A rescheduled Deery Brothers Summer Series race at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway gave me another opportunity to sneak across the border and catch some dirt track racing in the state of Iowa before college football season starts and they start checking license plates at the border.
It was a warm, steamy night, just as it should be in August as SPI put on another almost seemingly endless races in their streak of specials they have hosted at their three tracks over the course of the last month.
On this night it was a makeup for a rained out Deery show from last month with Modifieds as the one and only support class. For me, I say bring them on as I can never get too much racing but I'm wondering if some folks are finding themselves forced to cut back a little as they consider that the big Fall specials are sneaking up rapidly particularly the Yankee which is much earlier this year) and it's also time to come up with some cash for school clothes and supplies. It probably didn't help that the Iowa State Fair is now in full swing also, even though once again no auto racing is being offered during the Fair.
In any event, both the car counts in each class plus the spectator attendance would be considered down from what one might expect for an event like this. But fortunately, later the drivers would remind us that a huge car count is not necessary to put on an exciting racing program.
Track announcer Jerry Mackey was a rare "no show" on this night, having purchased concert tickets for a State Fair attraction long before this event was rescheduled. Understandably not wanting to give them up, he arranged to have Jeff Broeg step in for him as the announcer on this night. And Jeff immediately brought the crowd up to speed by dealing with his forte, and that is to know and transmit to us in the crowd the interesting little tidbits that he always manages to dig up. Such as the fact that Jeff Aikey was driving with a damaged collar bone and that Scott Fitzpatrick had been delayed on his trip to the track by tow vehicle problems.
One thing that wasn't mentioned that I believe to be true was that Justin Kay was debuting a new race car on this night. They had told me earlier that a new car was coming and when he unloaded the car and took it to tech, that was my tip that he had a new car that he needed IMCA officials to OK. Also, sharp eyed spectators no doubt noticed that the landscape theme on the sides of his car was done in different colors than previously. Key would run well later but be knocked out of the main event by motor problems early.
While the heat races were relatively innocuous, a couple of drivers were bitten by bad luck that they were forced to "dig" to overcome the rest of the night. Joe Zrostlik had a good run going in his heat and was in a redraw position until his right front suspension collapsed on the last lap, making him a DNF. This forced him to fight his way to the front from the back in the main but despite a lap thirty two spin that would send him to the tail once again, ultimately he would advance from twentieth to sixth at the end.
Callahan was the point leader at Dubuque and was no doubt expecting to be a prime contender. However, from the moment he hit the track for his heat he had motor problems and was forced to pull off the track early. This resulted in a twenty second and last place start in the main. However, for the fans this was a great break as we were then treated to one of the most spectacular high side charges of the year. Keith Simmons may be sending Callahan a bill for damaging his wall as on several occasions Callahan nearly knocked it down as he roared to the front! He was spectacular as he got all the way up to third.
Ultimately however, he made just a few too many concrete visits and with all four corners beat to a pulp, finally on lap forty three his tired car said "no mas" and rolled to a halt on the back chute. While a seventeenth place finish doesn't look like much, those of us that saw the race know much more about how he really ran.
Tyler Breuning, the current Deery point leader, was the primary challenger to Ryan throughout the race as he tried lap after lap to dive under Ryan in turn one and while he got close several times, Ryan never faltered. Breuning hammered the wall several times himself and at the end of the race, the only driver who's car didn't look like a loser in the recent Fair demo derby was Ryan. The best words that could describe Ryan's performance was that he was extremely smooth. While there was utter confusion and calamity going on behind him at times, he remained rock solid and hit his marks lap after lap even with six restarts to deal with where on each one someone else would make a wild dive in turn one at him. Ryan had to work mighty hard to get this win and he most certainly deserved it.
Mark Schulte used the same kind of strategy to win the companion Modified feature race. He started on the pole and led all thirty laps but things got pretty hairy for him at the end. For most of the race he had a comfortable lead but things tightened up at the end in a race that saw only two yellow flags.
Kay was the story of the race. He started seventh and for the first half of the race was mired about where he started. Then he started moving around on the track and found another line missed by the rest of the field. He started to move up rapidly then, and when forced to change his line in turn one due to a lapped car, he found a line that was even faster.
In the last few laps he moved from fourth to second and closed rapidly on Schulte. He rolled through the middle of turn four on the last lap but came up just short as Schulte held on for the win. Schulte never wavered off the bottom and drove a very smooth race for the win. Kay was a winner in my book too as I absolutely loved how he searched the track and never gave up until he found a line that would allow him to move up. I admire so much those drivers that attack the race track rather than just sitting back and taking whatever is simple and easy. Those are the real racers.
Sitting in the bleachers two rows in front of me tonight was Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Ed Sanger. For people from this area that probably isn't that big of a deal as Ed is frequently seen at area tracks around here. However, where I come from, people who remember his excursions into our area back in the "glory days" of Late Model racing would be absolutely thrilled to know this. While he, like every other driver, had his good and bad days while racing in his home area, it seemed like every time he came North he was on his "A" game and he kicked so many butts in our area and took home so much "Yankee" money that he is still considered with almost "Godlike" status among those of us that remember those wonderful days.
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