, now is his time to catch up. He told me that every one of the pictures and names had special significance to him and he reuses the wrap every year with slightly difference outlines so he can tell in pictures which year is which.
The highlight of Doug's 2015 season was traveling to Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Wisconsin for their big B Mod show in September. In fact, several of his friends traveled with him to race at that event and he said even more would be going in 2016. Doug had his car set up to WISSOTA regulations and had to get an OK from Hoffman to run that set up in the Turkey Bowl. He was even using the WISSOTA Hoosier tires. Next year Doug will have a second car, a Shaw chassis, to go with the Dirt Works he is running. One car will be for special events and one for weekly racing.
The other driver I spent some time with was Late Model driver "Chargin'" Charlie McKenna from Clear Lake Iowa. To see Charlie at this event was quite a surprise but he reasoned that the videos of this track made it look like a fun track that he might want to try. Probably the other reason was that Charlie got himself a new transporter and he was anxious to get it on the road and try it out. Originally owned by Steve Francis, the S & S unit was a beautiful riding vehicle according to McKenna and will allow him to get out and travel more in 2016.
Charlie had just been in Menomonie Wisconsin this week with his car at Mars Brothers Racing for some updating. Charlie plans to run both IMCA and open motor shows next year and he is excited to see the number of open shows already on the schedule. He had high things to say about the early work of new Mason City promoters Al Hejna and Ryne Staley and is excited to be able to run his Late Model as his "home" track. McKenna reports that Mars Racing is crazy busy as their MB Customs Modified program is extremely busy and Jimmy Mars will be debuting a totally reconfigured Late Model in Tucson in January. Other MB customers expected to race in Arizona at U.S.A. Raceway include Jason Krohn and Rodney Sanders.
Ryan Gustin was on hand with both his Late Model and Modified and he was happy that he brought both cars with him as he doubled up, winning both the Late Model and Modified feature. His Late Model win involved total domination as he quickly moved from the second row to the lead and once in front, the only question became just how many of the rest of the field could stay on the lead lap with him. At the end, only Shannon Scott and Jeremy Payne were able to keep from getting lapped as Gustin didn't back off on the torrid pace he was setting. It was a clean sweep for Henryetta Ford as that business adorns both Gustin and Scott's cars. Modified ace Eddie Martin from Oklahoma was running well in second until a mechanical issue put him in the pits. Peyton Looney and McKenna completed the top five.
Gustin's Modified win was much more hard fought as Springfield track champion Scott Crigler proved to be a tough man to pass. Crigler got the jump on Gustin at the start and led for a number of laps as Gustin tried time after time to get under him while Crigler protected the faster high side of the track. Eventually Gustin just kept working and working and was able to edge past Crigler to take over the lead. Crigler stayed close but Gustin was not to be passed once he was in front. Ken Schrader was on hand and was using his IMCA car and Schrader had a good run, holding the low side of the track and keeping up his momentum with his crate motor. He held third for all the race until the final corner when Logan Martin was able to edge him out. The combination of a slick track and the USRA cars running sans rear spoiler seemed to even out the competition and IMCA drivers Scott Drake, Josh Most, Danny Womack, Shane Demey and Peyton Taylor all made the feature with their less powerful motors; most being crates.
Passing points set the field for all three classes and while Gustin started the Modified main right up front, he earned that spot with a back to front drive in his heat race that racked up the points while the video went "viral."
The B Mod feature was a good one with J.C. Morton and Logan Martin battling for the lead. They got together coming off turn four and Martin climbed the front stretch fence and then slid on his roof all the way down the home stretch straight. He was unhurt in the wild wreck. Morton and Kris Jackson then locked into a good battle until they were joined by track champ Ryan Gillmore and after a series of wild slide jobs, Gillmore took over the lead and went on for the win.
The only "downer" of the day was the stupid incident that took place as the Martin wreck was being cleaned up. Martin made a few gestures toward Morton as the cars slowly idled around the track under the yellow, something that was not unexpected, given the situation. However, as the cars continued to circle the track, suddenly one of Martin's pit crew came bursting across the track as the field came by. He ran toward the moving car of Morton and tried to kick the front tire of J.C.'s car with Morton swerving to the left to try to avoid him. This situation immediately brought to mind the infamous Kevin Ward-Tony Stewart incident from last year, an unfortunate situation that the racing world is still trying to recover from. How this crewman was allowed to get on the track and even get near the moving cars is hard to fathom. What do we have to do to drill in people's heads that this kind of reaction is not only futile but extremely dangerous? And why do tracks even allow this to happen? This particular crewman should have been marched right off the track and off the speedway grounds, but I'm guessing that didn't happen. In any event, after this nonsense ended, the rest of the B Mod feature was a good one too.
Even though it was December , the famous hand made Turkey Bowl trophies were again handed out to the winners, and a more distinctive trophy would be hard to find, unless you consider Clarksville's Toilet Bowl trophies.
With all the rain of late in southern Missouri, I would have anticipated a choppy race track would be the result. However, Hoffman and the rest of his crew has the track in fine shape, and especially considering that the racing started in the early afternoon under sunny skies and lots of wind. The crowd seemed good although not as big as for some of the other Turkey Bowls, likely the result of the two week postponement.
Thanks go out to Hoffman and his crew for their diligence in getting this race completed. Many promoters would have thrown in the towel after the second postponement but Jerry's stubborn streak allowed us all to see one more race before the snow flies(actually it already has!), and make the long Winter a little shorter. And some day in the future, when we are sitting around the campfire telling stories, we will be reminded of the time we went to races in December in Missouri!
On a day when except for the "bite" of the wind that kept everyone hunkered down in their Winter coats, it could just as easily been disguised as a day in late September or early October. Promoter Jerry Hoffman was determined to get this race in after two straight weekends of lousy weather, and even though racing in December might have been unsettling for some, there were plenty of drivers and spectators more than willing to give outdoor motor sports a shot in the month more reserved for Christmas shopping and snow shoveling in my part of the world.
I did a survey of veteran fans before the racing began to ask if anyone could ever remember attending an outdoor dirt track race in December in the Midwest. None of the people I spoke to could ever remember such a thing happening before and neither could I. Interestingly, nearly the exact same comments were coming out of the Northeast where a big block Modified race went to the green flag on Saturday after being rained out on previous attempts to complete the last outdoor race in New York state previously. Perhaps we are starting a trend that will become the new "norm."
In any event, it was a good way to wrap up the outdoor season, with a solid field of cars and a good sized crowd in the grandstand for the afternoon program that ended in the early evening hours, just as the temperatures really started to drop.
With the race going to the line so late in the season, I felt that there won't be block buster fields of cars on hand as many drivers have either stripped down their cars for freshening for 2016 and had tucked them away in the garages for the Winter. Nevertheless, nearly fifty Modifieds and B Mods were on hand for the show. The Late Model count was slightly below hopes with only fifteen signing in to race, but I feel that many that would have been ready to race for the first scheduled date either just felt they didn't want to wait around another two weeks for the final race before they could start tearing apart their cars in preparation for next year, or simply had too many other things going on in the rush before the 25th.
What did seem to be missing were some of the local racers as a quick look at the track point standings showed a lot of regulars not on hand while there were many racers that traveled a long distance for this race. Drivers from Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and Illinois were on hand along with local and regional drivers from the "Show Me" state.
I had an opportunity to talk with a couple of the long distance travelers before the racing began. One was B Mod driver Doug Tye from Troy Illinois. He normally races at tracks such as I-55 and Granite City Illinois but had this race penciled on his calendar for quite some time and wasn't about to miss it. Doug's car draws a lot of interest with its wrap, which is a tribute car to the U.S. Air Force with many interesting designs and pictures on the car. Doug was a twenty year retiree from the Air Force and while he never had the chance to race while he was serving, now is his time to catch up. He told me that every one of the pictures and names had special significance to him and he reuses the wrap every year with slightly difference outlines so he can tell in pictures which year is which.
The highlight of Doug's 2015 season was traveling to Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Wisconsin for their big B Mod show in September. In fact, several of his friends traveled with him to race at that event and he said even more would be going in 2016. Doug had his car set up to WISSOTA regulations and had to get an OK from Hoffman to run that set up in the Turkey Bowl. He was even using the WISSOTA Hoosier tires. Next year Doug will have a second car, a Shaw chassis, to go with the Dirt Works he is running. One car will be for special events and one for weekly racing.
The other driver I spent some time with was Late Model driver "Chargin'" Charlie McKenna from Clear Lake Iowa. To see Charlie at this event was quite a surprise but he reasoned that the videos of this track made it look like a fun track that he might want to try. Probably the other reason was that Charlie got himself a new transporter and he was anxious to get it on the road and try it out. Originally owned by Steve Francis, the S & S unit was a beautiful riding vehicle according to McKenna and will allow him to get out and travel more in 2016.
Charlie had just been in Menomonie Wisconsin this week with his car at Mars Brothers Racing for some updating. Charlie plans to run both IMCA and open motor shows next year and he is excited to see the number of open shows already on the schedule. He had high things to say about the early work of new Mason City promoters Al Hejna and Ryne Staley and is excited to be able to run his Late Model as his "home" track. McKenna reports that Mars Racing is crazy busy as their MB Customs Modified program is extremely busy and Jimmy Mars will be debuting a totally reconfigured Late Model in Tucson in January. Other MB customers expected to race in Arizona at U.S.A. Raceway include Jason Krohn and Rodney Sanders.
Ryan Gustin was on hand with both his Late Model and Modified and he was happy that he brought both cars with him as he doubled up, winning both the Late Model and Modified feature. His Late Model win involved total domination as he quickly moved from the second row to the lead and once in front, the only question became just how many of the rest of the field could stay on the lead lap with him. At the end, only Shannon Scott and Jeremy Payne were able to keep from getting lapped as Gustin didn't back off on the torrid pace he was setting. It was a clean sweep for Henryetta Ford as that business adorns both Gustin and Scott's cars. Modified ace Eddie Martin from Oklahoma was running well in second until a mechanical issue put him in the pits. Peyton Looney and McKenna completed the top five.
Gustin's Modified win was much more hard fought as Springfield track champion Scott Crigler proved to be a tough man to pass. Crigler got the jump on Gustin at the start and led for a number of laps as Gustin tried time after time to get under him while Crigler protected the faster high side of the track. Eventually Gustin just kept working and working and was able to edge past Crigler to take over the lead. Crigler stayed close but Gustin was not to be passed once he was in front. Ken Schrader was on hand and was using his IMCA car and Schrader had a good run, holding the low side of the track and keeping up his momentum with his crate motor. He held third for all the race until the final corner when Logan Martin was able to edge him out. The combination of a slick track and the USRA cars running sans rear spoiler seemed to even out the competition and IMCA drivers Scott Drake, Josh Most, Danny Womack, Shane Demey and Peyton Taylor all made the feature with their less powerful motors; most being crates.
