The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is currently on a swing through the upper Midwest and Wednesday night I caught up with them at the Wagamon family's Ogilvie Raceway. Among with the Late Models, Midwest Modifieds and Hornets, both under WISSOTA sanctioning, were also on the card.
Twenty seven Late Models signed in to race on Wednesday. As with most series, the top eleven or so in points were on hand along with a few others that run occasionally for points plus the regional and local drivers that opt to give the show a try. Since Ogilvie does not run Late Models weekly, they were hoping to receive the benefit of a few WISSOTA cars that might try to give the race a shot, even though for them it's like bringing a knife to a gun fight as they are giving up a hundred horsepower or so to the open motors.
As it turned out, they did receive a decent number of those drivers although most had "bit the bullet" and obtained open motors for this tour that ends at "The Bullring" in Grand Forks on Friday night after North Central Speedway in Brainerd dropped from the series at the last minute.
Pat Doar, Dustin Strand, Chad Mahder, Lance Matthees, Cole Schill, Don Shaw and Ricky Weiss, all drivers that do a considerable amount of spec motor racing, were all out fitted with open motors for this tour. Only Ryan Corbett, who burned down his motor in qualifying and Dustin Bluhm were running spec engines.
An interesting item found the #77 car of Jordan Yaggy in the pits but no driver to race the car. Seems that Jordan couldn't get off work early enough to get up to Ogilvie as the family business is in the middle of a big construction job in Rochester and they just couldn't make all the necessary arrangements. A crewman brought the car up and the hope is that he will be able to join them in Hibbing and Grand Forks.
Promoter Nate Fischer told me that Ogilvie received two inches of rain on Tuesday night and that he couldn't get on the track until 1:30 pm but this track is run so hard that it wasn't even noticeable except for some puddles in the infield. This track is so hard that early in hot laps they were already blowing dust and the track was starting to show black streaks. However, it didn't lock down like this track has done from time to time so the overnight rain must have helped some and for the first time in a very long time at any track in my area, once they started racing, no maintenance vehicles were seen on the track watering, misting, grading and any other massaging techniques were used.
The Late Model heats saw a couple of shocking events take place. The first was when Jimmy Mars, running a comfortable second and set to make the redraw, cut turn three too close and clipped a huge marker tire which nearly turned him over and badly wrecked his car. Considered a favorite among the non regulars, they thrashed to get the car on the track for the feature, but his night was ruined when he just took the green at the back, pulled off and claimed his start money.
Mike Marler was on the pole for a heat too but he had mechanical problems, had to run a Last Chance and buried himself so far in the feature that he didn't get very far forward.
Two things that I find very boring but are at the crux of modern dirt track racing are tires and aerodynamics and both played heavily in the outcome of Wednesday night's feature. Brandon Sheppard was clearly the fastest car for most of the race but he finished a fading second at the end. He was running away with things when the lone yellow of the race waved at the halfway point. Unfortunately for Sheppard, the yellow was for him as he had knocked off the right side of his spoiler with a trip to the wall, as he was one of the few running the top side.
He continued to lead for about half of the remaining laps but he started getting progressively slower as his car got looser and looser. Finally, in the last five laps, Chris Madden dove under him in turn one, took over the lead and then pulled away to make it anti climatic. The word was that Sheppard had also gone wrong on tires with three 30's and a 20 while Madden had three 30's and a 40(Whatever the hell all that means!).
Bottom line; Madden got his second win in a row for the week and Sheppard's car owner Mark Richards was left to kick the ground over his team's failure to bring home the win. Iowa fans would be happy to see the strong run put in by Chad Simpson who moved up to third and ran a strong race as his appearance would have to be considered a surprise. Shane Clanton hung on for fifth but was never a challenger. There was only a single yellow in the main and only three drivers failed to finish the race. The whole Late Model portion of the program saw the yellow wave only three times in the professionally run off show.
It was perhaps also the first time trial program that I have ever seen that started on time. Generally the advertised starting time means that's when warm ups or perhaps the time trials might actually start. However, Wednesday, 7 pm meant that was the time that the first support class heat took the green flag. I was both stunned and pleased.
My normal feeling is that Hornets should never be in the pits for a special event such as this. They don't belong on the same program with the most elite of the dirt track full bodied classes. And certainly no more than one support division on the card along with the Late Models. Ogilvie defied both those beliefs Wednesday and made them work. Both Midwest Modifieds and Hornets raced but each class had only two heats, no B features and each ran off their main event with just a couple of quick yellows in what were smoothly run off races. Just the way the support classes should operate at such an event.
With all three classes running off smooth programs with few yellows and not much for breaks between events, the entire show was completed by a remarkably early 9:15 pm. This allowed the parking lot congestion to lessen as many people went into the pits to buy shirts, meet the drivers and do some "rubber necking." These are all positive things to have happen and I congratulate both local management and the Outlaws for spinning off a quick program.
Many regional Modified and Late Model drivers were spotted in the crowd tonight and one driver I haven't seen in quite some time, former Late Model super start Brady Smith , was spotted moving from trailer to trailer and visiting with many of his former rivals.
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