Already on Tuesday night, the dire weather predictions for Wednesday night, July 26th for the Julien Dubuque Classic at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds Speedway were being spread around. Many were already talking about how the show on Tuesday would be the only midweek one as Wednesday's show would surely wash out.
So I was fully expecting the worst when Wednesday rolled around. The weather analysis hadn't changed and in fact, the weather radar was confirming the worst, showing rain marching at its own speed coming across the Hawkeye State from West to East with it appearing to be only a matter of time before the skies opened up on Dubuque County.
I hung tough as the other racing options for Wednesday appeared to be looking at the same fate and it seemed like largely it was a matter of when, not if the rains would happen. As the afternoon wore on, the rain still hadn't appeared and the forecasts seemed to be backing up on the time it might actually precipitate. Still, the clouds were extremely low, some heavy ones would drift by from time to time and while the clouds were as thick as Sea Poop, it still didn't rain.
Finally, it was time to head out to the Fairgrounds, where announcer Jerry Mackey and former promoter and now track prep wizard Keith Simmons were trying to solve the world of racing's problems as they waited to see just what was going to happen. Everyone wanted to get the show in, in the worst possible way but when the conversation turns to rain insurance and such things, you know that it's looking grim.
The track workers swung into their regular schedule, trying to ignore the grim skies as the back gate opened and the track prep continued. The racers were very slow to arrive as they no doubt were hanging around home, waiting for the latest tweets and face book offerings on what was happening. Finally, the time grew to that point where it was "put up or shut up" and a small but loyal group of racers rolled into the pits.
Likely stunted by the weather, the field of sixty one racers that finally signed in in six classes was, to be kind, quite small for such a good paying race as the Julien Dubuque. By the way, did you know that Julien Dubuque is believed to be the first European to settle in Iowa and as a succesful fur trader and businessman, the city is named in his honor. Dubuque, who was not expected to be on hand to pass out the winner's trophies since he passed away in 1810, would nevertheless be disappointed in the car turnout in especially a couple of the classes.
In our pre race discussions, Simmons was really torn about how much and when to add any water to the race track as track prep under such threatening conditions is one of the most difficult tasks. Such enough, the track was much different than Tuesday when hot lapping started. Everyone was right on the bottom which got black and slow quickly and it looked like it might be a "bottom feeder" surface. But just to show how very little I know even after all these years, once the racing started, the fastest cars were all right on the cushion, banging off the walls and putting on a heck of a show. It's too bad that the program got shortened because the side by side racing was very good in front of a crowd that was substantially smaller than Tuesday's.
The operative plan was to fly through the program and see if they could get the whole show done, even as things seemed to be brightening up if only temporarily. In fact, the car counts in the Four Cylinders and Stock Cars were so small that they were deemed to only have a feature race and no qualifying heat.
The Stock Cars have been struggling here it seems like forever trying to get enough cars to provide a decent field. In fact, it was not that long ago that Jerry Miles, now doing very well in the Sport Mods, was fielding two Stock Cars that often were two thirds of the field. Things haven't changed and one has to wonder just how much longer they will continue to "beat a dead horse" before they finally "put it down."
The Four Cylinders were dropped at one point but like Lazarus, they too have risen from the grave and are back on the weekly program, for good or bad. With no other beginner class, I understand their place but again, if they can't field more than a handful, or sometimes half a handful of cars, what can their future be?
Also on the program now are the Limited Late Models that also run across the river in Wisconsin. A budget Late Model class, if indeed there is such a thing, these cars run crate motors that are also used in the Hobby Stocks and Sport Mods and while they appear the same as the IMCA Late Models, under the hood and the rubber they use along with the shocks they ride on are substantially different than their faster cousins.
So there were ten in that class and a dozen IMCA Late Models, which was a pretty poor number considering that they were racing for fifteen hundred bucks to win. The Limited Late Models are too slow to race with the IMCA cars so now we have two fields of cars that look identical but each class is short on numbers. I'm not really sure how this is helping the whole race program however.
They tore through the heats in record time and moved right into the main events as weather was now finally becoming a real issue. The feature races started with a bang and ended with another bang but unfortunately, the two Late Model events fell victim to a renegade shower, one that didn't even dampen the downtown area. But I don't feel slighted as we were extraordinarily lucky to get as much in as we did.
