Sunday night, April 29th, Farley Speedway Promotions Inc. completed opening night at their second track, the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway in Dubuque. On a sunny but slightly cool and windy night, they were finally able to get their opening night of the season in after being delayed by a week, much like most every track in the Midwest this year.
Several new things were unveiled at Dubuque for 2018 and took the spot light tonight. First and foremost was the new earlier starting time. Hot laps now start at 5 pm after the pit gates open at 3 pm, all with the idea to get the show with over as quickly as possible, a key item always for Sunday night tracks. Also, to expedite a quick program, the classes racing have been cut to four with IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods and Mods joined by the FSP Late Models and new to the weekly program this year, the Limited Late Models that race primarily at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington Wisconsin on Friday nights.
With so many new changes, opening night was a bit of an experiment with some good things happening and some things still needing some slight adjustment. Having to prepare a race track for the earlier starting time is a considerable task, especially with all the sun and wind that the crew faced on opening night. With racing starting so early, it then makes for a lot of racing even before the sun goes down and that provides a challenge in getting the track just right. It will be even more so of a challenge as we get closer to Summer and the whole program will likely be completed even before the sun sets on what could be some blazing hot nights.
On opening night I'm guessing they learned a few things and some adjustments will be in the cards for upcoming weeks. After all, it was just the opener and there are bound to be a few "clunkers" in any opening night and some things that can't be predicted that do arise.
Sunday the track was just too dry and for the majority of the night the racing was real one groove right on the bottom of the track. Those that tried to venture out up against the wall were lost in a sea of loose, powdery dirt. And for us in the main grandstand, we were very lucky that a strong wind was carrying the dust away from us, otherwise it would have been most miserable.
After a couple of misting sessions that were largely unproductive, they watered the track heavy after the Limited Late Model feature and this then required a lengthy packing session. I felt sorry for the Modifieds who got their cars all slopped up as they bore the burden of packing in the track. However, ultimately, this would be the best thing they did all night as while the Modifieds couldn't use the whole track quite as well as the Late Models, when the Lates came out for the last race of the night, they were all over the track and the racy Dubuque track, that had disappeared for most of the night, reemerged and we saw an interesting Late Model feature with some explosive slide jobs thrown in for good measure.
Car counts look like they might be an issue at many tracks in Eastern and Northeastern Iowa this year. A jaw dropping forty six cars were all that signed in Sunday night to race in the four classes offered. A quick look at car counts at a number of tracks in this area, and particularly the Late Model class, show that no one is pulled in more than a dozen or so cars and while there certainly are some not yet done, what is going to happen later during the Summer when blown motors and crashes start to cull the field? For someone who has been up and down the road for awhile, and had some of my first eye opening events with spectacular fields and great racing at tracks in Iowa, it is stunning to me to see where racing is right now in the Hawkeye State. That's not to say that every race track is in trouble but some of the great "name" places I made visits to the "glory" days just aren't the same today.
However, living in the past serves no purchase other than to denigrate the present so the best course of action is to accept the "new reality" and move on. The first race took to the track about 5:30 pm and then it was a quick show from that point with two heats in each class and a very quick break before the features rolled off. A one spin rule helped also in moving the show along and we even saw Late Models tonight turn their cars around and keep going after spinning.
The first couple of feature races were contested before the top side was watered heavy and the track was considerably one lane right on the bottom. Scott Busch started on the pole and led all the way for the Sport Mod win. He kept his cool and maintained his line through a series of yellow flags. Jerry Miles finished second.
For Tyler Soppe, the defending national champion had a very eventful race. He spun in the first corner on the opening lap and went to the trail, then he and Troy Bauer engaged in a banging double spin after which Soppe let Bauer have it once again to express his feelings.
Soppe wasn't done yet as he killed the car and went to the back once again, yet with all the yellows he was still able to work his way back up to third at the finish.
Dubuque for years has struggled trying to find a fourth class of cars that will work for them. They tried Hobby Stocks and Stock Cars and even Hornets but the numbers for all these classes never got better than tepid. So this year they are trying the Limited Late Model class which consists of a combination of 9 to 1 motors and some crates with other cost beneficial restraints attached to the class. They look identical to the FSP Late Models which likely is confusing to the casual fan.
While it was reported to me that there are a number of local drivers in the process of building cars for this class, unfortunately only eight showed up for opening night so the fourth class trend continues, at least for now.
Lee Kinsella was the runaway winner in a great looking car, by the way with Mike Mills and Steve Schueller following in a race that went green to checkered after a first lap multi car spin. I was kind of surprised when they ran two, four car heats though instead of just combining into one.
An improved track from the watering gave the Modifieds more space in which to race on after they got the track repacked. Jason Schueller chose to use the low side however and he led most of the race. However, Mark Schulte made things interesting as he chose to pound the cushion and he was able to pull up beside Schueller and indeed, edge past him for several laps.
However, the top side seemed to give up on Schulte and the Mods weren't able to use the top shelf as well as the Late Models did later and Schulte slipped back behind Schueller to settle for second with Tyler Madigan third.
The Late Models wrapped up the night with a wild and woolly main event that saw much drama and a lot of action. Most of the Late Models went right to the top, unlike totally the other classes. However, the low side, which had been used by the other classes, was still good to and it made a prefect set up for some wild slide jobs. Eric Pollard led a number of laps but the drivers making the boldest moves was Jeremiah Hurst who pulled sliders to get past Jeff Tharp and then Pollard to take over the lead.
Just as he started to pull away from Joel Callahan and it appeared the race was over, a puff of smoke came from the Hurst car and he lost power with only four laps left. It was a tough way to lose what appeared to be a cinch victory.
With the leader dropping out, Callahan and Tharp should have lined up side by side for the restart but either Tharp didn't want the spot or Callahan just took off on him as they were in a more like one, two lineup as the green flew. Callahan got the big jump and drove home for the win ahead of Tharp and Johnny Emerson. Earlier I was told that Emerson won at Independence on Saturday using the new motor options available to the FSP drivers, but Emerson told me himself that he was running an IMCA motor.
While there are a lot of new faces with FSP this year, Jerry Mackey remains as the "voice" of the Dubuque and Farley tracks along with Independence, which he has picked up this year, sharing the mic with legendary Jim Roper at that facility.
Mackey had the funniest comment of the night when, as introducing the Modified field, he introduced the #D6 as John Connolly from Delhi. "That's John Connolly Jr, obviously, unless there's some devine guidance going on that I'm unaware of," Mackey stated. Of course, most in the crowd didn't even get the comment as they didn't know who John Connolly was. However, for "old butts" like myself, we knew that John Connolly was one of the greatest Late Model drivers of his era. Unfortunately, Connolly is no longer with us, having passed away many years ago after suffering a heart attack after a race in West Fargo North Dakota, making it unlikely that he was driving on this night!
Joe Hayes has been hired by FSP to act as promoter for them and he is running the show at both Farley and Dubuque.
A decent crowd was on hand for opening night with one of the more pleasant weather nights of the season so far. Even with the long packing session that took place midway through the features, the final checkered flag waved before 8 pm which was most welcomed by myself and I got home before it was even "last call" at the local gin joints. Thanks to everyone at FSP for an entertaining opening night.
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