Passing points set the field for all three classes and while Gustin started the Modified main right up front, he earned that spot with a back to front drive in his heat race that racked up the points while the video went "viral."
The B Mod feature was a good one with J.C. Morton and Logan Martin battling for the lead. They got together coming off turn four and Martin climbed the front stretch fence and then slid on his roof all the way down the home stretch straight. He was unhurt in the wild wreck. Morton and Kris Jackson then locked into a good battle until they were joined by track champ Ryan Gillmore and after a series of wild slide jobs, Gillmore took over the lead and went on for the win.
The only "downer" of the day was the stupid incident that took place as the Martin wreck was being cleaned up. Martin made a few gestures toward Morton as the cars slowly idled around the track under the yellow, something that was not unexpected, given the situation. However, as the cars continued to circle the track, suddenly one of Martin's pit crew came bursting across the track as the field came by. He ran toward the moving car of Morton and tried to kick the front tire of J.C.'s car with Morton swerving to the left to try to avoid him. This situation immediately brought to mind the infamous Kevin Ward-Tony Stewart incident from last year, an unfortunate situation that the racing world is still trying to recover from. How this crewman was allowed to get on the track and even get near the moving cars is hard to fathom. What do we have to do to drill in people's heads that this kind of reaction is not only futile but extremely dangerous? And why do tracks even allow this to happen? This particular crewman should have been marched right off the track and off the speedway grounds, but I'm guessing that didn't happen. In any event, after this nonsense ended, the rest of the B Mod feature was a good one too.
Even though it was December , the famous hand made Turkey Bowl trophies were again handed out to the winners, and a more distinctive trophy would be hard to find, unless you consider Clarksville's Toilet Bowl trophies.
With all the rain of late in southern Missouri, I would have anticipated a choppy race track would be the result. However, Hoffman and the rest of his crew has the track in fine shape, and especially considering that the racing started in the early afternoon under sunny skies and lots of wind. The crowd seemed good although not as big as for some of the other Turkey Bowls, likely the result of the two week postponement.
Thanks go out to Hoffman and his crew for their diligence in getting this race completed. Many promoters would have thrown in the towel after the second postponement but Jerry's stubborn streak allowed us all to see one more race before the snow flies(actually it already has!), and make the long Winter a little shorter. And some day in the future, when we are sitting around the campfire telling stories, we will be reminded of the time we went to races in December in Missouri!
Friday, November 27, 2015
Awaiting the WILD WEST SHOOTOUT
For most of us, the last few laps of the 2015 racing season are now over and just memories for us to reflect on as we wait to turn the page on the calendar over to January and start a new year. It doesn't take long to start to feel that restlessness that fills us in the off season as we wait for the first engines to fire and the fumes of a high performance racing engine to waft into the grandstands and tell us that another season of short track racing has begun.
If I may, I would like to suggest that you consider starting your 2016 racing season with a trip out West to warm and generally sunny south Arizona in January for the Wild West Shootout at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson Arizona from January 9th through the 17th. A number of years ago, when we first considered a trip out to Arizona in January for dirt track racing, the idea seemed both exciting and daunting. However, after the first year we quickly discovered that the trip is not near as difficult as we might have imagined. For those that choose to drive, if you have the time to spare, it's not a bad trip at all. For those that fly, a little digging can generally find a pretty reasonably priced plane ticket. We just made our reservations within the last week and found some reasonable fares though Southwest Air Lines, but depending where you may be departing from, the best airline ticket may be with another carrier.
If you are flying and need to rent a car, our tip is to rent one in Tucson and not in Phoenix, even if that if the city that you land in. Rental cars are incredibly high priced in Phoenix and our calculations were that it was much cheaper and not that inconvenient to even catch a shuttle bus in Phoenix down to Tucson and then to rent a car there, the different in rental car prices was that significant.
Hotels can be had at a reasonable price with a wide variety of choices available in Tucson. The U.S.A. Raceway itself has an offer through its website with a hotel close to the track that offers a very good deal and that is one that we jumped on for 2016 but there are many other properties close by where a good deal can be had also. It is also surprising how many people have friends or relatives wintering in the Tucson/Phoenix area that would love to have you visit them in January, if you know what I mean.
January in Arizona is an event that can easily be sold as a true racing vacation, and has become one of the big selling points for both spectators and competitors. The weather is usually very agreeable and attractive to even those family members that might not normally travel that far to watch a race. While the racing is intense, the off days during the series are pleasant and perfectly timed so as to allow those that wish it, the chance for a couple of days to either relax in the sun or do some other touristy things. In the years we have been going to this race, we have found many fantastic and interesting things to do in Tucson and the surrounding areas and have yet to run out of exciting things to do in our off days. And the food at area restaurants in and around Tucson is spectacular, so if you wind up at Mickey D's, it's your own fault! If you're bold enough, try the local food trucks and you won't be sorry.
Now, let's talk racing. Some of the best Late Model and Modified racing I have seen in recent years has been at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson for the winter series. The track is just the right size and the surface generally holds up very well over the course of the ten days. They work hard to prep the track and keep it in good shape and there is always lots of side by side racing and passing and a minimum of dust for the fans to deal with.
The field of race cars is spectacular and with the extra money in the purses for 2016 plus other incentives, the fields are expected to be even bigger for 2016. More and more nationally known drivers are finding out that Tucson is a great way to test for the coming year, perhaps make some good money on top of that and also enjoy a few days of warm sunshine. But it's more than just the "big names" that show up. This series provides one of the most cosmopolitan groups of racers that can be seen all year and much of the fun is watching drivers that won't compete against each other the rest of the year go at it and nearly every year, surprises take place that have people talking all Spring. You truly never know just who might show up for this series and that is part of the fun. Even the seasoned announcers and journalists comment on what an interesting field of cars show for this event and how unique the racing fields can be. Every year there emerges a driver or drivers that surprise and shock the troops at this series and that is part of the fun, waiting to see who that driver will be each year.
Along with the Late Models, the Modifieds always put on a great show with some of the top talent in this class from throughout the country. There is always a strong contingent of drivers from the North and honestly, for me who sees many of these guys and gals race during the Summer, it's especially fun to see them take on and do well against some of the best around.
For a few years, the other support classes were not of the best but especially last year, when they settled on the X Mods as the third class, their program really took off. The quality and quantity of the X Mods vastly improved and their portion of the program provided some close racing with not a lot of yellow flags, something vital to keeping the program moving. I know it sounds crazy, but the combination of Winter racing and the warm weather has seen drivers pull all the way from Canada to race in the X Mods!
Track officials have always been spot on about running off a quick program here and this is one series that won't find you at the track until the wee hours of the morning, unless you choose to party that long afterward! And ticket prices for these events are very reasonably priced and actually a great bargain compared to what you might have to pay for a similar program later in the year.
After a very successful series last year, promoters Chris Kearns and Mike Montgomery have really upped the ante for 2016. Purses have been raised significantly for the Late Models and more drivers are expected to join the field for 2016. The Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge plus additional sponsors like Real Truck.com, Barnett Harley-Davidson, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Border International Truck and Trailer Sales all will help to increase the visibility of this series and no doubt stir additional drivers to make the pull Southwest.
For those that can't attend the races in person, a good alternative would be to purchase the series package on pay-per-view from DirtonDirt.com, who do a great job of presenting the action. However, I would say that there is nothing that can replace the excitement of witnessing the racing first hand. Do yourself a favor and take in one of the rising events in the country at a time of the year when everyone can use a break from the cold and snow. Each year I run into more people from my area and the rest of the Midwest checking out the racing in Tucson in January and I have not yet heard from a single one that they were sorry they made the decision with most immediately working on their plans for the following year. Take their lead and check it out as I don't think you would be sorry either.
If I may, I would like to suggest that you consider starting your 2016 racing season with a trip out West to warm and generally sunny south Arizona in January for the Wild West Shootout at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson Arizona from January 9th through the 17th. A number of years ago, when we first considered a trip out to Arizona in January for dirt track racing, the idea seemed both exciting and daunting. However, after the first year we quickly discovered that the trip is not near as difficult as we might have imagined. For those that choose to drive, if you have the time to spare, it's not a bad trip at all. For those that fly, a little digging can generally find a pretty reasonably priced plane ticket. We just made our reservations within the last week and found some reasonable fares though Southwest Air Lines, but depending where you may be departing from, the best airline ticket may be with another carrier.
If you are flying and need to rent a car, our tip is to rent one in Tucson and not in Phoenix, even if that if the city that you land in. Rental cars are incredibly high priced in Phoenix and our calculations were that it was much cheaper and not that inconvenient to even catch a shuttle bus in Phoenix down to Tucson and then to rent a car there, the different in rental car prices was that significant.
Hotels can be had at a reasonable price with a wide variety of choices available in Tucson. The U.S.A. Raceway itself has an offer through its website with a hotel close to the track that offers a very good deal and that is one that we jumped on for 2016 but there are many other properties close by where a good deal can be had also. It is also surprising how many people have friends or relatives wintering in the Tucson/Phoenix area that would love to have you visit them in January, if you know what I mean.
January in Arizona is an event that can easily be sold as a true racing vacation, and has become one of the big selling points for both spectators and competitors. The weather is usually very agreeable and attractive to even those family members that might not normally travel that far to watch a race. While the racing is intense, the off days during the series are pleasant and perfectly timed so as to allow those that wish it, the chance for a couple of days to either relax in the sun or do some other touristy things. In the years we have been going to this race, we have found many fantastic and interesting things to do in Tucson and the surrounding areas and have yet to run out of exciting things to do in our off days. And the food at area restaurants in and around Tucson is spectacular, so if you wind up at Mickey D's, it's your own fault! If you're bold enough, try the local food trucks and you won't be sorry.
Now, let's talk racing. Some of the best Late Model and Modified racing I have seen in recent years has been at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson for the winter series. The track is just the right size and the surface generally holds up very well over the course of the ten days. They work hard to prep the track and keep it in good shape and there is always lots of side by side racing and passing and a minimum of dust for the fans to deal with.
The field of race cars is spectacular and with the extra money in the purses for 2016 plus other incentives, the fields are expected to be even bigger for 2016. More and more nationally known drivers are finding out that Tucson is a great way to test for the coming year, perhaps make some good money on top of that and also enjoy a few days of warm sunshine. But it's more than just the "big names" that show up. This series provides one of the most cosmopolitan groups of racers that can be seen all year and much of the fun is watching drivers that won't compete against each other the rest of the year go at it and nearly every year, surprises take place that have people talking all Spring. You truly never know just who might show up for this series and that is part of the fun. Even the seasoned announcers and journalists comment on what an interesting field of cars show for this event and how unique the racing fields can be. Every year there emerges a driver or drivers that surprise and shock the troops at this series and that is part of the fun, waiting to see who that driver will be each year.