First to the final bang. The Modifieds were on the track running their main event. A dandy race was developing with the top six or so all hammering the cushion and doing a lot of slide job racing which was evident on this night. Austin Moyer was leading the pack following a lap eight yellow for a spin and as the green waved, the rain drops started to fall. The Modifieds continued to race as the drops got bigger and when the field hit turn one, suddenly they were faced with a greasy track that hit them out of "the blue." Moyer hammered the turn one wall with much ferocity and he put not two but all four tires up on the wall. How he didn't flip over I'll never understand. Immediately the yellow waved and with the rain falling harder, that was the end of the show with the two Late Model events to be run before Sunday's regular show. Moyer was ruled the winner as the race was halfway done and the final yellow was called for because of track conditions, not him hammering the wall, thus the win was his.
The feature racing also started with a bang and this was the Sport Mods that put on the action. With them being the first feature of the night, they were rushed to the track so the show could continue moving along. They waited a couple of minutes for the only missing driver, Tyler Soppe, and when he didn't appear, they crisscrossed the field and made ready to start.
The green flag was dropped and the race began when suddenly Soppe appeared, having pulled on to the track from the back exit from the outfield pits. As the field raced into turn one, Soppe approached turn four when, shockingly, he spun out before actually receiving the green, which triggered a yellow flag. The field was bunched back up and the race resumed.
Soppe would later charge up through the entire pack, aided by several yellows for debris as the Sport Mods proceeded to tear the tin off each other. Now I see why there were so many cars with blank tin and taped on numbers(see yesterday's blog for explanation). In any event, Soppe would get up to second and then work on leader Troy Bauer. He tried a couple of spectacular slide jobs that didn't work but it seemed that he got into Bauer's head. Troy changed his line the last couple of laps to try and block Soppe and on the final corner, while running low in turn four and with Soppe trying to storm by on the high side, Bauer got on the gas too hard and spun himself out of the lead, giving the win to Soppe.
However, in my opinion, Soppe should never have had the chance to make the late race pass. His very poorly acted spin as he got on to the track was clearly an attempt to stop the race on purpose and I felt he deserved a black flag for doing so. Under the best of circumstances it was a blatant attempt to stop the race but on a night when everyone was trying to race the weather, which was the reason that the Sport Mod race started so quickly, it was double bad.
Look, I have no "skin" in this at all. In the grander scheme of things, it makes no difference to me who wins or loses at Dubuque. Soppe is clearly an accomplished racer with the awards to back that up. Chief Starter Doug Haack, reportedly now living in Mizzoula Montana, is a veteran flagman who has worked at more tracks that I, and probably even he, can remember and has worked big races for all kinds of sanctioning bodies. So both are among the best at what they do.
However, it just seemed to me that Soppe did what he felt he needed to do to put himself in a position to have a chance to win the race and Haack got "played" on this night. That doesn't diminish the fact that Soppe still had to pass fifteen cars for the win and that the race turned out to be the wildest one of the night. I'm sure I'm going to hear more about this at a later date but whatever.
Can there be a driver that has had a more frustrating week of racing than Jerry Miles. Last night his car quit while leading the Sport Mod feature. Wednesday night there was more back luck to be sent his way although, if truth were told, he might have had a part in that portion of the bad luck. He was battling his way to the front in the Sport Mod feature when he threw a nasty slide job on the third place car. That driver opted to not just let him in and they collided with the front of the other racer clipping the rear bumper of Miles' car. Unfortunately, Miles' car lost that rear bumper on the track and he was then sent to the pits because minus a rear bumper, the safely of the race car is compromised to the point that it not be allowed to continue. Thus ends a very frustrating week of racing for Miles.
And also, thus ends my week of racing at Dubuque. It is always a good time and thanks go out to the staff at Dubuque and as always, good again seeing people like Jerry Mackey, Doug Haack and Kevin Feller.
If the weather is nice on Sunday, I would expect a huge throng of fans on hand to catch the double features for the Late Models and Limited Lates along with a full show in the other classes.
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