The MLRA tour of Iowa with their open motored Late Model brigade continued as they moved down to the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty for "Tornado Tuesday", another fifty lap event paying ten grand to win.
I'm not sure if the MLRA guys are going to survive this week as their equipment is already huffing and puffing and they still have another race up in Minnesota before they head to Nebraska this weekend for another doubleheader. Point leader Jesse Stovall is on his second motor of the week, having to swap after problems last night in Farley during the feature race. Jason Papich's rig was on hand but the race car was never unloaded. He had troubles last night on the first lap of the main but I would assume that with all the racing he does that he would have a second car in the trailer. Perhaps he got called back to the West Coast for some reason and wasn't able to get back in time. He has been running all the MLRA races but does commute back and forth from his business in California.
Terry Phillips rolled out a different car for Tuesday's show, going to TPII rather than TPI which he raced on Monday night. Both cars are Black Diamond chassis. Interestingly, while Phillips and Stovall go at it tooth and nail on the race track, they always pit right next to each other. Perhaps that is so that if they have an issue with each other on the track, they know where to find each other!
There was one driver running both classes again on Tuesday but it was a different driver on this night as Joel Callahan just brought his open motored car while Nick Marolf was the one racing in both classes Tuesday. Marolf actually loaned out his IMCA car for an open motor heat as again the mortality rate for the open motor cars was high.
Matt Furman was late with his car after they had much work to do on it after multiple motor issues bugged him on Monday night. With the car not at the track yet, Furman borrowed Marolf's spec motor car just to start his open motor heat so that he could qualify for the feature when his own Late Model finally did arrive.
And one more swapping saw J.C. Wyman borrow Dalton Maassen's IMCA car to start the open motor feature after he wrecked in his heat race so that he could gain some points and earn a check. This was helpful for both as Maassen has been sharing a trailer with Wyman all week and a check for Wyman will help with the gas money to get down the road to the next event!
The MLRA cars were down from twenty eight last night to twenty four Tuesday so no B feature was necessary for them. The only new cars besides Marolf were Jason Utter, Wayne Brau and Denny Eckrich while several of the local cars from Monday night opted to stay home.
Just like Monday night, the attrition rate was high for the MLRA feature, in fact it was even worse than Monday as only nine of a starting field of twenty four were around fifty laps later. Many just pulled off when they weren't gaining any ground so they decided to save laps on their motors and tires.
For the second straight night the track was watered heavily and with the humid conditions it just didn't dry out much at all. While I enjoyed not having to deal with any dust at all, I'm just not sure that these cars are designed to go "hammer down" for fifty laps on a big track like West Liberty. They were screaming around the track and even Phillips would admit in his post race interview that fifty laps on a track that was pulling so hard is pretty tough on the motors when they no more than crack the throttle for a second before getting right back on it. if they had the track that heavy every week I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be long before they had no cars left to race.
Chris Simpson was fast from the moment he unloaded and that didn't change. Truly, there was no one in the field that had anything for him this night. Stovall ran pretty good until he spun and he spent the rest of the race working his way back to the front and Phillips ran OK too, but neither was going to be a serious challenger unless Simpson had trouble. Marolf made a nice splash with his open motored car, winning a heat and looking strong at the start of the feature until he tried to make a pass for the lead while they were among lapped traffic and he ended up plunking the turn one wall hard, ending his night. However, for any upcoming open motor races in the state, he should be considered a threat.
I feel kind of sorry for Simmons Promotions Inc. as they are one of the few tracks or promoters in Iowa trying to keep open motored racing alive. They continue to have events and have tried so many different formulas to draw more cars but in the end, they always seem to end up with about the same twenty or so, many of them Iowa natives themselves. They must feel like they are butting their heads against a wall, but year after year , they keep trying. Perhaps one of the reasons they continue to try is that the crowds continue to turn out for these races, even though there is always much uncertainty on who or how many will actually be on hand.
The support class once again was the IMCA Late Models and by "support", I mean that they could use some support! Once again announcer Jerry Mackey had to apologize for the IMCA Late Models but for a different reason Tuesday. Monday night it was because their main event was more like Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour than drivers who acted like they knew what they were doing. Tuesday it was because of their small number of cars as only ten showed for a grand to win.
Based on the numbers recently at SPI tracks, I guess the number shouldn't have been surprising as last Saturday they had eight Late Models, Dubuque had ten on Sunday and there were only fourteen last night. And this is a problem at more than just the SPI tracks. Perhaps instead of continuing their crusade to sign every track in the U.S. to an IMCA contract, the folks in Vinton should instead step back and focus on some of the issues within their organization that need addressing. Near the top of the list should be what to do with their Late Model class to inject some new enthusiasm, build up the numbers and get some new drivers into the class.
Based on the heat race results, I expected Chad Holladay and Marolf to be the chief contenders in their thirty five lap finale but Marolf drew terribly which hurt his efforts. Instead, Kyle Hinrichs was strong right from the pole and drove out to a comfortable lead which he maintained for thirty five nonstop laps. Only five of the ten starters were on the track at the finish as, again, some just pulled off rather than wear out their equipment.
After only taking the time they needed to pound down the berm and widen out the track for the main events, SPI kept the show moving along at a crisp pace and resisted the temptation to drag things out to make up for the lack of races on the card. So, when the final checkered waved just after 9 pm, it did make for an early evening. And truly, those racers that were present ran hard and made the program a decent night of racing.
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