Along with the Late Models, the Modifieds always put on a great show with some of the top talent in this class from throughout the country. There is always a strong contingent of drivers from the North and honestly, for me who sees many of these guys and gals race during the Summer, it's especially fun to see them take on and do well against some of the best around.
For a few years, the other support classes were not of the best but especially last year, when they settled on the X Mods as the third class, their program really took off. The quality and quantity of the X Mods vastly improved and their portion of the program provided some close racing with not a lot of yellow flags, something vital to keeping the program moving. I know it sounds crazy, but the combination of Winter racing and the warm weather has seen drivers pull all the way from Canada to race in the X Mods!
Track officials have always been spot on about running off a quick program here and this is one series that won't find you at the track until the wee hours of the morning, unless you choose to party that long afterward! And ticket prices for these events are very reasonably priced and actually a great bargain compared to what you might have to pay for a similar program later in the year.
After a very successful series last year, promoters Chris Kearns and Mike Montgomery have really upped the ante for 2016. Purses have been raised significantly for the Late Models and more drivers are expected to join the field for 2016. The Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge plus additional sponsors like Real Truck.com, Barnett Harley-Davidson, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Border International Truck and Trailer Sales all will help to increase the visibility of this series and no doubt stir additional drivers to make the pull Southwest.
For those that can't attend the races in person, a good alternative would be to purchase the series package on pay-per-view from DirtonDirt.com, who do a great job of presenting the action. However, I would say that there is nothing that can replace the excitement of witnessing the racing first hand. Do yourself a favor and take in one of the rising events in the country at a time of the year when everyone can use a break from the cold and snow. Each year I run into more people from my area and the rest of the Midwest checking out the racing in Tucson in January and I have not yet heard from a single one that they were sorry they made the decision with most immediately working on their plans for the following year. Take their lead and check it out as I don't think you would be sorry either.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
A Comparison of the SMI Dirt Tracks
While I chose not to blog about it due to the fact I was there on my own dime, a couple of weeks ago, at the last minute and on a "wild hair" idea, Linda and I drove to Charlotte North Carolina for the World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway featuring the last race of the year for the World of Outlaws Sprints and Late Models plus the big block Modifieds in their Super Dirt Series finale.
When the long range forecast of great weather suddenly turned much grimmer just before our scheduled time of departure, it was probably a fool hardy trip, especially knowing that if the Sunday rain date was used, we couldn't stay to see that part of the show. Be it as it may, we still went and while we battled the weather for three days and only saw one of the two scheduled programs, it was still an entertaining and learning experience for us.
We picked probably the worst year ever to attend this race with all of the weather issues but record numbers of both Late Models and Sprint Cars showed up anyway along with a stout field of Big Block Modifieds. The racing was intense in all three classes despite the difficult track conditions that saw a lot of expense race cars used up and I could not help but marvel at hard the drivers raced, even though the track was a real handful. of particular interest for me on this trip was the opportunity to see the Big Blocks in action. In the last couple of years I have developed quite an increased interest in the center steer Modifieds that are huge on the East Coast. With the lack of race papers now available(some of you hopefully still remember what a race PAPER was), I started subscribing to Area Auto Racing News which is published in Trenton New Jersey. Owner Lenny Sammons and his writers do a great job of covering racing, particularly East of the Mississippi, and their coverage of Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints is first rate and it is perhaps the best race paper I have ever read, bar none.
Anyway, I was very anxious to see drivers like Tremont, Friesen, Sheppard, Pauch and Hearn race for the first time and they didn't leave me disappointed. Even Linda, who knew none of these drivers, had to admit that their racing was some of the best of the entire weekend. What I was surprised was how poorly they were treated as a class. Going from being the "big shots" on the East Coast, they became the track packers here and they raced first both when the track was at its worst and also the latest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But I saw enough that I know that I would definitely like to see them again some time, perhaps at a track just a mite smaller that Charlotte.
But I digress. This blog was to compare the three SMI tracks and in the short days after Charlotte, we then flew out to Vegas for IMCA's Duel In The Desert at SMI's track there. I'm guessing that we may have been the only two to pull off that doubleheader, but it's not surprising since there aren't that many "goofballs" left around any more.
All three SMI tracks are first rate and provide great accommodations for the fans. All three have fantastic grandstands with excellent, TV quality lighting. The sound systems are great in all three and the only time I ever had any trouble hearing was at Charlotte when I was trying to hear time trials with multiple cars on the track. For some reason, even though all cars were using transponders to record times, they didn't flash the times on the scoreboards, which are actually pretty pedestrian at all three tracks and certainly not like anything Knoxville has for example.
While the spectator seating and amenities are pretty similar at all three tracks, the pits areas on the other hand vary widely. Vegas has great pit parking that is all on blacktop for almost as far as one can see while Texas is slightly smaller but still good. Charlotte, on the other hand, is worlds behind. Most of the cars pit on dirt quite a distance behind the pit grandstands while the Sprint Cars are crammed in a tight area just off turn one with the unfortunate late ones from the non power teams forced to pit on grass in a spectator parking area that with all the rains this Fall, was a muddy mess with haulers sinking out of sight on occasion.
Pit amenities varied considerably with Charlotte again on the outside looking in. Both Vegas and Texas have fine restroom facilities for the pit personal while Charlotte is still in the dark ages with Satellites the only convenience offered.
Without seeing a race at Charlotte that wasn't plagued by all the wet weather that made the track tough to both pack in and race on, I have to qualify any comparisons on the racing surfaces and the racing itself. I was only at Texas one time, and both nights of the racing there were very good on a smooth and fast surface that did take just a little rubber for the Late Models. The infield tunnel there is a special bonus as it allows cars to exit to the pits smoothly while not holding up the action for those in the next race rolling on to the track.
Charlotte seemed like it would be a good track to see racing if the conditions were more favorable and I have seen some TV racing from the track that looked good, if but a big dusty. If fact, by the Sprint feature from Friday night, even with all the mud and wet conditions, where the track had dried out low in the corners, we got blasted with dust from the prevailing winds in our faces.
Vegas' issues have been well documented throughout the years, virtually from the time the track was built. However, quite frankly, when you have a track situated in the desert, finding proper material to race on can be challenging, although there are certainly some other tracks in the same situation that seemed to have solved the problem some way. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson would be a prime example. This year their promises to rectify the situation for next year seemed the most sincere ever, so we will wait to see what happens for 2016. Despite the less than perfect conditions that the drivers have had to contend with, there have been some good races in the Modifieds at the track over the years. I have not seen a Sprint show at Vegas so cannot comment on how their racing goes, but the Late Model shows I've seen all saw the track take rubber.
All three tracks vary slightly in size and shape and particularly Vegas gives the impression that they had "so much land available" to make a dirt track so they made it fit that land. The one thing that is always mind boggling at these three tracks is that they are used so seldom. Vegas has two races per year along with Texas while Charlotte is used slightly more than that but under a half dozen times. Just about any other track in the country would kill to have the kind of facilities that these three tracks offer, yet they mostly just sit. They certainly can't be money makers and I'm guessing that if SMI was building these three super facilities over again in 2016 as opposed to when they were built in the "hey days" of NASCAR, the dirt tracks would have been left off the plans. All three are certainly among the nicest tracks in the country though and shouldn't be passed up if one would happen to be in their area when one of their rare races takes place.
One last comment this time; during my visit to Charlotte I had the opportunity to meet Karl Fredrickson as I wandered under the grandstand on a wet Friday morning. Karl is the Publisher of Dick Berggren's Speedway Illustrated and has a column in the magazine every month. If you're not familiar with Speedway Illustrated, it is by far the finest of all the racing publications on the market today and a magazine you should be reading if you're not. Anyway, a nicer person in the sport I have never met before. He was so friendly and pleasant and easy to talk with. I suspect that I could have talked racing with Karl for hours if time allowed and would certainly like to do so sometime in my life. He is one of racing's true "insiders" but so easy to talk with and so down to earth.
When the long range forecast of great weather suddenly turned much grimmer just before our scheduled time of departure, it was probably a fool hardy trip, especially knowing that if the Sunday rain date was used, we couldn't stay to see that part of the show. Be it as it may, we still went and while we battled the weather for three days and only saw one of the two scheduled programs, it was still an entertaining and learning experience for us.
We picked probably the worst year ever to attend this race with all of the weather issues but record numbers of both Late Models and Sprint Cars showed up anyway along with a stout field of Big Block Modifieds. The racing was intense in all three classes despite the difficult track conditions that saw a lot of expense race cars used up and I could not help but marvel at hard the drivers raced, even though the track was a real handful. of particular interest for me on this trip was the opportunity to see the Big Blocks in action. In the last couple of years I have developed quite an increased interest in the center steer Modifieds that are huge on the East Coast. With the lack of race papers now available(some of you hopefully still remember what a race PAPER was), I started subscribing to Area Auto Racing News which is published in Trenton New Jersey. Owner Lenny Sammons and his writers do a great job of covering racing, particularly East of the Mississippi, and their coverage of Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints is first rate and it is perhaps the best race paper I have ever read, bar none.
Anyway, I was very anxious to see drivers like Tremont, Friesen, Sheppard, Pauch and Hearn race for the first time and they didn't leave me disappointed. Even Linda, who knew none of these drivers, had to admit that their racing was some of the best of the entire weekend. What I was surprised was how poorly they were treated as a class. Going from being the "big shots" on the East Coast, they became the track packers here and they raced first both when the track was at its worst and also the latest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But I saw enough that I know that I would definitely like to see them again some time, perhaps at a track just a mite smaller that Charlotte.
But I digress. This blog was to compare the three SMI tracks and in the short days after Charlotte, we then flew out to Vegas for IMCA's Duel In The Desert at SMI's track there. I'm guessing that we may have been the only two to pull off that doubleheader, but it's not surprising since there aren't that many "goofballs" left around any more.
All three SMI tracks are first rate and provide great accommodations for the fans. All three have fantastic grandstands with excellent, TV quality lighting. The sound systems are great in all three and the only time I ever had any trouble hearing was at Charlotte when I was trying to hear time trials with multiple cars on the track. For some reason, even though all cars were using transponders to record times, they didn't flash the times on the scoreboards, which are actually pretty pedestrian at all three tracks and certainly not like anything Knoxville has for example.
