On Saturday, October 28th, the two day Midwestern Dirt Track Championship wrapped up at the Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee Oklahoma with last chance and feature races being held in the five divisions that were on hand at the big half mile this weekend. Four of the classes were classes that run at the weekly programs at Thunderbird with the Late Models added on for this special event.
Likely the track management would have liked to have seen the midweek weather continue through the weekend as it was in the seventies for Thursday night practice but the cold front came charging through with lots of wind and falling temperatures and bot nights the conditions were far from ideal for the race fans and competitors alike. Fortunately the monster concrete edifice where the fans sit at Thunderbird blocked the wind somewhat and it would lay down both nights around Sunset but it was still mighty cold and only the hardiest of fans managed to make it through both nights, all night without picking up and heading to the warmth of their vehicles.
Virtually all cars that raced on Friday night returned for Saturday night's finale including a couple that would have appeared to have expired motors on Friday. Some swapped power plants and others just tried to cobble together enough pieces to get through one last night of racing, with mixed results I might add.
Last chance races were first held for all classes except the Late Models even though all cars moved up from the Last Chances to the features except in the Modifieds where they had the highest car counts. Apparently they felt that a few more races were needed to give the fans their full money's worth but on this cold late October night, I would have guessed that a spectator vote would have been to just go ahead, throw everyone in the mains anywhere and let's get to racing. Especially when, although forecast to be warmer than Friday night, it certainly seemed much colder on Saturday with the temperature in the mid thirties by the time I got to the car and a goodly layer of frost already formed on the windshield!
They were scheduled to start two hours earlier on Saturday night but after too many sets of hot laps for me, it was closer to an hour earlier than Friday night's show. Separate sessions for the qualified and non qualified cars really wasn't necessary and again I think it was part of their thinking to try and make the show feel just a little bit bigger.
For me, the top feature races were the Late Models and the Modifieds although a couple of the other classes had their moments too and there were a few interesting developments in the "support classes" along the way. The track was black and slick, much as I remember it being "back in the day" when we used to come to Oklahoma to wrap up the racing season as back then a late October race was almost unheard of. The track had two lanes at least however, and there were cars running both right up against the concrete wall and those that were hugging the low side so passing was certainly possible in all classes and surprisingly, only one of the five feature races was won off the front row, even though the mains were lined straight up off the dash and the heats. So it was clear that the race was certainly able to be passed on.
The ten grand to win Late Model headliner was the second feature race to be run, a nice touch for those fans on hand to see mostly the Late Models and then head for someplace warm. I would guess that about thirty per cent of the crowd did take advantage of this to head out after the Lates were done.
Their feature race turned out to be a three car battle between Billy Moyer Jr., Jesse Stovall and Terry Phillips and while Phillips never officially led a lap, he was always right in the hunt. Moyer led early but Stovall would challenge and then fall back and then challenge once again as momentum on this big track was key. If Stovall wasn't able to make the pass for the lead, it would kill his momentum and he would need a few laps just to catch back up again. Moyer was running mid track while Jesse was right up against the concrete, just where you would expect him to be.
A mid race caution gave him his chance and on the green he blew by Moyer on the high side, and by the time Moyer got to that piece of territory Stovall had squeezed past him to take over the lead. Moyer was in "chase mod" the rest of the event and while he got fairly close several times, Jesse held his line and came home for the win. His winning route included pushing the cushion in turns one and two and then hugging the low groove on the other end of the track. Phillips lost third with a rare engine failure late in the race and Rodney Sanders made a nice charge up to third at the line.
Sanders had a nice night as he also brought his Modified with him and made a good charge up from the third row to win that event. Tyler Wolff and Chad Wheeler battled for the lead in that race early but Sanders was working good on both the high and low side of the track and he patiently picked his way to the front, finally blasting past Wolff on the high side and then driving away for the win. So, between the two classes, he had a nice check waiting for him at the end of the night.
This race was slowed for a violent collision in turn one after Jared Russell spun after several cars tangled in front of him and then a pack of cars, at very high speed, came charging in on him with no where to go. Caden Ellis slammed into Russell and was launched like a tilt-a-whirl into the air, spinning around like a top. It was a very hard hit but fortunately, no injuries resulted.
Super Stock driver Darin Rigney certainly threw a "monkey wrench" into the theory that in order to be successful in a two day show such as the one held at Thunderbird, one must be in attendance to burn up a set of tires practicing on Thursday night, then qualify through a heat on Friday night to then put yourself in position to win the main.
Rigney did none of the above but the Gentry Arkansas driver still won the Super Stock feature going away. He wasn't on hand to practice on Thursday and also spurned the heat races on Friday. He just showed up Saturday night, started dead last in the Last Chance and then won that and then after starting eleventh in the main(he was supposed to start thirteenth but got up one row too far for the start), he then patiently worked his way up through the field showing great speed and drove past Dennis Schonefeld(he of the Schonefeld Headers family) to take the win. He wasn't helped either by a bunch of cautions as this race had only three, he was just plain very fast. Pole starter Dylan Davlin finished third.
The B Mod and Pure Stock features were both not quite so appetizing as both were plagued by yellow flags amid the falling temperatures. The B Mod feature had the potential to be interesting but every time they tried to race, someone instead decided to spin out and the caution would wave once again.
Starting on the pole, Dustin Leatherman would lead the entire race although he was challenged by several other drivers at various times. Leatherman, a name voiced by track announcers probably nearly as long as this track has been in operation, would hold on for the win. But wait a minute, the one person Leatherman failed to impress that was most important was the tech man, and for an unnamed reason, Leatherman was disqualified from the win for a technical violation.
This gave the win to Leroy Cook Jr. from Tulsa. Cook Jr certainly earned the victory the hard way in retrospect. He was fifth on the grid for a restart with only three laps to go, went to the cushion and made a huge charge, nipping Cody Jolly by inches for what we thought was second place. As it turned out, the scintillating move was what got him the feature win.
The Pure Stock feature was also a drawn out affair that probably would have produced a good battle if they could have kept the race going. Jacob Cox, David Whittle and Jack Kirby were all closely matched as they battled back and forth between yellows. However, fourth row started Allen Owen from Pocola would eventually march his way to the front and with a outside pass down the front chute, take the lead and then fight off Cox for the win.
The final checkered flag flew about 10:45 p.m, just about the same time as Friday night but it could have been much earlier if we could have condensed the program a bit and convinced a few of the drivers to keep their cars pointed in the proper direction. However, it was still an entertaining weekend and for me, a chance to see a lot of different drivers at a track that I hadn't visited in literally, decades.
One person that I failed to mention last night that has been deeply involved in the resurrection of the Thunderbird Speedway has been Stanley Slater and everyone gives him a ton of credit for breathing new life into the historic track and for his whole family that have also been very much involved. Everyone here has been most accommodating to this visitor but I did see one discouraging note upon my arrival on Saturday as I walked into the grandstand and that was the lad holding the sign announcing that there would be no "re entries" allowed into the grandstand. In such cold weather that is very poor policy and needs to be changed.
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