The Deery Brothers Summer Series came to the Independence Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 6th as a part of the first day of the annual county fair. Also on the card was the Dale Miller Memorial race, a special for the IMCA Modifieds and the third class in action was the Sport Mods.
A trip to Independence is always a special moment for me as it is always like a step back in time. It is dangerous to get too hung up on the past, but I always have to humor myself a little when I walk into the pits at Independence. This place is just dripping in nostalgia for me as I think of the great names from what I would consider my "glory" years of Late Model racing that raced here on a weekly basis and then took their show on the road, stealing money from the local drivers all over the Midwest and beyond, and leaving lasting memories for the fans in the stands of the "beating" they put on the locals.
I can remember when Sanger, Hansen, Crawford etc. used to show up for specials in Minnesota and Wisconsin and the Dakotas and lay a "smackin" down on the local drivers and then head off into the night back South to leave the local drivers just shaking their heads and lasting memories for the fans that saw them in action. Eventually folks like Sanger started selling their technology to others and the fields started to balance themselves out and then, once sanctioning bodies started getting territorial and made rules that made each group just enough different that it was impossible to cross over, the real fun part of racing was lost forever.
But that was then and this is now and on this extraordinarily steamy July night in Independence, a fine field of thirty five Late Models found their way to this historic oval. By the way, after checking with some of the locals, who certified that even by Iowa standards this night was more than humid enough to complain about, I also chimed in.
Besides the Late Models, the Miller Memorial had attracted a great field of Modifieds with either thirty nine or forty on hand, depending on whether you believe the last car in the lineup ever actually made it to the track. And in fact, with no disparagement meant to the Late Models, the Modified field from top to bottom might have been even stronger than the Late Models.
The Sport Mods had two dozen cars entered also and despite their smaller number, they would make their presence felt later, and unfortunately, not in a positive way.
Somewhere over an inch of rain fell overnight in Independence but the show would go on. The pits was a little muddy in spots, the infield of the track a quagmire and the track itself plenty wet. Despite all day efforts to pack and rework the track, the surface would be a factor early as it was choppy and loose in the corners. I made the mistake of sitting near a bunch of the biggest "pissers and moaners" that I have heard for a long time for as soon as the hot laps started and it was clear that the track was going to be choppy, they started their complaining campaign, almost as it they were happy that the track wasn't perfect so they would have something to complain about. Really? And you can bet that if they had canceled because of wet track conditions, they would have been complaining about that too!
So, I tried to ignore them and focus on the racing and there was plenty of that going on as in both the Mods and Late Models, just making the main event would be challenging. Four heat races in both classes plus a couple of consolations would set the field while the Sport Mods ran three heats to set their starting grid.
The Sport Mods ran the first feature, interestingly enough, even before the other two classes ran their B features. Twenty three cars started their main event and it turned into an event that tried everyone's patience with the yellow flag getting a work out as spins and crashes marked the event. The top runners tried hard to maintain control and put on a race but many behind them spent more time crashing into each other and spinning out than doing much else.
Dan Drury led the entire eighteen laps of the main for the win but it was very much hard earned as he had to endure through so many yellows that repeatedly brought the field back to him. Each time however, he continued to hit his marks and not make a mistake and he drove on for the win over Joey Schaefer and Ben Chapman.
Fortunately, after the Sport Mods got off the track, the number of yellows went down markedly. The Late Models had only two yellows in forty laps and the Mods only one in twenty five laps as both classes raced hard without slowdowns.
Scott Fitzpatrick won his second Derry Brothers main of the season and became the first to do so in 2016. A look at the Deery Brothers points shows that there is much more balance in the Late Model ranks than in some years and the points are very close. Fitzpatrick certainly must be considered as among the most improved drivers running Late Models as it wasn't that many years ago when he had a tough time even getting around the track without spinning, much less winning feature races and challenging for series points titles. The Deery Brothers series continues to get good support from the drivers as the top sixteen in points were all on hand.
Denny Eckrich looked like he might steal away the win as he moved in to challenge Fitzpatrick and Eckrich seemed to be running a slightly lower line on the track and one that was really working. Just as Eckrich was ready to make his move, it appeared that Fitzpatrick found that same line and he stabilized the distance between then and then, after a lap twenty eight yellow, he pulled away from that point on.
Curt Martin and Ray Guss Jr both looked like legitimate challengers for the win but in a strange series of events, both got too high down the back chute and got over the edge of the track, taking rides off the turn three corner that ended both their chances of challenging.
Tyler Droste dominated a feature race but unlike the class that many thought he would dominate, he instead was the winner of the Modified feature. Droste has been running very strong in his Late Model lately but on this night it was the Modified that carried him to victory. He started on the pole and led all twenty five laps and while there were some great battled behind him, he controlled the top spot from start to finish.
The lone yellow saw Troy Cordes take a hard ride off the first corner and impact the guard rail surrounding the track. His car was badly damaged both front and back end and it took him some time to regain his footing and exit his car. It was definitely a very hard hit.
The battle for second in the Mod feature was a dandy as the drivers swapped positions on numerous occasions and on the lap that counted, Brian Irvine finished second with Richie Gustin and Joel Rust next in line.
It did get to be a long night on Wednesday and in fact, I can never remember being at Independence until 11:30 pm before. However, almost all the extra time was used to either rework the track for the main events or clean up another Sport Mod mess. Once the racing started, it was nonstop from one race to the next with the only break taken for the redraw but at the same time the track was being redone so no time was wasted there either. Given the hand they drew, they did the absolute best they could under the circumstances. And after the track was graded, any choppiness it might have had was eliminated.
Thanks go out to promoter Dana Benning for his help. He was a busy guy on race day but took time to say hello as he rushed from task to task.
One thing I did notice and missed and that was a working scoreboard. The venerable old board that has been there for quite a few years is still up, but it didn't appear to be working. If it is DOA, I hope it is in the budget of the fairgrounds to replace it at some point.
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