While the spectator seating and amenities are pretty similar at all three tracks, the pits areas on the other hand vary widely. Vegas has great pit parking that is all on blacktop for almost as far as one can see while Texas is slightly smaller but still good. Charlotte, on the other hand, is worlds behind. Most of the cars pit on dirt quite a distance behind the pit grandstands while the Sprint Cars are crammed in a tight area just off turn one with the unfortunate late ones from the non power teams forced to pit on grass in a spectator parking area that with all the rains this Fall, was a muddy mess with haulers sinking out of sight on occasion.
Pit amenities varied considerably with Charlotte again on the outside looking in. Both Vegas and Texas have fine restroom facilities for the pit personal while Charlotte is still in the dark ages with Satellites the only convenience offered.
Without seeing a race at Charlotte that wasn't plagued by all the wet weather that made the track tough to both pack in and race on, I have to qualify any comparisons on the racing surfaces and the racing itself. I was only at Texas one time, and both nights of the racing there were very good on a smooth and fast surface that did take just a little rubber for the Late Models. The infield tunnel there is a special bonus as it allows cars to exit to the pits smoothly while not holding up the action for those in the next race rolling on to the track.
Charlotte seemed like it would be a good track to see racing if the conditions were more favorable and I have seen some TV racing from the track that looked good, if but a big dusty. If fact, by the Sprint feature from Friday night, even with all the mud and wet conditions, where the track had dried out low in the corners, we got blasted with dust from the prevailing winds in our faces.
Vegas' issues have been well documented throughout the years, virtually from the time the track was built. However, quite frankly, when you have a track situated in the desert, finding proper material to race on can be challenging, although there are certainly some other tracks in the same situation that seemed to have solved the problem some way. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson would be a prime example. This year their promises to rectify the situation for next year seemed the most sincere ever, so we will wait to see what happens for 2016. Despite the less than perfect conditions that the drivers have had to contend with, there have been some good races in the Modifieds at the track over the years. I have not seen a Sprint show at Vegas so cannot comment on how their racing goes, but the Late Model shows I've seen all saw the track take rubber.
All three tracks vary slightly in size and shape and particularly Vegas gives the impression that they had "so much land available" to make a dirt track so they made it fit that land. The one thing that is always mind boggling at these three tracks is that they are used so seldom. Vegas has two races per year along with Texas while Charlotte is used slightly more than that but under a half dozen times. Just about any other track in the country would kill to have the kind of facilities that these three tracks offer, yet they mostly just sit. They certainly can't be money makers and I'm guessing that if SMI was building these three super facilities over again in 2016 as opposed to when they were built in the "hey days" of NASCAR, the dirt tracks would have been left off the plans. All three are certainly among the nicest tracks in the country though and shouldn't be passed up if one would happen to be in their area when one of their rare races takes place.
One last comment this time; during my visit to Charlotte I had the opportunity to meet Karl Fredrickson as I wandered under the grandstand on a wet Friday morning. Karl is the Publisher of Dick Berggren's Speedway Illustrated and has a column in the magazine every month. If you're not familiar with Speedway Illustrated, it is by far the finest of all the racing publications on the market today and a magazine you should be reading if you're not. Anyway, a nicer person in the sport I have never met before. He was so friendly and pleasant and easy to talk with. I suspect that I could have talked racing with Karl for hours if time allowed and would certainly like to do so sometime in my life. He is one of racing's true "insiders" but so easy to talk with and so down to earth.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
The Duel in the Desert
For what I believe is the seventh straight year, we attending the annual IMCA sanctioned Duel in the Desert at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on November 12-14.
As usual, the event was a Modified fan's nirvana with open wheel cars coming from near and far to attempt to make the show at what is one of the most prestigious Modified events of the year anywhere. By my count, along with some help from the announcing duel of Toby Kruse and Chet Christner, there were drivers on hand from twenty three different states and four Canadian provinces, which is mighty impressive.
The combination of this being the biggest Modified race West of the Missouri plus the allure of Vegas for reasons both racing and non racing make this a very important race to be a part of as along with the normal top notch field of weekly racers representing the best in IMCA, there are always a number of top drivers from other sanctioning bodies and other racing disciplines to make the racing even more interesting.
Two hundred and six Modifieds signed in for opening night action along with sixty five Sport Mods who were added to the full three night program just last year. One more Modified rolled out of the trailer on Friday night to give a total of two hundred and seven Modifieds in total. While this sounds like a huge number of cars( and truthfully it is without a doubt), the 2015 numbers show nearly a thirty per cent drop in Sport Mod entries and nearly thirty less Modifieds than rolled through the gates for last year's edition of this event.
Whether this entrant drop off is just a natural "leveling off" of the playing field or for some more specific reason I'm just not sure, and while we as fans always long for bigger and better, quite frankly, two hundred and seventy two race cars running full programs each night is more than enough cars for any track!
While I hate to belabor the point, track conditions for this event are always a point of contention among the drivers. For as long as I've been attending this race, the track conditions have always been "challenging" to say the least. The drivers have learned to understand and accept that when they come to this event, they can expect that the track conditions may not be the best. Quite frankly, the middle of the desert is probably not the ideal place to build a dirt track and finding appropriate material to cover the track is hard to come by. I was told that, surprisingly, a high amount of the dirt covering this track is actually gypsum which is readily available in this area of the desert.
It certainly doesn't help that this track is only used twice a year; for this event and then in March for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car shows. Many tracks that suffer from yearly Spring time issues of bumpy conditions only improve as the surfaces get beat down from repeated races on it, something that just does not happen here.
It was reported that officials at LVMS brought in the track prep crew that does the track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I would assume that would be the same group of folks that do the track prep at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania but whether the acclaimed "Wizard of Dirt", Gary Risch, was on hand at Vegas, I do not know. They put in some long hours over the three days as they tried to bring around a track that I was told had not been touched since March until this week.
Track conditions for the opening night of racing were to be kind, horrid. The track was as bad as it has even been for the seven times I have seen this event and even many drivers, who had grown accustomed to what to expect here, were very vocal in their complaints by Friday in response to what had been the conditions on Thursday. One very prominent driver told me on Friday that no matter how much they complained, as long as two hundred or more drivers show up to race, there isn't a huge incentive for track officials to make wholesale changes, especially when it could be very costly compared to the few times the track is used.
To be fair, the track prep crew and track officials went into high gear after Thursday's show to try and make things better for Friday. And they were very successful, providing a track that while it still had some bumps, was much wider for racing and allowed much more side by side racing. The hope was that things would be even better on Saturday, but unfortunately, things regressed just a bit as the track didn't "clean off" very well on Saturday, so it was more one groove with the cursed bomb crater entering turn one taking more than its share of race car suspensions to task. However, I did get the feeling that LVMS officials truly put in their best efforts to improve the race conditions and I am hopeful that 2016 will provide a turn around for the drivers.
An incredible forty five races were run on Thursday night between the two classes. The "one and done" rule was used for all races except the main events and this tool was a "God Send." This rule kept so many races under the green that otherwise would have seen yellow flags wave. In fact, of this huge amount of races, only the Sport Mod feature saw more than two yellow flags in any race all night.
On Thursday night, Tyler Frye totally dominated the Sport Mod feature as the soon to be crowned national champion easily controlled the field. Jesse Sobbing led all the way in the non stop Modified feature while Missouri's Scott Drake, driving as a hired gun for a West Coast team, won the second feature over USMTS star Rodney Sanders who was driving a second car for Wisconsin's Mike Wedelstadt.
Friday night saw the much different track allow more racing grooves to open up and many of the drivers were up against the outside wall instead of hugging the inside line as they had on Thursday while trying to dodge the big craters.
As opposed to Thursday when once the first green flag was thrown the track remained untouched, several breaks were taken on Friday to help massage the track. Changes were also made to cut down on the number of races and the start time was moved back an hour in an effort to avoid the direct rays of the sun.
Iowa youngster Chase Rudolph ran a high line to dominate the non stop Sport Mod feature race.
In the Modifieds, Jordan Grabouski came from the third row to win one of the twenty five lappers while another USMTS star, Lucas Schott, won the other feature driving a second car out of the stable of Cody Scholpp from Canada. Schott last drove this car on the Dakota Modified Tour this Summer.
Saturday night the dukes came off as the only preliminary racing was Last Chance Qualifiers and the racing was even more intense that ever the first two nights. In the Modifieds, only the winners moved on and with plenty of top notch drivers still on the outside looking in, no one gave an inch.
Finally the fields were set for the two main events. Again, Tyler Frye dominated the action in the Sport Mods. Only the two yellow flags in the main brought the field back to him, but each time he would again pull away from the field. Frye announced that he will be moving up to the Modifieds in 2016, something that the other sixty four drivers on hand would agree as the best move he might make.
The Modified feature race saw several startling developments take place over the course of the forty lap main, with many of the suspected race favorites on the sidelines by the time the checkered flag flew. Schott's strategy, after he redrew the front row, was to hang on the bottom of the track and if someone was fast enough to get around them, so be it. As it turned out, there were two drivers that fit that mold but neither finished the race. Jordan Grabouski showed his strength as he was able to jump to the second lane and get past Schott and appeared ready to run off and hide.
Unfortunately, he was a victim of the turn one crater and the resulting suspension damage took him out of the race. The other strongest challenger was Sanders, and he attempted to roll past Schott on the outside. However, he also fell through the same crater and broke his front suspension and he was black flagged while running second, which eliminated him. So Schott continued to hug the low line and be as clean on his line as possible and he pulled away at the end for the win. This continues the surprising parade of outsiders that seem to end up in victory lane at this race as Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne, both non regulars with IMCA, have dominated this race before Schott.
Phillips was eliminated from the contest while in a challenging position as he and Sobbing got together on the back chute and then Sobbing "dumped" Phillips which eliminated both cars. As Phillips tried to scramble away from the wreck, he stopped right in front of Bobby Hogge who slammed into Terry and wrecked his car also. Later, when Grabouski lost control after his suspension issue, he shot straight up the track and pounded Hunter Marriott into the wall which eliminated him.
Sanders appeared to be the victim of a questionable call, as even though he had a broken suspension he seemed to have his car under control and was running second, with the cars behind him not able to catch him, much less pass. Earlier, in the Last Chance races, at least two other drivers in contending positions were allowed to continue racing with the same issues that Sanders had.
