Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Murty Beats "His Shadow" for Webster City Two Grand

This blog begins with a question. Who, in their right mind, would drive five hours on a Tuesday night in May to watch just Hobby Stocks and Stock Cars, albeit in a high paying special event?  Since this is a rhetorical question, the obvious answer is, no one.

The only person I know crazy enough to do such a thing is currently typing this, while starting at the screen on the computer.  However, putting things in context, the reality is I've done a lot of goofier things in my lifetime, but I just didn't blog about them!

Tuesday, May 9th the Hamilton County Speedway held the Central Iowa Stock Car Shootout featuring a two grand to win Stock Car feature along with Hobby Stocks racing for a top prize of a grand. It was about the nicest night so far of the entire racing season so what better way to spend it than to take in a race, even if I did have to drive a distance to do so.

Thirty five Stock Cars and twenty four Hobby Stocks signed in to race on Tuesday, a number that I and most of the people in the pits thought would be higher but midweek shows, especially while school is still in session, can be difficult for some. However, there was no disputed the quality of the cars racing in both classes and there were some interesting additions to the regular lineup of Stock Car drivers in attendance.

I was surprised to find the "Flying Dutchman", Mike VanGenderen , in attendance since I didn't think he had any Stock Car stuff anymore. It turns out that he doesn't and that he was driving the #98B for the Bilyeu Racing Team. Eventual winner Damon Murty brought both his cars and Modified driver Kyle Brown drove the second car. Ricky Thornton Jr, on his way to Farley for this weekend's Modified spectacular, had found a ride in the car of Missouri's Mike Tanner. Both would be right up front throughout the majority of the race, proving that a good driver can find the fast way around a race track no matter what he's driving.

Several race cars pulled all the way from central Nebraska for the event along with a few of the tougher cars from southern Minnesota so it was a strong field that would go for the high dollars.

Much of the pre race speculation on who would be tough to beat centered in the Stock Cars on Devin Smith who had been running very strong at Webster City so far this year. What I did not know until Tuesday that is perhaps old news to some but hopefully not all is that Smith runs a Chrysler motor in his car. I was not aware that this was the case and is somewhat surprising given the Chrysler powered cars are seldom seen at the track anymore, and particularly ones that are as fast as his.

In the Hobby Stocks, defending track champion and current point leader Myles Michehl was deemed as the driver to beat. Later we would find out that while Michehl particularly of the two would be a factor at the end, neither would see victory lane on this night.

A car that has always been a favorite of mine for years, the #3W Stock Car of Jeff Wollam, has changed things up a bit this year. One of the things I always remember about his car is that his sponsor has always been Dairy Queen and their logo has always been emblazoned in huge letters on the side of his car. This year, he changed things up a bit and while DQ is still on the car, another fine dining establishment in the form of Taco John's has the honored spot on the passenger's door.

After a quick set of preliminary heats that went off in rapid order and a lone B Feature for the Stock Cars, it was time for feature race action. The Boss, Jeff Broeg, would have liked this show because not only were there only two classes of cars for the midweek event, they ran just a single B Feature for the Stock Cars which started nineteen of them and felt more like a mini feature rather than just a qualifying event. Jeff has a real "thing" for small and multiple Last Chance races.

The format for Tuesday's features was thirty laps for the Hobby Stocks and forty laps for the Stock Cars. Both races had a provision for a "pit stop" at the halfway point. The break was very well managed by track personal and was strictly kept to just five minutes which was excellent because I feared a long drawn out "mini intermission." Still, if I would have had my "druthers", I'd just as soon keep the green out and let them run the full distance without a break. They were allowed to change one tire during the break and keep their position and several chose to do exactly that while many were just anxious to "race on."

The Hobby Stocks went first and while their official score would show only two different leaders during the race, it actually was much closer than that would indicate. David Rieks would be the early leader of the race until his car went straight into the wall in turn three on lap three and he would be done with heavy damage. Andrew Borchardt would then take over and lead the rest of the race but as the contest went on, the lead grew more tenuous

The first fifteen laps saw the yellows more yellows including the halfway stop which kept the field bunched. However, after a quick yellow in segment two, the last thirteen laps would go green and Michehl, who started tenth, would gradually work his way into contention. To the ringing of cowbells in the stands by spectators as he passed car after car (shades of Larry Phillips and his fans revisited), Michehl worked his way into second and the battle was on. Borchardt was running the cushion high up against the wall and Michehl was trimming the grass in the infield as they couldn't have been running more diverse lines but lap after lap, as they came down the chutes, it was Borchardt who maintained a car length lead. Michehl gave it one last shot on the final turn but Borchardt got a good run off the cushion and held on for the win. Eric Stanton, who was in the top five all during the race, finished third with Nebraska drivers Damon Richards and Jeff Ware next in line.

The Stock Car feature was a dandy until the very end when Murty entended his lead to its biggest point all night after the lead group ran in a pack for most of the event. The first twenty laps ran nonstop until the break and it was a frantic twenty laps with cars all over the track and much swapping of positions up front. Brown started on the pole and actually was scored the leader for the first twenty laps but he had Dan Mackenthun, Jake Master, Murty, Thornton Jr, Luke Saathoff, Derek Green and Elijah Zevenberger all challenging him at various times. . 

Brown was hugging the bottom lane and most were tucking in behind him, waiting for an opening but Thorton Jr and Zevenberger was experimenting with the high side and Elijah nearly stole the lead just before halfway until he slipped up and fell to fourth.

In a remarkably clean race, the second twenty laps only had a single yellow right at the halfway point for a minor spin. Brown continued to hug the low side and the field stacked up behind him but as various drivers got restless and tried to work the outside line, they just couldn't make it work and the wall became the enemy of some. Masters dropped out after hitting the concrete and so did Zevenberger while Thornton Jr also had a bout with the back chute concrete and cost him several positions.

Murty continued to tail gate his back up car until Brown finally left him a hole and Damon was able to squeeze by and take over the lead. Once the flood gates opened, Brown started to drop back and he would go on to finish up the race running the last few laps with a flat right rear tire and his left front towed out after a bout with a ute tire. His sixteenth place finish was not indicative of how he ran.

A driver that probably passed more cars than anyone was Cedar Rapids' veteran Johnny Spaw. He had to win a B Feature to make the show and started seventeenth on the grid. However, he was in the top ten by halfway and right after the restart he made "hay", passing several cars and eventually working his way up to second. However, as the race wrapped up, Murty got stronger and he opened up the biggest lead of the night in the last five laps. Green, driving a rare Pro Chassis Stock Car, would come home third with Mackenthun and Thornton Jr trailing.

As you might guess, the crowd was not overwhelming for this event, even though the racing from start to finish was first class and this event would likely be a pit revenue generated race. The gate admission price of $17 might have been just a bit pricey for some folks tastes too.  Before the show, I heard some disquieting reports of last year's event that started an hour late and ran until Midnight. Well, I'm pleased to report that we had none of that on Tuesday and in fact, it was one of the smoothest run, well organized and quickest moving races of the year to date. The cars hit the track promptly for warm ups, the first race started just a few minutes after 7 pm and the final checkered flew before 10 pm. I don't care what classes were racing, it was entertaining racing that we saw.

Thanks to all the folks at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City for their help on Tuesday. I look forward to getting back to the historic oval for another race yet this year and perhaps also to their sister track, the Hancock County Speedway in Britt.

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