The crowds didn't seem as big as they were for last year's race. Perhaps the cold evening temperatures kept some people away. To be honest, this race is not one that is particularly fan friendly. The show starts early and finishes late. Unless you are a big fan of Modified racing, for many of the casual fans it is probably a case of "race overload." I would guess that the vast majority of the fans on hand were either directly attached to the competitors on hand or fans that would describe themselves as big Modified fans. The casual race fan might show up on Saturday night, but likely not before. It seemed like a breath of fresh air to be done with the whole program well before 10 p.m. on Saturday, after both Thursday and Friday night shows pressed or exceeded the Midnight hour. If there would be one thing that would make this weekend more attractive, it would be some way to shorten up the proceedings each night. If that meant running only longer distance heats and features and eliminating the B features and giving each driver only one chance to qualify each night, I'd be all for it. And if that meant fifty drivers stayed home next year because they only got one chance to qualify each night, I'd be OK with that also. However, I get the feeling that this event is done more for the drivers than for the spectators and as such, likely the format won't change soon. But, as a hard core fan, you can bet that if possible, I'll be on hand again next year.
An interesting part of this year's race was the theme for the race cars which saw them in some way representing their home states in their car wraps. There were some very clever designs on display. However, unlike some years, the winners weren't announced on Saturday in front of the crowd and in fact, not a mention was made who the winners were. I may have missed it, but I'm still searching to find out who the winners were, days after the event.
As usual, the event was a Modified fan's nirvana with open wheel cars coming from near and far to attempt to make the show at what is one of the most prestigious Modified events of the year anywhere. By my count, along with some help from the announcing duel of Toby Kruse and Chet Christner, there were drivers on hand from twenty three different states and four Canadian provinces, which is mighty impressive.
The combination of this being the biggest Modified race West of the Missouri plus the allure of Vegas for reasons both racing and non racing make this a very important race to be a part of as along with the normal top notch field of weekly racers representing the best in IMCA, there are always a number of top drivers from other sanctioning bodies and other racing disciplines to make the racing even more interesting.
Two hundred and six Modifieds signed in for opening night action along with sixty five Sport Mods who were added to the full three night program just last year. One more Modified rolled out of the trailer on Friday night to give a total of two hundred and seven Modifieds in total. While this sounds like a huge number of cars( and truthfully it is without a doubt), the 2015 numbers show nearly a thirty per cent drop in Sport Mod entries and nearly thirty less Modifieds than rolled through the gates for last year's edition of this event.
Whether this entrant drop off is just a natural "leveling off" of the playing field or for some more specific reason I'm just not sure, and while we as fans always long for bigger and better, quite frankly, two hundred and seventy two race cars running full programs each night is more than enough cars for any track!
While I hate to belabor the point, track conditions for this event are always a point of contention among the drivers. For as long as I've been attending this race, the track conditions have always been "challenging" to say the least. The drivers have learned to understand and accept that when they come to this event, they can expect that the track conditions may not be the best. Quite frankly, the middle of the desert is probably not the ideal place to build a dirt track and finding appropriate material to cover the track is hard to come by. I was told that, surprisingly, a high amount of the dirt covering this track is actually gypsum which is readily available in this area of the desert.
It certainly doesn't help that this track is only used twice a year; for this event and then in March for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car shows. Many tracks that suffer from yearly Spring time issues of bumpy conditions only improve as the surfaces get beat down from repeated races on it, something that just does not happen here.
It was reported that officials at LVMS brought in the track prep crew that does the track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I would assume that would be the same group of folks that do the track prep at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania but whether the acclaimed "Wizard of Dirt", Gary Risch, was on hand at Vegas, I do not know. They put in some long hours over the three days as they tried to bring around a track that I was told had not been touched since March until this week.
Track conditions for the opening night of racing were to be kind, horrid. The track was as bad as it has even been for the seven times I have seen this event and even many drivers, who had grown accustomed to what to expect here, were very vocal in their complaints by Friday in response to what had been the conditions on Thursday. One very prominent driver told me on Friday that no matter how much they complained, as long as two hundred or more drivers show up to race, there isn't a huge incentive for track officials to make wholesale changes, especially when it could be very costly compared to the few times the track is used.
To be fair, the track prep crew and track officials went into high gear after Thursday's show to try and make things better for Friday. And they were very successful, providing a track that while it still had some bumps, was much wider for racing and allowed much more side by side racing. The hope was that things would be even better on Saturday, but unfortunately, things regressed just a bit as the track didn't "clean off" very well on Saturday, so it was more one groove with the cursed bomb crater entering turn one taking more than its share of race car suspensions to task. However, I did get the feeling that LVMS officials truly put in their best efforts to improve the race conditions and I am hopeful that 2016 will provide a turn around for the drivers.
An incredible forty five races were run on Thursday night between the two classes. The "one and done" rule was used for all races except the main events and this tool was a "God Send." This rule kept so many races under the green that otherwise would have seen yellow flags wave. In fact, of this huge amount of races, only the Sport Mod feature saw more than two yellow flags in any race all night.
On Thursday night, Tyler Frye totally dominated the Sport Mod feature as the soon to be crowned national champion easily controlled the field. Jesse Sobbing led all the way in the non stop Modified feature while Missouri's Scott Drake, driving as a hired gun for a West Coast team, won the second feature over USMTS star Rodney Sanders who was driving a second car for Wisconsin's Mike Wedelstadt.
Friday night saw the much different track allow more racing grooves to open up and many of the drivers were up against the outside wall instead of hugging the inside line as they had on Thursday while trying to dodge the big craters.
As opposed to Thursday when once the first green flag was thrown the track remained untouched, several breaks were taken on Friday to help massage the track. Changes were also made to cut down on the number of races and the start time was moved back an hour in an effort to avoid the direct rays of the sun.
Iowa youngster Chase Rudolph ran a high line to dominate the non stop Sport Mod feature race.
In the Modifieds, Jordan Grabouski came from the third row to win one of the twenty five lappers while another USMTS star, Lucas Schott, won the other feature driving a second car out of the stable of Cody Scholpp from Canada. Schott last drove this car on the Dakota Modified Tour this Summer.
Saturday night the dukes came off as the only preliminary racing was Last Chance Qualifiers and the racing was even more intense that ever the first two nights. In the Modifieds, only the winners moved on and with plenty of top notch drivers still on the outside looking in, no one gave an inch.
Finally the fields were set for the two main events. Again, Tyler Frye dominated the action in the Sport Mods. Only the two yellow flags in the main brought the field back to him, but each time he would again pull away from the field. Frye announced that he will be moving up to the Modifieds in 2016, something that the other sixty four drivers on hand would agree as the best move he might make.
The Modified feature race saw several startling developments take place over the course of the forty lap main, with many of the suspected race favorites on the sidelines by the time the checkered flag flew. Schott's strategy, after he redrew the front row, was to hang on the bottom of the track and if someone was fast enough to get around them, so be it. As it turned out, there were two drivers that fit that mold but neither finished the race. Jordan Grabouski showed his strength as he was able to jump to the second lane and get past Schott and appeared ready to run off and hide.
Unfortunately, he was a victim of the turn one crater and the resulting suspension damage took him out of the race. The other strongest challenger was Sanders, and he attempted to roll past Schott on the outside. However, he also fell through the same crater and broke his front suspension and he was black flagged while running second, which eliminated him. So Schott continued to hug the low line and be as clean on his line as possible and he pulled away at the end for the win. This continues the surprising parade of outsiders that seem to end up in victory lane at this race as Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne, both non regulars with IMCA, have dominated this race before Schott.
Phillips was eliminated from the contest while in a challenging position as he and Sobbing got together on the back chute and then Sobbing "dumped" Phillips which eliminated both cars. As Phillips tried to scramble away from the wreck, he stopped right in front of Bobby Hogge who slammed into Terry and wrecked his car also. Later, when Grabouski lost control after his suspension issue, he shot straight up the track and pounded Hunter Marriott into the wall which eliminated him.
Sanders appeared to be the victim of a questionable call, as even though he had a broken suspension he seemed to have his car under control and was running second, with the cars behind him not able to catch him, much less pass. Earlier, in the Last Chance races, at least two other drivers in contending positions were allowed to continue racing with the same issues that Sanders had.
The crowds didn't seem as big as they were for last year's race. Perhaps the cold evening temperatures kept some people away. To be honest, this race is not one that is particularly fan friendly. The show starts early and finishes late. Unless you are a big fan of Modified racing, for many of the casual fans it is probably a case of "race overload." I would guess that the vast majority of the fans on hand were either directly attached to the competitors on hand or fans that would describe themselves as big Modified fans. The casual race fan might show up on Saturday night, but likely not before. It seemed like a breath of fresh air to be done with the whole program well before 10 p.m. on Saturday, after both Thursday and Friday night shows pressed or exceeded the Midnight hour. If there would be one thing that would make this weekend more attractive, it would be some way to shorten up the proceedings each night. If that meant running only longer distance heats and features and eliminating the B features and giving each driver only one chance to qualify each night, I'd be all for it. And if that meant fifty drivers stayed home next year because they only got one chance to qualify each night, I'd be OK with that also. However, I get the feeling that this event is done more for the drivers than for the spectators and as such, likely the format won't change soon. But, as a hard core fan, you can bet that if possible, I'll be on hand again next year.
An interesting part of this year's race was the theme for the race cars which saw them in some way representing their home states in their car wraps. There were some very clever designs on display. However, unlike some years, the winners weren't announced on Saturday in front of the crowd and in fact, not a mention was made who the winners were. I may have missed it, but I'm still searching to find out who the winners were, days after the event.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Topless at the "Big O"
The state of Minnesota held its last dirt track race of the 2015 racing season on Saturday, October 24th when the Ogilvie Raceway hosted its sixth annual Topless Nationals featuring eight divisions of racing action all compacted into a one day show. Originally scheduled with racing both Friday and Saturday, the show on Friday was weathered out by an all day soaking rain. With several options considered, the final choice was to run a complete program on Saturday for all divisions scheduled to compete. The original purse was halved, with no entry fee for the racers and only one pit pass to purchase.
All six weekly divisions were in racing action plus the Late Models were added to the event, as they have been in recent years. Also, after a sponsorship offer from Greg Parent of GRP Motorsports, the UMSS Traditional Sprints were also added to the card. Parent is the Media Director for the UMSS as well as a generous sponsor of race cars and racing events and the addition of the Traditional Sprints was a good choice for this event, particularly if the heats and dashes would have been completed on Friday as planned, rather than having to jam eight divisions with full shows all on Saturday.
This race gained some traction last year after the first editions of this event struggled with car counts, largely because racers in this area were used to putting their race cars "to bed" by this time of the year and , while there still are many that start stripping them down and rebuilding by late October, more and more racers are holding off for one more weekend of racing.
The all day rain on Friday was a blessing in some ways for the track surface itself, as this track can take rubber and lock down if it gets too much racing but on this Saturday there was none of that at the track saw many laps of competition and with very minimal track attention once the green flag waved, there was no bolted down race surface to content with.
Since the drivers have to make a concerted decision to race in this race, with the roofs required to be removed from all classes except the Street Stocks where it was optional for an extra $100 and the Hornets where they weren't allowed to remove the roofs, the change in the format likely would not change many drivers decisions about whether to race or not. With Saturday proving to be a sunny but cool day, one hundred and ninety cars signed in to race, which I believe was probably the largest turnout of race cars ever for this race track. With part of the pits too soft to use and this being a facility with not a huge pit area to begin with, finding places for all the racers to pit was challenge number one of the day. Many ended up out in the spectator parking lots which also provided the spectators with a unique experience as certainly many of the folks on hand to watch the races never had to park next to a race car in the parking lot before, or try to steer around a big totter to get on the road home. But everyone made due and the biggest task was to round up the racers and get them signed in, a task that was challenging and did lead to the races getting a twenty seven minute late start. However, after that it was almost nonstop racing for the next seven hours or until you as a fan just couldn't take any more and headed for the exits.
WISSOTA general rules prevailed for the race cars, however, exceptions were made so that all on hand could run with the class closest to their rules package. For instance, Late Models allowed the aluminum motors to be run with a restrictor plate used and Mark Rose, who blew up his WISSOTA engine in practice on Thursday, dropped in an aluminum engine his crew brought over for him so he could race.
In the Modified class, WISSOTA rules cars were the vast majority entered but there were also a couple of USMTS cars and an IMCA car or two. The Midwest Modifieds had a couple of IMCA Sport Mods running with them and the WISSOTA Street Stocks had a couple of IMCA Hobby Stocks running also but the IMCA Stock Cars were not allowed to run, given they had just a way too much advantage last year when Andy Altenburg won one of the feature races. The WISSOTA Super Stocks and Mod Fours are a singular class to WISSOTA and the Hornets ran under local track rules.
The Traditional Sprints are an interesting breed. They use regular sprint chassis, with restrictions on the shocks and some of the other expensive components. They run basically a MidMod or B mod motor in the car and a restricted tire, but from all appearances they resemble a nonwinged sprint.
The class have proven to be a haven for people that wanted to run a sprint car but couldn't afford to do so before and as a stepping stone for young drivers coming up from 600 sprints or mini sprints.
I have seen this class run at several different speedways and they always put on a good show with close competition and very few yellow flags. Their races are frequently decided on the last lap and if a few more tracks would start running this class, I think it might really take off. Right now St. Croix Speedway in Wisconsin, the home track of the UMSS, runs them every week and their numbers have built to over twenty cars for most of their shows as the season moved along. On Saturday they only had eleven as this race was a late addition and caught many of their drivers unprepared. This class prides itself on not having many yellow flags in their races and again on Saturday, they ran a non stop main event. Their other boast is that they have many different winners because the class is so even, and they added to that Saturday as Jeremy Kerzman, who is a veteran of racing with everything from Modifieds to 360 sprints to Midwest Modifieds in his backround, won his first ever Traditional Sprint feature as he rode the cushion to victory.
The Late Model field was a bit tepid as only a dozen cars were on hand as I guess not that many drivers were interested in racing for $1,500 for the one day show as opposed to three grand for the two day show. Nevertheless, Don Shaw put on a good show as he came from the seventh position to pass Jeff Massingill near the end for the win. Shaw, who has been on fire the second half of the year after he got his new Victory chassis from Billy Moyer, has been a dominant figure in area racing as the season has wrapped up and I would guess that he is savoring the chance to do well in Tucson in January, a track that he knows and runs very well indeed. John Kaanta, Lance Matthees and Marshall Fegers rounded out the top five finishers.
Forty six Modifieds signed in to race with three sanctioning bodies represented as well as drivers from four different states. However, for the longest time it appeared that local driver J. B. Stortz was going to win the main as he drove a brilliant race and fought off a series of challenges. Unfortunately, a late race yellow proved his undoing as he got a bad restart and spun his tires in turn one and Dave Cain blew past him on the outside to take the lead and go on for the win in his MasterSbilt from JMR Racing chassis. Stortz, Shane Sabraski, Jody Bellefeuille and Jason Thoennes would follow.
The Midwest Modifieds also had forty six entrants and making the main event in either one of these open wheel classes was a struggle itself. The MidMod main was dominated by area driver Jeremy Nelson who led the distance in his MB Custom chassis. He proved to be very fast and there was no one who could stay with him. Young Tyler Lamm, who is being tutored in his racing career by the famous Jones family from Princeton Minnesota, came home a strong second and was followed by Sketter Estey, Sabraski and Corey Bruggeman.
Tim Johnson won the Super Stock feature after a great battle with Eric Martini. They went wheel to wheel for many laps before Johnson was able to edge in front. A couple of late race crashes took out contenders Martini, Don Shaw and Dave Mass and gave Johnson a little breathing room. Johnson, who races in three classes multi times a week during the season, has won over one hundred feature races just this season between the Street Stock, Modified and Super Stock that he drives and has put together one of the most amazing racing seasons on record. He also finished runner up in all three national point standings in those classes under the WISSOTA sanctioning body. Johnson was followed by Mark Blood, Joey Jensen(of USMTS fame), Jared Zimpel and Josh Schmit.
Johnson also won the Street Stock feature where he started on the pole and dominated the race. He was trailed by Justin Pogones, Jim Gullikson, Davey Kruchten, and rookie Ethan Iiams.
Shayne Laske is one of the "big shots" in the Mod four class. He is a multi time national champion and builder of many of the fastest Mod fours around. However, he doesn't race too much himself any more, but when he climbs behind the wheel, he is one to watch. Saturday he jumped into Mitch Hribar's car and dominated the Mod four feature, winning by a large margin over Chad Funt, Dean Larson, Dwight Gilyard and Mike Rau.
There was some sadness associated with Saturday's show and it was evidenced most in the Hornet class. Layne Roberts, from Willmar Minnesota, passed away suddenly during this week. Layne was widely known in the central Minnesota racing scene, having been a board member at a couple of different tracks, a well known flagman at several area speedways, a wrecker driver and corner worker at tracks in the area, and most recently, a Hornet racer. Among Layne's greatest accomplishments has been him being the Head Starter at the WISSOTA 100 in Huron South Dakota in recent years and in fact, the last time I was at Ogilvie Raceway earlier this Summer, Layne was flagging the races as a replacement for regular flagman Brian. He was a wild and crazy guy, known by everyone and will be sorely missed for his fun and "devil may care" attitude. He was truly one of a kind.
The Hornet drivers started their main event with the "missing driver" formation and his close friend Mark Deering drove Layne's car in the main event, leading for a lap or so before settling for third. Race winner was Joe Martin with Ashton Schulte, Deering, Justin Schelitzche and Joe Bunkofske(all the way from Iowa), trailing.
It was a long night of racing and surely pushed the limits of just how much racing one can do in one day before the show should be a split show over two days. However, folks at the Big O didn't have that option due to the weather and activities on Sunday that would have hampered things so they did the best they could. There was nothing wrong with the racing and the car count was fantastic so overall it was a very positive way to end the local scene. You could also tell that some drivers at least, were operating under the theory that they had all Winter to fix any damage as there seemed to be a more than the normal amount of aggressive driving and several rather blatant cases of "payback", justified or not.
The Wagamon family, of Wagamon Brothers Racing Engines in the Twin Cities, purchased the Big O part way through this racing season and it will be interesting to see if they make any changes for the 2016 season as they really had no time this year to do other than finish off what had been already scheduled. I would be surprised it there were not some bigger events on tap for next year.
All six weekly divisions were in racing action plus the Late Models were added to the event, as they have been in recent years. Also, after a sponsorship offer from Greg Parent of GRP Motorsports, the UMSS Traditional Sprints were also added to the card. Parent is the Media Director for the UMSS as well as a generous sponsor of race cars and racing events and the addition of the Traditional Sprints was a good choice for this event, particularly if the heats and dashes would have been completed on Friday as planned, rather than having to jam eight divisions with full shows all on Saturday.
This race gained some traction last year after the first editions of this event struggled with car counts, largely because racers in this area were used to putting their race cars "to bed" by this time of the year and , while there still are many that start stripping them down and rebuilding by late October, more and more racers are holding off for one more weekend of racing.
The all day rain on Friday was a blessing in some ways for the track surface itself, as this track can take rubber and lock down if it gets too much racing but on this Saturday there was none of that at the track saw many laps of competition and with very minimal track attention once the green flag waved, there was no bolted down race surface to content with.
Since the drivers have to make a concerted decision to race in this race, with the roofs required to be removed from all classes except the Street Stocks where it was optional for an extra $100 and the Hornets where they weren't allowed to remove the roofs, the change in the format likely would not change many drivers decisions about whether to race or not. With Saturday proving to be a sunny but cool day, one hundred and ninety cars signed in to race, which I believe was probably the largest turnout of race cars ever for this race track. With part of the pits too soft to use and this being a facility with not a huge pit area to begin with, finding places for all the racers to pit was challenge number one of the day. Many ended up out in the spectator parking lots which also provided the spectators with a unique experience as certainly many of the folks on hand to watch the races never had to park next to a race car in the parking lot before, or try to steer around a big totter to get on the road home. But everyone made due and the biggest task was to round up the racers and get them signed in, a task that was challenging and did lead to the races getting a twenty seven minute late start. However, after that it was almost nonstop racing for the next seven hours or until you as a fan just couldn't take any more and headed for the exits.
WISSOTA general rules prevailed for the race cars, however, exceptions were made so that all on hand could run with the class closest to their rules package. For instance, Late Models allowed the aluminum motors to be run with a restrictor plate used and Mark Rose, who blew up his WISSOTA engine in practice on Thursday, dropped in an aluminum engine his crew brought over for him so he could race.
In the Modified class, WISSOTA rules cars were the vast majority entered but there were also a couple of USMTS cars and an IMCA car or two. The Midwest Modifieds had a couple of IMCA Sport Mods running with them and the WISSOTA Street Stocks had a couple of IMCA Hobby Stocks running also but the IMCA Stock Cars were not allowed to run, given they had just a way too much advantage last year when Andy Altenburg won one of the feature races. The WISSOTA Super Stocks and Mod Fours are a singular class to WISSOTA and the Hornets ran under local track rules.
The Traditional Sprints are an interesting breed. They use regular sprint chassis, with restrictions on the shocks and some of the other expensive components. They run basically a MidMod or B mod motor in the car and a restricted tire, but from all appearances they resemble a nonwinged sprint.
The class have proven to be a haven for people that wanted to run a sprint car but couldn't afford to do so before and as a stepping stone for young drivers coming up from 600 sprints or mini sprints.
I have seen this class run at several different speedways and they always put on a good show with close competition and very few yellow flags. Their races are frequently decided on the last lap and if a few more tracks would start running this class, I think it might really take off. Right now St. Croix Speedway in Wisconsin, the home track of the UMSS, runs them every week and their numbers have built to over twenty cars for most of their shows as the season moved along. On Saturday they only had eleven as this race was a late addition and caught many of their drivers unprepared. This class prides itself on not having many yellow flags in their races and again on Saturday, they ran a non stop main event. Their other boast is that they have many different winners because the class is so even, and they added to that Saturday as Jeremy Kerzman, who is a veteran of racing with everything from Modifieds to 360 sprints to Midwest Modifieds in his backround, won his first ever Traditional Sprint feature as he rode the cushion to victory.
The Late Model field was a bit tepid as only a dozen cars were on hand as I guess not that many drivers were interested in racing for $1,500 for the one day show as opposed to three grand for the two day show. Nevertheless, Don Shaw put on a good show as he came from the seventh position to pass Jeff Massingill near the end for the win. Shaw, who has been on fire the second half of the year after he got his new Victory chassis from Billy Moyer, has been a dominant figure in area racing as the season has wrapped up and I would guess that he is savoring the chance to do well in Tucson in January, a track that he knows and runs very well indeed. John Kaanta, Lance Matthees and Marshall Fegers rounded out the top five finishers.
Forty six Modifieds signed in to race with three sanctioning bodies represented as well as drivers from four different states. However, for the longest time it appeared that local driver J. B. Stortz was going to win the main as he drove a brilliant race and fought off a series of challenges. Unfortunately, a late race yellow proved his undoing as he got a bad restart and spun his tires in turn one and Dave Cain blew past him on the outside to take the lead and go on for the win in his MasterSbilt from JMR Racing chassis. Stortz, Shane Sabraski, Jody Bellefeuille and Jason Thoennes would follow.
The Midwest Modifieds also had forty six entrants and making the main event in either one of these open wheel classes was a struggle itself. The MidMod main was dominated by area driver Jeremy Nelson who led the distance in his MB Custom chassis. He proved to be very fast and there was no one who could stay with him. Young Tyler Lamm, who is being tutored in his racing career by the famous Jones family from Princeton Minnesota, came home a strong second and was followed by Sketter Estey, Sabraski and Corey Bruggeman.
Tim Johnson won the Super Stock feature after a great battle with Eric Martini. They went wheel to wheel for many laps before Johnson was able to edge in front. A couple of late race crashes took out contenders Martini, Don Shaw and Dave Mass and gave Johnson a little breathing room. Johnson, who races in three classes multi times a week during the season, has won over one hundred feature races just this season between the Street Stock, Modified and Super Stock that he drives and has put together one of the most amazing racing seasons on record. He also finished runner up in all three national point standings in those classes under the WISSOTA sanctioning body. Johnson was followed by Mark Blood, Joey Jensen(of USMTS fame), Jared Zimpel and Josh Schmit.
Johnson also won the Street Stock feature where he started on the pole and dominated the race. He was trailed by Justin Pogones, Jim Gullikson, Davey Kruchten, and rookie Ethan Iiams.
Shayne Laske is one of the "big shots" in the Mod four class. He is a multi time national champion and builder of many of the fastest Mod fours around. However, he doesn't race too much himself any more, but when he climbs behind the wheel, he is one to watch. Saturday he jumped into Mitch Hribar's car and dominated the Mod four feature, winning by a large margin over Chad Funt, Dean Larson, Dwight Gilyard and Mike Rau.
There was some sadness associated with Saturday's show and it was evidenced most in the Hornet class. Layne Roberts, from Willmar Minnesota, passed away suddenly during this week. Layne was widely known in the central Minnesota racing scene, having been a board member at a couple of different tracks, a well known flagman at several area speedways, a wrecker driver and corner worker at tracks in the area, and most recently, a Hornet racer. Among Layne's greatest accomplishments has been him being the Head Starter at the WISSOTA 100 in Huron South Dakota in recent years and in fact, the last time I was at Ogilvie Raceway earlier this Summer, Layne was flagging the races as a replacement for regular flagman Brian. He was a wild and crazy guy, known by everyone and will be sorely missed for his fun and "devil may care" attitude. He was truly one of a kind.
The Hornet drivers started their main event with the "missing driver" formation and his close friend Mark Deering drove Layne's car in the main event, leading for a lap or so before settling for third. Race winner was Joe Martin with Ashton Schulte, Deering, Justin Schelitzche and Joe Bunkofske(all the way from Iowa), trailing.
It was a long night of racing and surely pushed the limits of just how much racing one can do in one day before the show should be a split show over two days. However, folks at the Big O didn't have that option due to the weather and activities on Sunday that would have hampered things so they did the best they could. There was nothing wrong with the racing and the car count was fantastic so overall it was a very positive way to end the local scene. You could also tell that some drivers at least, were operating under the theory that they had all Winter to fix any damage as there seemed to be a more than the normal amount of aggressive driving and several rather blatant cases of "payback", justified or not.
The Wagamon family, of Wagamon Brothers Racing Engines in the Twin Cities, purchased the Big O part way through this racing season and it will be interesting to see if they make any changes for the 2016 season as they really had no time this year to do other than finish off what had been already scheduled. I would be surprised it there were not some bigger events on tap for next year.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
The Conundrum of Auto Racing
This is the story of two race tracks in the Badger State that are trying to come back to life after being closed. Both have new owners after sitting idle, both started out with much enthusiasm and good ideas, yet both fell into the trap that seems to consume this sport. And that is the notion that to survive as a facility, it is necessary to get into a scrape with your nearest track neighbors, rather than trying to work together.
The Tomahawk Speedway is an old facility, having been around since at least the 1960's . I remember first attending a race there in the early 60's, having been in Tomahawk for an Easter get together with family friends and finding out that they were racing an Easter afternoon matinee. I talked my parents into dropping me off at the track and I spent Easter afternoon watching the races, rather than sitting around eating left over ham.
Tomahawk was a blacktop track then, and many of the best drivers from the old Central Wisconsin Racing Association were racing that day. It was the first time I got to see such big names as Marv Marzofka, Jim Back, Marlin "Shoes" Walbeck and others race. In fact, one of the drivers on hand that day was Dave Marcis, but in my youthful ignorance, in my driver's list for that day, not knowing any better, I spelled it "Marcus."
Anyway, Tomahawk had a successful program for years but gradually it went downhill. Race cars were scarce and fans even scarcer. They tried running lesser divisions as the premier class but that didn't work and eventually the track closed, where it sat vacant for several years.
Enter Ron VanDusen, a successful businessman in Tomahawk and Eagle River. He had the chance to buy the track for a reasonable price, and he did so. The catch was that he was a dirt racer himself and his plan was to cover the blacktop with dirt.
He did this, sanctioned his programs with WISSOTA for a couple of classes along with running some of the local nonsanctioned classes, and took off as a promoter. Now Tomahawk is a fairly small town, and there aren't many other cities of size within reasonable driving distance. He got race cars, but not a lot of them as there just weren't the racers in the area any more in the numbers that there had been once, a situation that many tracks similarly face.
He soldered on for a few years but he grew tired of the hassle of promoting and put the track up for sale. With no one jumping on board to buy it, the track has now sat idle for about two years.
The second track in this story has been known by several different names but most people would know it best as the Monster Hall Raceway near Unity Wisconsin. First built by a partnership of three people, Jerry Weigel eventually became known as the face of the track and the person that did the most to keep the track running. They had some good years, but gradually they hit the same roadblocks that affected Tomahawk as the car counts started to slip after the boom years of dirt track racing settled into a more "try to survive" mood, and in fighting between the track principals saw Weigel move from the area, buy some land and build his own race track, the Eagle Valley Speedway near Jim Falls Wisconsin which he still operates.
Monster Hall went up for sale and eventually a gentleman from the Twin Cities purchased the track. He was an absentee owner and promoter and after several fitful starts and stops of the track, it closed up shop early last year and its future was uncertain.
Flying the face of what has been happening at many tracks of late however, both tracks surprisingly came up with new ownership this Summer. Tomahawk was purchased by a member of the Bartelt family, a family that has been involved and participated in racing for a long time in this area.
Monster Hall was purchased by Scott Duval from Bloomer, a racer who has raced everything from Street Stocks to Modifieds and Late Models and is well known in the area.
I have known Scott Duval for many years as he has raced at many of the area tracks while I have not as yet met Mr. Bartelt I have certainly heard of him previously and have seen him race on occasion over the years.
Both tracks, once the new owners came on board, rushed to make improvements so that they could get their first shows in yet this year. Duval made the rounds of the area tracks, talking to drivers and laying out what was his plan for his new acquisition, which he has named Spring Lake Speedway and Event Center. He posted a date for his first race and then published it extensively, passing out flyers and getting a face book page up and running.
Bartelt ran his first race in mid September, and friends from the area told me that he advertised the event well and worked the local markets to make it a success. He had a good field of racers on hand, many more than had been at any event for a long time previously at this track and had a huge grandstand full of people. It was a highly successful event. They then decided to build on this success by having their first, two day show yet this Fall.
Here's where things started getting sticky. The date they chose, with many dates available on the calendar given that most of the other tracks in the general area had already wrapped up their seasons, was the same date that Spring Lake Speedway had long been advertising for their opener!
Duval told me that Bartelt called him and asked Scott to change the date of his race, something that he obviously couldn't do based on the advertising that he had already done.
So, from that point, the battle was on, one that probably benefited both the drivers and fans, at least for the short term. As the battle took place on facebook, each track tried to "one up" the other and things such as sponsors increasing the purse, contingencies, continues track improvements, fan giveaways, and creature comforts such as heaters for the fans, plastic to cover the backs of the grandstands to break the wind etc were volleyed back and forth.
The last straw hit just a couple of days before the race. Tomahawk, who's program was scheduled to be a two day show, facing a bitterly cold weather forecast for Friday night, condensed their program to a one day show on Saturday, so both tracks were going head on fully from start to finish. Keep in mind, in a highly rural area with limited population, these tracks. are only seventy seven miles apart according to Rand-McNally.
While I did not attend either show, reports for this event were positive from both tracks. Both had well over one hundred cars in the pits and full grandstands of fans. Each track had some issues that most likely were due to new people in key positions and perhaps just not being fully prepared for what they received in terms of spectator turnout. These are things easily correctable for the future.
Neither track has officially stated what they plan to do next year in terms of classes that will be raced, what night they will race on , what sanctioning body, if any they will use etc. All these things will play a part in what the relationship between these two tracks will be in the future. And without the luxury of having ample race cars due to no other tracks still racing this late in the season and fans from a wide area looking to get one more race in for the year, drawing crowds and racers will be much more challenging next year, when the newness of the places wears off. Common sense would tell you that two tracks this close together would likely share race cars and fans, but common sense is not a commodity often in great supply in racing.
For the short run, it appears that both tracks have gotten off to a good start. However, the long term is what separates those tracks that survive from those that either turn to dust or go on the market for sale within a couple of years. What happens to these two tracks will continue to be an evolving story.
The Tomahawk Speedway is an old facility, having been around since at least the 1960's . I remember first attending a race there in the early 60's, having been in Tomahawk for an Easter get together with family friends and finding out that they were racing an Easter afternoon matinee. I talked my parents into dropping me off at the track and I spent Easter afternoon watching the races, rather than sitting around eating left over ham.
Tomahawk was a blacktop track then, and many of the best drivers from the old Central Wisconsin Racing Association were racing that day. It was the first time I got to see such big names as Marv Marzofka, Jim Back, Marlin "Shoes" Walbeck and others race. In fact, one of the drivers on hand that day was Dave Marcis, but in my youthful ignorance, in my driver's list for that day, not knowing any better, I spelled it "Marcus."
Anyway, Tomahawk had a successful program for years but gradually it went downhill. Race cars were scarce and fans even scarcer. They tried running lesser divisions as the premier class but that didn't work and eventually the track closed, where it sat vacant for several years.
Enter Ron VanDusen, a successful businessman in Tomahawk and Eagle River. He had the chance to buy the track for a reasonable price, and he did so. The catch was that he was a dirt racer himself and his plan was to cover the blacktop with dirt.
He did this, sanctioned his programs with WISSOTA for a couple of classes along with running some of the local nonsanctioned classes, and took off as a promoter. Now Tomahawk is a fairly small town, and there aren't many other cities of size within reasonable driving distance. He got race cars, but not a lot of them as there just weren't the racers in the area any more in the numbers that there had been once, a situation that many tracks similarly face.
He soldered on for a few years but he grew tired of the hassle of promoting and put the track up for sale. With no one jumping on board to buy it, the track has now sat idle for about two years.
The second track in this story has been known by several different names but most people would know it best as the Monster Hall Raceway near Unity Wisconsin. First built by a partnership of three people, Jerry Weigel eventually became known as the face of the track and the person that did the most to keep the track running. They had some good years, but gradually they hit the same roadblocks that affected Tomahawk as the car counts started to slip after the boom years of dirt track racing settled into a more "try to survive" mood, and in fighting between the track principals saw Weigel move from the area, buy some land and build his own race track, the Eagle Valley Speedway near Jim Falls Wisconsin which he still operates.
Monster Hall went up for sale and eventually a gentleman from the Twin Cities purchased the track. He was an absentee owner and promoter and after several fitful starts and stops of the track, it closed up shop early last year and its future was uncertain.
Flying the face of what has been happening at many tracks of late however, both tracks surprisingly came up with new ownership this Summer. Tomahawk was purchased by a member of the Bartelt family, a family that has been involved and participated in racing for a long time in this area.
Monster Hall was purchased by Scott Duval from Bloomer, a racer who has raced everything from Street Stocks to Modifieds and Late Models and is well known in the area.
I have known Scott Duval for many years as he has raced at many of the area tracks while I have not as yet met Mr. Bartelt I have certainly heard of him previously and have seen him race on occasion over the years.
Both tracks, once the new owners came on board, rushed to make improvements so that they could get their first shows in yet this year. Duval made the rounds of the area tracks, talking to drivers and laying out what was his plan for his new acquisition, which he has named Spring Lake Speedway and Event Center. He posted a date for his first race and then published it extensively, passing out flyers and getting a face book page up and running.
Bartelt ran his first race in mid September, and friends from the area told me that he advertised the event well and worked the local markets to make it a success. He had a good field of racers on hand, many more than had been at any event for a long time previously at this track and had a huge grandstand full of people. It was a highly successful event. They then decided to build on this success by having their first, two day show yet this Fall.
Here's where things started getting sticky. The date they chose, with many dates available on the calendar given that most of the other tracks in the general area had already wrapped up their seasons, was the same date that Spring Lake Speedway had long been advertising for their opener!
Duval told me that Bartelt called him and asked Scott to change the date of his race, something that he obviously couldn't do based on the advertising that he had already done.
So, from that point, the battle was on, one that probably benefited both the drivers and fans, at least for the short term. As the battle took place on facebook, each track tried to "one up" the other and things such as sponsors increasing the purse, contingencies, continues track improvements, fan giveaways, and creature comforts such as heaters for the fans, plastic to cover the backs of the grandstands to break the wind etc were volleyed back and forth.
The last straw hit just a couple of days before the race. Tomahawk, who's program was scheduled to be a two day show, facing a bitterly cold weather forecast for Friday night, condensed their program to a one day show on Saturday, so both tracks were going head on fully from start to finish. Keep in mind, in a highly rural area with limited population, these tracks. are only seventy seven miles apart according to Rand-McNally.
While I did not attend either show, reports for this event were positive from both tracks. Both had well over one hundred cars in the pits and full grandstands of fans. Each track had some issues that most likely were due to new people in key positions and perhaps just not being fully prepared for what they received in terms of spectator turnout. These are things easily correctable for the future.
Neither track has officially stated what they plan to do next year in terms of classes that will be raced, what night they will race on , what sanctioning body, if any they will use etc. All these things will play a part in what the relationship between these two tracks will be in the future. And without the luxury of having ample race cars due to no other tracks still racing this late in the season and fans from a wide area looking to get one more race in for the year, drawing crowds and racers will be much more challenging next year, when the newness of the places wears off. Common sense would tell you that two tracks this close together would likely share race cars and fans, but common sense is not a commodity often in great supply in racing.
For the short run, it appears that both tracks have gotten off to a good start. However, the long term is what separates those tracks that survive from those that either turn to dust or go on the market for sale within a couple of years. What happens to these two tracks will continue to be an evolving story.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Southern Iowa Speedway Season Championships
In an interesting schedule twist, Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa returned after a three week layoff to host their Season Championship races on Wednesday night, Sept. 23rd.
As I have noticed at tracks closer to my home area, tracks have basically two ways that they wrap up their racing seasons. Some tracks cut off track point one week before the end of the season, crown point champions and then run what they call their “Season Championship” night, with the heat races lined straight up off track points and the starting order for the features determined by the finish of the heats. So in essence, they crown a point champion and a season champion.
Other tracks run their last race as just another race, lining up the cars as they normally would, depending on the sanctioning bodies' way of doing this. Then they tally up the points after the final night and crown “track champions.”
Oskaloosa does it the latter way, and going into the final race night Wednesday, there were two very close point battles to be decided. In the Stock Cars, Cayden Carter and Mike Hughes were locked in a flat out tie while in the Mods, Carter had a five point lead with three other drivers within six points of his total. In the other three classes, things were pretty well wrapped up already going into the final night's race.
I thought that perhaps there might be a few drivers chasing points or perhaps just looking to get in another race given that many Iowa tracks are by now shut down for the season. That wasn't the case however, as it was mostly a night when just the regulars showed up one last time. In fact, the Hobby Stock and Stock Car numbers seemed a bit down from some of the other visits to the track I have made this year. Osky, by the way, is probably the track in Iowa that I have been to most often this summer, probably primarily due to the fact that they race on a weeknight and they also get their season started pretty early compared to many of the Hawkeye State tracks. The Sport Compacts, on the other hand, did have the highest car count of any time I have seen them run at Osky this year though. It also remains a mystery why the Modified car count is always so low at Osky, as I think their pay compares well to other tracks in the area, and the half mile is no bigger than the other half miles that have many more cars in the class. Perhaps someone can explain to me what the issue is.
In talking to promoter Mike VanGenderen before the show, he told me that he had some options and offers to run some other tracks next year, some even on nights that he has been running his two tracks on this year. However, he said that in all likelihood, he would probably stay with what he has been doing in 2015 and that is running Osky and Donnellson. He has a busy five weeks coming up with Fall specials at Osky, Memphis and Donnellson that will take him away from the driver's seat the rest of the year and he doesn't think that he will be doing any more racing this year, although there remains an outside chance he might haul a new car out for a driver while taking along his own car to race at the Duel in the Desert. Mike has already sold one of his cars from this year and has a new Harris chassis for 2016.
As usual, racing started right on the dot of the advertised time, with a decent sized crowd on hand. One must remember that by this time of the year, not only does work get in the way of some drivers and fans but school activities are going full bore and that certainly must keep some people away from the track for the midweek events. However, Mike ran this same kind of schedule last year and he wouldn't put it on the schedule again unless he was confident that it would break out OK for him.
Several of the open motor late models were on hand getting some practice laps in before starting their big event at Knoxville on Thursday night, including both Moyers, Ryan Gustin and Paul Glendenning and they helped turn the track into a black, slick surface with a narrow cushion right up against the guard rail for the main events.
Shaun Slaughter and Brandon Potts scored easy wins in the Sport Compact and Hobby Stock features respectively. The Sport Mod feature was killed by a lap two wreck that took out most of the fast cars and saw Brayton Carter run away with the win, lapping up to the sixth place finisher.
Then it was down to the two features that held the most meaning, the Mods and Stock Cars.
However, there was such a small field of Modifieds and with the point system dropping only one point per position, some quick math would prove that really all Carter had to do was keep him car on the track and perhaps pass a car or two, just to be safe. And he did that, finishing second to a strong running Scott Dickey who ran away with the win.
It then boiled down to the Stock Cars, where the night's real only drama was played out. Zack VanderBeek stayed away from practice at Deer Creek with his modified and instead ran the Stock Car at Osky and he took the early lead. Carter was the only one real able to make the low groove work, and he was able to advance from a fourth row starting spot up to second, where he tried lap after lap to get by VanderBeek but was unable to do so.
Hughes had a tougher time moving forward and he couldn't pass Jerry Pilcher for third, trying the same move as Carter to dive low in the corners but he couldn't beat the Bloomfield veteran back up the track and had to repeatedly tuck in behind him.
It appeared that near the end, Carter realized the situation and he settled in behind VanderBeek, satisfied with second as long as he was receiving no challenges from anyone else. On the last lap, Hughes finally secured third but he was too far behind to make a difference and Carter became a double point champion, with the margin razor thin at one point in the Stock Cars.
It was a smooth night of racing with the final checkered flag waving just after 10 pm, even with out of car driver introductions.
It is possible that I might return for one of Mike V's Fall specials. One can never predict what the weather will bring or what circumstances will take place. However, if I don't, I want to thank Mike and his whole staff for their help and consideration this year. More often than not, I pop up at one of Mike's tracks unannounced and I get a warm welcome and plenty of assistance if needed. It is most appreciated by me.
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